fashion as a fetter

There was a time for me (and I suspect for all of us) when I was unaware of "fashion," in reality it was more that I didn't care about it; I knew what I thought looked good, but I was okay with going to school or what-have-you wearing clothing that was regular, generic or plain so long as it was reasonably clean. It wasn't a choice not to care, it simply was natural for me not to be overly interested in it; if it had been a choice, then I would have cared, just in a different way.

Anyways, now days things are different. I do care about the styles, what is new, what is edgy, what is redundant and what is over with. But I'd be okay with all that, if only it didn't permeate every activity I did. Too often I gauge the coolness of an activity by how cool it looks not only that, but I also often judge the legitimacy of a thing by the how aesthetically pleasing it's setting and people are. 

This is developing slowly into something which Buddhism might call a fetter, (something which stops you from reaching enlightenment and ties you to suffering) it might sometime prevent me from seeing the truth in a thing because of that things hipness or lack of hipness. I think I know the answer to reversing this process though. I need to immerse myself in something that I care greatly about. Consciously spend more thoughts on a passion.

I want to state that despite all this I am not anti-fashion, I simply think that something used mainly to impress others could ever worth that much time.