To add to the pretty cool responses of schiaparelli and natural log above, I want to highlight one of the most incredible things about fashion: it is dynamic. Your perspective on it may radically shift over time because of how many different (but valid) viewpoints there are. I know mine has.
Fashion encourages almost schizophrenic identities, which, while bad for the wallet and maybe the inner peace of the soul, has the benefit of opening you up to different ways of viewing things. I feel like once I wear different types of clothes I inhabit subtly different worlds - the clothes really do affect how I see the world around me as well as myself. I also think that trying out new ways of dressing doesn't betray any kind of roots. There's a reason why a lot of the #menswear people of the last decade grew up as sneakerheads. Similar overlying culture, different surface content. I studied English and it might be that part of me that appreciates that fashion has no right answer. Or you could say there are many right answers.
Clothes engage the senses. Art is food mostly for the eyes. But fabrics, and the clothes that people use them to make, are the rare objects that are DESIGNED to give you a complex experience of touch. Beyond what fabric feels like to your fingers, or a soft cashmere scarf around your neck, the weight (or lightness) of fabrics on your body is an amazing feeling. Sometimes to the point of being an almost erotic experience.