News — Fashion Yesterday and Today

Fashion has been an age long phenomenon that has always surfaced in every human society across the world. Human beings all over the world have great need to cover themselves and also makeup in order to look good. Fashion trends have always showcased in every nation on a regular basis. Different kinds of fashion accessories and other fashion related products have continued to be in great demand all over the world.

Actually, fashion development has been a progressive thing. Generally, the term fashion refers to popular styles and practices seen in the area of clothing, makeup, footwear, furniture and accessories. However, the term mainly refers to clothing, makeup and accessories when considered in a strict sense. The development of fashion can be considered in four major phases namely, ancient, medieval, industrial revolution and contemporary phases. Let's examine each phase.

Ancient Phase 
Fashion development in the ancient phase dates back to the pre-historic era when people made use of local materials in producing the cloths they put on. In those days, animal skin and fur were mainly used. This was seen in ancient historical era of various cultures of the world. In the ancient era, cultural traditions influence the kind of styles and patterns used in the production of local wears. There was no widely accepted pattern or approach used. Clothing materials were either homemade or handmade.

Medieval Phase 
The medieval phase in fashion development made a great impact in the history of fashion all over world. The era witnessed the emergence of local tailors and other dressmakers who used local fabrics in the production of different kinds of fashion attires. Fashion production in the period continued to improve from one level to the other. The renaissance period of 14th to 16th centuries that marked the end of the middle ages also made great impact in fashion development. During this period, great ideas about fashion started springing up in the lives of great men and women who later become famous fashion designers.

Industrial Revolution Phase 
Fashion development got a huge boost during the period of industrial revolution that swept across Europe and America in the 18th century. It was a great period of change which saw the introduction of diverse methods of production. There was a widespread adoption of diverse kinds of industrial methods of mass production in the era. Mass production of fashion products became the order of the day in the period. Several big fashion firms emerged both in Europe and in the US during the era. Diverse kind of approaches and patters were also introduced in fashion production during the period. Several attires, wears and fashion accessories were also produced. Great fashion designers also emerged during the era.

The Contemporary Phase 
After the industrial revolution, the contemporary period came to the fore. It all started in the early 20th century and also entered into the modern day era as well. Fashion development in this era has actually reached its pinnacle. The world is now witnessing the establishment of fashion plants in various countries. Great manufacturers of fashion products have also emerged. Sophisticated sewing machines and other tools have been invented for mass production of fashion products. Diverse kinds of approaches and patterns are also introduced in the fashion industry. Many countries now import and also export fashion products.

In all, fashion development is indeed a continuous process. It moves from one stage to the order. The world is now witnessing the development of fashion in the ever dynamic internet technology. Lots of fashion designers and their companies now operate online. The future is indeed very bright for fashion production across the world.

Hilary Umeoka is a versatile writer

To understand fully what fashion production is all about, it's very important to have a look at what the term "fashion" stands for. Generally speaking, fashion refers to different styles on practices in the area of clothing, makeup, accessories and even furniture. In a very strict sense, the term only refers to trends in wears or apparels. Hence, the production of fashion as discussed in this write-up is only limited to clothing, wears, attires and dresses.

Fashion production as it relates to clothing has actually come a very long way. Basically, the term refers to the manufacturing of various kinds of clothing materials, dresses, and fashion accessories. Several factors have always influenced the production process. Over the years, several kinds of fashion attires have actually been produced. Many of them have cultural and traditional undertones. In the ancient times, people made use of local materials like animal skin and fur in producing the attires they put on. Different kinds of clothing styles were also produced through such local means. However, there was a notable improvement in fashion production during the period of industrial revolution of the late 18th century. It was a great awakening era that swept across Europe, America and other continents of the world. The era witnessed the establishment of various fashion production plants both in Europe and other continents. Several fashion manufacturers emerged. Different kinds of patterns and approaches were also introduced in the production process. Lots of quality clothing materials, fashion dresses and accessories were also produced.

In the contemporary times, the production of fashion is still ongoing. The fashion industry in the modern times is moving at a very high speed. Different kinds of approaches have been introduced. There's also the infusion of technology into the production of clothing materials. Different kinds of sophisticated sewing machines and tools have been invented. Gone are the days when fashion production is only limited to the local tailor or dressmaker along the street. Today, large corporations have come into the fashion business. Several fashion brands have been established. Lots of quality readymade garments, men's wears, women's wears, and even kids' wears have been produced.

Again, fashion production is now a very lucrative course in colleges and universities. Interested individuals can go through the education process in order to bag degrees in the area of cloth production. Great innovative ideas have always emerged from the fashion education process. The results are also quite obvious. The world is now witnessing an upsurge of fashion trends on yearly basis. Different kinds of fashion products and accessories are all over the place. The fashion industry is indeed actually thriving in various nations of the world. Great fashion plants, firms, selling outlets are up and running in various countries.

Finally, fashion production has also gone the internet way. Many great fashion companies now operate online. Lots of innovative ideas about fashion can be found online. Different kinds of fashion wears and accessories are also marketed online. Wholesale and retail fashion marketing are also causing waves on the internet. Mass production of fashion products is also thriving on the internet. The world is yet to witness a lot as the fashion industry continues to soar high.

Hilary Umeoka is prolific writer

We are living in a world surrounded by numerous things that are either related to the technology, the latest gadgets or the latest fashion. And Fashion today has made its significance felt in almost all sectors of life. Fashion can be termed into two groups: One group which follows fashion trends and adopts them and the other group who create fashion and style statements for the others to follow them. It can also be extended to another set of people who rarely have anything to do with fashion trends but yet follow their own style to create their own unique personality; adding one more style to the fashion world.

Fashion is not just about cosmetics and make up or the hair-do. It is a sense of creating the charisma of looking good in anything you wear and this magic is created with the right kind of accessories going along with the foot wear and the clothes, making up a pleasant picture to view. Many a times, people who do not afford to buy expensive clothes look their best in their casual wear, just by presenting themselves in that manner of sophistication and creating an aura around them with the confidence of looking good.

There are myriad forms of fashion, and trends keep on changing with the seasons. From the early 60s and 70s to the present millennium, there has been an immense change in the forms, looks and thoughts about fashion trends.

In India, much of fashion has been influenced by the Hindi Film Industry, popularly called Bollywood. The trends that have changed through time can be fairly seen in the movies made during the 60s and 70s and how they have evolved in various forms bringing about a style that can be followed by the general public. People have aped the west from very early times and this was no exception. The clothes made in the 60s and 70s were very much influenced by the western countries and given a traditional touch. The Bell Bottoms, scarves and the hair style was very much prevalent in those days as an icon of style. Later in the 80s and 90s, Fashion world sizzled like never before. There was a craving by the people to look different, stylish and modern and this could be seen in their outlook towards their outfit, new styles of hair, makeup, accessories like purses, earrings, necklaces, matching footwear etc.

People were conscious about each and every new thing that was marketed and they copied the styles from their Bollywood idols. Bollywood started as a platform for theatre artistes and went on to become a commercial entry to the youths and aspirants for a career in the film and fashion industry. This gave the youth of today to emphasize on the fashion world. Art and music have become an inseparable thing of the past and so it is deeply rooted in the present as well with more features and facilities.

Today fashion, art, music, designers, dance etc all have a place in the industry and people can choose to take up anything related to this industry as their profession too. Art and music have long been implemented in the school co-curricular activities and the Higher colleges are now offering various courses for better professionalism in these areas. There are also various acting schools and the small screen i.e., the television has opened up avenues in bringing out the talent in the young minds through numerous platforms of music and dance. This is the innovation of the millennium in creating jobs and work in the fashion industry. The trends that we see are brought about by the fashion houses that have regular seasons to showcase their invention, many of which are popularized in FTV, Zee Trendz and TLC channels. We can also get a glimpse of the stylish outfits through these shows that the models present. Today, Modelling is also one of the platforms for an entry into the world of fashion.

In the yester years, fashion was constrained only to the actors in the film or those that were bold enough to carry themselves in the public that they were considered fashionable. Others just wooed them behind close doors. Slowly when times began changing, we could see the women showing off their styles in the traditional saree with an embroidered blouse and a different neck style. Then we saw the saree being draped in various styles like the Bengali style or the Gujarati style etc. The women were liberating their choice of freedom and it could be seen in their appearances with a high heeled slipper or the handbag she carried or the way she held her saree or the hair and the makeup she wore. All these changes brought about the invention of churidhars and then the salwar kameez and finally the fashion of dresses was out in the open. Women accepted to the fact that there was nothing wrong in looking good and the men of course, loved to see the attractive side of women and fantasized the idea over their spouses.

This change in attitude of the public was very well taken by the fashionistas and a huge market was created to meet the demands of the public. Today fashion creates a new look with distinct style for a particular person and keeps oneself updated with the latest trends seen in the market. This industry is popular for its glamour as well as the mixture of Indian tradition and culture put into the designer wear that the models showcase.

People love to experiment different textures of materials used in the outfits and so the designers give them a wide collection of dresses using all kinds of clothes. There is the traditional Khadi and silk combination that is presently creating waves seen in both men's and women's wear. Then we have the embroidery work in zardosi, swarovski studded tops and lehangas and multi stoned work in bridal collection sarees etc. Then the most sought materials like cotton, polyster, chiffon, crush materials used in varied iconoclastic designs and styles.

Always there is a hope for the designers that the youth want a change in the fashion and are glad to keep up the trend with a fusion of Indian and western mix of fashionable wear. Also the youth of today are very practical in their sense of styling for a particular occasion. Be it a party or for a marriage or the casual look, they want the best and they believe in looking the best. And to achieve this, people go one step ahead in ensuring that they have everything in their wardrobe for any kind of occasion.

Apart from the stylish clothes and fashion that is currently popular people want to try something that goes along with their outlook. So the market started towards the very own friend of a woman- The Hand Bag or the Purse. The Fresh look of a purse with magnificent colours and its stylish features like the chain handle or the jazzy zips with numerous pockets in different shapes attracted the public like never before. And with the increasing demand of the prices of branded purses, it became a must for every woman to complete her shopping. So did the other accessories line up by creating a place for themselves in the market. Just a few to quote, the earring and necklaces, the various Belts, hand bracelets and brooch, the stiletto and its wonderful embroidered, party wear slippers along with its brotherly high rugged shoes giving a perfect cowboy look etc.

Fashion has always been a very interesting topic for all women and now the trend has even challenged the men to compete for a more appealing look for a remarkable future in the world of Fashion to make it a full fledged acceptable thing for all genre of people.

Kiriti C Chavadi

Bangalore

Everyone is affected by fashion to some extent. In the era of early supermodel age, fashion could be categorized by glamour or commons. Today, fashion is fast, trendless, comfortable, and personal. Street fashion, as one of the most popular form, is more of a reflection of personality and lifestyle than of trends in general. Because social media have offered abundant avenues for people to get to know trends happening now, fashion has becoming really shapeless. Hollywood stars have their Facebook and Twitter accounts updating almost every second of their day including what they are wearing. Thus, Stars set fashion trends. However, Stars are not the only people only can openly express their fashion styles. Bloggers of fashion, not just professionals, but ordinary peoples, can send out their fashion style to the world. In an instant, fashion has truly become everyday, everywhere, and everyone.

In the information age and a much globalized world community, fashion has transformed in its outlook, and concept as it starts embodying many varieties of elements of different cultures. For example, in the 1980s, jeans had monopolized youth culture not only in the U.S. but also other countries, particularly East Asian countries like Japan and Korea. Now, American styles are no longer the standard as designers of different ethnic background incorporate their own outlook into their design. In addition, in this much globalized world, ethnicity is no longer the only factor that affect the trend in fashion as it was decades ago. Now, people are guided by taste, lifestyle, and experiences. For instance, Alexander Wang's simple power women's look has won many fans of minimalism. Thus, it is possible the fashion's trajectory will more closely appeal to people's lifestyle and social trends.

Furthermore, today fashion has much evolved to embody personal brand. Everyone's unique style can be called his or her fashion. For example, punk style was originally styles of socially discontented youth's, now it has been taken up even by couture designers. Decades ago, fashion had it standard rules such as how women and men should wear. Today, fashion is not strictly dictated by gender. There have emerged a new class of fashion called unisex in which clothing lines can be worn by both sexes.

This type of fashion has been tremendously popular given greater equalities between men and women. Women have more choices than before.

Not only adults, children have their own fashion. Although they mimicked what the adults wear, children's fashion also been commercialized extensively. Children's fashion is greatly affected by adult fashion. Many adult designer brands also have children's line that follow closely of the adult trends.

Fashion styles have been changed that allowed more freedom of choices. The price of fashion has also been changed. Before, fashionable clothing meant high prices. Now, a fashionable piece of clothing doesn't need to be expensive. Brands such as Forever 21, J. Crew, Target clothing and etc. offer couture style clothing with very affordable prices. Simply put, price doesn't equate good style or good fashion any more.

Fashion has fundamentally evolved-not only the concept of fashion, but also the price and accessibility.

Jerric Chong is a regular publisher in hubpages

This is an era of fashion and fashion is very influential to our lives. In fact, it adds diversity to our lives by offering an aspect of enthusiasm to strive for something new and different, otherwise it would be a monotonous life if we were supposed to dress up and act in the same manner.

Fashion is an expression of a distinctive style particularly in clothing, footwear, accessories or makeup. It belongs to the style of doing something, looking different and dealing with others. It encircles a wide range of categorization like behavior, speech, actions, manners and lifestyle. There is much intellectual discussion over fashion and clothing and their importance within present day society. Fashion and clothing can be defined as many things that hold our society together. Fashion can be defined as an existing norm or style of dress, manners and way of socializing, whereas clothing is defined as garments collectively. If fashion and clothing were eliminated from our lives there would be no room for individuality and the world's population would be the same. There also would be a loss of the distinctions between social classes, which was much defined in the 18th century but is still present today. The eradication of fashion and clothing would also change the dynamics of the social world and social relationships.

Mod, short form of 'modern', refers to a youth lifestyle that came out from London during 1960s and quickly spread to other parts of the world. Being fashionable is not only desirable but also satisfying. It is very usual that the young students get attracted to fashion the most and start following the trends instantly so fashion influences our youth strongly. Fashion continually has an impact on the society. It affects our views and attitude towards social culture. We introduce new ways of lifestyle through fashion and create awareness within ourselves to reinstate a new line of customs. It is a leading social statement for students to make an outside appearance to their social circle. Malcolm Barnard says in his book Fashion as Communication, "Fashion and clothing have always been explained as forms of communication" (39). Students use fashion to exchange their feelings and beliefs. They use fashion as a way of social contact with reference to scrutiny for all sorts of people. Fashion is a way of communication to convey with the world what their personality really says.

The decade of 1920 is called the Age of Flaming Youth because of its wild and jazzy expression. In this period the energy of youth was set free in a new way and no style seemed too ridiculous to become a high fashion. Our world has globalized. Celebrities play very important role in the lives of youth. Students look up to their favorite icons to keep themselves up to date. While watching television or using internet, they can easily be attracted by a variety of fashionable concepts. Moreover, the students idealize their favorite celebrities and they always have a desire to look like them so they do their best to imitate the appearance and lifestyle of their idols. They are trying to grasp all the existing fashion from their society to enhance their personality. Whenever they socialize, they talk about new things which could be adapted. They use non-natural way of expression, speech and mannerism in their routine lives which is relatively artificial.

In my point of view, there are two categories i.e. positive and negative impact of fashion on students.

The fashion in our society has a lot of negative impact on students. They only think about new fashion and this result in spending of a large amount of money. Therefore, they are not able to become aware of other important needs of life. It always distracts them from studies. Once a style or fashion gets in a trend, it is instantly chased by student community regardless of the fact that how much hassle it leads to. On the other hand they are caught in the confusion of fashion due to impact of society. To follow a certain fashion, one has to adopt some actions and to do so some students go beyond their limits just to attract their surroundings. Eventually they become hopeless instead of being ingenious and suffered from depression for being within fashion. On the other hand, it is also a thought that the money spending on Fashion could be spent for various other purposes like charity and helping the poor.

Fashion creates an inaccessible standard for students. They all want to be attractive and glamorous like the celebrities on television or in magazines hence they spend a lot of time and money just to build up a good impression on people around them. However, they fail to make a statement most of the time that leads to a low self esteem. It also creates a clash of thoughts between them and their friends that may lead to jealousy factor and as a result ruin their relationship with friends. Students start judging people by their outlook appearance and those who cannot spend sufficient amount on their outward look, eventually become persecuted which decreased their confidence level to certain extent.

Students who give more concentration to fashion are generally least conscious about their studies. They think that by adopting certain fashion trends, they will achieve certain distinction among the peers therefore they start giving less importance to their academic careers.

There are some positive points of being fashionable as well. For instance, when teenagers feel good because of the way they look, it gives a high sense of worth and confidence in their personalities. Moreover they feel more independent and acceptable in a social context. If students follow a certain trend, it facilitates them to recognize their own personalities by meeting different people from the society with the same interests and sense of style. Wearing trendy clothes shows a person's status. People assume a person more progressive if he is wearing fashionable clothes. Malcolm Barnard says in his book Fashion as Communication, "Fashion and clothing have always been explained as forms of communication"

Students eventually come to know that it's not good for them to follow or imitate others all the time. Instead, they should learn how to be innovative and make their own sense of style. That helps them to be more strong, independent and imaginative. Fashion is the name of expressing oneself.It proves that the people have liberty to feel comfortable about themselves and that results in a more successful and prosperous society.

Fashion is a form of art and because art is beneficial to society so same goes for fashion as well.Fashion is a big reason for companies to invest more into the expansion of latest clothing, trends, and better living. We cannot disagree with the fact that fashion has a significant place on the life of every student. At times, it can be the source of things that make the life more pleasant. On the other hand, it can be destructive for the lives of certain people. So it's better to keep yourself modernized with fashion but if it is damaging your academic performance by any mean, you should keep yourself away from that. Generally, fashion can be entertaining, exciting and harmless. Fashion is a money making method that can provide employment to thousands of people.

There should be stability in the lives of students while pursuing fashion. They should be aware of the fact that the fashion within limits is admirable but when the limits are crossed, they have to face many problems. Their prime responsibility is to fill up themselves with the asset of knowledge instead of running after the wildness of deceptive fashion world. There should be a right balance between being fashionable and getting away from our roots. Students should know the fact that they have maximum time to indulge themselves to the world of lavishness after they completed their studies.So they should give their utmost devotion to education presently for time and tide waits for none.

Being trendy and fashionable is just our own wish, no one can force us to do it and it's our own decision that how much and what type of fashion we prefer according to place and requirement. Though this time of 21st century in Pakistan mostly people are affected by glamorous world and style of fashion but still they have not forgotten our traditions and culture which is the priority and symbol of our country.