Fashion is a constant presence in an individual’s life; it is an integral part of society

Women’s fashion and their impact makes our life colorful. Whenever a girl wears a new pair of earrings or a new shade of lipstick she gets more confident walking through the streets. Fashion is a place where art, history, science, love, music and emotions combine. People have always paid attention to clothes and their appearance. Whatever you wear become a fashion trend. India being a large country with diversity has different types of fashion in different states.

Cross a kilometer you will observe a different fashion almost every religion; the region has its own dresses. Women’s fashion and their impact became a way to promote culture to the world. Firstly, clothes served to protect our bodies from the environmental conditions but with the run of time, clothes became a way of presenting yourself; visually communicate our interests and tastes. People start thinking about the beauty of their clothes; the image of a fashionable person became more eminent with the help of numerous accessories like scarves, earrings, nose pins, bags, bangles, belts, etc.

From childhood, we have been told that the first impression is the last impression so whenever you plan to go out for a date, business meeting trips the first thing that enters before you are your clothes. There is a proverb – A man is judged by his clothes let’s take an example of an interview scenario where an individual is asked to wear decent dresses and sometimes the organization has their own dress code for the interviews. If an applicant wears good clothes probably will receive the job. Upper class people try to wear expensive suits to maintain their standard in society. Women’s fashion and their impact is a dynamic phenomenon. Fashion itself is a language. People should find their own style. You have all the freedom to create your own fashion trends and style.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, fashion trends have the shoddiest part too people who wear challenging fashionable clothes do suffer from the opinions from different people and every day becomes a challenge to overcome. A girl going to parties buy an expensive dress just for one event and never want to wear it again just because people might think that she got only one dress. So we can imagine what a second life we are living where we care more about people’s opinions rather than our own comfort, originality.

People are so obsessed with the fashion trends that many girls get into slim fits diet for months by leaving what their hearts want to eat or do stuff just for a fear of becoming fat. People sit hours and hours doing online fashion shopping. While many online sellers are legitimate, unfortunately, scammers can use the latest technology to set up fake online retail stores with heavy discounts which attract and convince people to buy and make the payment online. Almost 30%of all fashion products from Flipkart, Myntra returned reasons for various. A bizarre new trend sees in the teenager purchasing clothes online, only to return them a day later after they have captured the perfect shot for Instagram. #OOTD appeal, a hashtag link that has approximately 19 crores posts on Instagram.

This is a reductive reaction, and one that is founded more in ignorance than reality. Just like how some people write-off sports as silly ‘games’ with no meaningful impact on the world, fashion falls victim to the same attitude.

However, like sports, there is so much more than fun and frivolity to fashion. Fashion is personal. And the personal, as second-wave feminists convincingly argued, is political. Fashion is more than amped up dress up for adults. It’s a reflection of who we are and what we believe.

Fashion as a Zeitgeist:

We already pointed out that women’s fashion and their impact reflects the ideological shifts in our society: the suffragette movement saw skirts getting shorter and clothing in general became less cumbersome.

What is Zeitgeist?

 It’s the defining mood or spirit of a specific era in history as displayed by the beliefs an ideas of that time. So, how does this relate to fashion? In the 1970’s, free love was seen in free-flowing clothing and hair. The disgruntled youth of the 90’s expressed themselves with grunge style. Pick any era, and can see how the fashion reflects prominent schools of thought.

Fashion as an Impetus:

But fashion does more than reflect: it can change society. It can act as an impetus to affect the dynamics of the world as a force that makes things move or occur more swiftly.

After all, whether or not you choose to use fashion as an art form, one would be hard-pressed to deny that fashion is a form of self-expression. And self-expression is a kind of art.

Even the decision to slip into sweatpants and a favorite worn-out oversized tee is a form of self-expression: saying that comfort is your kingdom and that you are shedding the shackles of more high-maintenance style, if only for the night. Your decision to not keep up with trends speaks toward your beliefs, just like not voting speaks to your political beliefs. You can’t get away from what your style says about you, and because it can say so much, it can be a driving force of change, not just a reflection of it.

Take, for example, the death of the white wedding. While many brides still wear white wedding dresses, it is by no means a necessity. In a desire to freely express sexual liberation, many women decided to wear different colored and more seductively styled wedding dresses.

Designer Made Fashion Styles:

Designers have also made it their mission to use their labels to express their beliefs, in hopes they can affect change in the world through style. Some designers use only sustainable sourced materials to make their clothing: clothing that is meant to reflect the diversity of the world. Other designers create chic, sexy dresses to promote fearless and unapologetic femininity. And others create style that promotes and reflects a more conservative world-view.

Fashion is not a baseless and frivolous part of our society. It is one of the most obvious and tangible means to track and affect societal change.