Fashion is a popular style or practice, especially in clothing,
footwear,
accessories, makeup, body
piercing, or furniture. Fashion is a distinctive and often habitual
trend in the style in which a person dresses. It is the prevailing
styles in behaviour and the newest creations of textile designers.
The more technical term costume has become so linked to the term
"fashion" that the use of the former has been relegated to special
senses like fancy dress or masquerade wear, while "fashion" means clothing more
generally, including the study of it. Although aspects of fashion can be
feminine or masculine, some trends are androgynous.Clothing fashions[edit]
2008 Ed Hardy runway show
Main article: History of Western fashion
Early Western travelers, whether to Persia, Turkey, India, or China,
would frequently remark on the absence of change in fashion there, and
observers from these other cultures commented on the unseemly pace of
Western fashion, which many felt suggested an instability and a lack of
order in Western culture. The Japanese Shogun's
secretary boasted (not completely accurately) to a Spanish visitor in
1609 that Japanese clothing had not changed in over a
thousand years.
However, there is considerable evidence in Ming China of rapidly changing fashions in Chinese clothing.
Changes in costume often took place at times of economic or social
change, as occurred in ancient
Rome and the medieval Caliphate,
but then a long period without major changes would follow. In 8th
century Moorish Spain the famous
musician Ziryab
introduced to Córdoba in Al-Andalus
sophisticated clothing-styles based on
seasonal and daily fashions from his native Baghdad,
modified by his own inspiration. Similar changes in fashion occurred in
the 11th century in the Middle East following the arrival of the Turks who introduced clothing styles from Central
Asia and the Far East.[8]
The beginning in Europe of continual and increasingly rapid change in
clothing styles can be fairly reliably dated. Historians, including James
Laver and Fernand Braudel, date the start of Western
fashion in clothing to the middle of the 14th century.
The most dramatic early change in fashion was a sudden drastic
shortening and tightening of the male over-garment from calf-length to barely covering the buttocks,
sometimes accompanied with stuffing in the chest to make it look
bigger. This created the distinctive Western outline of a tailored top
worn over leggings or trousers.
The pace of change accelerated considerably in the following century,
and women and men's fashion, especially in the dressing and adorning of
the hair, became equally complex. Art
historians are therefore able to use fashion with confidence and
precision to date images, often to within five years, particularly in
the case of images from the 15th century. Initially, changes in fashion
led to a fragmentation across the upper classes of Europe of what had
previously been a very similar style of dressing and the subsequent
development of distinctive national styles. These national styles
remained very different until a counter-movement in the 17th to 18th
centuries imposed similar styles once again, mostly originating from Ancien Régime France.
Though the rich usually led fashion, the increasing affluence of early modern Europe led to the bourgeoisie
and even peasants
following trends at a distance, but still uncomfortably close for the
elites – a factor that Fernand Braudel regards as one of the main motors
of changing fashion.
Albrecht Dürer's drawing contrasts a well
turned out bourgeoise from Nuremberg
(left) with her counterpart from Venice.
The Venetian lady's high chopines make her look taller.
In the 16th century national differences were at their most
pronounced. Ten 16th century portraits of German
or Italian
gentlemen may show ten entirely different hats. Albrecht Dürer illustrated the differences in his actual (or
composite) contrast of Nuremberg and Venetian
fashions at the close of the 15th century (illustration, right).
The "Spanish style" of the late 16th century began the move back to
synchronicity among upper-class Europeans, and after a struggle in the
mid-17th century, French styles decisively took over leadership, a
process completed in the 18th century.
Though textile colors and patterns changed from year to year,
the cut of a gentleman's coat and the length of his waistcoat, or the
pattern to which a lady's dress was cut, changed more slowly. Men's
fashions were largely derived from military
models, and changes in a European male silhouette were galvanized in
theaters of European war where gentleman officers had opportunities to
make notes of foreign styles such as the "Steinkirk" cravat or necktie.
Though there had been distribution of dressed dolls from France since
the 16th century and Abraham
Bosse had produced engravings of fashion in the 1620s, the pace of
change picked up in the 1780s with increased publication of French
engravings illustrating the latest Paris styles. By 1800, all Western Europeans were dressing alike (or thought they
were); local variation became first a sign of provincial culture and
later a badge of the conservative peasant.
Although tailors and dressmakers were no doubt responsible for many
innovations, and the textile industry certainly led many trends, the history of fashion design is
normally understood to date from 1858 when the English-born Charles Frederick Worth opened the
first true haute couture house in Paris. The Haute
house was the name established by government for the fashion houses that
met the standards of industry. These fashion houses have to adhere to
standards such as keeping at least twenty employees engaged in making
the clothes, showing two collections per year at fashion shows, and
presenting a certain number of patterns to costumers.
Since then, the professional designer has become an increasingly
dominant figure, despite the origin of many fashions in street fashion.
For women, the flapper styles of the 1920s marked the most
significant alteration in Western women's fashion in several centuries,
with a drastic shortening of skirt-lengths and much looser-fitting
clothes. With an occasional revival of long skirts, variations of the
shorter length have remained dominant ever since. Though there were many
variations, the “flapper uniform,” so to speak, consisted of
high-heeled shoes, which were often embellished with buckles or gems,
significant amounts of jewellery, especially pieces adorned with gems
and pearls, and shorter dresses, the upper portion of which could be
either loose or form-fitting. Flappers also often wore cloches, small
hats often featuring narrow, downward-oriented brims, to frame their
short hairstyles. Flappers were seen as especially seductive figures,
and their fashion was at the time controversial for many.
The four major current fashion capitals are acknowledged to be Paris, Milan, New
York City, and London, which are all headquarters to the greatest
fashion companies and are renowned for their major influence on global
fashion. Fashion weeks are held in these cities, where
designers exhibit their new clothing collections to audiences. A
succession of major designers such as Coco
Chanel and Yves Saint-Laurent have kept
Paris as the center most watched by the rest of the world, although haute
couture is now subsidized by the sale of ready-to-wear
collections and perfume using the same branding.
Modern Westerners have a wide number of choices
available in the selection of their clothes. What a person chooses to
wear can reflect his or her personality or interests. When people
who have high cultural status
start to wear new or different clothes, a fashion trend may start.
People who like or respect these people become influenced by their
personal style and begin wearing similarly styled clothes. Fashions may
vary considerably within a society
according to age, social
class, generation, occupation,
and geography
and may also vary over time. If an older person dresses according to
the fashion young people use, he or she may look ridiculous in the eyes
of both young and older people. The terms fashionista and fashion victim refer to someone who slavishly follows
current fashions.
One can regard the system of sporting various fashions as a fashion language
incorporating various fashion statements using a grammar
of fashion. (Compare some of the work of Roland Barthes.)
In recent years, Asian fashion has become increasingly significant in
local and global markets. Countries such as China, Japan, India, and
Pakistan have traditionally had large textile industries, which have
often been drawn upon by Western designers, but now Asian clothing
styles are also gaining influence based on their own ideas.
Fashion industry
The fashion industry is a product of the modern age.[citation needed]
Prior to the mid-19th century, most clothing was custom-made. It was handmade for individuals, either as
home production or on order from dressmakers and tailors. By the
beginning of the 20th century—with the rise of new technologies such as
the sewing machine, the rise of global capitalism and the
development of the factory system of production, and the proliferation
of retail outlets such as department stores—clothing had increasingly
come to be mass-produced in standard sizes and sold at
fixed prices.
Although the fashion industry developed first in Europe and America,
as of 2014[update]
it is an international and highly globalized industry, with clothing
often designed in one country, manufactured in another, and sold
world-wide. For example, an American fashion company might source fabric
in China and have the clothes manufactured in Vietnam, finished in
Italy, and shipped to a warehouse in the United States for distribution
to retail outlets internationally. The fashion industry has long been
one of the largest employers in the United States,
and it remains so in the 21st century. However, U.S. employment
declined considerably as production increasingly moved overseas,
especially to China. Because data on the fashion industry typically are
reported for national economies and expressed in terms of the industry's
many separate sectors, aggregate figures for world production of
textiles and clothing are difficult to obtain. However, by any measure,
the clothing industry accounts for a significant share of world economic
output.
The fashion industry consists of four levels:
- the production of raw materials, principally fibers and textiles but also leather and fur
- the production of fashion goods by designers, manufacturers, contractors, and others
- retail sales
- various forms of advertising and promotion
These levels consist of many separate but interdependent sectors, each devoted
to the goal of satisfying consumer demand for apparel under conditions
that enable participants in the industry to operate at a profit.
Media
The media plays a significant role when it comes to fashion. For
instance, an important part of fashion is fashion journalism. Editorial critique, guidelines, and
commentary can be found in on television and in magazines, newspapers,
fashion websites, social networks, and fashion
blogs. In recent years, fashion blogging and YouTube
videos have become a major outlet for spreading trends and fashion tips.
Through these media outlets readers and viewers all over the world can
learn about fashion, making it very accessible.
At the beginning of the 20th century, fashion magazines began to
include photographs of various fashion designs and became even more
influential than in the past. In cities throughout the world these
magazines were greatly sought after and had a profound effect on public
taste in clothing. Talented illustrators
drew exquisite fashion plates for the publications which covered the
most recent developments in fashion and beauty.
Perhaps the most famous of these magazines was La Gazette du Bon Ton, which was founded in
1912 by Lucien Vogel
and regularly published until 1925 (with the exception of the war
years).
Vogue, founded in the United
States in 1892, has been the longest-lasting and most successful of
the hundreds of fashion magazines that have come and gone. Increasing
affluence after World War II and, most importantly, the advent
of cheap color printing in the 1960s, led to a huge
boost in its sales and heavy coverage of fashion in mainstream women's
magazines, followed by men's magazines in the 1990s. One such example of
Vogue's popularity is the younger version, Teen
Vogue, which covers clothing and trends that are targeted more
toward the "fashionista on a budget". Haute
couture designers followed the trend by starting ready-to-wear
and perfume
lines which are heavily advertised in the magazines and now dwarf their
original couture businesses. A recent development within fashion print
media is the rise of text-based and critical magazines which aim to
prove that fashion is not superficial, by creating a dialogue between
fashion academia and the industry. Examples of this trend are: Fashion Theory (1997) and Vestoj
(2009). Television coverage began in the 1950s with small fashion
features. In the 1960s and 1970s, fashion segments on various
entertainment shows became more frequent, and by the 1980s, dedicated
fashion shows such as Fashion Television started to
appear. FashionTV was the pioneer in this undertaking
and has since grown to become the leader in both Fashion Television and new
media channels. Despite television and increasing internet coverage,
including fashion blogs, press coverage remains the most important form
of publicity in the eyes of the fashion industry.
However, over the past several years, fashion websites have developed
that merge traditional editorial writing with user-generated content. Online
magazines like iFashion
Network and Runway Magazine, led by Nole Marin from America's Next Top Model, have
begun to dominate the market with digital copies for computers, iPhones, and iPads. Example platforms include Apple and
Android for such applications.
A few days after the 2010 Fall Fashion Week in New
York City came to a close, The New Islander's Fashion Editor, Genevieve Tax,
criticized the fashion industry for running on a seasonal schedule of
its own, largely at the expense of real-world consumers. "Because
designers release their fall collections in the spring and their spring
collections in the fall, fashion magazines such as Vogue always
and only look forward to the upcoming season, promoting parkas come
September while issuing reviews on shorts in January", she writes.
"Savvy shoppers, consequently, have been conditioned to be extremely,
perhaps impractically, farsighted with their buying."
The fashion industry has been the subject of numerous films and
television shows. Film examples are detailed in the Popsugar article,
"Fashion Week Films: 10 Movies About the Business of Looking Good";
Fashion Runway
(a reality show) and Ugly
Betty (a television drama series) are sample television shows.
Ethnic fashion
"Ethnic Fashion" is defined as the fashion of multicultural groups
such as African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, etc. Examples of ethnic
designers are Baby Phat, FUBU, Phat
Farm, and Sean John. It is estimated that Ethnic Fashion has
contributed over $25 billion in revenues, thus making it an important
part of the fashion industry.
Anthropological perspective
Anthropology, the study of culture and human
societies, studies fashion by asking why certain styles are deemed
socially appropriate and others are not. A certain way is chosen and
that becomes the fashion as defined by a certain people as a whole, so
if a particular style has a meaning in an already occurring set of
beliefs that style will become fashion.
According to Ted Polhemus and Lynn Procter, fashion can be described as
adornment, of which there are two types: fashion and anti-fashion.
Through the capitalization and commoditisation of clothing, accessories,
and shoes, etc., what once constituted anti-fashion becomes part of
fashion as the lines between fashion and anti-fashion are blurred.
The definition of fashion and anti-fashion is as follows:
Anti-fashion is fixed and changes little over time. Anti-fashion is
different depending on the cultural or social group one is associated
with or where one lives, but within that group or locality the style
changes little. Fashion is the exact opposite of anti-fashion. Fashion
changes very quickly and is not affiliated with one group or area of the
world but is spread out throughout the world wherever people can
communicate easily with each other. For example, Queen Elizabeth II’s
1953 coronation gown is an example of anti-fashion because it is
traditional and does not change over any period whereas a gown from
fashion designer Dior’s collection of 1953 is fashion because the style
will change every season as Dior comes up with a new gown to replace the
old one. In the Dior gown the length, cut, fabric, and embroidery of
the gown change from season to season. Anti-fashion is concerned with
maintaining the status quo while fashion is concerned with social
mobility. Time is expressed in terms of continuity in anti-fashion and
as change in fashion. Fashion has changing modes of adornment while
anti-fashion has fixed modes of adornment. Indigenous and peasant modes
of adornment are an example of anti-fashion. Change in fashion is part
of the larger system and is structured to be a deliberate change in
style.
Today, people in rich countries are linked to people in poor
countries through the commoditisation and consumption of what is called
fashion. People work long hours in one area of the globe to produce
things that people in another part of the globe are anxious to consume.
An example of this is the chain of production and consumption of Nike
shoes, which are produced in Taiwan and then purchased in North
America. At the production end there is nation-building a hard working
ideology that leads people to produce and entices people to consume with
a vast amount of goods for the offering. Commodities are no longer just
utilitarian but are fashionable, be they running shoes or sweat suits.
The change from anti-fashion to fashion because of the influence of
western capitalist civilization can be seen in eastern Indonesia.
The ikat textiles of the Ngada area of eastern Indonesia are changing
because of modernization and development. Traditionally, in the Ngada
area there was no idea similar to that of the Western idea of fashion,
but anti-fashion in the form of traditional textiles and ways to adorn
oneself were widely popular. Textiles in Indonesia have played many
roles for the local people. Textiles defined a person’s rank and status;
certain textiles indicated being part of the ruling class. People
expressed their ethnic identity and social hierarchy through textiles.
Because some Indonesians bartered ikat textiles for food, the textiles
constituted economic goods, and as some textile design motifs had
spiritual religious meanings, textiles were also a way to communicate
religious messages.
In eastern Indonesia, both the production and use of traditional
textiles have been transformed as the production, use and value
associated with textiles have changed due to modernization. In the past,
women produced the textiles either for home consumption or to trade
with others. Today this has changed as most textiles are not being
produced at home. Western goods are considered modern and are valued
more than traditional goods, including the sarong, which retain a
lingering association with colonialism. Now, sarongs are used only for
rituals and ceremonial occasions, whereas western clothes are worn to
church or government offices. Civil servants working in urban areas are
more likely than peasants to make the distinction between western and
traditional clothes. Following Indonesia’s independence from the Dutch,
people increasingly started buying factory made shirts and sarongs. In
textile-producing areas the growing of cotton and production of
naturally coloured thread became obsolete. Traditional motifs on
textiles are no longer considered the property of a certain social class
or age group. Wives of government officials are promoting the use of
traditional textiles in the form of western garments such as skirts,
vests and blouses. This trend is also being followed by the general
populace, and whoever can afford to hire a tailor is doing so to stitch
traditional ikat textiles into western clothes. Thus, traditional
textiles are now fashion goods and are no longer confined to the black,
white and brown colour palette but come in array of colours. Traditional
textiles are also being used in interior decorations and to make
handbags, wallets and other accessories, which are considered
fashionable by civil servants and their families. There is also a
booming tourist trade in the eastern Indonesian city of Kupang where
international as well as domestic tourists are eager to purchase
traditionally printed western goods.
The use of traditional textiles for fashion is becoming big business
in eastern Indonesia, but these traditional textiles are losing their
ethnic identity markers and are being used as an item of fashion.
Just like Nike shoes that are a capitalist form of fashion for the
modern consumer, the ikat textiles of Eastern Indonesia’s Ngada area,
which used to be a form of static anti-fashion, are becoming a part of
fashion as they are being incorporated into the forms of highly valued
western goods.
Intellectual property
Student modeling at the "Fashion marketing" event at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico
City.
Within the fashion industry, intellectual property is not enforced
as it is within the film industry and music . Robert Glariston, an intellectual property
expert mentioned in a fashion seminar held in LA that
"Copyright law regarding clothing is a current hot-button issue in the
industry. We often have to draw the line between designers being
inspired by a design and those outright stealing it in different
places."
To take inspiration from others' designs contributes to the fashion
industry's ability to establish clothing trends. For the past few years,
WGSN
has been a dominant source of fashion news and forecasts in encouraging
fashion brands worldwide to be inspired by one another. Enticing
consumers to buy clothing by establishing new trends is, some have
argued, a key component of the industry's success. Intellectual property
rules that interfere with this process of trend-making would, in this
view, be counter-productive. On the other hand, it is often argued that
the blatant theft of new ideas, unique designs, and design details by
larger companies is what often contributes to the failure of many
smaller or independent design companies.
Since fakes are distinguishable by their poorer quality, there is
still a demand for luxury goods, and as only a trademark
or logo
can be copyrighted, many fashion brands make this one of the most
visible aspects of the garment or accessory. In handbags, especially,
the designer's brand may be woven into the fabric (or the lining fabric)
from which the bag is made, making the brand an intrinsic element of
the bag.
In 2005, the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO) held a conference calling for stricter
intellectual property enforcement within the fashion industry to better
protect small and medium businesses and promote competitiveness within
the textile and clothing industries.
Fashion for a cause
Fashion may be used to promote a cause, such as to promote healthy behavior,
to raise money for a cancer cure,
or to raise money for local charities
such as the Juvenile Protective Association
or a children's hospice.
One up-and-coming fashion cause is trashion,
which is using trash to make clothes, jewelery and other fashion items
in order to promote awareness of pollution. There are a number of modern
trashion artists such as Marina
DeBris, Ann Wizer,
and Nancy Judd.
(Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion)
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