What’s the difference between fashion and style? It can be hard to tell since the terms are often used interchangeably, but there are a few important distinctions.
Fashion and style are two related concepts. They can both refer to types of clothing, to aesthetics, or to ways of doing things. Both of them also have verb forms which are very different.
The terms fashion and style are commonly thrown around these days, however many people find it difficult to distinguish between the two. According to Oscar de la Renta, “Fashion is about dressing according to what’s fashionable. Style is more about being yourself.”
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What Is Style?
Style refers to a person’s particular way of expressing themselves—whether that’s through clothing, writing style, or a style of architecture. In the fashion world, “style” is usually shorthand for “personal style,” or the way an individual expresses themselves through aesthetic choices such as their clothing, accessories, hairstyle, and the way they put an outfit together.
What Is Fashion?
Fashion is the dominant style within a given culture at a certain time. Fashion has to do with new trends: It refers to popular ways of dressing during a specific era.
The fashion industry deals with the prevailing styles of the present. Fashion houses host fashion shows to highlight clothing that expresses a vision for the future of fashion. Fashion bloggers, editors, and influencers then respond to that vision with their own ideas, and retailers use all that information to sell clothes to the public. A major part of fashion is the way the latest trends are disseminated, whether via social media or in fashion magazines like Vogue.
What Is the Difference Between Style and Fashion?
There is an overlap between style and fashion, but a good rule of thumb is that style relates to the individual, while fashion is more collective. Let’s break down the differences:
- Individual vs. collective: Personal style is something that belongs to an individual—a means of self-expression. That individual can be a fashion designer (like Coco Chanel or Yves Saint Laurent) or anyone outside of the fashion industry. How they dress and express themselves is their style. Fashion, on the other hand, has to do with global trends and the business of fashion. The lines between fashion and style are blurry. On the catwalk, a model is part of the fashion world. The way they dress at home, however, is personal style. When they become an influencer and their personal style becomes iconic, they may start their own clothing line, turning their style into fashion.
- Timeless vs. trendy: Style is timeless, while fashionis timely. Someone who is fashionable closely follows the latest fashion trends and wears designer clothing. Someone who is stylish may or may not follow fashion trends, but they always stay true to their own aesthetic. Personal style is about developing a sense of self, rather than simply absorbing trends.
Fashion and style overlap in the street style that photographers capture outside of fashion shows. The subjects photographed are typically models, stylists, and fashion editors wearing the clothes of the designers whose shows they are attending, but they’ve taken the clothes and styled them to work for real life, effectively merging fashion with style.
There are many people who are fashionable, however they may or may not be stylish. These are the people who follow fashion blindly, without any regard to whether the fashion actually suits them or not. However, there are also a number of people who are stylish, but they are not considered fashionable. This is mainly because while what they are wearing is stylish and shows off their body and personality; what they may be wearing may or may not be currently in fashion.
Key Difference between Fashion and Style:
| SL No. | Fashion | Style |
| 01 | It is versatile. | It is unique. |
| 02 | It is the newest creations made by designers. | It is the person’s newest creations by applying his/ her own choice. |
| 03 | Fashion must be accepted by the society or group of people. | Style can be accepted by a specific group of people. |
| 04 | It is being made popular by the fashion house, models, actor, and actress, etc. | The person is enough for increasing the popularity of a style. |
| 05 | It is changeable. | It is constant. |
| 06 | It is perfect where no limitation. | It’s not perfect, containing some limitations. |
| 07 | It is the relationship to the external. | It is the relationship to the internal. |
| 08 | It has a strong attraction. | It has no attraction as fashion. |
| 09 | It is countless. | It is limited. |
| 10 | Fashion takes our attention away from ourselves. | Style brings our attention directly to ourselves. |
| 11 | It is temporary. | It is unique. |
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