A person devoted to fashion clothing, particularily unique or high fashion.
A person not to be called a fashionista would be someone who obsessivly follows trends. REAL fashionistas do not believe in trends.
That type of person would be more correctly labeled a fashion whore or a shallow bitch.

A term used to define a woman with a penchant for shopping and a natural flair for combining both current and vintage fashionable trends.

In today's Urban society, "fashionista" is not by any means a negative term.
Thanks to television shows like "Sex and the City" rather more specifically, thanks to actresses such as Sarah Jessica Parker, the image of a "fashionista" has been modernized into a much more positive, powerful and successful feminine role.

Forget the shallow, bitchy, materialistic image so many people are quick to describe.
The truth is, it's the new millenium and the hottest trend right now, is that it's okay to be a woman again. The "fashionista" doesn't look at her femininity as a gender flaw.
Where some may be quick to label her a bitch, others actually take the time to get to know her eccentricities.
"Fashionista's" simply look at Fashion as an Art, their own bodies as the canvas, and the sense of style they develope along the way is simply the masterpiece.
True fashion ("true fashion" as in the clothes and not the stereotypically thin supermodels that wear them) is simply an expression of identity and the people who feel the need to argue that are usually the same people who rarely see the positive in anything.
"Fashionista's" are extremely realistic when it comes to the world of fashion, they're also very knowledgeable about the Fashion Arts.
A person's not automatically materialistic just because they buy a designer suit or expensive jeans...

The fashion police.
Fashionista is the lexical combination (see 'portmanteau') of the words Fashion, which is the socially decided (see 'groupthink') garb to be worn by those wishing to be accepted in high society, and Sandinista, a Nicaraguan authoritarian political party.
Despite recent trends in attempt to make this term more acceptable it must be noted that its etymology lends major negative conotation and it is ill-advised to use this word as a positive qualifier.

Someone that takes fashion so seriously that it has usurped
all their other systems of belief.
It has become their politics.
They rule with an iron fist and
utilize fear more so then any
form of creativity to maintain their
dominance in the style hierarchy.
They are insecure, lonely, vacuos,
after ten minutes you realize all
they have to offer is the only thing
they've talken about, their new shoes.

Someone, usually a girl, with style and sophistication. Someone who reads a lot of Vogue.

One who believes in the power of fashion. Fashionistas are typically either stylish women or homosexual men.

As an example of a successful fashionist government, they cite the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas in New York City (1999) almost religiously, in which local fashionistas overthrew the municipal government.

A person, usually female, who keeps the large majority of their attention and interest on their clothing/make-up/general appearance, and cares little of anything else. They typically judge others, particularly potential mates, solely on looks and cliques. In lamen's terms, a fashionable sheep.