The Path of Fashion

Pop culture, in a way, is what happens when we don’t know what else to do with ourselves.  The further away we move from being survivalists, relying on basic needs, the more we find ourselves creating extra focuses.  We prioritize differently.  Long ago, I doubt we much cared what we wore so long as it kept us warm.  Today, we’re almost the opposite.  (Once, I saw a girl wearing a miniskirt while there was still snow on the ground.)  We don’t wear what’s functional so much as we wear what’s fashionable.  Why?  We can afford that luxury.  It was one of those things we decided to expand upon after we upgraded from simply keeping warm.  It’s blossomed  in the last few decades, especially.

1960s

·         Miniskirt

·         Bell-bottom jeans

·         Tie-dyed shirt

1970s

·         Polyester/tight clothing

·         Flamboyant colors

·         Punk (anti-fashion)

1980s

·         Power suit

·         Designer brands

1990s

·         Comfy clothes

·         Black and toned-down colors

·         Grunge (messy/greasy)

2000s

·         Primarily retro 80s

·         Revamped vintage

·         Mash-up of other decades

·         Leggings

2010s

·         Floral patterns

·         Colors

·         Skinny jeans

·         Loose shirts

.         Yoga pants

The funny thing is that there’s very little general trend.  Yes, there’s a slow progression of acceptance toward increased showings of skin, but other than that?  The only big, key influences in the fashion world seem to be the invention of new materials, the availability of production, and social acceptance.  When those three things don’t change much, we go back to what we were doing before, hence the “retro.”

One of the largest aspects we have capitalized on, though, is personal style.  The fashion industry continues to broaden, offering more options, and so people find a specific style they like.  Punk is one of the best examples of this.  By being against the popular trend, it created a new trend, and widened the field.  Today, we still have punk, but we also have a million other categories: preppy, gangsta’, goth, lazy, dressy, hipster, casual, classic, etc.  In a way, it feels like everything is in style all at once.  Consider blue jeans, for example.  It used to be that there was one fit, just in different sizes.  That’s evolved to a number of fits for the wide range of figures people come in.  Theoretically, the future will expand on this further.  In 50 years, half of our clothes may be custom-order shapes and styles.  This, mixed with the growth of personal style, may further extend online shopping until it is used more often than go-to shopping.

The counter-argument here is price.  It would cost more and be less effective to make so many different types of clothes.  After all, what can you do with what you can’t sell?  Online shopping may help with this (knowing the number of orders you need), but the point remains that variety is both difficult and expensive.  Also, people are impatient in this instant gratification society of ours, so how long are they really going to wait to have an exact fit of jeans?

The last component to address is the social sphere.  We may not want so much variety in our desire to “fit in.”  Given, girls get grouchy when someone else is wearing the same outfit they are, but there’s a general aspiration to wear a common style.  Fashion is seen as a connection.  We often subconsciously think that because someone is dressed they way we are, they are more like us.  Thus, we follow a common trend in order to connect with the larger culture around us.

The sub-reason following this is ambition to be like the celebrities.  If someone popular is dressing a certain way, we follow in their footsteps in hopes of achieving that kind of popularity.  This, like the previous concept, boils down to likableness.  It’s all about wanting attention and amiability.  Such things are basic human needs.  It’s when this need is taken advantage of that it becomes a business.

Consider one of the most wide-spread trends in American fashion: jeans.  Approximately 450 million pairs are sold in the U.S. each year.  They’re seen as a closet staple item.  What about historically, though?  As a business, they’ve had a rocky past.

The original intention for blue jeans was simply to be durable for manual labor.  This put them into popular use, which turned them into a trend, and they soon became related to celebrity—sort of.  You see, the stars of the day, like James Dean from Rebel Without a Cause, often represented trouble.  Mothers didn’t want their children dressing like hooligans, leading to a decrease in the purchase of blue jeans.

In response, denim manufacturers gathered together to solve the problem.  They hired a PR firm, who convinced fashion designers to incorporate more denim.  The PR firm then followed the progress, making sure that the second denim revolution was being well-covered.  The “bad boy” stereotype remained, though.  Eventually, the PR firm decided that the best solution was to chip at that core issue, countering the “bad boy” image with a “good boy” image.  With some pushing and pulling, the PR firm guided the denim companies to donate all-denim uniforms to the Peace Corps.  By the early 1960s, denim was back in business and as popular as ever.

In the end, fashion is a constant push and pull.  We’re struggling between the needs of several different parties.  One wants to make money, another wants to keep us compatible, and the third wants expression.  The first and the last would flounder in a uniform, stagnant style.  In some ways, it’s better for us to be so diverse.  In others, we turn against each other and judge prematurely.  That said, I seriously question the old future-movie fashion stereotype of jumpsuits/Jetsons style (notably, The Jetsons are based in 2062), which would be a move against diversity.  I think the best thing to say, at this point, is that fashion is both strange and marginally unpredictable in the long run.  I’ll leave it at that.