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Fashion Dictated by Royalty
Royalty set the fashion trends while the aristocracy followed in suit.
France's domination in fashion started in the early 18th century. By the way, the dates in most of these slides will be kinda off. I'm pretty sure this stuff didn't start right at 1700. -
Peasants
Plight of the poor and extravagancies of the royal court were one reason for the French Revolution.
Fashion changed from elaborate costumes to simple garments because of the revulsion to excess because of the Revolution. This meant simple, loose, high-waisted "Grecan"-style dresses in thin cotton. -
Dressmakers and Tailors
Textile industry grew in Lyons and other cities therefore supplying King Louis XIV's court with silk fabrics, ribbons, and laces.
Dressmakers and tailors sponsored by the wealthy developed skkills to a high level with these fabrics. -
Flying Shuttle
John Kay (England) invented the flying shuttle which enable more fabrics to be produced in less time. -
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Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Rev. marked the beginning of technological advances in textile and apparel production. Colonial America had virtually no textile/fashion industry. Most materials were imported. For instance, silks came from Italy, France, India, and China and wools, calicoes, and cashmeres came from Britain. -
Spinning Jenny
James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny which was the first machine to improve upon the spinning wheel by making it possible to spin more than one ball of thread. -
Water Frame
Richard Arkwright invented the water frame which produced threads for stronger yarns. It was also the first powered, automatic, and continuous textile machine and enabled the move away from small home manufacturing towards the factory production of textiles. The water frame was also the first machine that could spin cotton threads. -
Power Loom
Edmund Cartwright invented the power loom, an invention that combined threads to make cloth. -
English Textiles
To protect its industry, England passed strict laws preventing textile machines, blueprint tools, and mechanics/inventors from leaving the country.
Samuel Slater memorized the details of Arkwright's water frame and other machinery then left England. He then arrives in New England and has a new mill built and operating in 2 years. -
First Fashion Magazines
Dressmakers in other countries copied the styles from the latest fashion ideas from these magazines as best as they could with available fabrics. -
Cottage Industry Process
This is tailors cutting the fabrics, bundling up the pieces, then sending them to homes to be sewn by hand. Tailors became retailers with factory shops located at seaport cities, such as Philidelphia, Boston, New York. -
American Textiles
Textile mills began producing cloth in the U.S. New England also became the United State's first textile center. Francis Cabot Lowell (Boston) brought in the power loom in 1814 and his factory was the first to have vertical operation. In 1847, more Americans worked in textile than any other industry. -
Children's Fashion
Paper patterns were made available in the United States by Ellen & Williams Demorest and also Butterick and McCall's. Women on small budgets were happy to have patterns to make the clothes for their children. -
Looking For Gold
The Gold Rush attracted thousands of men to California in search of gold. A 20-year old Bavarian immigrant, Levi Strauss, opened a dry goods store in San Fransisco. They began to manufacture pants with riveted pockets using a tough cotton fabric called serge de Nimes, later called denim. -
Three Basic Garments
Most women had three basic garments in their wardrobes. Fashionable one-piece fitted dresses were impossible to mass produce because each had to be custom made to fit at least three sets of measurements. Only hoop skirts and cloaks ocould be manufactured for women. -
Standardization
An early use for sewing machines were to make Civil War uniforms.
The Union army recorded chest measurements of over a million soldiers to come up with the finest standardization of sizes. After war, sewing machines and uniform sizing promoted mass production of everyday menswear. -
Mass Production of Women's Separates
The introduction of separate blouses and skirts in the 1880's made it possible to manufacture ready-to-wear clothes for women. Blouses could be made to fit the shoulder and bust measurements and skirt to fit the hips. Ready-made blouses cheaper than custom tailored dresses. -
Garment Industry
The influx of European immigrants to New York helped to establish it as the center of the industry in the latter part of the century since they were willing to work for low wages. Women's clothing industry produced mostly cloaks, suits, blouses, and underwear. -
Women in the Workforce
Before 1900, few women worked outside the home. At the turn of the century women began to work in factory offices and retail stores. This made the need for convenience of ready-made clothing in the apparel industry grow. Made ready-to-wear clothing more acceptable. -
Unionization
Tenement workrooms called sweatshops because of excessively long hours required of laborers in unsanitary surroundings with extremely low wages. Cloak makers, mostly immigrants, formed the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union that tried to protect its members against unfair employers. Men's clothing union called Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America had succesful strike against Hart Schaffner & Marx in Chicago. This brought down working hours to 54 per week. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Co. Fire
A fire broke out inside of the company resulting in 146 deaths. Action was taken towards demands for regular hours, minimum wages, paid vacations, sick benefits, and better overall conditions. -
Mass Production of Clothes
The sewing machine made the mass production of clothing possible. Elias Howe, credited with its invention patented his sewing machine in 1846. Isaac Singer developed a foot treadle in 1859 which left hands free to guide fabric. Electric models followed in 1921. Entrepreneurs brought machinery and workers together in factories which made many people move to the cities in search of work at factories -
Effects of Great Depression
Within less than a month of Sep. 3, 1929, when the stock market started a steep decline, the value of stocks dropped $30 billion. Unemployment rose from 1.5 million to 12.8 million and business profits fell from $10.3 billion to $2 billion. Industrial production fell to half of what it had been, therefore many companies went bankrupt. More than one-third of ready-to-wear manufacturers went out of business. Put the whole world into a depression. -
Effects of WWII on Fashion
Under great restrictions and privation--practically no fabrics to work with, no trimmings, no press coverage, no heat, and little food--most designers barely managed to stay in business. Some were forced to close. Little was achieved. -
Postwar Fashion
The introduction of new wash-and-wear manufactured fabrics like nylon. -
American Fashion Innovators
Until the 50's, the average man's wardrobe was only dark suits, white shirts, somber neckties, an overcoat, raincoat, and hat. Designers such as Don Loper and John Weitz changed this by coordinating sportswear men. -
Fashion Business Evolution
Public investment gave apparel companies the needed capitol to grow and meet rising textile supplier minimums and growing retail distribution. -
Physical Fitness and Fashion
Designers and manufacturers created clothing for every sport. A newly developed elastic fiber, spandex, was used to give garments the stretch needed for movement. -
Globalization
During the 80's, fashion evolved into a global phenomenon. Both American and European manufacturers and retailers greatly increased imports of textiles, apparel, and accessories. -
Domestic Industry Trends
Textile and apparel manufacturers, faced with increasing competition from imports, especially from Asia, began using electronic data interchange to foster cooperation between textile and apparel producers and retailers to react quickly to trends and cut out wasted time in distribution. -
Manufacturing
Naturally, textile and apparel manufacturers were affected by the recession as there were fewer retailers to sell to and imports continued to climb. Textile and apparel producers joined retailers to debate the pros and cons of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Textile producers hoped that manufacturers would be able to use U.S. textiles if garments were produced in Mexico instead of Asia. -
Information Age
Because of growing imports, there was a shift away from manufacturing to focus on marketing and information. Both strategies were fostered by the great advances made by computer technology in all phases of the fashion industry. The 90's introduced the electronic industry partnerships, computer-aided design, high-tech manufacturing, cable TV, and computer shopping, infomercials and the Internet. -
The 21st Century
At the beginning of the new century, Americans enjoyed a vigorous economy and, along with it, a renewed enthusiasm for fashion. However, the economic downturn, unemployment, and the housing crisis resulted in a less than enthusiastic second decade of the 21st century. In spite of the recession, designers capture media attention and the public's imagination with their outlandish creations. I know this has nothing to do with textiles but this slide is required since it was in the Moodle guidelines
