Fads and Fashions

History and Background

During the 17th century in the Netherlands, the demand for tulip bulbs reached such a peak that astronomical prices were charged for a single bulb, and people were prepared to pay an enormous proportion of their earnings to own this most desired object. The most famous example of this tulipomania was a bulb reportedly sold for f1. 6,000 in the 1620s, when the average annual income of the time was fl. 150. While this is an extreme example, it is illustrative of the phenomenon we popularly know today as a fad. Tulipomania lasted for a short period of time, but during this period it caused a craze that swept through a society and left many people financially ruined.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, many more familiar and less dramatic examples of fads have existed. For example, most children in the 1950s owned a hula hoop, but these are rarely seen in the playgrounds of the 2000s. In the early 1980s, many children owned a Rubik's cube. Fads can also be seen outside the realm of consumerism. For example, the social networking site Facebook is rapidly growing in popularity, with over 70 million visits recorded in a single month in 2008 and hundreds of thousands of new users joining each day. Also, the discipline of psychology is not immune from research fads that last for a short period and then fade in popularity as new research topics take their place.

The two concepts of fad and fashion are often difficult to tease apart, and there appears to be little consensus amongst psychologists concerning where a fad ends and a fashion begins. Indeed, one dictionary definition of a fad is a temporary fashion, idea, and/or behavior assumed by a group. Generally, though, it is accepted that fads are short-lived, and that the process of adopting the object or activity of a particular fad over alternatives is rather arbitrary. For example, why were hula hoops, and not some equally fun alternative, the most popular toys of their time?

In contrast to fads, fashions are seen as having a sustained influence on society and a broader reach, often across multiple societies. For example, the hippie fashions lasted for a significant period of time during the 1960s and '70s and were followed by [Page 270]people throughout the world. In addition, fashions, unlike fads, are characterized by people in a group sharing a look or style. In other words, a clear trend is noticeable among group members, who alter their appearance to reflect what is collectively perceived as appropriate and stylish at any given time. Although fashions can last for extended periods of time, they are inevitably replaced by new fashions that render the old ones outdated—at least until they return when the fashion industry again proclaims them fashionable. This is not uncommon, and it is another important feature of fashion. Although some fashions run their course and disappear forever, some return from obscurity after several years and become part of the “cycle of fashion.”

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