Deynega

Miroslava Deynega
Ms. Fender
English IV (1)
13 October 2016

The World Of Fashion

Fashion has had an impact in everyday life since the industry had first started in the
1600s. Fashion is something that defines a culture and is constantly changing. This industry has
many parts included in it from supermodels to the Fashion designers, who have always played a
major role in our society. People are continually changing along with their views on things as
simple as fashion styles. In this society people typically revolve around fashion, making that
something that's pretty important and revolving. Millions of apparel products are produced to
make consumers happy and to make a good profit. There are endless shops of clothing from
name brands like H&M to thrift stores such as Goodwill. Considering how much clothes are
produced yearly for people to be able to express themselves, imagine how much of it gets thrown
away.
Fashion has been around since the first invention of clothes, but the whole fashion
industry had started a little later than that. Since the early 1900s fashion was very important and
had set a social standard. What people wore determined their social class. For example if
someone wore clothes that were out-of-date than they would be considered the poor class. If
someone wore something classy, new and in-style then they were considered in the high class (
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Lindholm). In today's society what a person wears is still somewhat used to determine each
person's social ranking. Going back in history France was known as the capital or heart of
fashion, since it had first developed from that country. Most of the famous fashion designers had
originated from there. Coco Chanel, a fashion designer of France, had once said that anyone
who who claimed originality had no knowledge of history. After France had started to expand
its fashion styles the world had started to look up to them for inspiration. The United States was
one of the countries that started to look in Europe for style. When the fall of Paris to the Nazis
took place in 1940, they had been cut off from the fashion world so then the United States had
started to move forward with their own fashion trends and styles since they had been
disconnected with Europe on the styles. Fashion in the U.S had first started in New York,
Boston, and Chicago, eventually making its way around the whole U.S. In the early 1900s all
children had wore dresses until the ages of three and four when boys had been given pants. By
the 1920s fashion had spread throughout the world appearing in newspapers and magazines. The
United States had then begun to change their views on the different styles. In the past few
decades of the 20th century, american designers still look around the world for different
inspirations, but still coming up with something that is original.
Fashion designers are the ones behind the huge industry of fashion. They put in time to
make it all possible for people to be able to express themselves with different styles freely. When
American designers had first started to get known, the government had restricted them on
supplies and the fabrics that they could use. To get metals to make zippers and buttons they had
to get that from the military so it was labeled as a luxury item. Later on in the fashion designer
industry, it had increased and they were given more resources to different materials to produce

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products that would make the consumers happy and satisfied. One of the main goals for fashion
designers is to make a product that consumers will love and so that they could be able to have a
model runway some of the outfits that they had invented. Once people see the styles that are
considered to be what's in, it makes them want to purchase it so that they may be able to fit in
better. Fashion design is defined as a type of art form that can be worn to express lifestyles of
what people wear such as shoes, accessory, jeans, etc. It is a part of everyday life and tells the
story behind a person's life. In this society people want to be liked for what they wear but also
wanting to be themselves. People mainly express themselves by what they wear, showing what
kind of a person they are. Social media has had a large impact on the decisions of how people
dress and what they look like. Seeing a celebrity wearing something tends to make people want
to buy a similar style so that they can look like the celebrity and be more liked. Being liked by
the society is what most people desire for. This can change the perspective of how other people
are viewed.
In the fashion world there are different kinds of jobs. Fashion designers is a job that is
pretty important, they set the trend for fashion, making it change constantly. The skills needed to
be a fashion designer include a good eye for detail, a creative mind, communication, basic art
skills, understanding the business and having professional contacts. Many people throughout
history have been able to use these skills to become a fashion designer. When looking at the
history, there have been so many important fashion designers that have helped develop the many
new styles that are worn to this day. One important fashion designer was Madeleine Cheruit. She
had paved the way for female fashion designers making herself the first female to control a major
French fashion house in the century. Madeleine worked in a dressmaker shop where she had

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taken over because her talent had been very good. She had done some major things that have
influenced fashion. The career of Paul Poiret was launched by Madeleine and she had won the
praise of Vogue. Vogue was a fashion magazine that started in 1892, it was created by a man
named Arthur Baldwin Turnure and Cornelius Vanderbilt. It was a very selective magazine only
looking for the best that had attracted the publisher Conde Nast in 1905. Woolman Chase
became fashion editor-in-chief for Vogue in 1914. Madeleine worked alongside with Nast to help
build the fashion empire of Vogue, which is something that is very extensive in the fashion
empire. This had been one of the things that had led to the beginnings of the well-known
supermodel industries.
In the beginning of the 1940s the word supermodel had came into use. Supermodels
were different than models because they were considered to be more independent. They ran their
own careers, price, marketing. They were considered more serious when it came to their career.
Most of the supermodels had started the career at the ages of fourteen and fifteen working
overseas in Europe. In France the first model agency had opened up in 1959. There were French
fashion houses that had employed their own models giving them specific training. It was not
until after World War II when the modeling business had begun to launch. In the 1950s the
runway had been created and then later in 1960 had got improved. It had improved because the
models had started to different poses such as dancing or turning ( Finamore ). In today's society,
jobs in the fashion industry have been expanding.
Something interesting about fashion is how trends come back around, things that were
once hot or trend are current again- so you can just save pieces are wear them again. (Lacey
Davis). Time periods have been changing and so have fashion trends. Men had been the ones

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who had set the fashion styles and the women and children followed them and now the roles
have been reversed. Women back then did not have that many opportunities to do anything that
was important or significant other than being a housewife that took care of her children, cooking
and cleaned. Being super conservative about clothes had not been that big of a deal before, when
much fabric was used to cover women from head to toe. In the 1960s the green movement had
taken place. This was about the concern over materials used for production, it was more for
environmental issues. concerned with using natural or recycled materials, being conscious of
animal welfare, and using organically grown materials(Eric Bargeron and James F Tidd)
people had started being more aware what had been made to create the type of clothes that they
were wearing and wanted something that was more eco-friendly. By the decades end many
recognizable clothing retailers were offering environmentally friendly fashion choices, including
Banana Republic, Guess, and H&M according to the clothing trends; american decades:
2000-2009. This is still something that is still going on to this very day. America is still very
wasteful on the clothes that are considered to be out-of-style.
The average american throws away about 65 pounds of clothes, bedding or any kind of
fabric or textile products away per year. This is not including the stuff that they choose to donate
to charity places such as Goodwill, Salvation Army or other charitable places. People tend to
buy clothes that are modern, or more in style and then they just get rid of the older clothes that
they have hanging in their closet. They do that so they can make room for the new clothes that
they buy. This means that about a total of 14.3 millions tons of textile things such as clothes go
to waste per year, which is about six percent of of all municipal waste in the United States. More
than 7% of our nation's landfill waste is textile and apparel. If donating clothes is not an option

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then there is always a choice of putting clothes into the recycle bin. When clothes go into a
recycle bin it is far better than to put in a trash bin because the clothes ends up being recycled
and reused to create something better and more in-style. The United States is a very wasteful
country that is always wanting something better or just wanting more, they do not really consider
about what other 3rd world countries are in much need of. They usually want what's best for
them and then will help other countries if they are in need of assistance. Only about 2 million
tons of clothes gets recovered for reuse, which is not that much considering how much of it gets
wasted. In this U.S about $12 billion is spent on apparel business, and the average American will
spend out $1,700 on new clothes yearly. There are so many people who really need clothing but
simply can not afford it. To them it will not matter what type of style it is, as long as it's
something that will keep them warm and covered. People do not usually have the will to do
something more about how they plan to get rid of the clothing that they wish to not have
anymore. The U.S has done major things on helping out third world countries and is still finding
ways to do as much help as they can. So being wasteful can come in handy so they could send it
to the people who need it.
Donating clothes to charity is a good start on ways to fix the problem with throwing away
many textile products and using it for the better. Being more conservative toward things such as
clothes is a good way to start improving some of the environmental issues that we are facing in
today's society. More effort needs to be put in to make a difference in our world. One single
person can make a difference in the world. There are around 7 billion people on Earth, and not
all people have the same resources to things like the others do. It is very sad to see how some
people simply can not afford to have anything nice or new to wear, wearing the same article of

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clothing every single day. Their world seems to revolve around other things that are more
important and necessary for life and to survive.
Donations to charity thrift stores is good, but it is important to know what the money is
going towards or where the clothes are headed. When donating clothes things have to come into
consideration like each charity/donation store has different beliefs and core values which is
something to think about (Lacey Davis). Only about 20 percent of clothes that are being
donated to some thrift shops are being sold as secondhand, most of the other clothes gets
exported to developing areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, South America and China. The clothes
that go to the developing countries are either sold there or are given to clothe the people in that
certain region. In fact the United States ends up sending about a full billion pounds of clothes
every year to these types of countries. The U.S will then get 45% of the other clothes and recycle
it so that they may be able to reuse it and then the remaining clothes go into a landfill where they
will then stay. Usually about 11% of the donated clothes at Goodwill will be put as unsaleable so
then it will go straight to the massive landfill, left untouched. This costs the organizations a lot of
money in transport fees and any other expenses. So is it really worth putting the clothes into a
landfill? Its best to just give clothes to the homeless or give it to shops that reuse the clothes and
sell it again as secondhand. Fashion is something that will keep being reused throughout
different time periods. Keeping the environment clean and healthy is something that all humans
should be responsible to do.
In January 2015, about 564,708 people were experiencing being homeless in just one
single night which according to the state of homelessness in America said that meant that they
were sleeping either outside or in an emergency shelter or even a transitional housing program.

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There will always be homeless people in different societies because there will be neverending
people who just can not afford to live life how most people do. Most homeless people are those
that do not have the resources to a home, food, water, clothes and the other important necessary
things for life. They can not afford to buy new clothes that could keep them warm on cold winter
days or nights. Many clothes gets thrown away and still so many people suffer from not being
clothed and they end up getting sick from it. The newer styles that come out and everyone wants
does not matter for the homeless people, they will take anything that they are given. In America
there are many different charity shops that accept donations of clothes to help the unfortunate.
It's good to know that there are still people who care for other people and helping to better the
environment even if it is something as easy like giving away some of the old clothes that's not
going to ever be worn anymore or handing it out to people around the city who are in need of
this.
The fashion empire has some major falls but it can be very exciting and something that
happens only once in a lifetime. When looking at life, it's always about taking a chance and
particularly making a statement and that is exactly what fashion is all about. Making a statement
out of the form of clothes instead of actual words is exactly what fashion is all about. It is a form
of art that is constantly changing expressing a person's individuality to the one who wears and
makes it. Looking back on all the improvements that fashion has done, our world would not be
the same without it. Helping the less fortunate has been something that's been pretty important.
Many arguments come up when talking about fashion, but it is something that will never die
since it is always revolving.

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Works Cited

"The State of Homelessness in America 2016." National Alliance to End Homelessness:.

N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.
"Fashion Industry." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Ed. Thomas Riggs.
2nd ed. Vol. 1. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2015. 419-420. Student Resources in
Context. Web. 12 Oct. 2016.
"Clothing Trends." American Decades: 2000-2009. Ed. Eric Bargeron and James F. Tidd,
Jr. Detroit: Gale, 2011. 166-168. Student Resources in Context. Web. 3 Oct. 2016
Lindholm, Christina. "Clothing and Fashion." Dictionary of American History. Ed.
Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 244-248.
Student Resources in Context. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.
"Vogue (American)." Vogue (American). N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.
Mrs. Davis