Clothes and fashion

Clothes and fashion have always been important for people. Is not only way of dressing but also a big business. Fashion designers, models, managers, dress-makers try to make big money with fashion. Today fashion is changing faster than before. New trends, new styles, new materials come in. Big fashion shows are more grequent in the cities like Paris, NY, Milan, Düsseldorf etc. It’s attractive for those who are interested in fashion, in business, who have a lot of money and also those who work in mass media. People have different attitude to fashion. Some have an excellent taste in dress and are always dressed perfectly, especially women. Fashion concerns not only clothes but also hair style, make-up, and accesories, such as shoes, handbags, gloves, belts, hats, scarfs, ties, jewelleries or glasses. These products complement clothes. There are clothes for special occasions, for concerts theatre, balls, fancy dress balls, for sports,...

20th Century fashion

· Before the First World War fashions did not change very quickly. men wore dark suits. They had short hair and moustaches were popular. Women wore long dresses and they had long hair. Under their dresses they wore stiff corsets. These gave women a very narrow waist, but they were very uncomfortable. · In the Roaring Twenties dresses and hair became much shorter. People saw women’s knees for the first time! Corsets disappeared. A straight figure with no waist or bust was fashionable. For men, trousers with very wide legs became fashionable.They were called Oxford bags. · In the 1930s and 40s hair, dresses and coats became longer again. Men’s fashion didn’t change very much. Men wore a suit, a tie and usually a hat, too. Moustaches were less popular. · In the 1950s people were richer and teenagers spen a lot of money on clothes. For men this was the age of the teddy boy. Teddy boys wore long jackets in very bright colours – pink, orange or yellow – and very tight trousers called “drainpipes”. For women jumpers and blouses with wide skirts and short socks were the fashion. Both men and women wore “winklepicker” shoes with long pointed toes. The women’s shoes had high stiletto heels. · The 1960s saw a revolution in clothes. Everything changed. This was the time of the mini-skirt and long boots. For the first time in the twentieth century men had long hair – the famous Beatle haircut. · In the late 1960s and the early 70s the hippy “flower power” style was in. Women wore loose maxi-skirts.

Men wore jeans and brightly coloured shirts or T-shirts. Clothes were very colourful. Very long hair was fashionable for men and women, and beards became more common (but only for men)

· The 80s brought teenagers with punk hairstyles in red, blue, purple and green, and brightly coloured makeup. .