FANCY FASHION

 Fashion started when humans began wearing clothes, which were typically made from plants, animal skins and bone. Before the mid-19th century, the division between haute coutureand ready-to-wear did not really exist, but the most basic pieces of female clothing were made-to-measure by dressmakers and seamstresses dealing directly with the client. Most often, clothing was patterned, sewn and tailored in the household. When storefronts appeared selling ready-to-wear clothing, this need was removed from the domestic workload. 

More is known about elite women's fashion than the dress of any other social group. Early studies of children’s fashion typically pulled from sources of folklore, cultural studies, and anthropology field-based works.One trend across centuries was that Christian children typically dressed best on Sundays for religious purposes.Another is the importance of ‘hand-me-downs,’ receiving used clothing.In addition to hand-me-downs, sharing clothing among siblings has also been a trend throughout history.Prior to the 1800s, European and American children’s clothing patterns were often similar to adult’s clothing, with children dressed as miniature adults.Textiles have also always been a major part of any fashion as textiles can express how much one can afford.

From the late nineteenth century on, clothing was increasingly based on printed designs, especially from Paris, which were circulated throughout Europe and eagerly anticipated in the provinces. Seamstresses would then interpret these patterns as best they could. The origin of these designs lay in the clothing created by the most fashionable figures, typically those at court, along with their seamstresses and tailors. Though there had been distribution of dressed dolls from Francesince the 16th century and Abraham Bosse had produced engravings of fashion in the 1620s, the pace of change picked up in the 1780s with increased publication of French engravings illustrating the latest Paris styles, followed by fashion magazines such as Cabinet des Modes. By 1800, all Western Europeans were dressing alike (or thought they were); local variations became first a sign of provincial culture and later a badge of the conservative peasant.

In the 20th century, fashion magazines and, with rotogravure, newspapers, began to include photographs and became even more influential. Throughout the world these magazines were greatly sought-after and had a profound effect on public taste. Talented illustrators – among them Paul Iribe, Georges Lepape, Erté, and George Barbier – drew attractive fashion plates for these publications, which covered the most recent developments in fashion and beauty. Perhaps the most famous of these magazines was La Gazette du Bon Ton which was founded in 1912 by Lucien Vogel and regularly published until 1925.