I have a theory that’s going to annoy some people, so let me say the kind part first: there is nothing wrong with loving clothes. I love clothes. I love a good shirt more than I love most people.
Now the theory. Most people who say they’re into fashion are actually into clothes. And I think we’d all be better off if we admitted those are two different things.
Okay, so what’s the difference?
Clothes are objects. A jacket, a pair of jeans, a dress. Loving clothes means loving the thing itself: how it fits, how the fabric feels, how it’s cut, how it makes you look when you catch yourself in a shop window. It’s physical and personal. It’s about your body, your wardrobe, your life.
Fashion is the conversation around the objects. It’s why that jacket has that shoulder this year and not last year. It’s who designed it and what they were reacting to. It’s the history behind a silhouette, the politics of who gets to wear what, the business that decides what ends up in front of you, the way a mood in the world turns into a hemline. Fashion is a system of ideas. Clothes are what the system produces.
You can love one without the other, and plenty of people do. Think of the man who owns four perfect navy jumpers, knows exactly where each was made and couldn’t name a single creative director. Clothes person, through and through. Then think of the girl who can talk for an hour about a 1997 Comme des Garçons collection and wears the same black trousers every day. Fashion person. Neither is dressing “better”. They’re just interested in different things.
How to tell which one you are
A few questions I ask myself.
When a new collection comes out, is your first thought “would I wear that?” or “what is this designer trying to say?” The first is clothes. The second is fashion.
Can you be excited by a show where you’d never wear a single piece? If something ugly, strange or completely impractical can still thrill you because of the idea, that’s fashion.
Do you care why a trend happened, or only that it did? Do you want to know what was going on in the world when skirts got shorter, or do you just want the skirt?
There’s no wrong answer. But I think a lot of people who call themselves fashion lovers would, if they were being straight with themselves, answer clothes to every one.
It’s not only shoppers
This is where it gets spicier, because the mix-up goes all the way up.
There are designers who are clothes people. They make lovely, wearable, well-made things, and they’d be the first to tell you they’re not trying to change the conversation. That’s a real skill and it deserves respect. It’s just a different job from the designer who uses a collection to argue with the culture.
There are writers and critics who are clothes people. You can tell because the review is a description. “Look 14 was a camel coat with a wide lapel.” Okay, and? Why now? What does it mean next to what came before? A lot of what gets published as fashion criticism is really a product description with nicer adjectives.
And there’s social media commentary, which I say with affection because I’m part of it. So much of it is “love this, hate this, would wear, wouldn’t wear”. Rating red carpet looks out of ten. That’s a clothes opinion. It’s fun, I do it too, but it’s not analysis. Liking or disliking an outfit is the beginning of a thought, not the whole thought.
Why I think the distinction matters
I can already hear it: “Why are you gatekeeping? Let people enjoy things.” I promise I’m not. Enjoy everything. The gates are open.
My point is that when we use one word for two things, we end up judging each by the wrong standard, and both lose.
When clothes people judge fashion, you get “who would even wear that?” under every experimental show. As if wearability were the only test. It’s like watching an art film and complaining that it has no car chase. The designer wasn’t trying to dress you for Monday. They were trying to show you something.
When fashion people judge clothes, you get snobbery. The idea that someone who just wants a great pair of jeans and doesn’t care about the discourse is somehow shallow. That’s nonsense. Knowing what suits you and wearing it well is its own kind of intelligence, and a lot of “fashion people” are frankly worse at it.
And there’s a bigger cost. If the whole audience only responds to “would I buy this?”, then brands will only make what we’d buy. The strange, difficult, idea-driven work that pushes everything forward loses its audience. In a way, treating fashion as if it were just clothes is how we ended up with so much product and so little point of view.
Please don’t hear this as “fashion is smarter”
I want to be really clear, because this is where the conversation usually goes wrong. I’m not saying fashion is the intellectual one and clothes are the silly one. I’m not saying you’re less sophisticated if runway shows bore you.
If anything, loving clothes is the more honest relationship. It’s the one you live in every day. A person who has worn the same perfectly cut coat for twelve years has understood something about quality and self-knowledge that no amount of fashion theory will teach you. Clothes are where all the ideas finally have to prove themselves, on an actual body, on an actual morning.
And fashion without a love of clothes is its own problem. You get people who can explain a collection beautifully and can’t tell you whether the seams are any good.
Where I’ve landed
I’m both, and I think the best version of being into any of this is both. I want to know why something exists and I also want to touch it and try it on. I can admire a show I’d never wear and then go home and get far too excited about a white T-shirt with the right neckline.
All I’m asking is that we know which hat we’ve got on. When you say “I hate that collection”, check whether you mean “it’s a weak idea” or “it’s not for me”. Both are fair. They’re just not the same sentence.
So, which are you? No judgement either way. I’d just like us to start telling the truth about it.
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