Fashion is a multi-billion-dollar industry that has considerable impact on the way ordinary people dress and present themselves. But there is more to fashion than the different articles of clothing; fashion is made up of designers, buyers, retailers, editors, and columnists. While all parties work together to create an image, all of these parties can simultaneously be affected by outside forces.
Early Western travelers, whether to Persia, Turkey, India, or China, would frequently remark on the absence of change in fashion there. The Japanese Shogun's secretary bragged (not completely accurately) to a Spanish visitor in 1609 that Japanese clothing had not changed in over a thousand years. However, there is considerable evidence in Ming China of rapidly changing fashions in Chinese clothing.
The beginning in Europe of continual and increasingly rapid change in clothing styles can be fairly reliably dated. Historians, including James Laver and Fernand Braudel, date the start of Western fashion in clothing to the middle of the 14th century.
In the 16th century national differences were at their most pronounced. Ten 16th century portraits of German or Italian gentlemen may show ten entirely different hats. Albrecht Durer illustrated the differences in his actual (or composite) contrast of Nuremberg and Venetian fashions at the close of the 15th century
In the 17th to 18th centuries imposed similar styles.
Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, was a leader of fashion. Her choices, such as this 1783 white muslin dress called a chemise a la Reine, were highly influential and widely worn.
Prior to the mid-19th century, most clothing was custom-made. It was handmade for individuals, either as home production or on order from dressmakers and tailors.
Early Western travelers, whether to Persia, Turkey, India, or China, would frequently remark on the absence of change in fashion there. The Japanese Shogun's secretary bragged (not completely accurately) to a Spanish visitor in 1609 that Japanese clothing had not changed in over a thousand years. However, there is considerable evidence in Ming China of rapidly changing fashions in Chinese clothing.
The beginning in Europe of continual and increasingly rapid change in clothing styles can be fairly reliably dated. Historians, including James Laver and Fernand Braudel, date the start of Western fashion in clothing to the middle of the 14th century.
In the 16th century national differences were at their most pronounced. Ten 16th century portraits of German or Italian gentlemen may show ten entirely different hats. Albrecht Durer illustrated the differences in his actual (or composite) contrast of Nuremberg and Venetian fashions at the close of the 15th century
In the 17th to 18th centuries imposed similar styles.
Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, was a leader of fashion. Her choices, such as this 1783 white muslin dress called a chemise a la Reine, were highly influential and widely worn.
Prior to the mid-19th century, most clothing was custom-made. It was handmade for individuals, either as home production or on order from dressmakers and tailors.
