The Tyranny of Fashion

“Every generation laughs at the old fashions,” said Henry Thoreau, “but follows religiously the new.”¹ This brings us to what could be called the tyranny of fashion ⎯ the “in” thing and the “out” thing ⎯ and if we wait long enough the cycle turns again and all but brings us back to where we were. But the often unanswered question is who decides? who dictates? and by what reason? by what right? and why so slavishly should fashion be followed? Of course, there is, within some limits, the importance of appearance. Certainly people, when they look what they ought to be, seem more easily accepted ⎯ and with dignity and good taste there is increased opportunity and increased confidence. To whom, professionally, for example, would we turn or entrust ourselves ⎯ to one grubby, unkempt, an extremist who follows frivolous fashion, or to one clean, well-groomed ⎯ attired in good taste? Clothes don’t make the man, but they may suggest some symptom of something inside. As a certain king once said: “I can make a lord, but only the Almighty can make a gentleman.”² It isn’t the label or the ostentation that makes the man. And that which is merely for show, merely for attracting attention to itself, may, by its very nature, be somewhat suspect. And so we need some guidelines on such a variable subject ⎯ some basis of what would seem acceptable. And among these are moderation, modesty, morality; reasonableness, self-respect; shunning extremes, along with some latitude of personal taste, but without exploitation or compulsion for profit ⎯ the kind of pressures that seem to compel so many people to follow the tyranny of fashion. Of course there is the counsel of Alexander Pope: “Be not the first by whom the new are tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside”³ ⎯ which is good as far as it goes ⎯ but, old or new, there are some things that should never be tried or turned to. Remember cleanliness, decency, wholesomeness, health ⎯ moderation, modesty, morality. Beyond these, nothing should ever induce us to follow the tyranny of fashion.