Why Fashion?

People in the fashion industry are always asked 'Why fashion?', a question which in itself is rather loaded with meaning (why not something more important?) and no one ever tells the real reason. Fashion Magazines!
Magazines like Vogue, Elle, Harpers Bazaar and smaller, newer magazines are the reason so many people end up in fashion. They are glossy, bright, positive, sensual and found everywhere from train stations, waiting rooms, newsagents, shops and supermarkets. Who wouldn't want to be part of such an all pervasive medium?
I have two very early magazine memories. The first is of a now defunct Australian magazine that was published six times a year with the summer issue always containing the 'In and Out' list. I recall summer holidays in Sorrento where literally everyone on the beach had a copy. One particular edition of one magazine had the power to shift the zeitgeist of a whole country. I remember the year at the end of the 80s when it proclaimed that should pads were out. There was a sense of relief that an unflattering trend was over and I recall cutting shoulder pads out of a dress that very night. I was 8 years old and I was done.
My second magazine memory was of reading a brand new issue of Vogue at the dinner table one night and my brother glancing at the cover and asking in a dismissive way 'Why are fashion magazines published a month in advance?' To which I logically replied 'So that we know what to wear next month and have time to go out and buy it. There's no point in telling us what to where now, we don't have it yet!" My entire family rolled their eyes at this point and there was no longer a shadow of a doubt that I was a fashion true believer.
What about you chic readers? When was fashion first clearly defined in your life?