Biography Of Vivienne Westwood 's Influence On The Modern World

The 18th century, more precisely between 1715 and 1789, was a significant time period in the fashion sphere for women in France. The time period itself was a mark of great change for the history of France due to various political reasons as well as various art movements and often times fashion, despite being a branch of art, is overlooked by most viewers. However, fashion during this time excelled in France and was essentially the symbol of a new era in this domain; French fashion was now snowballing into something much greater that still echoes to this today. Ultimately, the goal of this essay is to describe women’s fashion during the period of 1715-1789 and the shifts it made through the analytical use of various sources including artwork, literature, museums’ online archives and internet sources.

In this essay I want to examine how the corset evolved from a staple of the British feminine wardrobe of the Nineteenth Century into a symbol of an outmoded tradition – only to later return as a statement of female liberation. I am going to look at different aspects of this development including technological advances, economic facts, external events, particularly the First World War and changes in social, political and aesthetic attitudes. I will also look briefly at the role of Chanel on the silhouette and how this impacted on the corset: focusing on the trend to towards ‘opulent androgyny’ in the 1920’s. Finally I will examine the resurgence of the corset

Dinnigan possesses an individual theme which she tends to influence all her collections, with a feminine bohemian zest and a romantic elegance which she makes timeless due to her evidently being inspired by vintage styles.

She was the woman who took away the corset and made way for the flattering and flowing silhouette seen in most of the styles during this decade.

In the 1830s there were innovations in roller printing on textiles which introduced new fabrics for women. Men wore padded shoulders and women wore colossal sleeves to emphasize on a thin waist. A new fashion arrived; low boots with elastic insets. Men began wearing “greatcoats” for day wear. 1830:

Imagine a woman rising from bed wearing heavy bedclothes of wool or cotton. Underneath she would be wearing a corset for sleep, made of cotton, wool or a mix of heavy linen. After brushing out long hair, which was rarely washed, she would be wrapped in a light cotton garb that would protect her skin from actually touching her formal corset. Often corsets would stretch from the mid-hip region to the breasts. Corsets were constructed of whalebone and metal stays, which shaped the ribs and stomach to form a fashionable waist of approximately eighteen inches. After the corset was tightly laced (which required assistance of at least one other person), then heavy wool or cotton stocking would be pulled on. Stockings were held up ties, girdle-like bloomers or special buttons in the petticoats. At this time, a woman would put on six to eight petticoats . She would put on a special top to keep the corset from touching her dress. At this point, a woman may have worn a large hoop skirt. The large metal device would allow the woman to keep proper social distance from her guests and potential suitors. Often the woman would have to be lowered into the hoop skirt. If the hoop was too heavy, a woman would be placed in the parlor room and she would remain there until after a dinner party or until such a time she could remove the hoop because it could render her immobile. In some rare cases, small rolling wheels were attached at the bottom of hoop skirts to aid women in moving

One important date in the history of the corset was the year 1840. This was the year in which the system called ‘lazy lacing’ was invented, in which a set of elastic laces allowed women to easily put on, and remove their corsets. Women had now predominantly taken over from the specialized work of crafting corsets, and were made ahead of time, creating the beginning of ‘ready to wear’ During this era, corsets became more specialized, corsets ranged from ‘nuptial corsets, corsets made of white satin for the ball, lightly boned morning corsets, stayless corsets for night wear, nursing corsets with drawbridge gussets, travelling corsets with tabs that could be let out at night for sleeping, riding corsets with elastic at the hips; corsets for singing, for dancing, for bathing at the seaside’ and the list of possible variations went on. As

Women's fashion had undergone many characteristic modifications prior to 1750 and more so into the eighteenth century. Fashion trends were being set in the Old World, from France to England, and Colonial women were all too painfully aware of the need to adapt towards a sophisticated and up-to-date appearance.

Source C clearly doesn’t support source B and this is proven at the start of the Gwen’s entry when she express her anger toward the way they had to dress; “The thought of the discomfort, restraint and pain which we had to endure form our clothes makes me even angrier now than it did”. It is very evident that Mrs Raverat didn’t agree that wearing a corset was an invigorating experience for the whole system.

As more American ladies entered the military or took regular citizen employments in industry to bear on the work of men who had gone off to war; ladies needed designs that were less frilly and more suitable for work. They likewise needed apparel styles like the outfits worn by their men. When all is said in done ladies ' apparel got to be uninteresting and viable and limited however most importantly; utilitarian. There was little frill on the first things in light of the fact that beautification obliged extra fabric and materials. However ladies as often as possible connected their frill: like bows and periphery; to emerge in a swarm. Ladies ' shirts and coats embraced the square shaped - square carried look of the military uniform by sewing modest shoulder braces into the

She [is] withal a little of a coquette, as might be perceived even in her dress, which [is] a mixture of ancient and modern fashions, as most suited to set her charms. She wore...short petticoat to display the prettiest foot and ankle in the country round.

Fast forward to Chanel’s young adult life, and you can see it wasn’t long off that she would set up shop in Paris, France in 1910, eventually expanding out to Deauville, and then Biarritz. She had started off with designing, and marketing hats which became a very successful hit amongst the fashionistas of that day. Chanel’s empire was growing exponentially, and in 1920 she expanded into the realms of couture now working in jersey which at the time was unheard of in the French fashion circle. Soon she was blurring the lines of what was acceptable, setting fashion trends instead of adhering to the routine, and was giving way to entire style genres such as the “chemise” and the “little boy” look. Her fashion statements were a gigantic contrast to what was socially acceptable, and of course Chanel fell under scrutiny over it, but she went on to create more casual, shorter, and idyllically “liberating” clothing for the day’s modern woman. In essence she was liberating women from the stuffy, confining fashions that they were used to, and giving way to a loose more relaxed style all together while maintaining it’s inherent feminine charm. Chanel was creating more than just a design, or an article of clothing, she was creating a movement that would change the way society viewed fashion in it’s entirety. (Lewis)

It wasn’t until Chanel started to create jackets which not only had the purpose of being worn closed, she created jackets that looked good opened, closed or hanging over the shoulders. She emphasized on this style by making blouses to serve the complete outfit. She was also the creator of the “Little Black Dress”, which was a relatively simple black dress made by elegant materials such as lace, tulle, weightless silk and even embroidery in a new, more tailored way. Chanel is today world known for its high quality designs and has women of the 21th century dependent on its classical style (Rennolds Milbank 120-121).

Figure 1 created by Paul Poiret, and figure 2 created by Coco Channel were both designs based on art deco style. Both of these designers came about in the early 20th century as the role of woman in society was changing. In figure 1 Poiret created “ The Fancy Dress costume” in France for his “The One Thousand and Second Night” party in 1911. This resplendent design included his signature Lampshade tunic and harem pants as well as a jeweled buster using metal, silk, and cotton. Most of this design was created with sea foam green silk gauze, which then was interwoven with silver and blue thread, and then turquoise, pink, and peach beading that was symmetrically placed. Both designers diverged from the confining and tight-fitting corsets and aimed to create comfortable yet elegant clothing that mirrored the free and self-sufficient attitudes rising in woman. Both of the designers’ designs have dropped waste lines. However, Poiret’s radical design uses opulent and luxurious fabric and materials and is focused on the decorative aspect. His design is created to be “one-of-a-kind” and uses many vibrant colors, rich embellishments, and embroideries. Poiret resisted the practicality, rationalization, and stylistic simplification that Chanel adapted to create. In figure 2

Curves became fashionable and in many cases tailors took it to the next level, producing the dell shaped full gown, what would have been thought of as vulgar and showy only a few years before. With this new freedom offered to the people by the French Revolution the fashion grew form restrictive top loose and changed style long after.