SHOULD WE FOLLOW FASHION?

………… or it is all about the shops trying to make money out of us and designers feeding their egos?

Let’s go back to the early 1920’s and see what was happening in the world of fashion and how our shopping habits were influenced.

The 1920’s had the wonderful flapper style, very flirty, playful, short hair for the women, feather boas, ankles on show for the first time (shield your eyes gentlemen!) and – heavens above – bare arms!  Whatever next?  What was influencing this drastic (at the time) fashion move?  Well the 1920’s was just after the 1^st World War and the first time in history women had started to ‘play’ with the boys.  The whole atmosphere after such an awful war was one of living for the moment, daring to challenge taboos and pushing boundaries.  Women were just starting to feel the tug of emancipation and the need to express their inner core.  More relaxed behaviour was reflected in more relaxed clothing.

So moving onto the 1930’s then.  Hats, hats and more hats!!  We were celebrating our matriarchal power in the 1930’s and this was reflected in the extra height we gave ourselves with our hats.  Goodness, they were glorious; it was just not ‘done’ to leave the house without one darling!

What came next?  The 2^nd World War sadly.  This was the first time in history women worked with the men.  Women were doing the jobs that up to that point they had never done before: driving tractors and lorries, working in ammunition factories, working the land, driving buses.  The fashion during the 40’s was very military, pillbox hats, tweed skirts straight and just above the knee, boxy little jackets, epaulettes and belted.  Trousers were also worn for the first time by women at this time, giving us so much more flexibility and freedom.  Very practical for our role in society at that point.

The 1950’s gave us back our matriarchal power.  Was this reflected in big hats again?  No – BIG HAIR!! The birth of the beehive, this was dedication to the art of fashion beyond anything we have to go through now.  The amount of time needed to perfect the beehive must have been almost prohibitive to going anywhere!!  This big hair coupled with nipped in waists, full skirts, bobby socks and rock and roll was a revolution of gigantic proportions.  Despite the severe lack of the post war years in terms of supply and availability of resources, people made up for this deprivation with fun, fun and more fun expressed through their clothes with a resolute determination that ‘things can only get better’ – no Tony Blair, you were not the first one to coin that phrase!

Where to go from there I hear you ask?  A good question, what could follow the beehive and have the same impact?  The PILL!  The 1960’s were a sexual revolution for women.  It was the first time in history women had control over their body and whether or not they got pregnant, no longer were they at the mercy of men.  The freedom this produced for women was expressed very visually with the exposure of flesh as had never been seen before – the mini skirt and the hot pants, T shirts without bras, and sometimes without the T Shirt(!), make-up took on a whole new meaning and look, black eyes, pale shimmering lips, wild colours, even wilder music and the mainstream use of drugs.  Goodness!

So, onto the mid 1970’s and early 1980’s then.  I remember this well, I had left school and started working in London near Soho and Carnaby Street, what a great time that was!  Sadly the fashion at the time wasn’t quite so great!  Remember Dynasty and Dallas?  How did we ever wear those earrings and not damage our ears?!  Hair that wouldn’t have moved in a 10 force gale, shoulder pads in our jackets that would have made an American Footballer weep with envy and colours that could compete with the wildest Picasso painting and probably win!  Why or why did we do it?  Well this was the beginning of women finally starting to break through the glass ceiling; women were working in very male dominated industries and professions – law, investment banking, accountancy, stock exchange.  It was the era of Thatcherism –  material living was at the forefront of our minds, people were buying property on a scale unseen before, the class system was being challenged, global influences were affecting the way we worked and communicated, the City was no longer the territory of the bowler hated, umbrella swinging, 3 piece suited gentleman.  We women were working under the misconception that to work with men we had to behave like them.

Could this last?  Well let’s face it, hair that stiff, earrings that big and shoulders that wide were never going to be enduring fashion statements were they?!  What happened next then?

Finally, in the late 1990’s and into the early 21^st century, women have come to realise that the power we have is in looking like women, to compete in a man’s world is no longer the impossibility it seemed to be a couple of decades ago.  We now know that we have far more power in our femininity than we will ever have in trying to emulate men.  The fashions over the last 10 -15 years have been about celebrating the female form, curves, softer fabrics, better use of colour and shape, it’s ok now to have curves, a bust and hair that moves.  Thank goodness!

Back to my first question then – should we follow fashion?  I think that actually fashions follow us.  Fashion is always a direct result of what is happening globally and politically at any given moment.  The major changes have happened now, women are more equal than they have ever been, it doesn’t occur to me that I can’t do exactly what I wish with my life, because I can, the major world events affect us of course, but not as personally as the two World Wars.  It’s interesting to note that fashion now appears to be going retrospective, a new look on old ideas.

Should you do everything out there?  No is the answer.  Previously the influences were so strong and we were carried along with the tide, now we have far more say and influence on how we wish to look and far more knowledge.  The Image industry is very recent in this Country, I trained in 1989 and it was virtually unheard of then.  We are all far more savvy and demanding in what we expect and want to see and the fashion designers respond to us more than us responding to them.

If a fashion or trend comes along and you can do it – DO IT!  If you can’t – DON’T!  Know who you are, celebrate who you are, never be ashamed of who you are, expose your gloriousness when ever you can and SOCK IT TO ‘EM at every given opportunity!