Fashion is never still, it constantly changes and evolves - Essay Example

Fashion is never still, it constantly changes and evolves Fashion… What is it? We depend so much on it, it influences our lives greatly but we do not know definitely where it comes from. The question still remains who decides in the world which colors will be in this season, and what types of pants will be fashionable next spring. This paper is going to examine the notion of fashion, and to answer the above mentioned questions. Fashion is “a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing” (Meinhold, p.12). Most of people think that this term refers only to the clothing style, but actually it covers the hairstyle, the range of colors, the attitude towards family life and the attitude towards career, public behavior and the way people communicate. In other words, fashion covers all elements of human life. It dictates the rules of how to organize the life, how to make plans and even what goals to set in life. Being fashionable has always been more advantageous that being unfashionable. Fashion introduces people to the small world of lobby interviews and hectic social life. Fashion can be applied to many fields of human activity, for example, art, music, theatre, politics, economy, architecture –and it is not the complete list. In the past the term fashion when used in terms of clothes implied the generic style for everyone who wanted to be fashionable. Nowadays the things have changed completely – clothes are no longer the manifestation of equality with others. Choosing one’s style in fashion is the way to express oneself, to express the mood or in most cases to distinguish oneself. So, today, to be fashionable means to have your own creative fashion but not to stick to the trend of the season. People all over the world may choose from the variety of styles: to be a got or to wear romantic clothes, to have a business style or extravagant – everything is fashionable nowadays. However, fashion originates somewhere and several great minds decide upon the trends of the coming season. These decisions come from the Fashion Weeks where the prominent fashion designers demonstrate their vision of seasonal trends. The most popular collections dictate fashion to the rest of the world. However, fashion can spread and in another way - via celebrities. Seeing a famous person in unusual clothes or with extravagant hairdo or make up, thousands of fans start copying him/her. Fashion varies tremendously not only in time, but also in class, income, nationalities ad world views. “The term "fashions" has developed in the 21st century as a way of describing someone who is dedicated to fashion, and the development of this term is indicative of the role fashion and trends play in the contemporary age” (Gemperli, p.4 ). The nature of the fashion is to be always on the move, in other words it constantly develops and when speaking about clothes it is very noticeable here. If remember the fashion of 80-s and 90-s of the XX century, some shining, tight-fitting fabric was in, and nowadays the shining material is considered to be inappropriate for everyday wear. Though, no one will point a finger at those who dare to put on such garment. The easiest way to follow the development of fashion is to consider the item of clothes that has been an indispensable attribute of human life. Jeans were introduced in XX century and quickly got the position of versatile clothes – you can put them in a trip, to the theatre and to work. The first jeans were with the straight legs, then it was substituted with bell-bottoms, a bit later the narrowed legs were in fashion and nowadays people wear all types of jeans to suit their taste. Fashion really develops, but, surely, it goes on circle. It is clear that there is no constant generator of fashion ideas, that is why the fashion designers turn to fashion of the previous century but performing some changes in order or to plagiarize. If they copied the fashion just without any changes it would look ridiculous because fashion does not develop abruptly – it always preserves some elements from the previous seasons. It can be the form of the skirt, a trendy scarf or a dominant color. The world fashion centers are Paris, New-York, Hong-Kong, Toronto, San-Paolo, Milan and London. Despite, the undoubted power of fashion in the world it would be nothing without mass media. Only through it the new trends in fashion are introduced and advertised. Having pants from the fashionable magazine gives a person a sense of self-assurance and the feeling of being a member of a particular world. Another important issue of fashion is the mental aspect of it. It was fashionable half a century ago for a woman to be a housewife and to make home, but today a lot of women throughout the world strive for being independent and fending for themselves. Therefore, women have less time to devote to their children and their families. It is not fashionable any longer to be a prudent housewife. It is more valued when a woman copes with everything: her career, her home, her children and her husband. Another change in fashion is brought about by reevaluation of the world views. Those values that were highly appreciated 20 years ago are no longer in fashion. The technological revolution has caused both the lack of time and the roughening of human beings. People are looking only for profit and benefit in life, such notions as honor; nobility and devotion are out of fashion today. To sup up everything stated above it is necessary to emphasize that fashion changes constantly. It can be explained by the development of historic process where no constituents can remain constant. The rules of fashion are dictated by the economic, political and even environmental situation in the world. Mass media is that technique that spreads fashion around the world. Mostly it is done with the help of celebrities’ participation in some fashion advertising. Fashion reflects the state of nations, with some of them being dominant. During the last century such dominant nation was represented by the USA , though today the stress is shifting to the developed European countries such as France and Great-Britain. Bibiography 1. Meinhold, Roman. “Meta-Goods in Fashion Myths. Philosophic-Anthropological Implications of Fashion Myths. In: Prajna Vihara.” Journal of Philosophy and Religion. Bangkok, Assumption University (2008). Vol.8., No.2, July-December. 1-17. 2. Cumming, Valerie: Understanding Fashion History, Costume & Fashion Press, 2004 3. Laver, James: The Concise History of Costume and Fashion, Abrams, 1979, p. 62 4. Josef W. Meri & Jere L. Bacharac). Medieval Islamic Civilization: A-K. Taylor & Francis. 1967. p. 162. 5. Fernand, Braudel. Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Centuries, Vol 1: The Structures of Everyday Life," William Collins & Sons, London 1981, p. 317 6. Gemperli, Natalia. Fashion World Mapper: Your City on the Trend Radar. Master Thesis, University of the Arts Zurich. June, 2010. 7. Shades of Green: Decoding Eco Fashions Claims. The Wall Street Journal. 24 May 2008 8. Ann Douglas. The Feminization of American Culture. Farrar, Straus and Giroux , 1977. 9. Leathwood, Carole and Barbara Read. Gender and the Changing Face of Higher Education: A Feminized Future?, Open University Press, 2008. 10. Robertson, John. Journalists paid by UK government to promote chinese goods. From http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/01/445470.html Read More