Westurn Fashion

FASHION

Fashion is a term that usually applies to a prevailing mode of expression, but quite often
applies to a personal mode of expression that may or may not apply to all. Inherent in the term is
the idea that the mode will change more quickly than the culture as a whole. The terms
"fashionable" and "unfashionable" are employed to describe whether someone or something fits
in with the current popular mode of expression. The term "fashion" is frequently used in a
positive sense, as a synonym for glamour and style. In this sense, fashions are a sort of
communal art, through which a culture examines its notions of beauty and goodness.

Fashion in clothes has allowed wearers to express emotion or solidarity with other people
for millennia. 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 significantly 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 (implementations of fashion).

 

The 20th Century: From 1900 to the present. The introduction of synthetic fibres
and the opening up of fashion for the masses. The globalisation of fashion; the
influence of the film and music industry, and from the 1950’s the development of
youth culture.

Male – There was a gradual acceptance of the lounge suit with the shorter jacket.

The widening of trousers in the 1920’s to an extreme degree with the introduction of
Oxford bags and the introduction of baggy knickerbockers and plus-fours in the
years between the two World Wars were the only notable changes in menswear. In
the 1950’s and well into the 1960’s Italian tailored clothing with single breasted suits,
tapered trousers, narrow ties and pointed shoes became fashionable. In more recent
times there was also the trend towards flared trousers in the 1970’s, and the
crumpled Armani suits of the early 1980’s.

 

 

Female – The period from 1890 up to the First World War was known as la belle

epoque and was associated with an atmosphere of extravagance. Women’s pre-war
fashion was notable for its tailored day clothes with elaborate blouses and decollete
evening dresses. Hobble skirts were introduced in 1910 restricting the movement of
the legs and corsets were still widely used up until the end of the First World War.
The Empire gown then made a short comeback. This was followed by the androgyne
look of the 1920’s. Short skirts, flat chests and short haircuts (the ’bob’ and the
Eton crop) were the height of fashion. An important figure of the fashion/art
movement of the time was Coco Chanel.
A more feminine look reappeared with the bare backed evening dresses of the 1930’s,