Where does fashion originate?

[Guest TCGLogos]

Who dictates what the current fashion is?

 

Is it mass producers ie Walmart, Target...

 

Or is it hip expensive designers ie gucci, A&F...

 

or is there someone else controlling our fashion?

[atinymonkey]

I assume it's bordom and consumer culture.

 

"I want a new shirt, my old one bores me"....."oooh, a new branch of GAP".

[Coral Rhedd]

Who dictates what the current fashion is?

 

Is it mass producers ie Walmart' date=' Target...

 

Or is it hip expensive designers ie gucci, A&F...

 

or is there someone else controlling our fashion?[/quote']

 

Actually, I find this question very interesting. I think fashion is influenced by youth mostly. Many street looks are adapted by designers, refined and made enormously expensive. Then they are "knocked-off" by more mainstream companies which make them less extreme and more palatable for the masses at which time fads become trends and almost everyone who shouldn't starts walking around with a bare belly hanging over her jeans. People get sick of this, reject the trend, and designers start casting about for new material. Because culture is so international, everything is inspiration. So there is a trickle up, trickle down, trickle up again effect.

 

I just love Valentino myself and style.com really rocks.

[Flareon]

I've noticed that oftem times these supposed fashion geniuses actually steal ideas from various:

subcultures (goth, ravers, BDSM, hippie, etc...),

musicians (grunge, punk, icons like David Bowie, Modonna, and Michael Jackson were huge influences),

movies (The Matrix, Moulin Rouge),

and even world cultures (sarongs, bindis, kimono-style dresses, moccasins, ponchos were everywhere for a while, etc...).

 

As for influence, I would say that the "high-fashion Meccas" would be Milan and Paris, and some would also argue Manhattan.

[Coral Rhedd]

I've noticed that oftem times these supposed fashion geniuses actually steal ideas from various:

subcultures (goth' date=' ravers, BDSM, hippie, etc...),

musicians (grunge, punk, icons like David Bowie, Modonna, and Michael Jackson were huge influences),

movies (The Matrix, Moulin Rouge),

and even world cultures (sarongs, bindis, kimono-style dresses, moccasins, ponchos were everywhere for a while, etc...).

 

As for influence, I would say that the "high-fashion Meccas" would be Milan and Paris, and some would also argue Manhattan.[/quote']

 

Exactly. For awhile there Dolce and Gabanna really drew upon goth culture.

[Bettina]

Who dictates what the current fashion is?

 

Is it mass producers ie Walmart' date=' Target...

 

Or is it hip expensive designers ie gucci, A&F...

 

or is there someone else controlling our fashion?[/quote']

 

I'm not sure, but I believe the source is mostly the "hip expensive designers", but when I see it on a manequin at the mall, I gotta have it.

 

Bettina

[bascule]

Here's a quick quote from my good buddy Terrence McKenna:

 

"Hemlines are rising and falling in resonance with the rise and fall of ancient empires, and these things are as causally linked as the earth's orbit is to the sun"

[Guest Julia]

Read this book about the "tipping point."

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316346624/104-2172459-3356713?v=glance

[atinymonkey]

As for influence' date=' I would say that the "high-fashion Meccas" would be Milan and Paris, and some would also argue Manhattan.[/quote']

 

Manhattan? The fashion capital for transsexual hookers, maybe.

[Sayonara]

Fashion is a necessary evil, because most people can't get their head around the concept of style.

[Dak]

I've noticed that oftem times these supposed fashion geniuses actually steal ideas from various subcultures (goth, ravers, BDSM, hippie, etc...),

i hesitate to ask, but what does BDSM stand for? and if it stands for what im pretty sure that it stands for, then what fashions has it influensed? (none that iv seen down the highstreet, thats for sure!)

[Flareon]

i hesitate to ask, but what does BDSM stand for? and if it stands for what im pretty sure that it stands for, then what fashions has it influensed? (none that iv seen down the highstreet, thats for sure!)

 

Yes, as you probably suspect, it stands for Bondage, Discipline (or Dominance), Sado, Masochism. It's a subculture based on sexual role-play and fantasy within psychological context of the four elements that comprise its name. Look around the internet, there's abundant info to be found, but beware the pornage.

 

Oh, the influences were plenty, particularly in the 90's. Modonna cashed in on a subculture (as in her usual manner) by putting forward a "sex book," featuring some rituals; Janet Jackson also did a video dressed like some silly hyper-fashioned version of a dominatrix; examples of specific articles would be stilletto heels, thigh-high boots, corsets (which also is within the goth fashion realm), vinyl, leather, lace-up accents, chain maile, even the body piercings everyone seems to have (the tongue, nipples...) were popularized by the BDSM culture. And if you think this sort of underground (and one may argue subversive) practice not being able to reach the heights of high-fashion, check out this page devoted to Gisele Bunyun, one of the top leading models in the world (has pop-up).

 

(Just in case anyone's happens to be wondering, no, I'm not a part of the subculture, I gained much of the info doing research for a presentation for my Psychology of Human Sexuality class.)

[Phi for All]

Read this book about the "tipping point."

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316346624/104-2172459-3356713?v=glance

 

And if you think this sort of underground (and one may argue subversive) practice not being able to reach the heights of high-fashion....

The book Julia is recommending has an example of how a handful of hyper trendy East Village clubbers wearing thrift-store Hush Puppy shoes got spotted by a Connector (one of those people who seem to know all the right people) and literally made the shoes all the rage, saving the company (Hush Puppies) from a slow financial spiral into obscurity.