A fashion capital is defined as a city that exerts international influence on the trends of the fashion world, thriving on consumers, designers, manufacturing, sites of consumption (such as department stores, highstreets, boutiques), and branding and marketing through major fashion events. These characteristics are all evident in the traditional fashion capitals, London, Milan, New York and Paris. The development of these universal fashion cities can only be fully understood if we look at their historic contribution to the production of textiles and the emergence of haute couture. Haute couture is high end fashion, exclusively designed, with meticulous detail, using high quality and expensive material. Whilst haute couture has been a major …show more content…
King Louis XIV can be credited as a significant contributor to the fact that Paris is one of the most influential fashion cities in the world, for he recognized the importance of luxury goods to the economy, bringing the textile trade under the control of the royal court. Consequently, the highest quality materials were found in France, encouraging seamstresses and tailors to establish themselves there. So in 1858, British born dressmaker Charles Frederick Worth opened the first prestigious haute couture house in Paris, leading to the establishment of Le Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in 1868. This law was set to determine what distinguished a couture house in an attempt to regulate the augmentation of houses and more importantly as a method to protect France’s historic reputation whilst unifying design and fabrication. Paris soon attracted an international clientele and couture was considered a ‘phenomenon impossible to relocate to another city’ (Claire Wilcox, The Golden Age of Couture 2007, pg 14)-as president of the Le Chambre Syndicale, Lucien Lelong, claimed ‘it is Paris or it is nowhere’ (Lucien Lelong in The Golden Age …show more content…
Couture houses such as Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Schiaparelli, Gimabattista Valli are all among the strongest and longest reputable of global brands that established themselves in Paris at this time. The sustained reputation for the city can be credited not only to the emergence of fashion’s main innovations (such as the little black dress by Chanel) but also the credibility of the city as a centre of fashion. Brands started to use the French legend for their advertisement and fashion houses make their money because ‘Paris’ is part of their logo. They have become a sign of fashion, a fundamental to the understanding of that brand as a fashionable brand. Similarly, can be said for New York’s urban landscape, that brands such as DKNY have adopted the dramatic architectural backdrop as an integral part of their brand-‘clothing and architecture were projected as archetypes of national identity”. Certain films, such as the ‘Devil wears Prada’, or ‘Sex in the City’, which represent Paris as the world of glamour, consolidate this myth of Paris as elegantly chic. Advertisers, photographers, stylists, bloggers unite urban culture with the consumption and experience of fashion. People with jobs in fashion relocate to fashion
Givenchy’s love for fashion grew when at the age of ten he attended the Pavillon d’ Elegance Paris Exposition. Once looking through Vogue magazine, he was inspired by Balenciaga men’s wear. He wanted to be a couturier and attended Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, to start a formal education in fashion. His designing inspirations came from Elsa Schiaparelli and Madam Gres’s work. His experience also came from working at the House of Piguet in Paris; this salon was known for its dramatic yet simple style and after, at the House of Lelong that was known for their high quality clothing. Those positions gave him knowledge on how to work with couture customers and gave him an opportunity to build strong relationships with them (Press, 2002).
Prior to the era of the twenties dressmakers earned a large amount of money by designing and producing these stylish clothes that were fitted for each individual. Dressmakers’ business consisted not only of designing and producing these expensive garments for women, who could afford their services, but also altering, repairing, cleaning, and reusing fabric and materials from older outfits to...
Haute Couture is the French term for high fashion, and it relates to the dressmaking, sewing, or needlework of a garment. In 1886, Charles Frédéric Worth founded an association of couture houses dedicated to regulate and protect the work of Parisian couturiers, and it later evolved to La Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. (Mackenzie 47). The term Haute Couture is protected by law in which one must adhere to specific criteria’s stated by the Syndical Chamber for Haute Couture in order to be categorized under its name. The criterion to be categorized as Haute Couture is a minimum of fifteen people employed at the house, producing one-of-a-kind garments of the highest craftsmanship and quality, as well as it has to be presented to the press in Paris each season.
French rulers King Charles VII and King Louis XII were astonished by the sophistication found in Italy and decided to invade it. From then on it was not until the 1450's where fashion sense began. Ideas such as increasing trades and extending clothing materials allowed the fashion trend to grow and change. The ones to keep up or set the fashion trending during the Renaissance period were the wealthy or ruling class. Fashion had its own stated rules and laws for each class, those laws were named sumptuary laws and it made people had to keep up with the fashion since it changed every year, and the clothes they wore defined their social level. The rich literally wore their wealth, shown by the amount of jewels put into their clothes or the quality of the material. Each style of clothing represented who and what people ...
Paul Poiret was born on April 20th, 1879 in Paris, France. His contributions to twentieth-century fashion has earned him the title in many people’s eyes as the “King of Fashion”, because he established the principle of modern dress and created the blueprint of the modern fashion industry. Poiret’s designs and ideas led the direction of modern design history. He was born into a working class family and his natural charisma eventually gained him entry into some of the most exclusive ateliers of the Belle Époque. Jacques Doucet, one of the capital’s most prominent couturiers, hired him after seeing promising sketches he had sold to other dressmakers. Furthermore, he was hired by the House of Worth and was put to work to create less glamorous and more practical, simple items because his out of the ordinary designs were not welcomed in open arms by opulent clientele. Despite this experience he was still confident in his ideas and ventured out on his own with money barrowed from his parents and opened a storefront. Moreover, he wanted to promote of the concept of a "total lifestyle” was seen as the first couturier to merge fashion with interior design. His independent work broke the normal conventions of dressmaking, and overturned their underlying presumptions. He liberated the woman’s body from the petticoat and the corset to allow clothing to follow woman’s natural form. Poiret also radically revolutionized dressmaking to switch from the emphasis surrounding the skills of tailoring towards those based on the skills of draping and began to use bright colors. Furthermore, Poiret was apart of the art deco movement, which was surrounded by a period of immense social upheaval, particularly for women, and emergence of technol...
“Elegance is not the prerogative of those who have just escaped from adolescence, but of those who have already taken possession of their future “(Elegance par. 1). Chanel was a woman who was always seen wearing her own unique fashion. She would never be seen wearing something society would see as something a normal woman would wear; this made her unforgettable (Charles-Roux 5-6). In the beginning, Chanel was only known for creating and designing hats, but she would soon be known for so much more (Charles-Roux 91). Because of Chanel’s new bold ideas, the women’s fashion industry has forever been changed (Charles-Roux 6).
The Fashion Industry can be described as a glamorous world with cameras flashing, beautiful models strutting down the runway, in stunning and grand designs. What really goes on behind fashion’s dolled up doors is only an illusion compared to what reality is. Beautiful people, stylish clothing and timeless sophistication all make up the illusion of the glitz and glam of the fashion industry, but behind the curtains countless of models and designers constantly fall victim to this industry’s ever changing wrath. Fashion can be defined as a popular trend especially in styles of dress, ornaments or behavior. A model is a person who poses or displays for art purposes, fashion or other products and advertising. Fashion models are used mainly to promote products focusing mostly on clothing and accessory. The two main type of modeling in the fashion industry is commercial modeling and high fashion modeling. High Fashion models usually work for campaigns, designer’s collections and magazine editorials for high fashion designers. Runway modeling also known as “catwalk modeling” is displaying fashions and is generally performed by high fashion models. In my research paper, my main focus will be the multiple effects on high fashion models based upon the industry’s unregulated standards.
For the past several decades, globalization has been a hot topic and it also anticipates every aspect of the world to connect each other. Likewise, globalization also allows consumers to have more access to catch up with updated fashion. The advantages of globalization bring a new philosophy called fast fashion, which holds quick response time and enhanced design in fashion apparel industry. In this paper, I will deliver By exploring all the aspects of each system, I will conclude the reason why fast fashion becomes the mainstream of the fashion apparel industry, and use one particular brand, Zara, as an example to discover the impact on consumer behavior in detail. Finally I will make some comments on the future of fast fashion and what luxury brands will react to this circumstance……..
In the early 1800s, France was the sole fashion capital of the world; everyone who was anyone looked towards Paris for inspiration (DeJean, 35). French fashion authority was not disputed until the late twentieth century when Italy emerged as a major fashion hub (DeJean, 80). During the nineteenth century, mass produced clothing was beginning to be marketed and the appearance of department stores was on the rise (Stearns, 211). High fashion looks were being adapted and sold into “midlevel stores” so that the greater public could have what was once only available to the social elite (DeJean, 38). People were obsessed with expensive fashions; wealthy parents were advised not the let their children run around in expensive clothing. People would wait for children dressed in expensive clothing to walk by and then they would kidnap them and steal their clothes to sell for money (DeJean, 39). Accessories were another obsession of France‘s fashion; they felt no outfit was complete without something like jewelry or a shrug to finish off the look and make it all around polished (DeJean, 61). As designers put lines together, marketing began to become important to fashion in the nineteenth century; fashion plates came into use as a way to show off fashion l...
On the occasion of the οpening of the Musée Yves Saint Laurent and the publicizing of the Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture archive this October, it is only fair to dedicate this essay to one of the most controversial, most talented and innovative couturiers in the history of fashion, the man that as Pierre Bergé said: “[…]gave power to women.” (Another Magazine 2017) through his garments, through the identity of the style that he created; a style that is, still to this day, fresh, shocking, empowering and mesmerizing. Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent was born on the 1st of August in 1936, just a wear before legendary Elsa Schiaparelli show her groundbreaking ‘Autumn 1937’ Collection, in Oran, Algeria, to a prestigious and
In 1946 Dior made a huge success in his career, he transformed fashion world and “reaffirmed the status of Paris as the World’s Fashion Capital” (“Christian Dior Biography”). After that he opened his own fashion house and hic career has reached a new
Over shadowing functionality, fashion is human’s next need for embellishment, followed by power or status.“Fashion is, in many ways, like a river.” -Elaine Stone. It is constantly moving forward and changing. Consequently, fueling the fashion business and allowing it to prosper.In other words if there is no change, then there will be no fashion, thus no bussiness. Over the decades millions of brands and designers have been trying to adapt to the rapid and ongoing change in fashion. Those who fail to attune with constant change tend to correlate to failure in business. However, those who do adapt to constant change in fashion have the tendency to succeed in business. Three distinct trend setting designers that have successfully adapted to change are Burberry, Vera Wang and Chanel.
Clothing has been around for thousands of years; almost as long as the modern human has. At first, it served the practical purpose of protection from the elements; but, as life for early humans stopped being a constant struggle to survive, they started noticing how they looked and the concept of fashion began to take shape. These first few garments were typically dyed draped cloth that was pinned at the shoulder and/or waist. This was seen in many ancient civilizations around the world, Greek and Roman the most notable. Over time, clothing began to get more and more complex and formed to the body’s shape, eventually leading up to the tailored style we now have today. However, the sophisticated world of Haute Couture; or high fashion, can distinctly trace its roots to Paris during the mid-19th century. Clothing from there was thought to be superior to those from anywhere else, and women began to come from all over Europe just to buy dresses. This was probably due in part to one notable dressm...
While growing up, I realized the benefits a person has when they personally own their own business. You can make your own schedule, personally control your finances, and essentially have complete control of your business Of course upon this realization; I came to the conclusion that I was going to be my own boss. I have always taken pride in how I present myself including how I dress. The limitless nature of fashion and its versatility has always intrigued me. One empowering aspect of clothing that is so fascinating is how it enables people to express themselves. Because of these interests, I have come to the conclusion that I wish to own a fashion boutique. In order to pursuit the path of becoming a fashion boutique owner, it is essential that I obtain a degree in business management, evaluate my own skills that make me ideal for the job, and
Cape Town and Johannesburg ranked 27th and 37th respectively as global fashion capitals in 2014 (Fin24, 2014). This is proof of South Africa’s growing influence on the rest of the world. Our own fashion influence in our country is stronger than the European and American