Annette J. Aw, School of Communication Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

tannette@ntu.edu.sg

This paper explores issues relating to fashion as a cultural product and how an individual uses it to communicate change. This paper analyzes fashion which is one of the many types of "cultural" items. The author argues that cultural products celebrates changes and creates assumptions that guide one's action and interpretation. Beach wear in the past covered up more than what we wear today to go shopping! Now, the setting or determination of fashion @ the beach takes place actually through an intense process of selection. Why should one chose one swim wear in preference to another? How an individual uses fashion as a cultural product to communicate change? Thus, this paper provides a useful frame of reference in which to trace how popular "cultural" product (fashion) has been used in one's effort to communicate change.