What is fashion?

[Galiana]

Fashion often seems to be a dirty word on these boards, but what do you define as fasion?

Oxford, Cambridge and Merriam-Webster all have different definitions, Cambridge and Merriam-Webster talk about acceptable and popular, it's only Oxford that uses the word latest.

Everyone is obviously influenced by fasion, no matter how much they believe themselves not to be, material technology has a lot to do with that, availability, media, it's all around you.

BUT, skinny jeans for 15 years, camera bags with woven straps, denim jackets, flowery midis and white trainers, biker jackets. All items of clothing that are worn by many, many women, so they would fit the dictionary definition of fashionable.

I'm not sure they're Vogue approved fashionable.

I'm asking the question because fashion V style just come up over and over, I'm a complete neophyte, I'm easily bored, I'm as deep as a puddle after 10 minutes of drizzle, I've been reading fash mags from the womb, I love it.

But really it's a slow burn isn't it? It's a constant evolution, things that looked amazing six months ago just don't look so good today? Need a bit of a tweek.

So it's not really fashion v style, they work in tandem, surely?

I think part of the issue is that 'style' and 'stylish' seem to have lost any meaning, or at least any meaning that I understood. I used to think they were about something more inventive and individual and thrilling than fashion, but these days I mostly only see them used on threads about skinny jeans.

I'm a complete neophyte,

and

I've been reading fash mags from the womb

don’t really go together? And you sound well on the way to a postgrad degree on the subject!

I imagine op means neophile.

To be fashionable, you need money, to buy on trend. To be stylish, you need to be fashion aware, have money, vision, individuality, taste and self awareness.

I didn't come back, sorry, I had a call at 1am that my beloved sister's husband died very suddenly.

He was a taste maker, the consummate marketing man. We'll never jostle again. And my sister will always be sad. And that's all shit.

I'm very sorry to hear that op, take care

I'm so sorry for your news.

'BUT, skinny jeans for 15 years, camera bags with woven straps, denim jackets, flowery midis and white trainers, biker jackets. All items of clothing that are worn by many, many women, so they would fit the dictionary definition of fashionable. ^'
^
As with many terms, I think the dictionary definition of fashionable and common use age are different.
^
Typically fashionable is accepted to mean that which is on trend rather than that which is commonly worn.

Baggy kneed stretched out leggings with big faded hoodies are commonly worn but I doubt anyone would suggest that look was therefore fashionable. Ditto men wearing football shirts as clothing.^

It always surprises me the way you see such insane, barking mad stuff on runways each year and yet somehow it trickles down to the High Street in a wearable version!😃

In answer to "What is fashion?"

“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months” Oscar Wilde

@snowmichael, Oscar Wilde was a pithy gay man of the 19th century, who had the misfortune to not be able to live the way he wanted and that's sad.

His contemporary Radclyffe Hall was much more interesting if we're talking about homosexuality and literature. She spoke of love.

But we're speaking of fashion.

I was never a fan of Wilde.

I always ponder this when the "how can I dress stylish / classic / expensive" or whatever other variation comes up.

In my head
Fashionable is the Ven diagram overlap between what Vogue would show and H&M would sell. So wide-leg jeans would fit in there at the moment, but skinny ones have been pushed out by now.

Classic is what I picture the Middletons, Gwyneth Paltrow or Jennifer Aniston wearing. Well cut, well presented, possibly not fashionable, for example, in the case of the Middletongs, but also possibly could be in Aniston's case. But the fashion element is overridden by the quality of the piece or the presentation.

Stylish is something unique to the wearer, so it could be people like Tilda Swinton to Kate Moss to Michelle Obama (post the first wife years). I might not always like it but I can instantly imagine what that person would wear, its kind of like a factor in their identity.

Obviously, everyone else has their own version of a) what each category means and b) who falls into it. That's why the "how to be stylish etc" threads end up in a bun fight - each and every time!

I find fashion history absolutely fascinating. This compulsion that human beings have to adorn and decorate themselves, what's it about?

I don’t agree you need money to have style.

I'm not sure anyone said you did!

I do think style is an innate characteristic that some people have, it's an artistic talent. I guess it's easier to indulge if money is plentiful, but possibly more interesting if it's not.

@SkinnyFat did

I've recently been reading up on WW2 clothes rationing and all the regulations and the CC41 Utility range. It's fascinating (sorry I'm using that word a lot) how such difficult and austere times could inspire such great clothes.

Sorry just noticed I chopped off the end of my post and it's too late to edit. The missing sentence was:
So I too disagree that money is needed, in fact I think the creative instinct can thrive on hardship and restrictions.

Ah, @Floisme - you must have a book on ornithology somewhere?!

The outdated things you listed :

BUT, skinny jeans for 15 years, camera bags with woven straps, denim jackets, flowery midis and white trainers, biker jackets. All items of clothing that are worn by many, many women, so they would fit the dictionary definition of fashionable

Are a fashion. But they are not in fashion. Fashion is a manner or form of something. To fashion something means to make something in a particular form.

The term has pretty much been made exclusively to mean 'in fashion'. Which the items above are not.

I'm intrigued as to;

A) why post got resurrected in the first place.

B) the deletions since then.

It's a bit weird for a 21 post thread.

I know I re-engaged, it came up!

But what's with the strangeness?

It was a spammer, some weird AI generated text with a dodgy link. I reported it. No need for tinfoil hats.

Fashion is basically what is widely worn, accepted, and repeated at a given time, while style is how an individual takes those ideas and makes them their own. So yes, they absolutely work together rather than being opposites.

You can follow fashion trends without feeling “fashionable” in the Vogue sense, and you can have strong personal style even if you are wearing very common pieces like jeans, sneakers, or a biker jacket. The difference is really in interpretation and consistency, not just the items themselves.

In that sense, fashion sets the direction and style decides how it actually looks on you in real life.