Fashion is about the prevailing modes of clothing, body adornment and lifestyles. It has also been used throughout history as a way of marking and signalling identity. This is because it is easily observed at a glance by others. As a semiotic signifier fashion is constantly changing, and this change occurs for many reasons. Firstly it can be triggered by people who are highly influential and popular with the general public; their clothes and lifestyle become copied and this starts a trend.
Alternatively it can happen because of changes in the economy or society, such as technological developments like the sewing machine that enabled mass production. This led to the formation of large department stores, which offered a wider range of styles and colours than the little dressmakers could offer. In addition, rationing of cloth and haberdashery during World War Two streamlined production methods to allow manufacturers to make garments in a quick, economical and standardised manner.
Fashion is a complex phenomenon, and its rich impact can be seen in the vast landscape of coverage, discussion and study of the subject in media, both popular and academic. Yet, as the recent resurgence of protests like Extinction Rebellion demonstrate, much of this coverage and study tends to reduce fashion to a fetishised set of auratic products presented in bright cellophane wrappers obscuring their human, natural and economic costs. This reductive construction of fashion is problematic because it devalues the importance of these resources while at the same time promoting their consumption and fetishisation.