The science of fashion marketing

If there are any fashionistas out there who have any interest in history have you ever stop to think how fashion was marketed when it first became a commodity? If we start with now, we have a plethora of companies that can market to us morning, noon and night on so many devices such as our laptops, tablets and smartphones. The reason why I ask this question is that the other night I fancied doing a bit of online shopping for some new clothes. So I went to my favourite stores such as ASOS, Topshop and boohoo. I managed to find what I wanted and ordered it. Then I started thinking when I was in my teens the internet wasn't even around then. We relied on TV, magazines and our peer groups to let us know what was in and what was out. Our sphere of influence was that much smaller. My parents generation, which would have been the late 50s and early 60s, would also have had magazines and TV as well as the cinema as their form of influence but probably on a smaller scale. However, if we go back somewhat further to our grandparents generation say to the 1920s and 1930s there really wasn't any TV for the masses. Obviously there were magazines but the main influence would have been the Cinema and the movie stars of that time. Their influence would have been more powerful than today's movie stars. Going back even further to the turn of the 20th century how would fashion, as a commodity, be marketed? Interesting thought. It seems like the development of fashion marketing is a science. Watch this space!