The main lights dim, the catwalk lights come on and the audience gets excited. The models backstage get nervous as the audience begins to cheer. The models are about to show off a new clothing line from a designer that will become the latest fashion trend. But what is fashion? Many people think of models, runways, New York, and expensive clothes when they hear the word fashion. But fashion is much more than this. Fashion is the clothing that defines who a person is, their likes and dislikes, their personality and, above all, their culture. Clothing dates back approximately 100,000-500,000 years. The first clothes were made of animal skin and fur, vegetation and bones. This type of clothing was usually draped over people or tied. It wasn't until about 30,000 years ago that people realized they could use animal bones as a needle to sew their own clothes (The History of Clothing). Fashion changes over time due to economic and social changes. The most dramatic changes occurred during the 8th and 11th centuries because these were the times when sophisticated clothing was introduced. As fabrics became more impressive, so did clothing. Clothing has become more sophisticated and elegant as materials have become more specialized over the years (cite). Cultural clothing was not born with the progress of fashion, it was the reason why fashion was born. When clothes began to appear, a lot could be said about consumer culture. At first it could be assumed that people were hunters and gatherers because they made their clothes from animal skin, fur and bones. Fashion is very important to people as it defines the cultures they come from. You can tell a lot about a person and where they are… middle of the paper… entity” when you paint your face white, put chopsticks in your hair, and wrap yourself in your colorful kimono. Sandra Bernhard, a director, represents this idea very well in her film Without you I am nothing. The film opens with her dressed in African clothing and pretending to be black. This represents that cultural identity can easily be constructed and worn by someone who is not of that culture (Eating the Other 436). The author of Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance, bell hooks suggests that people “wear an identity” because “you desire “a little of the Other” to improve the empty landscape of whiteness” (430). Consumers believe their lives are an empty landscape of white until they wear fashion from other cultures. Fashion from other cultures adds color and excitement to consumers' lives, so it's not an empty landscape of white.