Fashion is a general term for a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, footwear, accessories, makeup, body piercing, textile creations or furniture. Fashion refers to a distinctive trend in the way a person dresses, as well as to prevailing styles in behavior.
Early Western travelers to Persia, Turkey, India, or China frequently remarked on the absence of changes in fashion.
Meanwhile, observers from these other cultures comment on the unseemly pace of Western fashion, which many felt suggested an instability and lack of order in Western culture.
The Japanese Shogun's secretary boasted to a Spanish visitor in 1609 that Japanese clothing had not changed in over a thousand years. However in Ming China, for example, there is considerable evidence for rapidly changing fashions in Chinese clothing. Changes in costume often took place at times of economic or social change (such as in ancient Rome and the medieval Caliphate), but then a long period without major changes followed.
Though colors and patterns of textiles changed from year to year, the cut of a gentleman's coat and the length of his waistcoat, or the pattern to which a lady's dress was cut changed more slowly. Men's fashions largely derived from military models.
The pace of change picked up in the 1780s with the increased publication of French engravings that showed the latest Paris styles.
The history of fashion design is normally taken to date from 1858. Tailors and dressmakers were no doubt responsible for many innovations before, and the textile industry led many trends.
Global cosmetic trends:
Afghanistan Afghan women want big eyes like their Bollywood idols. Eyelid lifts are the most popular.
China Some women go through painful surgery to lengthen their legs to gain height—a sign of status.
India After a trend announcement, women take dangerous steroid-based pills to get fatter.
Iran Smaller, upturned noses are popular. Women have surgery as a sign of social status.
Jamaica To achieve a big bum, young women take high-fat 'chicken' pills to help them gain weight.
Japan Dermal fillers are highly sought-after to enlarge noses and chins.
Thailand White skin is considered rich, by showing lack of work outdoors. Skin-lightening creams are in.
Is fashion mad? You be the judge.