Fashion and style. What are they? Do they always go together? Do
they mean one and the same thing? It's hard to say. According to
specialists in the field, fashion is actually a synonym for style or
glamour. It has been agreed on the fact that fashion is a way of
personal expression, and according to this criteria, one can be
fashionable when he/she fits in this expression mode, or unfashionable,
which would be the opposite. Fashion has manifestations in all the
fields of human activity, that is when can speak about fashion when we
refer to topics such as architecture, clothing, music, cosmetics,
entertainment, forms of speech or even politics or technology. Anything
in these fields can be described as being fashionable or not. When one
speaks about materialism or trend s using the term 'fashion', it can be
associated with a negative meaning.
Most
people today perceive fashion as a term referring mostly to clothes.
The beginnings of what we call fashion today did actually refer to
clothes and they go back as far as the sixteenth century. However, it
was only two centuries later that the real manifestations of fashion
took place and it happened in Europe, among the wealthy upper classes.
Fashion, just like any other manifestation of human activity, underwent
major and continual changes, to the point where it is today, that is,
being related to many fields of activities.
Of course, it would be unjustified to assume that fashion is the same all over the world. First of all, fashion differs from one society to another. Then, within a certain society, there are a lot of factors which may influence fashion such as age or generation, social class, profession or occupation. Even the geography of certain regions may bring about differences in fashion among the people of the same society.
But
how does fashion change? Because we all know that constant change is
what fashion is actually about. Everyone will agree that what is new now
will soon become old, and the process goes both ways, that I what was
once into fashion but is now considered to be old and obsolete will soon
turn into something new again. Capitalism has brought along with its
numerous good aspects some less appealing ones, such as waste. People
buy things which are not necessary to them and consequently speed up the
process of change as far as fashion is concerned. Young generations
have much to do with this change in fashion as well, because they are
always eager and willing to try interesting things, things that they
haven't experienced before, something new to be more precise.
What
made fashion so popular among people was actually the television. The
moment fashion hit television, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, was
the moment when the general population became interested in this aspect.
And fashion magazines, websites or even fashion blogs were only one
step away.
Pretty much in the same way as fashion, style can refer
to may things, from painting, music, literature, web design to
linguistics or manners of addressing people. The very definition of
style describes the term as a fashionable manner of doing things, which
points out that style and fashion are very closely related. Not
everything that is considered fashionable will also be regarded as
stylish, which is why people should avoid turning into a fashion victim,
one of those persons who will wear just about anything that's seen as
fashionable, no matter if it suits them or not, from hairstyles and
piercing to clothes. It is true that today's world and the society we
live in have set some rules in what fashion and style are concerned, but
these don't always have to be strictly followed. Being a fashion victim
will only turn you into one of the rest. If you want to be ahead at all
times, what you must try is to define your own style and that will make
you look your best.
