Sociology of Fashion: Order and Change

In this article, we synthesize and analyze sociological understandingof fashion, with the main part of the review devoted to classical andrecent sociological work. To further the development of this largelyinterdisciplinary field, we also highlight the key points of research inother disciplines. We define fashion as an unplanned process of recurrentchange against a backdrop of order in the public realm. Weclarify this definition after tracing fashion’s origins and history. As asocial phenomenon, fashion has been culturally and economically significantsince the dawn of Modernity and has increased in importancewith the emergence of mass markets, both in terms of production andconsumption. Most research on this topic is concerned with dress, butwe argue that there are no domain restrictions that should constrainfashion theories. We identify venues around which sociologists coulddevelop further research in this field.</p