Theorising Fashion

For most of us, fashion encompasses everything and anything popular, in terms of clothing, footwear, accessories and makeup. It is often associated with the latest creations by designers and what is trending at a given period of time.  A lot of people seem to get confused, when the concept of style comes in. Most of the time, the concepts of fashion and style are used interchangeably to mean the same thing. But, unlike fashion, style has to do with you as an individual, what you find attractive and how you like to appear regardless of what is in vogue, what you see on the mannequins or what just came fresh, from the runway.  

Regardless of the difference between both concepts, it cannot be denied that through fashion, a lot of people define their style and that’s how they decipher what is and what is not right for them.

The media is one phenomenon that has played a very significant role in the fashion industry, which is a product of the modern age.  The print media is one of the tools that have been used to promote fashion and regardless of other forms of promoting fashion  like TV shows and generated content on the Internet, the print constantly maintains the lead and is still very much appreciated.  

The purpose of this post is to drift away a little bit from the good old, Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan and Harpers Bazaar magazines/fashion bibles  and consider, the history of fashion, as it is more or less, a never-ending cycle that occurs and re-occurs.  What makes it seem different is that, when a piece comes back in trend, it is simply modified or improved to distinguish it from the last generation.

On one of my regular visits to a historical heritage site in Yorkshire, I went into the local bookstore to  have a look around. I found a section on fashion, and believe me, I was so engulfed looking through the books. After a considerable amount of time spent on evaluating, I decided to purchase these. 

Apparently their titles are quite self-explanatory, I think historical books on fashion like these, could be a point of reference for defining one’s style, apart from the good old magazines. The books on vintage fashion, give a synopsis of what was trending from the 1920’s straight on to the 1980’s and pieces found there have had their comebacks. The other book is on fashion illustration, which I found quite interesting and informative as it talks about clothing types and body forms. The last one happens to be my favourite, as I get to know more about some of the designers I look up to.

Remember that.......

"Fashion fades, Style is eternal"- Yves Saint Laurent 

Would love to know what you think!!!!

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I hope you gained a thing or two 

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