Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
world war i effects on women
world war i effects on women
20th century fashion essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: world war i effects on women
The term “The Little Black Dress,” the fragrance “Chanel No. 5,” the Chanel suit with its soft, cardigan-like jacket and skirt, have become part of the timeless fashion vocabulary familiar to us all. From our perspective, these aspects of modern fashion hardly seem revolutionary, but Coco Chanel was a businesswoman who became successful by adopting fashion to the evolving role of women in a rapidly changing wartime society; her vision that left a legacy which endures to this day.
To understand the role of Coco Chanel as a fashion revolutionary, it is important to understand the era that she lived in and how the world of fashion differed from the one we know today. In first span of the 1900s, stylish women desired dresses for just about anything they could think of, before noon dresses, afternoon dresses, evening gowns, and simpler dresses that were less occasion-specific. Even recreational and sporting activities such as skating, biking, and tennis playing required women to wear suits and corsets. The suits were jackets and very long skirts and were restrictive and uncomfortable, although very stylish (http://tirocchi.stg.brown.edu). During the 1900s clothes were made to show off women’s bodies
with idealized hourglass figures shaped by corsets. This trend in women’s clothing lasted through the 1920s (http://tirocchi.stg.brown.edu).
Prior to the era of the twenties dressmakers earned a large amount of money by designing and producing these stylish clothes that were fitted for each individual. Dressmakers’ business consisted not only of designing and producing these expensive garments for women, who could afford their services, but also altering, repairing, cleaning, and reusing fabric and materials from older outfits to...
... middle of paper ...
...girl should be two things: classy and fabulous," Coco Chanel once said. Clothes remain to be manufactured in the similarity of Coco Chanel original works. Infinitely loved and treasured by the fashion industry that she contributed so very too addition as by the women who still wear them.
Works Cited
Wallach, Janet. Chanel: Her Style and Her Life. London: Mitchell Beazley, 1999. Print. "Fashion in the 1900s."
The A. & L. TIROCCHI DRESSMAKERS PROJECT. Web. 06 Nov. 2011. .
"Coco Chanel." Business Leader Profiles for Students. Ed. Sheila Dow and Jaime E. Noce. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. "The Philadelphia Inquirer Mirror, Mirror column." Philadelphia Inquirer [Philadelphia, PA] 12 Apr. 2011. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 6 Nov. 2011.
...s far as the author is concern, the fact that CoCo Chanel left the Victorian ideas and lived a life of her own made other women admire her. According to the author, clothing design was her star that raised her above other women. It would be better if other women would emulate her character and moral beliefs that should attract other women.
If we didn’t have fashion then a lot of people wouldn’t have jobs because there are a whole bunch of fashion designers out there, also all of the celebrities wouldn’t have name brand clothing because there would be no way to make them because we wouldn’t have designers. Fashion of the 1920’s played a very big role in today’s fashion. Including the material our clothing is made out of also the styles of clothing we wear. Many things women wear today first came from fashion in the 1920's. Flappers, shoe styles, and accessories are a few things that we wear today have came from. Many celebrities still wear some things that people wore in the 1920's including flappers. Have you ever wondered what the amazing fashion of the 1920's was like?
Young woman in the new generation back then loved her clothing line, it was exciting and something new to them. Everybody looked up to Coco chanel and wanted to be just like her, because she was considered a very independent woman,also slim and very fit. She had a very bold haircut which inspired so many girls to get it just like her. Channel loved to wear and create black,white,and beige pieces. She invented the “little black dress”. Which is now still around in our
...dia of Clothing and Fashion. Ed. Valerie Steele. Vol. 2. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005. 88-89. U.S. History in Context. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
Being able to create a movement of her own, Modernism and changing fashion for women, Chanel will forever be known as a remarkable fashion designer. I believe the fact that she put a woman’s worth as her main focus into creating her designs is what made consumers around the world admire her work. She knew that in the 20th century, to be elegant and fashionable meant money and a lot of it. The materials used for trendy clothing were very costly. This leads to Chanel using jersey as her main fabric choice. It was a cheaper fabric of choice. Most may wonder why she chose this fabric therefore you must know that Chanel did not come from a family full of riches and wealth. She became wealthy because she knew what it was like to be deprived of it and suffer in poverty. Her past impacts her genius ways of thinking to be able to create such clothing. Along with using jerseys as her fabric, Chanel’s main goal when creating a new design is to keep the men clothing in mind. The clothing was fitting but not suffocating. This changed the whole world’s outlook on how women should appear. It gave women the independence, confidence and power to say “Hey, I’m no different from a male and there is no set way to how I should look as a female if I so do not choose”.
“Once she began to apply herself, Chanel became a femme d’entreprise forever. Throughout the remainder of her life she would work unremittingly as craftsman and business woman, imposing her personal conception of the art of dressing upon an ever-expanding clientele” (Charles-Roux 6-7). Even though Chanel left the fashion industry during the war and was heavily criticized for it, she was and still is one of the most famous fashion designers (Charles-Roux 7-8). Until her death, Chanel continued working on new designs that were accustomed to her style (“Coco Chanel Biography” par. 20). In 1971, Chanel died at the age of 88. To this day, her house still exists. Chanel is buried in Switzerland with five stone lions surrounding her tomb (Gabrielle par. 1). Because of Chanel’s new bold ideas, the women’s fashion industry has forever been changed (Charles-Roux 6).
Peacock, John. The Chronicle of Western Fashion: From Ancient times to the Present Day. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1991. Print.
The corset was found rigid and compressing in the 1700s. Early 1800s brought some enlightening change: Mantua dresses were m...
Coco Chanel, born Gabrielle Bonhuer Chanel, on August 19, 1883 in Saumur, France was an amazing woman who redefined fashion as we know it today. She was a clothing designer who revolutionized the fashion industry with her suits, little black dresses, and avant garde flare. Because of this quickly in her young life she became well know, and rose to be the fashion icon that she is today. From the timeless designs that are still popular to this day, and the sophisticated outfits that can be paired with great accessories Chanel has done it all. When it comes down to it though it was Coco Chanel’s philosophy that “luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it’s not luxury” that lead to her success. (“Coco Chanel”)
In the early 1900’s the ideal woman would be dressed with long dresses and would normally have long hair. Several events such as World War I, in July of 1914, changed women’s role in society. They were not only taking care of the children and the household but they were also taking the role of a man. As men went to war, women replaced them in factories. This caused woman to be more independent. Women realized that having a job was something that could be done; their sex didn’t restrict them from taking this action. This was extremely important as it lead to women being more confident and capable. In the 1920s young women began to change. They went from having long dresses and long hair, to a short haircut and wearing dresses that were above the knee. Women developed a greater interest in looking attractive. According to Russell L. Johnson, the beauty industry grew rapidly as cosmetic expenses sky rocketed from 750 million to 2 billion dollars (Johnson 3). This was one of the causes of the sexual revolution. Women became “ less formal but more expressive (Mag...
Paul Poiret was born on April 20th, 1879 in Paris, France. His contributions to twentieth-century fashion has earned him the title in many people’s eyes as the “King of Fashion”, because he established the principle of modern dress and created the blueprint of the modern fashion industry. Poiret’s designs and ideas led the direction of modern design history. He was born into a working class family and his natural charisma eventually gained him entry into some of the most exclusive ateliers of the Belle Époque. Jacques Doucet, one of the capital’s most prominent couturiers, hired him after seeing promising sketches he had sold to other dressmakers. Furthermore, he was hired by the House of Worth and was put to work to create less glamorous and more practical, simple items because his out of the ordinary designs were not welcomed in open arms by opulent clientele. Despite this experience he was still confident in his ideas and ventured out on his own with money barrowed from his parents and opened a storefront. Moreover, he wanted to promote of the concept of a "total lifestyle” was seen as the first couturier to merge fashion with interior design. His independent work broke the normal conventions of dressmaking, and overturned their underlying presumptions. He liberated the woman’s body from the petticoat and the corset to allow clothing to follow woman’s natural form. Poiret also radically revolutionized dressmaking to switch from the emphasis surrounding the skills of tailoring towards those based on the skills of draping and began to use bright colors. Furthermore, Poiret was apart of the art deco movement, which was surrounded by a period of immense social upheaval, particularly for women, and emergence of technol...
Fashion plays an important role in the lives of billions all over the world; people, as part of a status craving society, turn to “fashion capitals” of the world for ways in which to dress and carry themselves. New York, Milan, and Paris are leaders among this fierce industry that the world lusts after. Fashion can speak volumes about ones personality, or also about the condition the world is in at the time. In France, fashion changed rapidly and feverously as the times changed.
In the 19th century play, FASHION, Anna Mowatt develops the character plot as a contrast and comparison between being “natural” and “artificial in a world becoming preoccupied with fashion, and being fashionable. In the head notes, it was stated that Daniel Havens said FASHION is “the ugly image of the American Dream gone sour.” (Watt and Richardson) Fashion has a complex definition. The word ‘fashion’ can mean anything from the type of clothes you wear, how you communicate with others, the place you live, how you present yourself, or who you associate yourself with. In FASHION, Mowatt took a comical yet sober look at the definitions of “fashion,” applied it to real life in 1845, and through her characters, provides a mirror with which an audience/reader can evaluate themselves. I do not believe updating this play would be difficult because America has continued down the fast and destructive path in an effort to keep up with the “fashions” of the day.
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.
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...