Does power and status dictate or influence trends in fashion?

Through out the centuries fashion has always played a major role in society for the monarchy, the nobility and the gentry.

Fig 3:Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud 1701 "King of France Navarre".

• Louis XIV used fashion and its historical significance to control nobility and express his own power. (Fig 3)
• Henry VIII and Elizabeth I where both known for there elaborate wardrobes. According to elizabethancostume.net (2015) "both Bess and her father were renowned for their ostentation in dress", which they used not only to convey incredible wealth, power and prestige but for political ends as well. (Fig 4)

Fig 5: Elizabeth the Armada Portrait, 1588. Artist unknown

• The Dutches of Devonshire Lady Georgina Spencer was famous for many things, two being her beauty and sense of style both of which she used in her political campaign. However, she is not the only Spencer to have their name forever forged in the fashion world. 
• The 2nd Earl Spencer had a jacket named after him when he supposedly had the tails of his tail coat removed due to singeing them whilst standing beside a fire. This particular garment (although starting life as male attire) soon became extremely popular with the lady gentry. 

 Fig 5: One version of a Spencer Jacket. Image taken from ateliernostalgia.wordpress.com

• The latest Spencer to shine in the world of fashion was Lady Diana Spencer who married the current Prince of Wales (Charles).  Her beauty and sense of style became a world wide phenomena as she blossomed from a fresh faced young girl to Royal Princess and style icon of the 20th century.  (Fig 5)
• The Duke of Wellington designed the Wellington boot which became popular in the 19th Century as a hunting boot for the aristocracy.(Fig 6).  According to english-heritage.org.uk "at some point in the early 1800s Arthur Wellesley, then Viscount Wellington, asked his shoemaker, Mr Hoby of St James’s Street, London, to cut his boots lower and remove the tassel, to make them easier to wear with the new trousers".

Fig 6: The Duke of Wellington (1829) Mounted on a Grey Charger by James Northcote.

The list is endless and during my research I have discovered that fashion and politics often go hand in hand. So where does trend come in to play? The word trend has two meanings the first being; a general direction in which something is developing or changing and the second meaning is; a fashion.
One could say that all of the above then where trend setters some influenced fashion whilst others dictated it.