Fashion in the past and present of the United Kingdom

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF UKRAINE

THE O. V. MISHUKOV KHERSON ACADEMIC LYCEUM

AFFILIATED WITH KHERSON STATE UNIVERSITY OF KHERSON CITY COUNSIL

COURSE WORK

FASHION IN THE PAST AND PRESENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

Kherson

2016

Contents

Introduction

1. National clothing in Great Britain

1.1 The 20th century fashion

1.2 Scottish national kilt

1.3 Welsh national costume

1.4 English national dress

2. Great British fashion designers

2.1 Five most talented fashion designers

2.2 The work of fashion designer

2.3 Vegetable fibres

Conclusion

List of literature

Introduction

The theme of our investigation is fashion in the past and present in the United Kingdom.

Nowadays Studying fashion is very important. Fashion is something we deal with everyday. Even people who say they don't care what they wear choose clothes every morning that say a lot about them and how they feel that day. People have always wanted to look nice and socially accepted. At is the way fashion helps people be up to date.

Fashion is a dynamic global industry that plays an important role in the economic, political, cultural, and social lives. It spans high art and popular culture, and is a significant part of material and visual culture.

There is well aknoledged by people that fashion is a habitual style not only in clothing, but also in footwear, accessories, hairstyle, make-up, fragrances and even hi-tech devices.

In our research work, we would like describe fashion as the way of lify of stylish and ordinary people.

In contrast to clothing, which is functional and only changes gradually, fashion thrives on novelty and change.

The subject of our investigation is fashion in the past, present, and national costumes of the United Kingdom, its historical background and particularity.

The object of our investigation is development of fashion industry, which in the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

The aim of our work is studying the important events and the initial stages of fashion.

The main tasks of our work are to present the stages of fashion development; to study and to show the peculiarities of national dressing; to describe about the most talented Britain fashion designers and their work.

1. National clothing in Great Britain

1.1 The 20th century fashion

Fashions change so quickly that it is difficult to follow them. What was fashionable yesterday may be out of fashion tomorrow. Let us briefly describe the main changes in fashion that took place in the 20th century. Before the First World War, fashions did not change very quickly. Men wore dark suits. Dinner jackets and tails with bow ties were for formal wear. Women wore long dresses. Under their dresses, women wore stiff corsets. They gave women a very narrow waist but they were very uncomfortable. After the First World War fashions changed greatly. Women surprised the world by short dresses. People saw women's knees for the first time.

A straight figure with no waist was fashionable. Men wore trousers with very wide legs - they were called Oxford bags. In the next two decades - 1930s and 1940s feminine styles were fashionable. Skirts became longer and fuller. Men wore a suit, a tie and usually a hat. After the World War II, in 1950s, people were richer. For men this was the age of the teddy boy.

Teddy boys wore long jackets in very bright colours - pink, orange or yellow - and very tight trousers called `drainpipes'. For women jumpers and blouses with wide skirts were fashionable, as well as short socks. The 1960s saw a revolution in clothes. Everything changed. This was the time of the mini-skirt and long boots. The Conservative Britain was motherland of new fashion. In the late 1960s and the early 70s the hippy style was in fashion.

Men wore jeans and brightly coloured shirts or T-shirts. Very long hair was fashionable for both women and men. Women wore loose maxi-dresses. The 1990s brought unisex fashion as well as rockers and bikers with leather jackets and leather trousers, metal accessories and decorations.

1.2 Scottish national kilt

The tartan kilt is a well-known and very striking part of Scottish national dress. It is a pleated, woolen, knee-length garment, like a skirt, which is usually worn by men. What makes the kilt so recognizable is its multi-coloured pattern of squares and stripes. Each distinct pattern is known as a tartan, and today more than one hundred different tartans are widely available. Many of these are associated with a certain family, region or organization.

The modern kilt evolved from the belted plaid, which was a long piece of patterned cloth. The bottom half was pleated and then wrapped around the wearer's waist, and the top half was thrown over his shoulder. The belted plaid dates back to the early 17th century, when it was very common among Scottish Highlanders.

It was not long before tartan became a strong symbol of Scotland. During the late 18th century, the shorter kilt which we know today, gradually began to replace the belted plaid as the standard national dress.

During the 19th century, the development of mechanical looms meant that the same patterns could be easily produced over and over again. It was during this period that most of the family and regional tartans were designed. All of the old Scottish families, or clans, had their own tartans. In fact, most had at least two different designs; a brightly coloured design for evening wear, and a hunting tartan for everyday wear. The hunting tartan contained duller brown and green colours that allowed the wearer to blend into the Scottish moors, when he was out hunting.

These days, the kilt is normally worn with a plain white shirt and a jacket. A sporran, which is a small leather or fur pouch, is worn around the waist and hangs at the front of the kilt. This is especially useful since the kilt has no pockets. Socks should be either white or the same tartan as the kilt. It is also traditional to carry a small knife, or dagger, in the right sock.

Today, if you spend some time in Scotland, you are bound to see plenty of people wearing kilts. Although it certainly is not everyday dress anymore, there are all sorts of occasions, from formal dinners to football matches, where people will proudly put on their family tartan.

1.3 Welsh national costume

It is generally accepted that the Welsh National costume evolved in the late 1700s. The Welsh National Dress though is only for females. There have been attempts to create a welsh kilt for the men but this has not really taken off.

A welsh woman's national costume tends to be a tall black hat, a little like a man's stovepipe hat. A white lacy cap is worn underneath this hat. The costume also includes a full check patterned skirt, a shawl, a white starched apron, black woollen socks, black shoes and a cloak.

The hat is still sometimes worn today but, in general, the welsh national dress is only worn for special celebrations, and rarely. However, young school girls dress up in this costume for St David's Day celebrations each year.

It seems that the hat was added to the costume in the 19th century.

The Welsh National Dress was created out of the imagination of Augusta Hall who was to become Lady Llanofer. In the mid 19th century this lady apparently fought long and hard to help Wales retain its cultural individuality. She tried to promote Wales and encouraged Welsh culture and use of the Welsh language. Her efforts also included the creation of a Welsh National Costume. Her idea of what a traditional Welsh National Dress should be, are the basis for the current national dress.

These days tourists can buy souvenir dolls, from various locations around Wales, that are dressed in traditional welsh national dress.

The elements of Welsh costume are skirt and underskirt. These were normally of heavy flannel with vertical or occasionally horizontal stripes in bold colours, often reds and dark blue or black and white.

The Welsh hat. The distinctive feature of Welsh hats is the broad, stiff, flat brim and the tall crown.

There were two main shapes of crown: those with drum shaped crowns were worn in north-west Wales and those with slightly tapering crowns were found in the rest of Wales. They were probably originally made of felt, but most surviving examples are of silk plush on a stiffened buckram base. A third type of hat, known as the cockle hat, was worn in the Swansea area.

The costume worn by men and boys in Wales was rarely illustrated or described because it was very similar to that worn by men in England. It consisted of a waistcoat (often of bright colours), a jacket often of blue or grey wool, a neckerchief, a pair of breeches, woollen stockings and a black felt hat.

1.4 English national dress

First prominent cultural beginning in England was started in the period of Anglo-Saxons and then there is unlimited series of heritage development in different eras of history that ultimately lead England to become the strongest cultural bearer of the lovely planet. The English heritage is fully diverse in nature having awesome colors and distinctiveness. The country has tremendous standards in every form of arts, literature, theatre, music, architecture, folklore and knowledge. English government strongly supervises the administration of the country's heritage and culture.

Traditional dress of England is an outcome of the local and north European clothing repercussions. The dress represents the ancient living style when English people normally used to live in forests, hills and near sea.

Traditional dress of England is the mixed inspiration from the local and north European clothing repercussions. The most common material used was wool ranging in texture and quality based on the type of sheep it came from. Linen and hemp were also the other fabrics used and were utilized often in the lower class and as undergarments and head coverings.

Silk was also popular material used by the wealthy and was mostly imported from Asia. Leather was used to produce items such as shoes, belts, gloves and armor.

You will see the prominence of red and white colors in the traditional outfits of England and the dresses were normally made with the woolen fabrics. Male traditional dress of England was accompanied with conventional weapons like swords and knives as the expression of freedom and chivalry.

There was a fashion for English men to wear longer stockings sometimes having mid thigh length and the stockings and girdle were tied together at a point in the top front of the stocking by which to keep it in place. Men continued to wear both short and long tunics with a girdle for a long period. All classes of men used to wear shoes or boots. Shorter boots, with pointed toes, were also worn and those ended just above the ankle. Gloves continued to be worn by the nobility and could be long, stretching to the elbow, or short, wrist length with decorations.

Traditional dress for English women was a deep and normally red over costume normally made with woolen fabric. This dress, which also dates back to the Anglo-Saxon period, was usually adorned with embroidery works and knife and was mainly consisted of long swifts. The embroidery was practiced with heavy woolen threads. No particular type of footwear was in use of the then English women; however safety, comfort and easiness were the important parameters for shoe-makers.Trousers were normally made with blue-linen and light designs.

Bonnets or headgears played pivotal role in the traditional clothing of England. In the mid 17th and 18th century `house bonnets' worn by women and girls were generally brimless head coverings which were secured by tying under the chin, and which covered no part of the forehead. Bonnets remained one of the most common types of headgear worn by women throughout most of the 19th century. Silk bonnets, elaborately pleated and ruched, were worn outdoors, or in public places like shops, galleries, churches, and during visits to acquaintances.

Coifs date from the 13th century, but fell out of popularity with men in the 14th century. Coifs were worn by all classes in England from the Middle Ages to the early 17th. Coif was actually a close fitting cap covering the top, back, and sides of the head.

During the 16 century, a tall-crowned, narrow-brimmed, slightly conical hat known as a capotain or capatain became very popular in England. It was usually in black color.

The capotain is especially associated with Puritan costume in England in the years leading up to the English Civil War and during the years of the Commonwealth.

Traditional dress of England is a part of royal or folk festivities these days. Morris dancers wear their traditional costumes normally consisting of white shirt, white trousers, black shoes, a boater-type hat and usually coloured sashes like those worn in beauty contests. The hat is usually bedecked with flowers and the ankles with bells that jingle as the dancer moves.

To sum up our first chapter we came to such conclusions: people have always wanted to look nice and socially accepted. We traced the history of national dress of United Kingdom and told about the 20th century fashion.

We concluded that fashion change so quickly that it is difficult to follow them. What was fashionable yesterday may be out of fashion tomorrow.

2. Great British fashion designers

2.1 Five most talented fashion designers

The fashion industry in United Kingdom had always been successful in creating a wide array of fashionable clothing line that is recognised all around the world. This success goes to the hardworking British designers who put their creative ideas into a reality. With the country teeming with the most talented fashion designers, taking a pick as to who is the greatest is definitely not an easy task. Below is a list of the top five British Fashion designers who made a mark in the fashion world.

Stella McCartney was born on 1971; Stella McCartney was raised in London, England. Following her dreams, she graduated from College of Saint Martins on 1995 with a course in Fashion design. Her graduate collection went front-page on the news and immediately sold to a London Boutique, jump-starting her career. After working as a creative director for Chloe, Stella McCartney launched her own fashion house in 2001. She currently operates about 17 stores located in the best parts of the world, making her collections reach over 50 countries. Stella McCartney continuously made a mark in the fashion industry with her collaborations with high-end retailers like H&M, Adidas, Bendon, Disney and LeSportac. With her vintage-inspired collection of dresses, stylish sportswear and attractive beachwear, Stella McCartney is now one of the most versatile designers in Britain.

The famous Alexander McQueen was nothing less than a supreme talent and best known for lavish, eccentric runway shows and for his creation of trousers called `bumsters', stirring a trend for low-rise jeans. Born on 1969, at a young age, he made dresses for his siblings, inspiring him to pursue a career in fashion. He served as an apprentice at Savile Row before getting a job from Romeo Gigli in Italy.

When he returned to London in 1994, he went to Central Saint Martins and earned his master's degree in fashion design.

Mary Quant is a daughter of a Welsh couple in Blackheath, London. Born on 1934, Mary ended up as a British fashion icon with her invention of the miniskirts and hot pants, embraced by a majority of youth in 1960s. She earned a diploma in Art Education from Goldsmiths College and started an apprenticeship as a couture milliner. After her success with the miniskirts, she became popular with a wide range of distinct fashion trend-plastic raincoats, balloon-style dresses, sweater dresses with plastic collars and knickerbockers, which are al now considered as part of the “London Look”. In the 1970s and 1980s, Mary Quant gave more time on her other business endeavours involving household goods and make-up.

Christopher Bailey famous designer. Working as Chief Creative Officer of Burberry, Christopher Bailey gained recognition as he turned the British luxury house into an authentic brand. Before landing a job at Burberry on 2001, he started working as a women's wear designer at Donna Kara on 1994 and later transferred in Milan, where he worked for Gucci on year 1996. Born in West Yorkshire, England on year 1971, Christopher Bailey decided to study fashion at the Royal College of Art, where his talent was eventually discovered by Kara. He is now known for his revolutionised collections of outerwear revealing a sexy appeal along with their accessories and fragrances, which he transformed to a more invigorating style for the shoppers.

Viviene Westwood decided to stop with her studies in fashion in the University of Westminster after her first year, but her passion still lead her where her heart truly belongs-the fashion industry. Raised in Derbyshire, England and born on 1942, she brought the innovative influence of modern punk fashion when she got acquainted with Malcom McLaren, who later inspired all her creations with his ideas regarding bikers and fetishist. The band `Sex Pistols', managed by McLaren, wore their collections, which gave them momentum in their success. Their punk designs display outrageous bondage gears, razor blades, safety pins, bicycle chains on clothing including peculiar jewelleries.

2.2 The work of fashion designers

The term `designing' is synonymous to the term `creativity'. Webster's International Dictionary defines creativity `as the ability to bring something new into existence'.

Thus, fashion designing is the creation of prevailing new mode or style in clothing. The leading fashion designers suggest different changes in style that influence public's taste in dressing, then major fashion houses frequently distribute all those innovations to various countries. Fashion designers usually act as arbitres of current trends in style. When a leading fashion designer has put forward a new style, it involves radical changes in the total personality - the right type of underwear, hosiery and stylish shoes of the appropriate colour, a hat and handbag to balance the silhouette. Hair style is also important and make-up will emphasize lips or arched eyebrows, cheeks or lustrous eyes. Fashion is changed from epoch to epoch, from year to year, from season to season. The changes in style involve the changes of colours, fabrics, accessories. At the same time, if you look through old fashion magazines or at ancient portraits, you will notice that fashions are repeated slightly modified in form, usage (overalls, military uniform, sportwear) or garment length.

Thus, the designer has to study the history of Fine Arts and the history of clothes. He must know the demand for particular ready-to-wear clothes, new trends in market and light industry, show the buying habits of public or why these garments are no longer selling well. The designer must attend fashion shows, different art exhibitions and even current movies, he must be `in' all international fashion magazines.

England designers are undoubtedly influenced by European styles, but they retain their independent, individual character. They reflect democratic, humanistic, businesslike and rational traits of new Great Britain society.

Creating collections for different purposes and seasons the designer must have a deep sense of colour. The appearance of clothing is often changed with the aid of colours, their shades and mutual combinations.

Well-chosen colour combination can have different influence on person's mood and appearance - it may be optimistic, aggressive, persistent, romantic, irritative, humorous, self-esteemed and even mysterious. The work of fashion designer is similar to the creative process of an artist, a painter. Hard and persistent work must be ruled by inspiration and taste, inspiration that converts garments into real pieces of art.

2.3 Vegetable fibres

The group of vegetable fibres contains two important fibres - cotton and flax. Cotton is the most popular vegetable fibre used in the textile industry. The cotton fibre is a soft substance, growing around the cotton seed. The cotton plant grows in warm climate. The process of transformation of cotton mass into yarn is not very expensive and complicated that is why cotton takes the leading place among textiles. Cotton fibres possess many important qualities. These fibres absorb moisture well and cotton yarn can be easily dyed. The strength of cotton fibres is rather high and it increases when wet. Comparing with silk and wool, cotton fibres are not very elastic and cotton fabrics crease easily. The application of cotton is very wide. Cotton is used in the production of all kinds of winter and summer clothes, for shoe uppers. Due to its extreme durability cotton is used for household textiles - table cloths, napkins, aprons, painters use cotton canvases; in old times cotton was used for sailcloth because it had to be very strong and rather thin. Young people cannot imagine their life without jeans - trousers, skirts, shirts, jackets, caps, bags. Flared, straight, baggy and with effect of shabby and torn clothes, all these fashions of cotton jeans are worn everywhere. Flax is also a vegetable fibre. The flax fibre is obtained from inner stem of the plant. Flax is one of the oldest textile fibres. The cultivation of flax, spinning and weaving the linen were illustrated on the walls of ancient Egyptian palaces and tombs, even 5000 years ago Egyptians were entirely dressed in linen. Now flax fibres are not used so widely, cotton, wool and chemical fibres are applied in larger amounts. The process of cultivation of flax plant and further stages of obtaining fabric are rather long, complex and expensive.

The main properties of flax fibres are - strength, durability and luster. It is not very elastic and is dyed not so well as cotton. Flax is used in manufacture of various materials for household needs - towels, decorative coverings, for example, table-cloths for its stiffness and luster. Flax fabrics possess a cooling effect and it is real pleasure to wear flax garments in hot summer weather.

Studying the second chapter, we can learn about the fashion designers and their work. Fashion is changed from epoch to epoch, from year to year, from season to season. The changes in style involve the changes of colours, fabrics and accessories.

We also learned about the kinds of fibres such as cotton and flax.

Conclusion

In our research work, we came to such conclusions: we studied the 20th century fashion and national dress of United Kingdom. Fashions change so quickly that it is difficult to follow them. What was fashionable yesterday may be out of fashion tomorrow.

In the first chapter, we traced the history of national dress and told about the 20th century fashion. Before the First World War, fashions did not change very quickly. Traditional dress in United Kingdom is the mixed inspiration from the local clothing and north European.

In the second chapter, we paid more attention to Great British fashion designers and their work.

We told about five most talented fashion designers of Great Britain, such as Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Christopher Bailey, Viviene Westwood, Mary Quant. The work of fashion designer is similar to the creative process of an artist, a painter.

Fashion keeps inviting and exploring new lands and base when every time a new design develops. However, the concepts and process involved remains the same and design derivation are always fresh, crisp and edgy.

Fashion exists to provide information about ourselves, what we think and who we strive to be. It defines our age, our occupation and often, our ethnicity. A man walks down the street in a business suit and we gather information about him. A young girl wears a tank top and short pink skirt, and we form an impression of her.

Fashion has evolved over the centuries. In cultures that wear few clothes, body paint is used as a substitute. In some cultures, the powerful decide what everyone wears.

They use laws to mark off different segments of society from each other.

Today we tend to dress based on the way clothes appeal to our personal taste.

We chose our style to express our personality. It is nice to be cool and to dress with the times. Fashion will never fade its face in any era. In course of our investigation, we examined all the questions of our task and carried them out.

List of literature

1. Alina Wheeler, `Designing Brand Idenfity', John Wiley and Sons, 2012, p.13-15.

2. Austin Kleon, `Steal like an Artist', Workman Publishing Company, 2012, p.36-38.

3. Christine Stevens, `Welsh Costume and the Influence of Lady Llanover', Oxford University Press, 2005, p.45-48.

4. David Airey, `Logo Design Love', Peachpit Press, 2014, p.9-13.

5. Dylan Jones, `50 Best Dressed Men in Britain 2015', GQ Style magazine, 2015, p. 2-8.

6. Harold Koda, `Welsh folk costume', Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 13-18.

7. John Grisham, `English learner's digest', Book Works, 2013, p. 23-26.

8. Johnson Erik, `Costuming Regulations of the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing', Salt Publishing, 2009, p. 78-83.

9. Lois Blake, `Welsh folk dance', Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 47-50.

10. Michael Freeman, `Lady Llanover and the Welsh Costume Prints', Kogan Page, 2010, p.235-251.

11. Michael Michalko, `Thinkertoys', Ten Speed Press, 2006, p. 9-15.

12. Roberts Huw, `Welsh costumes at Llanover, Newsletter, Cymdeithas Gwenynen Gwent', Darcy Press, 2004, p. 2-3.

13. Tim Shulman, `Vogue Magazine', Conde Nast Publications Ltd., 2002

14. Valerie Mendes, `20th Century Fashion', Good Book Company, 2007

15. Virginia Evans, `Click on 4' Student's book, Express Publishing Press, 2012, p.114.

16. Williams Genealogy, newspaper reports `Century Newspapers for Welsh costume', Wrox Press, 2015, p. 4-6.

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