It is true that youth are quick to follow anything around the world which appears ‘hip’ or ‘in’. It is in their nature to want to be like young people in others parts of the world. Even I also want to fit in .I have never met a youth who does not want to fit in. youths are quick to relate and to follow what they think is fashionable. Fashion includes dress, taste in music, language, hair styles, drug taking and even moral values. It is impossible to control the coming of fashion from other countries. With television, books and magazines easily available, the world has shrunk and what is discovered as ‘fashion’ in one part of the world spreads like wildfire everywhere else.

Youths are usually referred to as teenagers, are rebels because of a restlessness within. We want to assert our individuality and the values of our peers, and break away from the influence of our parents and their parents’ generation. This restlessness makes us teenagers keep closer to our groups. We tend to seek relationships and may sometimes in the process, got too carried away in order to gain acceptance from our peers. The influence of the group can be a bad thing. As what if the group leader decides to be ‘hip’ and little thought is given to consequences. For instance, a group of youth youths who go about vandalizing public and private property because they think that it is fashionable.

Hence, we see that the tendency to be slaves to fashion can lead to a lot of danger. Can anything be done to curb it? in very regimented societies youth are controlled by the tenets of custom and religion and in some cases, force is used to make sure laws are obeyed. Youths will be dealt with as if they are common criminals if they breached the laws. Of course this is just the other extreme. Youths are like kites, if you hold them too tightly, it will break and if you hold it too loosely, it will fly away.

Youth is just a passing age and one where naturally there is rebelliousness. Everything should be done to ensure that the adults understand why youths behave this way. Methods to guide them at the time when they are becoming slaves to fashion must be found. There are many harmless outlets that youths could be channeled to at the time that they began this obsession with fashion. Some of these could be doing social work, learning new skills and even working. Better still; parents can build up a relationship of trust before their children reach teenager-sometimes called the problem age. What needs to be realized is that the tendency to the slaves of fashion is actually the crying out a deeper need to be understood, recognized and loved. if parents, schools and other bodies can hear this cry above the mere outward expression of the adherence to fashion, or better still, stand by the youths before the rebellion begins, a lot of good can be achieved.