Adornment vs. fashion

From Lapham's Quarterly, on what we wear: "Roland Barthes draws a distinction between the universal practice of adornment and what we call fashion. Fashion is not only clothes and accessories, it is also a language that harmonizes with a time and place. Along with the obvious reasons clothing was invented — 'as protection against harsh weather, out of modesty for hiding nudity, and for ornamentation to get noticed' — Barthes says that fashion serves another essential function: storytelling. Wearing a particular item of clothing, writes Barthes, is 'an act of signification and therefore a profoundly social act.'"