The History of Mens Fashion - Essay Example

Student Name] [Instructor’s Name] [Class Name] Men’s Fashion The history of men’s fashion does not seem to show radical changes in style and form but rather a gradual change which shows us trends that develop with time and place. Fashion has always been an intrinsic part of our existence as human beings (Flint, 2003). While historical records show that beauty and enhancing the exterior outlook of an individual could have been done in many ways, items like clothing, jewellery and other accessories have been used primarily depending on the region a person was living in. The standards of fashion in ancient Egypt were quite different from the height of what was considered fashionable wear in Rome at the same time (Wikipedia, 2007). However, as means of travel and influences from other cultures started affecting the size of the planet, fashion has shown us many revolutions that are continuing to this day. In the nineteenth century, we come to the idea of globalisation in which a universal sense of fashion seems to be emerging quite clearly. There is business fashion, business casual, party wear, sports wear and many smaller segments but it seems that the fashion sense of market segments across the globe is almost the same (Adamson, 2005). For example, male golfers in Malaysia could be wearing the same sporting brands with the same styles as male golfers in America. Similarly, the young and the restless crowd may try to wear the same non-conformist brands which their counterparts are wearing across the world. The nineteenth century is certainly a period when these trends started emerging since the age of globalisation also started in the same period. It did not change clothing to the effect that we are now wearing pants with four legs or shirts without backs but it did help bring influences from one part of the world to the next. While communications brought different fashions together from around the world and it was equally possible as it is now to see people wearing business suits as well as kimonos on the streets of Tokyo. Even in those times, the idea of fashion depended on the accessories a man was supposed to have. Of course carrying a sword might have become old fashioned but things such as snuff boxes, tobacco pouches and pocket watches still made their appearances. In fact, pocket watches continued to be in fashion until the convenience of the wrist watch made them obsolete and then old fashioned and now retro (St. John, 2002). The age was also the time when the first brands were being created for the world and the brands as well as the shops associated with the brands would become the biggest fashion houses and legends in present times (Wikipedia, 2007). For example, Marks and Spencer, which came out in the UK as a small store run by Michael Marks where he established the company for the first time by expanding and developing the line of products which was sold for one penny apiece to include fashionable clothing of the time (Wikipedia, 2007). The clothing created by him was what appealed to British sensibilities at the time and did not create men into objects that could be gazed at with wonder. Mr. Spencer was a cashier for a supplier of the company but eventually rose within the ranks to become a partner of Mr. Michael Marks to make the company be named Marks and Spencer. Despite changes and further development in styles, the company continued to offer clothes which were sensible and matched the fashion spirit of the times. However, it can not be said that fashion did not evolve during the times since companies such as Marks and Spencer did indeed develop the idea of having a higher line within the same store. The take over of the son from the father establishes a shift in how the highest supporter of fashion in the UK changed itself since Simon Marks was the one who replaced the founder of the company in terms of management. His influence on the company also led to the establishment of the St. Michael brand which was considered an upscale brand for many years (Wikipedia, 2007). In fact, if we take examples from the eighteenth and the seventeenth century the height of fashion for the western world would have been the royal courts of Europe (Wikipedia, 2007). The clothes which were worn by men during those times would be considered little more than an eyesore if they walked into a high-end fashion outlet for men since gold embroidery or silver trimmings on the hems of coats would be considered too ostentatious. Compared to their fashion, the trends which developed in the 19th century seem muted at best since the few splashes of colour which can be observed are often nothing more than a flashy tie or a brightly polished cufflink. Today such implements can can act as ice breakers, or attention getters, but they do not remain prominent enough to be considered as a part of fashion which transforms a male body into an object that can be displayed. Of course, masculinity itself underwent several changes for the idea of the perfect male that ranged from androgyny to the classic male image admired in the renaissance period but as a object to be gazed at or as something which can be decorated is a rather large jump seeing the fashion of the times. In fact in the last three decades of the century fashion for men seems to have become more or less static as coats, trousers and shirts began to take on a familiar shape which can be observed even today. Of course the idea of high formal clothing such as frock coats or tail coats persists even to this day but in those times they had become the regulation wear which fashionable individuals across both sides of the Atlantic were wearing quite commonly. The commonality of fashion owes a lot to advertisement and promotion since they became an essential part of marketing fashion. The target market was trendy and retailers as well as custom tailors placed catchy yet informative ads in newspapers as well as fashion related or society magazines. While the concepts of advertising on television and billboards for fashion houses may be a recent one, advertisement for fashionable wear had certainly been present in the 19th century which also popularised the idea of what is fashionable and what is not. Of course photography had been highly developed by the end of the 19th century therefore we have some very accurate records of what was considered fashionable and what was considered to be formal. Similarly, sportswear also started becoming popular as people found more leisure time to enjoy themselves after the age of industrialisation allowed them to have more free time. With time, sportswear would develop into its own fashion segment just as work clothes and formal wear would but the final development would take longer than just a few decades (Wikipedia, 2007). In the final analysis it seems that it is better to say that the changing conventions of men’s fashion do not really turn a man’s body into something which can be gazed at or admired or even decorated to any significant effect. However, the objects adorned by the men or the clothes which they selected to wear can certainly influence how people reacted to them. For example, while the clothing of a man would allow him to be spotted as French, English or German therefore fashion in the form of what is popular within a country also started making its own appearances. While the countries certainly had some influence on each other the overall sense of fashion for the world also developed which meant that instead of having uniqueness that could be admired, the male body was given a sort of uniformity which could only be accepted as a staple (Wikipedia, 2007). In fact, the same can be said about men’s fashion today because instead of producing clothes which can be seen as being truly unique, individuals are often given factory produced clothes where blue jeans are the most commonly seen piece of clothing on a college campus (ACM, 2006). Similarly a collection of T-shirts forms the basis of most wardrobes the common youth would wear today and this not only makes eccentricity impossible, it also takes something away from the idea of gazing or decorating the male body. In the times when custom tailoring and custom made clothing was the norm rather than the exception, perhaps there was more of an idea of personal sense of style but when we developed with the ideas of industrialisation and globalisation, that personalisation of clothes went away like vapour. In this sense, it would make more sense to gaze at a man in the 19th century than at a man who walks the street today. The man walking today is little more than a collection of brands or a collection of images brought together with the forces of mass production and market control. The man in the 19th century would have been an individual who saw what he liked and got it made for himself to decorate his own image as he saw fit. Works Cited ACM. (2006). Denim goes digital. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 10-11. Adamson, A. 2005, ‘Drive a Brand Like a Rental? It Won't Last’, Brandweek, vol. 46, no. 31, pp. 18-20. Flint, J. 2003, ‘Rules of the Game’, Forbes, vol. 172, no. 9, pp. 114-115. St. John, W. 2002, ‘Telling Time Is Not Enough: Some Watches Stop Traffic’, New York Times, 151(52067), p 19. Wikipedia. 2007, ‘History of Fashion’, Wikipedia.org, [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Western_Fashion Read More