During twentieth century communist revolutions, uniforms were used to abolish class and race distinctions. Fashion is an endless popularity contest. High fashion is the style of a small group of men and women with a certain taste and authority in the fashion world. Some of these expensive and often artistic fashions may triumph and become the fashion for the larger majority. Most stay on the runway.
Popular fashions are close to impossible to trace.
No one can tell how the short skirts and boots worn by teenagers in England in 1960 made it to the runways of Paris, or how blue jeans became so popular in the U.S., or how hip-hop made it from the streets of the Bronx to the Haute Couture fashion shows of London and Milan. In the perspective of costume history, it is plain that the dress of any given period is exactly suited to the actual climate of the time. Nobody really knows. Once identified, fashions begin to change. Fashion shows display looks created by professional designers.