by Richard Conan-Davies
16th October 2003

updated 26 April 2011

A straight forward and fast information guide to fashion from ClearlyExplained.Com

 

 

The | what | why | news | how | history | future | of Fashion

 

What is fashion?

Fashion is essentially about expression of human individuality, or an expression of a group or culture. More frequently when we think of fashion it is about clothing, apparels or garments used to cover our bodies, it does also concern accessories that are linked to fashion such as shoes, belts and even jewellry.

So fashion is really a combination of human creativity combining art, form and functionality.

Although fashion is often considered as primarily a female concern there is still a significant male aspect.

Fashion also represents aspects of the social nature of societies, for example particular designs people wear may represent general attitudes and views in society.

Check out Canberra Fashion
CLAview.Com

Why is fashion important?

Fashion is important because it is part of our everyday lives.

It can have a social, cultural, economic, cultural, technological, environmental importance.

A leather or plastic fashion?

The social aspect of fashion relates to how fashion is used to describe something about ourselves, a form of self expression. What our aims of fashion relate to, is it to impress the opposite sex, or compete with the same?

The Cultural impact can be measured by its' presence in the media or in the arts, music and entertainment over time. An important aspect is the art of fashion from the perspective of fashion modelling and photography. The fashion magazine industry is a major economic force.

Economic aspects can be measured by the costs and how it contributes to a society. It's essentially about money and how it contributes to the economics of community.

Technological impacts can be considered in terms the range of materials that fashion is made from and how it is made. It also includes the tools for creating fashion.

Environmental impacts are the changes that occur in natural systems that relate to fashion. A classic example is the impact of natural things to make fashion eg furs, pelts etc.

Society and the Environment in Fashion

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The latest news about fashion.

Some recent headlines about fashion on google news search

Need some fashion inspiration? find it here Australia: Faculty of Design at CIT, Canberra Cyberfibres in RMIT Australian Fashion Week ELLE Australia Vogue Australia Melbourne fashion festival Mercedes Australian Fashion Week Some well known Australian fashion retailers Carla Zampatti Cue JacquiE David Lawrence Ojay Portmans Rockmans Sportsgirl Suzanne Grae Table Eight

A formal style

Because fashion is so varied there is never really only one way of describing it. Fashion can be described from many perspectives.

Fashion words:

Apparel- Is almost always refers to an outer garment that can be seen or is designed to be seen. Though this can be modified

Garment- is simply an item of clothing, essentially any clothing that is used to cover a part of the body.

 

How does fashion work?

How anything works is really about how different components lead to the end result.

So for fashion A may be raw materials, B may be a design/drawing process, C the selling/distribution process , D the presentation.

How fashion is classified is also important. This just means the kinds of garments that are part of fashion.

A useful way of discovering out how fashion works is to consider the basic science principles behind fashion.

The science of fashion would include the physics, chemistry and biology of fashion ie what are the physical, chemical and/or biological principles of fashion.

One way of sorting out all the fashion is to look at how it is described. Here is a possible way... <descriptor> <property> <style> <season> <item> eg Elegant Red Formal Party Dress <Descriptors>: eg elegant sophisticated <Properties>: eg floral, <specified colour> red, blue, prints/patterns, designs <Style>: Formal OR Casual <Occasion>: party, club, office <Garment or Apparel>: dresses, skirts, shorts, trousers, tops <Season>: (usually at the top of a category) summer, winter (autumn and spring)

The history of fashion

This covers the evolution of how fashion has changed over time.

The earliest times of humanity probably relied on fashion more as a clever method of survival using animal skins to protect against the elements.

The history of fashion perhaps can be viewed across eras such as:

• prehistoric/hunter gathers
• Ancient civilisations, like Greeks/Romans
• Middle ages 1AD- 1700s
• 1800s, 1900s to recent times ie the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.

A very good reference is fashion-era.com

 

The First Fashion Magazine Thought to have originated c.1586 in Frankfurt, Germany, The first fashion magazine gradually superseded fashion dolls and was widely imitated.

A classic old style

Human body lice reveal the birthdate of fashion

Humans only started wearing clothes as little as 40,000 years ago, according to a new genetic study which has calculated when the human body louse evolved - a creature which needs clothes to lay its eggs on. >> more

source: ABConline Science 

The future of fashion

Where is fashion going to lead us? what might be the extreme extension of fashions? It is difficult to predict exactly but it is likely to be a gradual shift. Some fashions are unlikely to change very much ( eg suit and ties) have certainly been a staple.

Perhaps the most siginificant changes will be in materials and versatility of fashion. Incorporation of digital and electronic components into fashion, a kind of cyber fashion may be become more important eg include your MP3player as a broach or the a speaker system woven into a garment. It is really limited to the human imagination or inspirations from nature.