When everybody is doing the same thing it sometimes appears as if it was the only thing to do. But, on the contrary, if everybody is doing the same thing, that means that nobody is thinking on their feet, but running one after the other like lemmings, unaware of the cliffs.

Those mass movements are great for you, when you are not taking part in them, and when you are offering one of the always too few alternatives. Fashion is about personality, and it is better to show this personality by showing personality instead of joining the trek of the lemmings.

This is how mainstreams develop, those maelstroms that destroy personality and end in boredom: one person does something different, it gets attention, and then the crowds rush in: a mainstream is born. And it hasn't been a good one recently.

In the first ten years of the 21st century it seems that fashion photography had to be laden with vulgar sex, and the closer to pornography it got, the better it is. We saw where that led, and a certain photographer, the leader of the porn squad, had to answer for what he did and not only behind the camera.

Currently, the fad is the zombie style. Show well-built, but in the end unattractive young people who seem to have no joy of life, no interest in others, no goal to achieve, except quickly calling the suicide hotline right after the shoot to prevent the worst.

Fashion photography can by anything you like. It can be uplifting, beautiful, fantasy inspiring, poetic. It can be classic or esthetically challenging.

Only one thing it must not be: like everybody else. Fashion is about personality. And I feel strongly you should take advantage of the positive power of the art of photography. The times where the ugly and depraved was declared to be more real are over. Come on, this was a streak of blackness that scratched the otherwise great early sixties. It's outdated.

Now we want to know about the good potential in mankind. We get its failings delivered daily without asking by misery-addicted news networks who bask in the unhappiness of people and in any depravity they can find.

You are the master of your world. Make it a good one, make the world your fashion lives in a good one!

If you are a fashion company, you will want a style and a world that nobody else has. Something positive, that people look at - and they will be looking because they are always on the lookout for good things to improve on their lives.

Be the brand that stands out by personality, not by trying to be more of the same that the other brands are doing. Your audience (a better word than the faceless "customer") will thank you, and this by means that will raise your brand just as your brand raises their spirits.