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Over the centuries, humans have come up with some weird fashion stylings. Whether out of practicality, vanity, or some mixture of the two, historical fashion can look hilariously bizarre to modern eyes. In all likelihood though, some of the things people wear today will end up on a list of 'bizarre' things worn for our century! While we're still in the 21st century, let's have a look and a laugh at some of the strangest fashion trends from history.

Everyone has seen their fair share of badly placed shoulder pads, but the upper classes of the 16th century took it to a whole different level with bombasting. They would use bombast, a mixed form of stuffing that could be made of cotton, wool, sawdust, or horsehair, to make certain parts of their bodies seem larger - like their arms, legs, shoulders, or in the case of some rich men, bellies. In some cases, people would carry around six pounds of the stuff inside their clothes.

Imagine men today wearing ornamented athletic cups outside the crotch of their pants - a strange idea, right? That, however, is essentially what codpieces are, and they were an integral part of men's dress in the 14th-16th centuries. While they started out as merely extra fabric to cover up an area that normal pants left relatively bare, they eventually grew (literally) into padded and decorated objects that inevitably drew attention to that region on the body. One theory is that they got bigger because of a raging syphilis epidemic, which resulted in men needing space for bandages and medical dressings.

The big white wigs that symbolized high class from the Baroque period and beyond found their start with King Louis XIII of France, who started wearing one to hide his premature baldness. The fashion quickly spread and made its way across Europe by the late 17th century. By the 18th century, men had started powdering them so that they would stay bright white. The British government, however, started taxing hair powder in 1795, a decision that eventually led to the end of that particular fashion.

Footbinding is a case where fashion caused not only certain days of discomfort or pain but also whole lifetimes. Beginning around the 10th century in China, upper-class women who did not need to work would bind their feet as young girls so that they would not grow more than about four inches long. This involved forcibly breaking the arches and then constantly binding and re-binding them so that they would not heal properly. This fashion, unfortunately, lasted until the early 20th century before the campaign speaking out against it finally succeeded.

For some reason in the 1940s, someone decided that it would be nice looking if women had cone-shaped breasts, so they created the bullet bra. By the 1950s, it was quite a popular fashion, which surely gave rise to dozens of movies featuring fem-bots whose bullet bras owned that name in a much more literal sense. They had mostly gone out of fashion until 1990, when Madonna famously wore them on tour; they are now produced by several lingerie manufacturers. Thankfully, they haven't quite made it back to the mainstream.

Also in the category of strange things women have done for fashion is the hobble skirt, a fashion from around the turn of the 19th century that kept its wearers from being able to walk properly. Hobble skirts or dresses would have very narrow hems situated below the knee so that the women would only be able to take very small steps; they sometimes also did this using knee-long corsets. This fashion luckily fell out of style in the 1910s and has not experienced much of a resurgence, unless you count mermaid dresses.

On the other end of the leg-space spectrum when it comes to skirts, there is the hoop skirt or crinoline. The hoops under the skirt started out as a practical way to keep the legs free, be it for cooling purposes or to save women from tripping, and then caught on as haute couture. They've taken various forms throughout the years, including the pannier or 'side hoop' in the 18th century, which made the skirt into a sort of horizontal oval shape. Those and other grand circular ones are often so wide that it's difficult to walk through doors wearing them.

The mullet isn't exactly a historical fashion trend, as it's still eminently possible to run into one on the street today. However, it had its biggest moment in the 1970s and 1980s when many famous musicians like David Bowie and Paul McCartney started wearing them. The term 'mullet' apparently has existed for a much shorter time than the haircut itself, as the Beastie Boys apparently came up with it in 1995. The Culture Trip prefers to refer to it with its famous description of 'business in the front, party in the back.'

When you look at Ancient Egyptian paintings, you may never have noticed the white and brown cone perched atop the head of many of the people portrayed there. These cones, though, are thought to be made of perfumed animal fat, and they would gradually melt, releasing their pleasant scents as they went. If you imagine a warm roomful of people having come in from the desert sun with no deodorant, then you can probably imagine why these cones would have been so necessary.

You mights think of platform shoes as one of the ultimate trends of the 1990s and early 2000s, but with their chopines, the people of Venice were, as early as the 15th century, rocking platform shoes on steroids. Chopines were originally used as a way to protect shoes from the mud and dirt of the street, but they gradually grew into a fashion item, also growing in height. The higher the chopine, the higher class the wearer; some chopines, therefore, were up to 20 inches tall. While walking in them would have been quite treacherous for the novices, experienced chopine-wearers could even learn to dance in them.

Nowadays, women still put a lot of effort into shaping their eyebrows, but, for the most part, they try to keep them around (although some fashion trends lately might dictate otherwise). Back around the 15th century, however, women considered an eyebrow-less face to be more beautiful. Ever thought that the Mona Lisa looked a little different, but couldn't quite put your finger on how? Well, now that you've read this, look again.

Also part of the theme of 'ancient fashion trends you might still find today' is the typical Egyptian eye makeup, which is heavy black eyeliner encircling the eyes of pretty much everyone in the paintings. More than just looking fly, however, this makeup, usually made of kohl, had a set purpose. You know how athletes will sometimes put black strips below their eyes? This is for the same purpose as the Egyptian eye makeup - to cut down on the glare from the sun. Considering the climate down in Egypt, that kohl must have been really important.
By Lani Seelinger

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Over the centuries, humans have come up with some weird fashion stylings. Whether out of practicality, vanity, or some mixture of the two, historical fashion can look hilariously bizarre to modern eyes. In all likelihood though, some of the things people wear today will end up on a list of 'bizarre' things worn for our century!

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Fashion is essentially the most popular mode of expression: It describes the ever-changing style of clothes worn by those with cultural status. A fashion trend occurs when others mimic or emulate this clothing style. Fashions vary greatly within a society over time, but also are affected by age, occupation, sexual orientation, location and social class. Today, a fashion trend starts with fashion designers, who design a spring and fall collection based on cues and inspiration they've gathered throughout the season. These cues can include popular culture, celebrities, music, politics, nature or something else entirely.

At spring and fall runway shows, fashion designers showcase their designs to photographers, writers, buyers, and celebrities. The photos and fashion features the writers and photographers produce as well as the purchasing action taken by retail buyers and fashion-forward celebrities influence the way in which the mass population receives the designer's work.

Other designers draw their inspiration from these fashion designers and create affordable designs for the mass market. The fashion trend then continues in malls, shopping centers and boutiques around the area. Some trends start in one country and span multiple countries, while others remain confined to one region.

Fashion Trends 1960-Present
Fashion in the 1960s reflected the cultural and political upheaval of the time. The hippie and counterculture movement gave rise to accessories like Pocahontas-style headbands and medallions worn around the neck. Hippies wore long, loosely fitting clothing, often in natural fabrics. Hemlines rose as Mary Quant popularized the miniskirt and hot pants in her lines for JC Penney. And mod fashion, with brightly colored space-age geometric patterns, shift dresses and colored tights became the mainstream. Both miniskirts and mod-shift dresses were worn with knee-high go-go boots.

Designers like Emilio Pucci revolutionized the era with his psychedelic fabric prints, and fashion icons like Jackie Onassis Kennedy were the picture of feminine class and sophistication. The 1960s were also influenced by the development of synthetic yarns, which gave way to fabrics like polyester, spandex and lycra, all of which are still used today.

During the 1970s, the loose-fitting hippie clothes of the prior decade gave way to exotic fabrics and bell-bottom jeans for men and women. Hemlines continued to rise and hot pants continued their popularity, reflecting the flashy style of the decade. However, the 1970s also saw the popularity of a longer hemline, from mid-calf to ankle-length. Women wore peasant-style clothing, especially blouses with off-the-shoulder necklines and lace trim, with their jeans or skirts. Embroidered clothing became especially popular with this trend. Disco fashion emerged, featuring bright patterns and tightly fitting clothing meant to show off the body. Platform shoes elevated their wearer, male or female, anywhere from two to four inches or more.

The carefree disco movement inspired its antithesis, the angry punk movement. Fueled by designers like Vivienne Westwood and bands like the Sex Pistols, the punk movement was an aggressive reaction to the economic and political situation of the time. With dyed Mohawks, studded and spiked leather jackets, combat boots and body piercings, punks were everything the glamorous and decadent disco-loving mainstream was not. Punk clothing often had a 'do it yourself' quality. Safety pins replaced buttons or seams, and details like studs or spikes were added to pants and jackets by the wearer.

The 1980s saw another fashion upheaval. Angst-ridden punks wore Dr. Marten and steel-toed army boots, chains, tartan patterns, and bondage pants. Punks focused more on their hair during this period, dying, teasing and chopping their hair into asymmetric styles that seemed to defy gravity. Women-and men-experimented with heavy eyeliner in a variety of colors. Women wore neon colors, jelly shoes, tight jeans, leggings, leg warmers and oversized sweatshirts. Menswear-inspired looks also became popular for both sexes. Men wore 'power suits,' named so for their price, which made these suits a reflection of the wealth of the wearer. Women's jackets featured big shoulder pads that made the shoulders appear higher and larger, similar to the male silhouette.

Miniskirts were made in denim, leather and knit fabrics and were often worn over leggings. The movie Flashdance popularized dancewear, ripped sweatshirts and leg warmers for daywear. And entertainer Madonna made exposed undergarments, fishnet stockings, gloves, and layers of beaded necklaces in vogue. Accessories for women were large, gaudy and brightly colored. It became socially acceptable for cosmopolitan women to showcase their wealth through the value of their jewelry. Glasses and sunglasses with large, plastic frames were worn by both sexes.

Other fashion trends included acid-washed jeans or parachute pants, jean jackets, polo shirts with the collar up, high-top shoes, and baggy blazers with the sleeves rolled up. And throughout the 1980s, athletic shoes became increasingly prized, rising in price as well as popularity.

1990's fashion was far more subdued than the garish, wild styles of the 1980s. Bands like Nirvana influenced the grunge look, which featured rock-concert tee shirts under plaid flannel shirts, jeans and long, greasy hair. Overalls were worn by both sexes, either with one or both shoulder straps unhooked. The punk style of the 1870s and 1980s evolved into the goth fashion trend, which featured black clothing, black boots and studded bracelets in the style of bands like Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson.

The neon colors of the 1980s gave way to hypercolor clothing, which changed colors according to the temperature. And the big hair so omnipresent in the 1980s completely changed a decade later, with long, straight hair achieving mass popularity. Women wore spaghetti-strap slip dresses over tee shirts as well as babydoll dresses, especially with thigh-high stockings. Navel piercings became popular with women, which coincided with the emergence of belly shirts that exposed the midriff. Chunky platform shoes were all the rage, with layers of rubber soles that made the wearer look taller. Jeans became baggier as hip-hop emerged onto the music scene, often in brightly dyed colors like red or green. And men began to sag their pants, wearing their pants baggy and below the hips or rear.

At the start of the 21 st century, individuality again resurfaced. Technology like cell phones and MP3 players became more commonplace, regardless of socioeconomic status.

Pop culture is marked by ever-changing nostalgia for fashion trends from decades past, but all of these individual trends seem to coexist. Pieces of fashion from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s continue on through the 2000's, especially in the punk and rockabilly community.

The Evolution of Fashion
Fashion has been and continues to be a reflection of society and current events. Fashion trends are influenced by popular figures in culture like celebrities, musicians and other high-profile individuals. Current fashion trends are often cyclical, taking cues from decades past and reworking them to fit within modern tastes. Clothing styles that were snubbed a decade ago are now enjoying a resurgence in popularity.

Just like disco fashion inspired the punk movement, mainstream trends continue to coexist with underground fashion trends. And trend forecasting is now a profession; high-profile designers, writers and photographers rely on these tastemakers to predict the next popular style, but this is no exact science. Even these trend forecasters, however, rely on some degree of instinct. And modern fashion trends are less widespread and universal than they were in decades past. Today, individuality has come into vogue.

How Well Do You Know Your Designers?
You know the difference between Roberto Cavalli, Just Cavalli and Roberto Cavalli Class boutiques, but did you know that the famous fashion designer also launched a premium vodka brand? How well do you know the designers of high fashion? Take this quiz and find out!

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Fashion is essentially the most popular mode of expression: It describes the ever-changing style of clothes worn by those with cultural status. A fashion trend occurs when others mimic or emulate this clothing style. Fashions vary greatly within a society over time, but also are affected by age, occupation, sexual orientation, location and social class.

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Being from London, my fashion life and work has been consumed by fashion trends. As a designer, 70% of my time is focused on what trends are being forecast and predicted all over the world. This is important because if the trend predictions are wrong, then the designs are wrong. If the designs are wrong, then there are no sales.

That's not to say that in western culture there aren't those who have their own style. Fashion Trends are the basis for the designs that are produced every season, where as the style is the way that a customer picks up that garment and wears it. It's the way that a customer adds accessories, and chooses a bag, shoes, or jewellery.

Your Personal Trend

Imagine you're shopping for an outfit for a special occasion. Do you buy everything from the same shop? I doubt it. If you're like most people you probably shop around at different stores when you assemble an outfit. But what is it that your style has in common? There is a theme to your outfit that you may or may not have noticed. Maybe it's a colour or type of fabric. Or perhaps you're trying to emulate a style from a specific era. Regardless of the details, this is your personal trend. You're creating a trend in your mind and shopping for it.

In order for a retailer to stay competitive, they have to constantly introduce new items. While retailers know that you won't buy an entire outfit exclusively from their store, they also know that if they don't keep up with current fashion trends then they will begin to loose customers to the competition. That's why it's so crucial for brands to have their finger on the pulse of current fashion trends.

Trends Around the World

Of course there are exceptions. Western countries base most of their sales and design on fashion trends. All of the major magazines show the current trends, celebrities have stylists who stylishly dress them, and both designers and consumers buy the trends because that is what is available in stores. However, sometimes you can even see trends that emerge outside of fashion.

Since moving to Hong Kong, I've read Vogue and Harpers. The strangest thing to me is that most of the content is devoted to beauty. When you walk around the streets, you can't help but notice how flawless and beautiful Asian girls are. Perfect skin, make up and hair, their looks are envious. It makes sense though that trends exist in any industry.

In Asia, even though beauty is the focus you can pick up on certain trends. When a new product comes out, all the magazines and blogs will use, review and comment on that product. This product is not random either, it comes from a certain inspiration. Perhaps technology or maybe a particular need of the consumer. Think about what happened to all the face creams when the "BB" technology was released. All of a sudden every cream is "BB". But I'm not selling beauty products, I design, source and predict for fashion.

Trend Prediction in the Production Process

With most western retailers going online, it always amazes me that in Hong Kong it's not the norm to keep up with trends as people become more exposed to other brands and media. In Hong Kong everyone has a style that is very much their own. But as the number of westerners in Hong Kong increases, surely many of these businesses must be catering to them?

You have to consider the fact that with the amount of factories and garment producers here, trends have to figure in somewhere. If factories in China actually understood the importance of the trend prediction to their customers they could significantly improve their bottom line. For example, factories could prepare for orders and offer customers alternative trims or fabrics. With this simple change, they could increase satisfaction and keep a steady supply of customers coming back for more. This focus on the market and customer should be part of the business plan of any shop or brand that wants to sell its products internationally.

Because of the lack of trend based shops here in Hong Kong, western brands who are fashion trend focused can do very well marketing and selling to western customers. Whether you are a factory at the top of the production line or a brand selling the items at the other end, consider the fact that whether you like trends or not they have a place in every society and can't be ignored. After all, they dictate the colours of the fabrics available for production or the materials being produced by mills or factories.......

I've written about this in more detail in several other posts. Consider reading: The Trend Trickle which outlines how trends trickle down from an original idea into the high street brands that are bought by consumers. Also, readwhich illustrates how trends move from high end outlets to bargain bins, using a scene from The Devil Wears Prada. You might be surprised to learn just how accurate this scene really is.

Ultimately the result of trend prediction is this......additional sales and revenue. Somewhere in your business you have to consider trends. It's your choice whether you follow them to the letter or not, but you need to at least understand them. If you don't then someone else will. You'll end up being the one loosing sales because you've made a simple mistake, like producing the wrong colour.

Do you know if your customers follow fashion trends? Regardless of your products or style....

Ask your social media fans, blog readers or customers if they like fashion trends.

Ask them how much they follow the trends.

Go back to your designs or products and see if they meet the needs of your customer.

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Fashion Trends Are a Key Part of Selling Your Brand

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Being from London, my fashion life and work has been consumed by fashion trends. As a designer, 70% of my time is focused on what trends are being forecast and predicted all over the world. This is important because if the trend predictions are wrong, then the designs are wrong.

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Textile News, Apparel News, RMG News, Fashion Trends

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Mohammad Nurul Alam

Senior Merchandiser

Asmara BD Pvt. Ltd. | Dhaka | Bangladesh
What is the fashion trend?
alamnur09@yahoo.com / alam@bd.asmaragroup.com
The way a merchandiser needs to understand the fashion trend? Read More: How to stay up-to-date on the fashion trend Scenario of African fashion industry Advantages for a merchandiser to remain up-to-date on the fashion trend
It is a big advantage for a merchandiser to remain up-to-date on fashion trends as it helps him/her to influence customer and create more business opportunities.
Understanding trendy product development
The choice is independent in the mind of consumers for buying clothes changes frequently. As influenced by some external factors and by society. Fashion experts always give focus to find the fashion trend where a garment merchandiser try to depict the changes in the final product. Fashion marketing environment, which has a great influence on both the buying and merchandising team. Here the bridge of understanding between buyer and merchandiser can help soaring growth in the business.

There are many influencing factors in the fashion trend which makes the fashion industry a fast-changing sector among the mass and particularly in the mind of a young generation. Mostly fashion trend depends on influential characters in movies, sports icons, high profile and prominent cities of the world. The four major current fashion capitals are acknowledged to be Paris, Milan, New York, and London, which are all major influencer on global fashion.
Merchandiser is not a fashion designer
The major four cities Paris, Milan, New York, and London that influences immensely in the change of fashion trend are all headquarters to the greatest fashion companies. So a big fashion company wants to understand the changes come in fashion so that they can, later on, display the same type of fashion products in stores. As the products to be made by a garment merchandiser, then this is most important for the merchandiser to understand the current fashion trend. Otherwise, he will be unable to meet the customer's demand that really depends on the fashion trend.
Merchandiser, no time for extra work

Reading fashion journals and magazines.

Utilize online resources.

Attend professional events.

Look into fashion shows.

Understanding the changes in buying power.

Knowledge of new invention in technology, science, and

More communication with customers.

Closely working with fashion related people.

Convincing customer to visit and buy from top of merchandising concept and trends.

Frequent visit to expo on Machineries, Fabric, Chemical and trade fairs.

Monitor trends on social

Visit big-box retailers if possible.

Visit local fashion houses.

Conclusion
It is a big advantage for a merchandiser to remain up-to-date on fashion trends as it helps him/her to influence customers. Customer may not be all the time concerned about the current trend rather he/she can be focusing on other factors that may not be good in the market for sale. If the merchandiser can forecast the most saleable product for up-coming trend then customers will be happy and plan to buy a product from him. The forecast can help the customer to pick the correct product for his market. The product also will be unique that can get a good price from the retailer. Other advantages -

To inform customers about the ability of product range.

To be unique from any other business competitor.

To build a good business relationship with the customer.

To get a price

Create more business opportunity.

For good product marketing - development and investment on presentation of the product can play a big role in business growth. Presentation on most recent fashion trend influences a buyer to place an order. Merchandiser can arrange a range of quality fabric and lucrative style for focusing on the ongoing trend. The collaboration between the merchandiser and his designer really important in this regard. He also needs to stay up to date from the technical experts.

It is a big advantage for a merchandiser to remain up-to-date on fashion trends as it helps him/her to influence customers.

There is a big problem for a garment merchandiser that he is not a fashion designer so he may not all the time understand the fashion trends. Sometime fashion designer may not consider cost involvement for a product. So a silent conflict always exists between merchandise and his fashion designer. The easy way to solve the problem is proper coordination with his designer and keep focusing on product development. The merchandiser has to emphasize the right cost that can be effective for good market price.

Generally, the merchandiser can be overloaded with the present workflow, so there is not much time for him to remain updated with the fashion trend. Which leads most of the garment merchandisers to feel working on fashion trend is an extra work and solely focusing on the task on his desk only. But for a good and efficient merchandiser, this extra work can make him extraordinary in the industry.

Buyers and merchandisers have had to adapt to the continuous changes in the fashion-marketing environment, which includes difficult economic factors, the speed of fast fashion, the growth of e-commerce, and unpredictable consumer behavior. So, the relationship and areas of collaboration between a buyer and merchandiser are vital to keep the focus on the fashion trend.

Also Read: 10 key trends to drive the global fashion industry in 2018

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Importance and understanding of fashion trend for a merchandiser

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Mohammad Nurul Alam Senior Merchandiser Asmara BD Pvt. Ltd. | Dhaka | Bangladesh What is the fashion trend? alamnur09@yahoo.com / alam@bd.asmaragroup.com The way a merchandiser needs to understand the fashion trend?

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Fashion has a way of defining individuals and generations; it is a measure of both aesthetic and cultural progress punctuated by decades of different trends and styles. Each decade in the 20th century signified a renaissance in fashion and a memory in history. People and styles became admired within every decade; they created pop culture icons on and off the runway. Many people adapted the fashion of the times as a form of self-expression, others as a form of rebellion. Fashion has always been part of one's personal and cultural identity, and the 20th century was packed with decades full of both.

We can view fashion as a two-pronged stiletto: it has molded us, and we have molded it. Men's fashion has also changed over the century, but not nearly as much as women's fashion. Throughout the century, fashion has been influenced by the times: war, politics, social movements, and more. Not only have women's clothing changed over the decades but so too have hairstyles and fashion accessories (often accessories would be combined with hairstyles). While not all fashion trends of the 20th century were chic, they are all nostalgic time capsules today that many of us look back on with fond memories or look into the future with new resolutions.

The following timeline highlights the fashion trends of each decade in the 20th century.

Not only is the timeline a history lesson, but also a source of inspiration for your own fashion ideas - you can pick a decade to wear or mix and match decades, the choices are endless and boundless. Take a journey through the past century and learn the fashion trends that characterized a century of promise and progress for women, you'll be proud of where we've come from and where we are going.

The 1900's

Fashion has changed a great deal since the 18th century, clothing and accessories looked quite different from what they do today. Typical fashion of the time included corsets, stiff collars, and Gibson Girl hairstyles - a hairstyle with a bun based on ink drawings of women done by an American named Charles Gibson beginning in the 1890's.

Gibson's girl was meant to personify the ideal American beauty of that era, and her hairstyle is soft and very poofy with a bun on top and ringlets and tendrils hanging down.

A fashionable trend in the 1900's was the S-bend corset, it set the standard of the time and women all over the nation wore this piece for many occasions. The corset thrust the hips backward and forced the chest forward, creating a pouter-pigeon shape. The trend was emphasized with puffed, frilly blouses embellished with elaborate decorations such as broad ribbon ties and lace collars. Women's hair was often parted in the center and often looped around pads and false hair to create a 'brim' of hair around the hairline.

1910's

During the early part of the century, fashion became more masculine and macho, yet was also characterized by rich and exotic touches of flare. Women wore short bob haircuts throughout this decade; they also wore shorter skirts and dresses - well shorter for the time as short meant just above the ankle. World War I heavily influenced much of the fashion of this time, designers created pieces that marked the generation and dressed women for the era.

The hobble skirt, for example, caught on quickly with the women of the time and remained the height of fashion until around 1915.

1920's

The 1920's is known as both the roaring 20's and the Jazz Era. This decade ushered in the modern era of women's fashion as it abandoned the more restricting fashions of the past decades in favor of more comfortable clothes. Skirts and trousers offered the comfort women were looking for.

Athletic clothing, boyish silhouettes, and glittering opulence also characterize this famous era. The trend moved forward both fashion statements and women's independence. Women began wearing less constrictive clothing typical of the 1800's and early 1900's, opting instead for more loose and breathable fabrics such as silk. Accessories also made a grand entrance in this decade, from matching headbands to pearls and statement pieces; women were making an entrance into the forefront of social setting with fashion-forward garments and confidence.

1930's

Every decade of advancement improved the quality of life for women and their ability for self-expression.

For example, the fashion trends in the 1930's were heavily influenced by the progressive nature of the 1920's and mirrored some of the trends, but pushed the envelope further. The clothing became more relaxed and comfortable, and for the first time, more daring as women not only wore less clothes but more revealing clothes. Much of this fashion progress came to a temporary halt during the end of the decade when the Great depression hit; this caused a retrograde in women's fashion back to a decade before with more conservative articles of clothing highlighting traditional feminine features. In this one, longer hemlines returned to the scene and restrictive garments that showed a women's body appeared.

1940's

Another decade marked and influenced by a world war set the scene for women's fashion, and for clothing designers. World War II was in full swing, and so was the fashion industry, with new fabrics and designs yet losing other fabrics and designs. For example, common fabrics used during the 1920's such as silk were no longer being used, instead, clothing was being made from cheaper materials that were more available at the time. The war caused shortages and world trade deficits that slowed clothing production but spurred innovation in the industry. Colors were heavily influenced by the war, women adorned military-inspired fashion colors and regalia such as navy and nautical colors.

The women enjoyed showing off the colors, and the men appreciated the support and patriotism that this fashion decade introduced. The war also produced more masculine clothing with yet shorter skirts and stiffer, wider shoulders.

1950's

Mid-century, fashion took a drastic turn. The war had ended and a new decade with new confidence had begun. A women's figure is celebrated in the clothing designs and accessories, with designers catering to new trends and new demands.

The feminine shape took center stage with tight waists and high hemlines, a trend that set the tone for classic and timeless looks - then and now. With the new cuts, came new color, new 1950s designer bags, and patterns - designers experimented with multiple colors and different patterns to see what would work and what would sell. The new colors and patterns made clothing increasingly less conservative featuring vibrant floral and repeating patterns used to highlight a woman's beauty and physic.

1960's

The 1960's saw advances in culture and human rights.

Music took fashion on a groovy trip, and the civil rights movement in the United States sparked further independence in women's rights and fashion. This unique mix started a firestorm of fashion trends that broke many rules - many rules that needed to be broken. The 1960's can be characterized as an era of social movements and fashion innovations that are still worn today. These fashion trends reflected the change in society and the structure of classes, dividing some and uniting others. Fashion expressed these cultural and societal changes through clothing such as A-line dresses that showed off women's legs and gave them extra height.

Vibrant colors with psychedelic prints, and chic vintage handbags characterized the underground scene, especially within the music industry. Topping off the unique fashion styles, women wore incredible hairstyles that defined the decade that made it into hit films.

1970's

Rolling along the decades, the 1970's further developed women's fashion sense and fashion statements. The decade embodied individualism - clothing became a symbol of independence and freethinking, a trend that clothing has personified till today. Items such as flared jeans and platform shoes characterized clothing styles. This decade really helped women express their individuality, not only among men, but also among women.

In the 1970's, Vogue declared, " There are no rules in the fashion game now." Referring to overproduction flooding the fashion market with inexpensive clothing made of synthetic materials. Typical items of this decade included mini skirts, bell-bottom pants that were popularized by hippies, vintage clothing made a debut, and glam rock and disco trends introduced fashion staples such as satin, glitter, and bright colors.

1980's

This is the era of big hair and big shoulder pads. Not only did women's fashion change, but also women's roles in society with many entering the working force than ever before. Not only did women work more, but they also played more and fashion catered to this notion. Women wore clothing for practical purposes and for fashion statements, creating a decade of luxurious garments such as silks and furs. Clothing and accessories were characterized by vibrant colors and bouffant hair.

Fashion in the 80's was characterized by unforgettable trends, some that are still worn today, but others that are not. The trends of this decade included tights, leotards, sweatpants, velour tracksuits, and the quintessential ripped jeans - which are still a fashion statement today. In addition, athletic accessories were also extremely popular, a trend boosted by the aerobics craze of the 80's.

1990's

The 1990's took a turn away from the opulent and vibrant previous decades, in favor of more minimalist fashion trends. As with decades before, the 90's were heavily influenced by music, particularly rock and grunge music. Much like the band members seen on MTV, women wore casual daywear such as jeans and t-shirts.

The 90's fashion scene remains among the most seen fashion trends today as new generations embrace the styles of the end of the century, a statement of both the end and beginning of a new century.

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Fashion has a way of defining individuals and generations; it is a measure of both aesthetic and cultural progress punctuated by decades of different trends and styles. Each decade in the 20th century signified a renaissance in fashion and a memory in history.

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Tracing back the controversial history of a garment that began centuries before Regencycore hit 63 million households this Christmas.

According to social shopping services such as Like To Know It and Lyst, searches for corsets have increased by more than 100 per cent since Netflix's Bridgerton aired on Christmas Day. New data from eBay shows that 39 per cent more of us are in the market for a vintage piece inspired by the Regency-era romp, too. With a reported 63 million household views already, the series has spawned its own niche fashion trend - ' Regencycore ', which encompasses all manner of ruffles, empire lines, elbow-length gloves and pearl-encrusted headbands. Binding it all together? Corsetry.

This recent renaissance can be attributed to more than the obvious period dramas. Last summer saw Instagram-worshipped celebrities such as Hailey Bieber and Dua Lipa embrace the ' summer corset', too. But as we all know, the tradition of waist-cinching stems back much further than that.
The not-so-humble boned corset - simply structured with rigid lines and a bodice laced together in order to shape the torso - has a wildly controversial history. Long derided as a patriarchal instrument of torture that deformed the female body, historians now argue that there was no one experience of wearing a corset and that some women may even have found them positive.

Read more: Shop The 10 Key Winter 2021 Fashion Trends

Corsets were worn by women - and sometimes men - in the Western world from the 16th to the early 20th century, although corset-like garments can be traced as far back as 1600 BC. What began as a close-fitting sleeveless bodice evolved into an undergarment with stays made of whalebone, and then steel, that encircled the ribs and compressed the natural waist. The shape of the corset evolved over the centuries, alternating between longer varieties that covered the hips and shorter versions that centred on the waistline. Corsets helped shape the body into distinctive silhouettes, from the hourglass shape popular in the 1800s to the "S" figure of the 1900s.

Discussions about the corset being detrimental to women's health came to a head in the 19th century, when the popularity of the corset was at its peak. Available in a wide variety of price points, corsets were worn by upper and middle-class women and, increasingly, by working-class women as well. Some doctors blamed the corset for respiratory diseases, deformity to the ribs, damage to internal organs, birth defects, and miscarriages, while others approved of "moderate" or "health" corsets that were less rigid and helped support the body. Fashion historians Valerie Steele and Colleen Gau have argued that while corseted women may indeed have suffered from depleted lung volume and changes in breathing patterns, this would not necessarily have led to respiratory diseases. It may have caused fainting and lowered vitality, though. Steele also argues that examples of tight lacing, or the practice of fastening corsets to create the smallest possible waist, cannot be taken at face value. The letters, descriptions, and images that describe this practice may have represented sexual fantasies, she says, rather than descriptions of authentic experiences.

The invention of elastic in the 1920s gave rise to flexible sports corsets, used by women attracted to a new, active lifestyle. However, ads for corsets and articles about the newest corset styles appear in Vogue throughout the early 20th century, showing that women still sought these external garments to shape and support their body alongside girdles, compression underwear and brassieres. With the shift towards sport and healthy lifestyles in the 1960s and 1970s, the corset as an undergarment was abandoned, but its focus was already internalised. Instead of relying on a garment, women turned to diet, exercise and plastic surgery to shape their bodies and trim their waists.

Today, more severe corsets are still worn by enthusiasts and as part of fetishistic, cross-dressing and burlesque practices; and while they may no longer be part of the average woman's everyday routine, they have never truly disappeared from fashion.

In the 1970s, Vivienne Westwood began using corsets as part of her historicist punk aesthetic; imagining her corsets to empower women rather than bind them. Jean-Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler incorporated corsets into their designs in the 1980s, and who can forget Madonna making Gaultier's pink satin corset famous during her 1990 Blond Ambition tour? Since then, Stella McCartney, Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford, and Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga have all experimented with corsets or corset-like tailoring in their designs, sometimes layering corsetry over garments rather than under them, subverting the piece from underwear to outerwear. Always holding court in fashion photography, too, corsets have evolved from patriarchal into a symbol of free female sexuality, arguably coming full circle by being depicted in modern period dramas that centre the characters of women, such as Bridgerton and The Great. Like all good things, they had an arduous journey to get there.

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The Corset's Recurring Comeback Goes Further Than 'Bridgerton'

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Vogue traces the history of the corset, from constrictive 16th-century underwear to modern catwalk trend, to Madonna's famous Jean Paul Gaultier corset and more recently, the corset costumes in Netflix series 'Bridgerton'.

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Businesses have spent much of the past nine months scrambling to adapt to extraordinary circumstances. While the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet won, with a vaccine in sight, there is at least a faint light at the end of the tunnel-along with the hope that another train isn't heading our way.

2021 will be the year of transition. Barring any unexpected catastrophes, individuals, businesses, and society can start to look forward to shaping their futures rather than just grinding through the present. The next normal is going to be different. It will not mean going back to the conditions that prevailed in 2019. Indeed, just as the terms "prewar" and "postwar" are commonly used to describe the 20th century, generations to come will likely discuss the pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 eras.

2021 will be the year of transition. Barring any unexpected catastrophes, individuals, businesses, and society can start to look forward to shaping their futures rather than just grinding through the present.

In this article, we identify some of the trends that will shape the next normal. Then we discuss how they will affect the direction of the global economy, how business will adjust, and how society could be changed forever as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

The return of confidence unleashes a consumer rebound

There are lines outside stores, but they are often due to physical-distancing requirements. Theaters are dark. Fashions are in closets rather than on display. If the Musée du Louvre were open, the lack of tourists might even create the opportunity for an unobstructed view of the Mona Lisa. In these and other ways, consumers have pulled back.

As consumer confidence returns, so will spending, with "revenge shopping" sweeping through sectors as pent-up demand is unleashed. That has been the experience of all previous economic downturns. One difference, however, is that services have been particularly hard hit this time. The bounce back will therefore likely emphasize those businesses, particularly the ones that have a communal element, such as restaurants and entertainment venues.

That isn't to say that consumers will act uniformly. McKinsey's most recent consumer survey, published in late October, found that countries with older demographics, such as France, Italy, and Japan, are less optimistic than are those with younger populations, such as India and Indonesia. China was an exception-it has an older population but is conspicuously optimistic.

Leisure travel bounces back but business travel lags

The larger context is also informative. History shows that, after a recession, business travel takes longer than leisure travel to bounce back. After the 2008-09 financial crisis, for example, international business travel took five years to recover, compared with two years for international leisure travel.

In short, leisure travel is driven by the very human desire to explore and to enjoy, and that has not changed. Indeed, one of the first things people do as they grow more prosperous is to travel-first close to home and then further afield. There is no reason to believe that the rise in global prosperity will reverse itself or that human curiosity will diminish. But the effective use of technology during the pandemic-and the economic constraints that many companies will face for years after it-could augur the beginning of a long-term structural change in business travel.

The crisis sparks a wave of innovation and launches a generation of entrepreneurs

Plato was right: necessity is indeed the mother of invention. During the COVID-19 crisis, one area that has seen tremendous growth is digitization, meaning everything from online customer service to remote working to supply-chain reinvention to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to improve operations. Healthcare, too, has changed substantially, with telehealth and biopharma coming into their own.

Yes, many of those businesses are single-person establishments that could well stay that way-think of the restaurant chef turned caterer or the recent college graduate with a cool new app. So it's intriguing that the volume of "high-propensity-business applications" (those that are likeliest to turn into businesses with payrolls) has also risen strongly-more than 50 percent compared with 2019. Venture-capital activity dipped only slightly in the first half of 2020.

Digitally enabled productivity gains accelerate the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The COVID-19 crisis has created an imperative for companies to reconfigure their operations-and an opportunity to transform them. To the extent that they do so, greater productivity will follow.

That evolution has not always been a seamless or elegant process: businesses had to scramble to install or adapt new technologies under intense pressure. The result has been that some systems are clunky. The near-term challenge, then, is to move from reacting to the crisis to building and institutionalizing what has been done well so far. For consumer industries, and particularly for retail, that could mean improving digital and omnichannel business models. For healthcare, it's about establishing virtual options as a norm. For insurance, it's about personalizing the customer experience. And for semiconductors, it's about identifying and investing in next-generation products. For everyone, there will be new opportunities in M&A and an urgent need to invest in capability building.

The COVID-19 crisis has created an imperative for companies to reconfigure their operations-and an opportunity to transform them. To the extent that they do so, greater productivity will follow.

Pandemic-induced changes in shopping behavior forever alter consumer businesses

Supply chains rebalance and shift

Think of it as "just in time plus." The "plus" stands for "just in case," meaning more sophisticated risk management. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed vulnerabilities in the long, complicated supply chains of many companies. When a single country or even a single factory went dark, the lack of critical components shut down production. Never again, executives vowed. So the great rebalancing began. As much as a quarter of global goods exports, or $4.5 trillion, could shift by 2025.

Once businesses began to study how their supply chains worked, they realized three things. First, disruptions aren't unusual. Any given company can expect a shutdown lasting a month or so every 3.7 years. Such shocks, then, are far from shocking: they are predictable features of doing business that need to be managed like any other.

Second, cost differences among developed and many developing countries are narrowing. In manufacturing, companies that adopt Industry 4.0 principles (meaning the application of data, analytics, human-machine interaction, advanced robotics, and 3-D printing) can offset half of the labor-cost differential between China and the United States. The gap narrows further when the cost of rigidity is factored in: end-to-end optimization is more important than the sum of individual transaction costs. That's one reason why agencies such as the US Department of Defense are diversifying their networks of suppliers for essentials, such as in healthcare manufacturing and microelectronics.

And third, most businesses do not have a good idea of what is going on lower down in their supply chains, where subtiers and sub-subtiers may play small but critical roles. That is also where most disruptions originate, but two-thirds of companies say they can't confirm the business-continuity arrangements with their non-tier-one suppliers. With the development of AI and data analytics, companies can learn more about, audit, and connect with their entire value chains.

None of those things means that multinationals are going to ship all or most of their production back to their home markets. There are good reasons to take advantage of regional expertise and to be in place to serve fast-growing consumer markets. But questions on security and resiliency mean that those companies are likely to be more thoughtful about the business cases for such decisions.

The future of work arrives ahead of schedule

The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that more than 20 percent of the global workforce could work the majority of its time away from the office-and be just as effective.

There are two important challenges related to the transition to working away from the office. One is to decide the role of the office itself, which is the traditional center for creating culture and a sense of belonging. Companies will have to make decisions on everything from real estate (Do we need this building, office, or floor?) to workplace design (How much space between desks? Are pantries safe?) to training and professional development (Is there such a thing as remote mentorship?). Returning to the office shouldn't be a matter of simply opening the door. Instead, it needs to be part of a systematic reconsideration of what exactly the office brings to the organization.

The other challenge has to do with adapting the workforce to the requirements of automation, digitization, and other technologies. This isn't just the case for sectors such as banking and telecom; instead it's a challenge across the board, even in sectors not associated with remote work. For example, major retailers are increasingly automating checkout. If salesclerks want to keep their jobs, they will need to learn new skills. In 2018, the World Economic Forum estimated that more than half of employees would need significant reskilling or upskilling by 2022.

Evidence shows that the benefits of reskilling current staff, rather than letting them go and then finding new people, typically costs less and brings benefits that outweigh the costs. Investing in employees can also foster loyalty, customer satisfaction, and positive brand perception.

The biopharma revolution takes hold

The announcement of several promising COVID-19 vaccines has been a much-needed shot of good news. There will be challenges to rolling out these vaccines on the scale needed, but that does not lessen the accomplishment.

Unlike previous vaccines, many of which use an inactivated or attenuated form of a virus to create resistance to it, the vaccines created by Moderna and the BioNTech-Pfizer partnership use mRNA. This platform has been under development for years, but these are the first vaccines that have secured regulatory approval. The "m" is for "messenger" because the molecules carry genetic instructions to the cells to create a protein that prompts an immune response. The body breaks down mRNA and its lipid carrier within a matter of hours. (WHO lists 60 candidate COVID-19 vaccines that have advanced to clinical trials; many don't use mRNA.)

Just as businesses have sped up their operations in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the pandemic could be the launching point for a massive acceleration in the pace of medical innovation, with biology meeting technology in new ways. Not only was the COVID-19 genome sequenced in a matter of weeks, rather than months, but the vaccine rolled out in less than a year-an astonishing accomplishment given that normal vaccine development has often taken a decade. Urgency has created momentum, but the larger story is how a wide and diverse range of capabilities-among them, bioengineering, genetic sequencing, computing, data analytics, automation, machine learning, and AI-have come together.

Regulators have also reacted with speed and creativity, establishing clear guidelines and encouraging thoughtful collaboration. Without relaxing safety and efficacy requirements, they have shown just how quickly they can collect and evaluate data. If those lessons are applied to other diseases, they could play a significant role in setting the foundation for the faster development of treatments.

The potential of the Bio Revolution goes well beyond health; as much as 60 percent of the physical inputs to the global economy, according to MGI, could theoretically be produced biologically. Examples include agriculture (genetic modification to create heat- or drought-resistant crops or to address conditions such as vitamin-A deficiency), energy (genetically engineered microbes to create biofuels), and materials (artificial spider silk and self-repairing fabrics). Those and other applications feasible through current technology could create trillions of dollars in economic impact over the next decade.

Portfolio restructuring accelerates

The COVID-19 crisis provoked divergent, even dramatic, reactions, with some industries taking off and others suffering badly; the effect was to shake up historic norms. When the economy settles into its next normal, such sectoral differences can be expected to narrow, with industries returning to somewhere around their previous relative positions. What is less obvious is how the dynamics within sectors are likely to change. In previous downturns, the strong came out stronger, and the weak got weaker, went under, or were bought. The defining difference was resilience-the ability not only to absorb shocks but to use them to build competitive advantage. Over the course of a decade, companies can expect losses of 42 percent of a year's profits from disruptions.

The implication is that there is a resiliency premium on recovery. Top performers won't sit on their strengths; instead, as in previous downturns, they will seek out ways to build them-for example, through M&A. That's why we expect to see substantial portfolio adjustment as companies with healthy balance sheets seek opportunities in a context of discounted assets and lower valuations. In fact, that may already be happening: deal making began to pick up midyear.

Green, with a touch of brown, is the color of recovery

All over the world, the costs of pollution-and the benefits of environmental sustainability-are increasingly recognized. China, some of the Gulf States, and India are investing in green energy on a scale that would have been considered improbable even a decade ago. Europe, including the United Kingdom, is united on addressing climate change. The United States is transitioning away from coal and is innovating in a wide array of green technologies, such as batteries, carbon-capture methods, and electric vehicles.

To cope with the 2008-09 financial crisis, there were substantial government stimulus programs, but few of them incorporated climate or environmental action. This time is different. Many (though by no means all) countries are using their recovery plans to push through existing environmental policy priorities:

The European Union plans to dedicate around 30 percent of its $880 billion plan for COVID-19-crisis plan to climate-change-related measures, including the issuance of at least $240 billion in "green bonds."

In September 2020, China pledged to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero by 2060.

Japan has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050.

South Korea's Green New Deal, part of its economic-recovery plan, invests in greener infrastructure and technology, with the stated goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

While campaigning, US president-elect Joe Biden pledged to invest $2 trillion in clean energy related to transportation, power, and building.

Canada is linking recovery to climate goals.

Nigeria plans to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies and to install solar-power systems for an estimated 25 million people.

Colombia is planting 180 million trees.

The imperative for businesses is clear along two fronts. First, businesses need to respond to the sustainability concerns of investors. It's possible, albeit speculative, that the COVID-19 crisis foreshadows what a climate crisis could look like: systemic, fast moving, wide ranging, and global. There is a case, then, for businesses to take action to limit their climate risks-for example, by making their capital investments more climate resilient or by diversifying their supply chains.

More significantly, the growth opportunities that a green economy portends could be substantial. BlackRock, a global investment company with around $7 trillion in assets under management, noted in its 2021 Global Outlook that, "contrary to past consensus," it expects that the shift to sustainability will "help enhance returns" and that "the tectonic shift towards sustainable investing is accelerating." Green growth opportunities abound across massive sectors such as energy, mobility, and agriculture. Just as digital-economy companies have powered stock-market returns in the past couple of decades, so green-technology companies could play that role in the coming decades.

Healthcare systems take stock-and make changes

Healthcare system reform is difficult. While caution is necessary when lives are involved, one consequence is that modernization is often slower than it needs to be. Learning from the experiences associated with COVID-19 can show the way to build stronger postpandemic healthcare systems.

Consider the case of South Korea. When the MERS virus struck in 2015, resulting in the deaths of 38 Koreans, the government was stung by widespread public criticism that it had not responded well. As a result, it took action to improve its pandemic preparedness-and it was ready when COVID-19 hit in January 2020. Large-scale testing, as well as tracing and quarantine measures, began almost immediately. And it worked. While the country began seeing a significant increase in new cases in December, fewer than 1,000 South Koreans died from COVID-19 in all of 2020.

No doubt, governments all over the world will set up task forces, inquiries, and commissions to examine their actions related to the COVID-19 crisis. The key is to go beyond the temptation simply to assign blame (or credit). Instead, the efforts need to be forward thinking, with an emphasis on turning the painful lessons of COVID-19 into effective action.

Being better prepared for the next pandemic, on both national and international levels, has to be a high priority. Too often, investments in prevention and public-health capabilities are undervalued; the experience of COVID-19 demonstrates how costly, in both lives and livelihoods, such thinking can be. An upgrade of public-health infrastructure and the modernization of healthcare systems, including the wider use of telemedicine and virtual health, are two areas to address.

Business will also have a role. Employers should take the opportunity to learn from the pandemic how to redesign workplaces, build healthier work environments, and invest effectively in employee health.

The hangovers begin as governments tackle rising debt

The scale of the fiscal response to the COVID-19 crisis was unprecedented-and three times bigger than seen for the 2008-09 financial crisis. In the G-20 alone, fiscal packages are estimated at more than $10 trillion. Few question the humanitarian and economic cases for strong action. But even in an era of low interest rates, the reckoning could be painful.

Canada is projecting a deficit of 343 billion Canadian dollars-an increase of more than 1,000 percent over the deficit in 2019-pushing national debt above 1 trillion Canadian dollars for the first time. In China, the $500 billion fiscal stimulus will raise the country's fiscal deficit to a record 3.6 percent of GDP. In the United Kingdom, debt rose to more than £2 trillion, a record and more than 100 percent of GDP. In the eurozone, the combined budget deficits in October were 11.6 percent of GDP, compared with 2.5 percent in the first quarter of 2020; total debt hit a record 95 percent of GDP. That looks comparatively trivial compared with Japan, which has the world's highest debt-to-GDP ratio, at more than 200 percent. And while debt repayments from 73 poor countries have been frozen, the obligations still exist.

As the pandemic recedes, governments will have to figure out how to address their fiscal difficulties. Although interest rates are generally low, that could mean raising taxes or cutting spending-or both. Doing so could risk slowing the recovery and stimulating political backlash. But high levels of public debt carry their own costs, crowding out private debt and limiting the resources available to governments as they service their debt.

As the pandemic recedes, governments will have to figure out how to address their fiscal difficulties. Although interest rates are generally low, that could mean raising taxes or cutting spending- or both.

Paying down debt isn't exciting to do. But for economic stability-and in fairness to future generations-it needs to be taken seriously, not kicked down the road.

Stakeholder capitalism comes of age

The idea that businesses should seek to serve the interests of consumers, suppliers, workers, and society, as well as shareholders, isn't new. The American chocolate maker Milton S. Hershey put it this way more than a century ago, "business is a matter of human service." In 1759, capitalism's philosopher king Adam Smith noted in The Theory of Moral Sentiments that the individual is "sensible too that his own interest is connected with the prosperity of society, and that the happiness, perhaps the preservation of his existence, depends on its preservation." Moreover, the free market itself has been a positive social force, fueling the economic growth that has brought dramatic advances in health, longevity, and general prosperity around the world.

The increasing prominence of the idea of stakeholder capitalism is more than just talk (although there is admittedly still a good deal of talk). For example, companies that become certified B Corporations are legally required to consider the interests of all stakeholders in their decision making, including by changing their governance structures to that effect. The first B Corporations were certified in 2007; now, there are more than 3,500 of them.

We do not believe there is a conflict between the two. In a study that looked at 615 large- and midcap US publicly listed companies from 2001 to 2015, MGI found that those with a long-term view-something that's a core of stakeholder capitalism-outperformed the rest in earnings, revenue, investment, and job growth. And a McKinsey Global Survey in February 2020 found that a majority of the executives and investment professionals surveyed said they believed that environmental, social, and governance programs already create short- and long-term value and will do so even more five years from now.

Stakeholder capitalism isn't about being the most woke or about fending off pesky activists. It's about building the trust-call it the "social capital"-that businesses need to keep doing business. And it's about recognizing that creating long-term shareholder value requires more than just focusing on shareholders.

And we believe that, in some ways, that normal could be better. With good leadership, from both business and governments, the changes we described-in productivity, green growth, medical innovation, and resiliency-could provide an enduring foundation for the long term.

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The next normal arrives: Trends that will define 2021-and beyond

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The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world, and its effects will last. Here are some business trends for 2021 that business leaders should keep in mind.

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What Is a Trend?

A trend is the overall direction of a market or an asset's price. In technical analysis, trends are identified by trendlines or price action that highlight when the price is making higher swing highs and higher swing lows for an uptrend, or lower swing lows and lower swing highs for a downtrend.

Many traders opt to trade in the same direction as a trend, while contrarians seek to identify reversals or trade against the trend. Uptrends and downtrends occur in all markets, such as stocks, bonds, and futures. Trends also occur in data, such as when monthly economic data rises or falls from month to month.

How Trends Work

Traders can identify a trend using various forms of technical analysis, including trendlines, price action, and technical indicators. For example, trendlines might show the direction of a trend while the relative strength index (RSI) is designed to show the strength of a trend at any given point in time.

An uptrend is marked by an overall increase in price. Nothing moves straight up for long, so there will always be oscillations, but the overall direction needs to be higher in order for it to be considered an uptrend. Recent swing lows should be above prior swing lows, and the same goes for swing highs. Once this structure starts to break down, the uptrend could be losing steam or reversing into a downtrend. Downtrends are composed of lower swing lows and lower swing highs.

While the trend is up, traders may assume it will continue until there is evidence that points to the contrary. Such evidence could include lower swing lows or highs, the price breaking below a trendline, or technical indicators turning bearish. While the trend is up, traders focus on buying, attempting to profit from a continued price rise.

When the trend turns down, traders focus more on selling or shorting, attempting to minimize losses or profit from the price decline. Most (not all) downtrends do reverse at some point, so as the price continues to decline, more traders begin to see the price as a bargain and step in to buy. This could lead to the emergence of an uptrend again.

Trends may also be used by investors focused on fundamental analysis. This form of analysis looks at changes in revenue, earnings, or other business or economic metrics. For example, fundamental analysts may look for trends in earnings per share and revenue growth. If earnings have grown for the past four quarters, this represents a positive trend. However, if earnings have declined for the past four quarters, it represents a negative trend.

The lack of a trend-that is, a period of time where there is little overall upward or downward progress-is called a range or trendless period.

Using Trendlines

A common way to identify trends is using trendlines, which connect a series of highs (downtrend) or lows (uptrend). Uptrends connect a series of higher lows, creating a support level for future price movements. Downtrends connect a series of lower highs, creating a resistance level for future price movements. In addition to support and resistance, these trendlines show the overall direction of the trend.

While trendlines do a good job of showing overall direction, they will often need to be redrawn. For example, during an uptrend, the price may fall below the trendline, yet this doesn't necessarily mean the trend is over. The price may move below the trendline and then continue rising. In such an event, the trendline may need to be redrawn to reflect the new price action.

Trendlines should not be relied on exclusively to determine the trend. Most professionals also tend to look at price action and other technical indicators to help determine if a trend is ending or not. In the example above, a drop below the trendline isn't necessarily a sell signal, but if the price also drops below a prior swing low and/or technical indicators are turning bearish, then it might be.

Example of a Trend and Trendline

The following chart shows a rising trendline along with an RSI reading that suggests a strong trend. While the price is oscillating, the overall progress is to the upside.

The rising trend begins to lose momentum and selling pressure kicks in. The RSI falls below 70, followed by a very large down candle that takes the price to the trendline. The move lower was confirmed the next day when the price gapped below the trendline. These signals could have been used to exit long positions as there was evidence that the trend was turning. Short trades could have also been initiated.

As the price moves lower, it starts to attract buyers interested in the lower price. Another trendline (not shown) could also be drawn along the falling price to indicate when a bounce may be coming. That trendline would be have been penetrated near the middle of February as the price made a quick v-bottom and progressed higher.

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A trend is the overall direction of a market or an asset's price. In technical analysis, trends are identified by trendlines or price action that highlight when the price is making higher swing highs and higher swing lows for an uptrend, or lower swing lows and lower swing highs for a downtrend.

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Despite having recently celebrated its fifty years, the miniskirt has managed to keep intact its image of timeless freshness and novelty. The history of this garment tells what has been the path of emancipation of women, but also how social values ​​and aesthetic taste have changed throughout history.

The strong desire for change, the claim for rights and the need for practical and economic clothing made this garment become the most discussed and representative of the 1900s, an era in which we can read in every modification of the miniskirt a change in the values ​​of the aesthetic sense of the society of the past. This small flap of very short, sensual and trendy fabric has been useful in the re-evaluation of everything that in clothing is a symbol of woman, bringing with it a strong connotation of social change.

History of the miniskirt

The invention of the miniskirt dates back to 1963, when it first appeared in the window of London's historic "Bazaar" shop. We have Mary Quant, a British fashion designer, to thank for this, who created it and thus anticipated the birth of British street style by decades. Rebellious and non-conformist. Mary Quant resembled her most famous creation: the miniskirt. Born on 11 February 1930 in Blackheath to a family of London university professors, Mary fell in love with fashion at an early age. After studying illustration at Goldsmiths University, she honed her skills by apprenticing with an upmarket milliner in Mayfair. At the age of 16, Alexander Plunket Greene, grandson of Bertrand Russell and descendant of an aristocratic family, helped her open her boutique, Bazaar, in Kings Road. There she sold her youthful, sophisticated clothes that mixed prints and colours, practicality and good taste, and perfectly matched the cultural and social ferment on the streets of London. A dress, she said, should not only keep you warm, but also attract attention, look sexy and make you feel good. Qualities that perfectly describe her most famous creation, the miniskirt. It is said that Quant had the idea for the miniskirt after seeing a mini. This resulted in a minimalist and revolutionary garment that became a symbol of the feminist era when she embraced the desire for freedom and the pull of social change.

Although everyone remembers Mary Quant as the inventor of the miniskirt, a dispute arose with the tailor André Courrèges, which the English designer dismissed by saying: "It was not me or Courrèges who invented the miniskirt anyway - it was the girls in the street who did it." The designer, in fact, after the dispute with the tailor André Courrèges on the invention of the miniskirt, declared that it was the street itself that invented this garment and that the credit goes neither to her nor to her colleague. Many argued that in the 1960s the future laid in André Courragès' scissors. Mini-skirts, geometric lines, bodysuits, pop art, totally white, vinyl and plastic fabrics are the most characteristic features of those innovations that today we find everywhere in the world of fashion.

"The Courrèges effect" was everywhere. Yves Saint Laurent himself declared that it was the example of this cotourier that led him in 1965 to create less conventional clothes; and Balenciaga himself, at the time, also shortened the rims of 10 cm, also influenced by the innovative style of his disciple and by the unstoppable change in current fashion.

The first miniskirts were colourful and geometrically squared, then with time, they became more transgressive and increasingly shorter. The tailor's merit was that of pausing to reflect on the needs of the working woman who required comfort, simplicity and freedom of movement. In fact, these new skirts characterized by a futuristic aspect perfectly reflected the vocation in seeking a way of living and dressing made easier through design.
The motto was to minimize to reach a maximum of seductiveness and comfort.

Personalities like Twiggy, Jackie Kennedy and Brigitte Bardot started to wear this new item just as if it were a uniform and became the face behind his creation that saw the end of an era marked by conservationism and sexual modesty.

In the 90s designers like Dolce & Gabbana or Prada built entire collections on this piece, affirming its importance and making the miniskirt become an icon of that time.

However, not everyone was enthusiastic about this new and controversial garment characterized by sartorial rationalism. For critics, in fact, the skirt was the symbol of the homologation of the woman-object rather than an achievement marked by emancipation. Coco Chanel herself described the miniskirt as " just awful".

It is certainly not a novelty that the past continually returns to the present: in fashion, courses have almost cyclical frequencies, in particular, the inspiration from the 60s we are talking about today is connected to the sensational awakening of the need for freedom in the way of dressing, a characteristic that appears again with more impudence and aggression than ever.

The miniskirt today has a very different value from that of the past, where this garment represented a casual mix of consumerism, generational struggle and rebellion against taboos. That this garment is in denim, leather, suede, satin or lace, it represents a fashion trend and a status symbol to be pursued beyond any critical sense; it is no longer the garment that is important but the way to wear it since it is the attitude that creates style.

1. The first appearances of the skirt date back to 2130 BC. with the Egyptians who spread the shendit, a short skirt wrapped around the hips and initially created as a purely male garment.

2. In 2009 a stamp was dedicated to the skirt in England.

3. It was nicknamed "mini" skirt because Mary Quant was obsessed with Fiat Mini-cars.

4. The spread of the miniskirt gave birth to the market of the nylon tights.

5. With the miniskirt George Taylor's theory " the index of the hem" was also born. This theory insinuated that the edges of the skirts went up along with the share prices. In fact, it was found that in periods of prosperity miniskirts were snapped up while periods of unfavourable economic times, such as the collapse of the Wall Street stock exchange, were characterized by chastened looks with very long skirts.

6. Shortening skirts under 61 cm made miniskirts children's garments and therefore not subject to the high purchase tax.

7. One of the reasons for the birth of the miniskirt was also the problem of the lack of textile material that did not allow to sew a skirt in its entirety.

8. In 1968 Paco Rabanne created a skirt made of gold and diamonds worth 10.4 million dollars.

9. In 2015 the World Mini-skirt Day was proclaimed, dated June 6 by Ben Othman, Tunisian president of the league in defence of secularism and freedoms, who dedicated this day to women oppressed by the system

10. The French feminist Hubertine Auclert created the league for short skirts, an association that fought for the right to less bulky clothing and more comfortable in movement.

nss G-Club special tips

And after this introduction, nss G-Club selected 10 of the coolest miniskirts of the moment, which recall the trends of the past that blend with the latest fashion trends. Enjoy!

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How the miniskirt has changed the fashion history

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On the occasion of Mary Quant's death, here is the history and fun facts about the most controversial and revolutionary leader of the 1960s

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As one of the biggest industries in the world, projected to rack up to $3.3 trillion by 2030, it's surprising to learn that the way fashion operates today hasn't changed that much in the past twenty years.

This is, in part, because it's still easy to source low-cost manual labor in many countries and to outsource any pricey production costs. However, the rising concerns about fair wages, pollution, as well as the need to satisfy the hyper-connected consumers of today, have given way to new exciting technologies.

Indeed, we live in the 'insta-age' of technology. Social media is changing how fashion is consumed and has trained customers to want instant access to the latest trends, as soon as they hit the catwalks. At the same time, younger generations, who want to stand out from the crowd, seek products that can be tailored to their needs and preferences. Moreover, 'mass-made' clothing or 'fast-fashion', seems to be gradually losing its appeal.

As this trend continues to rise, it makes less and less sense for companies and brands to keep producing large quantities of apparel, months in advance, with no certainty of how well it will sell. Those brands that pick up the pace and become more responsive to market needs will be the likely winners in this fast-changing modern environment.

As customers' real lives become increasingly intertwined with the digital world, many designers and brands must embrace the latest technologies to push the limits of manufacturing, production, marketing, and wearability. From the latest in artificial intelligence to the boom of mobile commerce, 3D printing, and blockchain, we've rounded some of the top tech advancements being used in fashion today.

Artificial intelligence

In recent years, brands have been using AI to enhance customers' shopping experience, analyze data, boost sales, forecast trends and offer inventory-related guidance.

Chatbots and touchscreens are being used in stores to improve customer experience and customized product suggestions. It's almost impossible to head to a fashion brand's website and not find some form of AI chat technology that's being used to help enhance the customer experience. The technology behind AI includes algorithms that track customers' journeys to match them with the right products.

Although these customer service technology tools are promising, trend forecasting and supply chain management are some of the most profitable avenues for AI. For instance, real-time inventory tracking has become key for brands as they save time and make for efficient warehouse management and operations.

Furthermore, if we combine inventory tracking with AI's powerful data prediction tools for trend forecasting, brands could have a significant competitive advantage. Instead of solely relying on traditional ways of trend forecasting -which requires observation and data collection from fashion designers, trend spotters, and influencers- brands can instantly have access to data that allows for planning the right styles and quantities in a timely manner.

Take, for example, STITCH FIX. The British fashion label has come up with an automated wardrobe planning tool that, using analytics, records its female customers' purchases and introduces them in a virtual wardrobe. The platform also allows women to create looks from their wardrobe and even choose from over 10,000 shops.

Meanwhile, the personalization platform TRUEFIT employs an online fit engine that helps users find an adequate fit with brands and new styles on the market.

Other, smaller retail technology companies are also filling this gap for brands. Edited, a company based in London provides live data analytics software to give their retailer customers access to complete market data instantly. It has charmed brands like Boohoo, Tommy Hilfiger, and Marni and can synthesize the global market in seconds.

Another interesting example is Intelligence Node, which allows users to track trends in real-time. Customers can enter specific keywords, user navigation patterns, price points, and more. Intelligence Node AI-driven search discovery platform lets users track the exact or closest matches to your product, which can provide invaluable insights about competitive differentiators.

Streaming live videos has become a huge part of our lives. From virtual events to fitness, Instagram shopping has taken over 2022's post-COVID market. 5G allows new streaming media formats with high-definition graphics. Now, customers can "try on designs" before making their purchases. Some brands, such as Tommy Hilfiger and Gucci, are offering digital showrooms to gauge the market's appetite. Some, like Taylor Stitch, allow customers to pre-order digital designs before they go into production. Likewise, many online-only eyewear companies such as Firmoo and Glasses Direct are also offering a digital 'try-before-you-buy' service that lets consumers visualize the frames on their faces before committing.

Historically, fashion trend forecasting solely relied on prior trends to predict the future. New technologies like Heuritech define audience panels on social media. To predict future trends, it applies image recognition technology to social media pictures to access shapes, prints, colors, and attributes to fabrics.

Google also deployed a similar experiment, in partnership with German fashion brand Zalando. The neural network was trained to understand style preferences, colors, and textures. After that, the algorithm was used to create designs based on users' styles preferences. There is also the collaborative project between IBM and the Fashion Institute of Technology, known as " Reimagine Retail ", which uses the high-tech IBM AI tools to indicate real-time fashion industry trends, themes in trending shapes, colors, and styles.

These technologies highlight how AI is the bastion of future developments in the fashion industry, shaping everything from trend forecasting to how consumers may actually see and buy products.

Novel fabrics

Novel fabrics are arguably the future of fashion, as another way in which designers can set themselves apart and appeal as a sustainable option.

All the facts point to the idea that eco-leather is not a very sustainable option. Startups like Modern Meadow are combating this by creating lab-grown leather without harming animals. Likewise, companies like Bolt Threads and EntoGenetics are innovating super-strong spider silk.

The latest interactions in printed objects that change colors include a system created by MIT researchers called ColorFab 3D. This technology prints 3D objects with "photochromic inks" that change color when exposed to certain wavelengths of UV light. One of their first items produced was the ring that can be programmed into a number of customizable colors.

Google fans may soon be able to wear clothing made by the digital tech giant. Project Jacquard, out of Google's ATAP lab (Advanced Technology and Projects), is a collection of conductive threads for weaving touch-responsive textiles like clothing, tablecloths, rugs, or anything else made of fabric.

The team behind Project Jacquard is also making color-shifting possible with Ebb. It is a color-changing fabric technology that could someday be programmed to change our mood or setting. The Ebb materials could even help us conduct many activities that we currently do on our phones using the color signals instead. For example, when you receive an incoming call the color of your cuff changes.

This highlights how novel fabrics will be literally reshaping the garments we wear each day. Look out for novel fabrics popping up in boutiques across the globe, as there seems to be no slowing down in this technological trend.

Internet of things (IoT)

The IoT describes a network of objects - the 'things' - that are embedded with technology to allow the exchange and connection of data over the internet. This is one of the most exciting, emerging technological trends in the fashion market. Year on year, everyday fashion continues to improve to reflect the realities of our daily lives. From a great emphasis on comfort to using new and exciting fabrics, the fashion industry has had to keep up the pace in adapting to the demands of contemporary life. This has been seen most clearly in the exciting advancements in apparel technology and wearable gadgets. These have gone as far as affecting how we experience our surroundings, interact with others and our bodies, giving the word comfort a whole new meaning.

Smart clothing, wearable spaces, multi-functional designs, and responsive sportswear have all massively developed over the past three years. As our "real" lives become increasingly mixed with a virtual existence, many designers have been experimenting and pushing the limits of what wearability means.

The rapid expansion of technology has impacted businesses in many ways. The Internet of Things (IoT) enables data sharing, inventory management, security, and increased efficiency and productivity. Many businesses consider IoT in improving their customer experience, by allowing customers to literally take the internet and data sharing with them day-to-day.

This includes apparel with digital capabilities, like smart clothing, wearable spaces, multi-functional designs, responsive sportswear, and more. Starting with the humble smart watch, dominated by brands like FitBit and Apple, wearable technology dominates the fashion accessories market.

However, new developments that are trying to fill the gaps within this health-driven market are also emerging this year. For example, NADI X, yoga pants that have built-in sensors to correct the users' posture by vibrating as they move through yoga poses.

Some of the most exciting IoT innovations are related to health. Hexoskin, for instance, tracks your heart rate and temperature. They also manufacture socks that count steps, calories, and other data.

Meanwhile, Fuseprojects' power suits help the elderly suffering from muscle dystrophia to walk, stand and stay active for longer periods of time. All of this data will come in handy for doctors and health providers to help their patients.

Another interesting example of the internet of things being incorporated in apparel is LOOMIA. The San Francisco-based textile company creates soft flexible circuits that can be embedded into textiles for heating, lighting, sensing, or data-tracking applications.

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Rapid Data Analysis For Quick Adaptation

Rapid data analysis, for quick adaptation, is a way for businesses to quickly adapt their business fragments (such as the supply chain) quickly and efficiently through using large amounts of data to support this adaption. Thanks to the new software tools available on the market, brands, and factories can receive real-time feedback and alerts from companies about defects or damaged goods. This helps them save money, eliminate waste and deliver adequate products at the right time. It also lets them maximize customer satisfaction by recognizing potential business threats instantly.

One example is management software like IQMS. The enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is used in manufacturing for monitoring and collecting the production data in real-time, as products are being made.

There are also other types of software worth looking at that operate in a different manner. For example, the rise of cloud computing has opened new avenues for collaborative work, allowing factories and companies to work together from many parts of the world at the same time. This enables them to access relevant data, making for a faster and more effective way of communicating. The value of cloud-based supply-chain management solutions will surpass $11B by 2023 emphasizing how important this switch to rapid-data management is.

In the case of optimizing communication and production with factories, Techpacker helps streamline and automate this entire process. Its cloud-based software allows everyone in design teams and factories to learn about changes in tech packs in real-time. This eliminates the entire manual process and the constant emailing, making tech pack creation 70% faster than traditional methods. This has been shown through the new Illustrator Plug-In, which imports designs via cloud-based software in second. This is key in promoting PLM techniques that manage a business sustainably, across numerous distribution channels. The Techpacker app enables fashion teams and their manufacturers to manage product development in real-time.

This highlights how rapid data analysis can help companies adapt quickly when needed. As shown during COVID-19, the need to adapt and overcome has been paramount for brands to survive. Thus, using a rapid data tool like Techpacker, can help improve team collaborations and optimize product development and production lifecycle through just one intuitive software choice.

Mobile commerce

Mobile technology is getting more advanced every day. From Insta shopping to smart wallets, mobile commerce is the ultimate tech tool. It has not only impacted our everyday lives, but it has become one of the fastest-growing sectors in eCommerce.

This is because using our smartphones for shopping online is becoming easier and easier. With digital wallet options like Apple and Android Pay, constantly innovating with new technologies like fingerprint and facial recognition, they're poised to become the preferred payment for retail purchases. In fact, according to BigCommerce, two out of three millennials would rather shop online than in-store.

If, on top of e-commerce growth, we throw social media into the mix, (like Instagram's shopping feature brands can be present in their customers' favorite channels with a fully integrated digital commerce offering. This gives them greater visibility and provides them with more opportunities to make a sale.

Likewise, sustainable fashion apps like Vinted and Depop have taken the market by storm, replacing traditional avenues like eBay and Gumtree for selling second-hand fashion. These mobile sales sites have revolutionized the online sales industry, demonstrating how mobile commerce is innovating every aspect of the fashion industry.

Virtual and augmented reality (VR)

Combining the physical and online worlds of retail has been one of Virtual Reality's most exciting applications. This is certainly true in the fashion industry: one widespread use of VR is enabling customers to virtually try on outfits. This gives greater accuracy, thanks to customized measurement functionality, and also employs augmented reality technology. It also means that customers might be more likely to buy products they feel that they're tried on.

This kind of online shopping experience engages and retains the customers longer, as they love seeing the product on themselves before buying. This, combined with the social media share factor, makes it even more appealing to customers.

Some companies are making the most of AR and VR technology:

OBSESS is a platform that allows brands and retailers to create and serve 3D, 360-degree shopping experiences on their websites, mobile apps, and social channels via a 3D Commerce Cloud.

VIRTUSIZE also enables online fashion retailers to virtually illustrate the size of their products, to find the accurate fit for the garments their customers choose.

Another prime user of AR/VR technology is EFI Optitex which has greatly improved the expensive and lengthy process of finding an adequate fit. They've shown how to take the essential components of a design, like flat sketches and technical patterns, which can then be morphed into simulated 3D renderings. This then allows users to quickly adjust for cutting, loosening the fit, and making all the necessary adjustments in real-time.

Other new 3D rendering technologies include CLO. The tool allows brands to edit designs at the moment and instantly review changes. This can help improve the quality of designs by checking the silhouette and fit sooner in the development process. This way minimizes waste and reduces error in the sample before finalization.

Selling digital clothing is getting more popular too. For example, Louis Vuitton designed "skins" for League of Legends characters and Drest sold digitized versions of Farfetch inventory. Ralph Lauren's recent collaboration with Bitmoji, where customers can create their own Bitmoji look with the new mix-and-match wardrobe from Polo Ralph Lauren, also demonstrates the irresistible power of the e-wardrobe.

Online vector editors

New Adobe Illustrator alternatives are gaining popularity. These are great choices if you're new to designing using graphics design software. Or if you don't have access to Illustrator or Sketch, and all you need to do is simple vector-graphics editing.

There are online vector editors like Vectr, Boxy SVG Editor, and Repsketch that can be accessed from anywhere on any machine.

Some of the online vector editors include pre-built templates created by graphic or fashion designers. Repsketch provides a variety of clothing templates to choose from. Including design details like different types of collars, sleeves, and pockets. This powerful vector editor allows you to create new apparel designs fast, without having to sketch them from scratch.

Online vector editors allow you to download, embed or simply share a public link of your designs with the world in web-friendly SVG format.

3D Printing

Since the advent of 3D printers, many brands, both big and small, have been looking into the possibilities it holds for on-demand production. This will create new avenues for customization, sustainability, and creativity.

Many fashion brands are embracing 3D in their collections in 2022, from accessories to full looks.

Despite the fact it takes many hours to create, it results in less waste and proves far less labor-intensive than other types of manufacturing. Indeed, printing garments on-demand reduces fabric waste by about 35%. This minimal waste approach could provide valuable insights on how to reshape the current state of factories and align them with a more sustainable social and environmental focus.

Let's not forget one of the pioneers of 3D printing in high fashion: Iris Van Herpen. The Dutch designer has a vast body of work in the 3D printing field, dating all the way back to 2010. One of her most notable pieces is the "Crystallization" top, which was 3D printed from white polyamide.

Van Herpen is perhaps the only designer to show at the prestigious Haute Couture fashion weeks in Paris employing sophisticated technologies for her garments and presentations. Some of her clients include Bjork, Beyonce, and Lady Gaga for whom she has produced special 3D printed fashion pieces.

3D printing also takes fashion to a new level of conceptual art. Anouk Wipprecht's incredible Spider Dress has mechanical arms which shift depending on the closeness of other people. This 3D printed dress combines the cutting-edge scientific technology which haute couture fashion, demonstrating the versatility of this new technology.

Digital knitting has also been making great strides in the 3D printing world, and it offers a myriad of customization possibilities. For example, manufacturers like Shima Seiki can turn cones of yarn into a full, seamless garment in less than an hour.

Blockchain

Blockchain is a great tool for transparency, traceability, and efficiency in the supply chain. It allows all of its members, from carriers and banks to intermediaries and suppliers, to be connected and exchange information, documents and data, directly and securely.

But what is blockchain and how does it work?

Blockchain is mostly used as a record-keeping technology behind bitcoin and digital currency. "Blocks" on the blockchain are made up of digital pieces of data that store information about transactions like the date, time, and dollar amount of your most recent purchase, as well as who is participating in the transactions. However, they also store information that distinguishes them from other blocks, using a unique code called a hash. ( More about blockchain from Investopedia.)

This can be used to efficiently trace and keep records of clothing apparel and supply chains through technology like track-and-trace and inventory management.

The blockchain solution creates a physical-digital link between products and their digital identities on a blockchain. Just like with digital currency, Blockchain offers a cryptographic seal or serial number that acts as the physical identifier which is linked back to the individual product's "digital twin", as explained by Forbes magazine.

This technology has been taken advantage of by TextileGenesis, which uses the technology to keep a record of every stage of production. They say this will help to keep their supply chain more transparent, as well as encourage a wider push towards sustainability.

Each time a product moves in the supply chain it's recorded on the blockchain. This can prevent counterfeiting as goods that are missing the physical-digital link will be obvious fakes. Also, any attempt to divert goods can be tracked. This identifies if the last party to gain custody of the product, had a counterfeit product slipped in-or if the authentic product was diverted out.

Sustainability

In the past fashion has always followed the traditional seasonal format. Designers released spring/summer and fall/winter lines, as well as pre-fall and pre-spring runways. Lately, as the reality of the climate emergency sets in, we've seen designers move away from seasonal collections in favor of designing timeless pieces that can serve consumers for years.

Does this mean that we are seeing the end of seasonality in fashion?

In fast fashion, designs move quickly from runway to store shelves. Fast fashion giants can produce as many as 52 micro collections per year. To keep up with the rapid consumer demand traditional brands had to keep up and release up to 11 collections per year.

As rapid production runs create excessive textile waste, lots of apparel ends in landfills and harms both factory workers and the environment. Around 12.8M tons of clothing are sent to landfills annually. The fashion industry is responsible for up to 10% of global CO2 emissions, 20% of the world's industrial wastewater, 24% of insecticides, and 11% of pesticides used.

Due to this environmental impact, more consumers and fashion brands are turning to the concept of "slow fashion" and away from the long and costly manufacturing process. As a result, more brands are opting for sustainable production and more consumers are choosing conscious brands over fast fashion.

According to the fashion search engine Lyst, there is a 47% increase in shoppers looking for ethical and sustainable products.

Another sustainable practice that is getting even more popular now is buying secondhand clothing through consignment and thrift stores. One of the largest online thrift stores, ThredUp, predicts that the total secondhand apparel market will hit $51B by 2023. Clothing site R e-Fashion has developed the perfect cyclical structure for sustainable fashion. They sell second-hand designer clothing at excellent prices, whilst also accepting donations for free. The site has cornered an in-demand market by offering both sustainable buying and donation options that consumers love. It's also a completely digital platform, pushing the sustainable message through their online marketplace.

Likewise, many emerging brands are making moves to align with this shift in consumer behavior. Brands like Cuyana are urging their customers to buy "fewer, better things. Minnesota-based brand Hackwith Design House are making their clothing out of deadstock fabrics.

This demonstrates how sustainability is pushing business decisions, as well as reshaping the online market. Arguably, thrifting has now gone digital as sustainability is now the order of the day for most brands and designers.
Also read -

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Top 9 Technology Trends Reshaping The Fashion Industry In 2022

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As one of the biggest industries in the world, projected to rack up to $3.3 trillion by 2030, it's surprising to learn that the way fashion operates today hasn't changed that much in the past twenty years. This is, in part, because it's still easy to source low-cost manual labor in many countries and to outsource any pricey production costs.

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L-R) Stella McCartney, Victoria Beckham and Zimmermann – as well as Rejina Pyo, Nina Ricci, Thebe Magugu

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When you think of the evolution of the power suit, chances are you might conjure up anything between Melanie Griffith's Working Girl white bow ties and Diane Keaton's Baby Boom shoulder armor. But power dressing has so many more variations than the caricature that's become the '80s executive woman. Although shoulder pads and three-piece pinstripes definitely give off an, "I'm about to lineback through this Glass Ceiling with my Armani," type of feeling, the power suit has evolved and shifted over the last century in ways that didn't necessarily revolve around the nine to five grind.

From helping Suffragettes get their point across just as loudly as their banners in the 1910s to helping Mexican American women craft an identity with the help of pinstripes and watch chains in the 1940s, there were many exciting twists and turns to get to the versions of Donna Karan's and Anne Klein's we see hanging on T.J. Maxx racks today. But across a century of shifting lapel sizes and trouser silhouettes ran one common thread: The evolution of the power suit mirrored the status of female emancipation and empowerment.

So while the suits our moms wore yesterday might make us slightly cringe, they have a rich, exciting history that deserves some exploration. Below is the evolution of the power suit, and what that evolution means.

1. 1910s: The Suffragette Suit Took Form

In the early 20th century, someone called the "New Woman" started taking over the scene: A woman who "was bolder, more active, more out-and-about in the world, more outspoken than her mother's generation," according to the Smithsonian. She was well on her way from Edwardian and Victorian principles, and the need to shake off those stuffy 1800s ideals and gender roles was reflected in her clothing. Enter the Suffragette Suit.

While this suit not only helped the 1910 woman fit better into her more active lifestyle, it was also a direct response to the silly hobble skirt that trended during that period, which, according to the Smithsonian, was a skirt hemmed so tight at the ankles it made it hard for a woman to take unrestricted steps.

Interestingly enough, this was indicative of women's struggles at the time, and the Suffragettes couldn't but help thumb their noses at the irony. Smithsonian added, "A comic postcard of the time mocks this style specifically referring to how it contradicts women's progress being made at the time: 'And yet they say we are making great strides,' it says."

So how did the suffragette suit contradict the hobble skirt and what it represented? According to Allure, "Along with a blouse and jacket, it had an ankle-length divided skirt that allowed the wearer to take long strides." And so with a feminist subtext, women's first suits were born.

2. 1914: Chanel Shaped The Modern Woman

While Chanel might evoke images of cool femininity and pink perfume bottle elegance, the designer was actually one of the first to take menswear designs and repackage them for women. Case in point: She's credited with creating the first female suit. Granted, it didn't include trousers or bow ties, but it opened doors for women who didn't likely think they'd ever be able to open them.

Grace Lees-Maffei, author of Iconic Designs: 50 Stories About 50 Things pointed out, "When Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel began designing, the suit was already associated with women's emancipation, having facilitated female participation in the 'man's world;' or urban work and leisure, as well as being favored by the suffragettes. Chanel successfully developed a suit that accommodated the rapidly changing lifestyle of modern women." While the inspiration came from the inside of a man's wardrobe, Chanel formed the look in a way that would be acceptable, rather than uncomfortably radical, for a post-war woman looking to keep her newfound freedom.

3. 1932: The First Pant Suits Are Introduced

If you love the aggressive, power suit style of the '80s, then you can tip your cap to designer Marcel Rochas way back in 1932, who created the first wide-shouldered suits. Much like in the Working Girl era, it was made to reflect women's needs to hold their own outside of the home.

According to U.S. History In Context, a national education database, by 1930 24.3 percent of American women were employed, and with World War II only a handful of years away, that number would only rise as ladies had to provide for the family and take their husbands' and brothers' places as they jumped into bunkers.

The need for a more powerful suit evolved in its own right. According to Vice, "Emboldened by this, designers continued to take Chanel's controversial signature suit and women's desire to wear pants one step further by bringing the two together. French designer Marcel Rochas is credited with originating the idea of pairing pants with women's suits in 1932."

The suit was gray and woolly, with trousers that matched a jacket and big shoulders. While that might not sound like anything groundbreaking, you have to keep the era in mind.

Vice pointed out that, "In November 1939, Vogue fashion editor Elizabeth Penrose spoke out against women who would wear their new utilitarian clothing outside the workplace... saying those women 'who pad around in hairy sweaters and flannel bags, on duty and off; letting themselves go - and other people down - slackers in slacks.'" When you're publicly slammed for not wanting to take the time to button up a skirt, pants are a hard style to pull off while walking down the street. But with great power (suits) comes great responsibility.

4. 1940s: Pachucas Take The Zoot Suite

The Mexican American woman zoot suiter, or pachuca, came onto the scene in 1940s California and the Southwest, right in the middle of World War II. She was part of a Mexican-American subculture, generally representing "working-class and second-generation Americans whose parents have emigrated from Mexico to urban centers," according to Catherine S. Ramírez of The Woman In The Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, And The Cultural Politics Of Memory.

One of her most distinguishing features was that she donned the same zoot suits that her male counterparts wore, because it projected a "tough, rebellious image," as reported by Allure. To break it down for you, zoot suits were synonymous with gangsters and underhanded deals, so wearing one of them usually set off a certain tommy-gun-esque image.

But for pachucas, the big lapeled, baggy-pantsd suit represented more than that. According to Allure, "Pachucas were associated not only with male zoot-suited gangs, but also with feminism because they rejected the idea that women could be just wives and mothers."

Thus with another suit, female emancipation strengthened.

5. 1966: Women Put Evening Gowns Away & Picked Up Bow Ties Instead

In 1966, Yves Saint Laurent introduced le smoking, the first tuxedo suit designed for women. According to the BBC, "Its name nods to 19th Century men's smoking jackets, so called because their silk lapels were designed to allow any ash falling from after-dinner cigars or cigarettes to slide off, keeping the jacket clean." Its roots were in classically male drinking-brandy-and-smoking-cigars, bourgeois history, which is why the idea of it was so revolutionary and irreverent.

Those who opposed it seemed to say, "How dare women take something so elegantly masculine and make it theirs!" According to Business Insider, the tux "consisted of a classic dinner jacket in black grain de poudre wool or satin and trousers with a satin side-stripe with a ruffled white shirt, black bow tie and a wide cummerbund of satin."

Pretty much all it was missing was a top hat and monocle, and people lost their minds over it. Business Insider pointed out that wearing the power suit was more of a political statement than a fashion one. "So, dressing in a YSL trouser suit declared the wearer was irreverent, daring, and on the cutting of fashion, whilst suggesting their alignment with burgeoning feminist politics - le smoking effectively demanded: 'If men can wear this, why can't I?'"

Where many saw irreverence, many women saw a chance for progress.

6. 1970s: The Suit Represented A Serious Woman

With more and more women entering the workforce and invading the boys' club, they needed a symbol that proved they were just as serious and competent as the guys riding up the elevator with them to the office. And apparently the only way to convince male-dominated boardrooms of that was to copy their look.

Vice quoted Shira Tarrant, professor and author of Fashion Talks: Undressing The Power Of Style, "Wearing a pantsuit was the expectation at the time if you were to be taken seriously as a business woman, but women were still criticized for trying to emulate men, because it was a derivative of menswear."

That as it may have been, women still owned the look. Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin, were your Annie Hall's: Carefree women who fought society's gender ideals by wearing men's clothing in a flippant, plain way.

The New Yorker observed, "The Annie Hall clothes are a show of confidence." In a time during which women weren't allowed into restaurants wearing trousers (á la Manhattan restaurant La Côte Basque, which refused to let New York socialite Nan Kempner in with her le smoking on), it was a bold move to don some slacks.

7. 1980s: Power Dressing Hit Full Throttle

While Dynasty was putting linebacker shoulder pads on the map, there was a designer busy at work in Milan figuring out ways to cut a masculine suit for a woman's un-masculine form. His name was Giorgio Armani. According to Daily Worth, a women's lifestyle site, "Armani managed to completely revolutionize women's fashion, particularly for the serious 'career girls' out there. His new tailored trouser and skirt suits took the sex out of fashion and gave it a much needed hit of seriousness."

However, that still didn't mean that these pant and blazer sets weren't trying to emulate a more male presence. It was a hazy time, one during which women were commanding power but had to do so underneath the disguise of pinstripes. Vice observed, "These big shouldered jackets and pants disguised a woman's figure and took the focus off her gender, creating a feeling of authority as the traditional sex roles continued to blur."

Not every designer believed that to be powerful meant to play dress up as a man in the boardroom. Enter Ms. Donna Karan. She got rid of the boxiness of a male jacket and let women believe they could walk into a room looking feminine and still own respectability.

Karan told Bloomberg L.P., "When I was working at Anne Klein in the '70s, women were wearing jackets and bow ties and shirts - more or less dressing like men. Where was the sensuality of women? I don't think anyone really understood how crazy our lives were. Those suits were holding us back. We wanted to move. We wanted to be comfortable."

In this way, the women of the '80s treaded in the space between Windsor knots and stilettos.

8. 1990s: Suits Take A Chill Pill

The power suit of the '80s flipped itself on its head and became a power skirt once the '90s rolled through, according to the Baltimore Sun. The pussy-bows that were mirrors to neckties went away, hem lines became shorter, and the shoulder pads were ripped out from inside suit jackets. Why? Women's attitudes were largely changing, and with it their need to look aggressive ebbed away. The Baltimore Sun reported, "Now the most feminine symbol the dress is back. And some say the change in style reflects a new, self-assured image of women in the corporate world."

Judith Langer, president of Langer Associates, a New York-based market research firm, told the Baltimore Sun, "We needed in the ' 80s to have symbols of power. And the suit was that." So how exactly did the power suit change, then?

To give you an idea, in 1992 designer Marc Jacobs described to the LA Times everything the '90s wouldn't be. He said, "The '80s was Nancy Reagan and Dynasty, huge shoulders, nasty little suits, dress for success, hard-edge, hard-core, mean, aggressive clothes," Instead, designs took a softer, more romantic approach.

In 1992, the LA Times described Donna Karan's new line - one of the most prevalent women's work-wear designers - as exactly that. " Donna Karan built her spring line around a silk poet's shirt that fluttered over ankle- length skirts and cascaded over the lapels of fluid pantsuits. She extended the shirts longer, for poet's coats and vests." Many Western women could now retire their starched collar shirts and instead come into the office looking like they might go read Yeats on their lunch break.

And with that, shoulder pads and everything they represented were punted right outta there.

9. 2010s: The Power Suit Is Retired

Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

In an age during which jeans and trainers are just as regularly allowed in the office as blazers and heels, power dressing has reached an age of "anything goes." From Ilana Glazer donning a T.J. Maxx " white power suit" after she experienced a business savvy moment featuring interns doing her sales while she brunched to CEOs of Yahoo! gracing Vogue covers because of their style, women don't seem to have the same need to forcefully impose their status of power.

Christina Binkley of The Wall Street Journal observed of our yesteryear, "The matched crimson suit - once deemed essential for a female executive - reflected an era when women tried, often clumsily, to fit into male molds."

So why has that type of suit fallen off of our radar? According to Meredith Lepore at career development site Levo, "We are seeing this trend because there are just more women in these top positions who determine what is an appropriate look for the office." Many of us are finally writing our own scripts, and deciding, for ourselves, what's appropriate and what demands respect.

Luckily, others are backing us up on that idea. Giorgio Armani - the granddaddy of power suits himself - was quoted by Yahoo! Style as saying, "[Women] have edged out their standing in the world. Today, they don't have to wear a suit jacket to prove their authority."

Instead, we are slowly learning to believe the things decades of women before us have tried to carve out with their pleats and lapels: We're Stubborn, capable, powerful.

And a group of BAMFs.
Images: Warner Bros (1); Giorgio Armani (1)

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The Evolution Of The Female Power Suit & What It Means - PHOTOS

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When you think of the evolution of the power suit, chances are you might conjure up anything between Melanie Griffith's Working Girl white bow ties and Diane Keaton's Baby Boom shoulder armor. But power dressing has so many more variations than the...

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While the majority of the UK was hopeful that we had at least the August bank holiday for summer 2021 to finally show its face, now that we've hit September without so much as a warm breeze over recent weeks it might time to admit defeat. And even if you're still clinging on for a 'late summer', you won't be surprised to hear that the fashion world is, true to form, over it.

Forever one step ahead - or, more specifically, one season ahead - fashion fans, buyers and editors alike have had their eyes on autumn/winter 2021 ever since the major fashion houses put on their seasonal showcase back in February as part of AW21 Fashion Week.

Of course, what with the pandemic still being at its peak back then, it was a very different affair. But having dipped their well-dressed toes in the world of 'digital presentations' and 'socially-distanced runways' the September before to showcase SS21 collections, February saw a more confident, well-prepared format.

12 epic summer fashion trends to see you through the (apparent!) incoming September heatwave

A confidence which was undoubtedly reflected within the clothes themselves, this autumn's fashion outlook is a bold, fearless one. It seems that after over a year spent at home in tracksuits - both designers themselves and their customers - the teams behind these brands are forecasting somewhat of a sartorial revival this autumn.

But while the season is set to host a far punchier aesthetic than the last few, there are subtle design details within the major trends that serve as a nod to recent times.

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From full-length maxi knits - which will replace that cosy one-piece you spent last winter in - to high-voltage OUT out gear that's layered atop a cosy turtleneck or beneath a knitted vest, this season is all about statement-making looks that don't entirely forgo our newfound focus and prioritisation of all things comfortable.

Of course, there *are* a small number of trends that entirely prioritise visual impact above all else. After all, does anything encourage enthusiasm for post-pandemic life more than a full fuchsia look, head-to-toe glitter or teeny tiny mini skirts?

Ready to skip winter? These are all the summer 2022 trends to look forward to according to Copenhagen Fashion Week

There's a balance to be struck here, with trends fit for every end of the sartorial spectrum as we all begin to tentatively navigate our own lockdown exit and set our own boundaries to suit the world's new normal...

Ready to plan for your autumn wardrobe?

Here are the 13 AW21 trends that we'll all be falling for this season...
For more from Glamour UK's Fashion Editor Charlie Teather, follow her on Instagram @charlieteather.

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13 autumn fashion trends that we guarantee we'll all be wearing very, very soon

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While the majority of the UK was hopeful that we had at least the August bank holiday for summer 2021 to finally show its face, now that we've hit September without so much as a warm breeze over recent weeks it might time to admit defeat.

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History Of The Shirt :: Shirt Guide :: Gant UK

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Over the years, this core garment has evolved (and devolved) in fascinating and sometimes funny ways. Find out more about the history of the shirt here.

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The Power Suit & the Fashion of Authority | Style & Error

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What To Wear

Suffragettes, Smoking Jackets and the Senate Floor:
The Brief History of Women's Suits

At Michael Andrews we have long created bespoke suits for a wide range of professionals. After all, a perfectly-tailored suit conveys power, style and a sense of identity. That's why, in recognition of International Women's Day, we decided to explore the triumphant history of the woman's suit.

Although women's suits may not date back to the 1600s the way men's do, they nevertheless have a colorful, boundary-pushing history. The first notable appearance of a woman making a man's suit her own was in 1870 when actress Sarah Bernhardt began wearing her "boy's clothes" in public. At the time, a woman sporting a man's suit was scandalous, but this controversy didn't keep her from further challenging gender roles - she played the lead in Hamlet in 1899. Ahead of her time in many ways, Ms. Bernhardt was the original champion for what has become the sartorial calling card of modern women.

By 1910 the suffragette movement was in full swing and with it came women who were bolder and more active. Rallies, marches and civil disobedience required more than just shaking off dated 1800s ideals - they required less restrictive clothing. Enter the Suffragette Suit. This predecessor to the modern skirt suit was a sharp counterpoint to the popular "hobble skirt," the mainstream fashion of the time that was so narrow at the ankles the wearer 'hobbled' around.

The Suffragette Suit was a hallmark of progressive woman and inspired icon and fashion grande dame Coco Chanel. Possibly the most well-known designer to make women's suits, Chanel gained popularity during the first World War by eschewing corsets for tailoring and is widely credited with making the first truly female suit in the modern sense. Unlike its predecessors, the Chanel suit retained a sense of glamour and femininity.

Women's sartorial liberation continued in the jazz age as women widely began wearing trousers for leisure activities, particularly tennis, equestrian and cycling. Until that time (and even afterwards in many places), a women wearing pants was considered cross-dressing and was often criminalized.

In 1933, Eleanor Roosevelt became the first First Lady to wear trousers at an official function. She had been out riding and didn't have time to change before hosting the annual White House Easter egg roll. Although her clothing choice was accidental, she embraced the unconventional attire, posing for a number of photos in her eyebrow-raising outfit.

And then there was Marlene Dietrich. With her films Morocco (1930), Blonde Venus (1932), and Seven Sinners (1940) she effectively turned international perceptions and women's wear in general on their heads by wearing her iconic tuxedos and white double-breasted suits into infamy. Dietrich's public championing of the pant suit in both her professional and personal life coincided with designer Marcel Rochas creating the first ready-to-wear women's pant suits. In 1939 Vogue published its first spread featuring women in trousers. By the forties, silver screen powerhouse Katherine Hepburn had joined the fray. With her highly publicized preference for wearing trousers on and off set she helped solidify trousers as part of everyday women's wardrobes.

The female suit saw a brief lull in popularity after the second World War as many sought a return to traditional domestic roles after the mass influx of women into the wartime workforce. Dior's "New Look" embraced the 1950s housewife look with nipped waists and full skirts. But by the 1960s the suit was back in full force as an unprecedented 40% of women had joined the workforce. This decade saw many watershed moments in equality with the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and a Presidential act banning discrimination based on gender in 1967. The sixties also saw Andre Courreges' reintroduction of the suit into elegant day and evening-wear.

In 1966 Yves Saint Laurent sealed his icon status with the release of his "Le Smoking" tuxedo. This female tuxedo was so ahead of its time that many hotels and restaurants would not permit women inside while wearing it. Then in 1971 Bianca Pérez-Mora Macías married Mick Jagger and mesmerized the world in a white, Yves-St-Laurent-designed Le Smoking outfit that went down in bridal attire history. Not to be overlooked, the seventies also saw the rise of unisex clothing in youth culture and the addition of the Title IX education amendment that allowed girls to wear pants in public schools.

By the 1980s the percentage of women in the workforce had grown to over 50%, and the decade became known for the the iconic "power suit". With Georgio Armani championing androgynous shoulder pads and the over-sized jacket silhouette, the stereotypical look for women in business was born.

In 1993 trailblazing Senators Barbara Mikulski and Carol Moseley-Braun led the charge to overturn the ban on women wearing trousers on the Senate floor. It is hard to imagine that as little as 25 years ago a woman could have been expelled from Congress for wearing pants.

Since then we have seen an unprecedented rise of women in business, politics, and athletics, culminating last year with a record number of women elected to the United States Congress. We've also seen increased attention on women's rights with the #TimesUp and #MeToo movements, and a record number of women helming major corporations. Not surprisingly, the women's suit is also getting renewed attention in the world of fashion. Countering the trend in menswear toward ever more casual looks, numerous women's wear designers have introduced updated collections aimed at the female professional.

Not to be outdone, Michael Andrews is taking the lead on bespoke tailoring for women. This fall we are launching a full collection designed for those who, like Chanel, Dietrich, Hepburn, and Jagger, refused to accept anything less than the best. To all of you we say "welcome to the MAB club."

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Suffragettes, Smoking Jackets and the Senate Floor: The Brief History of Women's Suits At Michael Andrews we have long created bespoke suits for a wide range of professionals. After...

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Understanding respectability politics, respectability narratives, and its relationship to social and political change.

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Any history of fashion is closely connected with the development of society. Do you want to know how the suit appear in the female wardrobe? What did it mean at that time? Who should we thank for the suit? Read the article to find out the answers.

The female suits have a rich and exciting history that deserves some exploration. Not so long ago, it was a fierce political statement for a woman to be wearing a suit and in some cases even illegal. Now a fashion staple and a symbol of power, we wonder when and how the women's suit began to blur the lines of the strict gender binaries imposed by society. Below is the evolution of the power suit, and what that evolution means.
1660s
The earliest women's suits were Riding habits, which were a formal habit for riding. The suits allows women more comfort

Riding habits

The 1800s - Victorian Era
In the 19 th century, it first became socially acceptable for women to wear an iteration of a suit for outdoor activities-particularly, swimming. These first "women's suits," aka bathing suits, showed little to no skin and were purely for function. Though just a baby step, this was the first noteworthy moment in the transition from floor-length Victorian-era dresses.

bathing suits

bathing suits

The 1890s
In the late 1800s, French stage actress Sarah Bernhardt scandalized Paris by wearing a custom-made trouser suit, which she called her "boy's clothes. She received backlash for her choice of menswear, making her the unofficial pioneer of the women's suit. Mad props to Ms. Bernhardt's emphasis on androgyny in art and fashion. She continued to blur gender roles when she played Hamlet in 1899.

The century European women wore tailored jackets with long skirts, called costumes, for activities such as riding, archery, and walking. Trendsetters adopted them for everyday wear, and by 1905, they were common suits for women. While The American Ladies' Tailors' Association created the "suffragette suit" in direct response to the hobble skirt, which was hemmed so tight at the ankles that it made it hard for a woman to take unrestricted steps. The hobble skirt was often mocked for contradicting the progress that women were making at the time. Providing women with more freedom to move, the suffragette suit was worn to combat legislation that sought to enforce the mandatory wearing of corsets and a hemline no shorter than one inch off the ground.
1914s
The year Coco Chanel designed her first suit-a fur-trimmed jacket with a matching ankle-length skirt. The iconic skirt-jacket combo quickly became a fashion staple and has reigned supreme for a hundred years and counting. "I gave them real arms, real legs, movements that were authentic and the possibility to laugh and eat without, necessarily, having to faint," - Coco said.Grace Lees-Maffei, author of Iconic Designs: 50 Stories About 50 Things pointed out, "When Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel began designing, the suit was already associated with women's emancipation, having facilitated female participation in the 'man's world;' or urban work and leisure, as well as being favored by the suffragettes. Chanel successfully developed a suit that accommodated the rapidly changing lifestyle e of modern women."

Chanel suit, 1914

1930s Marlene Dietrich
In the 30s, Hollywood icon Marlene Dietrich certainly started something when she appeared at the opening of The Sign of the Cross, wearing a masculine tuxedo, wing collar, soft felt hat, mannish topcoat, and a pair of mannish patent leather shoes. It actually reached Congress and they had to decide whether or not the new styles violate the law forbidding women to "masquerade as men". She helped popularize the look with her slouchy stylish way of wearing the suit.

Marlene Dietrich

1932s
Following Chanel's lead, French designer Marcel Rochas took women's desire to wear suits and to wear pants one step further by marrying the two together to create the pantsuit in 1932. The suit was gray and woolly, with trousers that matched a jacket and big shoulders.

1940s
The Mexican American woman zoot suiter, or Pachuca, came onto the scene in 1940s California and the Southwest, right in the middle of World War II. It was part of a Mexican-American subculture, generally representing "working-class and second-generation Americans whose parents have emigrated from Mexico to urban centers. Pachucas defied stereotypical gender roles on all fronts, especially fashion. They associated with feminism because they rejected the idea that women could be just wives and mothers. Their pantsuits symbolized liberation and independence.

Pachuca

Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn showed us that a man's suit could actually be quite feminine. Her film Woman of the Year made the suit iconic and a wardrobe staple for working women. Straying far from the typical sequined dress look, she became an alluring symbol of liberation and independence for women. In a 1981 interview with Barbara Walters, she famously stated d, "I've just done what I damn well wanted to and I made enough money to support myself, and I ain't afraid of being alone."

1967
In 1966, Yves Saint Laurent introduced le smoking, the first tuxedo suit designed for women. The revolutionary suit for women was one of the first androgynous looks to break into the realm of mainstream high fashion. Not surprisingly, the suit's initial debut faced a generally negative response from the public but has since become a household staple. In a 1981 interview, he called it his most important design, and an updated version has been included in every new collection from the brand. "So, dressing in a YSL trouser suit declared the wearer was irreverent, daring, and on the cutting of fashion, whilst suggesting their alignment with burgeoning feminist politics s - le smoking effectively demanded: 'If men can wear this, why can't I?'"

The 1970s
The 1970s were marked by Bianca Jagger and her iconic white pantsuit-a pinnacle moment for women and suits. A wide trouser and tailored jacket gave life to a new species of a casual breed of suits for women. The paparazzi's capture of Jagger's fierce look catapulted the suit to the forefront of pop culture. On the other side of the coin, Annie Hall, Diane Keaton's character: carefree women who fought society's gender ideals by wearing men's clothing in a flippant, plain way. The New Yorker observed, "The Annie Hall clothes are a show of confidence." In a time during which women weren't allowed into restaurants wearing trousers (á la Manhattan restaurant La Côte Basque, which refused to let New York socialite Nan Kempner in with her le smoking on), it was a bold move to don some slacks.

The 1980s
A decade characterized by a dress-for-success mentality, sales in women's suits rose drastically in the 1980s. Designers like Giorgio Armani gave the suit their own flavor; stylistically, they became boxier with a looser fit, refreshingly removing the emphasis on gender. And voila, the art of "power dressing" was born (as was the long lost art of the shoulder pad). According to Daily Worth, a women's lifestyle site, "Armani managed to completely revolutionize women's fashion, particularly for the serious 'career girls' out there. His new tailored trouser and skirt suits took the sex out of fashion and gave it a much-needed hit of seriousness." Not every designer believed that to be powerful meant to play dress up as a man in the boardroom. Enter Ms. Donna Karan. She got rid of the boxiness of a male jacket and let women believe they could walk into a room looking feminine and still own respectability.
Present Day
Nowadays women can wear pink, not just powerful red, in the office. They can wear floral's and lace. They can wear leopard print shoes and flats. Giorgio Armani, who made the power suit famous, recently said that women no longer need to wear powerful-looking clothes in order to earn respect from their peers in the workplace. It used to be all about the power suit but now more fashionable and feminine items are considered just as powerful. With jeans allowed as regularly in the office as blazers, women no longer feel the need to impose their status of power through suits. Women are re-asserting their femininity by wearing dresses and skirts-a new type of power play. As Giorgio Armani said: "Women have edged out their standing in the world. Today, they don't have to wear a suit jacket to prove their authority."

Let's have a look at the outfits in suits nowadays.

Have you got a suit in your closet? What color is it? Do you think the era of power suit is gone?

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The History of Women's Suits - Arte & Lusso

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Any history of fashion is closely connected with the development of society. Do you want to know how the suit appear in the female wardrobe? What did it mean at that time? Who should we thank for the suit? Read the article to find out the answers.

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"THERE ARE DECADES where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen." The famous Lenin quote is acutely resonant in 2020, amid a global pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands and ongoing protests sparked by the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and the shooting of Jacob Blake. Borders are closed, millions are unemployed, and whole industries have been decimated. Meanwhile, the strangest and perhaps most consequential presidential election in American history is upon us.

What does any of this have to do with fashion?

Everything, it turns out. Fashion is a planet-spanning $2.5 trillion business that employed more than 1.8 million people in the United States alone before COVID-19 reached our shores. Its touch extends from the starry realm of the red carpet to sweatshops as far-flung as Bangladesh and as near as Los Angeles. By some estimates, the industry is responsible for as much as 10 percent of annual global carbon emissions. Fashion also conjures society's dreams, challenges its norms, and reflects back what it believes about itself. And yet the question persists: Can fashion be political? To which the proper reply must be: Wasn't it always? In the Middle Ages, sumptuary laws prohibited commoners from dressing above their station; during the French Revolution, sansculottes wore hardy trousers as a badge of working-class pride. Nearer our own era, the Black Panthers used clothing both to seize power and to resist it, adopting a uniform of leather jackets and berets to signify their deputization as a counter-police force-while in the "Greed is good" 1980s, power suits and pouf skirts sublimated Reaganite corporate triumphalism. There are countless examples of this kind of intertwining.

"Fashion functions as a mirror to our times, so it is inherently political," notes Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "It's been used to express patriotic, nationalistic, and propagandistic tendencies as well as complex issues related to class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality." What's radical today, Bolton goes on to point out, is the way social consciousness and environmental concerns are informing fashion: Designers worldwide, whether indie start-ups or internationally famed maisons, are incorporating politics at every level of their brands, from the fantasies spun on the runway down to the nuts and bolts of how collections are produced. These designers aren't just making clothes-alongside activists and organizers, they're making change. And that's a selling point.

"Every choice you make as a company will influence the world," says Marine Serre, one of the designers at the forefront of fashion's new wave. "What you make, how you make it, how you speak about what you've made-for me, everything is politics."

"I think people are getting it now: Politics isn't binary," says Virgil Abloh of Louis Vuitton and Off-White. "It's this system we're in and all the ways it manifests. There's the politics on your phone and the politics on your street. And, yeah, there's the politics of your clothes."

By "binary," Abloh is alluding to America's partisan divide, the polarization of Republican and Democrat, Fox News vs. MSNBC, that most people refer to when they talk politics. But as he notes, the partisan is only one element of the political, and "the politics of your clothes" today can mean everything from buying one of Off-White's i support young black businesses T-shirts-with proceeds this quarter going to the anti-gun violence organization Chicago CRED-to not buying much of anything at all out of a dedication to sustainability. Fashion politics may mean signing the #PayUp petition launched by the organization Remake in the wake of reports that brands were stiffing factories post-COVID, leaving already vulnerable garment workers in the lurch; it can mean wearing a black gown to the Golden Globes in support of Time's Up or dressing to affirm a genderqueer identity-all of which is to say: The politics of fashion are in the eye of the beholder. But they are there, acknowledged or not.

"I'm not about screaming an opinion, but obviously my work is engaged with conversations about race, about class, about justice," explains Samuel Ross, designer of British menswear label A-Cold-Wall*, a 2018 finalist for the prestigious LVMH Prize. "Through the look and feel of my clothes, I'm trying to capture an experience often overlooked by fashion." Ross points to a childhood spent in part on London council estates of brutalist structures of poured concrete; in transforming that experience into something aspirational, he's affirming the dignity of poor and working-class people living in tower blocks today.

Serre, meanwhile, has the climate on her mind. She dedicates at least 50 percent of her runway collection to upcycled clothes-creating a slick frock out of vintage Fair Isle sweaters sourced from the Netherlands, for example-and her current collection imagines new communities emerging, phoenix-like, from a burning world. It's a theme of hope and unity that's also reflected in Serre's crescent moon logo, made famous by its appearance in Beyoncé's Black Is King. "It's an ancient symbol-it crosses East and West; you see it in Arabic culture and in Greek. Anyone can recognize themselves in this logo-and you can appropriate it like I have, because it's totally free."

Serre's moon serves as a riposte to ethno-nationalism-if you choose to interpret it that way. The symbolism is ambiguous by design. Martine Rose's promising britain tee is more direct: Featuring a cartoon clown emerging from a circle of E.U.-flag stars, the shirt debuted as part of a spring 2020 collection Rose showed just as the U.K. was hurtling toward Brexit. "As I see it," Rose says, "fashion in the absence of opinion and argument is just...merch."

Maria Grazia Chiuri seems to agree. Seizing the reins at Dior in 2016, she opened her first show with a statement of intent, printing the title of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's essay "We Should All Be Feminists" on tees sent down the runway alongside looks that pointedly updated the aesthetic codes of a house built on the ur-femininity of founder Christian Dior's New Look. "Declaring my-and the maison's-wish to step away from the stereotype of women by integrating feminist ideas is a way of keeping Dior's heritage relevant," Chiuri explains. "At this stage, being feminist should be the default."

Feminism, pluralism, eco- and class-consciousness: Designers such as Ross, Rose, Serre, and Chiuri are joining in crucial debates. For Virgilda Romero Vasquez, however, the intersection of fashion and politics is a matter of life and death. A mother of four who began working in L.A. garment factories when she arrived from Guatemala 19 years ago-and who still makes only about $300 a week-Romero Vasquez was, on July 29, impatiently awaiting the result of the California Assembly Labor Committee's vote on SB-1399, a bill that would eliminate the piece-rate payment system that allows factories in the state to pay sewers well below minimum wage. Romero Vasquez was also recovering from symptoms related to COVID and going to work in a small, airless building where, she told me, it's often too hot to wear a mask. "We had 40 people working," she says, "and seven of us got the virus, but only six came back-the other passed away." (SB-1399 also includes provisions to make brands legally liable for poor conditions in the factories they've subcontracted to make their apparel. If the concern seems remote, Romero Vasquez may prompt you to reevaluate: The factory where she previously worked produced almost exclusively for a popular fast-fashion brand with celebrity ambassadors. Meanwhile, she describes the space as rat-infested and says it's common for the rodents to urinate and defecate on the clothes. "I don't know why people think they get clean things from a dirty place," she says.)

Issues of labor exploitation in the fashion supply chain-that of fast-fashion brands in particular-have languished in the shadow of glitzier conversations about what we wear and why. But just as coronavirus outbreaks in L.A. garment factories drove this summer's explosion of transmission throughout Southern California, the labor question eventually affects everything and everyone else in the industry. "How could it not?" asks Livia Firth, cofounder and creative director of the sustainability consultancy Eco-Age and a forceful advocate for a more ethical supply chain. "No matter what clothes you're wearing, someone made them. Do you know who? And how? The newest form of political fashion is to be able to tell that story."

Questions about labor are relevant whether you're asking if the pro-feminist T-shirt on a store-window mannequin was made by a woman in a sweatshop, or comparing a brand's pro-Black Lives Matter Instagram post with its record of diversity in hiring. Or if-as Chiuri did for Dior's cruise 2020 show-you answer the question by celebrating traditional artisanship, collaborating with Ivory Coast-based studio Uniwax to create expressive reinterpretations of toile de Jouy.

All of this is a necessary part of the budding movement for accountability-the raison d'être that unifies everything from eco-activist campaigns for transparency about climate impacts and waste to callouts about cultural appropriation (as when activist Céline Semaan challenged Serre on her use of Islamic imagery on burka-like face coverings) to initiatives like the 15 Percent Pledge, launched this summer by Brother Vellies founder Aurora James to commit retailers to upping their inventory from Black-owned businesses. Talk and empty gestures just won't cut it anymore. "Give a little money, post a black square on Instagram, then back to business as usual-it started to feel like a big PR push, as though the uprising was just a temporary blip," says stylist Law Roach of the corporate solidarity statements issued amid the Black Lives Matter protests in June. "That hurt," he adds. "That hurt me a lot."

Roach, who works with such stars as Zendaya and Celine Dion, says the demand for accountability extends to celebrities and influencers. "You can't just post a photo of yourself wearing a BLM T-shirt-people are onto that; they'll be up in your comments, like, What have you actually done for the movement-and who made that shirt, anyway?"

"Look-posting those selfies helps normalize previously radical concepts," says Apryl Williams, assistant professor of communication and media at the University of Michigan and a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. "I'm not dismissive of any of that, but I do worry that people overestimate its power. If you're not really engaged with the issues, all you're doing is performing."

The diffusion of politics into performance is, of course, an ever-present danger when fashion takes up a cause. Another is that politics itself becomes "fashionable" and thus subject to fashion's trend metabolism. "What happens when an issue becomes passé?" asks author and activist Naomi Klein, whose seminal 2000 book No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies anticipates many of the conversations about accountability reemerging now. "Inevitably, that's what happens, because what fashion wants is novelty-and what movements need is time. " As Klein points out, the fight for workers' rights has been building for decades, advancing in tandem with the globalization of supply chains, and over all this time, the fundamental demand-the right to unionize-hasn't changed. "That's the game-changer," Klein says. "Workers are always their own best advocates, whether the issue is unpaid overtime or unsafe conditions. The trick," she adds, "is how do you force brands to uphold that right?"

ONE WAY to ensure that you can "tell the story" of your wardrobe, as Firth puts it, is to know who is making your clothes. A designer running an independent brand of modest size retains much more direct oversight over her operations than heads of mass-producing firms with innumerable subsidiaries and stockholders fixated on returns. She is able, as Rachel Comey proves, to align her business with her values.

A stalwart of the New York City fashion scene, Comey helped lead the way on age-, race-, and size-blind casting and has matter-of-factly endeavored to make her brand as sustainable as possible. When she wrote a detailed letter of support for Black Lives Matter this summer, one stunningly obvious point she made is that she gives her (diverse) staff paid time off to vote-and that other companies should too. "I've never thought about things like trying to reduce waste as political," she says. "It's more that I feel I have to be responsible-it's my name on the label, right?"

Though Comey's clothes and accessories are sold in more than 100 stores worldwide the label's expansion has been gradual, with Comey's ambitions hewing more to fostering customer loyalty within her artsy niche than to attaining fashion-superstar status-and many younger designers appear to be emulating her. Amid the summer protests, designers behind some of New York City's buzziest labels-Eckhaus Latta and Jonathan Cohen, to name two-joined Comey in pledging a portion of their proceeds to organizations supporting Black Lives Matter. Never mind the fact that, due to COVID, their own bottom lines had been shattered. (This isn't without precedent: During the 1990 recession, New York designers banded together for the three-day Seventh on Sale bazaar to raise money for the fight against AIDS.)

Other new brands have consciously structured their business to give back. Lidia May, a luxury leather-goods line based in Bangladesh, was cofounded by May Yang and Rasheed Khan with the explicit aim of "uplifting the local maker community," as Yang puts it, working with a Dhaka-based grassroots organization to train women in higher-wage skills like embroidery and hiring them to produce the filigree embellishments on the brand's handbags. (Full disclosure: I am on the Lidia May advisory board.) "We'd like to serve as a model other brands can copy," says Khan. "Most companies come to Dhaka for the cheap wages; what would happen if they started investing in this community instead?"

According to Dorothée Baumann-Pauly, director of the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights, this mindset is already trickling up to larger brands. One she cites is the French firm Decathlon, which makes long-term commitments to its suppliers and collaborates with them to develop business models that allow both brand and workers to prosper. "Savvy companies," says Baumann-Pauly, "see the writing on the wall: You'd better align your practices with what this young generation of consumers is going to consider legitimate."

The health of the planet is one concern weighing on those consumers' minds. In her 2019 book Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes, Dana Thomas notes that in 2018, the average American shopper bought 68 garments-more than one item of clothing per week. It's a chicken-and-egg question whether companies have boosted production to meet consumers' apparently insatiable appetite for new things, or whether that appetite has been whetted by the vast increase in goods on offer (Zara alone produces about 450 million garments each year)-but the follow-up question is the same: What are we going to do with all this stuff?

Secondhand shopping is one answer. Gen Z'ers are flocking to apps like Depop that let them thrift from their peers' closets, and sources from a 2019 McKinsey report predict that the resale market a decade from now could be larger than that of fast fashion-a cheering prospect if you fret about the millions of tons of apparel dumped in landfills annually. Other answers include upcycling-retrieving fibers from fabrics to make new ones-and "regenerating," as Marine Serre terms her innovative method of re-crafting old garments and textiles.

Frankly, it feels a bit odd to be writing about the perils of fashion overproduction and overconsumption when, in the midst of COVID, orders have been canceled, stores are going under, and shoppers are hitting the brakes on spending. But at some point, the global fashion machine will start spinning again-and the industry will have to decide whether it needs to spin as fast and as furiously as it did. Many designers say no: Dries Van Noten, Erdem Moralioglu, and Tory Burch are among those who signed an "Open Letter to the Fashion Industry" in May that insisted on a collective slowdown, with fewer and smaller collections and clothes delivered in tune with the seasons for which they were produced.

For shoppers, this means fewer discounts and more saving up for beautiful clothes-a forgotten habit we might all relearn. And as designers reorient toward more purposeful pieces with a longer life cycle, expect to see high fashion continuing the process the streetwear revolution began, creatively reimagining staple items and dispensing with the idea that every new collection must erase the last. You can already see this approach on the Gucci runway, where Alessandro Michele evolves ideas and motifs over time-think of his irreverent takes on the GG logo or his continual romancing of the awkward-chic pantsuit, a look he promotes as gender-neutral. Novelty for novelty's sake is out; what's in is happy-making fashion intended for everyone, no matter size, race, or gender. "The task that fashion has," as Balenciaga's Demna Gvasalia put it recently, "is to bring excitement to the person wearing it. My upcoming seasons are full of light, even though we're in this deep hole of horrible things. Through the work we do we can talk about this hope-the light at the end of the tunnel." That it will soon seem par for the course to see boys traipsing down the catwalk with oh-so-cute Hello Kitty bags (as they did recently at Balenciaga) is part of a long-term process of reprioritization crystallized by the pandemic, as designers consider what matters-beauty, quality, authenticity-and jettison what does not. "We've got this moment to stop and reassess," notes Klein. "Let's use it."

THIRTY YEARS AGO, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Francis Fukuyama published an article titled "The End of History." Anticipating the collapse of the Soviet Union and with it the Soviet-style communism that parried with Western capitalism for global dominion, Fukuyama argued that the great political debates had all been settled and that going forward, "politics" would be a matter of tinkering. Fukuyama's thinking was blinkered in many respects, but his analysis does help explain why, for the past 30 years, a lot of what fashion's been up to has consisted of looping through vintage ideas at an ever-increasing clip. If we all feel like everything has already been said and done, why even try to say or do something new? Marc Jacobs captured that zeitgeist in his grunge collection for Perry Ellis, shown in 1992 at the peak of post-Cold War exultation, with its thrift-shop aesthetics auguring a fashion epoch premised on reiteration and pastiche.

The exception to this rule is the creative spark lit by diversity, which makes perfect sense: When the world is complete-when there's nowhere left to go-the "shock of the new" is supplied by outsiders fighting their way in. One need look no further than the disruptive influence of gender nonconformity on fashion to witness this dynamic at work, but you can see it, too, in the gentler provocations of Olivier Rousteing. Nearing 10 years at the helm of Balmain, Rousteing has made it his project to expand the meaning of "Frenchness."

"Walk the streets of Paris, it's a huge mix-but you don't see that reflected in the image of la Parisienne," he says, referencing the stereotype of the white, well-to-do lady-about-town. "It's a closed aesthetic-it tells people, You don't belong," Rousteing goes on. "Do we want this old idea to still be going in another 50 years? Or do we want to say something new, which is what fashion is supposed to be about?"

In July, Rousteing marked the 75th anniversary of Balmain by showing his couture collection on a boat traveling along the Seine. The presentation included silhouettes from the maison archives-a retread that Rousteing positioned as a breakthrough. "I'm showing the public: Here I am, the first Black leader of one of the first French fashion houses. It was my protest."

Most of the designers and creatives interviewed for this story are Black, as is stylist Law Roach. Each of them authors their own version of fashion, and fashion politics, as does Pyer Moss's Kerby Jean-Raymond, who stunned the industry by opening his spring 2016 show with a 12-minute video about police brutality; Hood By Air visionary Shayne Oliver, whose recent comeback has been enthusiastically welcomed; Telfar Clemens, of White Castle-collaboration fame; multidisciplinary minimalist Grace Wales Bonner; Amaka Osakwe, founder of the Nigeria-based Maki Oh, whose soigné looks incorporating native techniques count Michelle Obama as a fan; Tyler Mitchell, the photographer and filmmaker who recently inked a deal with the creative agency UTA. Calls for greater diversity in fashion have intensified in the wake of the BLM protests; the point of this very abbreviated list is to show that, for the fashion industry, inclusion is not an obligation-it's an opportunity.

"More Black creators means more stories, more ideas," asserts Abloh, explaining why he's devoted a fair amount of time of late raising money for a scholarship fund that will send Black students to premier fashion schools. "As an industry, we've got to find ways to onboard people from the community-which is hard when internships don't pay and hiring is based a lot on who you know or who your family knows." (It's also hard when companies don't foster an inclusive work environment, Abloh might have added-an issue that another new initiative, the Black in Fashion Council, cofounded by publicist Sandrine Charles and Teen Vogue editor Lindsay Peoples Wagner, was launched to address.)

More diversity in the fashion industry is a prima facie good. But it's important to be clear-eyed about what it won't do, which is cure the sickness of the supply chain. For years, issues of economic justice here-narrowly defined as the right to consume-and the right for garment workers to earn a living wage have been set in competition with each other, as though insisting on the latter is tantamount to saying low-income Americans don't deserve stylish clothes. This is a false choice: America's poor and precarious don't need access to cheap, disposable goods-they need money. They're in the same quandary as the garment workers, as the economic fallout of the pandemic has laid bare. Where inequality is concerned, money is both the problem and the solution. The rest is noise.

Martine Rose believes that, thanks to COVID, we are now, suddenly, living with a future again. The end of history ended the moment the gears of the world sputtered to a stop-"creating a tear in the fabric of reality," as she puts it. "It seems like, after so many years of fiddling around the edges of the familiar, something genuinely new could come in." She points to movements that arose in prior moments of rupture, like Dada emerging from the ashes of World War I or hippie counterculture blazing defiance to the society that produced the war in Vietnam.

A-Cold-Wall*'s Ross is more cautious. "I think COVID has surfaced conversations that have been going on belowground," he suggests. "I don't believe that means we'll get a total social reset, but it has created space to ask questions. We can see the system now-and choose to evolve it in a direction that's more humane. Which makes it an exciting time to be a designer," he adds, "because you can help drive the shift."

That shift won't be the work of one election. It may not even be the work of one generation. But the work starts today, and a key part fashion can play is to use its genius for dream-creation to help people imagine what comes next. "Let's embrace change," Rousteing says. "It's how you make new history."

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The question persists: Can fashion be political? To which the proper reply must be: Wasn't it always?

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As Joe Biden passed the 270 electoral college vote threshold and pulled us all out of what's felt like a four-year-long fever dream, America welcomed its first female, first Black, and first South Asian vice president in Kamala Harris.

As part of its coverage of the momentous occasion, The Telegraph ran a beauty feature on Harris, noting her "swishy, low-maintenance hair" and "relaxed approach to make-up". Published by beauty editor Sonia Haria under the title's beauty vertical, it was a focused feature covering a specific editorial angle. But plenty were unimpressed, taking to Twitter to call it out for being misogynistic and moronic, and tagging tweets with #everydaysexism. "She's a politician, not a model. This matters," Green Party Women noted.

Women, of course, are more than their appearance and shouldn't be reduced to what they wear or put on their face, but to pretend that beauty and fashion have no place in politics is as reductive and outdated as asking "should feminists wear pink?" Beauty, fashion, and politics have long been intertwined, with certain colours, hairstyles, and silhouettes being deployed as semiotics throughout history.

"One of the earliest examples of fashion using political signifiers is when the French Revolution began in 1789," says fashion historian Lally MacBeth. "Supporters of the movement for liberty and democracy adopted red, white, and blue striped cockades that denoted they were a revolutionary. Wearing these tricolore ribbons became such a ubiquitous symbol that anyone not wearing them was a target for the guillotine."

"Another movement that adopted clothing as a political marker was the Suffragettes," MacBeth continues. "In 1908, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, co-editor of Votes for Women, created one of the most recognisable political signifiers in the early 20th century, through her use of colour, purple for loyalty and dignity, white for purity, and green for hope."

Kamala Harris herself invoked the aesthetic of the Suffragist movement with the white Carolina Herrera suit and pussybow blouse she wore for her victory speech, which echoed Hillary Clinton's Ralph Lauren look worn to accept her presidential nomination in 2016. The impact was swift. According to Lyst, searches for white pantsuits spiked 129 per cent within 24 hours of Harris' speech, and searches for pussybow blouses shot up by 95 per cent.

"Women are more than their appearance and shouldn't be reduced to what they wear or put on their face, but to pretend that beauty and fashion have no place in politics is as reductive and outdated as asking 'should feminists wear pink?'"

White suits have become something of a staple for the women of the Democrat party. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wore all-white when she was sworn in as congresswoman in January 2019, tweeting, "I wore all-white today to honor the women who paved the path before me, and for all the women yet to come. From suffragettes to Shirley Chisholm, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the mothers of the movement." Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to be elected to Congress, wore all-white on her first day in office, and Ocasio-Cortez wore the look again for her November 2020 Vanity Fair cover.

The congresswoman has been vocal about the importance of fashion and beauty within politics. Earlier this year, she advocated for progressive fashion label Telfar on Instagram, after she was pictured carrying its signature tote bag on Capitol Hill, and took us through her beauty routine, in which she detailed the significance of her red lip as part of a beauty tutorial for Vogue. "There's this really false idea that if you care about make-up or if your interests are in beauty and fashion, that that's somehow frivolous," she says as she takes viewers through the skincare routine that keeps her looking fresh despite her punishing schedule. "But I actually think these are some of the most substantive decisions that we make, and we make them every morning."

"Just being a woman is quite politicised here in Washington," she continues, something that congresswoman-elect Cori Bush acknowledged as she tweeted about her struggle to afford the kind of business wear she needs to be taken seriously on the Hill. Bush's newly thrifted outfits may not make her better at her job, but it may make her colleagues think she is.

"Our brains are full of little shortcuts - or biases if you will - which we use to help us make sense of the world," explains fashion psychologist Dr Dion Terrelonge. "These biases draw on environmental cues, one of which is appearance. If we draw on biological psychology, we know that humans are pack animals, we seek out people that we think are like us and use cues to tell us who is and who is not. Clothing is one the easiest and fastest modes of communication."

"We should also consider that being a politician is a tough role; one of constant scrutiny and high stakes," continues Terrelonge. "A grooming routine, wearing your hair a certain way, and putting on your favourite lipstick can provide a much-needed boost of confidence and help create a sense of preparedness."

"There's this really false idea that if you care about make-up or if your interests are in beauty and fashion, that that's somehow frivolous. But I actually think these are some of the most substantive decisions that we make, and we make them every morning" - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

A purposeful grooming routine can also be used to kickback against criticism or smooth over preconceptions. At 78, Joe Biden is the oldest president-elect in history and his age has frequently been used as a line of attack by Trump in particular. To shake off the 'old man' image, Biden sports a head of hair much fuller than it was in the 1980s, sparking rumours of multiple hair transplants. His slim, well cut suits and aviators feel fresh and youthful, while his pearly white teeth and oft-rumoured botox and face lift help him maintain an air of vitality.

It's not just Democrats who use fashion and beauty as a communicative tool. Melania Trump's cool blue inauguration look, courtesy of Ralph Lauren, unmistakably echoed Jackie Kennedy's signature neat blue suit. Although she was First Lady to a Democratic president, Kennedy's prim silhouettes, carefully set hair, and penchant for pearls have been adopted as the Republican woman's uniform of choice - harking back to a time when 'men were men and women were women' and the traditional family values that the party places front and centre in its mission to shape society.

And who can forget her Zara military jacket emblazoned with the slogan, "I really don't care, do u?" which she wore to visit a detention centre for migrant children. It was, she said, "for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticising me."

Although American politics tends to feel more glamorous and dramatic, it doesn't have the monopoly on this issue. Theresa May wore a checked Vivienne Westwood suit (reportedly her ' lucky suit') for her 2017 Brexit speech, which could be construed as a nod to the strength of British heritage and industry. And Jeremy Corbyn's bakerboy hat became emblematic of his leftist position - the Daily Mail described it as "Leninist" - while his failure to wear a tie, Terrelonge explains, got such a reaction because of "person perception, the way we judge and characterise others based on their appearance; a cognitive mechanism we use to quickly make sense of situations and categorise, sometimes inaccurately."

The significance of fashion choices permeates British politics. Coming from a Conservative background, Labour MP Susan Lawrence paired her trademark monocle with inexpensive dresses to help win over working class voters, while Labour MP Barbara Castle opted for bouffant hair, red lipstick, and bold skirt suits because, "Plums don't fall into plain girls' laps." Constance Markievicz, meanwhile, the first woman elected to parliament (though she didn't take her seat) famously said, "Dress suitably in short skirts and strong boots, leave your jewels and gold wands in the bank, and buy a revolver", her approach to style as rebellious as her politics and activism.

Can we just talk a second to appreciate 🙌 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Telfar pic.twitter.com/sHCWJCjj91
- Pat (@theSaintCouture) August 24, 2020

Menswear, meanwhile, doesn't escape scrutiny. In 2014, Alexander Fury decoded Nigel Farage's style - all battered Barbour jackets and corduroy trousers - as being "redolent of a mythologised past... a calculated harking-back to old-fashioned standards, to integrity, to post-war patriotism and buoyed-up nationalism." Fury finished with, "For him, clothes maketh the not the man, but the scam."

Some might like to pretend that fashion and beauty have no real standing within the real world, the 'serious' world. But make no mistake - they're as much a part of politics as spin, scandal, and rousing speeches and savvy politicians use them as a powerful communicative tool.

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Fashion and politics go hand-in-hand - here's why

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As Joe Biden passed the 270 electoral college vote threshold and pulled us all out of what's felt like a four-year-long fever dream, America welcomed its first female, first Black, and first South Asian vice president in Kamala Harris.

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THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR MILLENNIA.
By Corinne Redfern
It doesn't matter if you want to leave the house wearing a clown costume, a £4k Dolce & Gabbana abaya or a pair of slightly-see-through-but-really-comfy leggings paired with a tie-dyed crop top - what you wear is always your choice.

Or at least, it should be.

And yet, throughout history, women have continually fallen subject to various rules and regulations that dictate what we 'can' and 'can't' put on our bodies. In fact, men telling women what to wear has been going on for thousands and thousands of years. So much so, that when we started making this timeline we thought it would take about 45 minutes. Instead, it took four and a half hours - and we'll probably have to come back and add to it some more next week.

From the recent burkini rulings in the south of France to the news that women in Iran are forced to cut off their hair and disguise themselves as men if they want to leave the house without a hijab - not to mention the ongoing insistence that rape victims should tell juries what they were wearing before their attackers are found innocent - society is still bafflingly obsessed with the way women cover up.
Not convinced? Read on and see the extent of the problem...
2016: BANNING THE BURKINI
On the 28 July, 20 towns in the south of France decided to ban the 'burkini' and force Muslim women on beaches to remove their headscarves along the coast. Photos emerge of armed police surrounding one woman and forcing her to undress on the beach in front of hundreds of strangers, and protests take place all over the world in her defence.

2014: ISIS EXECUTES WOMEN NOT WEARING THE NIQAB WITH GLOVES
Reports emerge from Iraq where ISIS claimed responsibility for stoning women to death because they weren't wearing gloves with their niqabs.

2009: WOMEN ARE ARRESTED FOR WEARING TROUSERS
Thirteen women - including journalist Lubna al-Hussein - were arrested in Khartoum, Sudan, because they wore trousers in public. Ten of the women were punished with a fine of 250 Sudanese pounds, and received ten lashes. Lubna was fines $200, but not flogged.

1998: AN ITALIAN JUDGE LETS A RAPIST WALK FREE BECAUSE HIS VICTIM WORE TIGHT JEANS
When a 45-year-old driving instructor was accused of raping an 18-year-old girl in 1992, he was convicted and sentenced. Then six years later, the Italian Supreme Court overturned the conviction - because his victim was wearing tight jeans. The defence argued that she must have helped the instructor remove her jeans - making the act consensual. The Italian Supreme Court said 'it is a fact of common experience that it is nearly impossible to slip off tight jeans even partly without the active collaboration of the person who is wearing them.'

1979: IRAN REIMPOSES THE HIJAB
The Islamic Revolution in Iran overturned the liberal laws that had been enforced over the last 40 years, and women were suddenly forbidden from appearing in public without a headscarf. Counterintuitively, this ruling was actually celebrated by many women - simply because they could leave the house for the first time without the objection of their husbands and fathers.

1942: WW2 RATIONING BRINGS ABOUT RESTRICTIONS ON WOMEN'S CLOTHING
While men's clothing remained the same, the USA introduced 'Regulation L85' which set skirt lengths at 17 inches above the floor - no longer, and no shorter. At the same time, material for swimwear was restricted - so swimming costumes become smaller as a result. Within two years, the bikini had made its debut - but came accompanied by a the rule that women shouldn't show their belly buttons.

1936: IRAN BANS THE HIJAB
Iranian ruler Reza Shah made it illegal for all girls and women to wear the hijab in public, as part of a quick succession of liberal laws inspired by leaders in Afghanistan and Turkey. But the law was met with resistance from the religious majority, and many husbands and fathers began to forbid their daughters and wives from leaving the house so that they wouldn't have to remove their headscarves.

1919: LUISA CAPETILLO IS SENT TO JAIL FOR WEARING TROUSERS
Writer and activist Luisa Capetillo from Puerto Rico argues publicly that women should have the same rights as men. After wearing a man's suit in public, she was sent to jail - although the judge eventually dropped the charges against her and set her free.

1890s: ANKLES ARE OUT. AND, ER, SO ARE TABLE LEGS...
It was decided in the UK that women must cover their whole bodies in public - necklines were raised to just below the chin, and hemlines dropped to below the ankle. Diagrams were released to clarify what length of skirt was suitable for what age (four year old girls could wear dresses to just below the knee - but girls of 16 must wear dresses to the arch of their foot. Legs of wooden tables were covered up too, because they apparently resembled women's legs. Which is insulting to say the least.

1800s: WOMEN GET POCKETS FOR THE FIRST TIME
For the first time in British history, women's dress patterns were allowed to include pockets. Until now, if women had access to money (which was significantly less often than men), they'd had to cut slits into the sides of their skirts. Sure, they could reach through to access two hanging drawstring pouches which they suspended on a belt underneath their dress, but it was considered vulgar for a woman to hide her hands (unless they were wearing gloves). Men, meanwhile, had pockets since the 1600s. And they worked just fine, by the way.

1600s: RICH WOMEN ARE MADE TO WEAR HIJABS
Historians argue that during the Ottoman Empire and across the Middle East, male scholars began producing huge volumes of Islamic scripture and legal works to regain the patriarchal power that they'd lost in the centuries following Muhammad's death. As a result, the hijab was deemed representative of female modesty and piety - while also symbolising the upper class. Poorer women, who worked as labourers, were able to avoid wearing it because of its impracticality while farming - meaning that 'a veiled woman silently announced that her husband was rich enough to keep her idle.'

1550s: 'THICK WAISTS' ARE BANNED FROM COURTS IN FRANCE
Those attending courts in France were forced to wear corsets made out of wood or whalebone - with guards checking upon entry. Laced tightly together, women worked to attain the smallest waist possible - often aiming for 14 or 16 inches. The trend soon spread overseas, and most women continued wearing them up until the 19th century.

1056: WOMEN IN GERMANY AREN'T ALLOWED TO WEAR SILVER, GOLD, OR PRECIOUS STONES
Unless they're married to a knight.
Obviously.

900AD: CHINESE WOMEN START BINDING THEIR FEET
In one of the cruelest fashions for women throughout history, women in China began being made to bind their feet during the sixth century. Seen as a symbol of beauty, legend has it that the Emperor at the time saw the dainty feet of one of his favourite courtesans, and enforced a ruling that all women in his court must make their feet tiny and curved too. The practise continued until 1949.

627AD: THE HIJAB IS IMPOSED FOR MUHAMMAD'S WIVES
Originally, the word 'hijab' could mean 'veiling' or 'seclusion' - but it only became enforced when Muhammad began entertaining increasing numbers of male visitors in the mosque where he lived. The visitors would often sleep metres away from Muhammad's wives' quarters - so a 'hijab' was imposed to keep the women separate and 'safe' from the men. For a long time, historians believe that the phrase darabat al-hijab (donning the veil) was synonymous with 'being Muhammad's wife'. Wearing the hijab only entered the public sphere centuries after Muhammad's death.

44BC: LAWS ENFORCE WOMEN'S CLOTHING
As the Roman Republic transitioned into the Roman Empire, the whole toga-versus-stola thing became official, as a law was passed that officially forbade women from wearing the toga under any circumstances. At the same time, women's rights were decreased. Again, just a coincidence.

200BC: MARRIED WOMEN ARE MADE TO DRESS DIFFERENTLY
In Ancient Rome, women were made to start wearing a floor-length, modest gown called the 'stola' as soon as they were married. Up until this period, women had been allowed to wear the toga, just like men, but after 200BC it was considered 'disgraceful' for a woman to dress the same way as a man - and was often associated with prostitution or infidelity. Oh, and if you're into facts - the Statue of Liberty wears a stola too.

400-500BC: MODESTY IS IMPOSED - KIND OF
Nobody is completely certain why breasts suddenly started being covered up in Ancient Greece, but sculptures from that time show goddesses hiding their chests behind their hands, or dressing in over-sized, flowing robes that hung loosely over their upper bodies. Amazingly considering today's approach to the female body, many paintings from this era still show women's genitalia and upper thighs - although this eased off towards the turn of the millennium.
Interestingly, as women became increasingly covered up, so Greece became an increasingly patriarchal society - as women were made to stay at home under the control of their fathers and husband. But clearly that's just a huge coincidence.

1500BC: BREASTS ARE EVERYWHERE
Historians reckon that women only began to cover their breasts in public about 3500 years ago - when men decided they were private, sexual body parts that needed to be tucked away. Prior to that, artwork from the era suggests that women were able to wander around topless without anyone batting an eyelid. Even during the days of Ancient Egypt, historians believe that women could choose whether to cover their breasts or not - often opting for elaborate dresses and designs that would leave one breast exposed.

2500BC: VEILS FOR THE RICH - BUT NOBODY ELSE
Used as a means of identifying which women are 'respectable' and which women are 'publicly available' to men, upper class women in ancient Mesopotamia are made to wear veils that are wrapped loosely over their hair and fall to their waists, but poorer women are not allowed to - and face harsh punishments if they dare to.

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Timeline of dress codes: History of men telling women what to wear

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THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR MILLENNIA. By Corinne Redfern It doesn't matter if you want to leave the house wearing a clown costume, a £4k Dolce & Gabbana abaya or a pair of slightly-see-through-but-really-comfy leggings paired with a tie-dyed crop top - what you wear is always your choice.

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The first decade of the 17th century saw a continuation of many Elizabethan trends, with small changes in skirt length, sleeve shape, and collar types slowly being introduced.

Just as the reign of Queen Elizabeth I would last into the first years of the seventeenth century, fashion trends of the 1590s would also endure into the new century. Daniel Delis Hill confirms this in The History of World Costume and Fashion (2011), writing that "at the beginning of the seventeenth century, women's clothing retained many of the contours and design elements from the end of the previous century" (406).

François Boucher offers further details in his History of Costume in the West (1997):

"Elizabethan influence lasted until well after the death of the Queen in 1603. While some forms were inspired by the Continent... drum-farthingales and starched fan collars for women - the volume of the silhouette, the richness and stiffness of materials and the heavily loaded decoration kept the character of sixteenth-century modes. Until about 1620, women still wore embroidered jackets." (273)

The foundation garment for all dress was the chemise, atop which women now wore stays to create the desirable silhouette of the time. We're given a rare peek at early seventeenth-century stays in the portrait of Elizabeth Vernon, Countess of Southampton (Fig. 1), who is shown dressing in a rather daringly informal portrait. As Anna Reynolds remarks in In Fine Style (2013): "The countess reveals her long-waisted pink stays beneath her unpinned waistcoat." (41) Indeed dresses of this period relied heavily on pinning to stay together; on Elizabeth's dressing table, a cushion full of pins to aid in dressing is visible.

Heavily embroidered bodices, or waistcoats in Vernon's case, were typical of the period, with the English particularly specializing in floral embroidered pieces. A very fine surviving example from around 1600 in the Kyoto Costume Institute's collection (Fig. 2) features "roses, peas & beans, forget-me-nots, tulips, irises, carnations, and bellflowers, ... birds, caterpillars, snails, spiders, and snakes." Known as the Devereux Bodice, it is said to have been given to Queen Elizabeth as a gift as part of an unsuccessful plea for clemency by the mother of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (Kyoto).

A portrait of an unknown woman from the same period gives a sense of the desired silhouette at the turn of the century (Fig. 3). The wheel-shaped French farthingale was still very much in fashion, though the hard edge of the skirt was often softened by a large ruffle or gathered flounce as we see here. The bodice typically came to a sharp point in the center and large leg-of-mutton sleeves were still favored. This unknown woman even wears the wired veils studded with pearls so favored by Queen Elizabeth herself.

In England and France the large starched ruffs so essential to late 16th-century dress were replaced by still large, but now open, standing collars that framed the face, as Boucher explains: "At the beginning of the century, tall starched collars spreading out in a fan shape round the head were worn by women; this fashion lasted as long as the vogue for the farthingale" (265).

These collars are sometimes referred to as Medici collars as they were worn by Maria de' Medici, Queen of France (Fig. 4), as we can see in her 1607 portrait by Frans Pourbus the Younger.

There were other changes as well over the course of the decade, particularly to the farthingale, as Hill explains: "the top edge of the farthingale was tilted at a more acute angle with an elevated back and dropped front" (406). Princess Elizabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel wears the newly fashionable titled farthingale in her 1609 portrait (Fig. 5). Her high hairstyle was also common in this period, as the Royal Collection Trust explains: "Her hair is piled high over pads and decorated with another ribboned jewel and pearls." Anne of Denmark, Queen consort of England after Elizabeth's death and wife to King James VI and I, wears a similar hairstyle (Fig. 6).

In Anne's portrait we also see two new fashion trends, the first being much narrower sleeves: "padded leg-of-mutton sleeves were replaced with close-fitting cylindrical types that were cropped several inches short of the wrist" (Hill 406). The second trend was "shortened hems to make feet-in new, heeled shoes, visible for the first time. These [shortened] skirts marked France's ascent as Europe's' fashion leader" (Brown 98). Anne was said to have brought other French trends to the English court, including a preference for rather low necklines that revealed the bust (a less extreme version can be seen in figure 4, the portrait of Maria de' Medici then Queen of France).

Elsewhere in Europe, fashions changed more slowly. In Spain and Holland, the large cartwheel ruff was retained as figure 7 attests:

"Flemish artist Rubens painted his wife, Isabella Brandt, wearing this huge ruff edged with lace. Ruffs achieved their greatest width in the Low Countries, where starching techniques originated. The low, curved bodice front also became a regional style." (Brown 98)

Another terrifically elaborate ruff features in Juan Pantoja de la Cruz's 1603 portrait of Doña Ana de Velasco y Girón (Fig. 8). Pantoja de la Cruz's portrait of Margaret of Austria, Queen Consort of Philip III of Spain (Fig. 9), offers another example of Spanish court fashion where the cone-shaped Spanish farthingale also endured, as did the enthusiasm for long hanging sleeves (Hill 406). Italian styles featured elements that were popular at other courts, retaining the Spanish hanging sleeves, for example, but adopting an open standing ruff, a hybrid of the cartwheel ruff and the open standing collar (or Medici collar), as seen in Pourbus's portrait of Margherita Gonzaga, Princess of Mantua (Fig. 10).

Fashion Icon: Anne Vavasour (1560-1654)

The beautiful Anne Vavasour (Fig. 1) achieved early success in life by joining Queen Elizabeth's household in the late 1570s, as Tudor historian Bart Casey explains:

"many heads were turning in the direction of Anne, who had recently come to court from Yorkshire as a Gentlewoman of the Bedchamber, the queen's most intimate group of attendants. The girl had been groomed since childhood to follow in the footsteps of her uncle Sir Thomas Knyvet, who was a Groom of the Privy Chamber, and her aunt Katherine Knyvet, a Maid of Honour. The Knyvet family was well known and well loved at court since the early days of King Henry VIII when an older Thomas Knyvet had been the king's Master of the Horse."

This attention soon became serious as she became the lover of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, a turn of events which became disastrous when she soon gave birth to a son, Edward. The Queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, wrote a letter on 23 March 1581, describing the affair:

"On Tuesday at night Anne Vavasour was brought to bed of a son in the maidens' chamber. The E. of Oxford is avowed to be the father, who hath withdrawn himself with intent, as it is thought, to pass the seas. The ports are laid for him and therefore if he have any such determination it is not likely that he will escape. The gentlewoman the selfsame night she was delivered was conveyed out of the house and the next day committed to the Tower. Others that have been found any ways party to the cause have also been committed. Her Majesty is greatly grieved with the accident, and therefore I hope there will be some such order taken as the like inconvenience will be avoided." (Casey)

As the letter suggests, both Anne and the Earl were sent to the Tower of London by orders of the Queen.

Yet that was not the end of Anne's story; after her release, she later became the mistress of Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley. Sir Henry had been Queen Elizabeth's personal champion at the joust, but in 1590 at the age of fifty-seven, he was a widower. Casey continues the story:

"His wife and three children were all dead, and he was facing lonely years ahead. And that's when he invited Anne Vavasour, then about age twenty-seven, to join him (with her child) as his mistress and de facto wife. She not only accepted but also soon gave birth to her second child, fathered by Sir Henry."

Considering the Queen had banished Anne to the Tower less than ten years before, Anne (and Sir Henry's) situation was somewhat precarious. Sir Henry thus organized a charm offensive, commissioning poetry and most importantly what's known now as the Ditchley portrait of Queen Elizabeth. A highly flattering rendering of the Queen astride the globe, the portrait tellingly includes the inscription: "she can, but she does not, take revenge."

The campaign was successful with the Queen and her court even visiting Ditchley in 1592. Sir Henry and Anne were able to live happily at Ditchley throughout the rest of Elizabeth's reign and even became close with the court of King James VI and I. Anne Vavasour and Queen Anne of Denmark seem to have gotten on well and even commissioned quite similar portraits (Figs. 2-3) from John de Critz around 1605, where both wear white satin gowns with French farthingales and open standing collars and stand next to the same red chair. Anne's bodice is low, like that of the Queen, and both are decorated with pink ribbon rosettes. They share an "upswept, formal hairstyle, its structured braids elaborately decorated, [that] marks a temporary elongation of the female appearance" (Cumming 23).

An earlier portrait (Fig. 1) had shown Anne in black and white, the favored colors of Queen Elizabeth and with the pale powdered face also made fashionable by the Queen, suggesting Vavasour was quite adept at manipulating her appearance to suit the times.

As in womenswear, early 17th-century menswear styles maintained the basic features of late 16th-century dress, as Hill details, "Doublets continued to be tight-fitting, though without the peascod belly... Whisks and ruffs were still rigidly starched and supported by wire frames" (397).

Sir Walter Ralegh and his son (Fig. 1) both wear tight-fitting doublets-Ralegh also wears a jerkin unbuttoned to the navel. Sir Walter wears bulbous trunk hose with canions, while his son sports knee-length Venetians. Elaborate surface embellishment, made popular under Queen Elizabeth, continued; as the National Portrait Gallery notes, "Ralegh's jacket is embroidered with seed pearls, and his son's blue suit is silver-braided." Both wear swords at their hips; swords were the must-have accessory of the 17th century, typically worn attached at the waist via belt as seen here.

Ralegh still wears a small stiff ruff, whereas his son wears a floppy, lace-edged collar instead. Boucher explains the diversity of collar styles then in vogue: "Ruffs could be round, as in the preceding period, or soft and falling, or alternatively a stiff collar ( collet monté) supported by a frame could be worn" (252). There were even two other options beyond those, in fact: standing bands (lace-edged collars stiffened with starch that stood up and flared away from the neck at the sides and back) or falling bands (lace-edged collars made of silk or linen that fastened at the neck and draped over the shoulders, chest, and back). Ralegh's son wears a falling band as do all the other men pictured (Figs. 2-7).

Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, gives a good idea of what more fashion-forward menswear looked like ca. 1600 (Fig. 2). He wears a white satin doublet, all buttoned up, with gold-braided trunk hose and coordinating canions, bright white hose held up with ribbon garters, and a limp lace-edged falling band at his shoulders. The National Portrait Gallery remarks: "Southampton was known at court for his flamboyant appearance, particularly his auburn hair, which he wore long as shown in this portrait." He also wears white leather gloves with embroidered gauntlets-a very fashionable accessory in the 17th century. The overall effect was to emphasize a narrow waist, as Valerie Cumming explains in A Visual History of Costume: The Seventeenth Century (1984):

"The fashions of the late Elizabethan period produced wide shoulders and hips which enhanced a narrow waistline." (Cumming 18)

King James I of England wears a similar set of clothes in a ca. 1605 portrait (Fig. 3), though his doublet features a line of ribbons with gold-tipped points along the waistline, which would become a fashionable detail for several decades. His trunk hose are encrusted with seed pearls as Ralegh's jerkin had been. King James wears a cape draped over his shoulders, which are topped by a falling band. As for footwear, Boucher describes the latest styles:

"With Henri IV... shoes developed more solid forms, which were to stay in fashion without major change for most of the century: they were fastened on the instep with a bow, then with a buckle" (266).

Versions of these shoes can be seen in figures 1-4. Sir Reginald Mohun (Fig. 4) wears a white satin doublet, black and gold jerkin, dark trunk hose and canions. His jerkin like Ralegh's is unbuttoned; but jerkins in general were on their way out, being rarely seen after 1620 (Cunnington 12).

There was a new enthusiasm for coordinating ensembles, as in the pomp dress of the Elector Christian II of Saxony (Fig. 5). As the Cunningtons remark in their Handbook of English Costume in the Seventeenth Century (1972): "During the first half of the century a gentleman's suit consisted of doublet, hose or breeches, mandilion or cloak, all made to match or harmonise, with trimmings en suite" (11-12). Long, knee-length breeches like those seen here would soon replace the combination of trunk hose and canions seen in the English portraits. In the Low Countries, we see a more subdued palette in menswear looks generally. Kaspar Schoppe (Fig. 6) sports a sash, which will become a common accessory, particularly in the Netherlands. Rubens in his self-portrait (Fig. 7) wears a striking pair of orange hose-brightly colored hose also become a fashion trend in this period. Both men wear falling bands with their tight-fitting satin doublets.

As Boucher remarks: "In the seventeenth century, children's clothes were more than ever small-scale versions of their parents'" (286). There was an enthusiasm for dressing children alike as is dramatically in evidence in Lavinia Fontana's portrait of Bianca delgi Utili Maselli with six of her children (Fig. 1). They all wear elaborate Italian black and gold silk brocade fabrics paired with white, starched lace ruffs. Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Sir John Harington (Fig. 2) are also dressed alike in green doublets and breeches accented with gold. The Prince wears knee-high leather boots with large cuffs, which was one of the major trends of the first half of the 17th century.

Princess Elizabeth, aged about 15 (Fig. 3), wears a dress nearly identical to that seen on Anne Vavasour and Queen Anne of Denmark (see "Fashion Icon" section above), complete with French farthingale, standing lace collar, and elaborate high hairstyle. Maria Anna, Infanta of Spain (Fig. 4), is dressed nearly identically to her mother, Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain (Fig. 9 above). Eleanora of Mantua, then a Princess and later Holy Roman Empress, appears not at all childlike in her portrait by Frans Pourbus when she was about 7 (Fig. 5), which is perhaps for the best as such portraits were typically used in marriage negotiations between noble families.

References:

Boucher, François, Yvonne Deslandres, and John Ross. A History of Costume in the West. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/443676264.

Brown, Susan, ed. Fashion: The Definitive History of Costume and Style. New York: DK Publishing, 2012. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/840417029.

Casey, Bart. "A Tudor Love Story: Anne Vavasour and Sir Henry Lee." Accessed January 13, 2020. https://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/2019/03/17/a-tudor-love-story-anne-vavasour-and-sir-henry-lee/.

Kyoto Costume Institute Digital Archive. "Collections ｜Collections -1700s｜KCI Digital." Accessed January 13, 2020. https://www.kci.or.jp/archives/digital_archives/.

Cumming, Valerie. A Visual History of Costume: The Seventeenth Century. 3. London: Batsford, 1984. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9761398.

Cunnington, C. Willett, and Phillis Emily Cunnington. Handbook of English Costume in the Seventeenth Century. Boston: Plays, Inc, 1972. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/755269282.

Hill, Daniel Delis. History of World Costume and Fashion. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2011. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/768100950.

Royal Collection Trust. "Jacob van Doort (d. 1629) - Princess Elizabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1593-1650), Later Duchess of Saxe-Altenberg." Accessed January 13, 2020. https://www.rct.uk/collection/404963/princess-elizabeth-of-brunswick-wolfenbuttel-1593-1650-later-duchess-of-saxe.

National Portrait Gallery. "Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton." Accessed January 13, 2020. https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw05918/Henry-Wriothesley-3rd-Earl-of-Southampton.

---. "Sir Walter Ralegh (Raleigh); Walter Ralegh." Accessed January 13, 2020. https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw05205/Sir-Walter-Ralegh-Raleigh-Walter-Ralegh.

Reynolds, Anna. In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion. London: Royal Collection Trust, 2013. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/824726826.

Events:

1600 - The East India Company is granted a Royal Charter in the Kingdom of England for trade with Asia.

1601 - Possible first performance of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet.

1603 - James I is crowned as King of England in Westminster Abbey.

1605 - Guy Fawkes is arrested for trying to kill King James I of England, AKA. The Gunpowder Plot of November 5th.

1605 - Hemlines go up to show feet, following the introduction of heeled shoes for the rich, hence the expression "well heeled."

1606 - Jamestown, Virginia, is established as the first permanent English settlement in North America.

1609 - Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian officials.

Resources for Fashion History Research

To discover primary/period sources, explore the categories below.
Have a primary source to suggest? Or a newly digitized periodical/book to announce? Contact us!

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The first decade of the 17th century saw a continuation of many Elizabethan trends, with small changes in skirt length, sleeve shape, and collar types slowly being introduced. Just as the reign of Queen Elizabeth I would last into the first years of the seventeenth century, fashion trends of the 1590s would also endure into the new century.

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women fashion

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If you feel slightly risqué stepping outside wearing bootie shorts or clicking your way to your car while rocking heels and a mini, know that your outfit is just one in a long line of scandalous looks from history. While it can sometimes feel bold and brazen to wear a crop top or pull on a pair of fishnet stockings, it's interesting to consider why that feeling pops up in the first place. What exactly about a flash of tummy or a long look of leg is so shocking?

Well, it has everything to do with context. Across hundreds of years, women's fashion choices have taken on a political edge, whether folks meant for them to or not. The clothes we have long decided to wear or not wear have made many a statement. And as long as we have pushed back against the rules of society, it's a fair bet that the ~establishment~ has tried to push us back into our places.

Whether by embracing our sexualities too freely, hinting at past historical digressions in a tongue-in-cheek way, or looking to be too single and unattached, certain women's clothing options have been deemed inappropriate and disgraceful. Below are 11 fashion items that were super scandalous for their time - do any of them surprise you?

1. 1600-1700s: The Open Dress

Even if a woman was completely covered, she could still look shocking because of what her silhouette hinted at. For example, if a dress hit to the floor and covered all the necessary bits, but perhaps represented a slight nod towards nightwear, then the whole outfit might have felt uncomfortably progressive.

That's where the Baroque period's "Open Dress" came in. According to the University Of Michigan, "Also found in Elizabethan times, these dresses, characterized by a robe-like overdress over one or more underdresses and skirts, were initially considered 'risqué' because of their resemblance to tea gowns. Tea gowns, which were loose, open robes fastened with cords or ribbons, were used by pregnant women and considered scandalous on young, unmarried ladies."

It would seem that when unattached women wore something that hinted at a silhouette assumed to be for marriage (aka men) alone, well, their attire was often deemed shameful.

2. 1800s: Ankle Flashing Dresses

During the Puritanical years, a proper woman in polite company was to be covered neck to toe, without so much as an ankle flashing in front of a gentleman. If that would occur, it'd be extremely embarrassing for all parties involved.

Fashionista reported, "The Victorians may have raised necklines, but they were also against flaunting a bit of leg. Women wore stockings and very long skirts year-round to prevent even a sliver of ankle from peeking out. The legs of wooden tables were even covered because they too closely resembled a female's appendages." Talk about being adamant.

3. 1907: One-Piece Bathing Suits

I'm not even talking about the hip-flashing Baywatch bathing suits many of us are accustomed to in present day. No, this one-piece bathing suit looked more like a wetsuit a surfer might use to catch waves. But during the early 1900s, that was as good as being naked in public.

The Boston Globe reported, "Women waded into the water in black, knee-length, puffed-sleeved, wool dresses worn over bloomers with long black stockings, bathing slippers, and even ribboned swim caps," which made them appear decent for swimming activities.

However, when women's swimming world record holder Annette Kellerman came onto the beach wearing "a one-piece bathing suit that ended in shorts above her knees," she caused a scandal, according to The Globe. So much so that she got arrested for indecency.

4. 1920s: Flapper Dresses

The flappers were the daughters of the Victorian generation, so you can only imagine what a shock it must have been to see one's child run out the door in nothing more than a slinky shift. Shoulders, arms, and legs were bared, dresses covering little more than an old-fashioned girdle used to. Talk about scandal.

To put it into perspective, Dr. Ann DuPont, fashion-merchandising specialist, told the University Of Texas, "A lady's ankle was pretty shocking stuff. To the point [where] they often had separate men's and women's staircases in Victorian houses in order not to risk the person walking behind a woman getting a glimpse of her ankle."

Even the name hinted at the sensuality of this shocking attire, with the word "flapper" coming from the old Northern British slang meaning " young prostitute." Those dresses might be used as chic Halloween costumes nowadays, but in the '20s they were a moral uproar.

5. 1950s: Cone Bras

While images of pinup girls and Marilyn Monroe might make the '50s bullet bra seem iconic and commonplace, the extravagantly feminine silhouette wasn't met with the kind of easy acceptance you might think. The new torpedo look came into vogue right after the war, during a time when many women wanted to leave their drab, ration-inspired staples behind and embrace something more womanly and frivolous.

But not everyone was on board with this curve-enhancing look. To many, it signaled a kind of moral decline. Superintendent of Police Harvey J. Scott told the Brooklyn Eagle in 1949, "Women walk the streets, their curves accentuated by their dresses. But our real problem is with bobby soxers. They are the sweater girls - just kids showing off their curves and apparently liking it. What kind of mothers and wives are they going to be?" The absolute audacity of these women, eh?

6. 1960s: Mini Skirts

While today a mini is often seen as just another option to wear come the summer, during the '60s it caused many a conservative member of society to wonder just where the next generation was headed. And the majority seemed to think it was towards some sexed-out, reefer-maddened version of hell.

Mary Quant, the alleged creator of the mini in London, recalled how the bowler-hat brigade of uptown men reacted when they first saw her minis displayed in store windows. Quant told British Vogue, "Middle age businessmen would beat on the window and shout, ' It's obscene, it's disgusting.' Extraordinary, isn't it!"

And the best thing was that these display windows were paired with colorful, Crayola-like tights. She wasn't even promoting bare legs.

7. 1960s: Yves Saint Laurent's Sheer Blouses

Going with the sexual revolution that the '60s spurred on, Yves Saint Laurent famously created the sheer organza blouse that was meant to be worn sans bra, which was supposed to be "less about pleasing the onlooker, and more about asserting equality between the sexes," according to Dazed. Considering that in 2016, most folks are still not OK with anything female nipple-oriented, his design was way ahead of his time.

8. 1960s: Le Smoking, The Woman's Tuxedo

In addition to sheer blouses, Laurent gave women another liberating tool for their wardrobes, this time coming in the form of a man's tuxedo tailored to the form of a woman. While today wearing a suit doesn't necessarily seem like too much of a risqué move, back in the '60s it was absolutely unheard of.

Dazed reported, "Entering the cultural consciousness at a time when many Second Wave feminists avoided discussing fashion directly, it radicalized evening-wear and irrevocably transformed the way women dressed." But while many strong-willed and bold women took up the trend, society wasn't going to help them own their liberation.

Business Insider recounted what happened when socialite Nan Kempner tried to enter an upscale Manhattan restaurant wearing the suit, only to get turned away. According to the publication, "Yet in the defiant style befitting of this androgynous, no-nonsense look, she removed the bottom half and waltzed into the restaurant wearing the jacket as a thigh-skimming mini dress instead. The manager later said that for formal dining attire trousers were as unsuitable as a bathing suit." I guess going in wearing a jacket alone was much more appropriate.

9. 1970s: YSL Sex Worker-Inspired Collection

In the early 1970s, YSL designed a collection that saw the bourgeois he catered to surging to its feet in rage. It was, in fact, originally inspired by Robert Bresson's 1945 film Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne, which told the story of a scorned socialite who tricked her ex-husband into marrying a former sex worker.

According to Fashionista, "Many of the clothes - a giant green-colored fur coat, dresses tightly fitted at the hips - were inspired by the styles worn by prostitutes during 1940s." While it might sound boldly trashy, the aesthetic wasn't the cause of offense per se, but rather, the subtext of the looks.

Keep in mind that most folks catching sight of the runway show for the line lived through the Second World War. AnOther explained, "Some argue that it wasn't the 1940s references that outraged, but rather the blatant sexuality of the clothes, which evoked the memory of France's 'horizontal collaborators:' The women that slept with Nazis and were subsequently publicly shamed by having their heads shaved and paraded down the streets in their underwear."

To many, this seemed unpatriotic and disrespectful. The fashion show reveal was cleared out as attendees largely deemed the collection a failure.

10. 1990s: Slip Dresses Outside Of The Bedroom

Who says your nightie has to stay behind closed doors? With the '90s grunge age, many women felt free to experiment with unexpected pieces and to work them into their daily styles. One way they did so was to translate the bedroom into the weekday. According to the Los Angeles Times, Versace's so-called " bondage" dresses looked like something inspired by S&M clubs," and slinky slip dresses were paired with cardigans, leather jackets, or jeans, making lingerie an everyday occurrence.

Getting your groceries in a nightie was perceived as fabulous for the fashion-forward, but not so much for those who had a more conservative outlook.

11. 2000s: Thongs On Display

With the new millennium came in a declaration for our love of the thong, letting the little G-strings pop out from underneath low-rise jeans or hip-clinging mini skirts. The look was so popular that Sisqó even wrote a song about it (I'm sorry, but " The Thong Song" will now be stuck in your head all afternoon), while much of the older generation put it upon themselves to declare it an epidemic.

According to Fashionista, "In 2002, it was widely reported that a female vice principal in California physically checked about 100 female students coming into a high school dance to see if they were wearing thongs." Gotta protect the kids from their own bodies, guys.

But that's just the thing: From thongs-over-jeans to flashes of ankles in the 1800s, fashion has always pushed the boundaries regarding what society believes to be "decent" and in moral standing. And with every push, the conversation changes just a little bit more.
Images: Wikimedia Commons (1); ABC (2); 20th Century Fox (1); Colombia Pictures (1); AVCO Embassy Pictures (1)

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11 Fashion Items That Were Super Scandalous For Their Time - PHOTOS

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If you feel slightly risqué stepping outside wearing bootie shorts or clicking your way to your car while rocking heels and a mini, know that your outfit is just one in a long line of scandalous looks from history. While it can sometimes feel bold...

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Women's clothing of the 17th century followed the Baroque style of the time. Highly ornamental Baroque fashion featured soft, free-flowing lines and a release from the stiff, structured garments of the Elizabethan Era. While French fashion, influenced by King Louis XIV, was highly elaborate, the styles of Protestant countries were more subdued.

As in the previous century, women wore many layers of clothing. Europe was going through a cool climate period known as the Mini Ice Age. While not exactly an ice age, though glaciers did advance, wearing many layers made sense.

Fabrics and style influences from Asia became more available due to an expansion of the shipping trade. While overland routes had previously enabled East/West trade, shipping greatly increased commerce with the import of Chinese silk and Indian cotton. The British East India Company, founded in 1600, took control of portions of India, granted the right by King Charles II to coin money and command troops in the region.

Consumer demand for imports, including inexpensive Indian cotton, became acknowledged as an important part of the economy. Fashion was recognized as a commercial entity, reported on in magazines. The French periodical Le Mercure Galant, a society magazine produced from 1672-1674 and in 1678 Donneau de Vise, offered articles on life at court, theater, political opinion, and fashion. Illustrations of fashionable garments by printmakers Jacques Callot and Abraham Bosse were accompanied by details on fabrics, shoes, and accessories as well as mentions of suppliers and merchants.

Fashion dolls passed around at court displayed new fabrics and styles for inspiration.

As in the previous century, the elite set fashion trends. Louis XIV dictated the types of garments, fabrics, and styles worn at court. He even regulated the length of trains on ladies' gowns with higher status women allowed to wear longer trains.

Historical information about clothing worn by the elite and upper-middle-class comes from fashion drawings, paintings, written records of laws, merchant's inventories, and household accounts. The written word is more reliable as paintings could feature out of date, or fanciful clothing. Few intact garments of the period are available today as fine clothing was taken apart and remade.

Early 1600s

While the architectural styles of the Elizabethan Era persisted early on, the farthingale (a wide, hooped skirt) disappeared by 1613. Women's clothing became more natural with soft, flowing lines. Necklines could be high or low and rounded.

The stomacher (a stiff V-shaped piece inserted at the front of the bodice) lengthened into a U shape. The stomacher could match or contrast with a bodice or gown changing its look and adding variety to a woman's wardrobe. Embroidered linen with silk thread featuring flowers and scrolling vines was a popular motif.

The sides of gowns and skirts were wide and full. Sleeves were capped with small wings at the shoulder. Early in the century, sleeves were tight but puffed in the 1620s and '30s. Virago sleeves were puffed and gathered with bands.

Ruffs, wide wired or starched collars grew in size in the Netherlands but became smaller in France.

The white linen chemise continued as an essential undergarment and continued for many years.

For a short time, early in the century, some young women took to wearing masculine attire, including doublets and wide-brimmed black hats.

1630-1660

Bodice and skirts were seamed together at the waist. The waistline rose, and gowns were worn open at the center front, showing off underskirts. The outer gown was worn over an underbodice, which was boned and stiffened like a corset.

The open gown showed off beautiful underskirts with the outer skirt sometimes worn hooked up over the arms. Even when the outer skirt (the modeste) was worn closed in front, an underskirt (the secret) was also worn.

Bodices featured extensions that fell below the waist. Low cut necklines were softened by linen kerchiefs or nearly transparent collars. The ruff collapsed into a wide, falling collar gathered at the neck, sloping towards the shoulder. Laced front bodices were covered by a deep, pointed stomacher.

Hair was parted at the ear from side to side and pulled back into a roll with the front arranged in tight or frizzed curls.

Coifs and small linen caps, were worn indoors and out, though some women went bareheaded. Women wore wide-brimmed cavalier style hats. The capotain was a hat worn over a coif that featured a high crown and narrow brim. By 1635, the brims narrowed, and hat bands were decorated with feathers. Hoods were worn outdoors along with capes.

Tiny patches applied to the face appeared in a variety of shapes, including stars, hearts, circles, and crescents in a style that persisted for eighty years.

1660-1680

The silhouette changed as bodices lengthened and narrowed in a style that slenderized the figure. Stomachers extended to a long V in the front. Necklines were low and wide, horizontal or oval. Falling collars fell out of fashion by the 1670s, although the kerchief was worn outdoors, covering the neck area to the shoulders.

Sleeves set low on the shoulder were puffed or ruffled, ending just below the elbow. Skirts were worn either open at the front or closed. Open overskirts draped back at the hip line. Gowns featured rows of ruffles down the front. Seam construction lines were decorated with lines of ribbon or braiding.

Women's fashion continued to become looser with an air of calculated disregard.

1680-1700

A new style emerged in clothing construction for women's garments. Rather than cutting the bodice and skirt separately, then sewing them together, gowns were now cut from shoulder to hem. The style called "mantua" was inspired by the clothing of the Middle East.

A mantua was fuller than the old style but could be belted for a neat fit. A loose mantua was a comfortable garment to wear at home. Pleated versions that featured pleats in front and back made for a dressier, more traditional look. As with skirts of earlier years, the front skirt area could be draped back. Underskirts featured decorative elements like embroidery, ruffles, and pleating. Heavy, layered overskirts were supported by whalebone, thin metal, or with basketwork.

Hairstyles were high on top of the head with long, curling locks at the sides and back. The fontage became a popular headdress. Wire supported layers of ruffles and lace on top of the head. Though small at first, the fontage grew in height, eventually featuring three to four tiers of lace in front with lace, ruffles, and bows falling down the back.

Necklines rose and squared with the decorative edges of the corset visible. Some necklines were perfectly horizontal. Women continued to wear stomachers that were tied or pinned to the front of the bodice. Embroidered stomachers changed the look of an outfit.

Fabrics of the 1600s

Linen and wool continued as wardrobe staples. Linen was worn by nearly everyone with finer weaves and brighter whites worn by the elite. The lower classes wore coarse woven linen in natural hues like beige or gray. Linen, being easy to clean, was worn close to the body and for summer.

Hemp was a tough, durable, coarsely woven fabric worn by the poorest people. As fabric was woven and made at home, hemp was easier to produce than labor-intensive linen.

Lower class people wore wool outer garments, including dresses, skirts, and cloaks. Wool has the unique quality of keeping the wearer warm even when it's wet.

Cotton became a popular new fabric choice. Imported Indian cotton was inexpensive and easy to clean. Muslin is a fine, lightweight cotton that is soft and durable.

Chintz was a hand-painted or printed cotton fabric. Today, we think of chintz with a glazed surface, but not all chintz was glazed in the 17th century. European merchants provided Indian manufacturers with European style patterns. Asian themed patterns were popular as well. Artichokes and pomegranates were popular design motifs. At first, chintz was used for bed linens, curtains, and tablecloths. By the late 1600s, it became widely used for garments. At the time, European printed fabrics were not color-fast, but chintz designs did not fade in the laundry.

Velvet came in a variety of styles and thicknesses. It could feature stamped designs or woven-in metallic thread. The finest velvet was patterned silk velvet.

Silk was very expensive and worn by the elite. Heavy satins were worn for formal occasions and often show up in portraiture. Pastels and bold colors were popular in solid colors.

The garments worn by the upper class were made of bright colors due to the expense of dyes. Portraits often show women wearing black, which was the most expensive dye, so reflected the status of the subject. The natural dyes of the common folks came in muted tones and faded with washing.

Clothing of Lower Class Women in the 17th Century

Lower class women wore styles similar to the elite but made of cheaper fabric with less complicated tailoring and decoration. Women of the lower classes made their own garments, wore hand-me-downs, or purchased used clothing. High-quality dresses, table cloths, or curtains could be deconstructed and made into new garments.

Domestic servants usually dressed well. They were offered their employers used garments and linens. The use of used chintz tablecloths and curtains for clothing was an early instance of a fashion trend moving up from the lower classes into the elite.

Working women wore ankle-length skirts for ease of movement and to keep their hemlines clean. Bodices were laced in front and usually worn without a stomacher.

Women wore aprons to protect their garments at home. Some of the aprons during that time could be quite pretty with ruffles and embroidery.

Women wore pumps with somewhat pointed toes and chunky high heels. The heels grew higher and narrowed in the last third of the century. Made of embellished leather or brocade, shoes tied closed with a ribbon at the top.

Pantofiles were heelless slip-on shoes with cork soles usually worn at home.

A wooden platform could be attached to a shoe for outdoor walking in the filthy streets. They raised the foot up from the ground. Called chopines and covered with velvet and embellished with beads they became very tall and a topic of ridicule by some critics.

By 1640, high heels developed a slight curve at the back of the heel. Squared toes came into vogue. By the 1660s, heels grew higher and the shoe slimmer at the front. Between 1660 and '70 an obvious white line showed where the upper part of the shoe met the sole. By the 1690s, curved heels came back into style.

Accessories of the 17th Century

Accessories included gloves, handkerchiefs, purses, fans, fuffs, and muffs. Face masks were sometimes worn in bad weather to protect the skin.

Women wore necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings. Pomander balls were made of filigreed silver or gold and held balls of perfumed resins coated with cinnamon, cloves, and musk oil. They often hung like a pendant.

Nosegays, small bouquets of herbs and flowers were carried and held up to the nose to mask the stench of open sewers.

Short strings of pearls were popular for most of the century and can be seen in many portraits.

Muffs, worn in winter for warmth were convenient for tucking in money or handkerchiefs.

Women continued to wear a coif, a small linen cap. The fontage was a lace headdress based on a mantilla.

For Further Reading

The Cut of Women's Clothes 1600-1930 by Norah Waugh

Patterns and Fashion 1 : Englishwomen's Dresses and Their Construction 1660-1860 by Janet Arnold

A Visual History of Costume in the 17th Century by Valerie Cummings

Handbook of English Costume in the 17th Century by C. W. Cunningham and P. Cunningham

Clothing of Provincial England by Danae Tankard (ebook)

What People Wore When: A Complete Illustrated History of Costume From Ancient Times to the 19th Century for Every Level of Society by Melissa Leventon
© 2020 Dolores Monet
Dolores Monet (author) from East Coast, United States on October 02, 2020:

Hi Peggy - I love to look at the old art but we have to be careful when looking at clothing. Many artists choose to depict subject in clothing of the past.

Peggy Woods from Houston, Texas on September 25, 2020:

Your articles about fashion are filled with not only information about the period, but fantastic illustrations as well. Artists during each period were often paid to paint royalty and wealthy people. Because of it, we can easily look back at fashions through the ages when visiting museums. Your tidbits of information are always so interesting. Thanks for documenting the women's fashions of the 1600s.

Dolores Monet (author) from East Coast, United States on August 09, 2020:

Hi Maren - stomachers provided women a way to create variety in her wardrobe. Different stomachers could change the look of an outfit. One bodice or gown could be worn with a matching, contrasting, or highly embroidered stomacher for different looks. In the late 1600s, they fit in a manner that uplifted the bosom where earlier they flattened the chest. They were a fashionable accessory, not a means of achieving modesty. Thanks!

Maren Elizabeth Morgan from Pennsylvania on August 08, 2020:

Fascinating article. Did stomachers evolve to provide modesty for ladies? I ask because the Amish and Old Order Mennonites in my area wear a dress style with an extra rectangle of fabric over their chest and down to the waistline. It serves no practical purpose - just hides a woman's bosom.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Women's clothing of the 17th century followed the Baroque style of the time. Highly ornamental Baroque fashion featured soft, free-flowing lines and a release from the stiff, structured garments of the Elizabethan Era. While French fashion, influenced by King Louis XIV, was highly elaborate, the styles of Protestant countries were more subdued.

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Saint Laurent Spring 2022 Ready-to-Wear Fashion Show

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The complete Saint Laurent Spring 2022 Ready-to-Wear fashion show now on Vogue Runway.

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Yves Saint Laurent (2014) ⭐ 6.2 | Biography, Drama

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blue stocking being seen as unfeminine for women and possibly seen as threating for men

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ccording to Karen Baclawski in The Guide to Historic Costume (1995), a doublet is:

"an outer garment for the upper body worn over a shirt, the doublet was worn by men from the fourteenth century to c. 1670. Doublets were long-sleeved, often had standing neckbands and fastened at the centre front usually by means of lacing or buttons. Early doublets were close fitting garments tailored to set off a man's physique; they nipped in at the waist and had short skirts below. They also provided the means of keeping up the hose, and later the breeches, worn with the doublet." (90)

An example of just such a long-sleeved doublet with a standing neckband and center front fastening is in the Met's collection (Fig. 1). The Berg Dictionary of Fashion History describes the varying forms of the doublet over the centuries:

"The term 'doublet', though used in France in the 14th century, was not general in England for civilian wear until the 15th century. It was a padded jacket worn next to the shirt; close-fitting and waisted but not usually belted unless worn without an over-garment. Doublet skirts varied from non-existent or very narrow to covering the hips, according to changing fashions. In the 17th century the skirts consisted of a series of tabs of varying depth. In the late 15th and early 16th centuries the front was widely open, requiring a stomacher or partlet fill-in. The 14th-century dancing doublet was often heavily embroidered."

Dion Calthrop in English Costume's (1906) definition of the doublet pertains to the late 16th century to the early 17th century version. He states:

"For the shapes, the doublet was a close-fitting garment, cut, if in the Italian fashion, down to a long peak in front. They were made without sleeves, like a waist coat, and an epaulette overhung the armhole." (74)

Figure 2 is just such a sleeveless doublet (Fig. 2). Willet and Phillis Cunnington's Handbook of English Costume in the Seventeenth Century (1972) describes doublet styles of the first half of the 17th century, noting that first style consisted of a body that was:

"close-fitting, long waisted, often busked with whale bone, and the front lining stiffened with buckram, canvas or thick material was usually with belly pieces...the doublet was lined and often quilted throughout... the waistline was low [and] was studded all around with pairs of eyelet holes bound with thread... for the attachment of breeches...A high standing collar sometimes sloping to a V under the chin." (13)

The Met has a 1620s doublet in their collection with some of those features (Fig. 3). The Victoria & Albert Museum has a good example of the second style described (Fig. 4):

"Easy fitting and high waisted. The corset shape was discarded. No padding and very little stiffening, except for the belly pieces...Eyelet holes were absent...the neck had a high-standing collar...[the] sleeves [were] moderately loose...[or] full to the elbow and paned, and thence closed to the wrist." (16)

And the final style was the "Skimpy Doublet." This doublet "... was short, not padded but lined and often stiffened in front with belly pieces" (16). The V&A has just such a skimpy doublet in its collection (Fig. 5), of which it writes:

"Doublets formed part of the fashionable ensemble of clothing worn by men in Europe until the late 1660s. The very short length of this example is characteristic of the extreme style of doublets at their final appearance in the male wardrobe. From 1650 to 1665, doublets shortened so that there was a gap between doublet and breeches through which the shirt could be seen. The centre back and front sleeves were left unstitched for further exposure of the shirt, which in the 17th century was considered underwear. More conservative members of society considered the result rather untidy looking. Such a radical fashion, usually worn by young men, attracted the attention of cartoonists and the condemnation of moralists."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ccording to Karen Baclawski in The Guide to Historic Costume (1995), a doublet is: "an outer garment for the upper body worn over a shirt, the doublet was worn by men from the fourteenth century to c. 1670. Doublets were long-sleeved, often had standing neckbands and fastened at the centre front usually by means of lacing or buttons.

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Women being seen wearing masculine wear early 1600s

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Women's clothing of the 17th century followed the Baroque style of the time. Highly ornamental Baroque fashion featured soft, free-flowing lines and a release from the stiff, structured garments of the Elizabethan Era. While French fashion, influenced by King Louis XIV, was highly elaborate, the styles of Protestant countries were more subdued.

As in the previous century, women wore many layers of clothing. Europe was going through a cool climate period known as the Mini Ice Age. While not exactly an ice age, though glaciers did advance, wearing many layers made sense.

Fabrics and style influences from Asia became more available due to an expansion of the shipping trade. While overland routes had previously enabled East/West trade, shipping greatly increased commerce with the import of Chinese silk and Indian cotton. The British East India Company, founded in 1600, took control of portions of India, granted the right by King Charles II to coin money and command troops in the region.

Consumer demand for imports, including inexpensive Indian cotton, became acknowledged as an important part of the economy. Fashion was recognized as a commercial entity, reported on in magazines. The French periodical Le Mercure Galant, a society magazine produced from 1672-1674 and in 1678 Donneau de Vise, offered articles on life at court, theater, political opinion, and fashion. Illustrations of fashionable garments by printmakers Jacques Callot and Abraham Bosse were accompanied by details on fabrics, shoes, and accessories as well as mentions of suppliers and merchants.

Fashion dolls passed around at court displayed new fabrics and styles for inspiration.

As in the previous century, the elite set fashion trends. Louis XIV dictated the types of garments, fabrics, and styles worn at court. He even regulated the length of trains on ladies' gowns with higher status women allowed to wear longer trains.

Historical information about clothing worn by the elite and upper-middle-class comes from fashion drawings, paintings, written records of laws, merchant's inventories, and household accounts. The written word is more reliable as paintings could feature out of date, or fanciful clothing. Few intact garments of the period are available today as fine clothing was taken apart and remade.

Early 1600s

While the architectural styles of the Elizabethan Era persisted early on, the farthingale (a wide, hooped skirt) disappeared by 1613. Women's clothing became more natural with soft, flowing lines. Necklines could be high or low and rounded.

The stomacher (a stiff V-shaped piece inserted at the front of the bodice) lengthened into a U shape. The stomacher could match or contrast with a bodice or gown changing its look and adding variety to a woman's wardrobe. Embroidered linen with silk thread featuring flowers and scrolling vines was a popular motif.

The sides of gowns and skirts were wide and full. Sleeves were capped with small wings at the shoulder. Early in the century, sleeves were tight but puffed in the 1620s and '30s. Virago sleeves were puffed and gathered with bands.

Ruffs, wide wired or starched collars grew in size in the Netherlands but became smaller in France.

The white linen chemise continued as an essential undergarment and continued for many years.

For a short time, early in the century, some young women took to wearing masculine attire, including doublets and wide-brimmed black hats.

1630-1660

Bodice and skirts were seamed together at the waist. The waistline rose, and gowns were worn open at the center front, showing off underskirts. The outer gown was worn over an underbodice, which was boned and stiffened like a corset.

The open gown showed off beautiful underskirts with the outer skirt sometimes worn hooked up over the arms. Even when the outer skirt (the modeste) was worn closed in front, an underskirt (the secret) was also worn.

Bodices featured extensions that fell below the waist. Low cut necklines were softened by linen kerchiefs or nearly transparent collars. The ruff collapsed into a wide, falling collar gathered at the neck, sloping towards the shoulder. Laced front bodices were covered by a deep, pointed stomacher.

Hair was parted at the ear from side to side and pulled back into a roll with the front arranged in tight or frizzed curls.

Coifs and small linen caps, were worn indoors and out, though some women went bareheaded. Women wore wide-brimmed cavalier style hats. The capotain was a hat worn over a coif that featured a high crown and narrow brim. By 1635, the brims narrowed, and hat bands were decorated with feathers. Hoods were worn outdoors along with capes.

Tiny patches applied to the face appeared in a variety of shapes, including stars, hearts, circles, and crescents in a style that persisted for eighty years.

1660-1680

The silhouette changed as bodices lengthened and narrowed in a style that slenderized the figure. Stomachers extended to a long V in the front. Necklines were low and wide, horizontal or oval. Falling collars fell out of fashion by the 1670s, although the kerchief was worn outdoors, covering the neck area to the shoulders.

Sleeves set low on the shoulder were puffed or ruffled, ending just below the elbow. Skirts were worn either open at the front or closed. Open overskirts draped back at the hip line. Gowns featured rows of ruffles down the front. Seam construction lines were decorated with lines of ribbon or braiding.

Women's fashion continued to become looser with an air of calculated disregard.

1680-1700

A new style emerged in clothing construction for women's garments. Rather than cutting the bodice and skirt separately, then sewing them together, gowns were now cut from shoulder to hem. The style called "mantua" was inspired by the clothing of the Middle East.

A mantua was fuller than the old style but could be belted for a neat fit. A loose mantua was a comfortable garment to wear at home. Pleated versions that featured pleats in front and back made for a dressier, more traditional look. As with skirts of earlier years, the front skirt area could be draped back. Underskirts featured decorative elements like embroidery, ruffles, and pleating. Heavy, layered overskirts were supported by whalebone, thin metal, or with basketwork.

Hairstyles were high on top of the head with long, curling locks at the sides and back. The fontage became a popular headdress. Wire supported layers of ruffles and lace on top of the head. Though small at first, the fontage grew in height, eventually featuring three to four tiers of lace in front with lace, ruffles, and bows falling down the back.

Necklines rose and squared with the decorative edges of the corset visible. Some necklines were perfectly horizontal. Women continued to wear stomachers that were tied or pinned to the front of the bodice. Embroidered stomachers changed the look of an outfit.

Fabrics of the 1600s

Linen and wool continued as wardrobe staples. Linen was worn by nearly everyone with finer weaves and brighter whites worn by the elite. The lower classes wore coarse woven linen in natural hues like beige or gray. Linen, being easy to clean, was worn close to the body and for summer.

Hemp was a tough, durable, coarsely woven fabric worn by the poorest people. As fabric was woven and made at home, hemp was easier to produce than labor-intensive linen.

Lower class people wore wool outer garments, including dresses, skirts, and cloaks. Wool has the unique quality of keeping the wearer warm even when it's wet.

Cotton became a popular new fabric choice. Imported Indian cotton was inexpensive and easy to clean. Muslin is a fine, lightweight cotton that is soft and durable.

Chintz was a hand-painted or printed cotton fabric. Today, we think of chintz with a glazed surface, but not all chintz was glazed in the 17th century. European merchants provided Indian manufacturers with European style patterns. Asian themed patterns were popular as well. Artichokes and pomegranates were popular design motifs. At first, chintz was used for bed linens, curtains, and tablecloths. By the late 1600s, it became widely used for garments. At the time, European printed fabrics were not color-fast, but chintz designs did not fade in the laundry.

Velvet came in a variety of styles and thicknesses. It could feature stamped designs or woven-in metallic thread. The finest velvet was patterned silk velvet.

Silk was very expensive and worn by the elite. Heavy satins were worn for formal occasions and often show up in portraiture. Pastels and bold colors were popular in solid colors.

The garments worn by the upper class were made of bright colors due to the expense of dyes. Portraits often show women wearing black, which was the most expensive dye, so reflected the status of the subject. The natural dyes of the common folks came in muted tones and faded with washing.

Clothing of Lower Class Women in the 17th Century

Lower class women wore styles similar to the elite but made of cheaper fabric with less complicated tailoring and decoration. Women of the lower classes made their own garments, wore hand-me-downs, or purchased used clothing. High-quality dresses, table cloths, or curtains could be deconstructed and made into new garments.

Domestic servants usually dressed well. They were offered their employers used garments and linens. The use of used chintz tablecloths and curtains for clothing was an early instance of a fashion trend moving up from the lower classes into the elite.

Working women wore ankle-length skirts for ease of movement and to keep their hemlines clean. Bodices were laced in front and usually worn without a stomacher.

Women wore aprons to protect their garments at home. Some of the aprons during that time could be quite pretty with ruffles and embroidery.

Women wore pumps with somewhat pointed toes and chunky high heels. The heels grew higher and narrowed in the last third of the century. Made of embellished leather or brocade, shoes tied closed with a ribbon at the top.

Pantofiles were heelless slip-on shoes with cork soles usually worn at home.

A wooden platform could be attached to a shoe for outdoor walking in the filthy streets. They raised the foot up from the ground. Called chopines and covered with velvet and embellished with beads they became very tall and a topic of ridicule by some critics.

By 1640, high heels developed a slight curve at the back of the heel. Squared toes came into vogue. By the 1660s, heels grew higher and the shoe slimmer at the front. Between 1660 and '70 an obvious white line showed where the upper part of the shoe met the sole. By the 1690s, curved heels came back into style.

Accessories of the 17th Century

Accessories included gloves, handkerchiefs, purses, fans, fuffs, and muffs. Face masks were sometimes worn in bad weather to protect the skin.

Women wore necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings. Pomander balls were made of filigreed silver or gold and held balls of perfumed resins coated with cinnamon, cloves, and musk oil. They often hung like a pendant.

Nosegays, small bouquets of herbs and flowers were carried and held up to the nose to mask the stench of open sewers.

Short strings of pearls were popular for most of the century and can be seen in many portraits.

Muffs, worn in winter for warmth were convenient for tucking in money or handkerchiefs.

Women continued to wear a coif, a small linen cap. The fontage was a lace headdress based on a mantilla.

For Further Reading

The Cut of Women's Clothes 1600-1930 by Norah Waugh

Patterns and Fashion 1 : Englishwomen's Dresses and Their Construction 1660-1860 by Janet Arnold

A Visual History of Costume in the 17th Century by Valerie Cummings

Handbook of English Costume in the 17th Century by C. W. Cunningham and P. Cunningham

Clothing of Provincial England by Danae Tankard (ebook)

What People Wore When: A Complete Illustrated History of Costume From Ancient Times to the 19th Century for Every Level of Society by Melissa Leventon
© 2020 Dolores Monet
Dolores Monet (author) from East Coast, United States on October 02, 2020:

Hi Peggy - I love to look at the old art but we have to be careful when looking at clothing. Many artists choose to depict subject in clothing of the past.

Peggy Woods from Houston, Texas on September 25, 2020:

Your articles about fashion are filled with not only information about the period, but fantastic illustrations as well. Artists during each period were often paid to paint royalty and wealthy people. Because of it, we can easily look back at fashions through the ages when visiting museums. Your tidbits of information are always so interesting. Thanks for documenting the women's fashions of the 1600s.

Dolores Monet (author) from East Coast, United States on August 09, 2020:

Hi Maren - stomachers provided women a way to create variety in her wardrobe. Different stomachers could change the look of an outfit. One bodice or gown could be worn with a matching, contrasting, or highly embroidered stomacher for different looks. In the late 1600s, they fit in a manner that uplifted the bosom where earlier they flattened the chest. They were a fashionable accessory, not a means of achieving modesty. Thanks!

Maren Elizabeth Morgan from Pennsylvania on August 08, 2020:

Fascinating article. Did stomachers evolve to provide modesty for ladies? I ask because the Amish and Old Order Mennonites in my area wear a dress style with an extra rectangle of fabric over their chest and down to the waistline. It serves no practical purpose - just hides a woman's bosom.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Women's clothing of the 17th century followed the Baroque style of the time. Highly ornamental Baroque fashion featured soft, free-flowing lines and a release from the stiff, structured garments of the Elizabethan Era. While French fashion, influenced by King Louis XIV, was highly elaborate, the styles of Protestant countries were more subdued.

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Marlene Dietrich: The Queen of Androgyny | Barnebys Magazine

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The 1930s is best remembered in fashion history as a time of feminine dresses, fur and sultry glamour where actresses are adorned with pearls and feathers on their silhouette-highlighting dresses. Marlene Dietrich also adored the glamour of the age, rarely seen without a fur coat or stole, yet she also stood strong in her desire to wear trousers and adopt the androgynous style.

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Women's and Gender Studies Program, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

During WWII, American women were asked to join in producing the "vital machinery of war" by working in factories building planes, by being nurses, and by being pilots among other jobs. Getting women to work in industries was a tremendous sales proposition as stated by Paul McNutt, the director of the War Manpower Commission in 1943. The war posters and magazine ads of the time reinforced the duty women had toward the war effort. Although women at the time were mostly occupying the private space, the war campaign of Rosie the Riveter inspired many of them to take their work to the public. This descriptive paper tried to answer the following two questions of inquiry: How did women's employment during WWII become a temporary empowerment and what short and long-term changes in women's lives were brought about by the war campaign of Rosie the Riveter. While the short-term changes brought women back to the private space and domesticity, some of the conclusions of the long-term changes in women's lives dealt with variations in the workspace, salary, and military benefits. The influence of how empowered women felt following Rosie the Riveter is an inconclusive collection of the voices of those women during and after WWII.

Introduction

The war campaign marketed to women during WWII made a significant contribution to gender roles in the United States. The campaign depicted women as loyal supporters of the "Boys" in the military by conserving resources, by keeping quiet, and by taking jobs with new skills. At the time of WWII most women, particularly married women, stayed at home taking care of their home and children. The gender roles of the time were divided between private and public space. Most women controlled and managed the private (home) space, while men easily navigated the public space. Nevertheless, not all women followed this pattern of domesticity since many poor and unmarried women had to work in the public space from an early age. Any improvement in working conditions and salary were a welcoming sight. Up to 6 million women joined the workforce between 1942 and 1945. This amazing number was a direct effect of the massive war campaign.

Duty and love for country were two very moving reasons for women to answer the call to work defending the United States. Betty Jeanne Boggs worked in a plant making planes at age 17. She describes her experience performing her patriotic duty as " I worked on a war plant and it was one of the things you did when your country was at war, and it had been an enjoyable experience. Even today, I am very proud of that (war) job. I can always say, 'Hey, I was a riveter during World War II'" ( Gluck, 1987).

This descriptive paper is trying to answer the following two questions of inquiry:

* How did women's employment during WWII become a temporary empowerment?

* What short- and long-term changes in women's lives were brought about by the war campaign of Rosie the Riveter?

Definition of Womanhood

In the latter part of the nineteenth century women in the United States strived to be true by following the definition of womanhood at the time. Women tried to be pious, chaste, domestic, and subservient. Historian Welter (1966) defines womanhood and places women on the verge of perfection when she explains that any sensible woman would follow the four pillars of true womanhood (piety, chastity, domesticity, and subservience). If we were to examine each one of those pillars, we could see that each one was tied to the relationship a woman had with the church, her husband or father, and later with her own children. These pillars restricted woman on choice and on destiny while, at the same time, giving a false sense of achievement and belonging.

The definition of womanhood was not only dependent on women's ability, choice, or skills but also on rules of behavior. As a child is guided on how to behave, women were also instructed on what to do in order to be respectable. The issue here is not that the norms were spelled out but that any infraction was considered deviant. Averting from the expected behavior paid a very high price. At the time, women had no legal standings to inherit, own property, retain child custody, or maintain full wages. The same rules of engagement did not apply to men of any social class.

Problem

This inherited behavior for respectable women lingered into the twentieth century. Albeit women had many advances, including the right to vote in 1920 with the 19th Amendment, they continued to occupy most of the private spaces.

Background

In the United States, 1848 marks the beginning of the fight for Women's rights with the Seneca Falls convention in New York. The now famous "Declaration of Sentiments" was drafted at the convention. Local feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton planned this convention with women and men of similar beliefs. Some of those present included Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony's sister Mary Anthony, and their father. In this convention at the Wesleyan Church, local citizens and anti-slavery leaders met to proclaim women's rights. This marks the beginning of the First Wave of Feminism, and the social revolution it fueled until the 1970s when the Second Wave of Feminism started.

This First Wave had two main issues that proved to be a dividing force for most female leaders: women deserved rights as citizens of the United States and women should be granted the right to vote. Education was perhaps the stronghold of Stanton's argument for women's rights. Stanton was an advocate for all women to be educated in other matters besides home keeping and entertaining ( Stanton, 2007). In her essay " The Solitude of Self," Stanton speaks of self-reliance for all individuals because "we come into the world alone." Furthermore, Stanton says, "No matter how much women prefer to lean, to be protected and supported, nor how much men desire to have them do so, they must make the voyage of life alone..." (Stanton, p. 34). Just a few miles away, Harriet Tubman was busy safeguarding slaves into freedom and taking in many of the local aging residents. It is a matter of class division that prevented them to know one another and build coalitions. Instead, Elizabeth Cady Stanton became friends with the most prominent woman of the times, anti-slavery advocate Susan B. Anthony.

Anthony and Stanton built a long career as activist for women's rights. Anthony did most of the traveling in speaking circles, while Stanton wrote speeches and corresponded with Anthony from home. In May 1869, Stanton and Anthony formed the National Women Suffrage Association (NWSA). Their vision was to lead an association comprised solely of women, since they believed that "men in the anti-slavery movement had consistently betrayed women's interests" ( Dicker, 2008, p. 40). Although the organization was created for women's rights, the NWSA's efforts were too slow and widespread among the nation for leaders of the National Women's Party organization. Activists of the National Women's Party Alice Paul and Lucy Burns took different approaches and fought President Wilson's refusal to hear women's messages by concentrating on Washington, DC and pursuing a federal amendment. The members of the National Women's Party picketed silently outside of the White House gates for months, paraded through the streets of Washington, DC, and were harassed by the public and the police ( Dicker, 2008). Arrested, imprisoned, and force fed, Alice Paul endured very difficult conditions. But she was able to see her triumph in 1920 with the nineteenth Amendment of the United States granting the right to vote for all women of the land. Susan B. Anthony was unfortunately unable to witness this event as she passed a few years earlier.

Women and Domesticity

During the 1940s, factory work introduced hourly rate wages that gave better-paying jobs than domestic positions. Domestic help was a very popular job for poor women at the turn of the nineteenth century. Live-in domestics still regularly worked 72 or more hours a week, and "those who lived out often worked that much or more to make ends meet" ( Coble, 2006, p. 55). But working in a factory for 44-55 h a week gave twice the amount of wages to women. It is a matter of economic benefit that working in a factory or laundry was seen as a more suitable election.

Women like Marye Stumph enjoyed the mechanical work they did during the war but understood that those jobs were men's jobs that were only temporarily hers and by 1945 after massive layoffs, she then took a traditional lower paying women's work ( Gluck, 1987). Marye was not the only woman to leave her factory job or fight the layoff. Many women would have rather stayed in a higher paying job but understood the cultural code of accommodating men back in their jobs. The First Wave of Feminism completed a cycle with the right to vote and the right for education. Competitive wages with men would later be a topic during the Second Wave of Feminism. Women's work in the war industry was seen as an extension of their domestic duties. The number of marriages surged, and women were getting married at earlier ages. Scholar Ruth Milkman from CUNY says, "If there was a dominant ideology, it was patriotism. There was a real gap between the actual lifestyles and ideology for women at that time" ( Mudd, 1985, p. 16).

War jobs found women anywhere. Margarita Salazar McSweyn found out about war jobs through her customers at the beauty salon in her Latino East Los Angeles neighborhood ( Gluck, 1987). The stories about women working in the defense effort told while at the shop complemented the billboards and articles in the Spanish-language paper La Opinión.

As most men went to war, many women did too but as nurses, pilots, and factory workers-"and everyone went cheerfully, nobody had to be pushed" was the impression of flight nurse Ivalee (Lee) Holtz from Texas ( Barger, 2013).

During the war, female masculinity provided for an expansion of people's ideas of what women should be and how they might look and behave "leaving a canon of images to inform future versions of feminism" ( Knaff, 2012). One article in the Navy shipyard newsletter counseled women to "be feminine and ladylike even though you are filling a man's shoes" ( Anderson, 1981, p. 60). Women were receiving confusing messages, such as their instruction in charm courses at Boing airplane plants. This temporary empowerment allowed women to dress differently, behave in different ways, and allow for different career choices.

One of the jobs most transformed by war was that of the nurse. Their sense of improvisation and resourcefulness aided their work in less than ideal situations. Some army nurses opted for a 4-week training to become flight nurses. "Ideal situations don't exist in wartime...you don't have all the equipment...and you work with what you have" were some of the comments collected by author Judith Barger in her book Beyond the Call of Duty ( Barger, 2013, p. 212). Other jobs included clerical jobs and farming. More than 2 million new female workers entered clerical jobs ( Chafe, 1972). But yet the most remarkable leap was in farm workers. Women made up 8% of total workers in agricultural work in 1940 and 22.4% of total workers in 1945, a 14.4% increase ( Yellin, 2004, p. 66).

Women were asked to join in producing the "vital machinery of war" by performing hard labor contrary to their treatment during the 1930s, when they were told they had no right to take jobs from the men who needed to support a family ( Yellin, 2004, p. 39). The recruitment of women to war work was an open tactic enforced by newspaper ads using language inclusive of women such as, "Army ordinance, hiring inspectors, male or female. No high school education necessary." This is one of many similar messages women like Pennsylvania native Bessie Stokes read in the paper. Bessie worked at a steel mill inspecting bombshells with a pay around 75 cents an hour (more than three times from what she was making cleaning houses) ( Yellin, 2004). Getting women to enter the industry was a tremendous sales proposition as stated by Paul McNutt, the director of the War Manpower Commission in 1943 ( The Margin, 1943). The war posters and magazine ads of the time reinforced the duty women had toward the war effort.

Rosie the Riveter

In 1943, a popular song by a male quartet gave birth to the fictional character of Rosie the Riveter. The fictional Rosie was a riveter, that is, she would push a metal pin through holes in two or more plates or pieces to hold them together mostly while building bomber airplanes. The song by the Four Vagabonds talked about Rosie making history and not sipping dry martinis and munching caviar like other girls at the time. Rosie the Riveter was "everything the government wanted in a female war worker-she was loyal, efficient, patriotic, compliant and even pretty" ( Yellin, 2004, p. 43).

J. Howard Miller from Westinghouse created the "We Can Do It" war campaign and in 1942 created the iconic image of Rosie the Riveter. The Miller image had no copyright restraint and was reproduced in all sorts of formats and materials. That image of Rosie the Riveter is the one we are most familiar with today. Another Rosie image created by Norman Rockwell from 1943 illustrated the Saturday Evening Post Memorial Day weekend issue. This image is less known and captures, Mary Doyle Keefe, a telephone operator, who recently died in April 2015 at the age of 92 ( Izadi, 2015). Norman Rockwell, the most famous illustrator of the time, painted the name Rosie on Keefe's lunch box. It is very possible Rockwell heard the song for Rosie before he painted his version. Rockwell and Keefe were neighbors back in Arlington, Vermont. She was paid $10.00 to pose twice. Rockwell's image was reproduced during the war but afterward copyright issues did not allow it.

The war campaign glamorized war work, always showing that woman maintained their femininity while working in the plants. One aspect that researchers mentioned about this era is how women adapted to factory work without uniforms or safety equipment. Women shoes with metal tips were first manufactured in 1943 as a direct result of women becoming factory workers. Never before was there a need to produce such shoes on women's sizes ( Rosie the Riveter, 2009). Women welders suffered chest burns because they wore regular attires without protective aprons or gear. "We had to wear our hair in a certain way" Betty Jeanne Boggs, who worked making planes, described her working hat as one with a large brim so in case the hat would hit the machinery it would hit the brim first and alert the woman ( Gluck, 1987). An interesting fact is that women began wearing pants socially, and this movement managed to spread to factory attire. Betty Jeanne Boggs recalls "Pants were just becoming fashion for women and I felt like, gee whiz, it made me look like I was different" ( Gluck, 1987, p. 111).

Assuming a different role, the woman plant worker continued using their makeup and nail color perpetuating the established femininity of the time. Advertisers such as Hold-Pin Bobs assured the public: " Beauty is her badge of courage. It's a tonic to the war-torn nerves of those around her" ( Delano, 2000). Surveys during wartime explained that beauty products served women not only esthetically but also psychologically. Mercedes Rosebery writes, "If deprived of face powder; that they could be brave only if allowed, in addition, their lipstick, rouge, face creams, and deodorants" ( Delano, 2000). We now have photographic evidence of women welders working the torch without protective gears or aprons but wearing their lipsticks.

The war effort also confronted an issue when it came to the "unnatural" female soldier. The enlistment of women provoked a dispute over the "naturalness" of certain behaviors for women ( Knaff, 2012). This "unnatural" state as author Donna Knaff describes, happens when woman feel too comfortable assuming a "male" role in any number of areas, including the workforce and sexuality. This "unnatural state" also affects the civilian and the military lifestyles ( Knaff, 2012). "It was felt that a woman entering the formerly all-male military was assuming a more masculine identity, and this 'deviant' female masculinity became associated with lesbianism; unfeminine or 'mannish' women were therefore widely assumed to be lesbian or otherwise 'abnormal'" ( Knaff, 2012, p. 59).

Women Empowerment

Women had chances to meet and befriend outside of their neighborhoods and regular social circles. For example, Margarita Salazar McSweyn was introduced to other people and other social circles different from their pre-war friends. For example, Salazar McSweyn, a Latino woman from East L.A., dated non-Latino servicemen and frequented the Hollywood Canteen with the Civilian Defense Corps ( Gluck, 1987).

Women were able to take newer risks within their profession. The flight nurses, for example, strived to follow their Nurse Creed " I will be faithful to my training, and to the wisdom handed down to me by those who have gone before me" ( Barger, 2013). The Aerial Nurse Cops of America (ANCOA) only allowed single women of 21-35 years old to join. In addition, volunteers had to belong to their state nursing organization and pass a physical examination ( Barger, 2013). ANCOA nurses served on active duty for 3 years and agreed to work in any aircraft. The flight nurses followed the same initial rank as nurses assigned to ground medical work. With very little supplies nurses stood by their patients in flight and cared for the wounded and sick. One of those women was Elsie Ott who nursed five patients on a flight from India to Washington, DC. Her devotion and courage won her an Air Medal in 1943 and another in 1944. Ott reflected, "They (soldiers) did not know it, but it was all aspirin." Due to the altitude and various conditions, men did not receive particular medication but only aspirin ( Barger, 2013, p. 35). Ott accepted her flight wings in 1943 shortly after receiving her first Air Medal. In 1943, the first class of flight nurses was created and composed of 39 army nurses. While waiting to be sent on flight, flight nurses continued working on land, in hospitals, and in laboratories. Their work was significant to the war campaign, but it was not until 1944 that a presidential executive order named flight nurses United States Army commissioned officers, and awarded them the rights and benefits given to male officers.

Scholar Emily Yellin states that there were 11.5 million women working prior to 1940 with an additional 6.5 million who joined the workforce during the war. For a brief moment, American society considered women as fitting alternatives to men in all sorts of jobs, including building planes. Although not all jobs were working in plants, 2.5 million women went into wartime industrial jobs ( Yellin, 2004). At the height of the war in the years 1943 and 1944, 50% of all adult women were employed in this country ( Hartman, 1944).

In 1942, President Roosevelt ordered the construction of 60,000 war planes. Douglas Aircraft, one of the largest aircraft manufacturers, employed 22,000 women during the war to build bombers. The massive barracks in Southern California and in Seattle covered their rooftops with camouflage netting as well as with residential areas painted on them to simulate living spaces.

Plane building and finding pilots became an urgent necessity. Women were surprisingly called to serve as military pilots. American Ann Baumgartner Carl was a bomber test pilot in Ohio, conducting refueling tests and off-center flying in an XP-82 twin Mustang. She also conducted weight and distance tests in a B-29 in preparation for the later atomic bomb mission in Japan ( Merry, 2011). Once her children were school aged, Carl returned to aviation as a flight instructor. Other women like Teresa James from Pennsylvania never got used to flying and had no desire to return to the field. "The fear never left me to the point where I said I can be sure I can go up there and get back down. I was always on top of flying: I was fright conscious. Some people I talked to were never afraid. Maybe I was an oddball, but I was absolutely terrified" ( Merry, 2011, p. 174). The Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and the Women Air force Service Pilots (WASP) both trained women pilots. Teresa James was a WAFS and was featured in the cover of Look magazine on February 6, 1943, as well as serving as the inspiration for the film Ladies Courageous. Teresa James was also interviewed for the film Women Combat Pilots where James said, "people's jaws dropped whenever she exited a plane at every base she flew during the war" ( Merry, 2011, p. 174). Later in life, James was denied work in American domestic airlines because she was a woman. She earned the rank of major in the Air Force Active Reserve in 1950, retiring later in 1976. Her WAFS uniform was donated to the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Brave women served the United States as pilots and 38 of them died while in service as a WASP ( Merry, 2011). Their positions were those of conflict, as they were needed and respected but still irrelevant when posed against male pilots.

Women and Domesticity

After the end of the war, the home front became once again the place for women. The definition of family was in jeopardy. Factors such as increased youth independence, women's labor force participation, and military service gave a sense of freedom never felt before by the young generation ( Levy, 2001). Once again, domesticity was celebrated in the postwar years as it had been in the Victorian Era. Women were asked to forget the skills they learned and the wages they earned, to once again make their families and homes the center of their lives. Magazines gave advice on laundry and preparing meals to women already burdened by raising children at home ( Dicker, 2008). Ads of shiny washing machines, dishwashers, and refrigerators enticed women to buy goods that supported their new domestic life. This was an orchestrated celebration to convince women of their renewed family obligations, taking away any dreams of moving up the ladder at work or even continuing working outside of the home. "American women also were under immense pressure from their country to protect and defend steadfastly the very idea of traditional home and family, and their central place in it, that was transforming so quickly" ( Yellin, 2004, p. 36).

Although the message was of submission, Scholar Sheila Tobias wrote in 1974 how the women working in the war effort were furious when they were forced out of the industrial work in favor of men returning from WWII ( Tobias and Anderson, 1974).

The 6 million women who worked during World War II did not return home to take care of their families but instead remained in the workforce, according to Tobias. Many left the factories for lower pay jobs. The war campaign of putting women to work outside of the home inevitably made a significant change in American women. The domesticity campaign once again used mass media to capture the attention of the population. If before, women were supporting the "boys" in war, now it was time to take care of them at home. An outpouring of psychological literature concerning the return of veterans to civilian life "reinforced women's crucial roles in the social readjustment of the veterans" ( Knaff, 2012, p. 137). Images, television shows, and advertising from the 1950s picture women back in their kitchen and taking care of children. Where are the images of women at work? Those images, while depicting reality, were not the popular messages necessary to sell kitchen appliances, new homes, and cars to the returning GI and his family. Women were "simply and utterly grateful to see their men back again, when roughly 360,000 American men had died," often happily embraced the return to traditional values ( Knaff, 2012, p. 136).

Men returned from battle to settle and marry. Many couples bought into the "American Dream" purchasing new homes and cars. Living communities utilizing concepts, such as Levittown planning, gave most White men and women a chance to own homes. Women began marrying younger and having an average of 3-4 more children than they had been in the 1930s. Additionally, the home buying market was at a relative peak. In the south of the United States, racial discrimination divided the country with segregated schools and services. The "American Dream" was not an attainable option for Black families at this time, even for Black service men returning home from the front. Scholar Bettina Berch from Barnard College talks about the experience of Black women during the war. "Often, Black men and White women were seen as equally undesirable to employers and were in competition for jobs," she said. Black women suffered the most severe discrimination, filing more than half of all suits to the Fair Employment Practices Commission during that time (1942-1945) ( Mudd, 1985). It was during the war years that most minority women shifted to blue-collar jobs with higher wages. After the war, they left less jobs compared to White women ( Mudd, 1985).

A look at the Black press at that time, according to Berch, did not show a preoccupation with the war. These publications were filled with news about the Black community; winning awards, and fighting discrimination/mistreatment of Blacks. Black women favored the movement for racial justice over the women's movement Berch said, furthering the tradition of identifying with race rather than with sexuality.

Discussion on Rosie the Riveter Effects

There were several short-term effects conveyed by the Rosie the Riveter war campaign. In naming a few, one should start with salary increase. Women made three times the amount per hour working in an assembly line than as a domestic or clerk worker. Women would never again consider domestic jobs as the only choice for work. Society would adapt to these choices. These simple actions brought changes in transportation, home building, and living spaces. Through their work in factories, women gained respect from their families, from other working men, and even from their spouses by taking a paying job and developing new skills. Women administered money, many for the first time, and were able to create budgets for the family to follow. During the time of war and in most of the new factories built for plane assembly, women gained a more relaxed gender role with more physical and emotional freedom ( Fields, 1980). Their labor extended patriotism as a direct contribution to the war effort. Women were doing their share and felt proud of it.

One of the long-term changes Rosie the Riveter's image and campaign brought to the women's movement is the fact that women became a powerful force in the public space. In scholar Joanne Meyerowitz's words, "women appropriated, transformed and challenged the stereotype and the competing voices" on the domestic stereotype constructed after WWII ( Levy, 2001). The war effort to bring women to work produced a change in home dynamics that would forever change women ( Meyerowitz, 1994). The majority of war jobs, despite being high paying jobs, were reduced due to lack of demand and therefore lost. Women who took on jobs during the war did not go back to working at home but took on lower paying jobs. Many of those women became clerks and worked in offices after the war, creating a tremendous impact on the connotation of being a secretary. This shift turned it into a gendered job, that is, more women were secretaries than men after this point. Such phenomena continue in today's workforce and are a direct result of those "after war" days.

How did 6 million women adapt to lower salaries? Women workers would not refuse their high paying jobs without complaints. It was in this act that women again were targeted for a mass communication campaign, calling them to take care of their homes. It is no coincidence that marriage licenses and birth certificates increased during the 1950s. Domesticity might have made a comeback completely if it was not for those brave women who changed their roles during the war. For instance, after the war, women veterans were not given military benefits because they were considered dependents and not providers ( Knaff, 2012). A decade after the war ended women pilots were pinned with stars and medals. Military women today receive all the same benefits as men. Their participation in WWII allocated them into a separate category, although not fighting on the front with the Army, women became a part of the war effort as nurses, pilots, and engineers.

Another long-term effect of the war campaign of Rosie the Riveter was the fact that gender roles and reconversion took a social backseat to the needs of the veterans returning home. Although the women's movement was not dead, it was definitely not in the minds of thousands of women living during this time period in the United States. The hard lesson to be learned was that women had to relinquish the jobs and the new opportunities they experienced during the war to reward men.

Yet, a long-term effect for women came as traditional femininity. Scholar Donna Knaff discusses how the gender reconversion took place and took away any masculinity given to women during the war period. The temporary empowerment of using men's tools and wearing men's trousers was gone. Women went back to the skirt and petticoat keeping their hair long and their lipstick on. Normalcy for women meant a return to the home and domesticity as dependents and not providers. Although women were given the message of empowerment by taking powerful work positions as a patriotic stand, now their patriotic duty was to contribute to the return to all things "normal" and their place back at home ( Knaff, 2012).

In the workforce, Rosie the Riveter and the rest of the WWII war campaign urging to bring women to work, provoked massive changes in work regulations-from shifts, to clothing, to bathroom space. Women working outside of domestic life were accepted, encouraged, and looked upon as patriotic during a short period in time. But it opened the possibilities for married and single women, young and old, poor and rich, White or Black, to work and become providers for their homes. Those women interested in the military joined the armed forces and received military benefits like men did during WWII. It took longer for women than men in this process of recognition of merit and benefits, but without the Rosie the Riveter campaign it would have taken longer.

Some women went to other low-paying jobs, others went back to the home, while others fought to keep their work. No matter how you see it, the women of the pre-WWII era were transformed into a new type of women ( Kerber, 2002). The Second Wave of Feminism was two decades away waiting for homemakers to understand their feelings of unfulfilled existence. A middle class woman would awaken the public discussion on gender roles when she wrote "The Feminine Mystique."

Betty Friedan, although not a perfect feminist, was a strong activist for the educated woman turned mother and homemaker. She found a point of tension between a woman's life-lived for others-and her individual pursuit of happiness. She became a symbol of empowerment and, although her efforts were neither inclusive nor diverse, she gave a voice to the growing concern of the Women's Movement. This movement would go on to be seen as a struggle against sexual harassment, reproductive freedom, work rights, and sexual preference acceptance. Friedan brought feminism back into the mainstream discussion and in politics. It was never dormant, it never died, and it was only alive in the minds of many activists who continued fighting in unions, state and local governments and in the fields of education. The Rosie the Riveter campaign showed women the way to change and improve their lives, not as wives or daughters but as individuals. Once that revolution started, nothing remained the same. Publicity, mass communication, popular media, and even television shows incorporated the same message of protecting family structure and the future of a whole nation. The women who worked in those factory lines building ships and planes still remember the feeling of achievement after finishing work. Their voices and comments were shared in this paper. Many are dead today but their story is alive, their contribution is remembered and their legacy continues.

Further Studies

Although some literature has been written about the every day lives of women living in the United States during WWII more academic work should be published on the subject. The timing is of primary importance since many women who witnessed those days die annually without leaving their stories. Their sacrifices, lifestyles, and gender roles can guide a whole generation on the implications of gender roles and what it means for a nation to be at war.

Study Limitations

This researcher read accounts of WWII women's stories given by them to other authors. No original interviews were conducted for this paper. The author is aware that it is imperative to save their stories. Perhaps an idea for another study could be comparing WWII women to other war period women (Cold War, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and Iraqi Freedom) and to shed some light into the changing roles of women in the military and during war times. In light of recent violence against women in the military by military personnel, a study of women in the military continues to be of importance to the fight for equality.

Conclusion

War campaigns are usually dismissed as propaganda instruments. While war posters and propaganda messages are not exclusive to the United States or WWII, the campaign of Rosie the Riveter gave face to a timely change in gender roles. It portrayed a woman figure dressed as a riveter and showed physical strength. Both symbols of physical strength and factory work are a commodity of the times. It remains unusual to see women doing mechanical work. Despite the country's need for workers in the assembly line, women made a conscientious decision to better their financial situation and to contribute to the war machine. It was not an easy task. Women had to look for outside support in the case of raising children and keeping house. Others had to adapt to a work schedule and changes in their lifestyle. Women factory workers were not even dressed properly, leaving them at the mercy of work accidents. Many women never worked side by side with men. Others were new to higher salaries and new developed skills. It is not coincidence that some women felt rancor by leaving their high paying factory work for less pay once men returned from the war.

A temporary empowerment gave birth to a massive war effort to bring women to the workforce-not in all capacities but in areas needed by the war machine. During WWII, their involvement moved them a step closer to equality. Women were flight nurses, pilots, riveters, builders, and educators. It is unfortunate that women during WWII had to wait on benefits and accolades. Some women have only recently been given the commanding stars they deserved. But their legacy is irrevocable. The women of today would be unable to imagine serving in the military without having the precedence of so many other "Rosies" and of their work and sacrifice.

Author Contributions

Dr. Santana is the Director of the Women's and Gender Studies program at the College of Arts and Humanities. Her area of teaching is First and Second Wave Feminism. She presented this paper in the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow in May 2015.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Funding

The author would like to thank the reviewers of the conference "Zverev Conference on War" (2015) at the Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, for their insight and comments to this manuscript.

References

Appendix

Mary Doyle Keefe was the model for the May 29, 1943, cover of the Saturday Evening Post. She died on April 22, 2015 at the age of 92.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.

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From Empowerment to Domesticity: The Case of Rosie the Riveter and the WWII Campaign

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During WWII, American women were asked to join in producing the "vital machinery of war" by working in factories building planes, by being nurses, and by being pilots among other jobs. Getting women to work in industries was a tremendous sales proposition as stated by Paul McNutt, the director of the War Manpower Commission in 1943.

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Prior to World War II, women were mostly homemakers. Those that worked outside the home usually worked as secretaries, receptionists or department store clerks.

Once America entered World War II, however, men went off to war by the millions and women stepped into the civilian and military jobs they left behind. Women were proud to serve their country-but how did their service during the war inspire their fight for social change and equality?

Rosie the Riveter was more influential than glamour girls.

As America's war machine went into action, the government initiated a massive publicity campaign to persuade women to replace men on assembly lines in factories and defense plants. They produced posters and film reels of glamorous women in the workplace to entice women to serve their country as part of the home-front labor force.

Yet the not-so-glamorous image of Rosie the Riveter depicting a confident-looking woman wearing coveralls and a red bandana and flexing her muscles under the headline, "We Can Do It!" remains one of the best-known icons of World War II.

Meant to inspire patriotism, the image of Rosie the Riveter was a new and different way of portraying women, and many historians cite her as an inspiration for female liberation.

Women in civilian jobs learned valuable skills.

According to Kevin Hymel, historian at the U.S. Air Force Medical Service History Office,"With their men away, women became more self-sufficient. Many brought tools home from work and used them on their own home repairs. They took on domestic roles they never had before."

World War II mobilization affected women by introducing them to new lines of work not typically suited for women at the time. It's estimated that up to six million women joined the civilian workforce during World War II in both white and blue-collar jobs, such as:

streetcar operators

taxi drivers

construction workers

steelworkers

lumber workers

munitions workers

agriculture workers

government workers

office workers

Women served in dangerous roles in the U.S. military.

Around 350,000 women served in the military during World War II. "Women in uniform took on mostly clerical duties as well as nursing jobs," said Hymel.

"The motto was to free a man up to fight. Some women became translators in Naval Intelligence, enabling them to read classified enemy communiques. One woman said when she was inducted to Naval Intelligence, an admiral spoke to the assembled women and told them, 'If you talk about anything you do here, we can legally kill you.'"

Women also served as truck drivers, radio operators, engineers, photographers and non-combat pilots. And the all-black, all-women 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was sent first to Birmingham, England, and then to Rouen, France, to process huge backlogs of undelivered mail.

According to Hymel, "The women in the most danger were nurses, who often came under artillery and aircraft fire near the front lines. They lived in the elements, sometimes in mud, heat and freezing temperatures, yet performed their duties alongside their male counterparts."

Working women endured harassment, miserable working conditions and low pay.

Working women on the home front faced unique challenges, too. Those with children struggled with child care and caring for a household on their own. Many had to learn to manage their finances for the first time and cope with a tight budget further strained by war rationing and the call to buy war bonds.

At first, women weren't always welcomed into the workplace. They received less pay and some men looked down on them and felt they weren't up to handling a "man's job." They often faced sexual harassment, long hours and dangerous working conditions.

But as women performed their jobs admirably and the demand for workers increased, men's attitudes toward them gradually became more positive.

Women's roles continued to expand in the postwar era.

The call for working women was meant to be temporary and women were expected to leave their jobs after the war ended. Some women were okay with this-but they left their posts with new skills and more confidence. Women who remained in the workplace were usually demoted.

But after their selfless efforts during World War II, men could no longer claim superiority over women. Women had enjoyed and even thrived on a taste of financial and personal freedom-and many wanted more.

Though progress was slow over the next two decades, serving their country in the military and at home empowered women to fight for the right to work in nontraditional jobs for equal pay and for equal rights in the workplace and beyond.

HISTORY Vault: World War II

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How World War II Empowered Women | HISTORY

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How did women's service during World War II inspire their fight for social change and equality?

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Enormous differences separate today’s protest movements from those of the 1960s. But they may ultimately prove united by the magnitude of the change they impose.

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bombast/bombasted | Fashion History Timeline

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E lite clothing during the Renaissance was full of interesting shapes. At different times, the shoulders, belly, and thighs protruded noticeably, in stark contrast to the fashions of earlier and later years (Fig. 1).

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bombast/bombasted

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Great Outfits in Fashion History: Charlotte Rampling’s ’60s Mini Skirt

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The It Brit was a big supporter of abbreviated garments.

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When we think of '90s style icons, so many come to mind. There's Cher Horowitz from Clueless, Drew Barrymore with her slip dresses, Courtney Love with her babydoll grunge dresses, and the teenage witches from The Craft. But there's one particular style maven seemingly omnipresent in our social media feeds: Fran Fine. The star of '90s sitcom , played by Fran Drescher, is famous for her bold, colorful, scene-stealing looks.

In the past few years, we've seen a surge of interest in the , which aired from 1993 to 1999, despite the lack of streaming (a missed opportunity for Netflix and Hulu). The renewed interest is due in part to the popular What Fran Wore Instagram, Cardi B's ode to Fran Fine fashion (and possible reboot starring Cardi as Fine's daughter), and the ongoing cycle of fashion repeating itself. Many of Fran's outfits-the checkered mini skirts, crop tops, furry coats, and thigh highs-could easily be worn today. In fact, we're in a curious time when it comes to fashion, where many eras have cycled back and forth enough times over that pretty much anything goes. An army of Fran Fine-inspired outfits could probably flood the streets with nary a batted eye.

As with any iconic fashionable figure in film and TV, there is always someone behind the curtain, the architect of these legendary looks. For Fran Fine, it's Brenda Cooper. The British-born costume designer brought The Nanny characters' outfits to life-so much, in fact, that Renée Taylor, who played Fran's mom, Sylvia Fine, told Cooper that she didn't know who her character was until she dressed her.

Cooper worked on The Nanny for four seasons (and won an Emmy) before leaving to have children. Aside from The Nanny, Cooper has worked as a costume designer on other movies and shows (including Happily Divorced, which also starred Drescher) as well as a stylist, color expert (she has helped clients like Jamie Lee Curtis figure out their wardrobe color palette), and host of E!'s Fashion Emergency. Currently, she's is working on a book proposal for a sort of style guide that incorporates the tenets Cooper uses to help empower women and their wardrobes.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Nanny, Cooper (who remains very close friends with Drescher) invited me to her home studio to see some of Fran's wardrobe in person, rummage through stacks of behind-the-scenes Polaroids, and talk about the show's most memorable looks.

Brenda Cooper (BC): I had met Fran previously on my second job, where I was the assistant to the designer Eduardo Castro. She was doing a short-lived series called Princesses with Twiggy and Julie Hagerty. She said, "If I ever get my own show, I want you to be the designer." I had previously pursued a career as an actress that had gone nowhere faster than the speed of sound, so I had to get a job. I wanted to start a business and I was always great in putting clothes together. When I went from being on camera to behind the camera, I was-I don't want to say the wrong word here-but a little bit alarmed with the approach to costume in film and television. To me, it was really, really important, but it didn't seem in the hierarchy of Hollywood that costume designers were all that important. I was like, "Wow, if I'm going to do this show that Fran's given me to do, I want to make a statement."

BC: I didn't get any direction, but I knew exactly what to do, and Fran just let me do it. I had taken some of the looks and one of the vests from Princesses- it was very colorful and it was form-fitting. That was the inspiration to create this character. I intentionally wanted to make a statement of style, wit, and humor, all combined. So I just started shopping for the show. It was intuitive, and it's the way I work with clients today, just knowing...the way it should be. I wanted color, I wanted it to be sexy. And there was lots of color available in 1993. We would always shop in Beverly Hills. Going to Neiman Marcus was just like style heaven-all of the prints, the color, and Moschino, Cheap and Chic, and Dolce and Gabbana. They were all in there.

I'd just pull the stuff off the racks and load up clothing, and then go into our weekly Wednesday fitting. Even though you're a designer, in a certain way you have your hands tied a little bit. Fran gave me my wings and she trusted me. We were a match made in heaven. She just let me do my thing, and that's what the result was.

HG: Yeah, every single outfit.

I love when millennials want to raid my closet. Or they come up to me and say, "I want to dress like you." I'm old enough to be their mother, and possibly their grandmother. It's great, it's really inspiring. Then from another aspect is that character, which I didn't realize the impact. The way she presented herself was very motivational and inspirational for people. Someone who was outspoken, who was loud and proud, who had her style. I read stuff on Instagram where people said that the character, and the way she looked, really helped them through hard times.

A lot of people consider image superficial. It's not superficial, because it's an expression. Your outward image is an expression of your inner self. For me, it's always about the marrying of the inner and the outer. That's why, to think that the creation of the look of that character has actually helped people, is really inspirational and very moving for me. At the heart of our style is confidence, and I love how I can get people to be confident through what they're putting on the outside.

One day, I used an inexpensive, black bell-bottom catsuit that I could kick myself for giving away. And I have it here, but it's a Todd Oldham vest that's encrusted with sequins, but has black silhouettes underneath it. I absolutely love that. There's so many. I look back sometimes and I go, "Wow, I did that. That's great." She looked fantastic. It didn't really hit me until recently that I created the look of a show that actually became iconic.

And there's the whole thing with Patti LaBelle. I created the looks for all the characters, so the guest stars would come on and they'd always be told to bring their own stuff. Patti shows up and she hasn't brought anything. We're doing the show in two hours. I thought, "Oh my God, I have to make Patti LaBelle look like Patti LaBelle." So, I know I have a pair of bell-bottom silk charmeuse pants by Norma Kamali. Then I went into Beverly Hills and found a huge Donna Karan gold skirt. Then I run to Saks and found this beaded top dress and a beaded jacket. I get all the pieces, get back to the studio, cut up the dress, and make it into a top. I take the jacket, stitch shoulder pads in it, and take the center out of the skirt so it becomes a 1950s hostess skirt, and she looked brilliant.

BC: I'm very attached to clothing; clothing is like children to me. It's so difficult to let go. I mean, I have my school tie in my closet from when I was four. I'm just passionate about them. It's so sad what happened to The Nanny wardrobe. When Fran and I came back together in 2012 to do Happily Divorced, I thought, you know something? I want to see if I can find the wardrobe, to see if we could use any of it. When a show completes, all of the wardrobe goes into a central department at the studios. It's like a graveyard of all of these clothes. I went to track down the wardrobe which was at Sony, and it had just been sold to a thrift store in the Valley. I called the thrift store and I begged them; I told them I was the designer of The Nanny and they wouldn't help me. People today have pieces of clothing in their wardrobe that are the original Nanny wardrobe and probably don't know that.

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"The Nanny" costume designer Brenda Cooper tells us why Fran Fine's iconic wardrobe transcends time

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When we think of '90s style icons, so many come to mind. There's Cher Horowitz from Clueless, Drew Barrymore with her slip dresses, Courtney Love with her babydoll grunge dresses, and the teenage witches from The Craft. But there's one particular style maven seemingly omnipresent in our social media feeds: Fran Fine.

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Hailey Bieber redefines street style with her eclectic outfit - Times of India

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Justin Bieber is all in for hyping up his wife all over social media when she is strutting on the streets of LA, in her designer suit set.

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Votes for Women lesson 1- What was life like for an Edwardian Woman?

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Travel with Kate on her Clandestine Taskings. Currently you may join Mrs. Katelyn Elizabeth Tattersall in the British Secret Service for a low introductory fee. Over the coming months this site will grow to host all ten of Kate’s thrilling missions with the British Secret Service.

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Fashion has become instrumental to the expression of politics in America, from divisive headwear-think pussyhats and MAGA caps-to designers T-shirts encouraging people to vote. Most recently, female members of the United States Congress made a sartorial statement through their decision to sport "Suffragette white" at the State of the Union address, as they did at last year's gathering. According to Representative Lois Frankel of Florida's announcing their intention in 2019, their white wardrobes were meant to show that the legislators were working to support the "economic security of women and their families." This year, Representative Brenda Lawrence said the group continues to stand "against President Trump's backwards agenda," which she says challenges "the foundation that was built by the women pioneers of this country." Referred to as suffragette white by Frankel and others, the color of choice calls upon a century-old history of women working to gain ground in American politics.

Here, CR examines the legacy of the color in women's political activism and how the current congresswomen are working towards a progressive future built upon the hard work of those who came before them.

In the early 1900s, the women's suffrage movement grew in the U.S. and Britain as women lobbying for the right to vote, organizing parades and marches not unlike the ones we see today, and in the process, establishing three identifying colors to wear to events. They were purple to represent loyalty, gold as a nod to the sunflowers of Kansas where Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton campaigned, and white to represent purity and virtue. In Britain, the gold was replaced by green to signify hope, and the three shades were established as the official campaign colors of the Women's Social and Political Union in London, soon becoming emblematic of the women's suffrage movement at large. Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, a suffragette and key member of the WSPU, is recognized as instituting the three official colors in 1908. From then on, suffragettes would often wear the purple and gold (or green) as a sash over a white dress at public events.

Because getting their message across was their main concern, women conformed to the popular styles of the early 20th century. They wanted to look presentable to the public, but this meant wearing the fashionable, not-quite floor-length walking dresses with a corset and a jacket. These garments did not offer full physical mobility, highlighting traditional ideas about femininity and a woman's place in society. Instead of challenging this completely and rebelling through dress, the suffragettes decided to wear head-to-toe white, thus appropriating the visual indicators of their femininity to serve their own cause. This also served as a defense against any criticism for appearing too intimidating or masculine as they challenged the status quo.

As the movement spread, wearing white became an accessible way for anyone to join the cause. By making a color rather than a specific garment their key identifier, the suffragettes created a democratized uniform, meaning women of any race or economic status could afford to dress the part.

With white as their calling card, the suffragettes stood out not only in the streets, but also in the media coverage of their marches. When black-and-white photography was the primary form of visual documentation, white provided a clear and bright contrast on the front pages of newspapers, attracting the eye of readers. The Democratic women of Congress re-created this same effect by forming a body of white at the State of the Union address. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stood out in all-white, seated behind President Trump and next to Vice President Pence, who were both wearing black suits. The others formed an assemblage of cream, ivory, and pearly white in the chamber, creating a spotlight through fashion choices and aiming to shine their solidarity among the Republican representatives.

This deliberate choice of dress aligns with other historic moments in politics in which women have donned the color of the suffrage movement. On March 3, 1913, over 8,000 suffragists paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue, garnering the attention of spectators, most of whom were men, who had flocked to the nation's capital for the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson, which was to take place the following day. A similar scene was created decades later at the March for the Equal Rights Amendment in 1978, during which the largest gathering of women's rights supporters to date took to the streets of Washington D.C. decked out in suffragette white.

Specific women in politics have also made sartorial statements in all-white ensembles, marking significant moments in history. In 1968, Shirley Chisholm wore white as she became the first African American woman to be elected to Congress. Geraldine Ferraro also opted for a white suit at the 1984 Democratic National Convention as she made her acceptance speech as the first female vice presidential candidate on a major party ticket. In 2016, Hillary Clinton wore a white pantsuit as she accepted the Democratic nomination for president, becoming the first woman to make it past the primary election. In 2019, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman in history to be elected to Congress, wore exclusively white, save for her signature red lipstick, to her swearing-in ceremony. Afterwards, she "I wore all-white today to honor the women who paved the path before me, and for all the women yet to come. From suffragettes to Shirley Chisholm, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the mothers of the movement."

Aligning with Ocasio-Cortez's sentiment, the representatives who chose to wear white at the State of the Union, a year ago and yesterday, showed that the women making strides in today's politics recognize the efforts of the suffragettes and other leaders of the women's rights movement in the 20th century who came before them.

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The History of Women Wearing Suffragette White

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Fashion has become instrumental to the expression of politics in America, from divisive headwear-think pussyhats and MAGA caps-to designers T-shirts encouraging people to vote. Most recently, female members of the United States Congress made a sartorial statement through their decision to sport "Suffragette white" at the State of the Union address, as they did at last year's gathering.

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By Kanupriya Goenka, FBM 19. Faculty: Ms Belinda Bawa

'Hobble skirt', I thought was a funny name when I came across it, but when I knew what it was it was became even funnier.

During the first decade of the 1900s, just as women began demandin more freedom, more rights, and more comfortable fashions, one of the most restrictive styles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries came into vogue. This was the hobble skirt, a tight, ankle-length skirt that grew narrower at the hem. Popular between 1905 and 1910, the hobble skirt was so tight at the ankles that the woman wearing it could only walk in very short steps.

"THE HOBBLE 'IS THE LATEST FREAK IN WOMAN'S FASHIONS; Skirts Are So Tight Around the Ankle That Locomotion Is Seriously Impeded and Speed Is Impossible" read one headline on June 12, 1910.

The idea allegedly originated with Paul Poiret, the French designer who claimed in 1908 that he had "freed the bust [but] shackled the legs."

The very nature of this skirt limited its marketability as only women that lived lives of luxury and ease could afford such limited mobility.

Yet hobble skirt became the most popular trend of the Edwardian era. I think that women in this era were the most fashionable women in history. And as was common with most preceding aristocratic fashions, appearance trumped functionality.

Also, new methods of information dissemination allowed the hobble skirt to become popular despite this flaw. The clean lines and reduced fabric meant it was easy to produce.

Magazine showing Paul Poiret evening wear, including the hobble skirt

However, middle and lower-class women needed a skirt that would allow for greater range of motion. Therefore, slits and nearly hidden pleats proved to be the solution. Even buttons were added at the hem which could be undone for comfortable walking.

Soon the hobble skirt design was paired with the trotteur, or walking skirt, the hem of which rested above the ankle thereby limiting the concern for damaged and dirtied hemlines.

Hobble skirt with buttons on the hem
Eventually, the style became so pervasive within society that the upper-class sought to find a new fashion that would distinguish them from everyone else.
image showing multiple women wearing the hobble skirt

In my opinion, this style of clothing though seems ridiculous, I feel women did not dress this way to please the men, but to please themselves and each other. I do not view this style as a symbol of male oppression, but as a statement of feminine power and independence symbolizing women's struggle for emancipation and control in the early Twentieth Century.

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Why did the Hobble skirt become popular?

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By Kanupriya Goenka, FBM 19. Faculty: Ms Belinda Bawa 'Hobble skirt', I thought was a funny name when I came across it, but when I knew what it was it was became even funnier.

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The Chanel logo was created in 1925 by Gabrielle Chanel, or most commonly known as Coco Chanel. The logo had dominated the designs and…

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Marie Magdalene "Marlene" Dietrich was born in Berlin at the turn of the century and got her start as chorus girl in the early 1920s. As an aspiring young starlet, Marlene got a few small roles in German dramas, but went largely unnoticed until she was cast in a film that was a joint venture with Paramount Pictures. The 1930 motion picture, called The Blue Angel, was her first exposure to American audiences and remains one of her most iconic performances to date.

Paramount thought that she would compete with Swedish star Greta Garbo, who was then signed to a rival movie studio. The company brought Dietrich to America on a contract, where she made some of the most memorable films of the early thirties. In collaboration with director, Josef Von Sternberg, she starred in many consecutive blockbusters for Paramount, including Carine's favorite Morocco.

Sternberg was known for his innovative use of lighting, and used Marlene's stunningly angular features to heighten his film's cinematic style. Together they made some of the most visually compelling movies of the 20th century and created an aesthetic that was a precursor for Film Noir. Their greatest collaborative masterpiece was 1932's Shanghai Express, in which Marlene played a man eating and maniacal courtesan.

While Dietrich always played a tough, sometimes villainous character, in her private life she was known for her integrity and open mindedness. The actress was bisexual and reveled in the thriving gay underground of Berlin. When the Nazi's approached her with lucrative offers to join their propaganda machine 20 years later, she flatly turned them down. Instead, she chose to become an American citizen and a voracious critic of fascism. She even set up a fund with fellow German-American film star, Billy Wilder to help Jews escape the Third Reich. Many years later in 1961, she would star in Judgment at Nuremburg, which chronicled the 1948 war crimes trials that sought to bring justice for victims of the holocaust.

Dietrich's personal fashion style was indicative of her rogue individualism. She was known for her love of menswear, and could often be seen wearing three-piece suits. Marlene and Katherine Hepburn are credited with making pants acceptable everyday wear for women. She was also known to never leave the house without a hat. Some of the most iconic images of Dietrich portray her looking debonair in a tux and top hat, holding a cigarette or a cigar.

On why she finds Marlene Dietrich so inspiring, Carine said the following: "I suggest that we all take a cue from Dietrich-it's crucial to remember that no matter how glamorous one's life may be, we must always make time to do what's right."

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Marie Magdalene "Marlene" Dietrich was born in Berlin at the turn of the century and got her start as chorus girl in the early 1920s. As an aspiring young starlet, Marlene got a few small roles in German dramas, but went largely unnoticed until she was cast in a film that was a joint venture with Paramount Pictures.

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While the popular understanding of the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles concentrates on the racial tensions between young Mexican American and white servicemen, some contemporaries attributed the outbreaks of violence to the competition between the two groups over young Mexican American women.

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This article was most recently revised and updated by

André Courrèges, (born March 9, 1923, Pau, France-died January 7, 2016, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France), dress designer who first made a reputation in the Parisian fashion world of the 1960s for futuristic, youth-oriented styles.

Courrèges wished to be an artist, but his father directed him into engineering, at which he was successful. In 1948 he joined the staff of the couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga and eventually advanced to the position of Balenciaga's first assistant.

In 1961 Courrèges opened his own fashion house, and by 1964 he had become established as one of the most original couturiers in Paris. His collection featured proportionate, well-cut pants, rigidly constructed clothes with smooth "trapeze," or trapezoidal, lines, and short skirts, with white midcalf boots and large, dark glasses as accessories. White became his trademark.

Because his simple designs were widely copied, in 1965 he established strict control over the manufacture of his designs. In 1967 he showed both haute couture creations and ready-to-wear fashions for his boutique, Couture Future, with distribution controlled through licensed outlets. His designs remained dramatically simple, with a complete lack of nostalgia, and included such innovations as hip-hugger pants with halter tops, transparent tops, sequined jumpsuits, and vinyl-trimmed suits and coats.

Naomi Blumberg.

Learn More in these related Britannica articles:

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André Courrèges | French fashion designer

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André Courrèges, dress designer who first made a reputation in the Parisian fashion world of the 1960s for futuristic, youth-oriented styles. Courrèges wished to be an artist, but his father directed him into engineering, at which he was successful. In 1948 he joined the staff of the couturier

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Saint Laurent At 80: Stars In His Most Iconic Looks

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Yves Saint Laurent would have turned 80 this week. Grazia looks back at his most popular designs and the style icons who wore them

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Travel with Kate on her Clandestine Taskings. Currently you may join Mrs. Katelyn Elizabeth Tattersall in the British Secret Service for a low introductory fee. Over the coming months this site will grow to host all ten of Kate’s thrilling missions with the British Secret Service.