Editing Fashion (section)

== Definitions ==
[[File:Woman's Bicycling Ensemble LACMA M.74.24.27a-b.jpg|thumb|left|Woman's Bicycling Ensemble, 1898, [[LACMA]]]]

The French word {{lang|fr|[[wikt:mode#French|mode]]}}, meaning "fashion", dates as far back as 1482, while the English word denoting something "in style" dates only to the 16th century. Other words exist related to concepts of style and appeal that precede ''mode''. In the 12th and 13th century [[Old French]] the concept of elegance begins to appear in the context of aristocratic preferences to enhance beauty and display refinement, and {{lang|fro|cointerie}}, the idea of making oneself more attractive to others by style or artifice in grooming and dress, appears in a 13th-century poem by [[Guillaume de Lorris]] advising men that "handsome clothes and handsome accessories improve a man a great deal".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Grace Heller|first=Sarah|title=Fashion in Medieval France|publisher=D.S. Brewer|year=2007|location=United Kingdom|page=97}}</ref>

Fashion scholar Susan B. Kaiser states that everyone is "forced to appear", unmediated before others.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kaiser|first=Susan|title=Fashion and Cultural Studies|publisher=Berg|year=2012|location=London}}</ref> Everyone is evaluated by their attire, and evaluation includes the consideration of [[color of clothing|colors]], materials, silhouette, and how garments appear on the body. Garments identical in style and material also appear different depending on the wearer's body shape, or whether the garment has been washed, folded, mended, or is new.

''Fashion'' is defined in a number of different ways, and its application can be sometimes unclear. Though the term ''fashion'' connotes difference, as in "the new fashions of the season", it can also connote sameness, for example in reference to "the fashions of the 1960s", implying a general uniformity. Fashion can signify the latest trends, but may often reference fashions of a previous era, leading to the reappearance of fashions from a different time period. While what is fashionable can be defined by a relatively insular, esteemed and often rich aesthetic elite who make a look exclusive, such as [[fashion house]]s and [[haute couture|haute couturiers]], this 'look' is often designed by pulling references from [[subculture]]s and social groups who are not considered elite, and are thus excluded from making the distinction of what is fashion themselves.

Whereas a ''trend'' often connotes a peculiar aesthetic expression, often lasting shorter than a season and being identifiable by visual extremes, fashion is a distinctive and industry-supported expression traditionally tied to the [[fashion week|fashion season]] and [[fashion design|collections]].<ref name="Kawamura, Yuniija. 2005">{{Cite book|last=Kawamura, Yuniija.|title=Fashion-ology : an introduction to fashion studies|date=2005|publisher=Berg|isbn=978-1859738146|oclc=796077256}}</ref> ''Style'' is an expression that lasts over many seasons and is often connected to cultural movements and [[social marker]]s, symbols, class, and culture (such as [[Baroque]] and [[Rococo]]). According to sociologist [[Pierre Bourdieu]], fashion connotes "the latest difference."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bourdieu|first=Pierre|title='Haute couture and haute culture,' in Sociology in Question|publisher=Sage|year=1993}}</ref>

Even though the terms ''fashion'', ''clothing'' and ''costume'' are often used together, fashion differs from both. ''Clothing'' describes the material and the technical garment, devoid of any social meaning or connections; ''costume'' has come to mean [[costume party|fancy dress]] or [[masquerade ball|masquerade]] wear. Fashion, by contrast, describes the social and temporal system that influences and "activates" dress as a social signifier in a certain time and context. Philosopher [[Giorgio Agamben]] connects fashion to the qualitative [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] concept of {{transliteration|grc|[[kairos]]}}, meaning "the right, critical, or opportune moment", and clothing to the quantitative concept of {{transliteration|grc|[[chronos]]}}, the personification of chronological or sequential time.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Agamben|first=Georgio|title='What is an apparatus?' and other essays|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2009}}</ref>

[[File:Michael_Kors_Spring-Summer_2014_02.jpg|thumb|right|[[Sasha Luss]] model in the fashion scene, having walked for brands such as Dior, Chanel, and Valentino.]]

While some exclusive brands may claim the label ''[[haute couture]],'' in France, the term is technically limited to members of the {{lang|fr|Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode|url=https://fhcm.paris/en/the-federation/|access-date=2020-09-19|website=Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode|language=en-GB}}</ref> in Paris.<ref name="Kawamura, Yuniija. 2005" /> Haute couture is more aspirational; inspired by art and culture, and in most cases, reserved for the economic [[elite]]. However, New York's fashion calendar hosts Couture Fashion Week, which strives for a more equitable and inclusive mission.<ref Name=NYCHauteCouture>{{cite web|url=https://www.couturefashionweek.com/designers/|title=Couture Fashion Week|publisher=Couture Fashion Week|quote=Couture Fashion Week New York Latest Designers|access-date=November 26, 2023}}</ref>

Fashion is also a source of art, allowing people to display their unique tastes, sensibilities, and styles.<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal|last=Benton|first=Angelique|date=March 2012|title=Angelique Benton Fashion as Art/ Art as Fashion: Is Fashion, Art?|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/159564065.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210919023922/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/159564065.pdf |archive-date=2021-09-19 |url-status=live|journal=The Ohio State University Journal|via=Ohio}}</ref> Different [[fashion design]]ers are influenced by outside stimuli and reflect this inspiration in their work. For example, [[Gucci]]'s 'stained green' jeans<ref>{{Cite news|last=Dear|first=Alice|date=September 2020|title=Gucci is selling 'grass-stained' jeans for £600, and people have a lot to say|work=Heart|url=https://www.heart.co.uk/lifestyle/gucci-grass-stained-jeans/}}</ref> may look like a grass stain, but to others, they display purity, freshness, and summer.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Kaiser |first=Susan B. |title=Fashion and Cultural Studies |date=2019 |publisher=Bloomsbury Visual Arts |isbn=978-1350109605 |oclc=1057778310}}</ref>

Fashion is unique, self-fulfilling and may be a key part of someone's identity. Similarly to art, the aims of a person's choices in fashion are not necessarily to be liked by everyone, but instead to be an expression of personal taste.<ref name=":10" /> A person's personal style functions as a "societal formation always combining two opposite principles. It is a socially acceptable and secure way to distinguish oneself from others and, at the same time, it satisfies the individual's need for social adaptation and imitation."<ref name=":11">{{cite journal |last1=Gronow |first1=Jukka |title=Taste and Fashion: The Social Function of Fashion and Style |journal=Acta Sociologica |date=1993 |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=89–90 |doi=10.1177/000169939303600201 |jstor=4200841 |s2cid=56514246 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4200841 |access-date=10 April 2021 |ref=11 | issn=0001-6993}}</ref> While philosopher [[Immanuel Kant]] believed that fashion "has nothing to do with genuine judgements of taste", and was instead "a case of unreflected and 'blind' imitation",<ref name=":11"/> sociologist [[Georg Simmel]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georg-Simmel|title = Georg Simmel &#124; German sociologist &#124; Britannica| date=22 September 2023 }}</ref> thought of fashion as something that "helped overcome the distance between an individual and his society".<ref name=":11"/> American sociologist Diana Crane also mentioned in her book that fashion is closely intertwined with personal and group identity, serving as a means of expressing cultural, social, and political affiliations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Blanchard |first1=Mary W. |last2=Crane |first2=Diana |last3=Joselit |first3=Jenna Weissman |date=June 2002 |title=Fashion and Its Social Agendas: Class, Gender, and Identity in Clothing |url=https://academic.oup.com/jah/article-lookup/doi/10.2307/2700908 |journal=The Journal of American History |volume=89 |issue=1 |pages=294 |doi=10.2307/2700908|jstor=2700908 }}</ref>