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The Meaning of Clothing and Fashion

1. Chapter. The Meaning of Clothing and Fashion. Objectives. Explain the basic reasons people wear clothing. State why people make various clothing choices. Describe fashion in terms of art and science, and private and public awareness.

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The Meaning of Clothing and Fashion

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  1. 1 Chapter The Meaning of Clothing and Fashion

  2. Objectives • Explain the basic reasons people wear clothing. • State why people make various clothing choices. • Describe fashion in terms of art and science, and private and public awareness. • Summarize economic and political influences on fashion. • Define basic fashion terms.

  3. Reasons for Wearing Clothing • In ancient times, clothing of simple design was made from animal skins, plants, and other items found in nature • Today, clothing is made of various materials • Clothing satisfies these basic human needs • physical • psychological • social

  4. Physical Needs • Clothing provides protection, or physical safeguards • As protection from weather, clothing provides comfort • As protection from environmental dangers, clothing provides many benefits • Shoes protect the feet • Helmets protect the head in accidents • Sterile gloves protect against germs continued

  5. Physical Needs • As protection from occupation hazards, special garments protect workers • Special “occupational clothing” includes items such as hard hats and safety goggles • Athletes often wear protective helmets, gloves, and pads • Soldiers and police officers wear protective clothing and shields

  6. Psychological Needs • Psychological reasons for wearing clothing are adornment and identification • Adornment, or attractive decoration, existed in all civilizations throughout history • Being adorned with clothing • gives people a positive psychological feeling • provides artistic expression • shows creativity continued

  7. Psychological Needs • Cultureoften determines the type of adornment people use • Culture is a society’s set of social norms or values • How one culture views beauty can differ from how others view it • People’s ideas about beauty and adornment change over time as fashions change continued

  8. Psychological Needs • Identificationis the process of describing • who someone is • what he or she does • Clothing helps the identification process • Example: Uniforms are specific to everyone within a certain group • Emblems, colors, badges, and jewelry also aid identification continued

  9. Psychological Needs • The regular clothing of many people can be considered a type of “psychological uniform” • Some businesses and schools have dress codes, which are written or unwritten rules of appropriate attire • Clothes adhering to a dress code • promote group identity • help group members maintain a certain discipline of behavior

  10. Social Needs • The social reasons for wearing clothing are modesty and status • Modestyis the covering of the body according to a culture’s or a society’s code of decency • U.S. standards of modesty have changed through the years • Each society or culture has its own accepted standards of modesty continued

  11. Social Needs • Clothing is sometimes used to gain a higher rank in society or to show social or military rank • A person’s statusis his or her position or rank compared to others • “Good” or “high” status is usually associated with recognition, prestige, and social acceptance

  12. Combined Needs • Today, people wear clothes because of a combination of needs, which include • receiving physical and psychological pleasure • expressing creativity • fulfilling basic physical and social needs • Clothing carries a highly visible message about who a person is, is not, or would like to be

  13. Why People Select Certain Clothes • Clothing choices are influenced by a person’s • personality traits • tendencies toward conformity or individuality • values and attitudes • Values are the ideas, beliefs, and material items that are important to an individual • Attitudes are personal feelings or reactions to people, things, or ideas

  14. Values and Attitudes • Clothing values and attitudes are passed through the generations. Influences include • ethnic and cultural traditions • economic and social conditions • different needs and values linked to populations of certain ages • personal desire for status, easy care, comfort, etc. • advertising

  15. Conformity Versus Individuality • Pressure from other people has a great influence on how people dress • Conformitymeans obeying or agreeing with a given standard or authority • Children learn what they are expected to wear from parents and teachers • Peer group pressure also contributes to conformity continued

  16. Conformity Versus Individuality • Too much conformity can mean a loss of personal individuality • Individualityis self-expression or the quality that distinguishes one person from another • Most people balance the influences of conformity and individuality in their clothing • They want to express themselves as individuals but also as part of a group

  17. Personality Traits • Personalitycan be defined as the total characteristics that distinguish an individual • Personality traits are often reflected in how people dress • People who prefer • a lot of decoration tend to be very sociable • comfortable clothes tend to be confident, outgoing, and secure

  18. Needs Versus Wants • Needs and wants are other factors that influence clothing choices • Example of a need: a heavy coat that provides warmth in a cold climate • Example of a want: a new coat that is simply more stylish • A needis something a person must have for existence or survival continued

  19. Needs Versus Wants • A wantis a person’s desire for something that gives him or her satisfaction • The wanted item would be nice to have, but the person can get along without it • Both needs and wants affect buyers’ choices • Success in the fashion business depends on understanding how consumers make apparel decisions

  20. Ongoing Fashion Perspectives • Fashion is • both an art and a science • highly personal yet very public • influenced by economic, political, and other events

  21. Fashion Insights • As an art, fashion • incorporates creativity in its products • thrives on innovative, forward-thinking ideas • uses color, texture, line, and other aspects of design to produce stylish items to wear • complements current trends

  22. Fashion Insights • As a science, fashion uses science and technology to • produce textile fibers with specific qualities • develop effective dyes for specific materials • revolutionize the way apparel items are designed, mass-produced, distributed, and sold

  23. Fashion Insights • Fashion is a private matter. • It satisfies physical, psychological, and social needs • Apparel choices reflect an individual’s personal image outwardly to the public • The textile/apparel industry keeps new fashions secret as they are being designed continued

  24. Fashion Insights • Fashion becomes a public matter as soon as new fashions are introduced • Fashion is constantly in the public spotlight through the press and other media • Consumers excitedly anticipate seeing, hearing about, and wearing the new fashions • Fashion is affected by shifts in the economy and the makeup of the population

  25. Economic, Political, and Other Influences on Fashion • Fashion reflects economic conditions, political issues, current events, and popular entertainment • Fashions mirror the times • Centuries ago, people dressed according to what was allowed for their “social class” • Rare and expensive items such as silk, pearls, and the purple coloring became status symbols continued

  26. Economic, Political, and Other Influences on Fashion • People’s moods are reflected in the way they dress • In hard times • clothing usually has a serious, conservative look • people loose interest in their appearance • In better times • styles are brighter and more adventurous • people are more willing to try different fashions

  27. Industry Facts • Popular entertainment causes fashions to imitate a character of a movie, an actor, or a rock star • As movies, concerts, and other modes of entertainment are publicized, consumers want to identify with them • Fashion professionals stay aware of all the ways that apparel relates to society

  28. Fashion Terminology • A garmentis an article of wearing apparel, such as a dress, suit, coat, or sweater • Examples of garment parts: sleeves, cuffs, collar, and waistband • Accessoriesare the articles added to complete or enhance apparel outfits • Examples of accessories: belts, hats, jewelry, shoes, gloves, and scarves continued

  29. Fashion Terminology • A styleis identified by distinct features that create an overall appearance • Styles exist in architecture, painting, music, and most other forms of expression • In apparel, each style is a particular design, shape, or type of garment with unique characteristics • Examples: A-line skirts, Bermuda shorts, safari jackets, and crewneck sweaters continued

  30. Fashion Terminology • The term style also describes an attractive condition • Certain trendsetters and fashion leaders are said to have style or to be stylish • Fashionis the display of the currently popular style of objects or activities • In apparel, a fashion is the leading type of clothing bought and worn by a large segment of the public continued

  31. Fashion Terminology • Fashions consist of the styles, colors, and functionalities favored at a particular time • Styles come and go in fashion acceptance, causing fashions to constantly change • High fashionitems, which are the latest or newest fashions, usually are • innovative, expensive, and of fine quality • accepted by the first adopters of fashion changes • considered too extreme or unusual for the public continued

  32. Fashion Terminology • Mass fashion, or volume fashion, accounts for the majority of sales in the fashion business • These styles are called “homogenized” because they are • produced in large quantities • accepted by the mass public

  33. Industry Facts • A designis a particular or unique style version • Example: A jumpsuit (pants attached to a top) can have different collars, pockets, or trims. Each version is a different design of the jumpsuit style • The terms style and design • have distinct definitions • are often used interchangeably in the fashion industry

  34. Fashion Terminology • Avant-gardeclothes are the most daring and wild designs • They are too unconventional and startling to be considered fashions of the times • Most features of these garments • disappear after a few years • are used to draw attention to the wearer, often on stage continued

  35. Fashion Terminology • A fadis a temporary, passing fashion • It is an unusual garment, accessory, or look that has great appeal to many people for a short period of time • Fads provide a • feeling of adventure for the wearers • sense of belonging to a group • Eventually, most fads fade away continued

  36. Fashion Terminology • A classic style or design is one that continues to be popular over an extended period of time • A garment of classic style or design • has simple, stylish lines that prevent it from being easily dated • is almost always acceptable • can have an updated look with only minor changes continued

  37. Fashion Terminology • A fashion lookrefers to a total accessorized outfit • Specific fashion looks are often identified with a celebrity or certain groups of people • In fashion, taste refers to the prevailing opinion of what is attractive and appropriate • Good taste means sensitivity to what is artistically pleasing and appropriate for a given person and occasion

  38. In Summary • People wear clothing to satisfy physical, psychological, and social needs • A person’s values and attitudes play an important part in clothing selection • Fashion is both an art and a science, involving creative thinking as well as technology • Success in the fashion business requires the understanding of clothing and fashion terms

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