Essay, Research Paper: The Meaning Behind The Madness

The Meaning behind the Madness
Style in the eyes of a Corporation: Abercrombie and Fitch
Until working for Abercrombie and Fitch, I was always curious what exactly Abercrombie and Fitch Style is? And this style, is in the eyes of whom? Directly from the employee hand book AF style is defined in four words; cool, casual, classic, and fun. Abercrombie clothing promotes an active lifestyle of sports, and social interaction, with the emphasis of having fun, and doing so in AF clothing. Abercrombie is a store filled with high school and college students, trendy music, expensive clothes, walls covered with beautiful men and woman, and a common goal of representing Abercrombie Style. The clothes ever changing with the style, with an added quality, and the logo, that makes a T-shirt worth thirty dollars. While looking at the intentions of a successful clothing company. I desire to find how name brands, in this instance Abercrombie and Fitch are used as materials to define style, and how if at all, these name brands are replacing individuality, creating a desire for acceptance and material satisfaction, and a possible method of intervention to overcome this unnecessary disillusion.
Before I started working at AF, I had been a loyal shopper since I was about fifteen years old. Honestly, I was first lured into the store by the pressure of popularity, otherwise referred to as following the crowd. I wanted to be accepted, and when everybody showed up at school in their Abercrombie apparel, I wouldn t think of trying to be different. I was stuck, and found that I needed to have the clothes, the way they looked, and the way they always left me feeling in style, and ultimately making me feel cool. I thought that I was doing what was required to fit in, overall becoming totally brainwashed. The label had mesmerized me, and I felt it was preposterous to shop anywhere else. Maybe it was the way the music is always a little bit too loud whenever I walked in the store, kind of like a college dormitory on a Friday night. I felt I was being true to my generation, and even better, I looked good while doing so.
Upon having accepted the job at AF, I thought that I was going to have the best job that any eighteen year-old could dream of. I was enthralled by the idea of being able to get a great discount, and wear the newest fashion every time the season changed. Life was going good, and I was on my way to finding out what exactly the meaning of Abercrombie is. The Meaning behind the Madness!
I began to realize that the clothes were nothing more than a status symbol. I am not one to criticize someone who enjoys being in fashion. For me, I desired popularity, and I bought the Abercrombie clothes because I thought that they would help me achieve such needs. As I began to explore the trends, and other clothing out there, I realized that Abercrombie is not the epitomy of fashion, but is a high priced label that may give a false sense of esteem to many people who wear the labels to be considered in style. For some people, Abercrombie may be a synonym for their style, and for others they may find their style in other clothing, or in some totally different aspect of life, but understanding that style is necessary in overcoming material satisfaction
The most important revelation that I conquered in my journey to understand my long standing affair with AF was the importance of individuality, and that style is better personified through what is underneath the clothing than the labels will ever tell. If fashion is the name of the game, Abercrombie, and other designers may be desirable. But I feel that before a person searches for satisfaction through clothing, or other material goods, that a search within is completed in order to find some sanity and understanding for what drives a person to want material goods.
As the quest for self disclosure, and better understanding of labels affect on style winds down, I want to reveal my new better understanding of defeating self satisfaction through material goods. Being that I have realized that I will always be confined by the desires of a high fashion lifestyle. I shall not criticize others that feel the same way. I can say that I have spent years trying to understand what it is that makes me enjoy being in style is where I discovered my personal style. Clothing is all and all, nothing more than a garment used to cover the skin. Some clothes look better than others, and judging that is in the eye of the beholder, and each individual whom evaluates others fashion statements. Style on the other hand is so much more that clothing. A person should not, as long as the individual wearing the label understands why the label is being worn. and cannot be understood by their fashion, but is defined through personal expression. Attempting to define someone through clothing is exactly what the designers and their marketers try to do. For instance, Abercrombie wants its customers to feel that their clothes are necessary to be accepted, and why not, that is their job. If the consumer understands that, then no more need be said, and they should buy whatever they like. Jus