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Article Outline Introduction; The Beginning of Fashion; The 17th Century; The 18th Century; The 19th Century; The 20th Century
Fashion, clothing that is in style at a particular time. The concept of fashion implies a process of style change, because fashions in dress, as well as in furniture and other objects, have taken very different forms at different times in history. Thus, when English playwright William Shakespeare observed in the 16th century that “the fashion wears out more apparel than the man,” he meant that clothing becomes unfashionable long before it has worn out. Back in Shakespeare's day, only upper-class people dressed fashionably; the mass of the rural peasantry wore simple clothing that hardly changed over many generations. Since the beginning of the 20th century, however, fashions have changed rapidly. We would look strange indeed if we wore the styles our great-grandparents wore. And most people—at least in the West—follow fashion to some extent, because fashion refers to much more than the haute couture, the exclusive and expensive clothing produced by leading designers. Even schoolchildren are aware that fashions exist, and change, in running shoes. Nevertheless, we do tend to distinguish, however imprecisely, between basic clothing, such as blue jeans, parkas, and T-shirts, and the latest trendy fashions created by fashion designers. This article follows fashion in the West from its beginnings in Europe to the present. For more information on everyday clothing around the world, see Clothing. Fashion reflects the society of which it is a part. It has been influenced by wars, conquests, laws, religion, and the arts. Individual personalities have also had an impact on fashion. Royalty and heads of state have set fashion, and in the 20th century media stars have emerged as leaders of fashion. French writer Anatole France said that if he could come back to Earth 100 years after his death and have only one thing to read, he would choose a fashion magazine because that would show him the way people lived. Fashion also has its critics, who have at times denounced fashion as irrational, frivolous, tyrannical, and immoral. Why should pink be in fashion one season and gray the next season? Why do people follow fashion like sheep when they have enough clothes already? A common accusation is that fashion designers accelerate fashion change to create new business. Yet no new fashion succeeds until people are ready to accept it. The final decision about what to buy, or whether to buy anything at all, belongs to the consumer. Ultimately, fashions change because many people like new and different styles.
Many cultures through history have followed fashion. Styles of clothing have changed as a result of contact with other societies and competition for status within a society. Yet not until the 14th and 15th centuries, during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, did styles begin to follow a regular pattern of change in Europe. The beginning of fashion dates to that time. In western Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries, trade revived, cities grew, and a rebirth of learning took place. The textile industries played an especially important part in this economic revival. The wool trade in England and Flanders and the silk industry in Italy contributed to the growth of a wealthy urban elite, and this elite increasingly competed with a landowning nobility for social and economic status. The beginning of fashion is associated with this growth of trade and business and the rise of the economic system known as capitalism. In 1423 the doge (ruler) of Venice, an Italian city-state, observed, “Now we have invested in our silk industry a capital of 10 million ducats and we make 2 millions annually in export trade; 16,000 weavers live in our city.” Among the luxury fabrics produced in Venice were satins, velvets, and brocades. Renaissance paintings depict these magnificent textiles, which were produced in many small workshops organized in a system of guilds. Textile production was also carried out in people's homes using inventions new to Europe, such as the spinning wheel. Fashion information spread quickly through Europe, as the following 16th-century English poem attests:
As this poem reveals, fashionable items of clothing came from all parts of Europe, and fashionable dress was fairly standard throughout western Europe. By the 16th century a fashionable man's attire consisted of a white linen shirt and a doublet (fitted jacket), and over it a looser jacket or short cape, which a man might hang from one shoulder. Hose (thick tights) attached to the doublet and covered the legs. Hose might fit snugly or be loose around the hips and stuffed with padding. Short padded breeches were known as trunk hose and took several shapes, depending on the padding used. Women’s dresses had tight bodices with a stiff panel, called a stomacher, that extended over the chest and abdomen. Sleeves and skirts were full—made with ample fabric so they puffed out). Both men and women wore white ruffs, which were stiff, pleated collars. Fashion tends to follow power. During most of the 15th century, Venice and other Italian city-states held economic power in Europe, but the center of power shifted to Spain after navigator Christopher Columbus made his first voyage to the Americas for Spain in 1492. During the 16th century the Spanish style increasingly dominated European fashion. Men at the Spanish royal court favored black clothing, with a large white ruff at the throat. The fashionable silhouette for both men and women became bulky and stiff. Men’s short breeches and doublets were padded. Skirts became wider and were supported by a farthingale (hooped petticoat), also known as a wheel or drum, which grew wider toward the bottom. Upper-class women adopted a boned corset, which flattened and narrowed the upper body. Fashion also helped create an impressive royal image. Queen Elizabeth I of England, for example, used fashion to make a statement of political authority, to assert her power and legitimacy. Ornate garments encrusted with jewels, gold, and other decoration asserted her power and her right to rule, even though she was a woman.
France achieved a dominant position in world affairs and fashions during the reign of King Louis XIV, from 1643 to 1715. All of Europe followed French fashions except Spain. In France and elsewhere the women’s farthingale went out of style and was replaced by a stately gown worn with a bustle (padded frame at the back) and a train that trailed behind. The gown’s bodice typically ended in a V-shape over the abdomen, and bright colors gained favor. In Spain the farthingale remained fashionable and spread to the sides even farther than it had before. In place of doublets and trunk hose, men in France adopted a three-piece suit, consisting of knee-length breeches, a knee-length coat, and a waistcoat or vest. The suit was worn with a shirt and cravat (neckerchief that was a precursor of the necktie). A softly falling collar replaced the ruff. Thus the modern business suit existed in an early stage by the 17th century. But unlike men’s suits today, the pieces of an 18th-century suit were typically of different fabrics. Under Louis XIV the French court at Versailles became the center of Western fashion, and fashionable clothing was produced nearby, in Paris. Paris remained the capital of women's fashion for the next 300 years. Yet despite fashion’s economic importance, it produced controversy. Moralists in France and elsewhere argued that fashion undermined the rigid social hierarchy because middle-class people could copy the fashions of the aristocracy, often buying secondhand the very clothes that their social superiors had once worn. These critics deplored the fact that even a milkmaid could look like a lady. Fashion inspired controversy in England because it fed female vanity as women competed with one another for elegance in dress. Even though changes in fashion promoted trade, keeping up with fashion proved expensive. Clothing in England during the 17th century came to symbolize the difference in beliefs between cavaliers, who supported the king and wore luxurious, colorful aristocratic garb, and their political opponents, the austerely dressed Puritans, who wore dark, drab colors. When Puritans settled New England in the 1600s, they brought with them the Puritan styles then current in England.
After the death of Louis XIV in 1715, fashion became less massive and more graceful as the baroque style gave way to the rococo. Although France continued to dominate the world of fashion, England also played an important role. Clothing styles became increasingly important in all classes of society over the course of the century. Clothing continued to function as a social sign in the 18th century. Many European countries regulated ostentation in dress by law, thereby maintaining distinctions between the dress of the aristocracy and that of the bourgeoisie (middle class). In France these so-called sumptuary laws also were intended to limit the import of costly fabrics. Yet as the middle class grew and its members became wealthier through trade, they began to demand equality with the upper classes in politics and dress. The French Revolution (1789-1799) had a great impact on fashion—far more than did the American Revolution (1775-1783). The French Revolution marked the end of the old system and the beginning of a new freedom of dress. Styles in North America during the 18th century generally lagged behind those of Europe. Both England and France influenced Canadian fashions, but new fashions generally reached Canada a year or so after their introduction in Europe. English-influenced dress in Upper Canada (now Ontario) was typically more conservative than dress in Québec and other French-influenced areas of Canada.
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