Have you ever really thought about who decided what hangs in your closet or who swayed your opinion so that you chose to put that top with that skirt and accessorize the way you did? Like Meryl Streep told Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada, you think you chose that sweater yourself, but you didn’t. It was a choice made for you in a room by a person or a group of people. So who are they? Who are the powers that be who can choose which shade of blue will lead the fall line and wind up in your closet?

Not surprisingly it starts with the designers. The inspired ones who can see not only the lines of a dress, but can sketch it and anticipate what will attract attention and look good on many different figures. The designers are ground zero for trends. It continually amazes me how these men and women can visualize a fall line and then bring it to fruition. It is astounding that one person can create clothing that will end up being sold, in some variation of the original, in every department store in the world.

The designers may create the styles, but they only get as far as the catwalk without the buyers. Every department store and boutique has at least one in every department. These are the people with their thumb on the heartbeat of their stores’ demographic. They have an instinctive awareness of what will sell and in what department it will work best.

Photographers are number three on our list. The designers may make the clothing, the models wear it well, but without the pictures in the magazines and catalogues only a very limited and select group of people would ever see them. Consider the last time you flipped through a magazine looking for a special occasion dress. If you see a dress that may attract your attention but the layout is extremely strange or the pose is uncomfortably unnatural, you are very likely to keep on shopping.

Stylists take what the other three start and actually apply it. They are the ones who put the outfits we emulate in front of our eyes. They decide what our favorite stars wear and that makes them fashion gods who make a certain top sexy or nerdy. They make short skirts more popular than long or vice versa. Stylists are the people who dare to accessorize a certain way and make it seem like the best fashion idea we’ve ever seen or heard.

Last on the list, but certainly not least are a very influential are a group of people who may surprise you. Teens. While we all rely on the above list to give us options and pretty much make up our minds for us, teenagers are the people who spend the most money on clothes and shop most often. When they deicide something is in or out or in need of a style change, it happens. So the next time you need to know which dress to buy for that special occasion, grab a fifteen year old and a few fashion mags and let the powers that be decide for you.

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