Fashion. Prehistory

Abstract

N this article, we try to justify one of the hypotheses of the origin of fashion as a phenomenon of Western European culture in the mid-XIV century. By analyzing the cultural and historical prerequisites, which could lead to the emergence of a new cultural phenomenon, we come to the thought about fashion as a new social mechanism that implements the function of the ritual. Comparison with ritual allows to find out new possible justification of its tendency to change, innovation and social stratification.