FASHION

9.1 Fashion, how to dress properly – weather, climate

CLOTHES AND FASHION

Fashion is a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, footwear, accessories, makeup,

body piercing, or furniture. Fashion is a distinctive and often habitual trend in the style in which
a person dresses. We call fashion something that is popular at some time. Fashion is something
we deal with every day. Even people who say they don’t care what they wear choose clothes
every morning that say a lot about them and how they feel that day. Especially the majority of
young people like to show themselves off in public.
In all times, particularly taking roots from the past centuries, a person’s welfare was valued by
the way a man or a woman was dressed. Nowadays people’s point of view hasn’t changed a lot;
merely people’s choices often lay neither in the quality of the product nor in its easiness of use,
but in the choice of brands.
Sometimes we could claim that fashion often rules the world, turning many people’s heads. To
attract the attention of others they wear non-traditional clothes, made by popular brands.
One thing is certain. Fashion and clothing are constantly changing and may differ from country
to country, depending on various factors including age, geography, and climate. We are
constantly being bombarded with new fashion ideas from music, videos, books, and television.
Movies also have a big impact on what people wear. Sometimes a trend is worldwide.
Musicians and other cultural icons have always influenced what we’re wearing, but so have
political figures and royalty. Newspapers and magazines report on what the celebrities wear.
Fashion is revealing. Clothes reveal what groups people are in. Styles show who you are, but
they also create stereotypes and distance between groups. People dress a certain way to deliver
the message of rebellion and separation, but within that group, the look is uniform. Acceptance
or rejection of a style is a reaction to the society we live in.
Fashion is a language that tells a story about the person who wears it. “Clothes create a wordless
means of communication that we all understand,” There are many reasons we wear what we
wear. Protection from cold, rain, and snow: mountain climbers wear high-tech outerwear to
avoid frostbite and over-exposure. Physical attraction: many styles are worn to inspire
“chemistry.” Emotions: we dress “up” when we’re happy and “down” when we’re upset.
Religious expression: Orthodox Jewish men wear long black suits and Islamic women cover
every part of their body except their eyes. Identification and tradition: judges wear robes, people
in the military wear uniforms, and brides wear long white dresses.
Fashion is big business. More people are involved in the buying, selling, and production of
clothing than any other business in the world. Every day, millions of workers design, sew, glue,
dye, and transport clothing to stores. Ads on buses, billboards, and magazines give us ideas
about what to wear, consciously, or subconsciously. Clothing can be used as a political weapon.
In the nineteenth century, in England, laws prohibited people from wearing clothes produced
in France. During the twentieth-century communist revolutions, uniforms were used to abolish
class and race distinctions.
People have different attitudes to fashion, which means, each person has their style and taste.
Some people don’t care what they wear, others, especially women are very choosy and like to
spend a lot of money on clothes. Some people have excellent taste in dress and are always
dressed perfectly; others are slovenly and careless in dressing. Some people want to be dressed
according to the latest fashion even if it doesn’t suit them. We can buy ready-made clothes or
buy them at second-hand shops; others prefer to have them made by a tailor or dressmaker.
Different factors which have influenced the styles of clothing, such as geography,
climate, poverty and wealth have played their role. Fashion concerns not only clothes but also
FASHION

hairstyle, make-up, and accessories, such as shoes, handbags, gloves, belts, hats, scarves, or
jewellery and glasses.

Functions
A primary function of clothing is to improve the comfort of the wearer by protecting against
the elements. Clothing protects from sunburn in warm weather and protection from frostbite in
cold weather. Shelter reduces the need for protective clothing. For example, coats, hats, gloves,
and other superficial layers are normally removed when entering a warm home. Clothes also
reduce risk during activities such as work or sports. Some clothing protects from specific
environmental hazards, such as insects, noxious chemicals, weather, weapons, and contact with
abrasive substances. Conversely, clothing may protect the environment from the
clothing wearer, as with doctors wearing medical scrubs.
Humans have shown extreme inventiveness in devising clothing solutions to environmental
hazards. Examples include space suits, air-conditioned clothing, armor, diving suits, swimsuits,
bee-keeper gear, motorcycle leathers, high-visibility clothing, and other pieces of protective
clothing.
Clothing also performs a range of social and cultural functions. Clothing can be used to indicate
social status and convey individual, occupational, and sexual differentiation. In many societies,
norms about clothing reflect standards of modesty, religion, gender, and social status. They
cover parts of the body that social norms require to be covered, act as a form of adornment, and
provide an expression of personal taste and style.

How does season influence clothes?

Clothes have always been important for people. In ancient times mainly because they protected
people against cold, frost, or rain, then later with the development of society clothes became an
important sign of people’s social status.

Summer dressing: In summer we wear for example loose blouses with a low neckline and with
short sleeves or without sleeves, shorts or Bermuda shorts and of course various T-shirts. Very
popular are cotton T-shirts decorated with embroidery or printing. On our feet, we put on
sandals, slippers, or sneakers/trainers. When we go swimming we put on a swimming suit (one-
piece or two-piece) and sometimes we take a straw hat.
Winter dressing: In winter we wear warm clothes, e.g. suits, trousers, jeans, cardigans, polo
neck sweaters, anorak and parkas, winter coats and jackets, a fur coat, gloves or mittens, caps,
hats, scarf and winter boots of course.

Discuss the questions and express your opinion:

– What attitudes do people have to fashion?
– What factors have influenced the way of dressing?
– What does fashion include? What do we wear in summer and winter?
– Do you follow the latest fashions?
– Do you spend a lot of money on your clothes?
– Do you prefer brand clothes?

9.2 Clothing – material, cut, trends, colours

People have different attitudes to fashion, which means, each person has her style and taste.
Some people don’t care what they wear, others, especially women are very choosy and like to
spend a lot of money on clothes. Some people have excellent taste in dress and are always
dressed perfectly; others are slovenly and careless in dressing. Some people want to be dressed
FASHION

according to the latest fashion even if it doesn’t suit them. We can buy ready-made clothes or
buy them at second-hand shops; others prefer to have them made by a tailor or dressmaker.

Materials
Clothing has been made from a very wide variety of materials. Materials have ranged from
leather and furs to woven materials, to elaborate and exotic natural and synthetic fabrics. The
traditional natural materials are cotton, wool, linen, velvet, flannel and silk, and denim.
Nowadays there is a vast collection of new fabrics based on man-made fibres. But everybody
usually looks for first-class, washable, non-iron, colourfast, crease- and shrink-resistant fabric.
Their design can be plain or patterned (flowered, geometric, dotted or spotted, striped, checked.

Style, cuts, designs

Styles, cuts, designs, and particularly the length of clothes change very quickly because
dressmaking has become a big business nowadays. Tight-fitting miniskirts may be in at one
time, soon to be replaced by mid-calf length and loose dress or maxi-style. Fashions often come
back to older styles. What is out of fashion, funny or ridiculous now, may look romantic a few
decades later. But the fashions never repeat themselves quite in the same way. There can be a
whole range of distinctive features. We could notice various types of neckline (high or low,
oval, V-neck, boat neck, tie or polo neck, with collar or collarless), and various cuts of sleeves
(inset, raglan, dropped shoulder, or batwing). The dress may have a classic line, A-line, or
straight. The waistline may be natural, higher low. At one time straight or slit, skirts are in, at
another full, bell-shaped, or divided skirts become trendy. There is also a variety of materials
the dress can be made of traditional natural materials such as cotton, wool, linen, silk, and the
vast collection of new fabrics based on man-made fibres. But everybody usually looks for first-
class, washable, non-iron, crease- and shrink-resistant fabric. Their design can be plain or
patterned (flowered, geometric, striped, checked, dotted, or spotted) and taken from the whole
spectrum of colours running from the brightest and most garish to the coolest and most subdued.
The way we dress also depends on our taste, the season, and the proper occasion. We should
know what kind of accessories matches our outfit.
We can say that each person has his/her style and taste. It is a well-known fact that the character
of people is reflected also by the manner of their dressing and by their overall appearance.
People tend to wear clothes that are appropriate for the environment and fashion. Fashionable
clothes don’t mean uncomfortable clothes. People try to combine both comfort and fashion.

Discuss the questions and express your opinion:

– Do you prefer fashionable clothes to comfortable ones? Why (not)?
– What style of clothes do you prefer and why?