Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present a new framework to conceptualise the fashion process called “the fashion transformation process model”. This model integrates much previous research about the fashion process, fills important gaps that the symbolic interactionist (SI) theory of fashion omits, and makes a number of new predictions about the translation of social trends into specific lifestyles and individual differences. Those new emerging lifestyles are interpreted by fashion designers into fashion concepts and then translated into fashion commodities. The model proposes two important fashion forces: the “differentiating force” and the “socialising force”. These operate at different levels (macro and micro) and through different fashion practitioners. Two empirical studies investigate the framework: a case study at the macro level and a survey interview study at the micro level. The studies provide excellent support for the reconceptualisation and, in particular, suggest that individual psychological factors might be given a new prominence in the overall fashion process and the way in which new fashions emerge.