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WESTERN FASHION.
Term Paper ID:24607
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Essay Subject:
Sociohistorical overview of men's & women's clothing from 12th Cent. to late 20th Cent. Class issues, practicality, styles, social control, faddism, future.... More...
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10 Pages / 2250 Words
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Paper Abstract:
Sociohistorical overview of men's & women's clothing from 12th Cent. to late 20th Cent. Class issues, practicality, styles, social control, faddism, future.
Paper Introduction:
The purpose of this research is to examine the history of Western fashion from its beginnings in the twelfth century in Europe to the present day. The plan of the research will be to set forth the historical and social context of fashion change in Western tradition and then to discuss reasons and mechanisms of changes in Western dress in the past and present, with a view toward forecasting possible lines of future fashion development.
To say that Western wardrobe fashion, which has cut across multiple cultural styles and eras since the twelfth century, appears to have shown a tremendous resiliency and adaptability as opposed to clothing associated with individual ethnic, national, or tribal cultures, is to make a statement about the West as an encasing culture and an encasing history. Western dress in its most general form has changed in ways that non-Western dress or the d
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. [5]James Laver, Costume & Fashion: A Concise History (New York: Thames& Hudson, 199 ), 147. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1961.Lurie, Alison. "Costume."Gorsline, Douglas. From 1785 the cravat came back into fashion in the form of a length of muslin wound three times round the neck and tied in a knot under the chin. Equally, Western fashion might be adapted toethnic, national, and tribal motifs. This year, short dresses are the sign of Fashion; it says, in an entirely different manner: The accessory makes the spring. "We surf soquickly through fashion that, in their desperation for novelty, somedesigners of the 199 s even looked to the 197 s," says Morris. To say that Western wardrobe fashion, which has cut across multiplecultural styles and eras since the twelfth century, appears to have shown atremendous resiliency and adaptability as opposed to clothing associatedwith individual ethnic, national, or tribal cultures, is to make astatement about the West as an encasing culture and an encasing history.Western dress in its most general form has changed in ways that non-Westerndress or the dress of Western subcultures has not. . Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, 192 .Rose, Alison. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1973.Barthes, Roland. Paul,December 1996, 76. [24]Ibid. Sumptuary laws enactedby Edward III of England, which prohibited all persons not of the nobilityfrom wearing certain garments, were matched in the 192 s in Utah and Ohioby attempts to legally restrict skirt length.[18] If it is true that in"following fashion a woman can proclaim and maintain her social position,her rank and her sexual attractiveness to her husband (and other), and ifunmarried, to her admirers,"[19] it is also true that as a practical matterfashion appeals to what might be called the "inner" self, which is somehowmore "real" to the (generally female) fashion consumer--who will never looklike a model but whose social experience is a function of fashionexperience. S.v. . In all these developments wehave the antecedents of the nineteenth-century suit."[11] Laver cites theinfluence of outdoor English country life vis-à-vis court-dominated gentrylife in France, resulting in a "direction of plainness and practicability"for clothing. [15]S. Boston: Little, Brown, 1978.Crain, Rance. Currently, hemp is not cost-effective, its cultivation legally restricted like its botanical cousinmarijuana. The "complex andcumbersome" robes designating elite status, had the long-term effect ofcreating preference for simpler, more tailored and close-fitting clothingfor men.[1] Two important practical advantages for Western clothingoccurred in the fourteenth century: knitting and the button, both of whichfostered change in weatherproofing and a decline in infant mortality.[2] Bythe sixteenth century, stockings and hose had evolved toward knee breeches,while a tailored tunic called the cotte and a loose-fitting blouse called arochet had evolved toward what by the nineteenth century had become thecoat and vest. [13]Gorsline, 1 1. [6]Frank Alvah Parsons, The Psychology of Dress (Garden City, NewYork: Doubleday, Page & Company, 192 ), 32 . . To begin with, fashion designers of today and tomorrow are hardlybound by tradition in the same way as ancient artists. Boston: Plays, Inc., 197 .Ehrman, Mark. What People Wore: A Visual Hisory of Dress from Ancient Times to Twentieth-Century America. . Toward the end of the seventeenth centurymiddle class women wore several layers of looser-fitting garments, thoughincluding a stomacher, or ornamented bodice cover; by the mid-eighteenthcentury the hoops returned, to be followed (in the post-Napoleonic era) byhigh-waisted Empire styles and construction of lightweight (e.g., gauze)but highly decorated dresses. From the early seventeenth to late eighteenth century, men'shighly decorated and large-sleeved coats and vests gave way to lesscomplicated clothing in general and more tailored bodicewear inparticular.[3] Women's clothing evolved less dramatically than men's from themedieval period through the sixteenth century but thereafter changedvirtually from generation to generation. [31]Caroline Hall Otis, "Dina's New Clothes," Minneapolis-St. Novelty lies most often inthe direction of the outrageous--the previously unspeakable, unsingable,unwearable, unshowable,"[22] in such forms as body piercing, designerlabels worn on the outside, and ubiquitous baseball caps. Heath/Lexington Books, 1986.Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, 1975 ed. Connections. Paul, December 1996, 74-77.Padilla, Steve. [17]Susan Padilla, "Around the Valley, Sex and Fashion of HistoricNote," Los Angeles Times, 22 September 199 , 5B. S.v. [25]Ibid. In a universe of body piercing, heroin chic, the greasy look, andubiquitous media consciousness, it is reasonable to speculate that sometrendy and ambitious designer might soon make a project of exploitingwardrobe conceits of the film 2 1: A Space Odyssey, which used Nehru-collar lines and medallions instead of neckties to create a futuristicdress-for-success figuration. "Hemp Is High Fashion." US News and World Report, 2 January 1997, 54-56.Morris, James. [16]Alison Lurie, The Language of Clothes (New York: Random House,1981), passim. [21]Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1974 ed., s.v. A black military stock was often worn by sporting young men.[9] Ornamented and ruffled fabrics and other decoration on apparelgradually decreased throughout the 17 s, to be replaced by tailored fabriclines and cloth, with trousers, bodice wear, accessories, and footwearsimplified for men throughout the century.[1 ] According to Gorsline,"Stockings with garters, which had covered the bottoms of breeches in mid-century, now were covered by the breeches. . The cravat . Forthat reason, hemp clothing has become a status symbol for theecofriendly."[34] If a universal significance can be derived from the foregoing, it maybe that design choices that have the flavor of experimentation anddetermined novelty seem unlikely to have a permanent shelf life. [1 ]Max Barsis, The Common Man Through the Centuries (New York:Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1973), 268. Playboyheralded the return of heroin to the entertainment industry In May 1995;throughout 1996 and into 1997, all manner of pundit and expert weighed inon the moral and ethical aspects of heroin chic. New York: Hill and Wang, 1983.Burke, James. [26]Barthes, 261. Joe Camel: What's Hippest to Our Young People?" Advertising Age, 3 June 1997, 16.Cunnington, Phillis. Costumes of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century. Laver says that the English of this period "invented 'sportsclothes.'"[12] Overall, the eighteenth century was decisive for makingmen's clothing "more conservative in dress both at home and in the streets.Indeed, this period marked the beginning of a trend in men's wear which hascontinued uninterruptedly, one in which clothing has become increasinglysober, standardized, and negligible in comparison with women's frills andpleasures."[13] Langner's view of women's frills is that "an important unconsciousmotive for the design of women's clothes has been to make her movementsdifficult, and fashion has done a great deal to help men in this sinisterpurpose. Devotingenergy to either fear or embrace of the latest fashion fad may be anunnecessary attempt to constrain creative impulse or respond to the short-attention-span exuberance of youth. . [27]Freedman, 77-8. Matthew Ward andRichard Howard (New York: Hill and Wang, 1983), 263-4. [8]Laver, 8. Fiberarts 11 (September-October 1984): 44, 45-46.Woodward, Richard B. Throughout the eighteenth century, "in spite of wars, there was acontinuous interchange of fashions"[7] between France and England. The women wear blouses and skirts or dresses, or more formal still, suits--and hats, hats, hats. In the sixteenth century, thefarthingale, or massive hoop skirt foundation, emerged in England andFrance, and as a practical matter it constricted the movement of thearistocratic women who wore it. In describing modern knowledge of ancientEgyptian dress, which comes from such ancient artworks as tomb decoration,the Encyclopaedia Britannica makes the point that "artists were very muchbound by tradition and, further, that modes of representation lagged behindactual changes of fashion."[21] The fast pace of modern Western culture,aggravated and/or encouraged by global-village telecommunications, massmedia, and high technology, is structured far differently than previoustime periods where the vision of fashionable dress in the future, from 2 to 2 25 is concerned. [12]Laver, 8. [9]Cunnington, 75. [T]he Fashion magazine does not always present this sign in a declared manner; it does not necessarily say: The accessory is the signifier of the signified spring. . The change in fashion traces an evolutionary lurch in social behavior. . Trans. By 17 , France was the fashion leader in Europe. [29]Alison Rose, "Rag Trade," The New Yorker, 9 June 1997, 37. It rendered the male suit and the felt hat as archaic as tights, doublets, and a wizard's cone cap . Syntheticfibers, including polyester, nylon, rayon and acetate, spandex, and olefin(extremely lightweight fibers and plastics) are by and large a twentieth-century phenomenon and have been used to create a whole range ofsportswear, thermal underwear, gloves, carpets, and other productsassociated with textile use.[32] Industrial hemp, which is organic ratherthan synthetic and which has properties distinct from marijuana, to whichit is related, has been used by such fashion designers as Calvin Klein andGiorgio Armani for clothing and linens. In theearly part of the eighteenth century in both countries, men's and women'sapparel material was equally likely to consist of brocade and silk.[8] Awhole subculture of embroidered and ruffled neckwear appears to have beenin vogue. The main tendency was toward increasingrather than decreasing elaborateness of women's dress.[4] It was in the eighteenth century that Western fashionable dress becamestructured by transformation, with England and France exchanging fashioncues. . The subsequent scrapping of the rules, the wholesale revision of expectations, has let women wear the pants if they want, zipped or not as they choose, and maybe even ripped. It was a high neckband of linen or cambric, often stiffened with pasteboard and buckled behind. . The Importance of Wearing Clothes. Singletary, "Underneath It All: A Brief History of Underwearand Fashion's Changing Silhouette, Fiberarts 11 (September-October 1984):44, 45-46. The modernappetite for what is new among designers and consumers of fashion alikeseems, at minimum, insatiable and at maximum entirely unpredictable. The stock came into fashion about 173 and lasted all through the century. New York: Hastings House, Publishers, 1959.Laver, James. The men are suited too, and hatted row after row to the horizon with brimmed felt jobs, deftly creased. [35]Morris, 3 . The purpose of this research is to examine the history of Westernfashion from its beginnings in the twelfth century in Europe to the presentday. The Psychology of Dress. . High heels elevate females to new levels of importance . [3]"Costume." [4]Ibid. "Dress."Freedman, Rita. "Gone at Last, Fashion's Heroin Chic." The New York Times, 23 May 1997, A19.Singletary S. [3 ]Richard B. "They weredrawn again to disco wear--the shoes so high they lessen oxygen, the pantsso wide their wayward whip saws the air."[23] Newsreels of earlier decades,Morris adds, suggest the crowd is under the sway of an alien force. Joe Camel: What's Hippest to OurYoung People?" Advertising Age, 3 June 1997, 16. Matthew Ward & Richard Howard. However fashions that confer the power of added size nearly always inhibit movement. [11]Douglas Gorsline, What People Wore: A Visual History of Dress fromAncient Times to Twentieth-Century America (New York: Bonanza Books, 1952),1 -1. [33]Dan McGraw, "Hemp Is High Fashion," US News and World Report, 2 January 1997, 54. . convert its sign into a natural fact or a rational law.[2 ] In this view, the social content of clothing appears to have been atleast as important as its practical features throughout Western history, orit might be more correct to say that practical clothing attributes wereinvested with social meaning. "Dress." [22]James Morris, "Democracy Beguiled," Wilson Quarterly 2 (Autumn1996): 3 . [34]Ibid. People appear in public in clothes that must scare the hangers in a dark closet. [32]"Inventory of Synthetic Fibers," Whole Earth 9 (Summer 1997): 2 . "'Heroin Chic' vs. In this regard, Barthes sees the fashion industry as aprescriptive agent of received wisdom. "Around the Valley, Sex and Fashion of Historic Note." Los Angeles Times, 22 September 199 , 5B.Parsons, Frank Alvah. [18]Laver, 72; 232. went out of fashion in the 174 s. This year, dresses are worn short; by its rhetoric, the magazine can . Costume Through the Ages. Undoubtedly, fashion will change infuture, its most important feature the speed with which novelty is adoptedand discarded, and re-adopted, and abetted by "transforming technologicaladvance"[35] and extravagant marketplace energy. "Fashion Photography: Life After 'Heroin Chic.'" The New York Times, 9 June 1997, B1.----------------------- [1]Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, 1975 ed., s.v. Laver cites theinvention of the fashion plate in France in the 177 s--not, as in themodern period, designating a female clothes horse but engravings inmagazines of what the well-dressed aristocrat would wear. To the degree Westerndress can be interpreted as a social construction, the role of the elitescannot be overestimated: Shakespeare has Henry V explain that monarchy"cannot be confined within the weak list of a country's fashion: we are themakers of manners, Kate; and the liberty that follows our places stops themouth of all find-faults" (Henry V, V.ii). . The Fashion System. [19]Ibid., 293. [23]Ibid., 31. "Democracy Beguiled." Wilson Quarterly 2 (Autumn 1996): 24- 35.Otis, Caroline Hall. What has happened since the 196 s? Kimono and tunic designs in Asiansilks and Belgian linens emerged in late 1996 from a Midwest designer'swomen's ready-to-wear collection.[31] Meanwhile, utility, cost, novelty, and versatility of certainmaterials are bound to play a role in future fashion design. [7]Phillis Cunnington, Costumes of the Seventeenth and EighteenthCentury (Boston: Plays, Inc., 197 ), 69. New York: Bonanza Books, 1952."Inventory of Synthetic Fibers." Whole Earth 9 (Summer 1997): 2 .Langner, Lawrence. Practically every extreme in fashion has resulted in making womenmore helpless and uncomfortable."[14] Singletary notes that such confiningunderwear apparatus as corsets and bustles were intended to both reflectand shape socially originated, not to say socially enforced, ideals offemininity.[15] Lurie cites the relationship between the confining socialenvironment for women in the Victorian era and the confining clothing thatwomen of Victorian fashion were obliged to wear.[16] Or again: "Considerthe layers of fabric encasing a woman at the turn of the century: a longchemise, a tight corset, drawers, up to four petticoats and, finally, adress, generally to the ankles."[17] In various ways, fashion has been an instrument of social controlthroughout Western history, particularly for women. Nor dorepresentational modes lag behind actual fashion changes. . Until the fourteenth century, European elites retained many attributesof ancient dress, notably loose-fitting robes, and cloaks, although sleeveshad appeared by the time of the Norman Conquest in 1 66. [14]Lawrence Langner, The Importance of Wearing Clothes (New York:Hastings House, Publishers, 1959), 292. New York: Random House, 1981.McGraw, Dan. The Language of Clothes. Lexington, Mass.: D.C. [33] However, hemp is a versatile textile, with applications forcreation of clothing, paper, and other products, and because easier toraise than cotton or trees is considered "environmentally correct. AsMorris remarks, "Pop culture thrives on novelty and has to keep pushing thebounds of the accepted to admit the novel. The Common Man Through the Centuries. A gain in the hedonic power of display is generally offset by a loss in the agonic power to act.[27] Whether one accepts Morris's connection of fashion trends to culturalpathology or Freedman's view that what women in particular gain in fashiondecorum they lose in social self-determination, the twin roles of noveltyand outrageousness seem central to the ways fashion continues to change.Consider an analysis that in 1996 heroin-chic fashion ads, which made useof bone-thin models and clothing lines and accessories meant to accentuatea hollow, drugged-out look, had more impact than "Joe Camel," partly afunction of the attraction of younger people to weirdness specificallydisdained by the adult population.[28] But what does "more" mean? As he puts it,"[I]t is hard for us to realize that, before the invention of the fashionplate, information concerning the latest fashion was so hard to come bythat Marie-Antoinette's dressmaker found it worth while to travel theContinent every year in a huge berline containing dolls dressed in thelatest modes de Paris."[5] Modern fashion trends--i.e., the tendency of themasses to duplicate upper-class haute couture--have been tracedspecifically to the court of Louis XIV of France, who "may rightly be saidto have made and unmade France, and France the civilized world, so far asmatters of art and fashion are concerned."[6] This is completely consistentwith the view that fashion continues to change cyclically according aselites' preferences and tastes change. The plan of the research will be to set forth the historical andsocial context of fashion change in Western tradition and then to discussreasons and mechanisms of changes in Western dress in the past and present,with a view toward forecasting possible lines of future fashiondevelopment. [28]Rance Crain, "'Heroin Chic' vs. By May 1997, The New YorkTimes had declared the demise of fashion's heroin chic; by June 1997 TheNew Yorker had observed the supplanting of heroin chic by shiny-facedmodels, i.e., the greasy look[29], and the Times had sought fashionpundits' views of the next fashion trend.[3 ] One need not make a case for or against social implications of fashionoverkill to acknowledge that in an age of market-driven novelty andtechnological innovation fashion designers and consumers can be expected torespond to and experiment with a whole range of materials and figurations.Thus predicting colors and shapes of future fashion cycles seems a fool'serrand. BibliographyBarsis, Max. "Underneath It All: A Brief History of Underwear and Fashion's Changing Silhouette. Beauty Bound. The thonged foot, the hairy leg, the shorted thigh, the Spandex-cradled bottom, the polo-shirted paunch, and the chain-encrusted chest. Sweat-suited grannies ride the rails.[24] Morris locates fashion faddism in a decline of civility and decorumrather than adaptability, or even rejection of "the tyranny of stodgyformality."[25] Acknowledging that "a posse of decorum vigilantes" would beineffectual, he nevertheless deplores the confusion wrought by the dramaticchanges in gender-based social roles far more than the tyranny of anindustry that, in Barthes's formulation, constructs cultural meanings forindividuals by means of its products: "The Woman of Fashion issimultaneously what the reader is and what she dreams of being."[26]Similarly, Freedman characterizes females' slavery to fashion as slavery tocultural expectations: [C]lothing can create the illusion of a more dominant figure or a more diminutive one. . "Rag Trade." The New Yorker, 9 June 1997, 37.Rosenthal, A.M. "Costume." [2]James Burke, Connections (Boston: Little, Brown, 1978), 161. . Woodward, "Fashion Photography: Life After 'HeroinChic,'" The New York Times, 9 June 1997, B1. [2 ]Roland Barthes, The Fashion System, trans. "Heroin Chic." Playboy, May 1995, 66-75.Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1974 ed. . "Dina's New Clothes." Minneapolis-St. .
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