Fashion signals, well, virtually everything about social interactions. A tremendously complex world. Including, for that matter, whether or not you care about fashion trends, and quite possibly, why you might or might not (you're not in the game, you've quit the game, you're so fabulously successful you don't need to play the game, you couldn't play the game if you wanted to, ...)

In IT, TLAs, ETLAs, buzzwords, slogans, brands, companies, tool names, etc., all speak to what you know, or very often, don't know. It's not possible to transmit deep understanding instantaneously, so we're left with other means of trying to impart significance.

Crucially, the fact that clothing and IT fashion are so superficial (of necessity) means they can be game, and that those who are good at following just the surface messages can dive in. Some quite effectively. But they're not communicating the originally intended meaning.