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History of fashion introduction
History of fashion introduction
History of fashion introduction
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The Cycle of Fashion
Fashion is fuelled by conversion. Designers continually persuade the public that their new ideas, however shocking they may seem, are in fact everything that a stylish wardrobe requires. Next season, the same designers convince everyone to give up their allegiance to such out-modish designs and embrace instead the innovative visual trends of the latest collections. The same garments are successively dubbed 'outlandish', 'in fashion' and 'out-dated' according to the apparent vagaries of prevailing fashionable sensibilities. Are we really duped by such duplicity? Or are we willing participants in the cycle of fashion? And perhaps more significantly, what relevance does the cycle have today in Western society's culture of mass consumerism?
The idea that fashion in dress follows a cyclical phase structure is not new. The sociologist, Quentin Bell made such an observation over fifty years ago in his book, On Human Finery. Moreover, his observation was based on accumulated evidence of an uninterrupted cyclical flow in dress change in Western society since at least the thirteenth century.
The sociologist, Ingrid Brenninkmeyer describes this flow by comparing it to the rolling of waves in the sea. As one fashion gains popularity, crests and dissipates, another stylistic wave is already forming behind it. Further extensions of this metaphor liken different stylistic features to variations in the waves themselves. For example, just as different wave patterns form on the basis of their force, size or length, so also different overlapping patterns can be traced in changes of fashionable hem length, silhouette, fabric, décolletage and colour.
Mere descriptions of the fashion cycle however do little to explain exactly why successful designers? ideas typically rise and fall in popularity. What is the motivating force behind such changes in fashion? What causes the cycle to move from one phase to the next? These questions cannot be answered simply. Perhaps sheer boredom inspires the continual search for something new. Or can novelty be related to ideas of sexual allure and attraction? Do competing market interests in the fashion industry play a role in animating the cycle? Or could changes in dress function as markers of class differentiation?
These factors and more have been variously proposed and analysed by researchers into the socio...
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...n's clothing? To look at the men's side of underwear is different." One page of the calendar (April) does depict men's undershirts from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Even the English language has been influenced by undergarments. Several popular expressions make reference to underwear: "Loose woman" comes from the connotations associated with uncorseted or loosely corseted women, Queen says. A similar case is "shiftless"; a shift was an 18th century support-providing undergarment, and Queen says the term was meant to characterize someone "without support."
Many people believe that underwear for women has changed as it has because of feminism and changing social attitudes. To a large degree, that's true, Queen says, but there are other factors as well. In the past, undergarments were often designed for their "body-shaping" features. But these days, thanks to the increase in exercise and athleticism among women, "the body has become its own foundation" and women no longer need to rely on cloth and whalebone for this purpose, she says.
"The choice," says Queen, "is do we want to spend three hours a day in the gym to sculpt the body, or do we want to put on a piece of cloth?"
...societies go more clothing that allow them to move easily and are more aware of physical fitness and always looking for the freedom in everything and mainly movement. However, it stands to reason that while the existence of such weighty components has reduced greatly, their concepts have set an indisputable model that remains related and lasts to influence today’s fashion.
Moghadam, Valentine M. “Chapter 16: Gender, Politics, & Women’s Empowerment.”Handbook of Politics: State and Society in Global Perspective. Ed. Kevin T. Leicht and J. Craig Jenkins. New York: Springer, 2010. 279-303. SpringerLink. Web. 28 Oct. 2011.
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.
While women were traditionally largely responsible for child care and managing the household, men were more concerned with earning the money in order to support their families. Moreover, it is has been a widely held view, especially by male politicians, that women were not capable of evaluating political matters because they were too emotional and thus, don’t have the required powerfulness (Monique Leijenaar, 1997). Nevertheless, women’s status and integration in the political decision making process has improved continuously since most western-countries introduced women’s right to vote. Consequently, in some of these states women’s underrepresentation is not a numerical problem anymore; instead it is only a problem of the representation of their interests and values on the political agenda. This can be illustrated by the example of Denmark where women have a majority in six councils. However, women should be given more power in order to create a world in which power is exercised equitably for the benefit of
Fashion has been developing for as long as the Earth had been around, but the style people track today redirects generally to what was brought up during the roaring twenties, the era of a luxurious life. Women’s sartorial will experience many more future modifications which are predicted to be less modest and conservative. Men, on the other hand, will most likely not endure many changes. As fashion flourishes, society’s image on women, as well as men, will renovate into a more exposed mentality with a greater assortment of acceptance.
When I was young, I had a large appeal with fashion week. My friend and I would impersonate the runway models in my living room, dressing up in my mother’s clothes and laying stuffed animals out like attendees. This fascination carried into high school, I found it as an opportunity to demonstrate my style to a larger audience. Fashion week was intriguing to me because it provided a way to express myself in a unique way and show a side of my own creativity. I anticipated this project would give me a chance to learn more about the role fashion week plays in society.
For many centuries to the present day, Christians have lived in fear of witches. They were known as to be the devils child who only practiced black magic and thought of as the Christians “persecution”. Witches have been known to mankind since the 1200’s. Throughout the 1400’s, the examination of witches was more focus and moved from the Jews. In the church’s law, it was stated that the belief of existence and practices of witchcraft was “heresy”. Because of what the Christians believed, churches would then torture and hunt down anyone who they thought were witches and killed the many women and only a few of the men. They even made them make the confession of flying through the midnight sky, being in love with the devil himself, practicing black magic and even turning into animals.
This phenomenon can be explained with feminist theories which focuses on inequality of power between men and women in terms of unequal distribution of political power. The best example of this inequality are numbers that speak for themselves. The US has never had a women president in the history, and even though women comprise majority of U.S population, their number in political offices are significantly lower than men. The reason behind underrepresentation of women in politics lies in the notion that women are not strong enough to hold a powerful position. Because of women 's underrepresentation a lot of men’s issues and policies are over-emphasized, while women’s concerns remain unattended. However, women’s concerns and policies often don’t just affect women, but the entire families. For instance, the issue of child care or maternal leave. In many families, one parent (in most cases women) is forced to leave the job and take care of a child due to the lack of childcare, or very short maternal leave. Strengthening women’s right and addressing barriers to political participation are critical to achieving gender equality and women empowerment. I believe that the issue of low number of women in politics is just a fragment of a much larger issue of inequality relating to political, economic, and social status. Some of the solutions to the problem include increasing women participation and leadership in civil society by providing skill building and leadership training for women. Women should join activists groups advocating for women’s right and equality on many different platforms. Equal pay, equal access to certain job positions would also facilitate equality that would increase the number of women in political positions. Most importantly, more women should vote since we create the majority of US population, and if women unite and vote they will have a
George Simmel was born in Germany in 1858 and emerged as one of the major theorists of the turn of the century (?,?). His writings on philosophy and social sciences included one of the only insights, at the time, into the structure of fashion in society, Fashion, 1904. In this text he expressed his thoughts on society in relation to fashion and style, examining societal groups and how they used fashion as a form of segregation. He referred to the elite class as trend setters, differentiating themselves by creating new fashions, and lower classes as the mimics, in an effort to associate themselves with an elite identity. This cycle brought many different fashions over the 20th century and was described as the trickle-down effect. Although Simmels theory depicts various characteristics still currently valid there are aspects that no longer play a role in the transformation of fashion.
In the late 18th century the Industrial Revolution occurred causing a huge shift in the ways in which clothing was produced and subsequently altering the ways in which clothing was perceived. For decades preceding industrialisation men and women of high so...
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.
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...
Fashion, psychology and the sociological perspective have long been perceived as mutually exclusive concepts. However, is there a possibility that a trinity exists in the former? To illustrate, it is evident that throughout history fashion has influenced society as a whole and has mirrored its aspects i.e. economical and sociological. Furthermore, this influence has developed to be perceived psychologically where individuals identify with fashion in the sense of translating visual information showing their personal views and attitudes. To that effect, what is fashion? Traditionally and in the literary sense, fashion is defined as ‘a popular trend, especially in styles of dress and ornament or manners of behavior’ . However,
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...