Fashion Means Both the Style and the Making of It
Fashion is the prevailing style of clothes, and also a verb meaning to shape something by hand. The phrase after a fashion means barely.
Fashion is what most people are wearing, and by extension any prevailing style. It is also a verb: to fashion something is to shape it, usually with effort and simple means. And *after a fashion* is a quiet insult — it means the thing was done, but badly.
- The prevailing style of clothing. *Paris fashion.*
- A manner of doing something. *In his usual fashion.*
- To shape or make. *He fashioned a handle from wire.*
- After a fashion — imperfectly. *It works, after a fashion.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | fashion | Out of fashion. |
| Verb | fashion | Fashion a splint. |
| Adjective | fashionable | A fashionable street. |
| Adverb | fashionably | Fashionably late. |
| Opposite | unfashionable | An unfashionable view. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Wide collars are back in fashion.In and out of fashion are the set phrases.
- She answered in her usual blunt fashion.Fashion as manner.
- They fashioned a shelter from branches.The verb, meaning made by hand.
Fashion, style and trend
- Fashion — what is current, and changes
- Style — a personal or lasting way of dressing
- Trend — a direction of change, in clothes or anything else
- Fad — a short trend that passes quickly
- Vogue — fashionable acceptance (*in vogue*)
From Old French *façon*, from Latin *factio*, a making, from *facere*, to make. The clothing sense grew from the older sense of the way a thing is made.
What does *after a fashion* mean?
To some extent, but poorly. It concedes that something was achieved while making clear it was not achieved well.
Fashion or style?
Fashion belongs to a moment and to everyone; style belongs to a person and lasts.