[fash-uh
n] 
| 1. | a prevailing custom or style of dress, etiquette, socializing, etc.: the latest fashion in dresses. |
| 2. | conventional usage in dress, manners, etc., esp. of polite society, or conformity to it: the dictates of fashion; to be out of fashion. |
| 3. | manner; way; mode: in a warlike fashion. |
| 4. | the make or form of anything: He liked the fashion of the simple, sturdy furniture. |
| 5. | a kind; sort: All fashions of people make up the world. |
| 6. | Obsolete. workmanship. |
| 7. | Obsolete. act or process of making. |
| 8. | to give a particular shape or form to; make: The cavemen fashioned tools from stones. |
| 9. | to accommodate; adjust; adapt: doctrines fashioned to the varying hour. |
| 10. | Shipbuilding. to bend (a plate) without preheating. |
| 11. | Obsolete. to contrive; manage. |
| 12. | after or in a fashion, in some manner or other or to some extent; in a makeshift, unskillful, or unsatisfactory way: He's an artist after a fashion. |
| fash·ion (fāsh'ən) n.
[Middle English facioun, from Old French façon, appearance, manner, from Latin factiō, factiōn-, a making, from factus, past participle of facere, to make, do; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.] fash'ion·er n. Synonyms: These nouns refer to a prevailing or preferred manner of dress, adornment, behavior, or way of life at a given time. Fashion, the broadest term, usually refers to what accords with conventions adopted by polite society or by any culture or subculture: a time when long hair was the fashion. |
"To call a fashion wearable is the kiss of death. No new fashion worth its salt is wearable." [Eugenia Sheppard, "New York Herald Tribune," Jan. 13, 1960]Fashion plate (1851) originally was "full-page picture in a popular magazine showing the prevailing or latest style of dress," in ref. to the "plate" from which it was printed. Transf. sense of "well-dressed person" had emerged by 1920s.
fashion
A recurrent theme in 2007 was "fast fashion"-that is, inexpensive mass-produced variations of current designer merchandise, described by Women's Wear Daily (WWD) as "adulterated versions of things that have preceded them." In March actress Drew Barrymore appeared in advertisements promoting Gold, a 35-piece collection produced for international New Look stores by Giles Deacon, Britain's Designer of the Year. The affordable dresses, jeans, T-shirts, shoes, handbags, sunglasses, bangles, and earrings translated Deacon's dressed-up, glossy glamour into a more casual idiom. A month later Gap launched Gap Design Editions, a collection of inventive white shirts for women, created by cutting-edge American designers, including Doo-Ri Chung, Thakoon Panichgul, and Rodarte; in the autumn Gap premiered a limited-edition shoe collection that featured timely pointy-toed flats and high-heeled platform winter sandals by Pierre Hardy, the Paris designer famed for his unusual luxury footwear for Balenciaga. In November Roberto Cavalli lent his decadent, exotic touch to a collection of men's and women's party wear and women's lingerie for Swedish retailer Hennes & Mauritz; it was distributed in about 200 of H&M's 1,420 worldwide stores.
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