1. What Is Fashion?
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Chapter 1
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2. What Is Fashion?
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Chapter Objectives
Explain the different definitions of fashion.
Identify the merchandise categories of fashion.
Explain the difference between style and design.
Identify the needs satisfied by clothing.
Discuss the early history of clothing.
Name some influential people in fashion
industry.
Identify specific styles in the 20th century.

3. Fashion Defined
Section 1.1
Definitions of Fashion
In the apparel industry, fashion is the existing type of clothing
that is preferred by a large segment of the public.
To many people, fashion is a current trend that is popular for
frivolous reasons.
To some people, fashion is a precise style of dress or behavior
that is acceptable in one year, but not in another.
To retailers, fashion is whatever is currently selling.
To sociologists, fashion represents a way of social interaction
and status seeking.
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4. What Is Fashion?
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Merchandise Categories
Fashion retailers group
merchandise into
categories—basic
merchandise and fashion
merchandise.
fashion merchandise
goods that are popular
at a particular time
Staple items are in the
basic merchandise category.
Section 1.1
staple items basic
merchandise that
customers purchase on
a regular basis

5. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion Basics
To be successful in the
fashion industry, designers,
producers, marketers, and
retailers must have an
understanding of basic
fashion terms, such as style
and design.
style a particular
shape or type of apparel
item identified by the
distinct features that
make it unique
Section 1.1
design a particular or
unique version of a style
because of a specific
arrangement of the
basic design elements

6. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion Basics
A retail customer may
select a garment based
on its color.
garment any article of
clothing, such as a
dress, suit, coat, or
sweater
Section 1.1

7. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion Basics
The three dimensions of color are:
Hue—the quality of the color
Value—the lightness or darkness of a color
Intensity—the brightness or dullness of a color
Section 1.1

8. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion Basics
Line is an element of design that directs the
path of eye movement.
Shape, or silhouette, is the overall form or
outline of a garment.
Texture is how the surface of a material, or
fabric, feels and looks.
Function refers to the intended use or purpose
of an object.
Section 1.1

9. Fashion Basics
Section 1.1
Color Line
Design
Elements
Texture Shape
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10. What Is Fashion?
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What are Fashion
Products?
Fashion is anything that has strong customer
appeal at a given time.
It is usually determined by personal taste.
Taste refers to the current opinion of what is
attractive and appropriate for an individual and
occasion.

11. What Is Fashion?
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What Are Fashion
Products?
Fashion products include:
Section 1.1
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Furnishings

12. What Is Fashion?
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Economic Importance
Fashion can be a reflection of the
economic environment.
When people are unable to satisfy
their basic needs for food and
shelter, style becomes less
important.
Fashion serves as a historical record
of culture and lifestyle.
Section 1.1

13. What Is Fashion?
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What is the difference between style and
design?
What are four basic elements of design?
How do economic conditions affect fashion?
1.
2.
3.
1.1
Section 1.1

14. What Is Fashion?
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Earliest Clothing
The earliest clothing dates from about 20,000 B.C.
The earliest clothes were developed primarily for
protection from the weather and environment.
The earliest clothes were made of fur, animal skin,
leaves, and grass.
Section 1.2

15. What Is Fashion?
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Why People Wear Clothes
People have three basic clothing needs:
Physical needs: protection and safety
Psychological needs: appearance enhancement
Social needs: affiliation and standards
Section 1.2

16. Why People Wear Clothes
Section 1.2
Physical Needs
• protection
• safety
Why
Clothing?
Social Needs
• affiliation/fitting in
• standards
Psychological
Needs
• identity
• adornment
• cultural identity
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17. What Is Fashion?
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Sources of Clothing
History
The evolution of dress can represent a visual
history of a culture.
Sources of clothing history include:
Actual
garments
Section 1.2
Old
paintings
Fashion
publications
PPhhoottooggrraapphhss Written
publications

18. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion Through the Ages
During the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s,
garments began being mass-produced.
The invention of photography influenced the
spread of styles.
The fashion magazine Vogue was first
published in 1892.
Section 1.2

19. What Is Fashion?
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Historical Trendsetters
Elizabeth I
– Clothing indicator of social
status
Louis XIV
– Sent life-size fashion dolls to
every European court
Marie Antoinette
– Trendsetter for ornate styles
Section 1.2

20. What Is Fashion?
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Historical Trendsetters
George Bryan “Beau”
Brummell
– Dandyism
dandyism during the 1880s,
a style of dress for men and a
lifestyle that celebrated
elegance and refinement
Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis
– Understated elegance
The Beatles
– “Mop-top” hairstyles
Section 1.2

21. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion: 20th Century to
the Present
The Early 1900s
In 1909, Vogue features new loose-fitting
clothing for women.
Women stop wearing corsets.
Skirts get slightly shorter.
The invention of rayon leads to more
functional clothing.
Section 1.2

22. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion: 20th Century to
the Present
The 1920s
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel introduces sportswear
garments and trousers for everyday wear.
Chanel promotes the style of the “flappers.”
Chanel introduces the “little black dress.”
The “one-hour dress” is invented by the
Women’s Fashion Institute.
Styles are simpler.
Section 1.2

23. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion: 20th Century to
the Present
The 1930s–1950s
Movie stars set trends for hair, makeup, and
clothes.
Nylon is invented by DuPont.
To save fabric during wartime, hemlines
become shorter.
Simple styles represent patriotism during
wartime.
American designers become more prominent.
Section 1.2

24. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion: 20th Century to
the Present
The 1930s–1950s
Women’s styles become
more traditionally feminine
in the 1950s.
Christian Dior launches a
new style in 1947 called
the New Look.
Section 1.2
New Look a style of
the 1940s that featured
long hemlines, narrow
shoulders, and tightly
fitted bodices with long,
full, or narrow skirts

25. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion: 20th Century to
the Present
The 1960s
Social changes, world
events, and music affect
fashion.
New synthetic fibers are
invented.
Hippie style appears.
Section 1.2
hippie style of the
1960s, a fashion
consisting of clothing
from the Middle and Far
East, bright colors,
peasant embroidery,
cheesecloth, and safari
jackets

26. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion: 20th Century to
the Present
The 1970s
Disco style appears.
Section 1.2
disco style of the
1970s, a fashion
consisting of gold lamé,
leopard print, stretch
halter jumpsuits, and
white clothing that
glowed under ultraviolet
lighting

27. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion: 20th Century to
the Present
The 1970s
Punk fashion appears.
Section 1.2
punk fashion of the
1970s, a style featuring
intentionally torn clothing
worn by young people
with limited income, such
as students and the
unemployed

28. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion: 20th Century to
the Present
The 1970s
Feminist movement
influences women’s
styles.
Section 1.2
feminist movement of
the 1970s, the organized
effort to establish equal
social, economic, and
political rights and
opportunities for women;
influenced women’s
fashions with shorter
hemlines and the pantsuit
for the workplace

29. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion: 20th Century to
the Present
The 1980s
Professional women adopt “the power look.”
Business-casual attire appears.
High-quality products become available at
moderate prices.
Stretchy, synthetic athletic wear becomes
popular.
Section 1.2

30. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion: 20th Century to
the Present
The 1990s
Americans begin
dressing less formally.
Grunge style appears.
Section 1.2
grunge a style started by
the youth culture in the
Pacific Northwest region of
the United States in the
early 1990s; it is messy,
uncombed, and disheveled
Fashion industry begins
to lose the ability to
dictate trends.

31. What Is Fashion?
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Fashion: 20th Century to
the Present
Fashion Today
Consumers make well-informed choices about
what to wear, where to shop, and how much to
spend on products.
Fashion makers and marketers need to be
more informed and aware of customer wants
and needs.
Section 1.2

32. What Is Fashion?
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What three basic needs are satisfied by the
use of clothing?
How did World War II affect the fashion
industry?
What fashion trends emerged in the 1980s?
1.
2.
3.
1-2
Section 1.2