Influence of Global Fashion Trends on Modern Dress

It is quite easy to see that Suggested change: around the world, people often dressaround the world, people often dress1around the world people often dress in similar ways now because of global fashion trends. This essay will explain why that has happened and then argue that it is a mostly negative phenomenon. It is no surprise that people follow fashion trends because humans are Suggested change: hardwired for conformityhardwired for conformity2genetically wired for it. We are social creatures who mostly follow others, so throughout human history our cultures have developed along certain paths, with people tending to act like their peers. In the modern era, this has only accelerated with globalisation and the internet. In the late 20 th century, people around the world began wearing blue jeans, high heels, and Suggested change: other elements of American fashionother elements of American fashion3other aspects of American culture as Hollywood and pop music presented a certain image that people linked to wealth and power, and social media has done the same. Even though people have some attachment to their own culture, they are increasingly entering a global Suggested change: cultural monoculturecultural monoculture4monoculture of sorts due to the desire to look like the most successful people. Whilst this is not entirely negative Suggested change: as this reflects a natural human tendencyas this reflects a natural human tendency5due to it being a somewhat natural phenomenon, it is also not particularly positive either. The problems are primarily that this desire to copy others eliminates firstly their own personal identity and secondly their native culture. One just has to look around Asia to see that traditional Asian clothes are rapidly disappearing and being replaced by Western-style dress. People only wear their Suggested change: traditional attiretraditional attire6culture’s clothes for weddings, funerals, and other such occasions. In fact, even on special occasions many prefer to dress like their favourite Western celebrities. This leads to a situation where individuality is lost and Suggested change: people merely imitate one anotherpeople merely imitate one another7everyone just copies everyone else, making the world a less interesting and diverse place. In conclusion, it is obvious that people are starting to dress alike and whilst this is natural and unavoidable, it is a mostly negative situation.