Relevance of Style, Fashion, Fad on Consumer Behaviour

 

Style, Fashion and Fad are three terms that may sound quite similar but are actually not so similar. These three terms are used to describe the life cycle of a product. Here’s the trend graph that clearly distinguishes style, fashion and fad.

 

STYLE

Style is a distinctive mode of expression that appears in the field of human endeavour that appears mostly in home, art and clothing. Style lasts for generation and does in and out of vogue. It is usually influenced by social, political and economic factors. For example, a woman owning a solid black dress and a man owning a solid black shirt never goes out of style. Whether you’re having a night out or a date night or even a formal dinner, your go-to can always be a black outfit.

 

FASHION

Fashion is the more progression of trends. It starts out, grows steadily and then decreases proportionally to decline in four stages – introduction, growth, rise, decline. It lasts for longer period of time than style. An example for fashion trend is the chic statement jewellery and also the rugged outfit style. These trends were started out from celebrities and now has come down to aspiring stylists and fashion designers, which will eventually be out of trend.

With the advent of Instagram and Facebook, the millennials are easily influenced by the perfect Instagram feed they come across. They follow, whatever their favourite influencers do. These chic statement jewellery and messy look is in trend now and the youth is also following the same.

 

FAD

Fads are the most unreliable and crazy trends as they have a quick growth, peak, and steep decline all within a short period of time. These trends are usually driven by consumer support and immediate popularity. Fads are generally adopted by a particular culture or the youth for a brief period of time and they do not generally satisfy strong needs. Fads do not have social, political and economic influence. For example, anyone who grew up in the '90s will know what a slap bracelet is. It was a delightful accessory for all the 90’s teens. If you slap it across your wrist, it will wrap around itself as a bracelet – hence the name is ‘slap bracelet.’ Unlike a similar accessory known as choker, the slap bracelet sadly has not made a 21st century comeback.