Where that fashion thing come from?
This time our blog will be different from the other blogs we have written so far. We are not going to talk about peshtemals which are irreplaceable items for beaches and absolute must for spa centers. Yes you’re on www.pestemal.com now, you aren’t wrong but today I want to talk about what fashion is and how fashion takes shape.
From the primitive ages people always have had to dress to protect themselves from natural conditions. In ancient times animal hides were their rescuers but after a while they wanted to reflect who they are with their costumes. They wanted to be different each other and at the same time they wanted to be same with other and reflect themselves with designs that they sympathize. And that desire is what created fashion. However, in primitive societies’ fashion was stable, societies always have had dresses and accessories that they shapes according to their geographical position, traditions and their superstitious and other beliefs. Maybe they didn’t have a fashion concept to reflect their emotions but they have had costumes and accessories to separate them from the others. For example, according to women traditions of Padaung Tribe in North Thailand, when they turn 6 years old, they have to wear metal neck rings that they never take off; and according to Chinese traditions, Chinese people used to wear some special shoes called ‘’golden lotus’’ when they turn 6 years old to have small feet and they used to never take them off. No matter that fashion rose with the need of being original or to reflect what people have inside, actually it has been always a desire to be same with certain environment, to be approved, to get through and a following issue. For example; while Ottoman society was wearing turban, Jews were walking around with hats that reflected their religion and Catholics was wearing conic hats that reflected their sectarian. That dressing style which was fashion at those times is maybe lost or maybe decreased today but people’s desire to specify their entities, the culture they come from, their religion or their styles with different ways or different clothes has always continued.
Fashion sometimes born in a forced situation but sometimes a situation needs fashion to commercialize itself. Fashion has always been influenced by wars, peace agreements, socio-economic and cultural situations. How does it happen? For example; the famous designer Chanel, as a conclusion of a gas furnace explosion cut her long hair and she went to an opera. The French Fashion opinion leaders followed Chanel and they also cut their hair short. And by this way a new fashion got started. In the period of 13th Louis, Mademoiselle Fontage fell of the horse and she tied her hair up with her garter belt. And this Fontage Style started to gain popularity among the other women.
After 1900’s, the Fashion word that was used mostly by Europe and United States started to spread all around the world with the help of development of capitalism and globalization. People started to talk about fashion so much that they had never talked about it that much.
So, how would a situation need fashion to commercialize itself? And how cultural events have an influence on fashion? So to speak, in 1915, the studies made by Bernay who is the father of public relations created new fashion movements. Bernay’s job was to do public relation works of Russian Ballet that was going to be in United States. Therefore, he had to announce it and make American people like ballet. Bernay persuaded manufacturers to produce their products according to its costumes, designs of decoration and colors. And bell skirts which were longer versions of tutu skirts came into fashion and the most popular stores in 5th Street of New York started to sell those skirts. And another study of Bernay which created fashion again was throwing green ballroom parties to sell green shelf-warmer Lucky Strike cigarettes. And he accomplished to enable green color to be fashion color of that year in New York.
When we look at past and today, the fashion has been sometimes a coincidence and sometimes some opinion leaders have decided about what should be fashion. Fashion is something variable but according to assignation of English Fashion Researcher Levier; the clothes that are fashion today will be repellent 10 years later, they will be interesting 30 years later and they will be accepted as wonderful 50 years later.