Basics of Fashion
, INDEX
CONTENT PAGES
UNIT - I ............................................................................................................... 3
LESSON 1: THE LANGUAGE OF FASHION .............................................................................. 4
LESSON 2: FASHION TERMINOLOGY .................................................................................. 11
LESSON 3: THE INTANGIBLES OF FASHION .......................................................................... 19
UNIT - II ............................................................................................................ 26
LESSON 4: FASHION DEVELOPMENT & MOVEMENT ............................................................. 27
LESSON 5: FASHION MOVEMENT ..................................................................................... 38
LESSON 6: THEORIES OF CLOTHING ORIGIN ........................................................................ 41
LESSON 7: THEORIES OF FASHION ADOPTION ..................................................................... 44
LESSON 8: FASHION CYCLES ............................................................................................ 49
2
, Unit - I
Lesson-1 The Language of Fashion
Lesson-2 Fashion terminology
Lesson-3 The Intangibles of Fashion
Lesson 1: The Language of Fashion
Objective o to understand the language of Fashion.
o Fashion and Traditional / Contemporary Style.
o Fashion Concepts and its relation to our society and culture.
Structure
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Fashion Today
1.2 Fashion and Traditional Costume
1.3 Prescribed Clothing and Modern Democracy
1.4 Women Fashion and Men’s Fashion
1.5 Fashion Between Art and Commerce
1.6 Fashion and Body
1.7 Fashion as a Paradigm in our culture
1.0 Introduction
We remain endlessly troubled by fashion-drawn to it, yet repelled by a fear of what
we might find hidden within its purposes…. (Wilson 1985)
3
, That fashion is a global phenomenon is indisputable. Just about everything that we do
in our daily lives is affected by fashion.
Fashion is a force-a powerful force of constantly altering patterns of change and
growth. Its movements affect the facts of the designers and manufacturers who
distribute it and the lives of the consumers who follow its dictates. Fashion is also a
science. It involves known facts and basic principles, and its actions and reactions can
be predicted based on; those facts and those principles.
A style that is accepted and used by the majority of a group at any one time, no matter
how small that group, is a fashion. An unquestioned, popular understanding of what
fashion is can be found in any fashion magazine, on the fashion page of any
newspaper, on the fashion channel of any satellite package, indeed, on any city street
or in any social scene anywhere in the world. And it is reflected in a century of
writings by sociologist, anthropologists, art historians, and students of popular
culture. We need only look at the labels in our closets to assure ourselves that this is
so.
1.1 Fashion Today
Fashion, at least in relation to clothing, has become ubiquitous theme of media. While
it may have been snubbed by the "serious" media; fashion has become a very
important aspect of culture, comparable even with the fine arts or theatre. We are
regularly informed about “haute-couture” and “pert-a-porter‟ fashion shows. And
even in the lulls between these big fashion events, the media constantly offer reports
and reflections about fashion. Fashion designers and models are covered by the
media-on television and in newspaper-much the way writers and politicians used to
be. In short; Fashion has become socially acceptable.
We cannot separate fashion from our daily lives. Even people who think they refuse
to obey fashion commit themselves to it through their refusal. Anti-fashionable trends
always refer to the corresponding current fashioning order to separate themselves
from it; they are therefore nothing but the negative to the positive. If the 'in' colour is
greens no store will carry a purple dress. If stripes are in, consumers will be hard put
to find floral patterns. Fashion, however, is not dictated from a single source and there
are no longer any uniform trends; all fashion consumers may draw upon a plethora of
trends in putting together their wardrobes. In reality, the trend, which until a few
decades ago was the style presented every fashion season, has simply been replaced
by reversal co-existing trends. Whatever is not represented in at least one of these
trends is just as unfashionable as whatever twenty years ago did not correspond with
the one reigning trend. And, since good taste and elegance are no longer standards for
what is considered fashionable, it is much harder to determine what is “in” and
possibly witty, and what is already “old-fashioned and mega-out”. The boundaries
between these areas have become greyer than ever.
Thus, fashion simply encompasses a broader spectrum of possibilities than it did in
the first six or seven decades of these centuries. Dress codes are becoming less and
less frequent; no one feels obliged to dress up to go to the threader; there are fewer
occasions when one is obliged to wear any particular kind of dress. Casual clothing
appears to be appropriate everywhere and always. People around the world are
4
, INDEX
CONTENT PAGES
UNIT - I ............................................................................................................... 3
LESSON 1: THE LANGUAGE OF FASHION .............................................................................. 4
LESSON 2: FASHION TERMINOLOGY .................................................................................. 11
LESSON 3: THE INTANGIBLES OF FASHION .......................................................................... 19
UNIT - II ............................................................................................................ 26
LESSON 4: FASHION DEVELOPMENT & MOVEMENT ............................................................. 27
LESSON 5: FASHION MOVEMENT ..................................................................................... 38
LESSON 6: THEORIES OF CLOTHING ORIGIN ........................................................................ 41
LESSON 7: THEORIES OF FASHION ADOPTION ..................................................................... 44
LESSON 8: FASHION CYCLES ............................................................................................ 49
2
, Unit - I
Lesson-1 The Language of Fashion
Lesson-2 Fashion terminology
Lesson-3 The Intangibles of Fashion
Lesson 1: The Language of Fashion
Objective o to understand the language of Fashion.
o Fashion and Traditional / Contemporary Style.
o Fashion Concepts and its relation to our society and culture.
Structure
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Fashion Today
1.2 Fashion and Traditional Costume
1.3 Prescribed Clothing and Modern Democracy
1.4 Women Fashion and Men’s Fashion
1.5 Fashion Between Art and Commerce
1.6 Fashion and Body
1.7 Fashion as a Paradigm in our culture
1.0 Introduction
We remain endlessly troubled by fashion-drawn to it, yet repelled by a fear of what
we might find hidden within its purposes…. (Wilson 1985)
3
, That fashion is a global phenomenon is indisputable. Just about everything that we do
in our daily lives is affected by fashion.
Fashion is a force-a powerful force of constantly altering patterns of change and
growth. Its movements affect the facts of the designers and manufacturers who
distribute it and the lives of the consumers who follow its dictates. Fashion is also a
science. It involves known facts and basic principles, and its actions and reactions can
be predicted based on; those facts and those principles.
A style that is accepted and used by the majority of a group at any one time, no matter
how small that group, is a fashion. An unquestioned, popular understanding of what
fashion is can be found in any fashion magazine, on the fashion page of any
newspaper, on the fashion channel of any satellite package, indeed, on any city street
or in any social scene anywhere in the world. And it is reflected in a century of
writings by sociologist, anthropologists, art historians, and students of popular
culture. We need only look at the labels in our closets to assure ourselves that this is
so.
1.1 Fashion Today
Fashion, at least in relation to clothing, has become ubiquitous theme of media. While
it may have been snubbed by the "serious" media; fashion has become a very
important aspect of culture, comparable even with the fine arts or theatre. We are
regularly informed about “haute-couture” and “pert-a-porter‟ fashion shows. And
even in the lulls between these big fashion events, the media constantly offer reports
and reflections about fashion. Fashion designers and models are covered by the
media-on television and in newspaper-much the way writers and politicians used to
be. In short; Fashion has become socially acceptable.
We cannot separate fashion from our daily lives. Even people who think they refuse
to obey fashion commit themselves to it through their refusal. Anti-fashionable trends
always refer to the corresponding current fashioning order to separate themselves
from it; they are therefore nothing but the negative to the positive. If the 'in' colour is
greens no store will carry a purple dress. If stripes are in, consumers will be hard put
to find floral patterns. Fashion, however, is not dictated from a single source and there
are no longer any uniform trends; all fashion consumers may draw upon a plethora of
trends in putting together their wardrobes. In reality, the trend, which until a few
decades ago was the style presented every fashion season, has simply been replaced
by reversal co-existing trends. Whatever is not represented in at least one of these
trends is just as unfashionable as whatever twenty years ago did not correspond with
the one reigning trend. And, since good taste and elegance are no longer standards for
what is considered fashionable, it is much harder to determine what is “in” and
possibly witty, and what is already “old-fashioned and mega-out”. The boundaries
between these areas have become greyer than ever.
Thus, fashion simply encompasses a broader spectrum of possibilities than it did in
the first six or seven decades of these centuries. Dress codes are becoming less and
less frequent; no one feels obliged to dress up to go to the threader; there are fewer
occasions when one is obliged to wear any particular kind of dress. Casual clothing
appears to be appropriate everywhere and always. People around the world are
4
