Nothing is so dangerous as being too modern; one is apt to grow old fashioned quite suddenly.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
He never chooses an opinion; he just wears whatever happens to be in style.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
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
You cannot be both fashionable and first-rate.
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
Fashion should not be expected to serve in the stead of courage or character.
—Loretta Young (1913–2000) American Actress
There’s so much plastic in this culture that vinyl leopard skin is becoming an endangered synthetic.
—Lily Tomlin (b.1939) American Comedy Actress
Custom is the law of one description of fools, and fashion of another; but the two parties often clash, for precedent is the legislator of the first, and novelty of the last.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
It is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate accessory of fashion that heralds your arrival and prolongs your departure.
—Coco Chanel (1883–1971) French Fashion Designer
The fear of becoming a ‘has-been’ keeps some people from becoming anything.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
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
There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady’s head-dress.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
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
Great men are seldom over-scrupulous in the arrangement of their attire.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
He was a tubby little chap who looked as if he had been poured into his clothes and had forgotten to say “when!”
—P. G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) British Novelist, Short-story Writer, Playwright
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
A good model can advance fashion by ten years.
—Yves Saint Laurent (1936–2008) French Fashion Designer
Ladies of Fashion starve their happiness to feed their vanity, and their love to feed their pride.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
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
Fashion wears out more clothes than the man.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Society is founded upon cloth.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
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
Even truth needs to be clad in new garments if it is to appeal to a new age.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions.
—Coco Chanel (1883–1971) French Fashion Designer
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
Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercourse.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
Fashion condemns us to many follies; the greatest is to make ourselves its slave.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
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
If the cut of the costume indicates intellect and talent, then the color indicates temper and heart.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
You must be in fashion is the utterance of weak headed mortals.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
She had a womanly instinct that clothes possess an influence more powerful over many than the worth of character or the magic of manners.
—Louisa May Alcott (1832–88) American Novelist