My Venus of Willendorf
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I thought Simmel's observations on Fashion were interesting and very true for the most part. There was one thing that I wish he had addressed in his article: How does something become "in style"?
He talks about Fashion very abstractly, as if it is something that just happens, and he gives reasonably good explanations of why it happens (though he is really studying the effects more than the causes). He doesn't explain the role of the fashion designers, or tailors, or whoever it is that decides what will be "in style", or creates the thing that will be "in style".
He talks about "fashion" as it is followed by the wearer, but I think that without the designers having first introduced some different fashions, it wouldn't evolve the way Simmel describes. In his description of the differences between male and female attitudes in fashion, especially in the 14th century, where women would wear very elaborate outfits, he doesn't really address the question of who makes these outrageous clothes for women to wear. Is it women who make the clothing? Or men who suggest what women should be wearing?