THE IMPORTANCE OF CLOTHING IN AMERICAN culture is wryly summarized by writer Mark Twain's observation, "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." Twain's proverb acknowledges the link between fashion and personal identity. In modern America, clothes have become a complicated form of personal expression. Sociologist Alison Lurie notes that "even if we are never introduced, clothes tell about class status, age, family origin, personal opinion, taste, current mood or even give information about erotic interest and sexual status." In short, what a person wears indicates a great deal about who that person is, and who he or she wants to be.

In contrast to clothing, fashion refers to the styles of dress that are prevalent in society at any given time. In their book Changing Appearances, George B. Sproles and Leslie Davis Burns define fashion as "the style of a consumer product...