First Steps in Fashion

Fashion is viewed broadly as a chronology of changing forms and a critique of wider cultural influences and their historical interpretation. The history of fashion reveals not only the importance of changes in appearance but also the way fashion is conceived.

The turning point in medieval fashion came in the eleventh century. Emerging monarchies in France, England and Spain created courts with real wealth to spend on fashionable clothes. These monarchies sent knights and soldiers on religious crusades to the Middle East and the returning crusaders brought with them ideas and clothes from the developed societies of the Byzantine Empire. These influences brought a revolution in fashion.

The real innovation in medieval fashion was that men’s and women’s clothing began to develop in completely different directions. One of the primary causes of this fashion revolution was the emergence of the professional tailor. Tailors across Europe developed new methods of cutting and sewing.

The Middle Ages was perhaps the last period in European history when clothing was a simple matter of necessity rather than extravagant, ever-changing fashion.

The fifteenth century saw transformations in the nature of costume and culture that are key to our understanding of Western fashion. Until the fifteenth century the clothing customs of most cultures had been determined by tradition, the availability of certain kinds of fabric and the skill of the tailor. During the fifteenth century, however, the nature of European costume began to emphasize fashion.

The sixteenth century was one of the most splendid periods in all of costume history. Some of the larger cultural trends of the time included the rise and spread of books, the expansion of trade and exploration, and the increase in power and wealth of national monarchies in France, England and Spain. Each of these trends influenced what people chose to wear and the emergence of trendsetters that are characteristic of modern fashion.

Perhaps the greatest fashion trendsetter of the century was Elizabeth I of England who ruled from 1558 to 1603. This powerful female ruler drove fashion to extremes in her pursuit of richness and ornament.

The clothing worn by Europeans during the seventeenth century was influenced by fashion trends as never before. During the course of the century garments went from restrictive to comfortable and back to restrictive again, and excessive ornament was both stripped away and added back to clothing for both men and women. While the wealthy continued to determine the styles the rise of the middle classes also began to have a significant influence on fashion.

By the 1620s styles began to change fairly dramatically. While the garments worn remained the same the overall trend through the mid-century was toward softness and comfort. People continued to value rich materials and exquisite design but they set aside the rigid formality of earlier years and didn’t add ornament for ornament’s sake.

These changes in fashion reflected the rising influence of France with its free sense of style and the shrinking influence of Spain with its stiff formality.

IV Answer the questions:

1. Why do we need to study fashion history?

2. What is medieval fashion characterized by?

3. What transformations did the fifteenth century see?

4. Who is the most famous trendsetter of the sixteenth century?

5. What are the main features of that period?

6. How did the fashion change in the seventeenth century?

V Complete the sentences with the words from the text:

1. … was the period when clothes were a matter of necessity.

2. Some cultural trends of the sixteenth century included ….

3. Elizabeth I was one of the greatest trendsetters of the sixteenth century, she … fashion ….

4. In … the middle class began to have a great impact on fashion.

5. In the seventeenth century garments’ overall trend was toward ….

VI Find the English equivalents to the words:

зовнішність, визначати, тканина, поширення, напрямок (у моді), впливати, предмети одягу, зручний, надмірний, жорсткий.

VII Make up sentences with the terms:

professional tailor, trendsetter, exquisite design, medieval fashion, revolution in fashion, innovation.

VIII Give definitions to the words:

trendsetter, ever-changing, to emphasize, exquisite, availability, tailor, cutting.

IX Translate the sentences into English:

1. Модна революція стала однією з головних підстав появи професійного кравця.

2. Поступово люди почали надавати особливого значення моді.

3. Нові тенденції в моді дуже впливали на одяг європейців у 17 столітті.

4. Європейські кравці постійно винаходили нові методи пошиття одягу.

5. Шістнадцяте століття відзначилося поширенням книжок, торгівлі, а також збільшенням могутності монархії.

6. У сімнадцятому столітті стиль одягу став зручнішим.

7. Візантійська імперія мала великий вплив на моду Європи.

8. Шістнадцяте століття було одним з найблискучіших періодів в історії моди.

X Speak on the topic using the following words and word-combinations:

influence, importance, medieval fashion, monarchy, the Byzantine Empire, fashion revolution, tailor, to develop, transformations, Western fashion, trendsetter, comfortable, to determine.

TEXT B

I Read and remember:

1. to divert – відвертати (увагу, тощо)

2. mourning – траур

3. austere – аскетичний

4. sumptuous – розкішний

5. shawl – шаль

6. trimming – оздоблення

7. lapel – лацкан (піджака, тощо)

8. buckle – пряжка

9. petticoat – нижня спідниця

10. reminiscent – що нагадує

II Read the text and define the main idea of it: