vienna

wear our “winter jacket” instead of our “summer jacket” when
the weather conditions change. The need to wear warmer or
cooler garments is thus a good reason for linking the fashion
year to the natural seasons. This natural order can also be reflected
in that of our wardrobes at home. During the cold season,
all the pieces for summer have a place in the rear. This order
is then changed when the seasons change. As in former times,
we still have a representation of nature as an ordering structure
in our homes, although behind closed doors. Maybe this is a
hidden ritual in our consumer society according to which we
also restructure the order of garments in our wardrobe in spring
and autumn. This is when we become aware of the seasons and
begin to mentally prepare ourselves for the warm or the cold
time of the year. 100 The awakening of nature in spring, summer,
and its change in autumn and winter are natural references for
the dramatisation of fashion collections. This why we pointed
out that the fashion industry has a natural reference for creating
collections according to the seasons. What is not clear for the
moment is why garments become outdated, and why we face
new fashions two times a year. Why do several consumer groups
feel the need to discard the previous season’s designs? What
creates the social pressure to buy new clothes even though the
old ones could still be used? What forces fashion shops to get rid
of their stock of the past collection as fast as they can, and by any
means? According to Thorstein Veblen, the reasons for it are
manifold. In his Theory of the Leisure Class, Veblen argued that
the change of fashion is motivated by the upper class’s desire to
display its social status through demonstrative wastefulness, a
wastefulness that creates prestige. Fashion, in this context, is
a good medium for such efforts. Another way to show wastefulness
is the creation of new fashion trends.
”Having so explained the phenomenon of shifting fashions, the
next thing is to make the explanation tally with everyday facts.
Among these everyday facts is the well-known liking which
all men have of the styles that are in vogue at any given time. A
new style comes into vogue and remains in favour for a season,
and, at least so long as it is a novelty, people generally find
the style very attractive. The prevailing fashion is felt to be
100 We are speaking from the middle European point of view, but fashion collections are introduced in the same way even in
places such as Hong Kong where the seasons do not vary much. The show windows present pullovers and winter coats for
the winter collection despite the hot weather conditions.
Fashion Cycle
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