Why do we follow fashion? Why is fashion a part of who we are? Expression is everything. We’re creatures who, despite our differences, our lifestyles, our principles, crave social interaction. That interaction isn’t always about communicating verbally. It’s just as much communicating who you are by what you wear, what you drive, or even where you eat. In the Devil Wears Prada, Meryl Streep has one of the most memorable monologues. It’s a classic retort to Anne Hathaway’s character who thinks people who thrive on fashion are simply disconnected from the social mores that rule the masses. In the movie, Hathaway who is a vanilla fashion assistant makes an ignorant, though unforgivable comment (given the company she’s keeping), about what she considers indistinguishable differences in fashion choices, to which Streep replies:

You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don’t know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don’t know is that that sweater is not just blue, it’s not turquoise, it’s not lapis, it’s actually cerulean. You’re also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn’t it, who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you’re wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.

The point is clear: Those who take themselves too seriously to be fashion conscious are unconsciously partakers. But what doesn’t come out clearly in Streep’s comments is the fact that those who do go into a Casual Corner or a New York and Co. or a GAP or an Old Navy and choose a blue sweater over a purple one base that decision not simply on momentary whim but on a variety of factors that have taken up seat in their subconscious. It’s not about promulgating what you will wear as if some ellusive blend of illuminati-type fashion mavens huddle around a table in a secret location and decide the new black is blue. The talent of the designer is to anticipate what you will wear before you do by reaching into those subconscious frames of references, considering what might have contributed to them, and then to build hot apparel that appeals to as wide an audience as possible. Think about that the next time you think you’re above or beyond such “pretenious” forms of expression. You might just be at the bottom of the food chain and not even know it.