Sociology Of Fashion

As quoted in Coco Chanel: a woman of her own (Axel Madsen, p124),

‘’ fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.’’

(Refer to appendix 1) Fashion is everywhere nowadays and is having more and more impact in our daily life. Fashion existed in different forms. According to Wikipedia (Wikipedia, 25 February 2015), fashion is a trendy style or practice, particularly in clothing, footwear, accessories, makeup, body piercing or furniture. (Refer to appendix 2)

In this study, we will mostly fashion in terms of clothing, at some points we shall look also at the different types of fashion.

The aims of the study are to examine what is fashion for the Mauritian society, what do they know about

1.0 Definition of fashion in sociology. Fashion is regarded as both a significant sociological theme as well as a social phenomenon par excellence. Fashion can be defined principally as the social systemic production, consumption and institutionalization of novelty. Fashion mixes culture, the individual and the economy which created a cultural phenomenon. Fashion can be qualified to be both an idea and an ideal.

Fashion can find expression and be coded by materially and visually in forms of color, shape, texture and branding, and must be created and spread inside cultural fields combining local and global systems.

Fashion is not just a social practice concerning clothing and address. It is more of an expressive sensibility favoring novelty and individuality, which energizes facets of both monetary production and personal consumption.

Fashion is essential to culture, it offers aesthetic forms in fields such as dress and clothing, philosophy and religion, music, habits and customs, through which individuals attach to, or demonstrate their difference from, various communities. As a cultural process, fashion is responsible for situating individuals within a constantly changing forest of objects, people, events, styles and practices to which they relate, about which they form opinions and which symbolically help to locate them within various social strata and communities. In this way, being 'in fashion ', indifferent to it or actively claiming to reject

Fashion is more common in current society than in the ancient tribes or peasant communities. Modern society is an open one where class differences are not as severe as in primitive society. Its urban and mobile class structure allows people to develop its own personality taste and implement its new course. The modern world is more open-minded to differences and consequently places few restraints on the cycle of fashion. Our principles of judgment have also changed. Nowadays the individual is evaluated more by observable externalities than by his descents, his personality or his authentic accomplishments. The clothes a man dresses in, the language he speaks, the behaviors he demonstrated have more credence in ascribing a status than his simplicity, patriotism and