Transformation of the Speed Problem of Contemporary Clothing-Fashion in the Perspective of Social Acceleration Critical Theory

Abstract

The main critique of contemporary clothing-fashion from the perspective of speed focuses on fast fashion and treats its antithesis slow fashion as the main way to respond to and solve its problem. But the meaning of speed in contemporary fashion research relies too much on the physical speed level expression, which is obviously far from enough. Hartmut Rosa and Byung-chul Han are two representative theorists in the field of critical theory of social acceleration, and they have completely different views on the diagnosis of the current phenomenon of social acceleration. Hartmut Rosa positions the core of the current social acceleration problem as the "synchronization", while Byung-chul Han interprets the current time crisis from the perspective of "de-continuity". Based on their different diagnoses, the two scholars also give the healing tools of "resonance" and "contemplation" respectively. Their theoretical origins, problem diagnoses, and even proposed solutions are distinct but complementary in content. Based on these theories, this paper tries to further reveal the fast problem of contemporary clothing-fashion as the problem of "islanding" and the slow problem as the new possibility of healing contemporary clothing-fashion based on perception.