Aesthetica - Mode 01
Philosophy of Fashion - Georg Simmel (1)
Georg Simmel (1858–1918) defines ‘fashion’ as a social form balancing the tension between individual differentiation and social imitation. It acts as a non-cumulative change mechanism, allowing individuals to conform to a group while distinguishing themselves from others.
Through fashion, you can belong to a society, and at the same time, express your unique personality.
Mode or Fashion?
As Georg Simmel titled his unique sociological work “Philosophie der Mode” (philosophy of Mode) (1905), in the German language, die Mode can be interpreted into both senses of ‘Mode’ and ‘Fashion’ in English.
So, of course, Georg Simmel himself did NOT distinguish between ‘Mode’ and ‘Fashion’. However, just before proceeding, let's define both words in a sociological sense.
● Mode – a style
Mode refers to a specific, recurring aesthetic, behavioral, or dressing form/pattern. Mode is the content that is being worn or done. For example, a specific cut of jacket, or a certain thickness and length of jeans, etc. So in a structuralist sense, Mode is a diachronic, fleeting phenomenon, fluctuating at each moment.
● Fashion – a trend
On the other hand, Fashion is the social force or mechanism that brings these Modes or styles into prominence. Fashion drives the imitation, and eventually causes a downfall as the Mode becomes common in time. In a structuralist sense, Fashion is a dynamic process as a synchronic structure itself.
The Dual Nature of Fashion
Georg Simmel analyzed fashion NOT merely as clothing, but as a social form that mediates between contradictory human impulses. This dual nature of fashion revolves around the tension between social equalization and individual differentiation.
Simmel argues that fashion enables individuals to satisfy two opposing needs simultaneously:
● Conformity – to belong to a group to be included in a social norm.
● Distinction – to stand out from a group to express unique personalities.
1: Social Adaptation vs. Individual Distinction
● Imitation / Conformity
Fashion satisfies the need for social belonging. By wearing what others wear, the individual feels secure, supported, and relieved as part of a collective, removing the need for personal, colorful choices. So a fashion has a social norm to the extent of common sense.
● Differentiation / Individualization
On the other hand, fashion allows individuals to express their innate, unique personalities as an identity. Once a fashion becomes widespread and is adopted by the masses, the fashion would immediately lose its originality, leading to its decline. So the originality is created by deviating from fashion.
2: Stability vs. Constant Change
Fashion always occupies the NOW, the dividing line between the past and the future. In this view, fashion is seen as a synchronic structure of the continuum of time.
But, on the other hand, in the diachronic view of Mode or Style, fashion is a constant change in nature. Because fashion is driven by the desire for novelty and distinction, it is inherently ephemeral. As soon as a fashion is finalized, it begins to fade out, replaced by another NEW fashion soon.
Overall, from a structural perspective, fashion is totally defined by a paradox, in which it represents both a diachronic constant change in Mode or Style and the synchronic permanent social structure for novelty.
3: Periphery vs. Core Identity
Fashion focuses on ONLY externals and superficialities, rather than the internal depth of our mind.
Since fashion occupies ONLY superficial, peripheral aspects of life, this superficiality allows us to conform and follow fashion without needing to invest our entire nature or personalities.
Insofar as following the fashion, we feel secure, transferring the responsibility of choice to society. We do NOT need to hesitate to decide what to wear, entrusting judgments totally to the social norms of fashion.
Also, fashion allows us to imitate celebrities we admire at ease. By this, fashion dilutes the destructive, dark emotions of envy.
Moreover, fashion is a safe experimentation. Even if acting extravagantly, the style is sanctioned by society. Fashion protects us from feeling ashamed.
Threat to Personality
Having said that, Georg Simmel also points out that fashion has significant downsides. Fashion signals the lack of personal freedom. Particularly, for social groups that find their ONLY outlet for expression in fashion rather than personal achievements, fashion is just a loss of personal freedom.
Fashion can lead to intense individual subjugation, where our unique characters are hidden and sacrificed to the dictates of the fashion cycle. If it develops into an obsession, fashion becomes a yoke, NO longer an expression of ourselves.
The Fashion Cycle
phase1: Innovation
The upper class starts a fashion.
In the contemporary context, the upper class can be seen as celebrities, superstars, or billionaires.
phase2: Imitation
The lower class, or common people, imitates fashion.
phase3: Depreciation
The fashion becomes too popular and commonplace among people throughout society.
phase4: Change
The upper class abandons the fashion for a NEW one.
Return to phase1
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| Waterfall by M. C. Escher (1961) |
Trickle-Down Theory of Fashion
According to Georg Simmel’s trickle-down theory of fashion, fashion flows down vertically from the upper social classes to lower classes like a cascade. The trickle-down theory suggests that fashion acts as a mechanism for both social class distinction and imitation.
First, the cycle of hierarchical diffusion of fashion starts. The upper class initiates fashion as a snobbish way to differentiate themselves from the lower classes.
In Simmel’s sense, the upper class includes the Victorian leisure class that Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) defines. While Veblen’s Victorian leisure class specifically highlights conspicuous consumption of expensive, luxurious, sometimes unusable clothing, Simmel more broadly signifies the upper class in contrast to the lower class in the structure of social hierarchy.
Next, lower classes imitate the upper class’s mode or style to emulate the prestige of the elite. As soon as the mode or style has been adopted by the lower classes, the upper class starts abandoning the mode as an obsolete style for a NEW fashion to maintain their distinctiveness. This is the fashion cycle of change.
As we have seen above, this process creates self-destructive, but unending, ever-changing fashion cycles. And then, the fashion cycle goes on.
How the Trickle-Down Mechanism Works
Initially, a NEW mode is too expensive and precious for the lower-class general public, making it exclusive to the upper-class elite. Over time, as these modes become popularized, the prices are falling.
And then, the mode comes to be mass-produced, making the price reasonable and the quantity accessible enough to lower-income demographics. By the time the lower classes have adopted the mode that has already become NOT rare, the upper class has already moved on to the next, something NEW.
In the Trickle-Down mechanism, 2 polarized drivers work simultaneously:
● Imitation by the lower class
The imitation satisfies the desire of the lower class to blend in or rise in status by emulating the modes of the upper class.
● Differentiation by the upper class
The differentiation satisfies the pride of the upper class to remain distinct.
However, our contemporary society has become more leveled out than the definite class system of Georg Simmel’s late or post-Victorian era. Although there is actually a huge gap between the poor and the rich under contemporary capitalism, the deterministic, fixed class system, especially by birth, has disappeared. Instead, the middle class and upper-middle class have grown in our society.
In our contemporary context, modern fashion often moves in reverse, trickling up. For example, street fashion definitely influences high fashion. Also, fashion influences horizontally trickling across in mass society by popularity calling for popularity, such as memes.
In our society, the Information Revolution, especially the internet, has altered the direction of the Trickle-Down mechanism and helped make fashion complicated and diversified.
Fashion as Iron Mask
Georg Simmel describes fashion as an iron mask that conceals the individual's real, unique features, while simultaneously allowing us to participate in social life as a norm.
By the iron mask, Simmel presents the tension and balance between imitation (social conformity) and differentiation (individual distinction).
Simmel portrays another aspect of fashion as a protective, yet rigid social structure. Fashion spares us from the painful reflections of acting alone and being scrutinized. But on the other hand, fashion dictates uniform action, forcing us to become a mere example of our social class.
Fashion acts as a barricade of the soul to conceal our unique personalities behind a uniform, acceptable appearance.
Since fashion is a collective act, it shields us from shame by the personal scrutiny and painful reflections that might occur if we were to express ourselves uniquely, standing out of the accepted norms.
Fashion represents a social equilibrium between differentiation, the desire to stand out, and imitation, the desire to belong. It permits us to seem distinctive while actually conforming to a group.
As the iron mask, fashion is uncompromising in its uniform structure, yet on the other hand, it allows for extravagant, arbitrary fluctuations in mode in apparel or manners.
Simmel argues that groups with limited outlets for genuine expression, for example, women and the social demi-monde (half-world), or the Pariah (outcast) in the late or post-Victorian era, are inclined to adopt fashion most enthusiastically.
In this context, fashion, as the iron mask, plays a marginal role as a substitute for real power or individuality in society.
Moreover, fashion can take on any content, as it does NOT necessarily have to be tasteful or reasonable, but it MUST be merely fashionable. So, the contents of fashion, or mode, is absurd and agnostic. Fashion acts ONLY as a superficial layer that does NOT affect our true nature, allowing us to remain emotionally detached.
As you saw how many times I use the cliché idiom ‘on the other hand,’ in general, Georg Simmel’s sociology is characterized by dialectical dualism, centered on the constant tension between opposing forces.
Simmel’s sociological analysis circles the core of reciprocal interaction (Wechselwirkung), progressively narrowing its focus from broad social structures to the essential, formal patterns of human life, as if an impressionist.
As Simmel focuses on the interaction, fashion is a form of life that turns superficial, arbitrary, temporary modes into a crucial mechanism for navigating our social identity.
Simmel's sociological analysis of fashion is foundational to later sociological theories, especially regarding the Trickle-Down model of fashion. It continues to be relevant for understanding the tension and balance between conformity and individuality in modern consumer society.
Georg Simmel’s iron mask is NOT merely about clothing, but rather it signifies a social mechanism by which we, individuals in modern society, balance the duality of being a unique self and part of a collective whole simultaneously.
Further reading (sponsored by Amazon):
● Linda Welters et al. (2018). Fashion History: A Global View (Dress, Body, Culture). 245 pages. Bloomsbury Academic.
(sponsored by Amazon)
“Fashion History: A Global View” proposes a NEW perspective on fashion history! Arguing that fashion has occurred in cultures beyond the West throughout history, “Fashion History: A Global View” explores the geographic places and historical spaces that have been largely neglected by contemporary fashion studies, bringing them together for the first time!
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Foreword by Joanne B. Eicher
1: Introduction: Europe and the People Without Fashion
Part 1 Understanding Fashion and Its History
2: The Lexicon of Fashion
3: Fashion Systems
4: How We Got Here
Part 2 Outside the Canon: Alternative Fashion Histories
5: Fashion Systems in Prehistory and the Americas
6: Fashion Systems and Trade Networks in the Eastern Hemisphere
7: Fashion Systems in East, South, and Southeast Asia
8: Alternative Fashion Histories in Euro-America
9: Global Fashion
10: Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
