Fashion is the prevailing style in a culture at a given time. It can be seen in the clothes worn, hairstyles favored, or ways of speaking and acting. The term can also refer to the style of a particular person’s home or workplace. The most common use of the word, however, is for clothing. This includes dresses, shoes, and even accessories like jewelry. It can also include the way someone combs their hair or wears their makeup.
The fashion industry has a huge impact on the world around us. It employs millions of people worldwide to design, sew, glue, dye and transport clothing to stores for consumers to purchase. It is a fast-moving business, which means that fashion articles have a short shelf life. This is why it is important to keep up with the latest trends.
In the past, fads and new styles would often be inspired by new discoveries in exotic places such as Turkey or China. Today, globalization has reduced the availability of such novelty, but changes in fashion still occur frequently.
Aside from its purely aesthetic nature, fashion is used as a symbol of identity. For example, judges wear robes, military personnel wear uniforms, and brides traditionally wear long white dresses. This use of fashion is especially visible in the adolescent years when a teenager may experiment with different styles to figure out who they are and who they want to be.
One of the most interesting aspects about fashion is its cyclical nature. Once a style becomes fashionable, it quickly moves out of fashion. However, similar styles often come back into fashion at a later date. This is due to the influence of fashion magazines and television shows. They are the main source of information on what is currently fashionable.
The word “fashion” is derived from the French word for vogue, which means “trend.” It is widely believed that changing trends in fashion are a reflection of societal change and/or financial interests of manufacturers and designers. Research, though, indicates that there are internal mechanisms that drive changes in fashion as well.