Fashion - An Overview
Fashion is a phrase and an idea that predominantly applies to an existing channel of expression, but equally often applies to a personal mode of expression that may or may not apply to every individual. The basic underlying idea is that the mode of this expression will vary and change faster than the culture itself.
Hence, the terms “fashionable” and “unfashionable” are used to describe whether someone or something fits in with this obsessively popular mode of expressing oneself. The word “fashion” is frequently used in a positive sense, very often as a synonym for positive adjectives like glamour, beauty and style. And in that sense, fashion has been recognized as a sort of communal art, through which a culture examines its notions of beauty and goodness.
On the other hand, the term “fashion” is also seen to be used in a negative sense, as a synonym for fads, trends, and materialism.
The current global fashion centers are London, Milan, Paris and New York, but other cities like Rome and Tokyo are also becoming well known.
The tendency of human beings to continually change the style of their clothing, which is now a worldwide phenomenon, at least among urban populations, is by origin, distinctively Western one. Not that there weren’t signs from more historical origins. In the 8th century Cordoba (Spain), Ziryab, a famous musician and stylist hailing from Baghdad, introduced the first trend of fashion in Europe.
Not only that, Ziryab went on to develop a sophisticated clothing fashion based on seasonal and daily timings. For instance, in winter, costumes were made essentially from warm cotton or wool items usually in dark colours and summer garments were made of cool and light costumes involving materials such as cotton, silk and flax in light and bright colours. These became an instant hit with the local gentry. Brilliant colours for these clothes were produced in tanneries and dye works which the Muslim world perfected its production, for example, in 12th century Fez, there were more than 86 tanneries and 116 dye works.
