A report from New York Fashion (Spring 2015) week found that while 79.69% of models on the runway were white, only 9.75% of models were black, 7.67% were Asian, and 2.12% were Latina. The lack of diversity also accounts for not only designers but models too, out of four hundred and seventy members of The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) only twelve of the members are black.[90] From the same study on New York Fashion Week, it was shown that only 2.7% of the 260 designers presented were black men, and an even smaller percentage were black female designers.[90] Even the relationship between independent designers and retailers can show the racial gap, only 1% of designers stocked at department stores being people of color. It was also found that in editorial spreads, over eighty percent of models pictured were white and only nine percent were black models. These numbers have stayed stagnant over the past few years.[90]
Internet technology such as online retailers and social media platforms have given way for trends to be identified, marketed and sold immediately.[36] Styles and trends are easily conveyed online to attract the trendsetters. Posts on Instagram or Facebook can easily increase awareness about new trends in fashion, which subsequently may create high demand for specific items or brands,[37] new "buy now button" technology can link these styles with direct sales.
The media plays a significant role when it comes to fashion. For instance, an important part of fashion is fashion journalism. Editorial critique, guidelines, and commentary can be found on television and in magazines, newspapers, fashion websites, social networks, and fashion blogs. In recent years, fashion blogging and YouTube videos have become a major outlet for spreading trends and fashion tips, creating an online culture of sharing one's style on a website or Instagram account. Through these media outlets readers and viewers all over the world can learn about fashion, making it very accessible.[49]
Why: While Lesego doesn’t have a blog per se, she does have a very active Instagram full of gorgeous photography and thoughtful captions (she occasionally dabbles in vlogging too). Be it the latest fashion trends, amazing lingerie or even those tricky to style narrow sunglasses, she’s a deft hand at styling and out to destroy any preconceptions of what a curvy girl can and can’t wear.
Aiming to “amplify a greater message of unity, inclusion, diversity, and feminism in a fashion space”, Mara Hoffman invited the founders of the Women's March on Washington to open her show which featured modern silhouettes of utilitarian wear, described by critics as “Made for a modern warrior” and “Clothing for those who still have work to do”.[75] Prabal Gurung debuted his collection of T-shirts featuring slogans such as “The Future is Female”, “We Will Not Be Silenced”, and “Nevertheless She Persisted”, with proceeds going to the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and Gurung's own charity, “Shikshya Foundation Nepal”.[72] Similarly, The Business of Fashion launched the #TiedTogether movement on Social Media, encouraging member of the industry from editors to models, to wear a white bandana advocating for “unity, solidarity, and inclusiveness during fashion week”.[76]
Kathleen’s blog was created out of the realization that post-grad life wasn’t as fabulous as Carrie Bradshaw had led her to believe (even as adults, we’re still trying to solve the puzzle of how Carrie could afford a closet-full of Manolos on a writer’s salary). But looking at her inspiring outfits and picture-perfect lifestyle, you might have to disagree that it is extremely fabulous (except she pulls it all off with affordable pieces and doable outfit ideas).
A few days after the 2010 Fall Fashion Week in New York City came to a close, The New Islander's Fashion Editor, Genevieve Tax, criticized the fashion industry for running on a seasonal schedule of its own, largely at the expense of real-world consumers. "Because designers release their fall collections in the spring and their spring collections in the fall, fashion magazines such as Vogue always and only look forward to the upcoming season, promoting parkas come September while issuing reviews on shorts in January", she writes. "Savvy shoppers, consequently, have been conditioned to be extremely, perhaps impractically, farsighted with their buying."[53]
Although aspects of fashion can be feminine or masculine, some trends are androgynous.[25] The idea of unisex dressing originated in the 1960s when designers such as Pierre Cardin and Rudi Gernreich created garments, such as stretch jersey tunics or leggings, meant to be worn by both males and females. The impact of unisex expands more broadly to encompass various themes in fashion including androgyny, mass-market retail, and conceptual clothing.[26] The fashion trends of the 1970s, such as sheepskin jackets, flight jackets, duffel coats, and unstructured clothing influenced men to attend social gatherings without a tuxedo jacket and to accessorize in new ways. Some men's styles blended the sensuality and expressiveness despite the conservative trend, the growing gay-rights movement and an emphasis on youth allowed for a new freedom to experiment with style, fabrics such as wool crepe, which had previously been associated with women's attire was used by designers when creating male clothing.[27]
^ Noricks, C. (2006). From style to strategy: An exploratory investigation of public relations practice in the fashion industry. Unpublished master's thesis, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA. in Cassidy, L. & Fitch, K. (2013) Beyond the Catwalk: Fashion Public Relations and Social Media in Australia, Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal, vol. 14, No. 1 & 2, Murdoch University.
Modern Westerners have a wide number of choices available in the selection of their clothes. What a person chooses to wear can reflect his or her personality or interests. When people who have high cultural status start to wear new or different clothes, a fashion trend may start. People who like or respect these people become influenced by their personal style and begin wearing similarly styled clothes. Fashions may vary considerably within a society according to age, social class, generation, occupation, and geography and may also vary over time. If an older person dresses according to the fashion young people use, he or she may look ridiculous in the eyes of both young and older people. The terms fashionista and fashion victim refer to someone who slavishly follows current fashions.
^ Encyclopædia Britannica, Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1706624/fashion-industry, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1706624/fashion-industry/296476/Fashion-design-and-manufacturing, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1706624/fashion-industry/296477/Fashion-retailing-marketing-and-merchandising, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1706624/fashion-industry/296479/Media-and-marketing
(in clothing: = latest style) → Mode f; (back) in fashion → (wieder) modern; it’s the/all the fashion → es ist Mode/große Mode; to come into/go out of fashion → in Mode/aus der Mode kommen; a man of fashion → ein modischer Herr; the Paris fashions → die Pariser Mode; she always wears the latest fashions → sie ist immer nach der neuesten Mode gekleidet; fashions in women’s clothes → die Damenmode; to set a fashion → eine Mode aufbringen; the fashion world → die Welt der Mode