interest and concern

[Takashi]

I'd appreciate it if you could help me with the sentence  sentence.

"Many people say they don’t care about fashion, yet they still want to wear clothing that is appropriate to their social, sexual, athletic, or professional roles. As awareness of clothing as a form of social communication increases, interest in clothing has shifted from a concern with beauty to a concern with influencing others, or strategy."

Could you tell me if "interest" and "concern" are synonymous in the second sentence?  If this is correct, "a concern with beauty" is almost the same as "interest in beauty"? Or should I think that these two nouns are similar but different in nuance?

Could you also tell me whether "a concern with influencing others, or strategy" means " a concern with infLuencing others, or a concern with strategy, " meaning that "influencing others" is paraphrased by "strategy"?

Thank  you very much.

Takashi

[admin]

You are spot on there Takashi.

Concern has a feeling of worry whereas interest does not. You could say that concern has a slightly negative feel to it.

Yes, the strategy adopted is that of choosing one's attire to influence others.

[Takashi]

Thank you very much indeed, Mr Baker!
I really appreciate it.
Everything is clear now.

Takashi