20th Century Fashion 

Punk

Punk subculture is largely centered around loud , aggressive genre of rock music called punk rock. There is wide range of punk fashion in terms of hairstyles, clothing, footwear, accessories, body modification, makeup. Makeup is usually on the darker side. Clothes include baggy, rugged, ripped jeans, loose t-shirts again in dark colours, leather jackets, chains, bands etc. Vivienne Westwood has given her touch to the punk fashion in modern times.

Vivienne Westwood's take on punk 

Gothic

It began in England during the early 1980’s in the gothic scene. It has been associated with music, aesthetics and fashion. It started the black clothing. Typical gothic fashion include pale complexion with black hair, black lips and black clothes. The outfits used to be tight corsets, gloves, jackets, stilettos, silver jewellery. Designers like Rick Owens, Harooka Naota, Marko Mitanovski are few examples who work with the gothic style.

Marco Mitanovski's modern take on gothic designs

Harooka Naota's modern take

Zoot Suit

It was originally associated with afro-american musicians and there subcultures. Zoot suits is a men’s suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. It became popular in 1940’s. Zoot suiters often wear a fedora or pork pie hat color-coordinated with the suit, occasionally with a long feather as decoration, and pointy, French-style shoes. Often zoot suit was seen with a watch chain dangling from the belt to the knee, then back to the side pocket. Matteo Lamandini is an example who has modernized zoot suits.

Matteo Lamansini's work

FASHION HISTORY IN MIDDLE AGE

The Dark Ages documentary took us on a ride which showed us about the medieval Rome, European period, roman civilization, barbarian history and rise and fall of the roman civilsation.

During the Dark Age the economic conditions were not good. People did not have food to eat, so clothing was not an option in mind. But we could see that the kings and queens wore royal clothes like deep colors, embellished, crowns.

Class distinction was seen.

•  Earlier colors were not available. Colors also determined social status. Common public/ peasants used to wear undyed woolen/ linen tunics, fur which was locally hunted and cloaks whereas wealthy people, aristocrats, elite people, scholars used to import silk Byzontine and wore red robe associated with high cost of crimson red. Later Crusades brought colors, brocades, silk, gold threads etc into society.
•  The toga, a distinctive garment of Ancient Rome, was a cloth of perhaps 20 ft (6 m) in length which was wrapped around the body and was generally worn over a tunic. These were mainly worn for political business, religious rites, going for court and on other general days tunics and cloaks were worn.
•  Free citizens were required to wear togas because slaves would wear tunics.They wore them because the tunic was a sign of poverty and would let them work with ease.

Togas

  

• Nobles used to wear floor length garments and peasants shorter garments.
• Only wealthy people could afford jewellery but later due to trade, commerce more people could afford jewellery. Brooches with intricate designs and gems were used to pin the toga on shoulder and belts were also worn.

  

    

                                 

Brooches 

•  Shoes were long and pointy. Government set rules on how long the toe could be according to a person’s station in life.

Shoe

Earlier tunics/gowns hung loose but later they fit more closely to the body of both men and women.

Women used to wear gloves, had small purse hung down from belt, wore flowers in their hair, viels, hennins/wimples, high wasted gowns, V-neck burgundian gowns etc.

Gown

The length of the gown varied

-        Man – mid calf

-        Soldiers – was shorter

-        Woman – feet

-        Children – knees

High and late Middle Ages saw a use of buttons. Previously they were used for adornment but now they became functional.

Early gothic clothes were more elegant and simple in cut while late gothic was more of stiff fabrics. Men wore bob cuts to the jaw line with a bang across forehead and later trimmed hair was seen. Some clothes were seen parti-colored (vertical line dividing the garment in 2 colors).

Early medieval European dresses worn by invading people were short tunics while the Romanised population and the church wore longer tunics, often to the ankles. 

Ways of Seeing

We see different things around us all the time. Every other thing comprises of some or the other design but not everyone is able to catch hold of it. Littlest of things are designed keeping in mind its usage, who will use it and when will it be used. Things are designed with keeping ergonomics in mind. [Human factors and ergonomics (HF&E) also known as comfort design, functional design, and user-friendly systems, is the practice of designing products, systems or processes to take proper account of the interaction between them and the people who use them.]

For example a bottle, it has been designed keeping all the factors of its grip, texture, weight etc in notice. Mobile phone is such a user friendly device. It is so easy to use. Its size is according to our hands i.e. we can easily hold it. The icons on its screen are of such shapes and size which are easy to understand and easy to accessible. Same goes for signages on road and everywhere around us. They all are easy to understand/ interpreting. They give us the direct message.

Things are designed in such a way that it is easy for the public/ consumer to understand them and get handy with them. Everything around us can be complex or easy. It depends on the person/ consumer who is interpreting it. It is the person’s understanding of the object which makes the object easy or complex for him/ her. Logos for example are a particular way of writing which can be aesy as well as complex.

Colors also play an important role in the way we see. Colors might carry some emotions, meanings, signs etc with themselves. For eg – red color is an intense color, it tells us to stop and it even is the color of love;  blue color is nature’s color, it stands for peace, cold and is the color of sky; brown is also nature’s color, and tell us about solidarity and reliability. So different colors have different connections with them.

Patterns (repetition in a predictable manner or abstract which need some analysis to understand) for that matter also have meaning with them. Sometimes they are abstract and sometimes may tell a story. Like zebra crossing, is a repetition of colors black and white in rectangular shapes on a road.

Things will remain the same way they are. It will just depend on the person observing them as to how they will interpret it.

The Renaissance

The word Renaissance mans “rebirth” is the period in European civilization between 14^th – 17^th century in Europe. It was considered the bridge between the middle age and modern history. As a cultural movement it affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. It began in Italy and later spreading to the rest of the Europe. Its influence was felt in literature, philosophy, art, music, politics, science, religion and other aspects. It encompassed flowering of Latin and vernacular literature. In politics it contributed in the development of conventions of diplomacy. In science an increased reliance on observation. Renaissance is perhaps best known for its artistic developments of such polymaths as Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo.

It is known that people with abundance, power and control are tend to the trends and styles. It is true since the earlier times. Earlier monarchs and wealthy people used to set these trends.

The clothing clearly spoke about the social standing of the wearer.  The darker colours were previously associated with poor but later the wealthy people realized that such colours would do a better job in of showing off their jewels. The wealthy displayed their money by wearing garments made of expensive cloth which was imported fromm other countires likr velvet, silk, brocade, cotton (Cotton was at this time in history kind of hard to come by in and was thus a 'wealthy' fabric). Fur was also worn by those who could afford it. Lower classes had limited amount of options for cloths they could afford.

  

Women

The styles of garment changed from year to year but the basic style remained same. They wore long gowns comprised of tight fitting bodice and fuller/pleated skirts supported underneath by hoops made of wire or wicker and held together with ribbons or tapes. The the shoulder were broad. Dresses had deep necklines. The dresses for upper class were heavy and cumbersome which restricted them to do any work or even move. Women of lower class wore much looser clothes and corsets. All women's outfits started with a shift (a loose, linen smock worn to protect the gown), and stockings, which were normally knee-high. Petticoats were added both to fill out a gown and to keep the wearer warm. Women had lots of layers which even showed more the layers the wealthier she was.

Men
A man's outfit would start with a shirt utilizing lace collars and cuffs. Over this would go a doublet, or fitted top, and finally over that a jerkin, a close-fitting jacket. Men of the working class dressed for utility and might simply wear the shirt alone. Men's fashions were centered around a "square" silhouette that was achieved by widening the shoulders on vests and coats and padding them. Men would wear hose on their legs. The upper hose were (often poufy) knee-length trousers which were met by the nether hose, or stockings, on the lower leg. Doublets became shorter, creating a space between the upper hose and the doublet.

Children
Children in Renaissance England were considered simply small adults, and their dress reflected this. Children were dressed in clothing very similar to their parents, and both young boys and girls wore dresses during infancy and toddlerhood.

No outfit was complete without a headwear. Married women used to cover their hair with viels. Unmarried women used to have open hair to attract men.

Role of media in fashion

Fashion is a trend that spreads amongst people with the society. Hence, fashion styles are directly related to the society and it's choices. Media, therefore helps to promote these trends and ideas and opinions the society and it's people have about them. Media helps to globalise these fashion styles and help them become trends altogether.

In the earlier times too fashion was there. At that time there was no media as such so the the fashion was spread by paintings. Painters used to paint the kings and queens and then the paintings were sent to other courts and then the trend/fashion is spread. Not media but yes the paintings acted as a medium to spread fashion.

By the late 18^th century fashion media began to develop. The first fashion magazine, “The Lady’s Magazine“ was published in 1770’s which set in the industry of fashion images and journalism. Magazines not only helped to spread designs but also culture. 1870’s was the time when advertisements and editorials came in. In those times too celebrities modeled for the designers and then the designs were published in the magazines and as advertisements.They were the sources of transporting fashion from one place to another and spreading the fashion. Once a celebrity is seen in a fashion, he/she is much more likely to become popular. And from then the fashion media is at a boom.

Vogue, founded in the US in 1892, has been the longest-lasting and most successful of the hundreds of fashion magazines that have come and gone. Increasing affluence after World War II and, most importantly, the advent of cheap colour printing in the 1960s led to a huge boost in its sales, and heavy coverage of fashion in mainstream women's magazines—followed by men's magazines from the 1990s.

Magazines, newspapers, articles, advertisements etc are the various parts of media which are basic reasons behind the boom of the media industry. Advertisements are the sources to deliver the fashion trend to not only the common public , metropolitan cities but to the small towns and villages too. Media may become the maker or the reason of downfall for a brand. They are the ones who are behind the promotion of the designers and his/her designs. Fashion weeks are incomplete without the media rather any event is incomplete without them. If the media criticizes any brands’ collection, the designers take it into consideration and work upon it.

Without the media the fashion industry will have to face a lot of problems. Who will write about the designers , about their designs , about the fashion weeks. How will the designs of whether a high end label or a streetwear or a mid brand be advertised. How will people get to know about the fashion weeks/events. Media holds an important position in the fashion industry. 

Bloggers and Social media

                                                                 

1. http://adamgalla.tumblr.com/

Adam Gallagher

Adam is from California. He is a into menswear, lifestyle and travel. He is the founder of highly popular mens blog I AM GALLA. His blog came into being in 2009. His blog is all about mens clothing, styling tips,  travel trips and trend forecast. Blogging was a way of passing his time. Initially when he used to come back from his school he used to upload his daily outfits on a website called lookbook.nu which eventually grew into blog. he also has his website named http://iamgalla.com/ . He tries to blends his native Califronian style with New York fashion. And last thing is he is pretty hot!!

2. https://instagram.com/weworewhat/?hl=en

Danielle Bernstien

She is a 22 years old US based Fahion blogger. She is an insta-only fashion blogger and maintains her website http://weworewhat.com/  as well. She did an interview with Harpers bazaar in which she told about her earnings. Before the interview she had  992,000 followers. She charged upto anywhere between 500$ - 5000$ for a single sponsored post. After the interview her followers mark reached upto 1 million. Now with this follower count she can charge more amount of money.

3. Facebook

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg along with some of his University friendfs during their college days. Since they were students and had a young mind, they exactly knew how to attract the young population of the world which had a major proportion in the total population. Facebook can be used to chat with friends, share your ideas and thoughts with your friends. Anything can be shared, from pictures to videos to text. Facebook also allows its users to target a particular section of the society and share ideas with a large amount of people at a time by making pages. These pages can also be used for the promotion of certain ideas, or at times, products.  The revenue of the company for the year 2014 was US$12.466 billion. The site is now being widely used by almost all the section of the society for their own uses.

4. Snapchat

Snapchat was founded/created by  Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown. It was actually meant to be a project of one of the founding members. Snapchat is used to send video or photo messages to users with an option of adding text and drawings in it. One major benefit of snapchat is that the picture is only available for viewing for a particular amount of time and even if a screenshot is taken, a notification is sent to the sender, thus maintaining a high amount of security and privacy. There is also an option of adding story, which stays for 24 hours after it has been ended which is visible to all the friends of a particular user. Though it is only available for phones with front cameras and cant be used on pc, it has become a succesful app with a valunation of around 10 to 20 billion dollars.

5. Instagram

Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, and launched in October 2010 as a free mobile app. It was later bought by Facebook for approximately one billion in cash and stock. Instagram is a photo sharing and video sharing (maximum duration is 15 second) app available in all the smartphone stores whether Windows or Android or iOS. The photos which are uploaded are in a defined aspect ratio which remains same i.e 4:3. The images uploaded here can also be linked directly to apps such as facebook and twitter. It is along with a phto sharing site also considered a social networking platform.