Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person. The more technical term, costume, has become so linked in the public eye with the term "fashion" that the more general term "costume" has in popular use mostly been relegated to special senses like fancy dress or masquerade wear, while the term "fashion" means clothing generally, and the study of it. For a broad cross-cultural look at clothing and its place in society, refer to the entries for clothing, costume and fabrics. The remainder of this article deals with clothing fashions in the Western world.
Early Western travelers, whether to Persia, Turkey 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 major 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 in Al-Andalus.[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 clothing 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. These remained very different until a counter-movement in the 17th to 18th centuries imposed similar styles once again, mostly originating from Ancien Régime France.[9] 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.[10]
Albrecht Dürer's drawing contrasts a well turned out bourgeoise from Nuremberg (left) 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 (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.[11]
Though colors and patterns of textiles changed from year to year,[12] 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.[13]
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[by whom?] to date from 1858, when the English-born Charles Frederick Worth opened the first true[weasel words] 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. For women the flapper styles of the 1920s marked the most major alteration in styles for several centuries, with a drastic shortening of skirt lengths, and much looser-fitting clothes; with occasional revivals of long skirts forms of the shorter length have remained dominant ever since. 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 and fashion victim refer to someone who slavishly follows current fashions.
One can regard the system of sporting various fashions as a fashion language incorporating various fashion statements using a grammar of fashion. (Compare some of the work of Roland Barthes.)
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Fashion industry
The fashion industry is a product of the modern age. Prior to the mid-19th century, most clothing was custom made. It was handmade for individuals, either as home production or on order from dressmakers and tailors. By the beginning of the 20th century—with the rise of new technologies such as the sewing machine, the rise of global capitalism and the development of the factory system of production, and the proliferation of retail outlets such as department stores—clothing had increasingly come to be mass-produced in standard sizes and sold at fixed prices. Although the fashion industry developed first in Europe and America, today it is an international and highly globalized industry, with clothing often designed in one country, manufactured in another, and sold world-wide. For example, an American fashion company might source fabric in China and have the clothes manufactured in Vietnam, finished in Italy, and shipped to a warehouse in the United States for distribution to retail outlets internationally. The fashion industry has long been one of the largest employers in the United States, and it remains so in the 21st century. However, employment declined considerably as production increasingly moved overseas, especially to China. Because data on the fashion industry typically are reported for national economies and expressed in terms of the industry’s many separate sectors, aggregate figures for world production of textiles and clothing are difficult to obtain. However, by any measure, the industry accounts for a significant share of world economic output.
The fashion industry consists of four levels: the production of raw materials, principally fibres and textiles but also leather and fur; the production of fashion goods by designers, manufacturers, contractors, and others; retail sales; and various forms of advertising and promotion. These levels consist of many separate but interdependent sectors, all of which are devoted to the goal of satisfying consumer demand for apparel under conditions that enable participants in the industry to operate at a profit. [14]
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Media
Fashion shot from 2006
An important part of fashion is fashion journalism. Editorial critique, guidelines 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 of various fashion designs and became even more influential on people than in the past. In cities throughout the world these magazines were greatly sought-after and had a profound effect on public clothing 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 years).
Vogue, 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 fashion industry.
However, over the past several years, fashion websites have developed that merge traditional editorial writing with user-generated content. Online magazines like iFashion Network, and Runway Magazine, led by Nole Marin from America's Next Top Model, have begun to dominate the market with digital copies for computers, iPhones and iPads.
A few days after the 2010 Fall Fashion Week in New York City came to a close, The New Islander's Fashion Editor, Genevieve Tax, criticized the fashion industry for running on a seasonal schedule of its own, largely at the expense of real-world consumers. "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," she writes. "Savvy shoppers, consequently, have been conditioned to be extremely, perhaps impractically, farsighted with their buying."[15]
Ethnic Fashion is defined as the Fashion of Multicultural groups such as African-American, Hispanics, Asians, etc. Examples of Ethnic Designer are FUBU, BabyPhat, FatFarm, Sean John, Etc. It is estimated that Ethnic Fashion has contributed over 20 Billion dollars in revenues.
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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. For the past few years, WGSN has been a dominant source of fashion news and forecasts in steering fashion brands worldwide to be "inspired" by one another. 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 2005, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) 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
Modelling agency
A modelling agency is a company that represents a group of models which they call their model board. Model bookers (also called "booker" or "agent") are a group of people who manage a model's career. An agent helps a model find jobs, book jobs, gives advice, and emails or gives copy books and comp cards to various clients they work with (a comp card is a selection of pictures printed on a card, a copy book is a scanned version of a models portfolio). An agent may send models to various clients and schedule modelling interviews (also called go and see or castings).
A model does not have to work with an agent but it is highly recommended for fashion/runway models. [2]
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Fashion models
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History
Fashion models on the runway.
The first person described as a fashion model is Parisian shopgirl, Marie Vernet Worth. She was a house model in 1852, to her fashion designer husband, Charles Frederick Worth.[3][4]
Because clothing is needed to be modeled for all people, a variety of shapes and sizes is required in models. The job ranking for fashion models are: print (part time), print modelling (full time), runway modelling, and supermodel.
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Print modelling
Print models showcase clothes in images used in magazines, newspapers, advertisements, billboards, press kits, etc. Fashion models may be used to display or promote various types of clothing, such as dresses, jeans, suits, lingerie, or swimsuit. They are known as an "editorial model" or "photographic model". They can work all over the world. The fashion capitals are London, Paris, Tokyo, Milan, and New York. Though there are markets in almost every country, shooting can take you anywhere from a studio to exotic locations like Fiji or Morocco or Florida or Tenerife, which can make a career exciting but also demanding.
Models work under the direction predominantly given by the photographer but also from clients. They must work in a variety of working conditions depending on the client. Model's work can have them in extreme cold weather or hot weather. Print models can work part-time or full-time. For example, a part-time model might only work one week out of an entire year. Full-time models work with a variety of photographers and clients.[5]:188
A model must accommodate his/her time and must be flexible. He/She must be willing to work any day of the week, at any hour, depending on whom they're working for, how much money they'll get, and how much they're willing to accept. Print models go to interviews (called 'go and see's' which are to meet a client so they know they are in town or a "casting' which is always for a job) and must take a portfolio of their best work which is normally arranged and decided upon by their agent. Agents classify models as self-employed though predominately function under the agencies business number, they have to go to modelling interviews in order to get more work. The average career span of a print model is 3 to 5 years. A girl's peak money periods often range from 15-25 years of age and men 18-35. Fashion magazines often shoot younger models while commercial print clients target a broader age group. Women's career spans are normally shorter but they can expect to make up to 9 times a male model's earnings in a year.
Models often venture into areas associated to the entertainment/production industries once they have withdrawn from modelling exclusively.
The requirements for print models depends on the needs of the employer. Models must be well kept- hair, skin, and attractive or unique features.[5]:189
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Runway modelling
Main articles: Size zero and Female body shape
Runway models showcases clothes from fashion designers, fashion media, and consumers. They are also called "live models" and they are self employed. Runway models work in different locations. Models constantly travel to large cities where fashion is well known - London, Milan, New York City, and Paris.
Some runway models were discovered as print models. The demands for runway models include certain height and weight requirements. During runway shows, models have to constantly change clothes and makeup. The models turn and stand to demonstrate the garment's key features. Models also go to interviews (called "go and sees") and must keep a portfolio of their work. They go to modelling interviews to find more work. The more experience a model has, the more likely she is to be hired for a fashion show. A runway model can work in other areas, such as department store fashion shows, creating product lines, acting etc
The British Association of Model Agents (AMA) says that female models should be around 34-24-34 in (86-61-86 cm) and 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) tall.[6] The model must be slender and in shape.
The preferred dimensions for a male model are a height of 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) to 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), a waist of 28–32 in (71.12–81.28 cm) and a chest measurement of 36–40 in (91.44–101.60 cm).[6] Male runway models have been noted as being skinny and well toned.[7]
Male and female models must also possess clear skin, healthy hair, and attractive facial features.
The former requirement measurements for models used to be 35.5-23.5-35.5 in (90-60-90 cm), which were the alleged measurements of Marilyn Monroe.[citation needed] Today's fashion models tend to have measurements closer to the AMA recommended shape. Although in some fashion industries, a size 00 is more ideal than a size 0.
The often thin shape of many fashion models has been criticized for warping girls' body image and encouraging eating disorders.[8] Organizers of a fashion show in Madrid in September 2006 turned away models who were judged to be underweight by medical personnel who were on hand.[9] In February 2007, six months after her sister, Luisel Ramos - also a model - died, Uruguayan model Eliana Ramos became the third fashion model to die of malnutrition in six months. The second victim was Ana Carolina Reston.[10] Luisel Ramos died of heart failure caused by anorexia nervosa just after stepping off the catwalk.
Recently, runway walks are less flamboyant compared to the late '80s and early '90s, when Naomi Campbell and other supermodels were known for their distinct struts. Instead, most designers want a natural stroll.[11]
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Supermodels
According to Forbes and the Guinness Book, the richest model in the world is Brazilian Gisele Bündchen[12]
Main article: Supermodel
Supermodels are highly paid, high profile fashion models. These (usually female) celebrities appear on top fashion magazine covers, in catalogues, and in fashion shows.
The first model widely considered to have paved the way for what would become the supermodel was Lisa Fonssagrives.[13] The relationship between her image on over 200 Vogue covers and her name recognition led to the importance of Vogue in shaping future supermodels. Her image appeared on the cover of fashion magazine during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s from Town & Country, Life and Vogue to the original Vanity Fair. Models like Dorian Leigh and Jean Shrimpton have also been dubbed the first supermodels.
Glamour models
Glamour models posing on the red carpet - Hollywood, California, USA 03/09/2008
Main article: Glamour model
Glamour photography emphasizes the model and the model's sexuality rather than products, fashion or the environment. Glamour modelling often focuses on the body of the subject and insinuations of sexuality serve to enhance a product's attractiveness. Glamour models may be used for mass-produced calendars, pinup and for men's magazines, such as Playboy magazine. Famous glamour models include Pamela Anderson, Jordan, Jodie Marsh, Lucy Pinder, and Louise Glover.
მოდა — (ფრანგ. mode, ლათ.-გან modus — ზომა, სახე, საშუალება, წესი) — ტერმინი, რომელიც გამომსახველობის (ექსპრესიის) გაბატონებულ მიმდინარეობას მიუთითებს, თუმცა ხშირად ასევე ასახავს გამოსახვის კერძო მანერას, სტილს, რომელიც ყველასთვის დამახასიათებელი არ არის. მასში ასევე ჩაქსოვილია იდეა, რომ მოდა უფრო სწრაფად იცვლება, ვინემ კულტურა ზოგადად. ტერმინები "მოდური" ან "მოდიდან გასული" გამოიყენება ვინმეზე ან რაიმეზე, რომელიც ექსპრესიის თანამედროვე პოპულარული მოდის ფარგლებში ჯდება. ტერმინს ხშირად დადებითი მნიშვნელობა ენიჭება და სტილისა და მომხიბვლელობის სინონიმია. თუმცა ხანდახან მოდას ნეგატიური მნიშვნელობაც აქვს, როგორც ყოფიერების და მატერიალიზმის სინონიმს.