Fashionable Clothes example essay topic

THE 50 SIn the early 1950's, at exactly the time that the teenage Elvis Presley was making the first forays into clothes and music in Memphis, disaffected post war youths of Great Britain were granted the less colourful set of options. The homegrown pop music scene was still dominated by the big bands and dance halls, which had sprung up after the war. More excitement was generated by the far more stylish imported American acts such as Johnny Ray, Frank Sinatra and Guy Mitchell, but they had in turn inspired a set of UK copy cats such as Teddy Johnson. Many in the UK were turned on by the Jazz scene that was awakening.

The mode of dress was baggy flannel trousers and loose jumpers with college scarves and duffel coats for men and women. More adventurous women wore ponytails, gingham blouses and dirndl skirts or Juliette Greco fringes with dark make-up around the eyes and black clothing. Dowdiness was prevalent amongst the middle class music fans, but there was one trend that had started in the immediate post-war years among the upper classes and had been popularized by the working class lads: the neo Edwardian look. This in turn gave birth to the first youth cult: the Teddy Boys. Many Ted's settled for tight jeans beetle crushers and a DA Because the Teddy boy look was associated with teen violence the idea that fashionable clothes were a threat to society was made. That was how James Dean, Elvis Presley and Marlon Brando came to symbolism rebellious youth.

When Hollywood looked around for rebellious images that would suit stars like Dean and Brando they settled on White T-shirts, jeans and leather jackets. When the kids in Britain saw it up on the big screen they wanted the look too. Women Women dressed 'smartly' in the Fifties. Good grooming and a tailored look were prized.

Acting and looking 'every inch the lady' was taught virtually from the cradle. The poodle skirt is the look most associated with the Fifties. Young women wore them. A poodle skirt is a wide swing skirt with a poodle transferred onto the fabric. Poodles were not the only items used to adorn these skirts, they are just the best remembered. Preppie qualities were neatness, tidiness and grooming.

Girls wore full dirndl or circular skirts with large appliqu " es. Bouffant paper nylon or net petticoats supported the skirts. On top they wore scoop neck blouses, back to front cardigans, tight polo necks or three quarter sleeve white fitting shirts often with a scarf knotted cowboy fashion at the side neck. These fashions that originated in America filtered to Britain in watered down fashion. Marks and Spencer in the 1950 marks & Spencer produced the best ready to wear chain store clothes in the fifties and quadrupled their profits at the same time. Their clothes were not the least expensive, but they were the best value for money.

The quality became so high in the 1950's that limits were set on production, as everyone wanted the affordable stylish Paris inspired clothes. Paper Nylon and Net Petticoat Support 1950 the full skirts needed support to look good and nylon was used extensively to create bouffant net petticoats or paper nylon petticoats. Several petticoats often of varying styles were worn to get just the right look. Each petticoat was stiffened in some way either by conventional starch or a strong sugar solution. Eventually a hoop crinoline petticoat was developed and it had channel led tapes, which were threaded with nylon boning in imitation of whale bone petticoats.

A single net petticoat worn over it softened the look of the rigid boning. Whit Sunday in the 1950 most of the British nation still kept religious holidays like Whitsunday and Whit Monday when the mixed congregations from chapels and churches would march through British towns parading their chapel banners and wearing their Sunday best. The clothes would follow the up to date fashions of the time and be sparkling clean often in the new fabrics. Girl's dresses were almost always in nylon with skirts puffed out with petticoats. 1950's Teenage Consumers Until 1950 the term teenagers had never before been coined.

Children were known as girls and youths once they displayed signs of puberty. Then young people were grown up at 18 and fully adult legally at 21 when they often married and set up a home of their own even if it was rented room. Getting married was a way of showing the adult world that you belonged to their world and was a way of escape from puberty. During the 1950's a range of influences including film, television, magazines and the rock music scene created a new market grouping called teenagers. A sudden flurry of consumer goods denied to war torn Europe were available and a consumer boom was actively encouraged. THE 1960 Many things influenced fashion in the 1960's.

Social mobility, daring fashion photography, easier travel abroad, the Vietnam war, new music of the Beatles and their much copied hairstyles, retro military and ethnic clothes, musicals, pop art and film all played a part By the 1960's the Twist, the Shake and the Locomotion ousted the paired dancing couples of earlier generations. Only for the last few dances of the evening was the Smooch allowed for couples to romantically hold each other as they made their play to walk a partner home. Some stalwarts continued to rock and jive and to wear Teddy boy gear. Many of the fashions of the 1960's existed because of the fabrics.

They introduced new fabric properties and when synthetics were mixed with natural fibres there was improved performance in wear. Some had been invented years earlier in the 1930's and 1940's, but it was only in the 60's that huge production plants for synthetic fibres sprang up globally. First lady fashion While Jackie Kennedy was first lady of the United States, her channel style suits and bouffant hairstyles were widely copied Space-Age Fashion With the first man on the moon to take place in the 60's there was an explosion on sci-fi comics films and TV shows. This sparked a new fashion trend, an alternative way to dress.

Space age clothes featured geometric and sculptured shapes. Most of all they exploited the latest materials - synthetics such as PVC hard plastics, silver Lurex and even metallic paper. When Art Became Fashion In the 1960's, the boundaries blurred between art and fashion. Artists such as Christo and Mimi smith, created clothes as works of art, while designers raided pop art for patterns. On canvas or on fabric the clever use of circles squares and spirals gave the illusion of movement.

Sports Wear By the sixties posing in sports clothes began. The tracksuit was a phenomenon of the 1960's. Matching bottoms were added to the anorak tops athletes wore and the tracksuit was born. Zip fronted boiler suits were a development from space clothes of 1969 and when made up in fabric like stretch velour's were exceptionally sexy 1970's party gear. By the late seventies sportswear and fashion was merging Homemade Art Tie dying became a popular way for people to make their own art. As with most fashion, street style found its way off the street: tie-dyed t-shirts and dresses still sell 40 years on.

Girlish Supermodels The two most famous models of the decade were Jean Shrimp ton and Twiggy. The Shrimp was 17 when she started model ling and twiggy was just 16 when she started. Mary Quant By 1966 Mary Quant was producing short waist skimming mini dresses and skirts that were set 6 or 7 inches above the knee. It would not be right to suggest she invented the mini.

In 1965 she took the idea from the 1964 designs by Court " eyes and liking the shorter styles she made them even shorter for her boutique Bazaar. She is rightly credited with making popular a style that had not taken off when it made its earlier debut. Icons of 60's Fashion The link between the media music and fashion was central to popular culture in the 60's. The Bond films and TV shows like the Avengers and the Man from UNCLE, provided role models for both sexes. Magazines such as Mira belle and boyfriend aimed primarily at girls, featured rock and film star pin ups, along side tips on fashion and makeup. One for the boys The media was busy defining roles for men too.

Films, TV and particularly pop music, overloaded young men with information on how they should look. Young men as well as women were looking carefully at their image as they found themselves challenged by their peers and by the media to copy every trend that arose. Hippie Styles The hippie look one of the many anti-fashion statements of the 20th century defined the 60's. Hippie slogans such as peace and love reflected the desire to find an alternative way of living where an individual could drop out of society to focus on spiritual life instead of being a slave to money. Trippy clothes Nicknamed the summer of love 1967 was the height of the hippie era and saw a non ethnic version of the clothes: in man made fibres with psychedelic drug inspired patterns that complemented the music of the day. Trousers The mini dominated fashion and women sometimes needed a practical alternative smarter than jeans that could be worn day or evening.

Quite formal trousers worn with a tunic, shirt, skinny rib or matching suit jacket were acceptable in certain work situations and liked as alternative evening wear when made from slinkier materials. Trousers were made from Court elle jersey, cotton velvet, silky or bulked textured Crimple nes, lace with satin, and Pucci style printed Trice l. Hipster versions were popular and very flared versions developed by the late sixties, with every style ultimately translating into denim jeans. Rock Around the Clock By the 1960's the Twist, the Shake and the Locomotion ousted the paired dancing couples of earlier generations. Fabrics Many of the fashions of the 1960's existed because of the fabrics.

Meanwhile as man made fibres gained a hold, the Yorkshire woollen industry began to contract at an alarming rate. Job losses were inevitable and yet so often the newer man made yarn companies settled in areas where there was already a body of knowledge and a heritage of spinning, knitting or weaving. The 70 glam and Glossy Glamorous, frivolous, and more than slightly ridiculous, for many people platforms and flares now symbolize 'the decade time forgot'. However there was more to the 1970's than extreme fashions.

It was a turbulent, often violent decade. The Vietnam conflict remained unresolved and wars raged in the Middle East. The oil crisis contributed to the recession and the rising unemployment in the west. Hippie ideals of peace and love were abandoned in favour of personal gain.

Health and fitness became a major craze and people looked for ways to escape through nostalgia or fantasy of film and fashion. Fashion reflected many of the decade's changes and obsessions. Army surplus and retro styles were both popular. The glamour of disco and chaos of punk were different reactions to the same depressing surroundings.

It was a decade characterised by extremes, a more informal approach to dressing and a greater choice of style for everyone. Punk fashion Fetish wear Westwood and Mclaren opened the shop, first called Let it Rock, on London's Kings Road in 1972. They sold copies of teddy-boy drape suits, the uniform of young rebels in the 50's. By 75 the shop was selling the black rubber and leather fetish wear that gave it its name, and was heaven for young punks. No Future Britain in the Mid 1970's was a depressing place for a teenager.

With high unemployment, kids felt they had no hope and no future. Even music felt stale and pointless: teenyboppers like Donny Osmond had nothing to say about real life. DIY Fashion Punks used anti fashion to express disgust at the aspirations of the middle classes. They adopted items of clothing that were deliberately shocking and often physically repellent. Pushing safety pins through ears, cheeks and every available area of clothing, they assaulted all notions of taste. DISCO BABES AND DANCING QUEENS Disco mania swept the United States and Europe at the end of the 1970's.

At clubs such as studio 54 in New York, stars like Calvin Klein, Elizabeth Taylor and Andy Warhol were regulars. Discoth'e ques created a fantasy world were the light shows dazzled, the music thumped and real life was left at the door. The style Almost anything went but since the main activities at a disco were dancing and posing, freedom to move was crucial and clothes had to look good under powerful laser lights Anything Goes For those on a budget, sports wear was a cheap option and included satin running shorts teamed with skimpy vests. A trashy sequined evening dress with kitsch accessories was also acceptable. Glam and Glitter In a decade of outrageous fashions glam was the most outrageous by far. The 1940's platforms, padded shoulders, flares and synthetic fabrics were adopted by serious and not so serious rock stars and mutated into spectacular stage costumes.

Factory made In the 1960's and 70's pop artist Andy Warhol and followers at his studio, 'The Factory', were a huge influence on art, film and fashion. Glam Rockers Glam rock spawned a new generation of superstars whose appeal depended as much on their image as their music. Performers such as Alice cooper, T Rex and David Bowie strutted the stage in face paint and feather boas. Platform boots got higher, flares got wider and hair got longer. Satin, velvet and suede were favourite fabrics- all liberally sprinkled with glitter and sequins. Make-up was essential eyeliner and glitter eye shadows were by the guys as well as the girls.

THE 1980 after the swinging sixties and the excesses of 1970's punk rock, there had to be a backlash. It came in the 80's, with the art of being serious, grown up and hard working carried to the extreme. The decade did not start out quite like that. The punk revolution was still in the air - though by 1980 the general trend was to tone down and tame the original punk style.

Pop stars such as Prince and Boy George, for example did not look threatening but rather appealing with their careful makeup and colourful clothes. As the shock effect of the Mohican hairstyles wore off, even they became simply another form of declaration- just one more fashion. The western economy boomed. Youth culture stopped hogging the scene as the teenage market lost impetus.

The dominant market was getting older and was also financially secure. Demographics changed the face of society. People were living longer and seemed to act younger at the same time. Old industries died, while new technologies developed and boomed.

Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan in the USA celebrated presidential success with a style that used fashionable conspicuous clothes and social events to display the affluence of American society to a world audience. The world was in flux; ever changing. The USSR relaxed rules and opened up to private enterprise. The Berlin wall came down and other eastern bloc countries craved western clothes and liberation.

In Britain Thatcher ism promoted privatisation and the idea that greed was good was given credence. Temples to modern living, shopping malls sprang up throughout Britain. Western society consumed and consumed. By the mid-eighties tills rang not with cash, but the increasing use of credit cards. It was all such a relief to the consumer to be able to spend and actively be encouraged to consume after years of recession. Clothing purchases soared.

Interiors were decorated. Showing wealth was superficially powerful. Advertiser's Acronyms Advertisers gave a whole range of acronyms to groups of consumers in the 1980's. Looking at these acronyms does help to understand how advertisers identified recognisable groups in society in the consumer driven world of marketing. A typical acronym was DINKY which described an increasing section of society, the couples not necessarily married, but who were 'Double Income No Kids Yet. ' The Dinky was the type of consumer that might be targeted for spending on fashion and status symbols like perfume, label goods and stylish kitchen items that might never be used.

The couple could even encourage each other in achieving their lifestyle of aspiration. Other labels advertisers favoured include Empty N esters, Grey Panthers, Layettes and Tweenies. The mood was whimsical and soft with velvet knickerbockers and short rah-rah skirts. In Britain romance was in the air, with the engagement of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. Their marriage was televised worldwide and fulfilled all expectations. The brides fairy tale dress was copied over and over again for less exalted weddings and helped to set the trend for full blown romantic evening wear.

The Aggressive Silhouette The look produced by the designers in the early 1980's for this market was essentially based on the male silhouette. Wide shoulders were the key, emphasised with pads. For the day the suit was essential for both the workingman and women Beneath the clothes the body too was being moulded into a powerful form. Exercise was important in the 1970's but concentrated on slimming down the figure. In the 80's body building and exercise machines became the fashionable way to stay in shape the aim, for women was to attain a strong, powerful figure.

The Bizarre 80's Through out the 80's flights to fantasy land were always available! Space and adventure films were popular and provided easy ways of forgetting about life's problems. In the pop world Madonna and Michael Jackson fuel led their success by making their public image more weird and wonderful each month. Madonna's look-alike fan club had a hard job keeping up with her changes. Just copying did not satisfy the more adventurous. There was a strong nightclub scene for those who wanted to create their own fantasy.

1990's Fashion Influences on Millennium Fashion People watchers, spotters and trend predictors ensure that designers of today are likely to be influenced by street fashion. But all too frequently they pick up an idea, which kills it flat at the street level source. They have an eye to global commercial profits from the trickle down effect on their ready to wear ranges. This makes for a lack of creativity as clothes develop homogenized uniformity. Watered down versions that are picked up by chain stores all have the same look that fails to stimulate the ordinary shopper. Choose Vintage Fashion Dressing Little wonder film stars have started to wear vintage designer clothes from past generations.

The purpose of fashion is to reveal individual differences not provide identikit uniforms. Spotting or setting a trend early is crucial to the integrity of fashion makers. Films are still important as influences on fashion and trends for fashion, make up, hairstyles and jewellery. A recent example of this is the influence of the Nicole Kidman film Moulin Rouge and the lace Edwardian clothing that has been copied for the high street. Global Marketing and Shopping Ordinary people shop all over the world today. They take a bucket shop air ticket or limited stay ticket and jet to a major city like London, Paris, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Florence or Milan simply to shop until they drop.

Every tourist office in the world will have day trips that make shopping its main purpose and cruise ships stop at ports for guests to stock up on even more local goodies than are already available on board. In England you are never more than twenty or thirty minutes from a town with shops or factory outlet shops a few miles further. In more remote parts of Britain you might have to travel up to an hour. And if you are immobile, shopping TV will probably solve your need for a shopping fix. Camouflage and Animal Patterns Camouflage patterns appeared frequently on all ranges of clothes. By 1998 the military look turned up again as combat pants and flak jackets and yet again in 2001 as a main look for summer.

They began simply as fabrics that blended such as khaki tints and shades that toned in neutrally with the landscape. High street and chain store versions abounded. Gerry Weber printed semi sheer chiffon camouflage blouses. Dorothy Perkins and Marks & Spencer also used camouflage prints whilst Versace led with catwalk designs. Animal prints were equally popular ranging from leopard, wildcat, tiger, cow and zebra prints. Stockings, Leggings, Pantyhose Tights and Nude Legs In the late 80's and early 90's the stocking with lace top holding itself up was suddenly noticed to be more erotic than a pair of tights.

Leggings were a common sight in the early 90's and continued to be worn well past their sell by date in the privacy of homes. By the early 1990's the only tights to wear with the short skirt of the time was black and opaque. By the late 90's the bare nude look leg was in vogue and natural toned tights were acceptable again. Many younger women simply abandoned tights altogether preferring the totally natural leg. Never before frowned upon until the nineties, the biggest faux pas was to wear tights with open scrappy sandals. Colours Women of the nineties had learnt how to build capsule wardrobes from other ranges based on Donna Karan's ideas.

It's one reason why the nineties were so black. Lack of colour might be a better heading. It was only in the last few years of the 90's that colour began to return and be worn by individuals. After some of the garish hues of the 1980's, black and blacker was dominant for some ten years. Women discovered real easy dressing - black goes well with black and other neutrals. Some equally dull, but neutral browns and grey's did become the so-called new black for a brief season or so.

Consumers took to the drab colours with reluctance. Subtlety was everything as 80's gilt buttons were suddenly banished and dirtied dusty colours dominated the racks. The taupe's, pastel pinks, olives, grey's, browns, subdued rusts, greed navy, sand and camel were a huge change from the glowing brilliant sea greens, fuchsia pinks, reds and royal blues of the 80's. Certainly in the UK the only full length coat colours to wear in the 1990's were black, camel, navy or grey.

Designer Label Shoes In the 1990's status shoes such as those by Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo and Italian brands by Prada, Gucci and Renata and others took on a new importance as fashion itself became cleaner and more minimal and pared down. During the early 1990's many UK national chain footwear shops closed because of poor trading conditions in the market, but the market regained buoyancy by the end of the decade, and the mass made footwear now on offer is of superior quality to 30 years ago. Footwear Future Since 2001 the shoe shops have suddenly seen the influence of designers like Jimmy Choo appear in everyday footwear ranges. They make pretty shoes with an interesting array of heels of all sorts.

Newer cone heels and Louis hourglass heels are catching the attention of women again. Niche footwear outlets such as Nine West are gaining a market share and help offer a very diverse range of footwear for all tastes. Victorian boots head the millennium. The future Mail order and home shopping is growing. Customers no longer have to wait up to 28 days to receive an order. Orders from TV shopping channels frequently arrive within 2 to 4 days or next day if you pay special delivery.

QVC a major TV shopping channel in UK, USA and parts of Europe already has over 5 million customers in UK alone. Ordering is simple and instant with a touch-tone telephone and clothes for example arrive 5 - 7 working days later, with a 30-day money back guarantee if you don't like an item or it doesn't fit The retail of the future is about the overall experience rather than only products and brands. The latter is obviously a huge part of the experience, but there's more. These days, people go to a store not because they need anything, but because they want something, most of the time to be entertained. Shopping is leisure experiences in the same way people visit an art gallery, a museum or restaurant. It's about the right concepts, the environments and the theatre we provide.

A few consumer attitudes, which will influence us in the future, are: . The human aspect of progress: everyday technology and how we use it... A "retreat" mentality: the focus on personal priorities. The desire to take time out, to cleanse body and mind...

A "react" mentality: responsible and challenging. Gone are the times of sheepish brand following. Brands need a message! The move from global to local culture. Interest in the unique, the one-off and the "story" behind it all... Escapism and the idea of a parallel, nearly real, universe to immerse yourself in.

All of these give rise to new ideas, concepts, and experiences. Brands will have to work much harder in the future, but once customers trust them, they will become more loyal..