Fashion Design and Development - Essay Example

Fashion Design and Development Fashion is global. It is able to speak a language that is louder than any other format. Once Bennett an said fashion is parallel with identity. In this essay I explain in detail that statement with support from real examples. I found out that most of the personalities, moods and recognition abilities are supported extensively by fashion. The way a person dresses and utilizes their wear is known as fashion. It is the distinctive way of style in dressing that is unique and specific to an individual that when another person notices them they automatically associate them with that specific fashion sense. The word can be used to depict a wide variety of items ranging from shoes, furniture, clothes, and hair style. Better yet fashion goes far beyond to also depict tattoos, earrings, rings and any form of piercing that might be done on an individual. The majority of relevant cultures in the world, which in this case means the Chinese people, Japanese, notably Indians, Europeans and Americans all of them have different types of senses of fashion. A visitor in these countries would not only notice the diversity and difference in cultures but a visitor would also notice the difference in the mode in which the different people dress and apply ornaments of beauty (Braham, 1997, pg. 74). In 2005 a writer by the name Bennett wrote about fashion and said that fashion is one of the only major ways in which a person can be uniquely described and articulated. Those are the powerful words that he used to describe fashion and human identities together. It is thanks to that statement that this essay will devour enough material to understand what he meant and what he had in mind when he so intelligently personalized fashion to identities. Bennett had taken note of the power of images. What is seen lasts longer in the memory than any material we might read or any data we might hear. Hence when we keep looking at a person, sooner enough we start noticing a trend. It barely takes a couple of days for an individual to notice a trend in dressing then they assign an identity to that individual. This is the reason why Bennett saw fashion as an art of expression which cannot lie about the character, profession, behavior or taste of an individual (Bennett, 2005, pg. 163). There is a statement to be made in fashion, an individual will seek to entice or impress other groups of people through fashion. Therefore fashion cannot be narrowed down to just a mere cloth. We cannot say that a person looks fabulous because they have dressed nicely. There are more direct inputs that should be utilized in order to produce a person worthy of fashion recognition (Enwistle, 2000, pg. 98). Therefore fashion needs to be supported by the style on the hair, the make ups, shoes maybe and also any form of jewelry donned. Other than linguist the reason why we are able to for example recognize an Indian is their mode of dressing. Everybody knows that an Indian lady will tend to wear a sari. No other culture in the world manufactures such clothing for daily donning other than the Indians (Braham, 1997, pg. 283). Fashion creates a sense of knowledge and familiarization with a person too. When an individual is recruited in the police force we cannot know that such a person is a police woman or a police man if they walked in town casually. That is why the concept of uniforms came through to visually inform an individual that they are at the presence of a person involved in a certain profession. When we see a policeman we do not notice their tag but we notice what they are wearing. The uniform is so uniquely theirs such we cannot possibly fail to notice them. This is because we have seen them for a long time, we know the color, the shape and the type of people who don such types of clothes. Therefore the uniform act as both an identity format and also it harbors certain kinds of information (Barnard, 1996, pg. 82). When we see a nurse, we recognize them through the uniforms and through that we are able to know that he or she will help us in treatment or any other medical help. Likewise when we notice a policeman, the mind will register the uniform but then again it will also tell us that the police represents security, and they are around for our own good in terms of taking care of us and they represent authority. Fashion in its own splendor is able to speak more about an individual than anything else. With fashion as a virtual speech representing more than clothing, it is able to explain the following questions about an individual-: I. Social status and economic stage of an individual II. Sex and gender associated to an individual III. Ethnicity and nationality of a person. Moving deeper into the true meaning of fashion, we find that it can be able to crack the economic theory of a person. Bennett once said that, though with all honesty you do not want to show off and reveal some aspects about your life. Fashion has a way of exposing these bits to the world more openly. Places that an individual imbibes in or eats and the kind of items being consumed tell a lot about that person (Bennett, 2005, pg. 68). Currently the world has embraced gadgets as the new trend. Cars have been made to depict class, taste and sophistication. Therefore what a person eats and what a person drives, the places that they visit to have fun. Show the kind of sophistical nature larking with that individual. It also shows the economic status. A poor man cannot be engaging in certain activities because there choices to make, while a rich person engages in rituals that speak rich. Fashion therefore has a taste factor somewhere in between. We talk of furniture, cars, food that is fashion when well expounded. Hence we are easily able to know a classy individual because fashion rarely lies. When such an individual is dressed up, we are able to get even more information, for example, we begin to know where the individual came from, profession and ethnicity (Crane, 2000, pg. 156). Gender is a subject that can be regarded as common knowledge. We know a man is a man because of their biological features. They are muscular, they are tall, heavy voices and they perform jobs that are tough in nature. This are people who were created to work. They are producers, they look for food, money and they offer protection to their families (Craik, 1994, pg. 211). Females on the other are what we can call feminists and soft. Their biological features are distinct, not created to devour tough jobs, they are beautiful and they have soft voices. Generally they are not born for toughness. That is why the fashion code of a man is different from a woman’s. Therefore we are able to understand why women have variety of clothes to choose from while men have limited choice. A man is meant to be a worker, therefore his kind of clothes are not for show off, rather they are meant for convenience and assisting men to perform their tasks better. Therefore we find that men’s clothes are not regularly reinvented or diversified. That is part of fashion that plays to show a gender factor. Women on the other hand show off a lot of feminism. Their clothes are enormous in variety, because women clothes are aesthetic in nature. Women are supposed to be beautiful therefore regularly designers are always on the board trying to sketch up a new fashion. Therefore, when we see a man, we can know he is a man by the kind of clothes that they are wearing compared to women. Women wear the kind of clothes that speak of woman hood. Therefore fashion once again reveals a gender identity in both sexes (Crane, 2000, pg. 167). At one time, though rarely we notice a woman posing on the fashion magazines. Maybe the main aim is to advertise a certain type of trending fashion or product. Normally the woman is shown wearing skimpily, in an image that has an aura of strong sexuality and beauty. Shock engulfs many people, when in some situations they realize that the woman they were drooling over, is actually not a woman but a man. This is very true, there are men who have perfected the art, making them fashion models. They dress like sexy ladies apply make up, and put on hairstyles that are feminine. At first site obviously we notice a woman and not a man, the argument is a full proof enough to show that clothing sense depicts gender (Enwistle, 2000, pg. 54). Nationality or ethnicity can be noted easily through body features. But the kind of dressing is also a worthy determinant among the rest. Like earlier noted Indians are very much easily conspicuous. This is because the sari is Indian as the name India itself. Their women wear clothes that are easily recognizable and hence it becomes easy to know the nationality. But fashion is global, some communities dress the way they do due to some aspects that are beyond their grasp. Therefore we find that when other minorities move into this communities the new comers find themselves changing their mode of dressing. Factors that influence fashion sense include-: I. Religion II. Climate III. Culture When people move in the Middle East for example, they find Islam religion as very dominant in this area. The religion stands for conservatism at its best, therefore a Caucasian cannot go around wearing miniskirts in the name of business or work trip. The local people are likely to justify that kind of dressing as a disrespect and the person may actually lose business if it was the motive behind the visit. Therefore in such a case the choice is dictated by the market forces and conditions of an environment. The Caucasian will have no choice but to dress well. For example Hillary Clinton would don a hijab when visit the Middle East (Godarf, 2012, pg. 123). The UK is another fine example of an environment that has changed some minorities. When the Indians found themselves in England through whichever means, they discovered rudely that the world surely is cold. Previously this people would only wear a sari or any other traditional cloth and they never bothered with any other type of clothing. In the UK, this people find themselves having no choice but to go forth and purchase a cot, cardigan or any other outer warm material available in the stores. By doing this they create another unique style, a warm cloth on the outside then maybe a traditional sari on the inside. This is a fashion created out of necessity (Gonzalez, 2012, pg. 64). As these families settle in England and their children grow in the foreign environment. It is obvious that the children will go to the same schools as the English and they will have to work in the country like normal humans. Here is where career and professionalism dictates what to be dressed. Therefore depending on the kind of work, their children soon forget about the traditions and they wear like the UK people. This can be called as civilization but fashion identifies career as earlier mentioned (Enwistle, 2000, pg. 261). Therefore fashion is bigger and plays a role than earlier thought. Personality and fashion are parallel. Character and attitude are also parallel to fashion. Persons are able to display the following with their dressing-; I. Sexy II. Feminine III. Sharp IV. Religious. In short the above display narrows down to attitude, confidence and comfort ability. Fashion does not only identify a human, it also sets the mood. That is why, when a person is poorly dressed they feel less accomplished and they feel demoralized and the result is that, people squirm a lot and also they keep pulling or trying to set a bad shape here and there. Fashion identifies that’s the best it does. It pinpoints a person who is not comfortable in themselves and a person who is (Crane, 2000, pg. 89). Women are able to express more with their clothes than men. Women have an aura that is hard to ignore. If they want to show sex appeal, they just change the look. Prostitutes for example dress in such a way, that a man knows she must be involved in the ancient trade. If a woman just wants to entice a man, the mode of dressing solves much of this seamlessly. Therefore clothes define the mood around a place or the mood within a person. Hence identity as we know it, would not have possible without fashion. From uniforms worn by some professions, to a normal casual wear helps identify a person. This is the reason why nationalities are easily recognized. Meanwhile as the world becomes one for all, chances are that, for example young Indian ladies living in England will forget their traditional wears and only don them during special times such as marriage, or when attending a temple, but the kind of jobs available will not facilitate the wearing of the traditional cloth. Hence fashion designers are coming with designs that have a percentage of tradition and a little percentage of world trend (Gonzalez, 2012, pg. 86). With these designs the modern Indian ladies will don sophistication, but another interesting observation will be noticed. That the ladies are English Indians. Once again fashion accurately identifies an individual even with progress. Brunet hence was right when he said, fashion and identity share the same bed. List of references Barker, C. (2000) ‘Youth, Style and Resistance’, in, Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. London: Sage. Barnard, M. (1996) Fashion as Communication. London: Routledge. Craik, J. (1984). Fashion, Clothes, Sexuality. (Vol.2). n.p.  Bennett, A. (2005) ‘Fashion’, in, Culture and Everyday Life. London: Sage. Braham, P. (1997) ‘Fashion: unpacking a cultural prodcution’, in, P. Du Gay (ed.), Production of Culture/Cultures of Production. London: Sage. Craik, J. (1994) ‘Fashioning Masculinity’, in, J. Craik (ed.), The Face of Fashion. London: Routledge. CRANE, D. (2000). Fashion and its social agendas: class, gender, and identity in clothing. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. Enwistle, J. (2000) The Fashioned Body. Malden, USA: Blackwell Publishers Inc. GODART, F. (2012). Unveiling fashion: business, culture, and identity in the most glamorous industry. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire [England], Palgrave Macmillan. GONZÁLEZ, A. M., & BOVONE, L. (2012). Identities through fashion: a multidisciplinary approach. London, Berg Publishers. Kratz, C; Reimer, B. 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