Buying into Fashion

Isn't funny how as consumers we often buy into fashion brands without realising it or not knowing much about the designer or label? It is simply its' allure of being 'popular' that captivates us.
For example yesterday I was in a well known 'bargain' shop and came across a glass bottle of Evian water designed by Jean Paul Gaultier for last year - rows and rows of them for 50p.
It got me thinking of fashion's influence as this shop is hardly Gaultier's market audience in fact I would go as far to say that it would be a place where fashion is the last thing on people's minds but here it is a year later from commerical marketing, sitting on a shelf in this shop.
It reminded me so much of the Devil Wears Prada where Andy (Anne Hathaway) is reminded by her Editor-in-Chief played by Meryl Streep that even people who think they are anti-fashion are influenced by the fashion editors and designers no matter how much they wish to deny it.
In fact it is hard to imagine a time when fashion was not a major influence on the general public.