Fashion is a global language that is spoken by many and understood by all. The fashion industry has boomed and has been expanding exponentially over the last 100 years with its influence only set to soar in the coming years. Year after year, the world has witnessed the evolution of fashion where new trends are introduced and explored, and people of the world continue to be influenced by them and the many fashion icons. But, did you know that in the initial 1920s, fashion was considered a choice of wealth? That was the time when Coco Chanel came into the limelight and only wealthy people could afford it. However, that definitely evolved in the next few years. Fashion became a way to express one’s personality as it became more affordable and sustainable.
In the initial few years, fashion was mainly targeted towards women with long embellished ball gowns, corsets, pencil skirts, and more. But now, in the last few years, more and more men have started to become a part of the fashion revolution too. Their voices are being heard and appreciated, and they are also following fashion trends. The fashion world today is an amazingly influential, competitive, and exciting space. It has also made its way into strong and impactful movements throughout history like the pride movement. And today, a lot of young children also continue to aspire to make fashion their dream and their reality. This is how the evolution of fashion has transformed from being a luxury to an everyday necessity.
Source: Clem Onojeghuo Fashion Today
The fashion industry dominates the globe today and employs over 300 million people across the world. This sector is a major contributor towards employment and GDP growth in developed and developing countries. With over a €200 billion yearly turnover, it includes the textile, clothing, leather and footwear sector cumulatively, and it’s become twice as big as the computer and IT sector across the world. Fashion has also opened up career opportunities for plenty of creative individuals and it sets a professional course unlike any other. This industry is glamorous, ever-evolving, and absolutely rewarding. If you are planning to get into the fashion industry, there are plenty of career options to choose from including fashion designer, textile designer, illustrator, stylist, personal shopper/buyer, and about 100 more! For each of them, you need to be armed with the right amount of passion, interest, creativity, and artistic ability. Not to mention, commitment and perseverance. Being a fashion designer is probably the most sought after field in the industry in today’s times. For someone specifically going for fashion designing, you could opt for womenswear, menswear, footwear, lingerie, activewear, handbags, etc. It is a field specifically designed for someone with a keen sense of fashion, attention to detail, and a creative spirit. But, what’s interesting is that this is not where the scope of fashion as a career ends. It only begins there! How it All Started
Fashion can be described as something as simple as creating apparel for the masses, but today’s fashion industry is so much more than that. However, that wasn’t always the case. Through centuries, fashion has developed, but today we’ll closely look at how it came into existence. The very first time ‘fashion’ came into existence was when clothing was created in Rome and Egypt in order to differentiate between the rich and poor. As we entered the 20th century, real fashion came into existence due to the establishment of the entertainment industry. Apparel started being created for movies and shows, and it led to a whole new era of inspirational fashion. Fabrics started becoming cheaper and fashion spread to all the masses, not just for the rich.
The first-ever sewing machine was invented in 1790. Before that, pieces of apparel were hand sewn. With the help of sewing machines, clothes could be created faster and with less manual work. This brought up many opportunities for the so-called fashion industry of that time. The beginning of fashion design was marked in 1826 when Charles Fredrick Worth established one of the foremost fashion houses called House of Worth. He was an English fashion designer that gave fashion to the masses. Until then, fashionable apparel was worn by the rich as a status symbol. That was the beginning of fashion as we know it today.
As the era of fashion houses was underway, they started looking for creative individuals (later known as fashion designers) to showcase their talent by creating sewing patterns for garments and helping out customers by choosing apparel that will look good on their body type. This turned out to be revolutionary because the designers would show the customers finished products rather than ideas of the garments. As more and more finished garments started rolling out of fashion houses designed especially for customers, the fashion houses experienced a massive boom in their sales and popularity. Fashion became a kind of cultural movement for people that helped them dress as they like because now garments were being created especially for them. This accelerated the evolution of fashion further.
Source: Clarke Sanders Fashion Trends and How They Have Evolved
Fashion came into the big picture of society in the late 1800s and it has massively evolved since then! From shimmery ball gowns and bell bottoms, fashion has now become an expression of a person’s personality and how they express themselves. But, how did that happen? Let’s step into the fashion time machine and take a journey through the evolution of fashion - Parisian Fashion
Paris is definitely the fashion capital of the world and we’ll tell you why! During the 1800s, Paris’ fashion scene took off because individual fashion designers came into the limelight. Instead of designing luxurious clothing for the rich that suited their status, designers created haute couture. This was customized fashion for the masses. People started wearing bulk produced creations of fashion houses with the designer’s label on their clothes and soon the trend of haute couture spread to different parts of the world. It was picked up by the United States and then the rest of the world and the practice continues to stay on even today. The Hemline Changes
Right after World War I, women’s fashion choices changed dramatically. Hemlines became shorter, waistlines were dropped and women made bold and independent choices in their clothing. Culturally, the development of women’s fashion has had a great push due to the fact that women started exploring all corners of the business and corporate world from the 1920s. They threw out the concept of corsets of restricting undergarments that highlighted their curves and stuck to items that were straight, less bulky and more comfortable.
The Great Depression hit in 1929 followed by World War II and that's when fashion took a backseat and clothes that were durable became the frontline. But, right after the World War in the 1950s, fashion grabbed the spotlight once again. Various new styles became available for men and women, and Europe started becoming the new hub of fashion for the world. In terms of female fashion, evening wear was the new fad. Cocktail dresses, gowns and styles of lingerie came into existence. Although ready-to-wear clothing was in fashion, the unique styles made them popular. When rock and roll Hollywood came into the picture, so many styles were invented and the young generation became obsessed with clothing. As the decade changed, so did the style. And, then we came into the 2000s. Fashion is and will be at its peak for decades to come and it only inspires change in people’s thinking and outlook. This huge creative and glamorous world is ever-evolving and gives us opportunities to create masterpieces out of simple pieces of fabric! If anything, we can simply call it magic.