Fashion is a multifaceted industry that encompasses clothing, footwear, accessories, cosmetics and jewellery. Its various forms reflect changing cultural aesthetics and are often influenced by social change, economy and the media. It is a highly globalized business with the clothing often designed in one country, produced in another and sold in many more. Fashion can also refer to a particular style or trend in dress, manners or behaviour. It may also imply a specific era or time period of clothing, such as the fashionable “grunge” style that emerged in the early 1990s.
It is also used to describe the general conventions of politeness that society conforms to, for example, the use of certain words, such as groovy (which has now gone out of fashion) to mean something great and excellent, but which was popular in previous decades. Fashion can also be a verb meaning to create or design something.
Writing fashion content requires an understanding of the ever-changing trends in style and a flair for creativity. Using vivid adjectives is important for conveying the desired aesthetic of a piece, such as regal, romantic, radiant or alluring. Familiarity with fashion lingo is also useful, such as haute couture, which means exclusive designer-made clothes only available to models and celebrities. Ready-to-wear is another french jargon that translates to custom-made, but is usually reserved for the mass market.
It is important to understand that clothing styles and trends are often very fast-moving, with a short turnaround time between what can be seen on the catwalk or in celebrity media and when it becomes available for mass consumption. This is particularly true for women’s clothing, where new styles are constantly being created and older ones being phased out.