Where did the Term "High Street" fashion come from?

High Street, also commonly abbreviated as High St. is the term used for the primary business street of towns and cities in the UK and Ireland. Gradually "High" became associated with superior quality or excellence. High street would be a focal point for retailers, etc. The term came from the fashionable clothing or other accessories coming from the High Street in X city in the UK/Ireland and evolved as the word "high" came to be associated with the above. Eventually it's use became that which is prevalent today. I hope this was helpful for you. (On a side note, there's an off-shoot of this term. It drops the word "street" and is just "High fashion". Lending itself, again, to the evolution of the word "high")

You are right it is a British term. Originally the term was "street fashion" and referred to the way Mods in the 1960's often made their own clothes and invented their own styles and fashion. A similar thing happened in the late 70's/early 80's - fashion was being made by ordinary people without much money, making/adapting their clothes at home, without reference at all to fashion designers or fashion magazines or couture houses. (Indeed often fashion designers like Vivienne Westwood stole their ideas and then presented them on the catwalk). What then happened was that chain stores - like Top Shop - decided that they would cater for this demographic - so they would often observe what these young but poor stylistas were wearing, and produce a cheap ready-made version for the chain store, so people could just buy it, instead of having to adapt their clothes themselves. These chain stores are situated on the main or "high" street of towns, so the term "high street fashion" as born. It refers to cheap and cheerful fashion that you can buy in high street stores, and which doesn't often have any connection to the couture designers style at all.

thank you very much for this discussion...I like learning more and more about English language....I can remember now something about High Street when visiting London...In Italy High Street would be the main street...but where fashion is concerned, each city has its High Street and we call here under the specific name of the street...I mean..here in Rome you will find Via Condotti as the street where to buy all great stylists releases...In Milano it would Via Montenapoleone...you may sometimes hear journalists speaks about The fashion district or fashion streets but everybody in Italy knows that Via Condotti means the best Italian fashion and Via Montenapoleone, too