Fashion Evolution

Men and women wore very different clothes at the beginning of the eighteenth century than they did at the end. The skill of dressmakers had developed to such an extent that it caused more attention was paid to details and ornaments. Despite the growing skills of tailors dress became simpler. Great changes reflected the political and cultural life during the century including the American and French Revolutions. Throughout Europe and the newly created United States of America people’s attitude about dress changed. No longer the monarchs were the only trendsetters of fashion. Later toward the end of the century clothing styles began to simplify.

During the nineteenth century dress changed a lot. The change was influenced by the introduction of machines to the construction of clothing. Sewing machines, power looms or weaving machines and other inventions increased the productivity of clothing manufacture. While the styles for men at the end of the century laid the foundation that would influence men’s clothing for the centuries to come, the styles for women did not. Women’s fashion began to be influenced by fashion designers, the first being Charles Frederick Worth. And in the coming century women would experience much more liberty and a variety of new styles would emerge to reflect this.

The period of World War I was one of great transitions in the world of fashion. Not only styles for women were changed in their basic silhouette but the very system through which new styles were introduced and popularized also changed. Paris was the center of the world fashion but more and more people got their fashion ideas from magazines. Social changes especially the increasing liberation of women and the coming of war also had a great impact on fashion.

At the dawn of the twentieth century Paris was the center of the fashion world. Clothing designers from Paris introduced clothing at seasonal shows and sold clothes to the wealthiest people in Europe and the United States. Increasingly, however, these fashions began to reach more and more people. Publishers began to sell pattern books of fashionable clothes that allowed people to make the clothes at home if they were good sewers. Soon department stores which were becoming popular throughout the West also began to sew and sell dresses modelled on the latest Paris fashions.

The introduction of the sewing machine combined with the factory system allowed for the mass production of clothing. Men’s clothing was the first to be mass-produced in a variety of different sizes. This form of clothing was called ready-to-wear. By the first years of the twentieth century ready-to-wear clothing was available to women too.

IV Answer the questions:

1. What changes did dress undergo in the eighteenth century?

2. What did these changes reflect?

3. What inventions in fashion were presented in the nineteenth century?

4. Who was the first fashion designer?

5. How can you characterize the twentieth century in point of fashion?

6. What role in fashion did Paris play at the dawn of the twentieth century?

7. How did publishers influence the spreading of new fashion trends?

8. When did ready-to-wear clothing become available?

V Complete the sentences with the words from the text:

1. At the beginning of the eighteenth century monarchs were not the only ….

2. Despite the growing skills of dressmakers clothing began ….

3. Such inventions as …, … allowed for the mass production of clothing in the nineteenth century.

4. In the twentieth century publishers began to sell … allowing people to make the clothes at home.

5. In … century ready-to-wear clothing become available to women.

VI Find the English equivalents to the words:

зміна, уміння, вплив, давати можливість, доступний, виробництво, відображати, з’являтися, винахід, різноманітність.

VII Make up sentences with the terms:

ready-to-wear clothing, pattern, dressmaker, weaving machine, clothing manufacture, pattern book, fashion show.

VIII Give definitions to the words:

pattern, ready-to-wear, silhouette, dressmaker, to simplify, sewer, invention.

IX Translate the sentences into English:

1. Незважаючи на майстерність кравців, наприкінці вісімнадцятого століття дизайн одягу спрощувався.

2. У двадцятому столітті Париж став центром світової моди. Тут проводились сезонні покази мод.

3. З появою швейної машини почалося виробництво готового одягу.

4. На початку двадцятого століття люди могли шити одяг дома за допомогою збірника викрійок.

5. Такі винаходи дев’ятнадцятого століття як ткацький станок та швейна машина спростили виробництво одягу.

6. Соціальні зміни та наближення війни мали великий вплив на моду.

7. Нові винаходи допомагали прикрашати жіночій одяг.

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

dressmaker, to simplify, fashion designer, invention, to emerge, pattern book, ready-to-wear clothing, mass production, social changes, introduction, seasonal shows, to reflect.

TEXT B

I Read and remember:

1. gambling азартна гра

2. ambassador посол

3. empress імператриця

4. luxurious розкішний

5. to trim прикрашати

6. fringe бахрома

7. braid тасьма

8. tassel китиця

9. pleat складка

10. bulk велика кількість

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

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