History of Fashion
Fashion is defined as a style of dress that is popular during a certain time or era (?Fashion?, 1). It often changes and reflects a persons? social class in old days. In modern times it reflects personality. Fads come and go as people find new and different things to like. Until the 20th century fashion changed very slowly. In the 20th century fashions change as quickly as lightning because of mass production and fast moving society. About every 10 years a totally new kind of dress is in style. Fashion is affected in many ways. Inventions and good economy bring many changes with it. Wars and bad economy bring plain fashion that stays for a while (?Fashion Through the Ages?, 1). Fashion often seems to go in a big loop repeating itself over and over again. Women?s fashion has changed and gone from fancy to simple and easy to wear. Here is a quick view of fashion from BC times to the future!
In ancient times clothing was simple, based more on function than style. Men and women wore a big rectangular piece of wool six feet wide and about a foot and a half taller than the person. The wool was wrapped around the person and pinned on the shoulder with a broach. Fabric was mainly white or off-white, but never bright colored. In fact red was forbidden for commoners. Hair was mainly worn in braids or covered by fabric draped like a hood.
With the spread of Christianity, clothing in medieval times became modest. Although the basic tunic style dress was still used, it became longer and sleeves were added. Heavier fabric was used and shoes replaced sandals. Increase in trade made for more extravagant fabrics and embellishments on clothing. Hair was worn down often with a jewel in it. The really wealthy and nobility experimented with extreme styles from vibrant color to hooked shoes to cone shaped hats in order to separate themselves from the middle class.
Many changes came with the Renaissance period, with the rise of art fashion changed. Dresses became shorter and princess cut. Puffed sleeves, high collars and hoop skirts were the thing to wear. Slashing, or wearing two layers and cutting the outer layer was fashionable.
Modesty came back with Elizabethan times. Queen Elizabeth had clothes covered every part of a persons body sleeves became tight instead of puffed and waist lines were straight. Gowns were worn by ...
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...Sleek simple or choppy hair styles were seen as cute. Jeans were narrow and black in the beginning and became flared or relaxed with everything from glitter to studs to dress it up at the end of the 90?s. Any kind of shirt could be paired with jeans, from revealing belly shirts to classy blouses to comfortable t-shirts. Animal prints and camouflage were just a couple of prints that made their home in the 90?s (?Fashion Era?, 41). No matter what you were wearing in the 90?s it was sure to be a designer brand.
Fashion has and always will repeat in a cycle. It seems to be cycling from elaborate to minimal as our lives become more complex due to technology. I think fashion will continue to be unpredictable. Many times movies and television have predicted how the future population would dress with no success. One thing is for sure, fashion will continue to be unique to the individual who wears it and express for them what they may not say with words.
Works Cited
?Fashion.? Encyclop?dia Britanica. 2002 ed.
?Fashion Era.? Fashion History and Costume Era. Fashion-era. 23 Nov. 2003
?Fashion Through the Ages.? The Evolution of Fashion. Bharat Textile. 19 Nov. 2003
Victorian Fashion refers to the styles and clothing worn before and during the Civil War era of the United States, 1860-1900. This era was filled with a very difficult way of dressing oneself and to deviate from this line of dress was unheard of, and worthy of being outcaste. Victorian women’s clothing was layers, heavy, and barely manageable to even wear. Many different articles made up the full garment such as the undergarments, the skirt, top, shoes, accessories, and even the hair. How did women ready themselves for the day in this era and how did they deal with all the cumbersome attire?
The evolution of clothing has been drastically changed through the course of history, from the style to how they’re made. Women and men’s clothing changed at different rates. The way clothes are made reflect the style. Clothing always has been an important aspect of one’s culture as well as a representation of a time period. Overtime clothing has changed just as the people it clothes.
The clothing of the Middle Ages, like everything else was decided by the pyramid of power. The pyramid of power was the Middle Ages Feudal System. Medieval clothes provided information about the rank of the person wearing them. From the 11th through the 14th centuries, medieval clothing assorted according to the social standing of the people. The clothing worn by nobility and upper classes was clearly different than that of the lower class. Medieval clothes provided information about the status of the person wearing them. The clothing and fashion during the medieval era of the Middle Ages was conquered and highly influenced by the Kings and Queens of the era. Only the wealthy could dress in fashionable clothes.
When you get dressed in the morning, do you dress carelessly, or do you take your precious time to find the perfect outfit? Neither is the case for the people of the medieval era. They have to wear specific things every day in order to separate the different social classes. Here you can learn about items a person from this time would have to wear day after day.
FASHION is a play that permeates throughout the centuries. Its themes about fashion and our treatment of it speak strongly to each subsequent generation in America. What is important to us? What matters most to us? How do we want others to see us? How do we want others to accept us? It would be just as easy to produce the play contemporarily today with just a few adjustments. The audience would certainly understand it, and many would see themselves within it.
... fashion on the top of the list and it'd be a crime not to keep up with the trend. The Renaissance did set the fashion for the rest of the world throughout the world and continuing centuries. Nowadays we can still see around us the trends from that time, it may not exactly look like it but we can still see the idea behind it. A couple similarities we see from a couple years ago would be the “Scarpin” the duck bill leather shoe which had jewels as such woven into the shoe atop, which favors the Crooks people wear today where it is bill-like and pieces of decoration can be placed atop of the shoe. Another trend from the time period seen today are the wigs made from peasant hair, which now a days (favored by women) it’s very common to get wigs, excitations, clip-on, etc. made with real hair. The Renaissance era was the birth of fashion and the urge to follow its rules.
Have you ever wondered what people in the Elizabethan Era wore? Fashion was just as important in those days as it is to some people today. What people were wearing mattered to others, and even the government. During the Elizabethan Era clothing, accessories, and cosmetics were all a part of daily life.
6. Hammond, Colleen. "Dressing with Dignity - History of Women's Fashion Industry - How to Fight Sexual Revolution and Immodesty in Dress!" N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
Many people would not believe that there are so many similarities between modern day fashion and the fashion of the renaissance time period. Many differences may be seen between the two, but the similarities are remarkable. Throughout all of time, clothing has been the major representation of social classes. What people wear has always been the distinguishing factor between the wealthy and the poor classes of both the renaissance and current time period. The evolution from time period to time period has been vast, but the fact that what people wear represents what class they reside in is still very prevalent. From the fabrics, jewels, and accessories, you can still see many similarities from the renaissance time period to the current time period. “…much of what we know about historical dress comes from the apparel of the elite.” (Sauro) Although much time has progressed, fashion from the renaissance period has held a strong influence on the fashion in today’s society.
...ation of mini-skirts did bring a whirlwind in the summer of 1960. Besides, Peter Max T-shirt was also hot in the 60s. In addition, as we discussed of the fashion style for the 80s. The dresses were powerful and simple. Especially, the colors were deeper than the 60s and those designers prefer to add jewels on garments. Moreover, many products were luxurious in the 80s because of the economy has recovered during that period. Modern fashion is meaningful; it brings many changes and has a huge influence on general life. Heskett (2002) mentioned that It not only changes the lifestyle, but also changes the minds of a generation. Modern fashion is continuing to better its functions and forms, moreover it has long way to go and a huge space to discover and create. Therefore, modern designers need more and more artists to inherit and find new styles of vintage influences.
Clothing has been around for thousands of years; almost as long as the modern human has. At first, it served the practical purpose of protection from the elements; but, as life for early humans stopped being a constant struggle to survive, they started noticing how they looked and the concept of fashion began to take shape. These first few garments were typically dyed draped cloth that was pinned at the shoulder and/or waist. This was seen in many ancient civilizations around the world, Greek and Roman the most notable. Over time, clothing began to get more and more complex and formed to the body’s shape, eventually leading up to the tailored style we now have today. However, the sophisticated world of Haute Couture; or high fashion, can distinctly trace its roots to Paris during the mid-19th century. Clothing from there was thought to be superior to those from anywhere else, and women began to come from all over Europe just to buy dresses. This was probably due in part to one notable dressm...
Using real-time data can remove this possible risk. Fashion has become an evolutionary extension and amplification of formerly existing fashion.
Therefore, in an attempt to both show the gravitas of fashion’s impact and justify its mirroring of times and therefore society, a walkthrough of fashion throughout history and its adaptation is exceedingly appropriate. To begin with, Britain’s Industrial Revolution in the 1850s to 1900s came with the introduction of sewing machines and chemical dyes. However, this movement of clothe manufacturing rendered its availability strictly to the opulent. This is a direct relation to the economical situation of the time, showing that people’s expenses were not directed towards the most up to date fashion i.e. luxury products but rather necessities indicating a slowly developing economy. As we move from the 1900s to the mid 1920s, the inception of the First World War influenced the need for more ‘practical’ garments. To illustrate, one of the greatest designers of the century Paul Poiret, designed his garments in a style known as the Directoire. His dresses were simple straight tube sheaths defining simplicity and exemplifying both the political and economic situation of the times justifying the necessity for a free moving design in clothing. Why adopt the notion of simplicity and free moving garments? Women had to leave their traditional domestic roles and become part of the working class or work force and adopt and replace many roles that were normally given to men. Furthermore, the Great Depression in the 1930s comes to play its own role in fashion history further pushing the necessity for a fashion to be translated to accustom a busier lifestyle. This created an economic gap between the rich and the poor. Therefore, fashion in the 1940s in the substantial sense portrayed the necessity for work and socioeconomic background and furthermore encased the economic situation where, as previous times in the 1900s, high-end fashion was restricted to the rich. Following a chronological timeline comes the
In conclusion, fashion will speak out a person’s social signal, people dress on designs that blend with their social class. Just as population, social activities and fashion are changing with time. Fashion has made clothing to be convinient, everything needs to be done with the least effort and spend the least time.
If these new coming trends of fashion make you feel special and confident; then it also sometime embarrasses you in front of others when you do not apply things on yourself according to your individual personality. For young age people, who are much affected and influenced by new fashion, it gives harmful effects too. Girls have to face some crucial crime due to their unfit dressing style which does not suit the location.