More than 40 000 years, people in Western Europe are bejeweled ivory and bone. Used clothing to protect the body against the elements or to provide coverage for modesty, much later. The people of northern Europe, probably first dander hanging around them as protection against the cold in about 25,000 BC. In
the Mediterranean and Middle East, vegetable fibers such as flax, and
sheep and goats' hair were woven into soft fabrics that will not only
benefit from protection against the sun's rays, but it also meant their
social status. The oldest of these fabrics, made in Anatolia, in Turkey, about 6500 BC.
As civilizations developed, so dress styles also changed. Egypt, Greece and Rome, were draped garments, while people of northern Europe and the Middle wore clothes sewn tube. In
the classical world the toga used not only by the leaders, but also by
philosophers and teachers, was considered a symbol of civilization. Pants and tunics, however, were considered typical of barbaric tribal societies.
But
the idea of fashion, with its cycles of changing styles and trends
picked up in mid-1300, in Paris, London and Italian city-states, where
the elite rejected their flowing robes decorated for tight clothes to
show the latest tastes. Dresses
for men who had been previously ankles hits above the knee, while the
feminine dress was transformed by lace, buttons, and with the
introduction of the neckline. Because
people want to change their shapes at regular intervals - a trend that
coincided with the growth of international trade in textiles - for
cutting and sewing point.
Home
fashion belonged to the elite, who tried to preserve their social
superiority to "sumptuary laws" prohibit artisans and yeomen wearing
expensive fabrics and richly embroidered. But the French dressing code, based on a fixed social hierarchy and court etiquette was overthrown by the Revolution of 1789. Develop
wigs and powdered hair were abandoned, menswear are no longer decorated
with embroidery and lace, and women adopted the simple dress Empire. Style has become a hallmark of individual freedom, adopted for his own good. This
is no longer the preserve of the aristocracy soon became associated
with the avant-garde writers and artists and political activists
Romantic dandies.
In Britain affordable, mass-produced printed textiles and fashion accessories were provided by the industrial revolution. These were popular with the middle classes, who saw it as a way to express their newfound confidence and success. For men the power was now in the business, not the court. The dark suit became a man "uniform", while women marched family status through her own dress their children. Fashion and femininity are inseparable. Women were overwhelmed by petticoats and their mobility restricted by delicate shoes.