A Brief Note

on the History of Fashion

Richard A. Lancioni
Temple University

The introduction of the Midi in the Fall of 1970 created a general state
of confusion in the fashion industry regarding the marketability of the
new style. Retailers and manufacturers viewed the new length as an aid in
helping boost sagging sales. The dress designers felt that the Midi would
revitalize the world of fashion and that it would eventually lead to the
development of a whole new style trend for the 1970's.
But the Midi met strong resistance from the consumer. Women did not
rush out to buy the Midi as the designers and manufacturers had expected
but instead vehemently rejected the new style. Nevertheless, through an
extensive promotional campaign coupled with widespread distribution of
the Midi, the industry hoped to force the new look upon the buying public
and overcome the initial resistance to the style.
The outcome, of course, was that the Midi was not adopted by
consumers, and the marketing strategy of the fashion industry failed
miserably. The industry is still perplexed over why the Midi failed. One
explanation put forth by the fashion world is that the new style was not
treated fairly in the press. Another suggests that 1970 was not the right
time, economically, for the introduction of the completely new clothing
style. And another attributes the failure of the Midi to the general
reluctance on the part of the large dress retailers to stock the style and the
misgivings of the dress manufacturers about devoting a significant portion
of their production to it.
Each of these explanations is narrow, however, and presents only a
fragmentary analysis of the Midi debacle. The main reason why the Midi
failed was simply that the fashion industry tried to coerce the public into
buying a product it did not want. In effect, the Midi episode represented a
classical confrontation of the consumer with the industry, one in which
the industry tried to market a good that did not conform to the needs and
desires of the market place.
Could the entire Midi episode have been avoided? Perhaps it was an
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inevitable situation and destined to happen. But if various segments of the

fashion industry had been aware of certain very relevant historical
concepts previously described by fashion scholars, it is quite possible that
the introduction of the Midi would never have taken place in the manner
in which it did. In effect, knowing the historical fundamentals of fashion
retailing could have made the Midi a success rather than a failure. For
example, Paul Nystrom, as early as 1928, asserted that a fashion cannot be
forced upon the consumer through the use of commercial promotion.
Nystrom held that the consumer is a social animal composed of a group of
complex and interrelated needs that either singly or collectively interact to
change the direction of a fashion. Because of these various needs and their
interaction, Nystrom theorized, it was incorrect to assert that commercial
promotion alone could affect a change in fashion. "Commercial promotion
works successfully when it goes with a fashion trend" (p. 81), Nystrom
contended, but " . . . while styles may be created by the thousands, the
final acceptance which determines the fashion rests with the consumer,
who has in recent years shown remarkably strong tendencies to follow
certain fashion trends rather than others, and to resist all prestige sales
promotions, no matter how forcefully applied to trends in other
directions." Nystrom further stated that " I f there were any kings or
dictators of fashion in the past, there are certainly not any that are making
a success of it today, except those who are able to forecast what
consumers are going to want and then give it to them" (p. 35).
The fashion industry's tactic of using mass promotion as its primary
tool for marketing the Midi was basically incorrect. In effect, Nystrom in
1932 was quite right in asserting that there is " . . . no proof of the value of
advertising or any other form of sales promotion in stopping one fashion,
starting another, or in changing any current fashion in any marked
degree." Nystrom described the historical developments that led to the
mistaken belief that advertising or commercial promotion could control a
fashion. He stated that national advertising had come into existence only
after mass production methods had been well established and national
distribution was made possible through the development of a national
transportation system. Both of these developments were the influential
factors that determined the eventual acceptance of a new product.
Although advertising, as Nystom insisted, played only a secondary role,
manufacturers gradually began to equate the relative success of a new
product with the amount expended for advertising. This false faith in the
power of advertising, Nystrom explains was accepted by many firms in the
textile industry and resulted in their becoming extensive users of the local
and national advertising media (pp. 4-5).

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LANCIONI

Another author, Elizabeth Hurlock, writing in 1929, reiterated

Nystrom's point that a fashion cannot be forced. She stated that "Today
there are no voluntary laws which make us accept a fashion. No fashion is
imposed upon an individual by force." The consumer, Hurlock insisted, is
free to make his own decision, and no amount of commercial promotion
or advertising can make an individual accept a fashion he does not want.
Other authors, besides Nystrom and Hurlock, while they did not
perceive a causal relationship between the needs of the consumer and the
successful introduction of a new style, did recognize that fashion was a
form of self-expression and gratification and that it therefore fulfilled
specific individual psychological needs. Their concepts were only one step
removed from the beliefs shared by Nystrom and Hurlock that a new style
must be compatible with the needs of the consumer in order to be
successful. For example, L. W. Flaccus, writing in 1906, saw that clothing
styles were a reflection of a society's goals and aspirations. Flaccus viewed
fashion as a social force and held that understanding the phenomenon of
fashion and the reasons for fashion changes provided a reliable basis for
understanding society.
Like Flaccus, W. I. Thomas (1908-9) felt that fashion was a social force
and the collective expression of an individual's feelings about life.
According to Thomas,
Man is naturally one of the most unadorned of animals,
without brillant appearance or natural glitter, with no
plumage, no spots or stripes, no naturally sweet voice, no
attractive odor, and no graceful antics, all man has is his own
character that makes him different and attractive. But thanks
to his hands he has the power of collecting brilliant objects
and attaching them to his person and when combined with his
own individual act of self-expression, he thus becomes a rival
in radiance of the animals and flowers.
Gabriel Tarde, in his work the Laws of Imitation, viewed the
phenomena of fashion as being cyclical in nature with each new style being
only an imitation of what existed in the past. The reappearance of certain
styles, he concluded, is grounded in the wants and needs of individuals in a
society. In Tarde's view, the fashion an individual selects " . . . a n d
welcomes and follows is the one that meets his pre-existant wants and
desires which are the outcome of his habits and c u s t o m s . . . "
Therefore, the power and influence the consumer has in determining the
selection of clothing styles and his influence on the eventual adoption of a
style have historically been emphasized throughout the fashion literature.
As early as 1906, writers were discussing the importance of the consumer

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and the degree to which he must be considered in the design and

merchandising of new clothing styles. And up through the early 1950's,
marketing scholars were heralding the development of the "marketing
concept" whereby satisfying the product needs of the consumer was the
primary goal of all business firms. In other words, the part the consumer
plays in the market place and the influence he has over the performance of
a product is not a recently recognized phenomenon. His role has been
traditionally appreciated and recognized as a powerful force to be
reckoned with.
Perhaps, if the dress designers, retailers, and manufacturers had realized
the importance of the marketing concept and had appreciated the
warnings of Nystrom, Hurlock, and the others, the Midi debacle could
have been avoided 9
REFERENCES
Flaccus, L. W. 1906. "Remarks on the Psychology of Clothes." Pedagogical Seminar,
Vol. 13, 61-83.
Hurlock, Elizabeth B. 1929. The Psychology of Dress: An Analysis of Fashion and Its
Motives. New York: Ronald Press, p. 8.
Nystrom, Paul. 1928. The Economics of Fashion. New York: Ronald Press.
9 1932. Fashion Merchandising9 New York: Ronald Press9
Tarde, Gabriel. 1903. Laws of Imitation9 Gloucester, Mass.: Henry Holt and Co., p.
246.
Thomas, W. L. 1908-9. "Psychology of Woman's Dress," American Magazine. Vol.
LXVII, 66.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Richard A. Lancioni, Assistant Professor of Marketing Temple
University, holds a B.A. in Government Administration from LaSalle
College, an M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from Ohio State University
and a Ph.D. in Marketing from Ohio State University. In addition to this
academic background he spent approximately four years with Alcoa
Aluminum as a Marketing Analyst. From 1968-1971 Dr. Lancioni taught
at Ohio University in Economics and Marketing. He is currently an
Assistant Professor of Marketing at Temple University. He has published
articles in all of the major marketing journals including The Journal of
Purchasing, The Journal of Retailing, and The Journal of Marketing. He is
also currently involved in co-authoring a book entitled Consumer
Behavior: The Decision Approach, to be published in 1974. In the past
Professor Lancioni has also served as Consultant to a variety of business
firms. His professional affiliations include the National Council of Physical
Distribution Management, the American Marketing Association, The
International Materials Management Association, and the American
Psychological Association.