Without realising it, the clothes we choose to wear tell other people a lot about us. We often judge people by what they are wearing. For example, people dressed in expensive clothes are thought to be wealthy. Our shoes, make-up, accessories and jewellery, all tend to create an impression of our personality and the social class we belong to. Similarly, our choice of clothes also depends on our age and who we are influenced by.
For example, popular music seems to have become the most important means of developing personal identity for young people. Whether they prefer heavy metal, grunge or pop, the musicians they see on TV soon become their role models, so young people not only want to listen to their music, they want to copy the musicians’ style of clothing and behaviour.
Similarly, peer pressure is strong among teenagers who want to be like other people of the same age. For this reason, to most teenagers dressing to look like their friends seems to be the surest way to be accepted.
Fashion is a big business. More people are involved in the buying, selling and producing clothes than in any other business in the world. Every day, millions of workers design, sew, glue, dye clothing and transport it to stores. Store buyers work many months ahead of the season to place orders with manufacturers for styles they think their customers will want to buy. Ads on buses and billboards, fashion magazines, Hollywood blockbusters, flashy TV commercials and TV shows with celebrities give us ideas about the latest trends, in other words, what is in fashion and what has gone out of fashion.
On the other hand, we do not always have the chance to choose our clothes. If