The Meaning of Fashion

Video: The was we dress, the meaning of fashion
Producer: Learning Seed       Date:1996
The video described fashion as “successful peer pressure.” The way people dress is non verbal communication.   Fashion helps show and answer the question of who some one is.   Fashion changes with the times and society.
The way people dress today says they live in a consumer society in a global economy.   Originally ready made clothes were frowned upon and considered sloppy.   The civil war is what first started mass production of clothing as well as standard sizes, and then these clothes started becoming more accepted.
In earlier times you would only dress according to social class.   Dandees were the first men who dressed for style instead of class.   Today fashion may start from the famous and their glamour and then translate down to influence fashions of the everyday life for normal people.   Also the opposite may happen, for example denim.   Denim was first worn by men who worked outside because the fabric could handle the wear and tear of their of their day.   Now men and women, and even the rich and famous wear denim as everyday wear and even tend to dress it up for certain occasions.  
There is clothing that is worn by both men and women such as jeans, t-shirts, shorts, sweat shirts, etc.   But there is still strong unwritten fashion rules for example it is not typical to see a man wearing a skirt in America.   With fashion context always has to be considered.   Fashion has always been used to manage public image.   The way you dress shows how you want to be seen.