A DIFFERENT APPROACH

For the last three or so weeks I have been attempting to define fashion. Who would have ever thought that the term fashion, used on daily basis, would have so many different meanings. The first approach to defining fashion was to ask college students around campus. I would stop them in between classes on the court yard or in the student center and ask them to define fashion. I noticed that many people were in fact very shy and thought that there was a right or wrong answer or were just hesitant to answer. Once I realized this apporach was not working in my favor I tried to reach out to students in another way. I tried social networking and Facebook was the answer! Every couple of days I post a question pertaining to my project. I started with, What is fashion? Answers vary which makes the project even more interesting because I noticed that people challenge other people's opinions. A few responses were, "Fashion is not what you wear but how you wear it". "Fashion is not only confidence but knowing what works and what does not work for you". "Fashion is what you make it, it is a confidence within that you express by the clothes, hair, makeup and or accesories to compliment". Once I noticed that this aproach was working I started posting other questions. A constant debate that still exist is if there is a different between fashion and style and if so what are the differences? I posted that question and some responses that I recieved were, "Fashions are for the masses but individuality makes it stylish". "Fashion can be brought. Style one must posses. Style is already within each of us but fashion changes like the weather". In addition to posting questions on my facebook page I have been reading several chapters of Breward. Breward states that fashion has a "range of influences, it is not just artisticand emotional motivation but the effects of manufacturing and its technologies;distribution, retailing, marketing, and consumer demand; and the impact of cultural and societal change on the cycle of innovation and obsolence which characterizes the creation of modes and trends in clothing". What i got from reading Breward is that fashion is basically a process. It is not just the clothes that one wears but it starts from when the clothes are being made. Fashion exist because of demand and how it is being marketed. After reading Breward many questions came to mind. Are we as consumers be forced to be fashionable? Are people fashionable because of trends? Who controls trends of clothing?