WESTERN FASHION

Western fashion, with it's emphasis on consumerism and temporal change has a profound influence on all cultures it contacts. Western fashion fuels industrial production, and assists individuals and groups in the process of social assimilation and class climbing. During the 16th through 20th Centuries it was consciously used by governments, missionaries and others to promote social agendas as varied as the following:

Slave owners in North and South America used Westernized dress to force Africans and Native Americans to at least appear to accept their new identity both as property and as Christian converts.

Tsar Peter I of Russia around 1700, Emperor Mejii of Japan around 1890, and Sultan Mahmut II (1820's) and President Atatürk (1920's) of Turkey ordered nobles and military to adopt Western dress as part of successful campaigns to incorporate modern Western technology (and subsequent power) into their respective countries.

Christian Missionaries throughout the globe encouraged or enforced Western clothing standards on native converts to their religions, so as to have them identify with their coreligionists rather than their original tribes or nationalities.

Eskimo fish skin boots in the Sheldon Jackson Museum, AK

Government agencies in the US and Canada illegally confiscated Native American garments, masks and other artworks, forbade tribal gatherings and forced young Native Americans into Western dress in state-run boarding schools in an effort to replace the indigenous Northern American culture with an imported Western culture.

Tlingkit Beaded tunic in the Sheldon Jackson Museum, AK

After a pair of unsuccessful rebellions against British authority by Scots and Irish nationalists in the 18th Century, traditional Highland and traditional Irish dress were each banned briefly in order to discourage future rebellions. Ironically, while this policy effectively wiped out the already dying tradition of Irish dress, it served to poise Highland dress for one of the more amazing Traditional dress revivals in history during the 19th Century. A revival happily embraced by the English as a new "fashion"!

Athabaskan Beadwork is one of many attractions at the UAF Museum in Fairbanks.

Traditional Dress

Despite these and other pressures to adopt Western fashions, many people throughout the world have either maintained or readopted Traditional dress in everyday use, or for selected occasions. Very often Traditional dress has gone through a conversion process from everyday attire, to a fixed formal dress for weddings, government functions, traditional dance, or religious celebrations. Many styles of Traditional dress throughout the world also were, and are, assimilated into Western fashions. Traditional dress is enjoying a "comeback" in some areas of the world, (for example in many Moslem countries) even while losing ground in others. However, numerous examples of Traditional dress have survived into the 21st Century either in their original form, or in modified versions

The reasons for preserving Traditional dress are as various as the reasons for abandoning it. Traditional dress tends to be durable and slow to change, so it discourages consumerism and a need for constant new clothing. Traditional dress reinforces the values that the originating culture holds towards the body and gender, and therefore, is usually consistent with the indigenous religion's teachings on that subject.

Traditional dress reinforces tribal or national identity, and may demonstrate a deliberate visual separation from the values of Western culture, or the political agenda Western powers (political or corporate) are seen to be pursuing in the region. Traditional dress is often understood to be a protest against the encroachment of international capitalism, foreign religions or political invaders, and even the idea of change in general. Tribal sub-groups within a nation also use it to preserve a separate identity:

"The Kuna rebellion that led to the legal recognition of Kuna Yala as a semi-autonomous territory by the government of Panama was initiated when the government tried to prevent Kuna women from wearing their traditional mola costume. " -Molas From Panama

Traditional dress is used, even in Western culture, when a statement needs to be made about what the culture regards as unchanging values. This is why traditional dress is used in coronations, investitures, graduations, weddings, funerals, social and religious rites, and why even minor changes to items of dress in these cases can cause serious controversy. See Catholic Splinter Group: Pre-Vatican II Separatists

a Proctor from Costume of the Various Orders in the University of Cambridge.

Traditional dress also usually emphasizes the Aesthetic of a particular culture, and tends to best fit and flatter the typical body types of people of that ethnic heritage. Western fashions typically are designed to flatter usual European body types, and often look clunky on people who have different proportions. Traditional dress is also, often, designed for practical use in the climate and conditions of it's area, and may be retained by locals, or even adopted by visiting Westerners because of it's obvious comfort or utility.

Ruth Grant And Evelyn Alexander in Athabaskan dress as the Storytellers in Naam, Theatre UAF.

Early twentieth century
Throughout the early 20th century, practically all high fashion originated in Paris, and to a lesser extent London. Fashion magazines from other countries sent editors to the Paris fashion shows. Department stores sent buyers to the Paris shows, where they purchased garments to copy and openly stole the style lines and trim details of others. Both made-to-measure salons, and ready-to-wear departments, featured the latest Paris trends,and adapted to the stores' assumptions about the lifestyles and pocket books of their targeted customers.
At this time in fashion history the division between haute couture and ready-to-wear was not sharply defined. The two separate modes of production were still far from being competitors, and, indeed, they often co-existed in houses where the seamstresses moved freely between made-to-measure and ready-made.
Around the start of the twentieth-century fashion magazines began to include photographs and became even more influential than in the past. In cities throughout the world these magazines were greatly sought-after and had a profound effect on public taste. Talented illustrators—among them Paul Iribe, George Lepape and George Barbier—drew exquisite fashion plates for these publications, which covered the most recent developments in fashion and beauty. Perhaps the most famous of these magazines was La Gazette du Bon Ton, which was founded in 1912 by Lucien Vogel and regularly published until 1925 (with the exception of the war years).
World War II created many radical changes in the fashion industry. After the war, Paris's reputation as the global center of fashion began to crumble and off-the-peg and mass-manufactured fashions became increasingly popular. A new youth style emerged in the Fifties, changing the focus of fashion forever. As the installation of central heating became more widespread the age of minimum-care garments began and lighter textiles and, eventually, synthetics, were introduced.
Faced with the threat of a factory-made fashion-based product, Parisian haute couture mounted its defenses, but to little effect, as it could not stop fashion leaking out onto the streets. Before long, whole categories of women hitherto restricted to inferior substitutes to haute couture would enjoy a greatly enlarged freedom of choice. Dealing in far larger quantities, production cycles were longer than those of couture workshops, which meant that stylists planning their lines for the twice-yearly collections had to try to guess more than a year in advance what their customers would want. A new power was afoot, that of the street, constituting a further threat to the dictatorship of the masters of coutures.

Late twentieth century
During the late twentieth century fashions began to criss-cross international boundaries with rapidity. Popular Western styles were adopted all over the world, and many designers from outside of the West had a profound impact on fashion. Synthetic materials such as Lycra, Spandex, and viscose became widely-used, and fashion, after two decades of looking to the future, once again turned to the past for integration. Currently, modern fashion has seen a reference to technology such as designers Hussein and Miuccia Prada who have introduced industrial textiles and modern technology into their fall collections.

Types of fashion
There are three main categories of fashion design, although these may be split up into additional andmore specific categories:
Haute couture The type of fashion design which predominated until the 1950s was "made-to-measure" or haute couture, (French for high-fashion). The term made-to-measure may be used for any garment that is created for a specific client. Haute couture, however, is a protected term which can only be officially used by companies that meet certain well-defined standards set by the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture. Nonetheless, many ready-to-wear, and even mass market labels, claim to produce haute couture, when in fact, according to established standards, they do not. A couture garment is made to order for an individual customer, and is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric, sewn with extreme attention to detail and finish, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Look and fit take priority over the cost of materials and the time it takes to make.
Ready-to-wear Ready-to-wear clothes are a cross between haute couture and mass market. They are not made for individual customers, but great care is taken in the choice and cut of the fabric. Clothes are made in small quantities to guarantee exclusivity, so they are rather expensive. Ready-to-wear collections are usually presented by fashion houses each season during a period known as Fashion Week. This takes place on a city-wide basis and occurs twice per year.
Mass market These days the fashion industry relies more on mass market sales. The mass market caters for a wide range of customers, producing ready-to-wear clothes in large quantities and standard sizes. Cheap materials, creatively used, produce affordable fashion. Mass market designers generally adapt the trends set by the famous names in fashion. They often wait around a season to make sure a style is going to catch on before producing their own versions of the original look. In order to save money and time, they use cheaper fabrics and simpler production techniques which can easily be done by machine. The end product can therefore be sold much more cheaply.

[edit] Culture beginnings
The first fashion designer who was not simply a dressmaker was Charles Frederick Worth. Before the former draper set up his maison couture (fashion house) in Paris, clothing design and creation was handled by largely anonymous seamstresses, and high fashion descended from that worn at royal courts. Worth's success was such that he was able to dictate to his customers what they should wear, instead of following their lead as earlier dressmakers had done. The term couturier was in fact first created in order to describe him it is also found that he was very handsom and overly weight.
It was during this period that many design houses began to hire artists to sketch or paint designs for garments. The images were shown to clients, which was much cheaper than producing an actual sample garment in the workroom. If the client liked their design, they ordered it and the resulting garment made money for the house. Thus, the tradition of designers sketching out garment designs instead of presenting completed garments on models to customers began as an economy

The main fashion trends for Autumn 2008/9 hinge on a good strong fashion colour palette, which is rich and earthy. Such beautiful hues mean there is no better time to buy winter coats in colours that suit every complexion.
Fiery red with the tone which is found only on the ripest tomatoes is one of the more joyful new autumn fashion trends for colours of 2008. Red is a base for footwear, shoes and handbags as well as leather, satin and folkloric rose embroidery. It's perfect for party dresses to wear in the holiday season and looks wonderful when set against ruby red gemstones, garnets or Swarovski crystals.

birth of fashion

Fashion Projects began in New York in 2004, with the aim to create a platform to highlight the importance of fashion — especially “experimental” fashion — within current critical discourses. Through interviews with a range of artists, designers, writers and curators, as well as through other planned projects and exhibits, we hope to foster a dialogue between theory and practice across disciplines.