ABSTRACT
A title of this nature invites the accusation of pretentiousness. This would follow the juxtaposition of two terms, fashion and ontology, which ordinary discourse would construct as opposing ends of a spectrum of social phenomena. Fashion is often taken as the most superficial content of social activities, ontology the deepest and the least susceptible to an analysis as mere content. Fashion is therefore one of the least promising candidates as a vehicle for ontology or even as having ontological consequences. The juxtaposition of the two stakes the claims of this paper, that is to equate modes of consumption with an understanding of the fundamental nature of being.
