0748186.

The Evolution of
Fashion.
Description to “The Evolution of
Fashion”…
My presentation will be about the evolution of fashion from the 1920’s to the present, by
focusing on emerging trends and their fashion icon counter parts. Through following the
evolution of fashion we can see how new trends emerged, how some trends quickly
disappeared, and observe the ones that surprise us by coming back all over again.
As the presentation continues, each slide will introduce you to a different era of fashion,
complete with photographs, text and information that will better your understanding of what
certain items of clothing represented to the individual wearing it and to those around them.
Fashion is much more than clothing, it is a physical representation of who we are and what we
like as an individual.

“…Fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”

- Coco Chanel
 1920s-1940s
The 1920s brought fashion into the modern era.
Referred to as the “Roaring Twenties”, women began
to wear skirts and dresses that were comfortable rather
than constricting. And men dressed in more casual
suits rather than the formal wear that was the norm.
The most defining style of the 20s was the Flapper.
Flappers were women who dressed in short skirts, had
a bobbed haircut, smoked, and showed their discontent
with the mainstream society. Actress Norm Talmadge
(right above) was know as your prototypical Flapper.
Here we see her wearing a Flapper Dress, showing her
arms, wearing heels which was also a new style to
emerge in the 20s.
1930s known as the “Stylish Thirties” was the return of
a more contemporary lady like look whose main
stylistic feature for this period was the emphasis on the
shoulders. The 1940s continued this look while
experimenting with more synthetic fibers, the
introduction of nylons and the use of the zipper.
Bathing suits were also a huge trend as traveling
became part of North Americans Lifestyle. Fashion
icons included actors Fred Astaire and Lauren Bacall
(right below).
1950s-1970s
The 1950s was the “Glamour Decade”. The
designs of Christian Dior was largely influential to
the style of the period as his designs came after
the war and emphasized women’s figures
something that hadn’t been done in a while.
Fashion trends of the 50s included the ever
famous Audrey Hepburn little black dress, shaped
fitted jackets, A line skirts to emphasize a women’s
waist, as well as hairstyles which included the
beehive and the classic tight curls.Icons included,
Marilyn Monroe, Brigette Bardot, Carey Grant. With
the rise of new music and Italian inspired mod
fashion the 1960s was a time for change in the
fashion world. Tons of trends emerged included
the mini skirt, bare legs instead of stockings, usage
of lace, and hats for both women and men. Major
fashion icon was skinny model Twiggy.
With the Hippie movement in the late 60s and
traveling into the early 1970s, fashion became a
large statement of an individual. With the summer
of love, light airy fabrics, tie die and baby doll tops
were huge trends. Late 70s again was influenced
through music. Disco fashion was introduced with
high platforms, flashy colours and tight clothing for
both women and fashion. Icons of this era were
Farrah Fawcett, and John Travolta.
 1980s- Present.
The 1980s were full of emerging trends that came
and went. From big shoulder pads to even larger
hair, the 80s were all about making a large
statement. Accessorizing also became a huge
trend in the 80s. From earrings, to hair pins, to
fishnet stockings accessories were what made the
outfit, especially it was flashy and bold in colour. A
major icon was of course Madonna, whose fashion
style was copied by thousands.
From the 1990’s to the present, we see new trends
forming but we also see a huge comeback of many
of styles from the previous fashion decades. Rock
music of the 90s had an influence in style including
the creation of the ‘grunge’ and ‘emo’ scene. New
trends also include dark denim jeans especially the
famous skinny jeans, high fashion gym wear like
Lululemon, the flat shoe and the scarf or pashmina
that goes with every outfit not just your out door
wear. However the present has definitely become a
collection of trends from previous decades. Ray
ban sunglasses, Audrey Hepburn’s tiny black
dress, 80s accessories, hippie inspired bohemian
dresses, the 1950’s hairstyle and so many more.
Past inspired fashion
Does fashion say a lot about who
you are as an individual?
As discussed before, many different styles
12 represented different social meanings to
those around them. What you choose to
wear and how you choose to present
10 yourself can say a lot about you. Or does
it? I decided to ask 20 girls and 20 boys
what they thought about whether or not
8 fashion says a lot about an individual?
As you can see form the results on the
6 Boys chart, the majority of girls said yes, and the
Girls majority of the boys said sort of. These
results show us that girls put more
4 importance on what they are wearing
because of the belief that it displays a
message about you. Where boys seemed
2 to be unaware or undecided on whether or
not fashion has that much effect on
0 surrounding people and what they perceive
Yes No Sort of of you based on your outfit.
Which fashion decade influences
your style the most?
As one of the previous collages showed us, past
styles continues to influence our fashion sense
today. Fashion icons of the present such as
Jennifer Lopez, Scarlett Johansson and Ed
Westwick complete their outfits with past inspired
trends.
I though it would be interesting to see of the
fashion eras I explored, which one has the most
influence on the students at McMaster University. 1920-
After asking several students the pie chart shows 1940s
that while most students seem to be influenced
by the most recent decades, a large number of 1950s-
students take ideas for their own style from the 1970s
time era between 1950- 1970s.
No matter whether students were born to even 1980s-
experience a certain decade, the trends of the 2007
past re appear and affects what they pick to wear
and how they look.
Style therefore lives on forever. And today we are
creating fashion trends that will appear on the
generations to come.
Citations…
Photos Courtesy of… Information from…
Blog.lib.umn.ed www.Wikipedia.org
www.sarasattic.co.uk www.fashion-era.com
www.thefashionspot.com www.thinkexist.com
www.time.com
www.vintagestyles.com
www.vogue.com
www.gossipgirlnews.com
www.fashionmuseum.co.uk
www.retrowow.co.uk

www.thefashionpolice.net
www.liketotally80s.com
www.people.com
www.geocities.com