Fashion Defined.

Fashion, as the term is used in this chapter, refers to a dominant mode in dress in a particular place or time, usually a mode that is established by a perceived social elite or by notable persons. Fashion functions as a social phenomenon, setting standards of dress that periodically change when what once was new and desirable becomes ordinary and then must be supplanted by yet another innovation. Moreover, fashion as a social force possesses its own natural laws. For example, it appears that once innovative fashions move too far from what society perceives as the norm, it rejects these excesses, and a pendulum swing occurs with a return to an older or plainer style. Fashionable clothing must convey the impression of distinction, excellence, originality, and character expressed artistically. And, of course, fashion responds to the availability of new materials, dye stuffs...