Fashion is a cultural phenomenon involving the way in which people express themselves through clothing. It is an important part of social life, influencing both individual and collective trends and attitudes. Fashion is often linked to music and other aspects of popular culture. Fashion also includes the choice of grooming and etiquette, such as hairstyles, jewellery and footwear. Clothing is often a form of personal self-expression and can be seen as a reflection of the social or political status of the wearer.
A personal stylist can help you to define your style, and guide you through the process of building a wardrobe that suits your individuality, lifestyle and body type. Developing your own sense of style is a lot like learning a language, and our expert stylists can teach you the rules of the language so that you can start to communicate in a way that feels authentically you.
The clothing industry is huge and global, requiring millions of workers to design, sew, glue, paint and transport garments to stores for consumers. The fashion cycle is incredibly fast, as new materials and fabric finishing techniques are quickly introduced to the world of haute couture and then filtered down into ready-to-wear lines and eventually into mass market clothing. The media plays an essential role in defining and shaping fashion, creating a rapid cycle of trend adoption and obsolescence through magazine covers, television shows, websites, social media platforms and even in video games.
A large portion of the fashion industry is made up of designer brands that produce a limited run of high-end garments each season. Those garments are then heavily advertised and promoted in fashion magazines to generate buzz, hype and sales. In recent years the rise of YouTube and TikTok video has transformed the industry with independent designers being able to market their own styles directly to consumers through online platforms.
Throughout history, people have worn clothes as a symbol of their social or religious status, expressing their feelings and opinions through the colour, cut, fit, style and material used in the garments they wear. Judges wear robes, soldiers wear uniforms and brides wear white dresses, all of which are forms of social identification and tradition.
Many fashion designers create designs that are purely aesthetic, and they are often inspired by the work of musicians, athletes, artists and other cultural icons. The fashion industry is also influenced by the public; newspaper articles on politicians and royalty, for example, will include details of their outfits. For a style to be considered fashionable, however, it must be adopted by a group of individuals and become widespread. This can be done through a range of methods, including top-down (or “elitist”) marketing and diffusion, bottom-up or “trickle-down” marketing, or transversally through the use of viral memes and media. Unlike style, which can be defined by a combination of lines and shapes, fabrics and forms, a style cannot exist without a group of people who adopt and follow it.