What is Costume Design?

What is Costume Design?
Every garment worn in a theatrical production is a costume. Before an actor speaks, his wardrobe has already spoken for him. From the most obvious and flamboyant show clothing, to contemporary clothes using subtle design language, costume design plays an integral part in every television and film production. It is an ancient theatrical craft and the process today is identical to when Euripides was writing long ago. Costume design is a vital tool for storytelling.
When a costume designer receives a script, the process of developing the visual shorthand for each character begins. Costume sketches, fashion research and actual garments are used to help costume designers, directors, and actors develop a common language for the development of each character. Sometimes a glamorous entrance may be inappropriate and destructive to a scene. The costume designer must first serve the story and the director.
The more specific and articulate a costume is, the more effective it will be with an audience. Minute details loved by actors often enhance their performances in imperceptible ways.
Many actors credit their costume as a guide to the discovery of their characters. Actors sometimes need sensitive costume design for imperfect bodies. Flattering figures, camouflaging flaws, and enhancing inadequacies are part of the job description.
Costumes are defined and refined, and the process can be angst-ridden. Each frame of film is a canvas and has its own proscenium. Nothing within it is left to chance. Each choice of color, texture, pattern, and form is deliberate. Like the popular myth of actors improvising their dialogue: contemporary costumes are often taken for granted and sometimes seem to magically "appear." Every actor appearing in front of the camera is scrutinized like a child on their first day of school. Even the most sophisticated audience commonly overlooks some of the finest and most effective contemporary costume design in film and television.
Film is the great collaborative art. The design triumvirate - the director of cinematography, the production designer, and the costume designer -- struggle to create an invented world to help the director tell his story. A film is one gigantic jigsaw puzzle. A movie is an enormous architectural endeavor of sets and lighting and costumes for one time and one purpose. This minutely crafted kingdom must sit lightly on the shoulders of the narrative.
Costumes have always had enormous influence on world fashion. When a star captures the public's imagination, a film or television role has catapulted him or her there. A style cycle begins as this role is recreated in retail fashion to the delight and demand of fans. The exposure this celebrity brings to a costume generates millions of dollars for the fashion business. When a film engages the public's psyche, it is a powerful selling tool for a clothing manufacturer. Costume designers receive tremendous pride from seeing their efforts reproduced on a global scale, but little recognition and no re-numeration for setting worldwide trends.
Often the most successful screen imagery spontaneously becomes iconography. New "classics" feel like they have always been part of the culture. Yet, costumes never spring from the public "collective unconscious." Behind every costume there is a costume designer.
Costume designers are passionate storytellers, historians, social commentators, humorists, psychologists, trendsetters and magicians who can conjure glamour and codify icons. Costume designers are project managers who have to juggle ever-decreasing wardrobe budgets and battle the economic realities of film production. Costume designers are artists with pen and paper, form, fabric and the human figure.

Fashion design

Fashion design is the art of the application of design and aesthetics to clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social attitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories. Some work alone or as part of a team. They attempt to satisfy consumer desire for aesthetically designed clothing; and, because of the time required to bring a garment onto the market, must at times anticipate changing consumer tastes. Some designers in fact have a reputation which enables them to set fashion trends.
Fashion designers attempt to design clothes which are functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. They must consider who is likely to wear a garment and the situations in which it will be worn. They have a wide range and combinations of materials to work with and a wide range of colors, patterns and styles to choose from. Though most clothing worn for everyday wear fall within a narrow range of conventional styles, unusual garments are usually sought for special occasions, such as evening wear or party dresses.
Some clothes are made specifically for an individual, as in the case of haute couture, or off-the-rack. Today, most clothing is designed for themass market, especially casual and every-day wear.

rocking fashion

Jigme Palden PazoTGIF Nepal Fashion Week 2009 was awash with glitz and glitter as the five day fashion extravaganza came to a grand finale on Friday evening at the Yak & Yeti Hotel in Kathmandu. With a riot of sparkling colours and dazzling embellishments, the concluding day pulled out all the stops in whipping up a frenzy with the sub-continent’s ethnic exuberance. It was Incredible India on the catwalk, like Nepal had perhaps never witnessed before, as the ramp queens pirouetted in spectacular sarees, salwars and lehenga cholis to vitually knock the audience dead. Unmistakable strains of Indian music filled the air as the devastating models draped in everything from chiffon to linen and cotton to lycra sizzled on the runway looking like they’d just stepped off the sets of a Bollywood blockbuster. Shimmering visions of the Bharatiya Nari in all her resplendent glory bewitched all and sundry, even though many of those visions came with the classic Nepali features and in one case, even Caucasian. The auditorium at the Yak and Yeti was packed to capacity with standing room only as the most high profile fashion event in the country reached a deafening crescendo.Indian ethnic wear is never complete without the celebrated bridal collection, and kickstarting the evening was Manju Banjara’s depictions of the Indian bride. Blood red hues to complement the flames of the wedding fire glided down the runway in breathtaking variations whether in sarees or lehengas with intricate metallic embellishments to do any Mughal artisan proud.In comparison, the western bridal collection from the same designer that followed failed to come anywhere close to its predecessor. Western brides in white gowns clutching bouquets couldn’t quite create the same impact as the fire brigade red brides.The glistening Indian collections that dominated the evening’s proceedings, were interspersed with western wear including Uttam Banepali’s semi formals and Pratigya Thapa’s Camden collection. Star names to grace the final day were Nepal’s object of lust actress Rekha Thapa who scorched the ramp with fellow actress Namrata Shrestha. The first ever Miss Nepal Ruby Rana Shah who was crowned back in 1994 accompanied by her husband Prajay Vikram Shah and actress Arunima Lamsal added extra spark to the already starry evening. However the star attraction of the day was undoubtedly Femina Miss India 2008 Simran Kaur who demonstrated to all in attendance why her poise and luminescence made her the toast of a nation of 2 billion people last year.

fashion for world in 2010

As in the previous centuries, two styles of dress existed side-by-side for men: a short costume deriving from a melding of the everyday dress of the later Roman and the short tunics worn by the invading , and a long costume descended from the clothing of the Roman upper classes and influenced by Wool remained the primary fabric for clothing of all classes, while linen undergarments, which were more comfortable against the skin and could be washed and then bleached in the sun, were increasingly worn. Silk, although extremely expensive, was readily available to wealthy people of consequence. from Byzantium were traded in Pavia by way of Venice, and silks from Andalusia reached France via Spain. In the last decade of the previous century, the Norman reconquest of Sicily and the First Crusade had opened additional routes for Eastern fabrics and style influences into Europe. Fur was worn as an inside lining for warmth. Vair, the fur of the squirrel, was particularly popular and can be seen in many illuminated manuscript illustrations, where it is shown as a white and blue-grey softly striped or checkered pattern lining the mantles of the wealthy. A new French fashion for both men and women was the bliaut or bliaud, a long outer tunic with full skirts from the hip and sleeves that fitted tightly to the elbow and then flared into a trumpet shape. Early bliauts were moderately fitted and bloused slightly over the belt at the waist. Later the bliaut was fitted tightly to the body from shoulder to hip, and the belt or girdle was wrapped twice around the waist and knotted in front of the abdomen. Men's clothing "Gemini" from the Hunterian Psalter shows the twins in knee-length tunics over chausses and shoes with pointed toes. England, c. 1170 Underclothes consisted of an inner tunic or shirt with long, tight sleeves, and drawers or braies, usually of linen. Tailored cloth leggings called chausses or hose, made as separate garments for each leg, were often worn with the tunic; striped hose were popular. During this period, beginning with the middle and upper classes, hose became longer and more fitting, and they reached above the knees. Previously, they were looser and worn with drawers that ranged from knee- to ankle-length. The new type of hose was worn with drawers that reached the knees or above, and they were wide enough at the top to allow the drawers to be tucked into them. They were held up in place by being attached to the girdle of the drawers. The better fit and girdle attachment of this new hose eliminated the need for the leg bands often worn with earlier hose. In England, however, leg bands continued to be worn by some people, both rich and poor, right up to the reign of Richard I. After 1200, they were largely abandoned. Over the undertunic and hose, men wore an outer tunic that reached to the knees or ankles, and that was fastened at the waist with a belt. Fitted bliauts, of wool or, increasingly, silk, had sleeves that were cut wide at the wrist and gored skirts. Men wore bliauts open to the waist front and back or at the side seams. Newly fashionable were short, fitted garments for the upper body, worn under the tunic: the doublet, made of two layers of linen, and an early form of quilted and padded jupe or gipon. The sleeveless surcoat or cyclas was introduced during this period as protective covering for armour during the Crusades. By the next century, it would become widely adopted as civilian dress. Rectangular and circular cloaks were worn over the tunic. These fastened on the right shoulder or at the center front. Men of the upper classes often went hatless. The chaperon in the form of hood and attached shoulder-length cape was worn during this period, especially by the rural lower classes, and the fitted linen coif tied under the chin appeared very late in the century. Small round or slightly conical caps with rolled brims were worn, and straw hats were worn for outdoor work in summer. Geoffrey of Anjou Illustration of the Anti-christ shows long and short tunics and hose or leggings,. The king wears a red mantle lined in vair fastened on one shoulder, Richard the Lionheart is portrayed in a long tunic with tight sleeves and a mantle, late 12th century. Man feasting wears a cap with a rolled brim and a tunic with wide turned-back cuffs, England. Monument of Geoffrey of Anjou depicts him in a calf-length overtunic and long undertunic, with a blue mantle lined in vair. He wears a cap with his coat of arms. Figure of Grammatica showing the trumpet-sleeved bliaut characteristic of the later 12th century, from the Hortus Deliciarum, Women's clothing consisted of an undertunic called a chemise, chainse or smock, usually of linen, over which was worn one or more ankle-to-floor length tunics, Working class women wore their tunics ankle-length and belted at the waist.
Women of the French court wore a loosely fitted tunic called a cott

e or the form-fitting bliaut over a full chemise with tight sleeves. The bliaut had a flaring skirt and sleeves tight to the elbow and then widening to wrist in a trumpet shape. A bliaut apparently cut in one piece from neckline to hem depicted on a column figure of a woman at the Cathedral of St. Maurice at Angers has visible side-lacing and is belted at the natural waistline. A new fashion, the bliaut gironé, arose in mid-century: this gown is cut in two pieces, a fitted upper portion with a finely pleated skirt attached to a low waistband. The fitted bliaut was sometimes worn with a long belt or cincture in French, ceinture) that looped around a slightly raised waist and was knotted over the abdomen; the cincture could have decorative tassels or metal tags at the ends.
In England, the fashionable gown was wide at the wrist but without the trumpet-shaped flare from the elbow seen in France. Married women, in keeping with Christian custom, wore veils over their hair, which was often parted in the center and hung down in long braids that might be extended with false hair or purchased hair from the dead, a habit decried by moralists.
The wimple was introduced in England late in the century. It consisted of a linen cloth that covered the the, and that was fastened about the head, under the veil. Woman wears a bliaut cut in one piece from neck to hem and laced at the sides, over a chemise with tight sleeves. Overall she wears a mantle tied with a double cord. Cathédrale Saint-Maurice d'Angers, Bliaut gironé has a finely pleated skirt attached to a decorative waistband at hip level. The bliaut is worn with a knotted girdle or cincture, Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, between Detail of the knotted girdle worn with the bliaut gironé at Chartres. The waistband of the skirt can be seen above the knotted girdle. Eve spinning in a long gown with straight sleeves and a linen veil, Two women from the Hunterian Psalter. The woman on the left wears a veil and mantle. The young woman on the right wears her hair uncovered, and her gown sleeves are wide at the wrist as seen in English fashion ,Queen Leonor of England, sitting on the far left, wears a veil that covers most of her body. Mowing hay. The man on the right works in linen braies, Man digging has tucked up his long tunic, which he wears with chausses and ankle-high shoes, Men pruning grapevines wear short tunics and chausses. The man on the left wears a hood over a linen coif, Normandy, Men harvesting grapes. The man on the right wears braies and a coif, Normandy, "From Content to Form: Court Clothing in Mid-Twelfth-Century Northern French Sculpture", in Désirée Koslin and Janet E. Snyder, eds.: Encountering Medieval Textiles and Dress: Objects, texts, and Images, Macmillan.

fashion forever

The chain, originally known as Fashion 21, was founded in Los Angeles, California in 1984 by South Korean Dong-Won Chang and his wife, Jin Sook. The first store opened on April 21st, 1984, located at 5637 N. Figueroa St. in the Highland Park district of Los Angeles, and was only 900 square feet it is still in operation and bears the chain's original name. Trendy designs seen in South Korea were sold and targeted to the Los Angeles Korean American Community. However, people from many other ethnicities began noticing the fashion forward designs, and the store became increasingly popular. By the end of the first year, sales had risen Fashion 21 eventually expanded at the rate of a new store every six months and changed the Fashion 21 brand name to Forever 21.
In 1989, Forever 21 opened its 11th store and first store located in a mall, at the Panorama Mallich is in Panorama City, CA. Forever 21 increased its presence by expanding the average size to 5,000 square feet per store. Since then, Forever 21 has been running specialty stores in major mall locations nationwide. In 1995, the company expanded their store in Miami's Mall of the Americas, this location was the first store outside of California. Adding new stores every six months, Forever 21 had reached a total of 40 stores by 1997.
Creating its own prototype store in Northridge Fashion Center, Forever 21 has employed its proprietary design concepts to all its stores since. By this time Forever 21 also increased its average size to 9,000 square feet (840 m2) per store in prime spots of top tier malls. The first European store is due to open in Dublin, Ireland, in the Jervis Shopping Centre on November 15, 2010. The store will occupy 70,000 square feet over the ground, upper ground and first floor levels.
UK stores are opening soon with the first in Birmingham's Bullring and second opening in London when a site is found. Going up against established stores H&M, New Look and Primark Forever 21 has signed a lease for a 33,000 sqaure foot store in Charleson, South Carolina, in a former Saks Location. It is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010. Stores The Forever 21 Retail Inc. owns and operates numerous stores in different formats. The stores are: Forever 21: main and original store carrying women's clothing, accessories, swimwear, lingerie, and shoes.
XXI Forever: flagship high square footage store carrying merchandise from all store formats. Heritage1981: offshoot format store carrying vintage inspiredclothing, accessories, and et-cetera. women merchandise in smaller stores from the Gadzooks, Inc. aquistion. women merchandise in different store format from Reference Clothing Company acquisition. Accessory store.
Twelve by Twelve: Upscale Los Angeles couture inspired clothing.
women's clothing in extended sizes contemporary line for women Forever 21 An exclusive limited edition collection, launching a new theme every 4-6 weeks. Collections so far include Cirque 21, Twist of Punk, Ballet- Tutu Cute, Disco 21, Tres Paris, Rocker Babes, Twisted Wonderland, and All Dolled Up.
kid format equivalent to the Heritage1981 adult line. Formerly named Heritage1981 Mens, is the mens portion with vintaged inspired clothing,accessories, and et-cetera XXI Forever is the name for the newest flagship stores throughout the country. Latest stores openings are XXI Forever, Forever21 still has openings of the original store, but as a big box, including the 21Men line. Not only XXI stores carry the 21Men clothing line, but also the new store openings of Forever21 do as well.
Times Square Plans are in the works to open a 90,000 square feet (8,400 m2) Forever 21 in Manhattan, in Times Square, in the space formerly occupied by the Virgin Megastore, in addition to some adjoining space. The store is set to open inearly to mid June with four levels. Flagship Store On January 23, 2010 Forever 21 opened a new 85,000 square feet store in Cerritos, California. Being one of the largest, the store is designated as the chain's flagship sto e Controversy
In November 2001, factory workers producing clothing for the company called for a store boycott untl working conditions and payroll improved. The lawsuit was dropped when Forever 21 paid the workers' back wages. The matter was settled out of court and the company, which admitted no wrongdoing, agreed to take steps to ensure that its garments were not made in sweatshops. In 2004, under pressure from PETA, Forever 21 agreed to stop selling clothing made with animal fur. Forever 21 has also been accused of stealing designs from high-end fashion brands. Recently, designer Diane von Fürsterg has filed a lawsuit against Forever 21 for duplicating her dress designs.[ Since that time Furstenberg has settled with the company for undisclosed terms.[ Singer and designer Gwen Stefani has filed a federal lawsuit against the fashion megachain, claiming the retailer illegally ripped off her Harajuku Loversdesigns.Designer Anna S has also filed a lawsuit against Forever 21 alleging that Forever 21 sold and offered for sale numerous women's fast fashioclothing items bearing a striking similarity to her products featured at the most recent New York Fashion Week shows The store was the subject of the documentary Made in L. which focused on the awareness campaign organized by the store's garment facory workers.
Forever 21 has also come under fire from the South Central Farmers and other California-based activist groups in a campaign known collectively as Never Forever 21.The criticism is based on Forever 21’s involvement in a proposed deal with developer Ralph Horowitz to build a warehouse and distribution center on the land that was formerly the site of the South Central Farm
Although most shoppers are unaware they are carrying around a Bible verse, Forever 21 has received criticism in the media for printing John on the bottom on their trademark yellow bags. A Spokeswoman from Forever 21's LA headquarters said the biblical quote is a "demonstration of the owners' faith." Some have compared the bags to the In-N-Out Burger chain who prints the quote "John 3:16" on the bottom of its cups. References Retrieved from Categories: Companies established in 1984 Clothing retailers of th United States Clothing brands Companies based in Los Angeles, California Personal tools Variants ViewsThis page was last modified on 14 June 2010 at . Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licenseadditional terms may apply. See Terms of Us for details.Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. a non-profit organization.

fashion for nepal

NTV’s gracious Rachana Singh hosted the silver jubilee celebration of Siam Beauty Saloon—it a teeming hall, Mrs. Kamala Shrestha was shown the kind of praise and love from people whose lives she had touched that is reserved only for the truly deserving. Twenty five years of hard work was testified for—her very first client, a professor at TU, recounted her first visit, and how she has been utterly devoted to Mrs. Shrestha ever since. Various beauty queens, actresses and many, many women from all walks of life praised Mrs. Shrestha to the point that she wept tears of gratitude and love. Mrs. Shrestha opened with a speech to the very crowded hall in Hotel Bluestar, after which she demonstrated various hairstyles—both traditional Nepali ways of arranging the hair in a bun, especially for the bride, and more popular modern styles. The models were not professional fashion models, but your average housewives and women who are among Mrs. Shrestha’s clientele. The function also involved the publishing of Smarika. The queue at the lunch lines demonstrated the immense popularity of Mrs. Shrestha among her clients, and her students who are now professional beauticians. A demonstration of various hair styles and facials, etc. followed the lunch, after which the songs and dances were performed. Manju Thapa and Kishor Shahi—who sang both the male and female parts of his song—brought the crowd on their feet. Another round of designs, also without professional models, but with the average children, housewives and their husband, was displayed before yet another musical break when “Aisa Jadoo Dala Re” by Srijan rocked all the audience and participants. Saral Babu brought much laughter into the hall with his biting caricatures.It was the crowd of the beautician from valley as well as from Janakpur, Butwal, Pokhara, Syangja, Assam (India), Nepalgunj. One beautician from Janakpur could not get a bus ticket, so she came on a motorbike driven by her husband. Another beautician from Butwal took three days to reach Kathmandu, but she braved the inconveniences, and reached the function just to see Mrs. Shrestha personally, and get photographed with her teacher and idol. Dabur Vatika Miss Nepal 2004 spoke in praise of Mrs. Kamala Shrestha. She spoke about Mrs. Shrestha giving the beauty queens training in beauty and skin care even after the contest, and in preparation for China to participate in the Miss World contest.Popular actress Melina Manandhar was also there. The event was covered extensively by the media. The Himalayan Times, Annapurna post, Kantipur, all published congratulatory messages on behalf of Dabur Nepal. The hotel hall was so crowded that there was barely any standing space. Presents, felicitation and tamrapatras, and shawls all were presented .Even Radisson Hotel presented the beauty icon with a shawl and presents.The atmosphere was so emotional that Mrs. Kamala Shrestha could not control her emotions any longer and started weeping. All speakers praised her courage and determination. They recounted the challenges she had had to face, and then praised her achievements. It was a moment of pride and satisfaction for everybody present.

fashion

There is no accessory quite like sunglasses. You can be wearing sloppy clothes but a great pair of sunglasses can turn your look, or lack of one, around. Some of my top picks in men's sunglasses are expensive and some are not. Eithenoticed in recent fashion shows some trends in short hairstyles for men. Models will often have shorter hair in the back and on the sides with longer hair on the top. This allows hairstylists to do some creative things but also keeps the guy tidy and neat looking. I just had my own hair cut like this and I love the versatility. Maybe you will find inspiration for a new do in this photo gallery of men's shorter hairstyles.r way, these men's sunglasses are still stylish.The continually changing fashions of the West have been generally unparalleled either in antiquity or in the other great civilizations of the world until recent decades. Early Western travellers, whether to Persia, Turkey, Japan or China frequently remark on the absence of changes in fashion there, and observers from these other cultures comment on the unseemly pace of Western fashion, which many felt suggested an instability and 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 yearsHowever in Ming China, for example, there is considerable evidence for rapidly changing fashions in Chinese clothing.
Changes in costume often took place at times of economic or social change (such as in ancient Rome and the medieval Caliphate), but then a long period without large changes followed. This occurred in Moorish Spain from the 8th century, when the famous musician Ziryab introduced sophisticated clothing styles based on seasonal and daily timings from his native Baghdad and his own inspiration to Córdoba, SpaiSimilar changes in fashion occurred in the Middle East from the 11th century, following the arrival of the Turks who introduced clothing styles from Central Asia and the Far East.
The beginnings of the habit in Europe of continual and increasingly rapid change in styles can be fairly reliably dated to the middle of the 14th century, to which historians including James Laver and Fernand Braudel date the start of Western fashion in clothing.[7][8] The most dramatic manifestation was a sudden drastic shortening and tightening of the male over-garment, from calf-length to barely covering the buttocks, sometimes accompanied with stuffing on the chest to look bigger. This created the distinctive Western male outline of a tailored top worn over leggings or trousers.
Marie Antoinette was a fashion icon
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 and changing. Art historians are therefore able to use fashion in dating images with increasing confidence and precision, often within five years in the case of 15th century images. Initially changes in fashion led to a fragmentation of what had previously been very similar styles of dressing across the upper classes of Europe, and the development of distinctive national styles, which remained very different until a counter-movement in the 17th to 18th centuries imposed similar styles once again, finally those from Ancien Régime in 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 sometimes uncomfortably close for the elites - a factor Braudel regards as one of the main motors of changing fashion.
Albrecht Dürer's drawing contrasts a well turned out bourgeoise from Nuremberg with her counterpart from Venice. The Venetian lady's high chopines make her taller
Ten 16th century portraits of German or Italian gentlemen may show ten entirely different hats, and at this period national differences were at their most pronounced, as Albrecht Dürer recorded in his actual or composite contrast of Nuremberg and Venetian fashions at the close of the 15th century . The "Spanish style" of the end of the 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 colors and patterns of textiles 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 largely derived from military models, and changes in a European male silhouette are galvanized in theatres of European war, where gentleman officers had opportunities to make notes of foreign styles: an example is the "Steinkirk" cravat or necktie.
The pace of change picked up in the 1780s with the increased publication of French engravings that showed the latest Paris styles; though there had been distribution of dressed dolls from France as patterns since the 16th century, and Abraham Bosse had produced engravings of fashion from the 1620s. By 1800, all Western Europeans were dressing alike (or thought they were): local variation became first a sign of provincial culture, and then a badge of the conservative peasant.
Although tailors and dressmakers were no doubt responsible for many innovations before, and the textile industry certainly led many trends, the history of fashion design is normally taken to date from 1858, when the English-born Charles Frederick Worth opened the first true haute couture house in Paris. Since then the professional designer has become a progressively more dominant figure, despite the origins of many fashions in street fashion. The four major current fashion capitals are acknowledged to be Milan, New York City, Paris, and London. Fashion weeks are held in these cities, where designers exhibit their new clothing collections to audiences, and which are all headquarters to the greatest fashion companies and are renowned for their major influence on global fashion.
Modern Westerners have a wide choice available in the selection of their clothes. What a person chooses to wear can reflect that person's personality or likes. When people who have cultural status start to wear new or different clothes a fashion trend may start. People who like or respect them may start to wear clothes of a similar style.
Fashions may vary considerably within a society according to age, social class, generation, occupation, and geography as well as over time. If, for example, an older person dresses according to the fashion of young people, he or she may look ridiculous in the eyes of both young and older people. The terms fashionista or fashion victim refer to someone who slavishly follows the current fashions.
One can regard the system of sporting various fashions as a fashion language incorporating various fashion statements using a grammar of fashion.

fashion for girl

Clothing fashions
2008 runway show
For detailed historical articles by period, see
The continually changing fashions of the West have been generally unparalleled either in antiquity or in the other great civilizations of the world until recent decades. Early Western travellers, whether to Persia, Turkey, Japan or China frequently remark on the absence of changes in fashion there, and observers from these other cultures comment on the unseemly pace of Western fashion, which many felt suggested an instability and 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.[2] However in Ming China, for example, there is considerable evidence for rapidly changing fashions in Chinese clothing.[3]
Changes in costume often took place at times of economic or social change (such as in ancient Rome and the medieval Caliphate), but then a long period without large changes followed. This occurred in Moorish Spain from the 8th century, when the famous musician Ziryab introduced sophisticated clothing styles based on seasonal and daily timings from his native Baghdad and his own inspiration to Córdoba, Spain.[4][5] Similar changes in fashion occurred in the Middle East from the 11th century, following the arrival of the Turks who introduced clothing styles from Central Asia and the Far East.[6]
The beginnings of the habit in Europe of continual and increasingly rapid change in styles can be fairly reliably dated to the middle of the 14th century, to which historians including James Laver and Fernand Braudel date the start of Western fashion in clothing.[7][8] The most dramatic manifestation was a sudden drastic shortening and tightening of the male over-garment, from calf-length to barely covering the buttocks, sometimes accompanied with stuffing on the chest to look bigger. This created the distinctive Western male outline of a tailored top worn over leggings or trousers.
Antoinette was a fashion icon
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 and changing. Art historians are therefore able to use fashion in dating images with increasing confidence and precision, often within five years in the case of 15th century images. Initially changes in fashion led to a fragmentation of what had previously been very similar styles of dressing across the upper classes of Europe, and the development of distinctive national styles, which remained very different until a counter-movement in the 17th to 18th centuries imposed similar styles once again, finally those from Ancien Régime in France. ough the rich usually led fashion, the increasing affluence of early modern Europe led to the bourgeoisie and even peasants following trends at a distance sometimes uncomfortably close for the elites - a factor 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 heounterpart from Venice. The Venetian lady's high chopines make her taller
Ten 16th century portraits of German or Italian gentlemen may show ten entirely different hats, and at this period national differences were at their most pronounced, as Albrecht Dürer recorded 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 end of the 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 colors and patterns of textiles 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 largely derived from military models, and changes in a European male silhouette are galvanized in theatres of European war, where gentleman officers had opportunities to make notes of foreign styles: an example is the "Steinkirk" cravat or necktie.The pace of change picked up in the 1780s with the increased publication of French engravings that showed the latest Paris styles; though there had been distribution of dressed dolls from France as patterns since the 16th century, and Abraham Bossehad produced engravings of fashion from the 1620s. By 1800, all Western Europeans were dressing alike (or thought they were): local variation became first a sign of provincial culture, and then a badge of the conservative peasant.
Although tailors and dressmakers were no doubt responsible for many innovations before, and the textile industry certainly led many trends, the history of fashion design is normally taken to date from 1858, when the English-born Charles Frederick Worth opened the first true hautecouture house in Paris. Since then the professional designer has become a progressively more dominant figure, despite the origins of many fashions in street fashion. The four major current fashion capitals are acknowledged to be Milan, New York City, Paris, and London. Fashion weeks are held in these cities, where designers exhibit their new clothing collections to audiences, and which are all headquarters to the greatest fashion companies and are renowned for their major influence on global fashion.
Modern Westerners have a wide choice available in the selection of their clothes. What a person chooses to wear can reflect that person's personality or likes. When people who have cultural status start to wear new or different clothes a fashion trend may start. People who like or respect them may start to wear clothes of a similar style.
Fashions may vary considerably within a society according to age, social class, generation, occupation, and geography as well as over time. If, for example, an older person dresses according to the fashion of young people, he or she may look ridiculous in the eyes of both young and older people. The terms fashionista or fashion victim refer to someone who slavishly follows the current fashions.
One can regard the system of sporting various fashions as a fashion language incorporating various fashion statements using a gramma of fashion. (Compare some of the work of
Media.
Fashion shot from 2004
An important part of fashion is fashion journalism. Editorial critique and commentary can be found in magazines, newspapers, on television, fashion websites, social networks and in fashion blogs.
At the beginning of the 20th century, fashion magazines began to include photographs or (PicS) 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. 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 yearsVogue, founded in the US 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 colour 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 from the 1990s. Haute couture designers followed the trend by starting the ready-to-wear and perfume lines, heavily advertised in the magazines, that now dwarf their original couture businesses. 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 like Fashion-television started to appear. Despite television and increasing internet coverage, including fashion blogs, press coverage remains the most important form of publicity in the eyes of the industry.
However, over the past several years, fashion websites have developed that merge traditional editorial writing with user-generated content. New magazines like Runway Magazine, who is lead by Nole Marin from America's Next Top Model, have begun to dominate the digital market with digital copies for computers, iPhones and iPads.
Sporting a different view, a few days after the 2010 Fall Fashion Week in New York City came to a close, Fashion Editor Genevieve Tax said, "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." "Savvy shoppers, consequently, have been conditioned to be extremely, perhaps impractically, farsighted with their buying.
Intellectual property
Within the fashion industry, intellectual property is not enforced as it is within the film industry and music industry. To "take inspiration" from others' designs contributes to the fashion industry's ability to establish clothing trends. 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 the process of trend-making would, on this view, be counter-productive. In contrast, 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.
In 2006, 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