Fashion is the Enemy of Creativity

I'll point out right from the outset that by "fashion" I don't mean clothing design specifically. I'm talking about things that are "fashionable" or "in fashion" in other words, trends.

Without going into too much detail on the history - I've had ongoing disagreements with a few people in the "arts" media over this issue. Arts reporters, especially at the national level, tend to be of the opinion that trends are what you watch for; that things become newsworthy when it becomes fashionable, when a trend develops.

I personally am of the opinion that trends are the least newsworthy thing in the arts. The arts, to me, are about creativity and following trends is the opposite of being creative. Fashion and trends are what industries watch for. A big film studio, tv network or record label watches for developing trends and then tries to come up with products to match those trends.

Artists, on the other hand, do not try to match what they do to trends or fashion, they create works of art based on their experiences, or something internal. They tell a story, test a theory or express a feeling or emotion. People who try to match what they are doing to the fads of popular culture are doing something other than making art. It is, in short, more about business than art.

I enjoy film, music, literature, the visual and performing arts but what I'm truly a fan of is the creative impulse: That part of all true artists that compels them to create regardless of whether it is profitable or not. To be sure all artists would like to earn a living with their art but ultimately that is not why they do it. They do it because something inside them insists and profitable or not they keep doing it.

When the big entrainment companies and the arts media chase trends and fashion they are ultimately stifling creativity. They make the profitable side of the arts more standardized and uniform. They deny attention to talented people working outside the latest fad and they do a disservice to artists and audience alike.