Sociological Aspects Of French Fashion: Fashion Then And Now

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France Then and Now Generally, when people think of ‘fashion’, they instantly think about the “glitz and glamour” however, they never give much thought into the sociological aspect behind it. Humans by nature, do not gravitate towards ‘trendy’ clothes, one does it out of influence, better yet, out of sociocultural needs, which brings me to my next point. French fashion now and for past centuries has been out of influence and a reflection of cultural events. French fashion in the 18th century was predominantly influenced by Louis XIV and, society itself. Under Louis XIV’s reign in 1774, France was recognized at home and abroad as the fashion leader of the world. Clothing during this time, according to cultural anthropologist Henry Harald Hansen, “transposed people into …show more content…

During this time period, he managed to establish a system of trade guilds, called Corporations. In this union, every profession within the fashion business, tailors and dressmakers alike, designed standards, regulated the industry and provided structure. As a matter a fact, this domino effected/resulted in magazines and merchandise de modes (fashion merchants) gaining the influential power it did. Merchandise de modes up until the French Revolution dominated the fashion industry, they encouraged women to flaunt vanity and extravagance and were seen as fashion role models.(“Revolution”,1989) In like manner, a technical advance that contributed to this culture as well was magazines. The arrival of the fashion magazine in the 1770’s ensured that the fashion industry continued to have a wide and immediate impact across the globe. Previously, fashion had been publicized by poupées (dolls),

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