Fashion: The Art that goes Hand in Hand with History

Hello girls,

I know that for a long time we have not talked, and I have to admit that I really missed coming here to share ideas, concepts, thoughts, experiences with you guys. So I decided to create what we can call a weekly issue, in which we will talk a little about how fashion and art are directly related to the political, economic and socio-cultural period in which humanity finds itself. I decided to call this week issue board as Fashion: the art that goes hand in hand with history.

    You are probably asking yourself why I came up with this specific topic today, I want to show that fashion it is much more than only trends and cool outfits, fashion is art, and art by its definition is the way people express their feelings, thoughts, concerns and also the reality they're facing. During the years the Fashion Industry developed a lot during the years until nowadays. The fashion industry is nothing less than a reflection of what the society of that time is living. Let's start by doing an analysis of some historical periods and how the fashion world responded to those events. Let's begin analyzing 90's until 1930. During the '90s the aristocratic society lived in England during a period known as "Victorian Era", in which Queen Victoria after losing her husband Albert, entered into a deep depression that was responsible for changing the direction of fashion. So women began to use more closed and darker colors, such as black, navy blue, gray, high collars almost always worked in lace, more straight cuts without so many details. After her death, the fashion world undergoes another transformation, the second Industrial Revolution started. The year of 1900 was at the height of the Industrial Revolution, the labor that was previously required for every piece of clothing to be manufactured, was now no longer needed, machines had taken over all the fashion confections. And not only did the production change, but the way women dressed also, the waistline was no longer as marked as before, the dresses were long and slightly tapered with light, fluid fabrics and the top with delicate work such as lace, sophisticated embroidery, ties, furs, stones that were responsible for transmitting a charming and feminine air to the piece. Although the manufactured labor gained space in the fashion world during this period, the people belonging to the high-income social classes had their own tailors, who were responsible for manufacturing exclusive and impeccable pieces, which in the future will be called Haute Couture.

    In the 1920s, we had a great transformation in the fashion world, which originated in the United States, where dresses are no longer long and delicate, they're shorter, full of information, embroidery, beading, fringes, shine, and lush colors. The United States was in one of its most glorious moments, the economy was getting better, Americans' quality of life was excellent, and the new opportunities that America could offer were tempting. And the fashion was only a reflection of that, the lustfulness showed a certain power, showed wealth, elite, moment that society lived, the peak of glamor, great parties, jazz had burst and American families were more and richer.

    During the 1930s unlike the 1920s, glamour was over, modern society no longer had as much money to spend on jewelry, partying, embroidered clothing and high luxury, The economy was not at all good and the big millionaires had gone into bankruptcy. The clothes that once represented luxuries from beginning to end now become simpler, without large embroidery, more monochromatic fabrics, combinations within the same color palette, clothes that did not mark the feminine curves much but were not quite wide. Different types of hats and accessories were used on the head. During the 1930s the fashion was moving towards innovative transformations, thanks to the iconic Gabrielle Coco Chanel, today women use several pieces of clothing that were previously exclusively masculine, such as the blazer, which in 1930 Chanel decided to create the feminine tailleur (blazer and skirt in the same fabric), which was intended to be worn with false pearl necklaces (breaking the pattern established by society at a time when only the elite could make use of precious stones). The fact that men's pieces adhered to the feminine dressing room is small evidence that women were already looking for changes within the male chauvinist society in which they lived, they already sought to gain space in the labor market and recognition before the society of the time, that made it a matter of detracting the female potential in many sectors.

Due to all these historical events, fashion has been molding itself to what we know today, and like any art form, it is in constant metamorphosis.

Hope you guys enjoyed our first FASHION VS HISTORY. We will be talking about many different periods and important moments of fashion during the years until nowadays.

Love,

Sofia C