DON’T FAD AWAY

Some thoughts on the nature of temporary popularity.

“Nobody creates a fad. It just happens. People love going along with the idea of a beautiful pig. It’s like a conspiracy.”

—Jim Henson, who created Miss Piggy

“I don’t set trends. I just find out what they are and exploit them.”

—Dick Clark

“Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.”

—Jack Kerouac

“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable we have to alter it every six months.”

—Oscar Wilde

“It seems we’re always in transition and that it’s more about trends than it is about what’s meaningful.”

—Marlee Matlin

“You actually don’t want people thinking your product is cool, because then you’re a fad.”

—Sean Parker, former president of Facebook

“Major social movements eventually fade into the landscape not because they have diminished but because they have become a permanent part of our perceptions and experience.”

—Freda Adler

“I base my fashion sense on what doesn’t itch.”

—Gilda Radner

“I don’t want to see David Bowie in a tracksuit. He never let anyone see him that way. The outlet for my work is not just the music and the videos, it’s every breathing moment of my life. I’m always saying something about art and music and fame. That’s why you don’t ever catch me in sweatpants.”

—Lady Gaga

“Fads are the kiss of death. When the fad goes away, you go with it.”

—Conway Twitty

“Fashions fade, style is eternal.”

—Yves Saint Laurent

Empress Josephine of France thought her hands were ugly, so she wore elbow-length gloves— which then became a fad.