Bright atmosphere, warm faces, and a plethora of fabrics, woolens, and other crafting pleasures — all of these are available for the crafter, beginner or advanced, at Fancy Tiger Crafts in Denver.
As a self-proclaimed fashion connoisseur, a few months back I decided to take my passion for fashion to the next level. After searching the Denver area for sewing classes, I found Fancy Tiger. I have since learned how to construct, deconstruct and manipulate not only new garments and accessories, but also my identity.
We are told that “what’s on the inside is important,” that fashion doesn’t really matter, and “clothes don’t make the girl.” Speaking from experience, I’ve found that clothes don’t make the girl, unless the girl makes the clothes.
“I firmly believe that what you create and wear is such a good opportunity to express your visual voice,” said Christina, a designer at Fancy Tiger. “If that is how you choose to express yourself, you should speak loudly and stand out from the norm. It should be joyful!”
The mass production of clothing makes it easy to buy clothes, and more often than not, we spend less than it costs to make clothing. As this happens, we are forced more and more into trends, styles, and concepts that are not necessarily our own. While we can pick and choose the way we appear to others on a basic level with what we buy, as consumers we are left to the creative whims and processes of others.
Fashion as an aspect of self-identity is one of the many ingredients of embodied cognition. Embodied cognition explores the factors, other than the brain, that congregate to tell ourselves and others who we are. Fashion is image, and more and more our world is turning into various images. Social media continues to stress the importance and relevance of images and individuals as a something to hold or possess, and fashion plays directly into these images.
At the end of the day, people want to be unique and different, to feel like we are not just a number. The way we appear to others does matter and influences our daily lives. We have the power to construct our outward appearance through the creative process, and businesses such as Fancy Tiger are there as a reminder that we have a responsibility to ourselves to honor an image that is solely our own.
Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, our image plays a grand role with our happiness, success, and our joy. Clothes don’t define who we are, but they do instruct the image of who we are and who we would like to be. The more effort we make, the more pride we take in ourselves.
Morgan Lowe is a recent graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder.
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