A history of fashion

Words and word combinations:

Restriction – ограничение;

Seamstress – швея;

Elaborate – разработка;

Amount – сумма;

Afford – позволить себе;

Hemline – подол;

Emerge – появляться;

Reflect – отражать;

Certain – определенный;

Refer – сослаться;

Rationing – рационирование;

Customize – настроить;

Mend – чинить;

Motto – девиз;

Sack – мешок;

Slippers – тапки;

Scraps – обрывки;

Miner – шактер;

 

 

Clothes say a lot about a person, but how you wear those clothes can say even more. Rolling up your skirt at school, or wearing a tie back to front, can be a form of expression as much as donning an Armani suit. In these ways, perhaps we’ve all got a bit of fashion designer in us? Clothes can portray you in a sweet and innocent or dark and dirty light.

The design of the clothes we wear has been influenced by trends, restrictions of law or economics, and by the types of materials they’re made from them.

In their books, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen note the importance of fashion and of the female seamstress and her role in creating clothes that the upper class was judged upon and that the working classes judged upon their ability to last.

In 1900 the fashion was for women to wear long skirts, corsets and elaborate amounts of fabric if they could afford it. During the ‘20s and ‘30s, hemlines began to rise and a set of couture fashion houses emerged which designed clothes that reflected the growing desire for clothes that helped people to enjoy themselves. Coco Chanel and Jeanne Lanvin from France produced chic clothes and e edgpopularized certain looks and styles. Perhaps they were the reason we now refer to fashion design rather than clothes design?

Rationing during World War Two and economic depressions had a radical effect on fashion during the 20th century. Many fashion houses closed during the war as most women could not afford to buy clothes that weren’t necessities and many materials were unavailable. People began to customise and make their own clothes from whatever materials were available.

“Make do and mend” became many household’s motto. Flour sacks were unpicked and sewn into dresses for girls during the Great Depression in America and in the UK during WWII evening dresses were made out of silk from airmen’s parachutes, jumpers were unpicked and knitted again and slippers made out of fabric scraps to prolong the life of your shoes.

When denim material was used by Levi Straus in the 19th century to make strong and durable clothes for gold miners he began a phenomenon. Designers and makers have gone on to create denim jeans for cowboys, movie stars and fashion icons and the material is now the default choice for many people wanting to be fashionable but also a littly.