2007 Fairchild Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any

2007 Fairchild Publications, Inc.


All rights reserved. No part of this presentation covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means–graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems–without written permission of the publisher.

Copyright © 2007Fairchild Publications, Inc.

ISBN-13: 978-1-56367-650-5

GST R 133004424

Designed by Stone DesignWorks


2007 Fairchild Publications, Inc.2007 Fairchild Publications, Inc.

2007 Fairchild Publications, Inc. Chapter 1The Nature of Fashion 5

A. The Importance of the Fashion Business

C. Terminology

D. Components

E. The Fashion Cycle

G. Principles

The Nature of Fashion

B. Misconceptions

F. The Intangibles of Fashion

62007 Fairchild Publications, Inc. Chapter 1The Nature of Fashion

The Importance of Fashion

• Fashion involves our outward visible lives. It has an impact from every stage of life from womb to tomb.

• Fashion has a great impact on our country’s economy. Changes in fashion result in new consumer purchases.

• The thought of being unfashionable is a fate worse than death to many people!


Fashion BusinessAll the industries and services connected with fashion: design, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, retailing, advertising, communications.

Fashion IndustryBusinesses that are engaged in manufacturing materials and finished products for fashion.


Misconceptions about Fashion

1. That designers and retailers dictate fashion and force it upon the hapless

consumer. 2. That fashion acts as an influence on

women only.

3. That fashion is a mysterious and unpredictable force of nature.

There are three widely held misconceptions concerning the fashion industry:


Misconceptions about Fashion

Using feathered flights of fancy, designer Frank Sorbier sends this gown down the runway–not to sell to the public, but to get press coverage and create a “fashion buzz.”


Fashion Terminology

Style number

High fashionFashion

Style

Mass/Volume fashion

Design

Taste

Classic

FadTrend


StyleIs a characteristic or distinctive appearance of a garment.

FashionStyle accepted and used by the majority of a group at any one time.

High FashionNew styles accepted by a limited number of fashion leaders who want to be innovative.


Mass/Volume FashionRefers to styles that are widely accepted.

DesignInterpretation of a style.

TastePrevailing opinion of what is attractive and appropriate for a given occasion.


ClassicStyle that remains in general fashion for an extended period of time.

FadA fashion that suddenly sweeps into popularity, and then quickly disappears.

TrendA general direction or movement.


Components of Fashion• SILHOUETTE

There are three basic forms:

a. Bellb. Bustlec. Straight

• Variations of the straight silhouette

d. Slime. Rectangularf. Wedgeg. A-line


Components of Fashion

• DETAILSDetails of the garment consist of: trim, buttons, length, width, waist, shoulder, sleeve treatment.

• TEXTURERefers to the look and feel of material, woven or nonwoven, that can affect the appearance of a silhouette. Texture can give a bulky or slender look to a garment depending on the roughness or smoothness of the material.

• COLORIs important in apparel selection for men, women and children.


The Fashion Cycle


The Fashion Cycle

• Stages of the Fashion CycleEvery fashion cycle passes through five stages:

1. Introduction

2. Rise

3. Culmination

4. Decline

5. Obsolescene


The Fashion Cycle• Consumer Buying Cycle versus Consumer Use Cycle


Intangibles of Fashion

• Group acceptance

• Change

• Social forces

• People’s desire to relate to specific lifestyles

Fashion itself is intangible. A style is tangible, made up of a definite silhouette and details of a design. But fashion is shaped by such powerful intangibles as


Intangibles of Fashion

• Mass media accelerates the pace of fashion change

FashionFashion is a complex means for facilitating orderly change is a complex means for facilitating orderly change in a mass society.in a mass society.

• The rise of ready-to-wear creates “discard-ability”


Mirror of the Time

• Today social classes are far more fluid than ever because there is no universal way of life today, and people are free to choose their own lifestyles—and their dress reflects that choice.

Fashions reflect the degree of rigidity in the class structure of an era.

FashionFashion is a non-verbal symbol. is a non-verbal symbol.

Social class


Mirror of the Time

• Currently our clothes varies according to lifestyles. Our interest in active sports and leisure pastimes varies with the difference in the lifestyle of an urban career-oriented woman and that of a suburban housewife. Each lifestyle is reflected in their choice of wardrobes.

FashionFashion is a non-verbal symbol. is a non-verbal symbol.

Fashions reflect activities in which the society participates.

Lifestyles


Principles of Fashion

1. Consumers establish fashions by accepting or rejecting styles offered.

2. Fashion is not based on price alone.

Designers must give expression to silhouette, color, fabric and design that the majority of consumers want.

Successful fashions are found at all price points.



3. Fashion is evolutionary, not revolutionary.Exceptions: 1789 French Revolution

1947 Dior’s “New Look”

4. No amount of sales promotion can change the direction in which fashions are moving.

Women’s liberation in the 1960s created a demand for less constructed undergarments



This Dior couture see-through dress shows the concept that all fashion ends in excess.

5. “All fashion ends in excess”.

–Paul Poiret

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2007 Fairchild Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this presentation covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any