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 th
e 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 co
nsiderably 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
on—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 arra
nging 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 in
to 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 m
edia. 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.
