Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
Fashionista (plural: fashionistas) describes a person deeply involved with fashion. Dictionary sources share similar meanings, most mentioning a career in the fashion industry — designing, promoting or writing about fashion: Merriam-Webster defines a fashionista as a “designer, promoter, or follower of the latest fashions,” and Dictionary.com describes a person working in or deeply involved with the high-fashion industry, or a devotee of clothing fashion. The word can also describe someone who simply expresses herself through apparel and accessories, viewing fashion as an art form rather than a set of rules.
Fashionista (plural Fashionistas) - Terms of Interest to the Fashion Industry
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Throughout my career covering the fashion category for several different magazines, I must admit that I have used the term "fashionista" in a few of my articles. When using the term, I was describing a woman who was feminine and well dressed. This woman followed fashion to some degree, but was certainly not a slave to fashion. Would she wait on line for a considerable amount of time for an opportunity to snap up one of Roberto Cavalli's limited edition pieces at H&M? Certainly.
Unconcerned with trends or emulating the looks of high fashion models or iconic celebrities, my fashionista simply liked to express herself through her apparel and accessories. She viewed fashion as an art form.
Other reliable dictionary sources tend to share similar meanings, all with a mention of some type of career in the fashion industry whether it be designing, promoting, or even writing about fashion.
Merriam-Webster defines a "fashionista" as a "designer, promoter, or follower of the latest fashions" while MSN's dictionary meaning, which is quite similar to Merriam-Webster's, also includes a mention of "somebody involved in the fashion industry." According to Dictionary.com, a fashionista is a "person working in or deeply involved with the high-fashion industry, such as a designer, model, photographer, buyer, writer, wearer; or a devotee to clothing fashion."
Although most dictionary meanings do not denote any negativity, the term seems to have once been used as an insult to describe someone who is overly concerned with fashion.
If you are a fashionista, you can meet other fashionistas at the Fashion Industry Network.
Written by Regina Oct 2008
Are you a stylish fashionista?
Fashion Industry Network
The term spread through fashion journalism in the 1990s and 2000s, when writers covering the fashion category needed one word for the women — and later anyone — who lived inside the fashion world. Its built-in ambiguity is part of its survival: the same word can honor a designer's devotion or tease a shopper's obsession, and tone of voice decides which. Few fashion words carry both a compliment and a raised eyebrow at once.
Whatever the tone, fashionistas matter commercially: they are the earliest adopters retailers watch, the audience limited editions are made for, and the readership fashion magazines and blogs serve. The fashion icon and fashion influencers entries in this directory cover the neighboring ideas — the icon whose style defines an era, and the influencer whose following moves product.
A designer, promoter or follower of the latest fashions — a person working in or deeply involved with the high-fashion industry, or a devotee of clothing fashion.
Most dictionary meanings carry no negativity, but the term has at times been used as an insult for someone overly concerned with fashion. In ordinary use it is neutral or affectionate.
Not by the classic description: the fashionista follows fashion to a degree and will queue for a limited-edition piece, but she is not necessarily emulating models or celebrities — she expresses herself through her clothes.