Fashion is important in the book because it can help us to look good and gives us confidence.
Early in the book, for example, protagonist Phoebe goes to an important ball. Phoebe is very young (I think she is about eighteen) and blonde, with a white and pink complexion. Her mother, also called Phoebe, advises her to wear a pastel gown, but Phoebe refuses. She chooses a gown of black silk, which makes her golden beauty shine. Phoebe is striking and so confident at the ball, that young men fall in love with her; young women can only admire her fashion sense.
What is wonderful in this episode is, for me, the correct stance towards fashion. The other girls are not presented as competition, and they do not "dislike" Phoebe for outshining them: they admit that she chose the best piece for herself. Also, Phoebe does not choose the dress because she wants to "beat" competition, but because she wants to feel confident and look her best.
Fashion gives us confidence and makes us look our best. Many speak against fashion, saying that it promotes impossible ideals. I disagree with this. Fashion promotes impossible ideals only if we listen to those who say that everyone else is competition and more beautiful than us. Personally, I never compare myself to others and don't see them as "competition". I love fashion, and I do the best with what my minimal budget will allow. Fashion has something good for everyone!
Now, the reason why I stopped reading Phoebe Junior is the class snobbery. Not only important characters, but also Phoebe herself, look down upon lower middle-class and working class people. Maybe the book improves later, but I am not interested to find out.
In the19th century, most writers and critics came from the middle and upper classes. Critics derided any writer or poet who was lower class. My darling John Keats <3 met a lot of prejudice because he was poor and working class!
I still have Phoebe Junior on the bookshelf, but again only because of the scenes about fashion! :-)
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