Why do people follow fashion?

It's a way that we signal "belonging" and "status" to one another.Yes it is a way for people to feel as if they "belong" but does everybody HAVE to follow the fashion.

 Not really. To me "follow fashion" is just another excuse for people to go out and spend well earned money on things they would most likely not wear again. the shoes i can understand, getting new clothes is a necessity but not buying the same or close to the same clothes as the celebs. And really, if it says cashmere are you really getting 100% of it? Most likely not...it's all a scam that so happens to work. Everybody does it from RL to PRADA...well lets not get into that one shall we..but my point is that you or anybody else shouldn't "follow" anything. This country has enough problems as is without everybody going broke trying to "belong". So maybe when anybody is out shopping, they would realize that they have something similar and that they really don't NEED it...i get what you're saying that they just want to "belong" but it's not a necessity to want anything, it's almost like an obsession.

Seriously, why are people such jerks when it comes to the way other people dress? So what if someone buys clothes at thrift stores or w/e, why is that so funny? Fashion shouldn't matter. So someone tell me why you care so much about people that dress different instead of like everyone else, like another clone