The Evolution of Women's Fashion Throughout the 20th Century

In addition, between middle Ages and Industrial Revolution, power-driven machinery was introduced. This prompted the more efficient way of making clothes. Until the time of Industrial Revolution most of the clothing were produced at home. Every home was a small clothing factory. Women were the ones who usually made the clothing for the whole family; from underpants and nightgowns to coats and dresses. Ready-to-wear industry was born in the early nineteenth century. It started out badly. Dressmakers produce numerous garments and sell them out for women to sew.

The clothes fitted very poorly.

But as time passed, the quality had improved. They got used to the sizes and they made a lot of money doing this. The clothing industry had enhanced more with Eli Whitneys invention of the cotton gin. Cotton gins separate the fibers from the seeds, which caused the increase of production. For the first time in history, these two inventions made it possible for ready-to-wear clothes to be exceptionally cheap to purchase than before.

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Early Twentieth Century of Fashion: 1990s-1950s The first fifty years of the century were full of tragic events. Two world wars killed millions of citizens.

There were Russian Revolution and Stalinist purges, the Great Depression in the thirties, Adolf Hitler dictatorship in Nazi and the massacre of the Jews, and the dropping of atomic bombs assuming to end the war, World War II. By 1900s, people made transportation and communication better developed. They communicated and kept in touch through the phones, mails, telegraphs, or undersea cables.

They traveled conveniently and faster by the newly invented trains and by steamships. Henry Ford, the maker of the affordable Model T automobile, introduced the shorted workweek that influenced working citizens for more leisure time and travel. Automobile also stimulated sports and other athletic activities. People reached ballparks, stadiums, tracks, courts, gyms, beaches, golf courses and recreation centers faster and efficiently. Plus, sports influenced clothing. Comfortable clothes were designed specifically for certain sports. Cars also led to development of shopping centers. The first shopping place was built in Lake Forest, Illinois (Payne, 544). In more recent times, fashion has come to be generally acknowledged as applying to the womens dresses.

The womens fashions of the 1900s are called La Belle poque. Grecian bend was made the popular figure, a tortuous framework, which means pigeon-breasted bosom, full and swayback hips. The first decade of the 20th century was a very graceful and extremely feminine period. The silhouette became imperceptibly softer and lighter; a mature woman was the perfect model. Corsets were also popular during this period to produce the fashionable S-curved figure. All the skirts during that time swept the floor, and the evening gowns were low necked with a ribbon or band for the sleeves. The hobble-skirt style was also popular with the narrow ankle-length hem. Eveningwears were made of silk satin, and with brighter solids or light-colored hazy prints. Designers used natural fibers, which were linen, wool, silk, and cotton. Sleeves were sometimes slightly puffed at the top to extend the shoulders.

Trims meant high status during this time. Rayon, invented 1910, was the first artificial fiber. Chanel as a common craze used it in the late teens. Head-to-ankle wrapping was inevitable during this period. Neck and arms were often bared at night. The period from the end of World War I to the stock market crash was an era of change, and was often called the Roaring Twenties. Another name for the period was the Jazz Age, and was also called the flapper era. According to Alison Lurie, the author of The Language of Clothes, The flapper of the 1920s was high-spirited, flirtatious, and often reckless in her search for fun and thrills (74). Flappers, with short hairs and skirts with turned-down hose and powdered knees, were the typical women who were often thought of as a little brazen and outgoing. The Great War also gave way for women to be socially liberated. They were not the traditional women we all know.

Their hairs were fad was two large hip pockets at either side of the waist. In addition, four new synthetics were found in the forties. They were metallic, olefin, saran and the modacrylic. The fifties were an aggressively positive decade. The triumph in WWII gave fashion an optimistic mood. The fifties tags were corseted waist, full hips and soft but wide shoulders. One distinct style was the cocoon-like sacque dress and coat, which had fitted shoulders with bloomed at the waist and hips. Another distinction of the fifties is its conservative look. One best indicators of the conservative frame of mind is the addition of the phrase under God to the Pledge of Allegiance (Fads & Fashions of 1950s). That addition was added on the fifties, and which was a big marker on the conservative and anti-communism feeling. Another ordinary mark on the fifties sleeved dress is the diamond-shaped underarm panel.

Evening gowns were floor length, but the cocktail kinds also fell at the knee and upper-calf length. The trends of the first fifty years of the twentieth century remained much like those in the midst of the nineteenth century. Clothing was becoming less complex, heavy and stiff, more on the comfortable side and freedom of movement. People wore fewer coatings and layers, social etiquette and customs became more flexible, and clothing became less-occasion specific. Late Twentieth Century: 1960s-present The final years of the twentieth century were nicknamed the Space Age, Atomic Age and the Computer Age. Nations that were damaged by the Second World War were slowly recovering.

By 1970s, both Japan and Europe were leading their respective economies. In 1969, the first American landed on the moon. Minorities were leading movements for better equal opportunities. Zero global wars occurred, but various regional wars happened. Fashions of the sixties were the time for a new revolution. New fashion trends originated from everywhere. One particular trend was the sweeping infantilism. Dresses were much like child-like, sometimes even doll-likes. fashions once reserved for kindergarteners have overtaken all levels of society: pull-on stretchy pants, comfy sweatshirts with hood, sneakers that close with Velcro tabs, sill little baseball hats(60s Changed Fashion Forever). Jackie Kennedy Onassis, the former first lady, was the fashion superstar of the sixties. She was known for her great fashion senses. Another female popular pioneer was Mary Quant. She designed the thigh length mini skirts, which created the dominant fad for women.

Space-age fashions in vinyl and synthetics were also popular. Hot pants, which were the extremely short shorts, were also in at the time. Sixties retro fever has also The lifestyle of the nineties to the present is to feel comfortable and at the same time look good. Artistic freedom is another major point. In addition, fashions from the sixties and seventies are coming back. Individually counts; it is the wearers choice not only what to wear but how to wear it and accessories to wear it with. Clothing fashions are part of the history of their times, and it is reasonable to ask what they tell about their times. Even when we look back, the fashion history tells us the events and happenings of the time. Those shifts in fashion are the outward and visible signs of profound cultural and social alterations. Fashion has been changing in every aspect, but its own name.