Fashion
Author(s): Beatrice Judelle
Source: Challenge , January 1957, Vol. 5, No. 4 (January 1957), pp. 61-64
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40717272
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
Taylor & Francis, Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Challenge
This content downloaded from
91.117.32.170 on Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:36:24 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
#- fashion % by Beatrice Judelle
What is it? Where does it begin and where does it end?
TERM, "a slave to fashion," horses" will readily admit that
is apt to conjure up the image each time we buy something new
of a wan-looking woman, heavily to wear we put aside other cloth-
made up, dressed in the latest, ing that is far from worn out, but
bizarre style, who spends a con- just a little dated. We replace
siderable amount of time poring furniture that has years of useful
over the fashion magazines for life left in it because its lines or
the latest news from Paris. But colors do not fit our present idea
we are all "slaves to fashion" in of how our home should look. We
one way or another. trade in cars that still have many
The desire to dress in the Paris thousands of driving miles ahead,
manner is merely one expression, and we cheerfully accept the fact
if somewhat exaggerated, of the that our new cars, after the first
universal longing of man to con- year of ownership, will have de-
form to the pattern of his group, preciated by one-third in value be-
to change with it or to adapt cause still newer ones have come
himself to entirely new patterns on the market.
on moving into a different group. To the businessman, fashion
And as consumers, we spend a changes constitute a real and ap-
great deal more to be in fashion preciable market force. They can,
than we realize. for example, mean a boom in
Even those of us who would in- miracle fabrics, modern furniture
dignantly deny being "clothes or hard-top convertibles. They
January 1957 61
This content downloaded from
91.117.32.170 on Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:36:24 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
have also tolled the end of busi- about 20 years ago which more
ness in such things as bustles than and anything else heralded the
bowlers, horsehair sofas and still current enthusiasm for in-
cradles or antimacassars and formal playclothes.
mustache cups. If the development of aviation
Who sets the fashion? Is it the made "streamlining" the key to
couturier, Christian Dior, who de- modern design in automobiles, ap-
cides in the solitude of his Paris pliances and almost everything
workrooms what fashionable wo- else, should we credit the de-
men will wear next year? Is the signers of airplanes or the multi-
trend in automobile design being tude of designers who have hit on
articulated right this minute by streamlining as an approach to in-
a draftsman for General Motors? dustrial design problems? What
Or is the draftsman over at Ford ? about the scientists who translated
Or at Chrysler? the theories of aerodynamics on-
Unfortunately for the bewild- to paper graphs, or the natural
ered businessman, the answer is flight of birds which inspired it
not that simple. The professional all? Fashion can begin anywhere:
designer is, of course, responsible in the arts, the sciences or simply
for the final form in which a dress, in the intuition of a designer. But
an automobile or a fabric is manu- it cannot be said to be the exclu-
sive creation of any of these.
factured, and into this goes all his
highly developed artistic skills. No matter how complicated a
But does the impetus for setting business fashion may be, serious
a fashion rest with him alone? Not and effective efforts must be made
always; and not, for that matter, to determine what the customers
even generally. will want tomorrow. Thus, in the
clothing industry, many a busi-
Maude Adams and Peter Pan nessman will add to his staff an
executive, usually a woman, whose
For proof we have only to recall
sole function is to study and in-
the unpredictable sources of a few
past fashions. The tiny, rounded terpret fashion trends for the com-
collar known as a Peter Pan be- pany and its customers. If the
came the fashion, for example, fashion expert knows her business,
when Maude Adams wore one in she avoids the cost of "duds" in the
Barrie's play. A comic strip firm's line and helps lead its de-
started a hair style called Buster
Brown which swept the country. Beatrice Judelle has been doing re-
It was Marlene Dietrich's start- search and writing for associations
and publications in the retail field
ling appearance in flannel slacks for more than 20 years.
62 Challenge
This content downloaded from
91.117.32.170 on Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:36:24 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
signers to create more "running the lookout for ways to harness it
numbers" that enjoy quick accept- for their own ends. Few business-
ance and steady sale. She earns men, however, are in a position to
her keep by helping the company direct fashions. They recognize
chalk up a greater volume of sales,
that trends and even fads start
more profitable operation and in- with the consumer; industry and
creased prestige. retailing can only recognize a
trend, publicize it and give it im-
Partly by instinct petus. In other words, they cannot
How does she determine what breathe life into it before it is
the fashion will be? The answer desired, nor can they keep it alive
to this is partly by an instinct for
after desire for it has waned.
what people will like, and partly One short-lived fad which il-
by a study of what they have lustrates this very clearly is the
bought in past seasons. Often, Davy Crockett craze. Inspired by
celebrities in society or entertain- a song, a motion picture and some
ment set fashion trends by theirbrilliant merchandising tie-ins, it
personal preferences, and the took possession of the younger
fashion expert is always alert to generation like a plague. Remem-
this possibility. ber the kids in coonskin hats even
In other lines, the problem of on broiling summer days? Re-
determining fashion trends is less member when it seemed as if juke-
instinct and more mathematics, at boxes played only one record - the
which point market research one about the king of the wild
comes into its own. Consumer frontier? And remember, too, how
surveys check on the current pre-
at last the youngsters had enough
ferences for this or that brand of of identifying themselves with
soap, coffee or cereal, and seek to that particular hero? In the midst
define the ingredients of success of some bitter arguments over
in the preferred brands. Motiva- who had the right to use the great
tion research gets into the picture, man's name on merchandise, bore-
too, as business dabbles in depth dom set in and the fad was dead.
interviews to determine why cus- The celerity with which a new
tomers buy what they buy. fashion is adopted from one end of
The consumer may often be un- the country to another still amazes
conscious of the way fashion businessmen. There is no mystery
guides his buying decisions. Yet about how news of the fashion
the manufacturer and retailer who idea spreads, not in a country with
sell to him are keenly aware of as many television sets, radios,
the influence of fashion and are on magazines and newspapers as we
January 1957 68
This content downloaded from
91.117.32.170 on Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:36:24 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
have. The quick and general re- insignificant sometimes, but we
sponse, however, is another have seen, over and over again,
matter and can best be attributed such superficial improvements as
to our unprecedented prosperity those mysterious additions to
and virtual full employment. soaps and toothpaste, or the extra
People can afford to spend freely; curlicues of chrome that consti-
they don't have to shut their ears tute the "new" model in refriger-
to the siren's song and resist ators or cars.
change. In these cases we find the manu-
To understand this relationship facturers competing with one an-
between fashion acceptance and other for the customer's loyalty
prosperity, consider the syntheticto a particular brand. If General
sponge for dishwashing. In order Motors brings out "new" models
to get these sponges in colors every year, Ford can be expected
which suit their kitchens, house- to follow suit on the perfectly
wives pay far more than they logical assumption that the pros-
would for dishcloths. Yet if syn- pective car buyer won't buy last
thetic sponges had been intro- year's model, no matter how good
duced during the depression it was, if newer models are avail-
years, their excellence and beauty able.
would probably have caused little There remains the manifest
or no excitement among shoppers. fact, however, that real changes
Even dishcloths were a luxury in fashion are an important stim-
then, and many a housewife was ulus to business. If fashion dic-
content with bits of old rags for tates "the bloused look" in dresses,
dishwashing. thousands of women will rush out
to buy a dress in that style to
Diminishing returns prove that they are up to date. If
There is little question that the new cars come out lower and
fashion changes prod us, the cus-longer, men will look coldly at
tomers, to spend more than we their old conveyance and start
actually need - to replace things mumbling to themselves about
that are not worn out, to regard trade-in prices.
yesterday's luxury as today's ne- Multiply these everyday occur-
cessity. On the other hand, there rences by the millions of people
is a point of diminishing returns. in the country and you begin to
Minor changes, if introduced fast- realize the potential market that
er than the public can absorb them, lures every businessman into the
do not swell a product's market. endless game of trying to keep
The changes can be ridiculously ahead of the next fashion trend. ■
64 Challenge
This content downloaded from
91.117.32.170 on Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:36:24 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
