Introduction
Fashion can be said to be as old as man himself. It may be appreciated in many ways such as the mode of dressing, walking, hairstyles, food, cars or even the places that we frequent be it for a snack, a drink or a main meal. Fashion keeps on changing as it comes as a euphoria which sweeps across a certain age group, class, race, religion, town et cetera for a time before being overtaken by events or another fashion trend.
Fashion is so dynamic that to keep with fashion you have to be duly informed. However for women all they care about is making a statement by how they dress. The most common and accepted method of showing our allegiance to fashion is through dressing. One may wonder why we bother to wear clothes at all. Basically we wear clothes as society expects us to, heed workplace regulations, protect ourselves from adverse weather effects etc. Otherwise, the modern generation clothes differently for various reasons especially women. A few reasons why fashion is considered relevant are:
- It shows your thinking is modern and flexible.
- It has escapist qualities (for example you can wear anything in times of war).
- what one wears sends a strong message to other people about you
Factors Affecting Fashion Trend for Women
With the adoption of the word fashion, there came about the emergence of designers. These people have been dictating to women what to wear with each of them coming up with a unique type of dress which he/she claims to be the newest best thing ever to hit the market. With every woman wishing to be a niche above her counterparts when it comes to dressing, she is bound to pay a mind boggling amount of money for a piece of cloth that bears the tag of a famous designer. Mention famous designer names such as Christian Dior or Vasace in presence of fashion conscious women and see the reaction.
Conventional dressing is, however, usually dictated by the prevailing weather, mood of the wearer or situations (for example, mourners tend to wear black at funerals). Somehow some of these designers have tried to incorporate such considerations, with some failing dismally.
Some outfits being touted as fashion hits are absolutely outrageous and a very far cry from good taste and with no consideration of the wearers comfort. What we see in fashion shows are a pure exaggeration of what we see in the streets. By the time these outfit reach the stores, they have been edited so as to be realistic and more accommodating to the fashion moderates. These designers do so to grab the attention of the media and make a name for their own.
Another aspect that determines how women dress is their bodies. Women who take pride in having long well shaped legs are to be seen strutting around in very short skirts. The unlucky ones, who have not so well shaped legs or are marked by scars, will always be seen in long flowing skirts or trousers.
The men in a woman’s world also play a big role in determining what the woman wears. In accordance with nature, opposite sexes tend to seek attention from the other going to great lengths to impress the other. However, unlike the men, women invest more in their looks than the men. This can be explained by the fact that, it is the men who are supposed to approach women in their search for a spouse. With that in mind, it is now easy to see why a woman will always been seen in skirt suits, for example, if that is what her spouse likes.
Religion and culture overlap when it comes to determining the mode of dressing, among the Japanese people, the kimono has been there for decades. One glance at that kind of fashion has nothing modern about it only that it’s unique to the Japanese and as a show of loyalty to their culture, they continue adorning it. Elsewhere in the Islamic states, fashion for women is a distant cry from what we see in other countries. In a country such as Saudi Arabia, it is forbidden for a woman to show her hair in public as per the sharia law. This does not bring into consideration whether one ascribes to the Islamic teachings or not and thus ones fashion is thrown to the dictates of religion if you are a foreigner in such a country.
Celebrity obsession is another thing that is proving almost too much to handle nowadays and especially in women. Musicians and movie stars are the ones setting standards. Women have taken to aping their superstars. On doing so, they are not differentiating costumes from the normal fashion code that the stars adhere to while off the screen. With fashion trends changing at these high speeds we expect more weird things although it is somehow revolving albeit like re-inventing the wheel.
References
Tony, H. and Margaret B. Fashion Marketing: Contemporary Issues, New York: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007.
Information on the fashion trends for women available from
- www.alight.com (2008).
- www.purefashionshow.comrandoutlet.com (2008).
- www.iconique.com (2008).
- www.style.com/vogue (2008).