Introduction
A woman dressed as a man must be at the height of her femininity to fight against a costume that isn’t hers (Saint Laurent, Bergé and Bacon, 2008:18).
Fashion is an ever-changing concept. It doesn’t only set the trend, but it also changes the people’s attitude. It changes the social structure, which has a great impact on society and people’s roles in life. Looking at the world today, many things have changed in the past few centuries. Not only the way of life, but also the style of dress. The roles of men and women have changed as well. In the past men used to earn the money and the women used to be unemployed housewives. Nowadays the two sexes became more equal and even started to dress alike. In other words, in 100 years the world’s society has changed from a radical distribution of roles to no gender boundaries. But what was the trigger for such a change?
One of the most worn masculine costumes was the black dinner jacket. Till today the tux serves as an evening gown for men. In SS 2013 “Le Smoking” has reached its peak as a fashion trend. Surprisingly not just for men, but also for women. Designers were embracing the women’s masculine site and sent out their models out on the catwalk in classy masculine black trouser suits. Why did the designers choose “Le Smoking” to underline that there aren’t any gender differences any more? And what makes “the Smoking” so powerful?
This paper focuses on the Smoking as a suit and how it became a trend for women.
Background
The term “Le Smoking” or “The Tuxedo” was named after a country property called the “Tuxedo Park” which was located outside New York City. The term “Tuxedo” is presumed to be named after a New Yorker wolfs tribe, The Algonquians tuxits, which is tra...
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...nd Mail, (2013). Why the female tux is (again) smoking hot. [online] Available at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/fashion-and-beauty/fashion/why-the-female-tux-is-again-smoking-hot/article9298948/ [Accessed 13 Apr. 2014].
Amos, A. and Haglund, M. (2000). From social taboo to “torch of freedom”: the marketing of cigarettes to women. Tobacco Control, [online] 9(1), pp.3-8. Available at: http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/9/1/3.full [Accessed 13 Apr. 2014].
Bellis, M. (2014). Tuxedo of Tuxedo Park - History of Men's Formal Wear. [online] About.com Inventors. Available at: http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/tuxedo.htm [Accessed 13 Apr. 2014].
The Economist, (2010). Suitably dressed. [online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/node/17722802 [Accessed 13 Apr. 2014].
Jensen, P. (1994). A history of women and smoking. Canadian Woman Studies, 14(3).
In the 1990 article "I’d Rather Kiss than Smoke" in the National Review, Florence King tries to persuade her readers to look through a smoker’s eyes in a smokist world. King has been around people smoking even before she was born. Her mother started smoking when she was twelve and she started this habit when she was twenty-six. Since she started smoking, she has been analyzing how non-smokers discriminate against them. Florence King expects everyone to be okay with smoking because it is what she was brought up in and it was okay in her family.
Smoking tested women’s freedom since mainly prostitute were seeing smoking in public. It also symbolized the equality of rights for women.
Tobacco companies have relied on the media to lure children. They quickly realized that ‘the company that dominates is that which most effectively targets young”(Imperial Tobacco document.) To counteract the idea of disease and other negative aspects of tobacco, the industry used imagery in the media such as natural settings and healthy actors doing active things. This helps them to insinuate that smoking leads to success, romance, sophistication and other advancements in their lifestyle, which was easily imprinted in the minds of children. A document found among Imperial tobacco files described their priority: “…having our imagery reach those non-reading young people who frequent malls should be our chief goal.”(1.170) Unaware of how important the under 18 market was to the industry, the government could only attempt to lengthen the distance between schools and billboards because they’re ineffective attempts were ignored by the large corporations. With many billboards concentrated in small areas it put the idea in children’s minds that smoking was socially acceptable and that t...
Laird, Pamela, “Consuming Smoke: Cigarettes in American Culture.” University of Colorado at Denver. Author of Advertising Progress: American Business and the Rise of Consumer Marketing. 1998
Sigismund Schlomo Freud, an Austrian neurologist and the father of psychoanalysis, once stated “When you meet a human being, the first distinction you make is ‘male or female?’ and you are accustomed to make the distinction with unhesitating certainty.” Had Sigismund Freud lived through the 21th century instead of the 19th, he might have had a good reason for hesitation. Now we live in an era when gender norms- and many other standards- must perhaps be questioned and dismantled. Over the last several years, the broader cultural shift in how people perceive gender has picked up speed in almost all spheres of society- politics, education, art, literature, and of course in the fashion industry. Clothing has become one of
This is a review of the article The Marlboro Man: Cigarette Smoking and Masculinity in America, written by Michael E. Starr in 1984 for the Journal of Popular Culture. The article examines what factors were involved in diminishing the unmanly stigma associated with cigarette smoking in the twentieth century. The United States is the geographical focus. The time period ranges, but the bulk of the article deals with 1900 to 1970.
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.
Georg Simmel explores the impact societal differentiation played on the 20th century, in the article Fashion, published in 1957 in The American Journal of Sociology, Volume LXII, Number 6. In this text he defines his theory stating “The elite initiate a fashion and, when the mass imitates it in an effort to obliterate the external distinction of class, abandons it for a newer mode- a process that quickens with the increase of wealth” (Fashion, p.541). Fashion connects those of a higher social class and segregates them from others. Simmel believes that fashion evolves from class differentiation, as members of the elite class seek to set themselves apart from other classes, and in turn a revolving cycle begins (Blumer, p.277). Members from other lower classes copy the elite’s fashion and with this the elite must change...
Kate, 2012, ‘Anti-Smoking Campaigns: Scary, Clever and Sometimes Cruel’, retrieved 2nd April 2014, < http://www.dirjournal.com/health-journal/anti-smoking-campaigns-scary-clever-and-sometimes-cruel/ >.
Fashion in the 21th century is a big business, as its production employs millions of people and generates billions of dollars in revenue. Fashion has for the past century been, and is still today, used as an indicator of social change and progress, as it changes with the social norms of the society and the political changes of the world (Finkelstein 3).
middle of paper ... ... It also analyzed the influences of modern dresses. As Palmer and Clark (2005) mentioned earlier, both decades are the classic era in fashion history.
Back in the 1920’s, men dominated fashion. Men chose what clothing women wore and men’s fashion choices for women were tight and uncomfortable. Women wore corset tops and long skirts. There was no clothing, for a woman that was comfortable and easy to move in. Then a designer named Coco Chanel began to design women’s clothing. She saw clothing as a fashion statement, not just something to please men. Through her choice of fit and fabric, Chanel sought to create designs that allowed women freedom of movement and choice (Biography).
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...
As Olivia Singer writes in her article for Another Magazine, “famously, and much to the derision of his contemporaries, it was Yves Saint Laurent who popularised the trouser suit for women”. (Another Magazine, 2017). It is true that a few and daring women, like actress Marlene Dietrich, did wear a man suit, but Saint Laurent went further than dressing a woman into a man’s attire; he created a whole look, an emancipating, audacious and bold equivalent to the little black dress that “was to become the rage in fashion and show business[…], as Marguerite Duras claimed ( Marguerite Duras, Yves Saint Laurent-Icons of Fashion, Icons of Photography, 2014), . ‘Le Smoking’ was not intended to mask the female figure and render a woman into a man; it was the ultimate feminine tool of emancipation, accentuating the sexuality and femininity of the “Femme selon Yves”; the Woman in the eyes of Yves. It is still one of the most celebrated look of power-dressing and has since been shown not only by other couture Houses, but also by High Street
From a historic point of view, Western travelers had remarked on the slow pace of lifestyle and fashion change in Turkey and Persia. On the other hand, many people were of the opinion that the western culture is getting out of hand in terms of dressing fashion (Cumming 234). In most cases, change of fashion and dressing style took place hand in hand with economic and social changes. In the developing world, changes in fashion began with the coming of the whites in Middle East. Changes began in the 11th century when the Turks came to central Asia and Far East. In Europe, continuous change in clothing fashion is believed to have started in middle 14th century. It started by a sudden introduction of shortening and tightening of male garments, it further brought the introduction of trousers and leggings that were worn by men (Cumming 235). After the advent of change in men fashion, it was followed by changes in female c...