In Foreword, Christopher Breward calls for a need of a change in viewing current meaning of fashion. In the chapter there are two aphorisms that I strongly agree with in a social context of fashion. “Fashion is gossip. Never underestimate the power of gossip. Semiologists are driven into ecstasies of supposition by its whispers” clarifies a core energy that drives twenty first century’s fashion industry. Seasonal trends lead fashion. Fashion can earn its supporters because of never ending trends. A trend itself is a “gossip”. It does not possess any type of physical figure. There is no natural discipline in searching a trend but only an interaction between a society’s members generates it. “Fashion can be about confirmation, of self and others. But it is also about anxiety, ambiguity, and worry. As an aid to understanding psychological complexities it is unsurpassed” explains how fashion works as a tool of social acceptance. An individual of a society should attain a certain level of acceptance to be a member. If the one cannot earn it, the status of the person in a society will be unstable. Therefore, people show a tendency of searing similarities in fashion with other members. Fashion trends are the rules of an individual’s aesthetic acceptance in a society. It varies from an environment to another. For examples, there are societies which require or nearly force people to wear black in a situation of condolence. It is a freedom of an individual of choosing what to wear. What matters is the acceptance following the fashion choice. Outside of social convention, people can use fashion to pursuit ideal aesthetic qualities of the society. If a society in general pursuits slender body shape, the tendency of wearing the items which can make people’s bodies to look as slender as possible will rise between its members.
