Fashion History

The First Clothes

What were the first clothes/fabrics and where were they found?

• used natural resources • Animal skins & hair, plants, grasses, tree bark • Cave dwellers – Northern Europe – animal skins –

hair side inn • Africa, South Pacific & Asia – laced grasses

together – bark soaked and softened • Egypt – Linen cloth from flax plants grew on Nile

- Cotton

What were the early clothes of these

civilizations:

Egypt:

• Linen & cotton - lightweight • Men – knee length skirts tied in front – sleeved

garment • Women – straight dresses tied behind back or at

shoulder • Wide collars made of beads and semiprecious

stones

Minoan

• First recorded fitted clothing items – women • Full skirts in bell shape over hoops of wood • Jackets short & form fitting – elbow-length sleeves • Geometric designs or prints – small hats

Greece

Wrapping, draping & pinning rectangular pieces of fabric

• Chiton – 2 fabric rectangles joined at the shoulders – held in place with pins – folded to fall in pleats

• Himation – worn as a cloak

• Woolen first – then silk and linen – red, purple, yellow and blue

Roman Empire

• Toga based on Greek Himation • Rectangular or semicircle – wrapped around body

– exposing right arm and covering left arm • Colors represented classes – emperor only wore

purple • Tunic worn under

China • women – long coat & skirt – Men – long robe • Both had high narrow collar- fastened diagonally • Elaborate embroidery • Cheongsam – high collared dress - button on

right side – long slits

Japan

• Kimono – standard dress – one piece of linen & wrapped to fit body – 2 piece – silk

• Obi – decorative sash

Influences on Fashion

How did trade influence fashion?

•exchanged ideas & fabrics•trade routes opened•barter – trading without money – goods – fabrics

Politics & Power

•Kings/Queens – Royalty set the styles

•Fashion trends spread slowly•Louis XIV – France – fashion leader

•Middle class emergence – royalty and wives lead fashion – Queen Victoria – full skirted dresses

Religion

• Statement of religious beliefs

• Reformation movement = dark colors, simple styles, lit tle decoration

• Puritans – humil ity & simplicity – plain clothing

Technology

Uses scientific knowledge to develop something new

Industrial Revolution

•Rapid changes that resulted from the invention of power-driven machines

•Weave fabric & sew garments a hundred times faster than by hand

•Buy clothes from catalogs & stores•Middle class businessmen wore darker colors & sturdier fabrics = working in new factories with dirty smoke

Factories• 1790 = New England in US – Textile Mills – dark, noisy,

dirty, unpleasant & overcrowded• First women were hired to make garments at home from

fabric created – then factories developed• Sweatshops – worked in garment factories – dark,

airless, uncomfortable & unhealthy• Textile Mills in South – shipped to NE to garment

factories• Ready to Wear – Clothing made in advance for sale• Men took off quickly – Factories created a new middle

class• First women – capes and shawls – women fashions

changed quickly – more intricate sewing• Shirtwaists factories – 1890’s – easy to manufacture• Led to growth in stores – 1850’s first department store

Cellulose

•Main components of plants – cotton, flax – forcing through fine holes (silkworm) – produced long threadlike fibers

•1910 – introduced in US•1924 – Rayon – 1st Synthetic fiber ( artificial silk)

Flying Shuttle: • flies across a loom

Spinning Jenny • 8 spindles so 8 yarns could be spun at the same

time

Cotton Gin:

Spinning Mule produces as much yarn as

200 hand spinners

Sewing Machine

• 1845 – Elias Howe – 1889 – singer added motor (during Industrial Revolution) home sewing

Paper Pattern

• Ebenezer Butterick – used to make shirts – 1865 – sold by mail

• 1870 James McCall –drafted patterns – manufactured

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