Fashion dictates act as social norms we need to comply with, in order to belong to the in crowd. We all want to be invited to the party, and so we listen to what the fashion gurus tell us we need to buy, be and do, in order to make the list. In contrast, Coco Chanel stated that making our own choices and being true to ourselves provides a much richer, more fulfilling life-experience than what fashion has to offer, coining the phrase: "beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself."

The fashion industry essentially caters to our need for social acceptance and inclusion, whilst at the same time providing us with a sense of orientation and direction, a way for us to navigate the minefields of the social context we live in. Fashion will even help us to define our own identity, maybe as a Cosmo-girl, an Armani-guy, or would you prefer to be a sophisticated Prada-lady?

Fashion does an incredible job at pleasing the masses, providing a sensation of freshness and novelty through the updated styles, designs and color schemes the industry propagates every season, along with the perfect excuse for us to shop until we drop, feathering our nest with fun new things, activating our feel-good hormones, whilst keeping us temporarily amused and distracted.

Most major media companies support this fun factor by cooperating closely with the fashion police, catching fashion offenders red-handed and exposing their crimes publically, whilst providing us with perfect examples and images of celebrities doing the right thing. Fashion addicts respond well to social conditioning and mind-control.

Fashion provides a relatively safe way of having fun, as long as you comply and fit in.

Fashion is even more fun, when you get to create and dictate the norms, I am sure.

As Coco Chanel said:

"I don't do fashion. I am fashion."

The high priests of fashion wield an incredible amount of power and influence, not just within their own business empires. Their social impact is often world-wide, affecting more than just how we dress and paint ourselves. However, if you scratch the surface of this glossy industry, you may find there is nothing beneath it. It is in many respects purely superficial, devoid of meaning or substance, keeping us in a permanent high, but never providing us with any true, lasting sense of satisfaction.

We are conditioned by this industry to live from one fashion fix to the next, in order to forget the pain caused by the hole in our soul. Interestingly, it seems that when we allow inner healing to take place and become whole, fashion trends become irrelevant. The resulting uniquely personal type of beauty emanates a powerful sense of grace, poise, style, inner calm, and attractiveness. Such elegant beauty emerges when individuals take back ownership of their lives and make healthy decisions on a daily basis. The fashion industry may try to persuade you not to go down this route, threatening to excommunicate you, if you do. In spite of this, elegance would invite you to take back control and develop your own personal style.

As Isabella Rossellini said: "Elegance is the manifestation of an independent mind."