ABSTRACT
Imitation doesn't happen in isolation. Imitation needs a social system that allows and encourages it to exist. Key theories of fashion, which set out to explain change and creativity in fashion, have, in doing so, explained systems that allow and even encourage imitation. In theory of fashion, Herbert Blumer focused on the role of the influencer in imitation. In fashion studies, scales are used to measure who are the "innovators" and who are the "followers". Some fashion scholars have argued that people no longer follow rules set by fashion authorities. Instead, they say, people now develop their own individual style. As one scholar, Ted Polhemus argued, today people don't want to be a "'fashion victim' who passively follows the 'direction' of fashion as dictated by the fashion professional rather than trusting her or his own judgement". Social media influencers are successful in influencing the clothes that people wear, more so than traditional advertising.
