Script

Intro:
Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Taylor Erwin and I am going to present my senior
project on the evolution of womens fashion from the years 1910 to 2000.
Outline:
During this presentation, I will discuss the details of my research paper, my physical product, my mentor
and what Ive learned through the process of completing this project, and my successes and challenges.
Research Paper:
My research paper is about the evolution of fashion from 1910 to 2000 and the effect that various social
movements throughout the past century have had on that evolution. I detailed the trends of each
decade between those years and talked about what may have influenced fashion shifts. My thesis was
Women's fashion over the past century has been incredibly dynamic. The influences on the evolution of
fashion trends range from the somber notes of the World War I era to the wild freedom of the sexual
revolution and musical influences of the 90's. I included information regarding WWI and how it
affected fashion. This led into the 20s, where I discussed the feminist movement that left an
androgynous style behind, the false economic propriety of the era, and the emphasis on the emulation
of masculine styles. I pointed out how this came to an end with the destitution that characterized the
Great Depression era, which led into the effects of wartime production and rationing that ruled the 40s.
The factory-line, working girl garments of the 40s sharpley ended with the emergence of the perfect
suburbia in the 50s, where social status and prim housewives dictated what was appropriate to wear
and edgy modernists coined the beatnik fashion. I spent a fair portion of the paper describing the
youth-quake of the 60s and the free-thought movement that radically altered womens styles. I wrote
in depth about the sexual revolution and how this drastically changed what was acceptable to wear. This
continued into the 70s, a fashion limbo characterized by fashion development and the emergence of
punk styles. The power dressing independence of the 80s and the musically linked styles and subgenres
of 90s fashion end a century of dynamic trends.
Product:
For my product, I worked to create fashionable outfits from each decade I covered. I did a lot of closet
rummaging and visited a fair amount of thrift and consignment shops in order to find garments that
would work for what I was doing. I had to do a fair amount of sewing and alteration to make these
ensembles more decade-specific.
Video:
Here is a video I created of a fashion show. There is an informative voice-over explaining the specifics
of the outfits I chose to create and why they are good examples of popular trends in each era.
My Mentor:
Brit Daley is the woman who made a lot of this possible. She has a Bachelors degree in history from
UNC Asheville and helped me garner a lot of the historical context I needed in order to create the video I

showed. She really helped me obtain an in-depth understanding of the circumstances and social static
that is directly linked to the shifts in mainstream fashion.

Successes:
I managed to complete my research paper, finish my product, and learn a lot about why America looks
the way it does today. This knowledge really gives me an idea of how a society ticks, and I find that
incredibly engaging.
Challenges:
I am not gifted in the field of sewing. It took me a lot of time to be able to get stitching right. I had never
used a sewing machine before, so that was initially daunting. Also, my paper was twice the length it was
supposed to be. It was a dilemma for me to cut so much out of it because I felt like I gutted a really in
depth piece of work. I managed though. I was cutting it pretty close to the deadline when it came to
completing my final product. It can be pretty harrowing trying to get so much done.
Conclusion:
Despite any hardships I faced, it was all worth it. I now have a deep well of knowledge about a new
subject and have a finished product I can be proud of. I dont think I want to go into a career involving
fashion, but I certainly have an appreciation for how subtle little pieces of beautiful fabric can tell you so
much about a society.