ARTICLES COLLECTION OF: LIVE STYLE, TRENDS, HAIR, FASHION, SKIN

Wednesday 28 January 2009

So What Do You Really Know About Fashion?

Fashion is extremely seductive, slightly elusive and ever changing. It has a mysterious power to create a social statement or even to transform a person's image.

Dictionary.com defines fashion as:

• The prevailing custom or style, as in behavior or dress.
• Something (such as garment) that's considered to belong to the current mode.
• The characteristic or style of the social elite.

To most people, fashion is a method of utilizing hair, accessories, and clothing to either hide or emphasize something about them. To others, it can be an art form. And to some, it's almost a religion. Moreover, fashion can be used to disguise the true self, yet it can also be utilized for self expression.

Whose opinion matters?

In fashion, the designers are the great influencers. Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, and Miuccia Prada are some of the directional designers for remixing classics (Prada) or vintage-inspired styles (Jacobs).

Usually, there is a cycle that fashion follows for an upcoming season:

• Starting from about 5-6 months ahead, press people will start attending several fashion shows to see the designer collections. Then, the media will give an editorial coverage to talk about the trends that they think their readers will like.

• The store buyers also prepare many months ahead of the season in order to place their orders with manufacturers. Of course, they will get the clothes and accessories that their clients would most likely buy.

• Opinion leaders (like socialites) and celebrities will usually be the first ones to wear these new trends, therefore spurring the public to accept it.

• But ultimately, only consumers like you will decide what's "in" - this will be determined if a majority of the public chose to buy into the trend.

In today's world, there are only three major hubs for manufacturers and designers of accessories and fashion apparel - these are Milan, Paris, and New York. Although, you can also find excellent ones in Sao Paolo, Sydney, Hong Kong, Toronto, Los Angeles, and London.

Why do you need to care?

You might be wondering why the clothes you see in fashion shows sometimes appear as exaggerations, but this is done only for marketing and artistic purposes. The elements depicting the original piece will be turned into more acceptable pieces before they reach the store.

Experts say that the healthy way for you to approach fashion is to pay attention to it in small doses. Just make sure that your wardrobe corresponds to the current times, or you may even indulge in a new trend or two every season.

Being in fashion shows that you are quite flexible and modern. It also means that you are willing to process and accept new ideas.

You may also look at fashion as an escape from the pressures of your environment. For example, say your country is at war yet you wear the current season's fluffy ruffles, then you could temporarily break away from the harsh reality of your world through your clothes.

At the end of the day, everything that you put on can send a silent message to other people. Your own interpretation of fashion speaks about your good taste.

The author of this article is Benedict Yossarian. Benedict recommends Costume Finder for all your fancy dress needs or perhaps Queens Leather for some stylish leather laptop cases?

By Benedict Yossarian

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