Clothing Fashions || History of Western Fashion

 Main Article: History of Western Fashion-

Cloth Fashions

Clothing Fashions-

Fashion is a form of expression. Fashion is what people wear in a specific context. If a stranger would appear in this setting, adorning something different, the stranger would be considered "out of fashion."

Early Western travelers, traveling to India, Persia, Turkey, or China, would frequently remark on the absence of change in fashion in those countries. The Japanese shōgun'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. 

Changes in costume often took place at times of economic or social change, as occurred in ancient Rome and the medieval Caliphate, followed by a long period without significant changes. In 8th-century Moorish Spain, the musician Ziryab introduced to Córdoba [unreliable source] sophisticated clothing-styles based on seasonal and daily fashions from his native Baghdad, modified by his inspiration. Similar changes in fashion occurred in the 11th century in the Middle East following the arrival of the Turks, who introduced clothing styles from Central Asia and the Far East.

Additionally, there is a long history of fashion in West Africa. The Cloth was used as a form of currency in trade with the Portuguese and Dutch as early as the 16th Century. Locally produced cloth and cheaper European imports were assembled into new styles to accommodate the growing elite class of West Africans and resident gold and slave traders. There was an exceptionally strong tradition of cloth-weaving in Oyo and the areas inhabited by the Igbo people.

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Fashion || Definitions of fashion

                                     Pic: Fashion Art

Definitions of fashion:

As noted by fashion scholar Susan Kaiser, everyone is forced to appear, that is, there is no unmediated way of being before others. Whether we want it or not, everyone appearing before another is evaluated in relation to dress, their attire. This most commonly means how one looks, what colors, materials and silhouette one wears on the body. Even if the garments are all the same, they will appear different; if the item is washed, folded, mended, or new.

Fashion is a term that is plagued by its many different uses, and by the unclear application of the concept. For example, the term connotes difference, but also sameness. It signifies the latest distinction, as well as the return of the old. While it may be defined by an insular and esteemed aesthetic elite, who make a look exclusive, this look is often using references from those excluded from making the distinction.

Whereas a trend often connotes a peculiar aesthetic expression and often lasting shorter than a season, fashion is a distinctive and industry-supported expression traditionally tied to the fashion season and collections.Style is an expression that lasts over many seasons and is often connected to Cultural movements and Social markers, Symbols,Class and Culture Etc.According to sociologist Pierre Bourdieu,fashion connotes "the latest difference.

Even though the terms are often used together, fashion differs from clothing and costumes — "CLOTHING" describes the material and technical garment; "COSTUME" has come to mean fancy-dress or masquerade wear. "FASHION" by contrast, describes the social and temporal system that "ACTIVATES" dress as a social signifier in a certain time and context. Philosopher Giorgio Agamben connects fashion to the current intensity of the qualitative moment, to the temporal aspect the Greek called kairos, whereas clothing belongs to the quantitative, what the Greek called Chronos.

While some exclusive brands may claim the label haute couture, the term is technically limited to members of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris. Haute couture is more aspirational; inspired by art and culture, and in most cases, reserved to the economic elite.

Fashion is also a source of art, allowing people to display their own unique taste and styling. Different designers are influenced by outside stimuli and reflect this inspiration in their works. For example, Gucci's 'stained green' jeans may look like a grass stain, but to many others they display purity, freshness and summer.

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