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THE WORLD OF FASHION
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WHAT IS FASHION?
While everybody talks about fashion
nowadays, hardly anyone ever stops
to consider what fashion truly is,
what its origins are, or how it came to
occupy all spheres of society. In our
consumerist culture, nothing escapes
its influence, and it is therefore safe
to say that today fashion has become
a way of life.
Conceived in the context of dress,
fashion as a logic based on novelty
has extended to all areas of society, a
fact first confirmed in 1890, when the
French sociologist Gabriel de Tarde
defined it as a social process indepen-
dent of dress. Homo sapiens are the
only animals that wear clothes, and
fashion came into being because men
and women are social animals who,
while desiring to belong to a group,
also want to be different, as pointed
out by the German sociologist Georg
Simmel. Defining fashion is not easy,
because fashion is multifaceted. It
forms part of the culture and thus can
be studied from multiple angles from
the perspective of history, sociology,
anthropology, psychology, art, eco-
nomics, or science. Fashion is a com-
plex process that reflects society’s
transformations in each age.
A scientific definition of fashion ex-
plains it as a social phenomenon
that generates and is generated by
constant and periodic variations in
dress. This definition distinguishes
fashion as a system based on con-
stant change, that is, on newness.
REASONS AND
PURPOSES OF DRESS
In 1930, the English psychologist
John-Carl Flügel elucidated the prima-
ry causes, now universally accepted,
as to why human beings wear clothes:
modesty, protection, and adornment.
While modesty is a question of habit
and convention (Judeo-Christian soci-
ety demonizes nudity) and protection
is situational (since it depends on the
climate), adornment is the dominant
motive of dress, given its presence in
all cultures and at all times, regardless
of the particular religion.
THE WORLD OF FASHION
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