Fashion diffusion works through upper-class innovation followed by lower-class imitation and upper-class retreat
Evidence
Social forms, apparel, aesthetic judgment, the whole style of human expression, are constantly transformed by fashion, in such a way, however, that fashionâi.e., the latest fashionâin all these things affects only the upper classes. Just as soon as the lower classes begin to copy their style, thereby crossing the line of demarcation the upper classes have drawn and destroying the uniformity of their coherence, the upper classes turn away from this style and adopt a new one, which in its turn differentiates them from the masses; and thus the game goes merrily on. â Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_âŠ, 717
Categorization
- XREF: This is the classic trickle-down model of fashion that connects to the ADDENDUM article on sumptuary law and immodesty moral panics â the same class-demarcation logic, though Simmel frames it as a dynamic race rather than a legal mandate. â connects to: Fashion is abandoned by a class once it diffuses to other classes â Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_âŠ, 618; Cultural value is historically mobile as forms move between elite and popular; Radical styles are stripped of transgression before mainstream diffusion â W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire forâŠ, 441 (+1 more)
- SHARE: Good for a fashion-history friend who studies diffusion theory â Simmelâs âgame goes merrily onâ is the purest statement of the trickle-down treadmill.
Related
- Fashion is abandoned by a class once it diffuses to other classes (similarity 0.88)
- Subcultures reversed cultural flows by reversing the trickle-down of style (similarity 0.81)
- Fashion dictates styles with no objective, aesthetic, or practical justification. (similarity 0.80)
- Fashion recurs cyclically because old forms regain the charm of difference once forgotten (similarity 0.80)
- Elites lost a sustained battle to mark status through dress (similarity 0.78)