As I am going to be directing a fashion show and have influence on the programme as a whole, I wanted to make sure I had knowledge and a good background about fashion in general. Although I know fashion and keep up with trends myself, I thought it would be a good idea to take interest on the history to modern day as well as the different areas fashion is a part of.
A Brief History
Fashion has been present in society for centuries and you can see the evolution of clothes throughout time. If you call a time period, you can distinctly envision the type of style people would be wearing in that era. For example in Egyptian times, We have great pictures to show bright coloured clothes, the thick flicked eye make up, the head dresses and the gold of the pharaohs. To compare, we can look at the Georgian period (15 - 1600's). These were times where elegant floor gown dresses were worn by women and suits with cravats and double breasted button jackets with grey wigs were worn by the men.
EGYPTIAN PERIOD:
GEORGIAN PERIOD:
Fashion has been around for 1000's of years and originally was only reflected by the rich and affluent members of the current society. Fashion as we know it today has changed in many ways. We don't just have the rich that carry the taste of clothes, in modern society, anyone can reflect their own expression through the clothes they wear and follow fashion at a diverse range of all costs.
Todays Fashion usually starts with a designer that will draw a design of the clothes he or she would like to make. They will then gather the materials and make the garment which is then fitted to a model. Once all the fittings have been made, the designer will arrange a show where models walk down a runway to show the world what type of clothes that designer has made. This is then sold to customers for a high end price. Trends will be picked up on where common themes are appearing in a variety of clothes for example plaid (a check style patten) or skinny jeans (a tight style denim trouser that is made to tightly fit the persons leg). This its then usually seen by other shops and designers and similar clothes are copied to reflect the outfits that were seen. The person who started this process was a seamster in the 19th century called Charles Frederick Worth. He had his name put on a label and was sewn into all of his clothes.
In the 20th century fashion magazines became available for people to admire the top designers that had emulated their own work. This branched into fashion houses which still exist today and have a number of people working for the one designer. A number of houses that are recognisable are ones like 'Chanel', 'Givenchy', 'Prada', 'McQueen', and 'Burberry'.
Since then, fashion has continued to develop and grow over the years all over the world and is accessible to everyone rather than the people who could only afford it. High Street shops and independent vintage markets all host a variety of fashion that can allow a person to express their style with a variety of garments that can express those on the catwalk.
The Modern Eras: 60's, 80's & 00's
60's:
In the 1960's fashion was a huge statement when looking back on the decade. It introduced skinny jeans in which would prompt more and more women to start wearing trousers. It was also the era for PVC where instead of cottons, women would wear shinny rubber looking material that had hardly been done before. Their hair cuts were all about the Beehive with backcombed big hair. With men, this was the era of the Mods (abbreviated from modernists) and Rockers. The Mods would consist of short cropped hair cuts, buttoned up shirts/ polo shirts and long parka jackets. With the rockers they were more leather jackets, pompadour haircuts and leather trousers. The fashion created rivalry as the looks were so strikingly different from one another.
This was also a big era for music influencing a lot of the fashion worn from bands like 'The Beatles', 'The Rolling Stones', 'Elvis' and 'Aretha Franklin'.
80's:
The decade of the 1980's saw a dramatic change. This was the year of bright colours and fitness clothes for both women and men. Both genders would be seen wearing fitness clothes as every day wear including tracksuits, exercise shorts and leotards. Aside from this there was also flared mini skirts, jumpsuits and fishnet gloves for women. With men they wore doc martens (also worn by women), neon make up and slim fitted clothes like suits. This era is known for its uni sex style as men and women were often seen wearing similar clothing.
This was another decade that was hugely influenced by music created with the likes of Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, David Bowie and George Michael.
00's:
The 2000's had a change in fashion once again. Its the era that has a lot of similarities to what we wear today. Big designers really made a name for themselves in the likes of Christian Louboutin, Karl Lagerfeld and Alexander McQueen. It also was the era that saw fashion becoming quick and cheap with the rise of high street stores. Women genrerally wore mesh type tops, concert headliner T - Shirts and sequins. Men wore mainly black coloured clothing in the form of full matching tracksuits, dress shirts and trousers. There was also a lot of lumber jack style check shirts and ribbed jeans. Another big statement was denim either worn as a top/ bottom piece or both together to create double denim.
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