The Shopping Culture and The Importance Of Style

In the late 80’s a young photographer, Michael Galinsky started a journey photographing Malls across America; which later the compilation of this journey became a book which carried the same name “Malls Across America".  

Fast forward 25 years, I find myself revisiting the idea of shopping in contained spaces: malls. Although there has been many claims regarding the decline of malls in United States, in Latin America is a whole different story.

As a teenager I can’t deny the amount of time I spend strolling the malls, yet very rarely I frequented this places for shopping, it simply remained an approved neutral place to hang out with other hormonal teens.

After living abroad in London for over five years, is where I finally grasped the concept of 'Style' in oppose to be ‘in trend or fashionable’. Coming back to my native Panama, I realize that style relies heavily on its surroundings and consumer culture.

To elaborate that last thought I want you to imagine you walking in an open street, which can take you to many different ways vs. just walking within a pre-constructed area in which you have a limited perimeter. One of these options has a downside, which is limitation of space.

           

London Street style is extremely eclectic, freeing and exiting. Out of all the fashion cities it has developed a reputation the younger and adventurer sibling. England may have connotation of being extremely ruled by a class system, yet when it comes to style and shopping I find to be far more democratic which, it all comes down to space, and the opportunity to find gems that consist of boutique, vintage stores, pop- up shop and street vendors. Having options of mix and matching items from different price level, time period and trends all sum up into personal style.

 As I mentioned above we in Panama have adopted an American way of shopping which was at its peak in the 1980s. Sadly we didn’t get the memo that it was on the way of its decline when we were constructing these mega malls, which included both luxury and mass marketed shops. The issue I have with the space is that it limits personal style. We may have the same shops that are found in other countries yet the buyers always seem to go for a safe route when it comes to picking the designs that are bought to our country.

It’s not the buyer’s fault, but it is also the consumer fault of how they take an item and create a very strict rule manual of dressing etiquette, usually by assimilating a certain brand with a specific activity.

The outfits showed above perhaps are not an exact representation, yet they give a feeling that there is a right way of getting dress. Which results are pretty, yes, but also not innovative or original. Perhaps this formula should be questioned and challenged for the sake of Fun and Style!  xx