What is fashion? [session 5]

• Fashion is a statement of ones individuality
• Art
• Diverse
• Expressive
• Time line
• Trend
• Religion/culture
• Sexual advertisements
• Status, wealth, personality- Labels
• Gender identity
• Non verbal communication
• Performance of identity

Fashion is NOT:

• Limited or restricted
• Always accepted
• clothing

Charles Frederick Worth
Charles was born in England and worked in several London drapery shops before moving to Paris, the fashion capital in 1846, where he made his mark on the fashion industry. Worth is seen as the first fashion designer and is credited as the first fashion designer to put labels onto the clothing. he manufactured. Worth gave his customers luxurious materials and meticulous fit. He completely revolutionised the business of dressmaking. He was the first of the couturiers, dressmakers considered artists rather than mere artisans. Worth was also responsible for the development of the first fashion magazine. By the 1860's stylish women could see original designs by Worth in a publication Harpers Bazaar. As new designers appeared, their designs and creations could also be seen in the new fashion magazines. By the turn of the twentieth century, this was the primary method of spreading the news of the fashion trends in Paris. At first, the gowns were illustrated with drawings, but as photography developed and became more sophisticated in the early twentieth century, the fashion press used more and more photographs of new designs. At the same time, fashion and art were merging. These artists not only painted, but also created textile designs and fashion illustrations. Until the Second World War, even mainstream fashion journals like Vogue and Vanity Fair continued to publish fashion illustration by modern artists, encouraging the connections between fashion designers and visual artists. Charles Frederick Worth also introduced the first couture house. Haute Couture' is the French word for the highest, most exclusive work a big fashion house produces

Paul Poiret was a French fashion designer. His contributions to twentieth-century fashion have been likened to Picasso's contributions to twentieth-century art. Poiret moved to the House of Worth, where he was responsible for designing simple, practical dresses. Poiret established his own house in 1903, and made his name with the controversial kimono coat. Though perhaps best known for freeing women from corsets and for his original inventions including hobble skirts. The simplicity of his clothing represented a "pivotal moment in the emergence of modernism" generally, and "effectively established the paradigm of modern fashion, irrevocably changing the direction of costume history.

What is Fashion Design?

• A system of signs, symbols and iconography 

that non-verbally communicates meanings 

about individuals and groups

• Largely used to express individual identity

• Capitalism/Consumption

• Ethics

• Power

• Gender Identity- through fashion plays with the stereotyped way of portraying male and female as well as the challenges to the dominant ideologies that are conveyed by the signs of the body.

• Identity- the visible performance of out outward identity

• The Body

• Response to politics


Werner Sombart takes the view that spending (especially by women) on luxuries such as clothing for conspicuous consumption are a significant part, and has been a key feature of capitalism ever since its original accumulation phase. "Fashion is capitalism's favourite child."