This paradox was coined by Logan Pearsall Smith, the essayist. Fashion can
here be defined as ‘a prevailing custom especially in dress’. It has been said
that we are all slaves to it, yet there are always those who refuse to conform
and deliberately go against it. Fashion, however, is constantly changing, with
the result that these upholders of personal freedom have to alter their
costume accordingly, which makes them also fashion’s slaves.

In a wider sense, anyone who ‘kicks against the pricks‘ is adding to the
difficulties of his existence. A man who takes up a life of crime because he
dislikes work of any kind often works much harder than those in honest
employment.