FASHION BASICS #2

DIRECTIONS OF CHANGE

Fashion is ever changing. The drastic changes in fashion is what makes it interesting and thus has a need to be studied. Now , the question arises ,where does this change come from?  who all are affected by this change? Does this change have any direction?

The answer to it is ,yes! Fashion has direction of change which is also called the theories of fashion. Fashion shows a movement from different social classes of  the society. It could either hit a runway fashion inspired from the street style or celebrities’ style which could encourage average middle class youth. The directions of change could thus be penetration of fashion across different status!

Trickle - down theory: Who doesn’t want to look like a star , like a fashionable aristocrat . This is the basic idea of trickle-down theory! The need to look high-class by the people falling under the bottom of social hierarchy make them copy the style of those above. The fashion gradually trickles down and eventually gets adopted by the commoners . We try to copy the style of our favourite heroes in the movies, this could be the best example of trickle down as how the fashion travels from the big screen stars to people who admire these stars. This is the oldest theory of distribution and Vebelen coined the term in 1899.

Trickle - across theory : This theory shows horizontal movement across all social status . Here fashion doesn’t discriminate people on their social status, what the high income people wear, the same or little different are worn by the people in the lower income group where the product is available in cheaper prices. This is also called the mass market theory as the fashion is accepted by the mass and the market is open for all social economic group of people. This was introduced by Robinson in 1958 ignoring the market segments.

Trickle - up theory : The adoption of fashion from the streets and people belonging to lower level of social hierarchy by the ones above them in the hierarchy is trickling up of fashion. The movement is from bottoms-up, from the streets to the runway! The subculture Punk, Grunge and Gothic looks also inspired the people of higher income level and hit the runway fashion different times. Its the newest of the theories and one example could how the t-shirts initially used by laborers as a practical undergarment is now universally accepted as a casual wear. 

Inspirations has been coming from everywhere to hit fashion in different directions. Its amazing how the world of fashion has been evolved  into a diverse field of trial and error counting up on the classes in the society to come up with something new, weird ,crazy as being absurd has become totally normal !