Dedicated Follower Of Fashion

​I would like to share this report I wrote for a blog I decided not to launch a while back.  I found this information to be very interesting to those who love music and fashion just as much as I do.  Enjoy!

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I accidentally found a song recorded by the British rock band, The Kinks.  If you don't know about this legendary rock band, visit their Wikipedia page:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kinks 

The song is called, "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion" written by Ray Davies, who was the lead singer of The Kinks.  The song was released in the UK as a single in 1966.   Listen to it here:  
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=QA5gJ0hZpCc.                                                                                       
Ray Davies stated the song was inspired by a fight he had a party.  He explained,  "I got pissed off with [a fashion designer at a party] always going on about fashion. I was just saying you don't have to be anything; you decide what you want to be and you just walk down the street and if you're good the world will change as you walk past. I just wanted it to be the individual who created his own fashion. ... [It was] a terrible brawl. I kicked him, and I kicked his girlfriend up the arse." By the way, arse means ass.  Read more here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dedicated_Follower_of_Fashion#cite_note-godsavethekinks-

​It was also expressed that "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion" was about the fashion explosion in Britain during the 1960s.  "According to a 2011 NME interview with Ray Davies, despite its fey overtones, the song is actually a scathing attack on a fop who made fun of the singer's trousers."                                                                                    I found this song because I was doing research on the history behind another song entitled, "Fashion" by David Bowie.  Listen to it here:     
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA27aQZCQMk                

I understood that the song, "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion" actually influenced David Bowie's song "Fashion".  David said he was trying to "move on a little from that Ray Davies concept of fashion, to suggest more of a gritted teeth determination and an unsuredness about why one's doing it".  Read more here: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_(David_Bowie_song)

By the way, you can also hear the song "Fashion" playing in the background of Cher's closet scene in the movie Clueless seen here: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3IpEI8vZDU    

The fashion trends in London were constantly changing during the 1960s.  You would think that Ray Davies would have been a willing participant in wearing the trendy clothing of the day.  But he was actually making fun of the British fashion culture on Carnaby Street, which was an "in" place to be.  Read more about the 1960s fashion on Carnaby Street in London here:  
http://vancouversignaturesounds.com/hits/dedicated-follower-fashion-kinks/
 
I love the song "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion" by The Kinks and "Fashion" by David Bowie.  These artists expressed their views of fashion very differently even though one was influenced by the other.  I ABSOLUTELY love both of these songs because they creatively brought my two favorite things together-------
MUSIC and FASHION!