If you look back through the past sixty years of fashion, you may notice a pattern.
People may say that the true years of fashion began in the late nineteen forties and went on through the early nineteen sixties. If you look at fashion today, its almost repeated the look from sixty years ago. In each generation fashion trends become based on history and/or important events. in the nineteen forties fashion was being modeled by the military wear. World War II caused a drastic change in the way clothes were being made and worn. In the nineteen fifties Americans admired the fashion of movie stars and music artists. Media had a strong influence on the wordly trend. The people of the sixties expressed there personalities and emotions through there clothing. They wanted to look independent. By looking at these three generations, we can reflect on how fashion today maybe repeating itself.
It is worthless to discuss fashion of the forties without first understanding the tremendous impact World War II had on everyday life during the early part of the decade. World War II changed the world of fashion forever. Severe restrictions were imposed on the apperal industry by the government (Keogh). For men the tailored silhoutte, with padded shoulders and a narrow waist and hips, were essentially frozen until the late nineteen forties (Keogh). Women were forced to recycle there clothing, or hand them down to other women when the clothing was not being used for example, the wedding dress, It was a way of conserving fabrics(Thomas). Most fabrics at the time were purchased " ready made". This meant that the fabrics were already sewn together to be worn. In some areas where blot fabrics could not be purchsed or blockades prevented shipments. Women would use the art of sewing, or making there own clothing by putting fabrics together. This was a more detailed but less expensive way to get clothing (Thomas).
The fabrics for clothing during the time of war that were being worn were very dull. Because of the depressing times women and men simplified there clothing. Fabrics were available mostly as solid colors, stripes, and plaids (Thomas). In an effort to comply with the restrictions imposed on them, American designers created a new style of suits for women. Skirts were short and straight topped by short jackets of twenty-five inches or less in length. Cardigans match...
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...hen women tried to look like men, now in the sixties men had long hair and almost looked like women. The 60's were a time of change and challenge. They brought hippies, space age, folk music, and the Beatles. Women's skirts got shorter, men's hair got longer, and everyone talked about love. The 60's was characterized by the feeling that a break with the past had been achieved. Clothes, furniture, and products all looked newer, brighter, and more fun. The swinging 60's were at their height. Fashion in the 60's tended to encourage exhibitionism.
Music and Media played a big role in fashion. Mary Quant was the fashion designer and entrepreneur responsible for the "London Look" of the 60's. A music group named the Beatles was a reason why london fashion became the new rage. Women and men adored the look for there favorite music group. The London look consisted of She was the inventor of the min-skirt and hot pantsShe proclaimed "good taste is death, vulgarity is life" and summarized the fashion of the 60's as "arrogant, aggressive and sexy." Although she is still designing today, she is largely known for her 60's creations.
Both Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes were great writers but their attitudes towards their personal experience as an African American differed in many ways. These differences can be attributed to various reasons that range from gender to life experience but even though they had different perceptions regarding the African American experience, they both shared one common goal, racial equality through art. To accurately delve into the minds of the writers’ one must first consider authors background such as their childhood experience, education, as well their early adulthood to truly understand how it affected their writing in terms the similarities and differences of the voice and themes used with the works “How it Feels to be Colored Me” by Hurston and Hughes’ “The Negro Mother”. The importance of these factors directly correlate to how each author came to find their literary inspiration and voice that attributed to their works.
Fashion of the 1920’s was also known as the roaring 20’s. Fashion in the 1920’s became more relaxed in the 20’s. In the early 1920’s the normal fashion was dropped waistlines, long, cylindrical skirts, 7” to 10” below the knee. Women finally received the right to vote, with this new right women also
To summarize, fashion is just another outlet through which we can view our ever changing world. It is just as important as literature, cinema, and other means of creative expression that document history. However, fashion plays an even bigger role than most other art forms because it can shape the identity of a generation. Similarly, the clothes you wear can tell a story about who you are and your part in shaping a culture. In history class we often view historical events and facts so objectively that we forget that the people we read about had their own colorful culture as we do. Observing fashion and fashion history, ultimately, breathe life into the past and help us to understand how we operate as a society.
In a brief overview of “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston presents the essential elements of fiction through a style of narration. The author’s purpose is to inform the reader of what it feels like to be “colored” in the United States of America. When sampling the essay, it is possible to find that a major idea of the text is a simple representation of being black in a white America. The reading of the text explores the discovery of self-pride and black nationalism using her own childhood as young teenage girl. The essay very obviously does not follow the everyday conventional idea of racial segregation that took place in that time.
New fashions were surfacing in both men’s and women’s fashions. Men were wearing Bermuda pants, baggy pants that were cut off at the knee, while women were wearing capris, tight pants that cut off just below the knee. Men were wearing tailored jackets and making a slight move towards the casual dress of today’s workplace. Women were wearing natural shoulders as opposed to the heavily padded ones of the war years. Flat, neck-hugging collars replaced the mannish collars of the late 1940’s. Waists were tightly fitted and skirts were long (Melinkoff 46). The jeans of the time were often lined with plaid flanel and dungarees were worn to the most casual occasions. The sandals of the fifties were not much different than the sandals of today.
Black and white gospel music are similar in the sense of they are singing about. They differ most in the sound of music. Black gospel music has a more smooth and soul sound to it, while white gospel music has a more modern sound. I think the distinction between the two is necessary because they do have similarity, but just like hip hop and pop are similar they still are different genres because essentially they sound different.
WW2 is a fascinating time of fashion and politics. The fashion of the era was truly representative of the events happening in the world in a most visible way. As fashion moved from idealistic to utilitarian, so did the women taking over men in the workforce. The war caused a remarkable progression on the transformation from pre to post-war fashion. Even after clothing rationing, the women would not let the limitations imposed by WW2 stop them from fighting for their country from their home ground. From the less than ideal conditions creativity and ingenuity sparked this led to the invention of new clothes from the old, and the development of innovative new designs.
The sixties were about as distinct from the other decades as distinct can get in regards to the fashion or “style” of the era. Many, though not all, trends in fact, began in the UK, more specifically, London, the fashion capital of the world at the time. The UK dominated not only the musical and theatrical popular culture of the decade, but the fashion world as well.
Black culture in our society has come to the point where it is allied with pop culture. The most popular music genres, slang terms, to dance forms it all comes from black culture. Hip hop emerged from black culture, becoming the soul of it that is seen in the media. Hip hop helped the black community by creating new ways of expressing themselves, from breakdance, graffiti, rap and other music, to slang. This culture was rooted in their tradition and created from something new. Hip hop created a new form of music that required the use of turn tables, ‘cuts’, loops, rhythm, rhyme, stories, and deep-rooted emotions, but also incorporated black oral forms of storytelling using communal authors.
In “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” Hurston breaks from the tradition of her time by rejecting the idea that the African American people should be ashamed or saddened by the color of their skin. She tells other African Americans that they should embrace their color and be proud of who they are. She writes, “[A socialite]…has nothing on me. The cosmic Zora emerges,” and “I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads” (942-943). Whether she feels “colored” or not, she knows she is beautiful and of value. But Hurston writes about a time when she did not always know that she was considered colored.
In the beginning her hope of Luke being alive made her persevere through the society. When she started seeing the Commander she could be reconnected with emotional intimacy. The reconnection to emotional connections leads her to be able to be the forceful hand in having a relationship with Nick. Her relationship with Nick started because Offred needed to. Offred was able to survive this society because of human connection. Offred feels that she can trust Nick because it’s “Impossible to think that anyone whom I feel such gratitude could betray me.” (Atwood). Her trust in him gives Offred the emotional connection she needs to survive. This trust finally makes her feel safe in this society. However, her feeling of being safe is not from Nick, its from herself, she no longer is fearful of the consequences. She has accepted her fate if she gets caught with Nick, and is willing to take that risk in order to have this relationship. In this relationship, Nick is not the one that forced it to happen, making him nervous of the outcome. Multiple times he shares his concerns with Offred about how she acts towards the Commander, “Don’t change anything. Otherwise they’ll know” (Atwood 270). Nick is more fearful of the consequences for Offred than she is. Although Offred was willing to do
In the article it informs the readers that “No period has shown more rapid change in silhouette of woman’s fashion than the first 50 years of the twentieth century. Each change of outer fashion was reflected in the underfashion in order to give women the silhouette and [character] that fashion demanded… which nature intended” (“Fifty Years of Change”). At this time period, female roles became more reasonable because women were given the rights to vote and as well as being apart of the workforce. According to Presley, “By 1970, 7,500,000 woman worked outside the home. Social and political unions for women were formed… The suffragette movement continued to grow” (“Fifty Years of Change”). Changes that happened to female gender roles during the 1900s were shown throughout society at the time by the types of clothing such like pants normally worn by workers, and even corsets that women at home used throughout the day; women wore what was suitable for those who worked or stayed at
Another example of negative societal influence is shown through institutional discrimination when school administrators push a very bright student out of school due to her pregnancy, so that she can attend a “parenting school” to learn about baby care. This discrimination is performed with the justification of being best for all students with the assertion that “pregnancy is contagious,” but this effectively creates an environment that lowers their chances of graduating from high school (Smith, 1995).
Historically, multiple styles of dressing have been created during the last several decades, which played an important role in modern fashion in the UK. Everyone has a different and unique dressing style in their general life. Some styles are influenced in vintage styles which is attributing to the deep effects of old vogue, and another group of dressing styles are inclined into the fresh element. According to those different styles some of them are even evolved in the milestones in fashion history.
So, yes, the fashion trends throughout the generations in my family have been recycled and have faded