Writing essays. A new trend: Fashion victims

An effective introductory paragraph both informs and motivates: 

it lets readers know what your essay is about and it encourages them to keep reading.There are countless ways to begin an essay effectively. As a start, here are 5/13 introductory strategies accompanied by examples from a wide range of professional writers.  (all 13 ways can be checked here)

I adapted them to this suggested title: 

     A new trend: Fashion victims    

1- State your thesis briefly and directly (but avoid making a bald announcement, such as "This essay is about . . .").

It is time, at last, to speak the truth about Fashion victims, and the truth is plainly this. I am on the sunny side of 40 and  Fashion victims is really not such a terrific territory plagued by teenagers, it can be infected at any age . . . .

2- Pose a question related to your subject and then answer it (or invite your readers to answer it).

What is the charm of Fashion victims? Why would anyone put something extra around their neck and then invest it with special significance? A cool brand necklace doesn't afford warmth in cold weather, like a scarf, or protection in combat, like chain mail; it only decorates our image..... 

 3- Recount an incident that dramatizes your subject.

One October afternoon three years ago while I was visiting my parents, my mother made a request I dreaded and longed to fulfill. She had just poured me a cup of jasmine tea, shaped like a little pumpkin; outside, two sparrows splashed in the birdbath in the weak Canigó sunlight. Her greyish hair was gathered at the nape of her neck, and her voice was low. “Please help me get Josep Maria make a U-turn in his blog "TACKY. the other side of Fashion victims" she said, using my father’s full name. I nodded, and my heart knocked. 

4- Reveal a secret about yourself or make a candid observation about your subject.

I spy on my customers at the 2nd floor of the Corte Ingles. Ought not a professional to observe his VIP clients by any means and from any stance, that he might the more fully assemble evidence? So I stand in doorways of changing rooms and gaze. Oh, it is not all that furtive an act. Those in bed need only look up to discover me. But they never do. 

5- Open with a riddle, joke, or humorous quotation, and show how it reveals something about your subject.

Q: What did Eve say clad with a fig leave to Adam on being expelled from the Garden of Eden?A: "I think we're in a time of fashion victims."The irony of this joke is not lost as we begin a new century and the power of branding (new icons became Eve, Apple...) about social consumerism seem rife. The implication of this message is that our image is paramount; there is, in fact, no era or society in which shoppers minds where so immersed in. . . .

6- Offer a contrast between past and present that leads to your thesis.

As a child, I was made to look out the window to a brand car and appreciate the beautiful differences of a Citroen Shark or a Volvo XT Coupe, with the result that now I don't care much for Japanese cars. As a result, I prefer classics, ones with an aura of the past made present and the delicious whiff of a Marlboro cigarette man.

For a cartoon page on the topic, click here.