The French Fashion Revolution:

Fashion is not simply clothing, nor is it just an assortment of pictures in the latest issue of Vogue. Instead, it is a highly colorful form of textile and visual culture that plays an essential role in life, both the cultural and social aspects. As a forerunner in history for centuries, the fashion industry is a major economic player. It is among the top ten leading industries between all well established and developing countries in the western and eastern worlds. Rebecca Arnold sums up fashion merely as this,

It shapes our bodies, and the way that we look at other people’s bodies. It can enable creative freedom to express alternative identities, or dictate what is deemed beautiful and acceptable. It raises important ethical and moral questions, and connects to fine art and popular culture;

Those listed examples are only a very small slice of the significant number of ways in which the fashion world links the cultural and social sides of society from people of all nations. Although fashion has grown outside of France’s tight grip, Paris still holds the position of the industry’s capital of the world.

Outside of the territorial walls of France, foreign countries have attempted to duplicate their style and trends in fashion for years, well practically centuries. From as far back as the 1300’s, French royalty made bold statements in the ways that they chose to dress. Moving along in fashion history to the reign of King Louis XIV, Steele mentions the king’s statement, “Fashion is to France what the gold mines of Peru are to Spain” gave the motivation of him and his minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to realize what type of money could come about from matching the amount of gold that Spain found pouring into its treasury from the min...

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