Fashion in the Contemporary World - Essay Example

Fashion Introduction Fashion can be described as a custom or lifestyle. People have different fashion personality types. The personality types include modern classic, sporty natural, funky urbanite, trendy fashionista, artistic eclectic and bohemiah hippie. Fashion infiltrates all sectors in the world including music, clothing, electronics, furniture and motor industry. In addition, it exists in professions, politics and the body. The chief function of fashion is social identity. Fashion dates back to thousand of years ago. For example, Zinyab (musician) in the eight century introduced sophisticated clothing styles from Baghdad. On the other hand, fashion was introduced in the eleventh century to Middle East from Asia and Far East. Europe experienced changes in fashion in the fourteenth century. Fashions vary according to social class, age, generation, geography, occupation, personality and time. In addiction, fashion covers nearly every aspect in lives of people including the clothes and jewelry, household items and vehicles. A person who is fashion conscious and follows it lavishly is referred to as fashionista or a fashion victim. Fashion can be promising and enthralling. It can make some people addicted to some specific designs as well as emulate appearance and lifestyle of celebrity idols. This is because most people are influenced by suggestive messages and images of what happiness and success looks projected by magazine models. How the fashion process has changed in the contemporary society Fashion has changed over time since the time of our ancestors. According to Jones (4), German Professors and historians believe that clothes were first worn forty thousand (40,000) years ago; the evidence is based on the lice that existed in the time that could survive only on fabric. The ancestors of humankind (cave dwellers) wore animal hides to protect themselves from cold and wore loin clothes during the warmer seasons in their time. Chinese created silk from the silkworms’ moth cocoons thousand of years ago while Eli Whitney invented cotton in 1972. Both cotton and silk are used to make fashionable styles of clothes. Europe witnessed a great time of change in thought and social change normally refereed to as Age of Enlightenment in the 1700s. The manufacturing machines made people to leave their long time farming activity to work in factories to produce clothing. The breakthroughs in 1700s and 1800s created room for mass production of clothes and changes in the fashion industry. Some of the break through that brought changes in the fashion industry include the invention of flying shuttle by John Kay in 1733. Edmund Cartwright invented weaving machines powered by water while Elias Howe and Isaac Singer invented singer sewing machines in 1851. The fashion in the contemporary society is no longer the preserve of the rich and most affluent in the society. The poor and the middle class are also sucked into the fashion cravings and are working hard to adopt personality and lifestyle of the fashion idols. Fashion was associated with moral decay and most people looked fashion enthusiasts and followers with a lot of contempt in the past. However, in the contemporary society, fashion is more acceptable and encouraged. This is driven by the huge amount of revenues and many jobs that fashion creates and generates. Furthermore, fashion has been identified as an appropriate phenomenon that helps people understand the modern world. Fashion in the contemporary world In the contemporary society, the women clothing were more feminine and more fitting to enhance the women’s physique. Dresses and skirts also have become increasingly popular among the contemporary women. The women prefer leggings of many as colors as opposed to black and white legging only that existed in the past. Furthermore, Lamb, Hair, and McDaniel (94) claim that young girls prefer to wear tank tops, vest tops and T-shirts tucked in skirts that are high waist. Current women prefer opaque tight leg wears and capris are becoming increasingly popular among girls. On the other hand, Lamb and Hair (94) said men assume the sophisticated urban look. The power and black suits are increasingly becoming more common among younger men. This replaced bulky double and single-breasted jackets of the yester years. Professional men are adopting more fitting dress skirts as well as black dress shoes and the dress pants (Dines: 102). In addition, layering and rolled buttoned shirts are becoming increasingly popular among the male population. Generally, most men and women professional s are slowly shifting from casual Fridays to formal Fridays. According to Hegbloom (88), younger generations prefer low rise and slung jeans, vest tops, polo shirts and cropped trousers. The young generation wears bandanas and camouflage patterns that epitomize hip hop sub culture promoted by Lil Wayne and Kanye West. Inc Icon Group International Inc. (54) claimed baseball caps and bonnie hats are still popular among most men. Finally, Easey (47) suggested that tracksuits and trainers are becoming a social uniform. Tracksuits and trainers are worn during shopping, housework, when looking after children and when walking the dogs. Drivers of fashion There are various factors that drives fashion in the contemporary world, the fist is the social status, designers and the media. In the past, it was the wealthy people who determined the pace of fashion. However, the poor and the middle class members of the society are actively involved on fashion matters. The tailors and the people who made the dresses were the key persons behind creativity and innovation in the fashion industry in the past. In 1850s, Levi Straus invented blue jeans as well as sturdy canvas that became popular for minors and heavy blue denim to replace canvas. Currently, professional designers are driving the fashion in the clothing industry. For example, Charles F. Worth opened the first Couture house Parish in 1858 for pricey designs targeting royalty and affluent American patrons while Gabrielle made wardrobe staples especially wool jersey cardigan very popular. The designers drive and influence the global fashion through regular fashion days and weeks where they exhibit their latest clothes in the major cities such as London, Paris, Milan and New York. In the twenty first century, media is driving the fashion industry. This has given birth to fashion journalism. According to Svendsen (29), fashion has been decratized since eighteenth century. In the contemporary society, fashion magazines are printed in bright and conspicuous colors on flossy papers. New magazines such as Runway and Vogue are emerging fashion magazines. Every periodicals and newspapers contain sizeable number of pages on fashion. In addition, most fashions are being communicated digitally through the computers and iPads via the internet (blogs). The fashion weeks and days in Paris, Milan, New York, London and other places are broadcasted in most media houses including the National TV broadcasts. Television fashion coverage was smaller in 1950s but became more profound and frequent in 1960s and 1970s. However in 1980s, fashion television appeared boldly. The media campaign on fashion is directed to female and male, young and old as well as rich and poor. Responsible consumers and contemporary fashionable society Jepson (29) claimed that one million and two hundred thousand (1.2 million) tons of clothes are emptied into landfills annually. Furthermore, cloths has influenced the raw materials supply chain, farmers, textile processing, garment design and construction as well as frequent exploitation of the laborers that are engage in the production of the clothes. Fashion opponents are raising the red flag over the effect of fashion on the environment and the population. In addition, fashion generates cravings for new things even when the existing ones could have satisfied the need at hand. As a result, people buy what they do not need and end up filling their wardrobes with many cloths. For example, emerging bargain fashion from renowned value retailers such as Tesco, Primark and Matalan are shifting the purchasing habits of most consumers. Bargain fashion creates insatiable appetite among the consumers and is turning to be an epidemic because consumers loose the ability to know when they are satisfied. To respond to the needs of the environment, friendly trainers and flip flops made of used products such as worn or old car tyres, plastic bottles and raincoats have been made in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The fashion industry According to Jepson (28), residents in the United Kingdom spend over twenty-three (23) billion pounds annually on clothing. The large amount of spending is fueled by fashion that creates insatiable appetite for the latest pair of shoes, hair and dress. It was estimated that consumer credit driven by fashion by the end of June 2007 was two hundred and fourteen (214) billion pounds. Despite the huge amount of money spend on clothing, United Kingdoms residents remained discontented and crave for more. Conclusion Fashion industry dates back to thousands of years ago. German historians estimated that wearing of fabric materials began over forty thousand (40,000) years ago and fashion has been instrumental in driving change in the clothing industry. It is evident that most people United Kingdom spend huge amounts of pounds to keep in tune with the cloth fashions. Fashion is a very strong form of communication that causes thousands of people to get addicted to new, fast changing trends, and cut across all areas of consumption. People across the social strata are becoming social conscious and have begun to appreciate fashion as part of the society. References Dines, Gail. Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality. Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 2010. Easey, Mike. Fashion Marketing. 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2008. Goodrum, Alison L. The national fabric: fashion, Britishness, globalization. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2005. Hegbloom, K. Sliding Past. Ugly: Indiana iUniverse, 2010. Inc Icon Group International. Trends: Websters Quotations, Facts and Phrases. California: Inc Icon Group International Inc., 2008 Jepson, Joanna. Christian comment on Culture Is it all transient glitz and conspicuous consumption, or can our passion for glad rags reflect creativity of ultimate Designer? ThirdWay (Sep 2008):44 Jones, Jen. Fashion History: Looking Great Through the Ages Minnesota: Capstone Press, 2007. Lamb,C., Hair, J. and McDaniel, C. Marketing. 10th ed. London: Cengage Learning, 2008. Sokolowski, Colin. The Accidental Adult: Essays and Advice for the Reluctantly Responsible and Marginally Mature. USA: Adams Media, 2010. Svendsen, Lars Fr. H. Fashion: a philosophy . London: Reaktion Books, 2006. Read More