The Fetish of Slowness

 

In the city that never sleeps, it’s almost comic to watch the fashion world romanticize slowness. “Hand made,” “artisanal,” “slow fashion”these phrases are paraded like badges of moral superiority. But let’s be real, is the most expensive fabric. To fetishize slowness is to fetishize privilege. The revival of craft is pitched as virtue, but it’s really a luxury of time disguised as ethics. Who can afford to linger over hand stitched hems when rent is due in Brooklyn and deadlines are stacked like skyscrapers? Craft becomes a commodity, a curated nostalgia sold at cosmopolitan prices. It’s not about virtue, it’s about access. The money here is clear, slowness is monetized as exclusivity. The artisanal jacket isn’t just stitched with thread, it’s stitched with hours, with the invisible currency of leisure. The story is seductive, return to authenticity, but the reality is exclusion.