Fashion in London - Report Example

Fashion in London Order No: 202056 No: of pages: 5 Premium 6530 Mirror, Mirror on the wall who’s the fairest of them all! Yes this is London for you which is one of the places where you find fashion at its best. Though Fashion crosses all boundaries of caste, creed, language, religion and country, yet it tends to create a certain social identity for itself and continues to influence human behavior. Centuries ago, fashion was not what it is today. For example the clothing worn by the upper middle class people tended to empower them and assert their identities. According to Joseph “For centuries, uniforms (military, police, religious) have been used to impose social identities on more or less willing subjects”. (Joseph 1986) However, we fail to notice that clothing has the capacity to influence social behavior and attitudes in many ways than one. Clothing is a vast reservoir or sorts that can be easily or reconstructed or even manipulated in order to enhance an individual’s personality. Social psychologists suggest that ‘people attribute to their “favorite” clothes the capacity to influence the ways they express themselves and interact with others’. (Kaiser, Freeman and Chandler 1993) Modern society’s social scientists have conceptualized people’s functioning as more fluid when compared to the constraints of the past. High society fashion was more a bane than a boon as it consisted of straight jackets and tight corsets that was a great hindrance to movement. There was different clothing for different types of classes which is not so now. Social Change: In the Middle Ages, shapeless clothes slowly began changing to well fitted garments that we are used to today. Those were the days when material was so expensive that a poor man could not afford to have more than one set of clothes. In fact clothes were treated on par with gold and other property and were given away in their will when the person ceased to exist. Even if there was a shortage of money, clothes were pawned with other articles because they were considered of great value. In pre-industrial societies, clothing behavior indicated very precisely a person’s position in the social structure. (Ewen 1985) “Each occupation had a particular costume. In some countries, each village and region in the countryside had its own variations on the costumes of the period”. (Pellegrin 1989) Fashion and society: There is no doubt that fashion holds sway over most people in the world and especially on those who are fashion conscious. The present age has seen a revolution in the fashion industry with fashion gurus churning out their best to attract their audience. More than ever before people don’t mind the cost that it entails as long as they look like a million dollars. The Catwalk’s come alive with super models as well as super thin models who wear exotic clothing made from the finest fabric as they strut the ramp taking their audience’s breath away. But there is also a flip side to all the razzle and dazzle of the fashion world. For one, teenagers are greatly influenced by the models and are easily carried away by trying hard to ape them. This attitude brings a lot of distress and health problems because they nearly starve to death trying to become waif thin. Speaking on the fashion industry in relation to this, the Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell had this to say, “The fashion industry is hugely powerful in shaping the attitude of teenage girls and their feelings about themselves”. (Tessa Jowell, BBC News, Sept. 16th 2006) What sparked the controversy were the deaths of two models the previous year. Twenty two year old Luisel Ramos a Uruguayan model had got a heart attack and passed away while Ana Carolina Reston from Brazil died after suffering from Anorexia. Therefore, London organizers has set up an agenda to “promote a healthy body image” and change social attitudes towards the fashion industry through proper “behavior and education”. (CNN.com, February 12th , 2007) Trend Forecasting: In the United Kingdom there is a forecasting service that helps to keep the fashion gurus on their feet and the fashion industry running on well oiled wheels. This new generation trend forecasting service is called “Trend Bible”. This magazine is published twice a year forecasting the latest styles and trends of upcoming designers and merging it with something unique. The Trend Bible provides a thriving platform for clients worldwide by keeping them informed of the latest trends in fashion and helping them to make sensible decisions and minimizing their risk. There is a whole horde of such companies who study the customer as well as the market and provide the London Fashion Industry with valuable insight. Some of the areas analyzed by the team would be clothing, footwear, accessories, textile, colors, e-commerce, markets and multi – channel retailing. Punk Styles in London: Since the Renaissance Paris has been the forerunning arbiter of the fashion industry. During the middle of the 19th century, the haute couture flourished with the spread of designer dressmakers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Coco channel and many others. (R. Lynam, 1972) By the mid- 1960’s London became the centrifugal point of fashion for some time. More assorted trends in fashion became evident in the eighties and the nineties when fashion labels catered their ready-to-wear collections to the middle class. The trend increased in popularity, and soon was born the punk style enjoyed by a large ethnic crowd. Dame Vivienne, the founder of Punk style has always dabbled with some controversy or the other. She described the fashion industry as racist because they seemed to be side lining the black and ethnic minorities. She strongly commented to magazine editors to use more Asian and Black models on their covers to help change the culture of racial discrimination. Vivienne Westrwood also known as the grande dame of British fashion quit her job as a primary school teacher and instead became a seamstress of punk fashion. Her designs included razor blades, spiked dog collars, safety pins and bicycle chains. Some of her other creations include 12in platform shoes, bustle – skirts, bondage trousers, and the Mini Crini. Westwood and her partner McLaren revolutionized the fashion industry and this impact is very much felt even today. She has her shops all over the world including three of which are in London. Many of her works have a historical influence that used original cutting and then modernizing them. Her very first major show was at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in the year 2004 – 2005. The collection that went on the ramp was taken from her early works of 1970 up to the modern present day and consisted of Punk garments as well as glamorous evening gowns. Speaking on democracy Vivienne had this to say, “We can only take democracy for granted if we insist on our liberty". (Vivienne Westwood, BBC.co.uk) The London Fashion scene is booming with the best of fashion and the cream of celebrities and models to carry it off. There is no doubt that it has one of the best infrastructures in the world and continues to grow in leaps and bound spreading its influence worldwide. All other countries of the world are greatly influenced by the London Fashion Industry and continue to ape them. References: BBC News/ England/ London www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5352148.stm Dame Vivienne attacks racist magazines - Telegraph www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/14/nviv114.xml Ewen 1985 Fashion and its Social Agendas: Class, Gender and Identity in Clothing pg. 3. London Fashion Week hit by skinny row – CNN.com www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/02/12/london.fashion/index.html Joseph, 1986, Fashion and its Social Agendas: Class, Gender and Identity in Clothing pg. 174 Kaiser, Freeman and Chandler 1993, Fashion and its Social Agendas: Class, Gender and Identity in Clothing pg. 2. London Fashion www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/docs/LONDON%20FASHION.doc Pellegrin, 1989, Journal of textile, no. 1188 (Jan, 29th ) R. Lynam, 1972, An Illustrated History of the Great Paris Designers and Their Creations. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press. Read More