The Culture of fashion

The way we approach this task of creativity at FISHSCALE is by looking at our responsibility as humans in creating culture. This brand was started as a response and posture to the calling to fill the earth, be fruitful and be productive. My mind changed when I read Culture Making by Andy Crouch and realised that our posture towards the world has been completely wrong, in trying to find our purpose, we’ve been preoccupied with the things that don’t matter and have lost our true purpose which is creating and cultivating culture.

First, let’s break down and understand what we mean when we talk about culture. Crouch defines culture as “what we make of the world.” That perhaps sounds a little abstract, so he further defines it as “the name for our relentless, restless human effort to take the world as it's given to us and make something else.” Th term is broader and at the same time, narrower than you’ve ever thought about. Everything that exists as part of the human experience is culture, man using the resources around him (and the culture that already exists) and creating something that didn’t exist before. I won’t go into further detail on this except to say, get the book, it will change your life.

“We make sense of the world by making something of the world. The human quest for meaning is played out in human (culture) making” – Andy Crouch

Some may scoff and think to themselves that fashion is a waste of time and there are much more meaningful pursuits in life, but when you think deeper and realise that the first creative act man did after the fall, in his newfound awareness, in his nakedness, he took fig leaves and made clothes. That is one of the earliest recorded acts of culture making by man, it was a feeble attempt perhaps, but we can forgive him as he was new to this whole thing, God had to assist by killing an animal and clothed the man with hide. Fashion is critical to our human understanding and sense-making of the world.

The reason that most of us do not create is the fear of failure, this is largely due to our incorrect definition of success. We feel that if we create something and it doesn’t achieve monetary success at scale, then we have failed. But the truth is that creation in and of itself is success. You could look at a parrot and be amazed that it talks, but that doesn’t mean it’s more successful than an eagle, birds were created to fly, the bird is most successful in its state of flight, similarly we are created to be creators and cultivators of culture, so the creation itself is success. Don’t chase the monetary approval, it will come, it must come, it’s built in the process (or as the Bible calls it: the blessing); if you create (productive), you will be successful (fruitful).

Another reason we fail to create is that we don’t stay in the game long enough. Take the example of Virgil Abloh, most would think that the infamous Pyrex label was his first attempt at creating a fashion label, but it was not. Virgil’s first brand was called Fort Home, and it did little but remain a favourite amongst himself and his closest friends. So, was he successful? If you look at his story at that moment, you’d say no, but that “failed” brand got him noticed by Don C, and so forth, and the rest we know how it played out. He probably sums it up best himself:

“I want everyone with ambition to find the domino effect. Create the project and see what happens.” - Virgil Abloh

In the next coming months as we create and develop the culture at FISHSCALE, we will seek to find the apex where fashion, music and food collide. With art as a foundation (in all its form; painting, sculpture, fine arts etc.), we will create a brand that reimagines what streetwear is and what the horizons of possibilities and impossibilities will be

FISHSCALE. Only for the righteous.