One thing about clothing trends is that they are dictated by the upper class, then followed by the masses. Being part of the masses means that you are just part of a whole, a piece in the community puzzle. If you aren't trying to follow the trends of those around you, if you aren't participating like the others; there must be something wrong with you, i.e. you don't care about the opinions or feelings of the humans who surround you every day.
This is a fear of difference, a fear of someone who does not care about their fellow human, as we all should. Keeping up on the trends is one easy way for identifying people to get along with, and if a person doesn't want to follow this secret rule by dressing and acting completely differently than anyone else, what other rules do they desire to break? Maybe they are out to fulfil their own needs, like a rapist, or a twisted murderer, who will get what they crave regardless of if it hurts or kills another human. However, this belief serves to only bring a false sense of security.
Some people recognize this fear and know how to avoid looking like their inhuman nature, these people are the ones who deserve our fear, they are psychopaths. Psychopaths have ''no loyalty, empathy or concern for other people... No conscience, lacking guilt or remorse for anything they do, no matter how bad''(1). These basic facts will haunt our minds when we encounter a person who seems to have no regard for the people who surround them, how they look, how they feel, how they behave. However, this secret idea of 'crazy dresses like crazy' is not to be followed to a T, many people dress the way they like regardless of other's thoughts, as a way to allow themselves to be true. Also, people who are psychopaths have a ''callous use of lies, manipulation and other abuse'' and ''cunning image management and shifting of blame,'' this means that they hyper-analyse the normal thinking people in their life and create an image of normalcy. Many times, the only things families have to say about psycho killers is that they were odd as children. So, true psychopaths could be the best dressed, most down to Earth people to know, but all you're looking out for is the sweet, but eccentric girl who likes steampunk a little too much.
One example is Jeffrey Dahmer, a psychopath who would lure other homosexual men to bed and then murder, rape and consume them. The people in Jeffrey's life were completely taken aback by the discovery of the bodies and skeletons in his closet (literally). The true surprise comes when he was in court, at his first trial, clad in his arresting officer's son's button down shirt; "That's the shirt that is on People's Magazine, the blue and white striped shirt where people say, 'oh look how he's dressed like a tennis player' and they made all these assumptions about [him based on his] choice, but that was my son's shirt and pants!"(2).
So, now you can see why fashion and trend following is so important. People who are considered the most intelligent and creative people, psychopaths, know that dressing and acting just like everyone else is the key to passing as a considerate and normal person(1).
Citations:
1) "Psychopathic Personality." Psychopathic Personality. Changing Minds, n.d. Web. 25 May 2015.
http://changingminds.org/explanations/personality/disorders/psychopath.htm
2) The Jeffrey Dahmer Files. Dir. Chris James Thompson. 2012. Documentary seen on Netflix.
3) Salazar, Heather. Professor. "Philosophy of Fashion." Lecture.
Picture
http://www.serialkillercalendar.com/Brief-Bio-of-Jeffrey-Dahmer.html
