"Fashion change and fashion consumption: the chaotic perspective"

This article studies fashion changes and how fashion is accepted or rejected by the masses. The article takes on "the chaotic perspective." The article explains how fashion change is a cycle driven by fashion retailers to make consumers continually purchase new products. Fashion change occurs in a series of steps and conformity and pressures kick in to make consumers buy what becomes fashionable. The researchers conducted focus groups and in depth interviews in Hong Kong to support their study. They asked questions about "perception on fashion, fashion adoption guidance, appearance style creation and physical influence." They discovered a central theme: that being fashionable is extremely significant in fashion change and consumption. The article talks about "the copycat phenomenon" where independent fashion retailers propel fashion trends. They also address "cultural context" and the effect of "the social system" where cultural and social norms and ethics influence and even dictate fashion consumerism and success or failure of trends. In many cases, the social system determines what fashion trends are going to be rejected by consumers because they defy social values. The article responds the many different theories that have been developed in the past to explain fashion change and consumption, but they conclude that the chaotic perspective is the most accurate way to describe this fashion cycle. This article is useful in my research because it provides another theory to explain the fashion cycle and also gives marketing implications for this theory.

Law, Ka Ming, Zhi-Ming Zhang, and Chung-Sun Leung. “ACADEMIC PAPER: Fashion change and fashion consumption: the chaotic perspective.” Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management. 8.4 (2004): 362. 27 February 2007 .