Fashion trends through the ages have had a serious effect on the animal and bird life of our world. The 50 years between 1870 and 1920 were the height of the feather trade in Europe. Tens of millions of birds were killed to feed the need for feathers as trimmings and decorations on clothing. Unfortunately, some species were made extinct by this trade such as the Labrador duck and the Carolina hen.
When the European fur trade was at it’s peak, which was during previous centuries, fur trappers had hunted animals for their fur, especially beavers, wolves and foxes. The effects of this trade on Indian and Eskimo cultures has been long lasting. There was an enormous demand for Arctic fox fur at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. It became very fashionable to wear fur either as a coat or jacket. Fur was also used to trim hats, gloves, boots and shoes for both sexes.
The twentieth century fashion trends in fur coats led to more exotic animals being hunted including leopards and jaguars. A fur coat made from these skins was worn more as a fashion statement than any need to keep warm. The skin of baby seals was also in demand in the fashion trade. This exposed to the world, pictures of baby seals being clubbed to death on the ice by fishermen, but only for their fur.
Trends in fashion and changes in style have had a bad effect on both animal and birdlike all over the world. Nowadays, public opinion has made the wearing of real animal fur a thing to be avoided. In fact, imitation furs are often more realistic and very much cheaper for the wearer.
The fabrics clothes are made from has changed over the centuries. Natural fibres such as cotton, wool, silk and linen were produced. People used the fabric they made to make clothes for themselves. The kind of fabric used to make a person’s clothes was also a way to distinguish a person’s class. Lower classes wore clothes made from rough fibres such as cotton and wool, made into rough types of clothing. Middle and Upper classes could afford better clothes made from finer softer fabrics.
As the machinery needed to produce these fabrics got better, then so did the designs and patterns that could be made. The invention of mechanical spinning and weaving machines meant that fabrics and materials could be mass-produced. This meant that the cost of material became more affordable for more people in the lower classes. It also meant that better and more luxurious fabrics were made, including velvet and damasks. This fabric was dyed into lots of different colours using natural dyes from vegetables and plants.
The wider range of fabrics available influenced fashions for both sexes. From the 17th century onwards clothes for the wealthy were made from better and better fabrics and the styles became more and more impractical.
The Industrial revolution brought about social changes and people moved into towns from the countryside. The invention of the sewing machine in Victorian times meant that ordinary women began to make their own clothes at home. In 1850 the chemical dyes were invented which meant a change from natural dyes to chemical ones. Fabrics were much more widely available and ordinary women from moderate homes could keep up with the latest styles and fashions. The poor still wore the worst type and cheapest clothes and probably had to make do with very few.
Men’s clothes developed into trousers and coat jackets usually with a cotton undershirt. Men still wore hats and gloves and long overcoats for outside trips.
Clothes were still worn not only to cover the body, but also for warmth both in side and out of buildings as no central heating was available. Coal fires were the main and often only kind of heating there was in houses. This meant that men and women wore lots of layers of clothing to keep warm. In summer the same clothes were usually worn but less layers were put on top. The idea of different clothes for each season is a much more modern change.
At the beginning of the 20th century, clothing styles changed following Queen Victoria’s death. The Edwardian fashions brought in long straighter skirts and neat tight fitting jackets for women. Men ‘s suites developed into jackets and trousers that matched and were much more business like.
Up until the outbreak of the first world war, women still wore corsets. This changed and clothes became more practical for most women. Women began to wear their hair shorter and make up was available to most women. Shoes changed too from both practical boots and dainty indoor shoes to more affordable and mass-produced footwear. These changes meant that women could move about more easily.
The end of this war brought many changes to clothes. Fashions changed more quickly and by the 1920s, dresses were shorter and straighter. Women’s shoes had high heels and more pointed toes. Skirts and blouses became fashionable as more women went to work Men and women still wore hats and gloves for every day wear. Clothes also became more seasonal and were made of lighter fabrics. Wealthy people had lots of different out fits for every social occasion. There were many of these such as the races, boating and going out to tea. These all needed special clothes and rich men and women kept their tailors and seamstresses hard at work. Clothes made in this way were not mass-produced as clothes are today. The wealthy had their clothes and shoes made to fit them only, whilst poorer people had cheaper and less well-made ones for them.
In the years between the wars, fashions continued to change as people’s lives changed too. Men and women worked and went out in the evenings and at weekends. So different types of clothing were needed. In the upper and middle classes people attended Balls and the women wore gowns of silk and satin. Men wore Tailcoats and white gloves and even the less well off went to dances. Entertainment such as the Theatre and Opera was another reason for the well off to dress up.
The outbreak of the second world war in 1939 changed people’s lives probably more than any other event in the 20th century. Suddenly, women were being sent to work in factories, on the land and even in the armed forces. Clothing was rationed and people were only allowed a certain number of clothing coupons per year. For the ordinary woman, going out to work meant she earned money.
Newspapers printed articles on fashions and these women adapted the patterns. They were very clever and unpicked old clothes and made them up again into a newer style. Even old knitted garments were unpicked and knitted up again in a new style. Skirts were shorter than ever before, because short skirts took less material to make. Women made their own clothes and those of their children. Of course wealthy women continued to buy expensive clothes. The designers of fashion such as Dior and Channel were only very small at the beginning of this war, not like they are today. Their designs must have had an effect on the styles worn by ordinary women.
When the war ended, women were meant to give up their jobs and go back to being mothers and wives. Soldiers coming back from the war took their jobs. But even if women went back into the home, the changes in the way they dressed was not to be changed. Clothing coupons continued for some years after the war, but the fashions changed and out went the straight short skirts and in came the longer fuller skirt.
The 1950s brought more changes, people still had formal clothes for formal occasions. Women still wore hats to church and to semi formal outings such as going out to tea. But by the end of the 1950s more freedom for younger people meant that their clothes changed to. The rock and roll years had begun and women’s clothes changed. They wore shorter dresses with full skirts to dance in so that they could move more easily. Heels on their shoes were higher, their hair and make-up was more modern.
This rapid change happened because of the influence of American films and music and by the 1960s the whole fashion business was beginning to get a lot bigger. The 1960’s has been called the decade of freedom for many. More people were going to college to study fashion and design . The invention of man made fibre meant that clothes could be designed, mass-produced and sold at affordable prices to ordinary people.
Clothes were made in every kind of material and for every occasion. Dress rules were relaxed even if some people did not agree. The wealthy middle and upper classes continued to attend events such as the Ascot races and the Theatre in their posh clothes. But now these events became open to the less well off who often attended in borrowed clothes and hats.
As people’s lives changed so did fashions and the late 1960s saw the first mini skirts for women to wear. Shops had begun to offer more seasonal clothes to both sexes. From the mini skirt to the maxi skirt, as by the end of the 1960s hemlines were back to a long length.
Plastic was used for skirts, coats and boots. Fashion shows were becoming more popular and even the Co-op shops held seasonal shows for their female customers. The fashion industry was expanding as magazines showed women how to make these clothes if they could not afford to go out and buy them on the High Street.
The 1970s could split the fashion industry into clothes for young people, clothes for style conscious professional workers, clothes for playing golf, clothes for going sailing, clothes for holiday and many other events.
Each year this meant that more and more clothes were made, sold and worn by people from all different social classes.
The 1980s and 1990s was an explosion for fashion as more and more people designed clothes for the big fashion houses and for the snaller ones as well. What the models wore on the catwalk was copied and on sale in the high street stores soon after.
The price of clothes has gone up and up as more and more shops open. Shop owners have to pay for staff and such things as rent and electricity. This means that often clothes cost about 300% more than the shop owner paid for it from the manufacturer.
Women continue to make their own clothes today, because they can now buy designer patterns and fabrics and make the garment for a fraction of the price the designer charges for the made up garment. This trend has increased as more women want garments made from natural fibre in styles more suited to them.
Knitting has since the 1980s become popular again and hand knitted designer garments are very expensive to buy in the shops. Women and some men knit for themselves and their families today, using the designer’s patterns and wool.
Now in the 21st century it is considered to be the height of fashion to dress outrageously. People dress in this way to start a trend, because they know that if people like it, they’ll copy the style. Clothes have become not only a covering for the body, but a fashion statement that signifies to others a person’s life style and their wealth or lack of it.
Everything is less formal including weddings and funerals, but people still love to dress up for parties and theatre visits. Hats for women are no longer compulsory wear for weddings and other functions. On Ladies day at Ascot the most outrageous and beautiful hats are worn and the hat rule for women is still in force for Royal Garden parties.
As ordinary clothes have changed with the times, so have the uniforms worn by people such as nurses and police officers. These have changed not to keep up with fashion, but because the jobs these people do have changed. Nurses now wear trousers and tunic tops and policewomen can now wear trousers. In some jobs where people wear uniforms fashion designers have been used to up date the uniform. Cabin crews on aircraft wear uniforms designed to be fashionable and practical too.
I think that the 20th century saw the greatest changes in fashion of any other century. At the beginning Queen Victoria was still the Queen and she was from the Victorian age. When she died people got a little more freedom and after the first world war, women were allowed to vote for the first time. Fashions changed because people wanted them to. Then the second world war meant men went out to fight and women went out to work. This gave women more contact with the world of work and fashion and even thought they had clothing coupons, women wanted to be fashionable. Then came the 1960s and rock and roll, clothes changed so quickly that people could hardly keep up with the trends. The following years brought changes in the use and feel of fabrics as more people needed clothes for different activities.
One of the 20th century’s inventions that has changed clothing and clothing styles, is Lycra. It was invented in 1959 by Dupont and has over the last 40 years, become a leading fashion material. It has changed the stretchability of fabrics. Lycra is not just one fibre but many. Each one has been made to provide the exact combination of fibre thickness, texture, colour and stretch for the garment being made. Recently, Lycra has been up dated so that it can be combined with soft shaping and body-hugging designs. It can now be added to almost every type of fibre and fabric to produce clothes that fit snugly. It can even be added to leather for shoes.
Lycra is now a household name and has become part of the way we live.
The fashion industry has been very quick to use it in such things as jeans and T’ shirts and especially in sports wear. Its uses seem to be endless
