Are we really that unique?

Yesterday in class, we were talking about the idea of fashion and how it relates to our societal structure. Living in New York, we are exposed to all types of styles, but I found it very, very hard to find one person who was completely removed from any accepted norms when it came to fashion. We all tend to fit a certain mold, and by trying to be unique, we end up looking like another group of people. There are institutions that dictate what is fashionably right or wrong, and there are counter institutions that urge us to go against the idea of right and wrong. But this ties into the way how producers try to target "you." While dressing in a certain way, we would all like to think that we have our own twist on things, which to some extent we do. I was watching tv the other day and a target commercial came on. It portrayed three well dressed women, one in her 20s, on in her 30s, and one in her 40s. The commercial went on to say that these three women had found their own sense of themselves, and recession prices. They were confident, and strutted down the streets on New York City. People around them would just stare, and no one dressed as good as they did. Then my mind wandered straight to the tv show, Sex in the City. In this show, there are four women who are sassy, confident, constantly dealing with guy problems, and are experts in fashion. Girls and women around the left that show with a couple of words on their minds: Manolo Blanik, Jimmy Choo, Chanel. The idea that these women could walk down the street and have heads turning because of their "unique and chic" sense of style is what appeals to women around the world. We want to feel that at some level we can reach that point. So we go to the stores and buy knock of Jimmy Choos and not eat for a month to save enough money to buy really tiny Louis Vuitton bag. And Target nailed that desire in their ad. For less money, you can be different too! Target wants women to talk to their friends like this: "Remember that summer dress that Carrie Bradshaw wore in season 5 episode 6? Well I got a dress that looks just like that." Target encapsulated this idea to be trendy and cutting edge, playing into the feeling of wanting to be "unique." I'm not saying that people dont have personalities when it comes to fashion, but big corporations like Target or Olay know that there is a majority of women out there who tend to be "different" in the same way.