Shoshy looked at her new dress with pride. She pointed to
the narrow ruffle on the hem. "It looks so nice, doesn't it,
Ima?"
Next summer the fashions will be different and when Ima
suggests that Shoshy wear that dress, Shoshy will scowl and
say, "How can I wear that? It looks so yuchy with that
silly ruffle on the hem! All my friends are wearing dresses
with ... (whatever the fashion will be next year). They look
so nice, don't they, Ima?
*
Years ago, changes in fashion were directed mainly to the
`high society' of goyim. They were an important means
for filling empty minds and days void of purpose. Keeping up
with the fashions was a challenge; something to talk about.
If the fashions lasted more than a few months, the changes
trickled slowly down the levels of Society, but rarely reached
the poor. Nowadays, changing the fashions is an important
economic resource. The enormous capacity of mass production
presents a major problem. A market can become saturated very
quickly -- and then there is no more market. If everybody has
a ... (whatever), there is no one left to sell to and the
stores will have no more customers and the factories will have
to close down.
Manufacturers of articles, machines etc. respond to this
problem in several ways. One way is by convincing everyone
that they need everything. This increases the size of the
market and ensures that the manufacturers sell more of
everything.
Another way is by making their articles in such a way that
they will not last long, thereby forcing each customer to
eventually buy a new one. Another approach is to continually
improve, or seem to improve, the articles so that the customer
feels that he cannot manage with the old one but needs to
obtain one of the new, improved versions.
The clothing industry faces a unique problem: when clothes
begin to wear out, they can be repaired and patched.
Therefore, the industry needs to create a situation whereby
the consumer not only wants to buy new clothing but also does
not want to continue to wear the old clothing.
Of course, if the clothes from the previous year are still
serviceable, there can be no logical reason to buy new
clothes. Reason dictates that once a person has a set of
clothing, he does not need to buy any more clothes until they
wear out to the degree that they become irreparable. Even if
he outgrows his clothes, he can still pass them on to someone
else. Therefore, the industry needs to set up an illogical
approach. This it does by appealing to kutnos hadaas, a
small-minded immature approach to making decisions, working
through emotions and herd instincts.
Though changes in fashion seem to be spontaneous, the
designers work with cold intellect, planning fashions years in
advance. Each year, the new style of clothing must be such
that last year's clothes cannot be altered to become
fashionable. Therefore, there is a rotation of combinations of
the various aspects to clothing. If one part becomes shorter,
another part becomes longer so that you cannot adapt the old
article of clothing by shortening it. Or colors or materials
can be changed. Their criteria is to formulate a style which
will force you to buy a new set of clothes and force you to
throw away the old ones, even though they are still
serviceable, because no one else will want them.
The extent to which adults and older teenagers need to relate
to the fashions is an issue which the individual needs to
clarify with his mentors and poskim. Sometimes the
stores only sell clothes which are `in fashion' and no others
are available.
Howevers, parents need to explain to their children that these
`fashions,' whether they are regarding clothes or stationery
or things to collect, are no more than schemes by
manufacturers to get people to spend their money.
Apart from the prohibition of imitating the gentiles, going
after fashions leads to wasting enormous amounts of money,
distracts us from our true task in life and can cause a lot of
strife and dissatisfaction.
"Who is a rich man? One who is satisfied with his portion."
