- Historians read “the pursuit of happiness” as a Lockean euphemism for the protection of commerce and industry through contract law. But this is not dead language. The phrase also represents John Stuart Mill’s view of liberty, whereby people are allowed to organize themselves into communities of expression and experimentation. The panoply of aesthetics we see now in fashion is a reflection of Baudelaire’s dictum in the Salon of 1846, where he said that “there are as many kinds of beauty as there are habitual ways of seeking happiness.”
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Our discussions about fashion are the ways in which we try to socialize our pleasure. People write about the clothes they like or dislike, accost strangers with their enthusiasm, and look for co-conspirators to agree with them. The maturation of online fashion culture has made it possible to mix and match things in ways that previously weren’t possible. It’s true that the internet has made fashion a bit more monoculture in some ways (there’s a particular look that’s popular in every global city). I also worry about the influence brands have in telling people what’s hot and not. But what an incredible time to witness the most democratic age in clothing. Fashion is now almost purely a discourse between engaged beholders, a colloquy of amateurs, and it need be nothing more.