Fashion

a prevailing custom or style of dress, etiquette, socializing, etc.:
the latest fashion in dresses.
conventional usage in dress, manners, etc., especially of polite society, or conformity to it:
the dictates of fashion; to be out of fashion.
manner; way; mode:
in a warlike fashion.
the make or form of anything:
he liked the fashion of the simple, st-rdy furniture.
a kind; sort:
all fashions of people make up the world.
obsolete, .
obsolete. act or process of making.
to give a particular shape or form to; make:
the cavemen fashioned tools from stones.
to accommodate; adjust; adapt:
doctrines fashioned to the varying hour.
shipbuilding. to bend (a plate) without preheating.
obsolete. to contrive; manage.
after / in a fashion, in some manner or other or to some extent; in a makeshift, unskillful, or unsatisfactory way:
he’s an artist after a fashion.
contemporary examples

so mitch-ll was at fashion camp to talk to the girls about preparation.
camp fashion design draws budding designers to new york robin givhan july 12, 2012

as cutrone’s 22-year-old personal -ssistant andrew mukamal put it: “we’re at the service end of the fashion industry.”
kelly cutrone’s outsider army sheila mcclear january 30, 2010

the presence of real-size women in fashion magazines might indicate that they really are listening to their readers.
absolutely flabulous marisa meltzer september 1, 2009

the fashion show premieres on bravo on thursday, may 7, 2009 at 10 p.m. et/pt.
isaac mizrahi and kelly rowland host the fashion show daily beast promotions may 3, 2009

“what is great is [that it shows] that friendship is very important and that it can exist in fashion,” roitfeld says.
carine roitfeld doc-mentary ‘mademoiselle c’ offers intimate look isabel wilkinson september 10, 2013

historical examples

she had not dared to love miss armitage in this fashion in the beginning.
a modern cinderella amanda m. douglas

no shaft that percival was able to fashion had point enough to pierce it.
the spenders harry leon wilson

is that the force that is to build the future and fashion the city of our dreams?
philosophy and the social problem will durant

he has an air, it is true, but his air is not a breeze, like the air of a pretender to fashion.
blackwood’s edinburgh magazine, no. 327 various

how lively and agreeable she is—how much she has the air of a woman of fashion and of the world.
emmeline charlotte turner smith

noun

style in clothes, cosmetics, behaviour, etc, esp the latest or most admired style
(as modifier): a fashion magazine

(modifier) (esp of accessories) designed to be in the current fashion, but not necessarily to last

manner of performance; mode; way: in a striking fashion
(in combination): crab-fashion

a way of life that revolves around the activities, dress, interests, etc, that are most fashionable
shape, appearance, or form
sort; kind; type
after a fashion, in a fashion

in some manner, but not very well: i mended it, after a fashion
of a low order; of a sort: he is a poet, after a fashion

after the fashion of, like; similar to
of fashion, of high social standing
verb (transitive)
to give a particular form to
to make suitable or fitting
(obsolete) to contrive; manage
n.

c.1300, “shape, manner, mode,” from old french façon (12c.) “face, appearance; construction, pattern, design; thing done; beauty; manner, characteristic feature,” from latin factionem (nominative factio) “group of people acting together,” literally “a making or doing,” from facere “to make” (see fact-tious).

sense of “prevailing custom” is from late 15c.; that of “style of attire” is from 1520s.

to call a fashion wearable is the kiss of death. no new fashion worth its salt is wearable. [eugenia sheppard, “new york herald tribune,” jan. 13, 1960]

fashion plate (1851) originally was “full-page picture in a popular magazine showing the prevailing or latest style of dress,” in reference to the typographic “plate” from which it was printed. transfered sense of “well-dressed person” had emerged by 1920s.

v.

early 15c.; see fashion (n.). related: fashioned; fashioning.
see:

after a fashion
in fashion