0748186 The Evolution of Fashion

0748186. The Evolution of Fashion.

Description to “The Evolution of Fashion”…

My presentation will be about the evolution of fashion from the 1920’s to the present, by focusing on emerging trends and their fashion icon counter parts. Through following the evolution of fashion we can see how new trends emerged, how some trends quickly disappeared, and observe the ones that surprise us by coming back all over again.

As the presentation continues, each slide will introduce you to a different era of fashion, complete with photographs, text and information that will better your understanding of what certain items of clothing represented to the individual wearing it and to those around them.

Fashion is much more than clothing, it is a physical representation of who we are and what we like as an individual.

1920s-1940s

The 1920s brought fashion into the modern era. Referred to as the “Roaring Twenties”, women began to wear skirts and dresses that were comfortable rather than constricting. And men dressed in more casual suits rather than the formal wear that was the norm. The most defining style of the 20s was the Flapper. Flappers were women who dressed in short skirts, had a bobbed haircut, smoked, and showed their discontent with the mainstream society. Actress Norm Talmadge (right above) was know as your prototypical Flapper. Here we see her wearing a Flapper Dress, showing her arms, wearing heels which was also a new style to emerge in the 20s.

1930s known as the “Stylish Thirties” was the return of a more contemporary lady like look whose main stylistic feature for this period was the emphasis on the shoulders. The 1940s continued this look while experimenting with more synthetic fibers, the introduction of nylons and the use of the zipper. Bathing suits were also a huge trend as traveling became part of North Americans Lifestyle. Fashion icons included actors Fred Astaire and Lauren Bacall (right below).

1950s-1970s

The 1950s was the “Glamour Decade”. The designs of Christian Dior was largely influential to the style of the period as his designs came after the war and emphasized women’s figures something that hadn’t been done in a while. Fashion trends of the 50s included the ever famous Audrey Hepburn little black dress, shaped fitted jackets, A line skirts to emphasize a women’s waist, as well as hairstyles which included the beehive and the classic tight curls.Icons included, Marilyn Monroe, Brigette Bardot, Carey Grant. With the rise of new music and Italian inspired mod fashion the 1960s was a time for change in the fashion world. Tons of trends emerged included the mini skirt, bare legs instead of stockings, usage of lace, and hats for both women and men. Major fashion icon was skinny model Twiggy.

With the Hippie movement in the late 60s and traveling into the early 1970s, fashion became a large statement of an individual. With the summer of love, light airy fabrics, tie die and baby doll tops were huge trends. Late 70s again was influenced through music. Disco fashion was introduced with high platforms, flashy colours and tight clothing for both women and fashion. Icons of this era were Farrah Fawcett, and John Travolta.

1980s- Present.

The 1980s were full of emerging trends that came and went. From big shoulder pads to even larger hair, the 80s were all about making a large statement. Accessorizing also became a huge trend in the 80s. From earrings, to hair pins, to fishnet stockings accessories were what made the outfit, especially it was flashy and bold in colour. A major icon was of course Madonna, whose fashion style was copied by thousands.

From the 1990’s to the present , we see new trends forming but we also see a huge comeback of many of styles from the previous fashion decades. Rock music of the 90s had an influence in style including the creation of the ‘grunge’ and ‘emo’ scene. New trends also include dark denim jeans especially the famous skinny jeans, high fashion gym wear like Lululemon, the flat shoe and the scarf or pashmina that goes with every outfit not just your out door wear. However the present has definitely become a collection of trends from previous decades. Ray ban sunglasses, Audrey Hepburn’s tiny black dress, 80s accessories, hippie inspired bohemian dresses, the 1950’s hairstyle and so many more.

Past inspired fashion

Does fashion say a lot about who you are as an individual?

As discussed before, many different styles represented different social meanings to those around them. What you choose to wear and how you choose to present yourself can say a lot about you. Or does it? I decided to ask 20 girls and 20 boys what they thought about whether or not fashion says a lot about an individual?

As you can see form the results on the chart, the majority of girls said yes, and the majority of the boys said sort of. These results show us that girls put more importance on what they are wearing because of the belief that it displays a message about you. Where boys seemed to be unaware or undecided on whether or not fashion has that much effect on surrounding people and what they perceive of you based on your outfit.

Which fashion decade influences your style the most?

As one of the previous collages showed us, past styles continues to influence our fashion sense today. Fashion icons of the present such as Jennifer Lopez, Scarlett Johansson and Ed Westwick complete their outfits with past inspired trends.

I though it would be interesting to see of the fashion eras I explored, which one has the most influence on the students at McMaster University. After asking several students the pie chart shows that while most students seem to be influenced by the most recent decades, a large number of students take ideas for their own style from the time era between 1950- 1970s.

No matter whether students were born to even experience a certain decade, the trends of the past re appear and affects what they pick to wear and how they look.