NoT™ Fashion

No Trojan Horses

The Trojan Horse is one of history's oldest lessons about influence hidden beneath appearances. According to Greek mythology, the Greeks presented the people of Troy with a massive wooden horse that appeared to be a gift. Hidden inside the horse was a troop of Greek soldiers. Once inside the city walls, the soldiers emerged, opened the gates of Troy from the inside, and allowed the Greek army to enter and capture the city.

Today, technology, media, advertising, entertainment, and online communication operate in a similar way. Songs, movies, advertisements, television programs, social media platforms, trends, and digital environments communicate embedded values, behaviors, incentives, language, influences, and other cultural codes that shape individual and community outcomes.

As within, so without.

Culture is Code

Culture is a coded system of ideas, values, beliefs, behaviors, symbols, customs, practices, and social influences shared and transmitted within society. Code is information that communicates meaning, patterns, instructions, signals, and behavior.

Culture codes influence our thinking, behavior, consumption, activities, language, beliefs, creativity, and ways of relating to society. A meme is a unit of cultural code transmitted from one individual to another through imitation, repetition, exposure, communication, and participation. Memes spread through images, language, music, fashion, trends, symbols, slogans, humor, advertising, entertainment, social media, and other forms of cultural influence.

Every individual and corporate action contributes to culture. Some cultural codes strengthen individual and community well-being. Others produce harmful cultural memes that carry a net negative social impact on individuals and communities at large.

NoT Fashion™

…is deeper than it looks.

Fashion is a way of behaving or doing things that is currently popular or generally approved of.

Fashion influences trends, styles, conventions, customs, attitudes, language, beliefs, aesthetics, lifestyles, norms, and social practices through exposure, imitation, participation, and cultural influence.

Fashion influences what people admire, repeat, normalize, and aspire toward.

Fashion also codes minds and behaviors. Science establishes this through the principle of enclothed cognition — clothing carries symbolic meaning the brain reads and executes. Attire associated with competence, authority, and discipline primes the mind to think and act in alignment with those qualities. Every garment is a cue. Every trend is a cultural signal. The feedback loop runs in both directions: clothing codes behavior, behavior reinforces self-image, and self-image drives future choices. Fashion is a cultural influence operating at the level of thought itself.

Minds and Behaviors Are Fashionable.

NoT Fashion™ is fundamentally about examining the influence of messaging, appearances, trends, social influences, impressions, popularity, aesthetics, and cultural phenomena in order to raise awareness, encourage constructive social discourse, and promote individual and corporate social responsibility for sustainable community outcomes.

Our Mission…

Raise Awareness. Encourage Constructive Social Discourse. Promote Social Responsibility.

We Believe…

Social Responsibility is the ethical responsibility of private individuals and corporations to act for the greater good.

Community Impact is the ultimate measure of influence.

Constructive discourse promotes individual and community well-being.

No Trojan® is a call to question popular culture, analyze conventional wisdom, evaluate the status quo, and do only that which is for the greater good.

"For those who have ears…"