The Fashion System

The information source is Britannica "The fashion industry forms part of a larger social and cultural phenomenon known as the “fashion system,” a concept that embraces not only the business of fashion but also the art and craft of fashion, and not only production but also consumption. The fashion designer is an important factor, but so also is the individual consumer who chooses, buys, and wears clothes, as well as the language and imagery that contribute to how consumers think about fashion. The fashion system involves all the factors that are involved in the entire process of fashion change. Some factors are intrinsic to fashion, which involves variation for the sake of novelty (e.g., when hemlines have been low for a while, they will rise). Other factors are external (e.g., major historical events such as wars, revolutions, economic booms or busts, and the feminist movement). Individual trendsetters (e.g., Madonna and Diana, princess of Wales) also play a role, as do changes in lifestyle (e.g., new sports, as when skateboarding was introduced in the 1960s). Fashion is a complex social phenomenon, involving sometimes conflicting motives, such as creating an individual identity and being part of a group, emulating fashion leaders and rebelling against conformity. The fashion industry thrives by being diverse and flexible enough to gratify any consumer’s desire to embrace or even to reject fashionability, however that term might be defined."