jason_els
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- Male
It's more than that. Fashion is important in many ways.
Looking for a police officer? You look for the clothes of a police officer. Need to identify a warrior? One looks at his or her uniform and can immediately tell the branch of service, rank, and situation for which the person is dressed. Clergy too use fashion to identify themselves and their station in society. Uniforms, whether for the UPS driver or a train conductor, are the definitive use of fashion in society. We use clothing to tell us far more about a person than a simple glance would imply.
A skilled fashion designer will create clothes to the purpose. For a police officer one might want at least two uniforms. One to look dignified for dress purposes, another for street work that allows freedom of movement, breathable fabrics, lots of pockets, perhaps even some protection and then translate that into summer and winter wear for climates that need it.
What we see in fashion influences us as we influence fashion. Look at the major break in women's fashion from the 1910s to the 1920s. Women went from long skirts, mutton chop sleeves, petticoats and high necks with lots of poufy hair to simple sleeveless slip dresses and bobbed hair styles. This reflected the freedoms that women gained during the first world war. Women went from being Gibson girls to flappers in less than ten years and fashion answered that change by allowing women more physical freedom and less upkeep. The 20s woman didn't have hours on end to attend to the standard of beauty she had in the 10s. World War II did the same thing, seeing women work at home and with it came a huge slew of work clothing designed for women. Women's dungarees, workshirts, short skirts, slip-on shoes, and then, following that, the broad-shouldered suits of the 40s that reflected women's new-found power in a society they had to run from top to bottom while men and even their sisters were busy at war.
Fashion is a fascinating and useful tool for evaluating social change and roles within a culture. It may seem frivolous to us and may seem as if fashion was being dictated from above, but truly, good fashion reflects society, not the other way around. Plenty of designers have tried to start trends which fell completely flat because the trend didn't reflect the desires of the customers. It takes some very keen social insight to be a successful and useful fashion designer.
Looking for a police officer? You look for the clothes of a police officer. Need to identify a warrior? One looks at his or her uniform and can immediately tell the branch of service, rank, and situation for which the person is dressed. Clergy too use fashion to identify themselves and their station in society. Uniforms, whether for the UPS driver or a train conductor, are the definitive use of fashion in society. We use clothing to tell us far more about a person than a simple glance would imply.
A skilled fashion designer will create clothes to the purpose. For a police officer one might want at least two uniforms. One to look dignified for dress purposes, another for street work that allows freedom of movement, breathable fabrics, lots of pockets, perhaps even some protection and then translate that into summer and winter wear for climates that need it.
What we see in fashion influences us as we influence fashion. Look at the major break in women's fashion from the 1910s to the 1920s. Women went from long skirts, mutton chop sleeves, petticoats and high necks with lots of poufy hair to simple sleeveless slip dresses and bobbed hair styles. This reflected the freedoms that women gained during the first world war. Women went from being Gibson girls to flappers in less than ten years and fashion answered that change by allowing women more physical freedom and less upkeep. The 20s woman didn't have hours on end to attend to the standard of beauty she had in the 10s. World War II did the same thing, seeing women work at home and with it came a huge slew of work clothing designed for women. Women's dungarees, workshirts, short skirts, slip-on shoes, and then, following that, the broad-shouldered suits of the 40s that reflected women's new-found power in a society they had to run from top to bottom while men and even their sisters were busy at war.
Fashion is a fascinating and useful tool for evaluating social change and roles within a culture. It may seem frivolous to us and may seem as if fashion was being dictated from above, but truly, good fashion reflects society, not the other way around. Plenty of designers have tried to start trends which fell completely flat because the trend didn't reflect the desires of the customers. It takes some very keen social insight to be a successful and useful fashion designer.
Thank you.
Dissing fashion is quite fashionable (whoops, did I say that?) as always. Fashion has its place. Personal style cannot be created without an element of fashion. People who know what looks good on them and wear it well always catch my eye more than the person wearing ultratrendy clothing that is ill-fitting or doesn't suit them.