Are women programmed to follow fashion?

Question

OK this is a bit general but isn't meant to be rude or critical, so don't take offence girls =)

You look down any busy town centre and all the girls are wearing the same thing: Boot cut hipsters with massive belts, blouses and T-Shirts are at navel level, tiny cardigans (I honestly think someone was taking the mick there) with long sleeves, and carefuly straightened hair.

And, of course, this has always happened!

Now I know that boys follow fashions too, but not in quite the same way - or am I wrong?

Is there some sort of genetic, mental or social thing that makes women want to look like each other? And if there are men reading this, do you expect a girl to be dressed fashionably? Would you be upset, for example, if your girlfriend dressed strikingly different.

And, finaly, girls - do you dress for other women or for men? I've always thought the former, myself.

Answer 1

After observing your spelling, and the use of the phrase "taking the mick" I'm guessing you're in Britain. Right now in the states the "skinny jean" is in. I hadn't even heard a term for that style of jean - tight, and tapered to the ankle, think 1984 - until 6 months ago. Now anytime you see a jean add, or a show about clothes/style, all they talk about is the "skinny jean".

Personally, I hate them. You have to have a particular type of body for them to look good, and if you're slightly overweight, they make you look fatter! BUT that doesn't stop 75% of women/girls from either buying them, or wanting to buy them. I have two theories:

1) It's hard to find anything else. Our country is so obsessed with being IN and on top of the latest trends. Anything that the current IT girl wore in Hollywood yesterday, will be on all the shelves at your local shopping mall; and last week's trends will go on the super duper sale rack (which is great if you like LAST weeks trends) where all of the "good" sizes will be sold out, leaving only XXS and XXL.

2) Girls have low self esteem, and try to bring other girls down to make themselves feel better. I go to the bars, I see those evil bitches that give you the "What is SHE wearing!?" or "What was she THINKING!?" look as you walk in the door without a designer handbag and skinny jeans tucked into your boots. I don't have low self esteem. But if I did, those looks of disapproval would probably influence which clothes I gravitate to next time I'm at the mall. And then once I had my hot new outfit (that will be out of syle in two weeks) I would reciprocate those bitchy looks to the first out of style girl that walked in the bar. Hence continuing the cycle of masking low self-esteem with fashion and rudeness.

Answer 2

I think this affects both men and women, lets face it there is not really as much you can do with mens clothes as womens though!
I myself do not follow and have never been what you call a slave to fashion, i like to look nice and stylish, but i try to dress more classically- you end up looking good but then not having to ditch your wardrobe every season!
Some use clothes as a status symbol becaiuse lets face it some people just buy clothes that are designer when they do not even like it too much(just costs a lot), but at the end of the day there is a lot of pressure for everyone to conform, either by looks, size, fashion or whatever.
At the end of the day, we are all buying into the game and i do not wanna be fashioned by anyone- if i like it i wear it- regardless of what "fashion" dictates!!!

Answer 3

Many girls try to keep up with fashion, because they think it is cute and they don't want to be the odd ball. A lot of times it depends on their mother telling them to keep up so they won't be a social outcast. Girls get dressed so they can look better then other women 1st then for men 2nd. Think about it the girl who looks the best get the attention of the boys, so you have to beat out all the other girls when you think about getting dressed, then you throw in something that boys like.

Answer 4

Honey, we don't all follow fashion. Society pressures us to fit a certain image and for some reason women tend to be more influenced by what they see as socially acceptable behaviour then men are. (boys will be boys)
I think alot of women dress to impress other women, alot of women I know are constantly comparing themselves to other women. Why? cos they're clones!
But anyway, what are you wearing? Is it a socially prescribed outfit?

Answer 5

No, its just we are still brought up not to have our own opinion or be different. Its seen as aggressive. Not fitting in makes you a wierdo.
So most people take the easy option and just go along with it; plus its harder to break out and do your own thing when most of the shops sell the same stuff.

Answer 6

Do men and women actually go about looking for fashion in different ways, no they don't. They do look for different styles of clothing, and other applicants, but truly we all go about looking for what is "appropriate" for a "man" or a "women". This is because what is mediatized as "appropriate" or "sexy", not only in fashion but also in things such as perfumes and colognes. Think about it, when you see a commercial about Revlon or Clinique, you see a beautiful female in attire that would connect with the target audience of the commercial, and an image that would be considered "sexy" or "beautiful" or any other sort of "positive" image with in a culture.

On to the second question: is there some sort of genetic/mental/social thing that makes women want to look like each other? As for genetic motivation, no, it lands completely on the mental/social aspects and the discourse of the "binary gender system" (the system of gender in which there is only "man" gender and "woman" gender). What I mean is we are not born "men", we are not born "women" we are shaped into them by our society. We are shaped, or socialized, by our parents telling us "boys don't cry" or "be a good little girl and be quiet"; to the images we see on TV of the "man" fighting battalions of bad guys, and coming out covered in gore victorious. or the "women" playing the part of the spunky, witty, office assistant, that falls in love with some unrealistic Adonis and systematically "gets the guy" with all of her 'feminine" charm, and wit. Even we, ourselves, are not with out blame for being molded into a "man" or a "woman". It has to do with the theories of "Nature vs Nurture" and "Group/Pack Mentality" both of these theories state that we take in stimuli, in this case its mediatized images, our parents and friends comments "policing our gender", and the veritable cornucopia of other gender pressuring stimuli our culture produces, then we react. Usually our reaction happens with some sort of though as simple as (or to the effect of), "that's to girlie" or "that's to butch". The simple fact of the matter is fashion wants us to become dependent on our gender to feel valid as a person by meditizing images of "gender acceptable" clothing with the guise of "sexy", "beautiful", "hot" etc. I know that this may seem odd to some people but let me offer another view on something we have always deemed as "feminine" the dress. In our culture it has become STRICTLY "women's" apparel, however if you look to a culture like china, what we would consider a dress, a long piece of cloth used to cover the legs and genitals of women, also used to accentuate the hips, men and women would ware long peices of cloth over there bottom halves and it is completely accetible in thier society.

So to answer your next question i will just say, no, i expect people to dress in a way that is completely comfortable with them.

Your friend
-The_apprentice

Answer 7

It's probably a mental thing. girls are naturally linked to fashion and they kinda want to look like all the other girls.
If my girlfriend wants to dress differently, that's good.
She'll look unique, but girls have different tastes. If one looks different, the others copy.

Answer 8

As men are more concerned in electronics, gadgets, car & so on. On the contarary, women are more obsessed with clothes, make-up, gossips & so on. That's y they say Men are from Mars & Women are from Venus. We are very similar & at the same time we are so different!!!

Answer 9

Society has set the standard. Most women jump on board. Even the ones who shouldn't.

Answer 10

I reckon men are worse. Look at footballers, Hair, Hair advertisements, Clothes, shoes, physical stereotype, No difference.