Trends and Fashion

As described in the Definitions, the reason that trends are so dynamic is that they are created through the piecing together of different building blocks, which are changing over time;

namely Trend Mechanisms. These mechanisms are influenced by many external factors, which will be elaborated on below.

7.1 The Theoretical Toolbox of Trend Mechanisms

In order to get an overview of the aspects that form trends, the Toolbox of Trend Mechanisms created by MacKinney-Valentin will be explained and, later on, applied to our findings. This Toolbox is a gathering of two centuries of theories regarding Trend Mechanisms, boiled down to five key Trend Mechanisms, which provide an overview of the factors in play when trends change (McKinney-Valentin, 2010). Moreover, they can help decode contemporary consumer behaviour. The five Trend Mechanisms are:

7.1.1 Social Mechanism: Process of Social Distinction and Imitation

Style is deeply rooted in an individual’s social identity, as well as it is influenced by fashion (cf. 2.6 Definitions). It is a communication instrument that allows people to see who others are before even talking to them, or at least how they want to be seen. Clothes are the human being’s second skin and people get to choose it themselves. Belk (1988) argues: “Possessions can also symbolically extend self, as when a uniform or trophy allows us to convince ourselves (and perhaps others) that we can be a different person than we would be without them.” This quote leads us to a hypothesis:

H3: If the uniform Belk mentions can also refer to fashion, then socially responsible clothing can enhance a feeling when wearing it.

66 In order to determine where fashion trends come from in society, three different trickle-theories are presented:

1. Trickle-down (top-down): Scholar Simmel presented the view that a trend starts at the top of the hierarchy in society and filters down through the classes. When the trend is then adopted by the lower classes in society, it is abolished by the upper class, as they do not wish to look like people from a lower layer in society (Simmel, 1905), which is also in line with the Fashion Pyramid put forward by Raustiala and Sprigman (2006) where they divide the fashion industry into different categories depending on the exclusivity (and price) of the clothes (ibid).

2. Trickle-across: As a reaction to Simmel’s theory, King put forward the trickle-across theory. He argues that trends change due to a modern social process, e.g. mass-production or mass-communication, and generates a vertical flow through classes (King, 1963).

3. Trickle-up: Field also saw Simmel’s theory as wrong, instead he states that trends come out of the youth’s urge to express themselves in an extreme way through their style. Later on, some of these are adopted by the older generations (Field, 1970).

These three theories are very typical for their time and thus did fit society in that particular period. However, MacKinney-Valentin states that today, even though the concept of social hierarchies might have changed, the concepts of distinction and imitation have not. Thus, the creation of trends might be rooted in all three trickle-theories, depending on the context. This merely adds to the complexity of how trends are created and how to brand these, as it is difficult to decode where and how they occur, and even more impossible to control.

7.1.2 Neomania: Expression of the Postmodern Condition

Neomania, desire for the new, is about how individuals crave novelty as a personal mission and not because of the need of social recognition (Lipovetsky, 1994). This mania occurs as a result of the individual’s free personal choice, leaving people with too many options, turning the Neomania into a relief to of boredom and the constant feeling of emptiness (Svendsen, 2005). This is also in line with Varey’s view on happiness in a capitalistic society, stating that economic growth can only be fuelled if people are constantly unsatisfied (Varey, 2010).

67 7.1.3 Market: Market Forces

This Trend Mechanism is solely concerned with the more capitalistic view on trends; the relations between trade, commercial agendas, and trends. The essential part of it is called

“Style Obsolescence”, also called fast fashion, as it is about the introduction of new designs and products each season in order to make the current/older appear outdated and useless. The result of this is an ever-increasing consumption and larger profits for the fashion companies operating with fast fashion.

7.1.4 Seduction: Sexual Allure

Sexual allure, desire, and fashion trends are intertwined, as they are all a part of the strategy of seduction. Different textiles send different signals, as well as different designs and how these are worn. They make up a system of sexual signals that communicate intentions and preferences.

7.1.5 Zeitgeist: Reflection of Current Spirit of the Times

The Zeitgeist mechanism is about how the current Discourse is expressed materially in fashion. In other words, it reflects the culture of society, which correlates with the argument by Pedersen (2011) as he states that the themes in our societal Discourse will set the agenda for which topics are being discussed. There are five factors that determine a Zeitgeist:

Dominating events, Dominating Ideals, dominating groups, dominating attitudes, and dominating technology.

Dominating events can be everything from crucial historical moments that change the way we see things, such as 9/11, the financial crisis, to less crucial events like the annual Oscar show.

The only thing these events are required to share is that they are able to alter the trends.

Dominating Ideals refer to how we want to picture ourselves and which group we aspire to belong to, hence our Reference Groups. Examples are many and span from the green wave in fashion to the multi-cultural ideals of hip-hop culture.

68 Dominating groups concern the groups/beliefs that help shape society. In the past, religion, class, and origin were some of the things that determined an individual’s place in society.

Much has changed since and now different sub-cultures determine who you are and where you belong in society. With regard to fashion, style is more an act of constructing yourself and then choosing the group.

Dominating attitude distinguishes between two poles: “fitting in” or “standing out”, being inspired by collectivism or individualism, both as a part of the creation of social status.

However, the two poles can also refer to Societal Level and Anti-Societal Level (Sestoft, 2010), where the first is about fitting in and the latter about standing out.

Dominating technology is, of course, about the rise of the Internet, which has decentralized and democratized the fashion system. Also, dominating technology has made is possible to efficiently outsource production of clothes.

A Zeitgeist is dynamic and it helps people understand themselves, society, and their place in the world.

This toolbox mentions the largest influencers in fashion trendsetting. However, there are some shortcomings; first of all, even though this toolbox has a gathering of two centuries’ Trend Mechanism theories, it is only seen through the glasses of Postmodernism and fails to mention Hypermodernism, which has gained ground in recent years (Lipovetsky, 2005) Another limitation is that the media are not mentioned in any of the five mechanisms or as a Trend Mechanism of its own. It might be implicit in the fifth mechanism, however it should be clarified, as the media play a big role both in the creation of new trends and the general Discourse development. We argue that the media play a role in all of the Trend Mechanisms, as they are the main communicator of these, thus it functions as an umbrella necessary for the Trend Mechanisms to be communicated.

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