A Cultural History Of Western Fashion From Haute Couture To Virtual Couture

"Just as the clothes we wear can communicate our personality and how we want to be perceived, so fashion can reflect the politics and preoccupations of the society that produced it."--

Just as the clothes we wear can communicate our personality and how we want to be perceived, so fashion can reflect the politics and preoccupations of the society that produced it. A Cultural History of Western Fashion guides you through the relationships between haute couture and ready-to-wear designer fashions, popular culture, big business, high-tech production, as well as traditional and social media. Exploring fashion's interdisciplinary nature, English and Munroe also highlight the parallel evolution of clothing design and the other visual arts over the last 150 years. This new edition includes expanded coverage of the build up to the First World War and brings this classic text up to date. There is also a new chapter on smart textiles and technology, exploring the work of Hussein Chalayan and Iris Van Herpen among others, and expanded coverage of the role of sustainability in the contemporary fashion industry, including biosynthetic textile production and Stella McCartney's use of vegan leather.

This new edition of a bestselling textbook is designed for students, scholars, and anyone interested in 20th century fashion history. Accessibly written and well illustrated, the book outlines the social and cultural history of fashion thematically, and contains a wide range of global case studies on key designers, styles, movements and events. The new edition has been revised and expanded: there are new sections on eco-fashion, fashion and the museum, major changes in the fashion market in the 21st century (including the impact of new media and retailing networks), new technologies, fashion weeks, the rise of asian fashion centers and more. There are twice as many illustrations. In its second edition, A Cultural History of Fashion in the 20th and 21st Centuries is the ideal introductory text for all students of fashion.

Just as the clothes we wear can communicate our personality and how we want to be perceived, so fashion can reflect the politics and preoccupations of the society that produced it. A Cultural History of Western Fashion guides you through the relationships between haute couture and ready-to-wear designer fashions, popular culture, big business, high-tech production, as well as traditional and social media. Exploring fashion's interdisciplinary nature, English and Munroe also highlight the parallel evolution of clothing design and the other visual arts over the last 150 years. This new edition includes expanded coverage of the build up to the First World War and brings this classic text up to date. There is also a new chapter on smart textiles and technology, exploring the work of Hussein Chalayan and Iris Van Herpen among others, and expanded coverage of the role of sustainability in the contemporary fashion industry, including biosynthetic textile production and Stella McCartney's use of vegan leather.

The definitive guide to the history of fashion. From Ancient Egypt and Marie Antionette to Alexander McQueen and Chanel, this visually stunning fashion design book charts the evolution of clothing and shows how every generation reinvents fashion! The perfect fashion coffee table book! Here’s what you’ll find inside: • Covers the most important fashion periods in vivid detail, from ancient times to the present day, in extensive catalog spreads • From a crinoline to a Givenchy gown, specially photographed “virtual tours” of classic pieces spotlight the details that make up a masterpiece • Profiles showcase the key styles and works of trailblazing designers, describing how they have influenced the clothes we wear • Beautiful double-page images from fashion archives show how people have embraced fashion in every era and place fashion in its cultural context The fashion industry is yours to explore! Packed with a dazzling combination of original fashion plates, archive images and commissioned photography, Fashion takes you on a fabulous tour across the centuries! It catalogs the history of what people wear — revealing how Western fashion has been influenced by design from around the world — and celebrating everything from costumes to haute couture. Now fully revised and updated, this lavishly illustrated book about fashion includes recent subjects of interest including the increased role of social media, fast fashion, sustainable fashion, and the drive for improved diversity and beauty ideals. The illustrated glossary of technical terms and a comprehensive index help make this page-turning fashion book an indispensable work of reference for any fashion student or fashionista’s shelf. Look out for more titles in The Definitive Visual Guide series from DK. Experience the power of art and take a guided tour of the world’s most influential paintings in Art, or celebrate the history and evolution of design movements in Design.

For centuries China has fueled the creative imagination and inspired fashion. This stunning publication explores the influence of Chinese art, film, and aesthetics on international fashion designers, including Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, Alexander McQueen, and Yves Saint Laurent.

This exciting book explores fashion not simply from an aesthetic point of view but also as a manifestation of social and cultural change. Focusing on fashion from 1850, noted fashion historians Daniel James Cole and Nancy Deihl consider the evolution of womenswear, menswear, and childrenswear, decade by decade. The book looks at the dissemination of style and the mechanisms of change, at the relationship between fashion and the visual, applied, and performing arts, the intertwined relationship between fashion and popular culture, the impact of new materials and technology, and the growing globalization of style. With photographs of costume from museums and images from the fashion press including editorial photography, illustrations, and advertising, the book will include insights into icons of fashion and the clothes worn by “real people”, providing a valuable visual reference for the reader.

Besides products and services multinational corporations also sell myths, values and immaterial goods. Such »meta-goods« (e.g. prestige, beauty, strength) are major selling points in the context of successful marketing and advertising. Fashion adverts draw on deeply rooted human values, ideals and desires such as values and symbols of social recognition, beautification and rejuvenation. Although the reference to such meta-goods is obvious to some consumers, their rootedness in philosophical theories of human nature is less apparent, even for the marketers and advertisers themselves. This book is of special interest for researchers and students in the fields of Cultural Studies, Media Studies, Marketing, Advertising, Fashion, Cultural Critique, Philosophy, Sociology, Anthropology and Psychology, and for anyone interested in the ways in which fashion operates.