Tell me what to wear, and I will
wear it, and there is an end of the matter. If Society says, 'Wear
blue shirts and white collars,' I wear blue shirts and white
collars. If she says, 'The time has now come when hats should be
broad-brimmed,' I take unto myself a broad-brimmed hat. The
question does not interest me sufficiently for me to argue it. It
is your fop who refuses to follow fashion. He wishes to attract
attention to himself by being peculiar. A novelist whose books
pass unnoticed, gains distinction by designing his own necktie; and
many an artist, following the line of least resistance, learns to
let his hair grow instead of learning to paint."
"The fact is," remarked the Philosopher, "we are the mere creatures
of fashion. Fashion dictates to us our religion, our morality, our
affections, our thoughts. In one age successful cattle-lifting is
a virtue, a few hundred years later company-promoting takes its
place as a respectable and legitimate business. In England and
America Christianity is fashionable, in Turkey, Mohammedanism, and
'the crimes of Clapham are chaste in Martaban.' In Japan a woman
dresses down to the knees, but would be considered immodest if she
displayed bare arms.
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