It would be hard to define the exact moment in which the notion of fashion appeared. At the very beginning, clothes were made from animals’ furs and skins and were worn for protection against cold weather, rain, snow and other natural phenomenon. However, they soon became more than a protective shell. When human society divided into social classes, clothes were used to indicate the social class that people belonged to. As it is natural, rich people wore finer materials and expensive jewelry, in order to prove their power and superiority to the poorer.

Therefore, fashion games were rather simple at first. People didn’t need fashion consultants to tell them what to wear. If you were a soldier, you dressed like a soldier; if you were a peasant, you dressed like a peasant, and so on. Of course, things became more complicated if you were part of the upper classes. Fashion games were important among the aristocracy. A good example would be the royal court of France (which has always been considered the most sophisticated country when it comes to fashion and style). The standards of elegance were high and if a woman failed to comply with them, she was subjected to mockery.

It is believed that the habit of people continually changing the style of the clothes they wear (which is what we understand by fashion today) is a Western one. On the contrary, in the Eastern countries, such as Japan, Turkey, Persia or China, the style of the clothing remained rather constant for many centuries. In the past, the style of clothes a person was wearing could tell you the country or the region that a person came from. Nowadays, due to the globalization, this is no longer true, as the fashion games are the same everywhere.

Although society has evolved, clothes are still used to show one’s solidarity with other people. The clothes you are wearing may not show the social class that you belong to anymore, but they can tell a lot about your personality and preferences, for example, the type of music you like. Fashion is influenced by age, social status, occupation, lifestyle and environment. It would probably seem strange and ridiculous to see an elder person wearing clothes similar to the ones young people wear. People also dress in a certain way in order to be accepted by their group and society in general. Teenagers may also adopt certain looks to show their rebellion and non-conformism, to differentiate themselves from the adults’ world.

All in all, we cannot talk about a universal role of fashion. The importance of fashion in our life depends on every one of us. For some people, it is very important to be trendy, fashionable, “in”, while other simply look for clothes that they feel comfortable in. But who decides what is trendy and what’s not? The famous designers and the celebrity are usually the ones who make the fashion games. Many teenagers copy their idol’s (famous movie star or artist) style of dressing. It is obvious that we can’t all be trendy, as not everyone has the time to stay up-to-date with the latest styles or the money to buy new clothes. According to the designers, the wisest thing is not to slavishly follow the new fashions (like the “fashion victims” do), but to choose and adopt only the styles that advantage us. The most important thing, however, is to choose clothes that fit our personality and life style, that we feel comfortable in.

For some people, fashion and the latest trends are very important, while others seem to have never heard of it. The fashion games are made by famous designers and celebrities, but how important is to be trendy and how far do we have to go just to be “cool”? This is a question that everyone has to find his or her own answer too. Most of us choose to keep up with the trends, without becoming obsessed by them.