In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
The beauty of the internal nature cannot be so far concealed by its accidental vesture, but that the spirit of its form shall communicate itself to the very disguise and indicate the shape it hides from the manner in which it is worn. A majestic form and graceful motions will express themselves through the most barbarous and tasteless costume.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
Before we set our hearts too much on anything, let us examine how happy are those who already possess it.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Fashions have done more harm than revolutions.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
The new always carries with it the sense of violation, of sacrilege. What is dead is sacred; what is new, that is different, is evil, dangerous, or subversive.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
Fashions are the only induced epidemics, proving that epidemics can be induced by tradesmen.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Clothes make the poor invisible. America has the best-dressed poverty the world has ever known.
—Michael Harrington (1928–89) American Socialist, Writer, Political Activist, Academic
From the cradle to the coffin underwear comes first.
—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) German Poet, Playwright, Theater Personality
If men can run the world, why can’t they stop wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck?
—Linda Ellerbee (b.1944) American Journalist
Cast an eye on the gay and fashionable world, and what see we for the most part, but a set of querulous, emaciated, fluttering fantastical beings, worn out in the keen pursuit of pleasure—creatures that know, own, condemn, deplore, and yet pursue their own infelicity? The decayed monuments of error! The thin remains of what is called delight!
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
He is only fanastical that is not in fashion.
—Robert Burton (1577–1640) English Scholar, Clergyman
In an age when the fashion is to be in love with yourself, confessing to being in love with somebody else is an admission of unfaithfulness to one’s beloved
—Russell Baker (1925–2019) American Journalist, Humorist, Television Host
All women’s dresses are merely variations on the eternal struggle between the admitted desire to dress and the unadmitted desire to undress.
—Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese Author, Philologist
Fashions, after all, are only induced epidemics.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
A fop of fashion is the mercer’s friend, the tailor’s fool, and his own foe.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
No man is esteemed for colorful garments except by fools and women.
—Walter Raleigh (1552–1618) English Courtier, Navigator, Poet
Fashions fade, but style is eternal.
—Yves Saint Laurent (1936–2008) French Fashion Designer
Fashion is, for the most part, nothing but the ostentation of riches.
—John Locke (1632–1704) English Philosopher, Physician
Nothing is so dangerous as being too modern; one is apt to grow old fashioned quite suddenly.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
We at Chrysler borrow money the old-fashioned way. We pay it back.
—Lee Iacocca (1924–2019) American Businessperson
I base most of my fashion taste on what doesn’t itch.
—Gilda Radner (1946–89) American Comedian, Actress
Brevity is the soul of lingerie.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Judge not a man by his clothes, but by his wife’s clothes.
—Thomas Dewar, 1st Baron Dewar (1864–1930) Scottish Businessperson
Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.
—Coco Chanel (1883–1971) French Fashion Designer
The beggar wears all colors fearing none.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
How to dress? When the money is going from you wear anything you like. When the money is coming to you, dress your best.
—Common Proverb
We worship not the Graces, nor the Parcae, but Fashion. She spins and weaves and cuts with full authority. The head monkey at Paris puts on a traveler’s cap, and all the monkeys in America do the same.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Avoid singularity.—There may often be less vanity in following the new modes, than in adhering to the old ones.—It is true that the foolish invent them, but the wise may conform to, instead of contradicting them.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
A good model can advance fashion by ten years.
—Yves Saint Laurent (1936–2008) French Fashion Designer
So soon as a fashion is universal, it is out of date.
—Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian Novelist
We act the way we dress. Neglected and untidy clothes reflect a neglected and untidy mind.
—Unknown
My weakness is wearing too much leopard print.
—Jackie Collins (1937–2015) English Romance Novelist
Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercourse.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
The fashion doth wear out more apparel the man.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Man tries to make for himself in the fashion that suits him best a simplified and intelligible picture of the world; he then tries to some extent to substitute this cosmos of his for the world of experience, and thus to overcome it.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Always something new, seldom something good.
—German Proverb
Fashion is gentility running away from vulgarity, and afraid of being overtaken by it.—It is a sign the two things are not far asunder.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
When a woman dresses up for an occasion, the man should become the black velvet pillow for the jewel.
—John Weitz (1923–2002) German-born American Fashion Designer, Novelist, Historian
I who have been involved with all styles of painting can assure you that the only things that fluctuate are the waves of fashion which carry the snobs and speculators; the number of true connoisseurs remains more or less the same.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
If you are not in fashion, you are nobody.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Fashion is the great governor of the world.—It presides not only in matters of dress and amusement, but in law, physic, politics, religion, and all other things of the gravest kind.—Indeed, the wisest men would be puzzled to give any better reason why particular forms in all these have been at certain times universally received, and at other times universally rejected, than that they were in, or out of fashion.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
Fashion is the science of appearances, and it inspires one with the desire to seem rather than to be.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–80) American Preacher, Poet
You couldn’t tell if she was dressed for an opera or an operation.
—Irvin S. Cobb (1876–1944) American Humorist, Short Story Writer, Columnist
Fashion, which elevates the bad to the level of the good, subsequently turns its back on bad and good alike.
—Eric Bentley (1916–2020) British-born American Drama Critic
High heels were invented by a woman who had been kissed on the forehead.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Essayist
Glamour, that trans-human aura or power to attract imitation, is a kind of vessel into which dreams are poured, and some vessels are simply worthier than others… A beautiful woman can turn heads but real glamour has a deeper pull… Glamour is the power to rearrange people’s emotions, which, in effect, is the power to control one’s environment.
—Arthur Miller (1915–2005) American Playwright, Essayist
Those who make their dress a principal part of themselves will, in general, become of no more value than their dress.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
For an artist to marry his model is as fatal as for a gourmet to marry his cook: the one gets no sittings, and the other gets no dinners.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Without depth of thought, or earnestness of feeling, or strength of purpose, living an unreal life, sacrificing substance to show, substituting the fictitious for the natural, mistaking a crowd for society, finding its chief pleasure in ridicule, and exhausting its ingenuity in expedients for killing time, fashion is among the last influences under which a human being who respects himself, or who comprehends the great end of life, would desire to be placed.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet