Over the years fashion has changed and shaped with the times, but what drives these changes in fashion? Harriet Worsley’s Book 100 Ideas That Changed Fashion discusses one hundred of the most influential ideas that shaped fashion from the classics, such as the Little Black Dress, to clothing that is currently worn as everyday casual, such as sneakers. Fashion has come along way and throughout the one hundred ideas discussed in Worsley’s book reoccurring themes tend to pop up among the ideas. War, people, and the inventions of new fabrics inspire many of the ideas presented in Harriet Worsley’s 100 Ideas That Shaped Fashion. The first theme that is very prominent throughout many ideas in the book is war. Many garments and accessories first
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Coco Chanel being one of the major contributors introduced these fashion changing ideas: pants for women, making costume jewelry just as acceptable as real jewelry, the sweater, the artificial smelling Chanel No. 5 perfume, and the famous Little Black Dress. Celebrities, royalty, politicians, pop stars, and supermodels also are major influencers of fashion. The lives, including what they wear, of all these people are watched and reported back to the general public through newspapers, magazines, tv, and the internet. Hence, when the public sees what the celebrities are wearing, they too want to wear similar clothing. This illustrates the Trickle Down Theory where the fashions of the higher levels of society work their way down to the lower levels of society. Hence, the term trickle because the fashions eventually get to the lower levels in a similar way that water trickles down on certain surfaces. One example includes the recent tradition of the white wedding dress. It was traditional for women to wear blue or pink or their favorite color in a dress or skirt suit to get married, but then in 1840 Queen Victoria chose to wear a white satin and lace dress. The white wedding dress began to catch on and by the 1920s “white was established as the only color for a respectable Western bride”(Worsley 21). To further illustrate people’s influence on fashion Grace Kelly, a Hollywood star and
Coco Chanel being one of the major contributors introduced these fashion changing ideas: pants for women, making costume jewelry just as acceptable as real jewelry, the sweater, the artificial smelling Chanel No. 5 perfume, and the famous Little Black Dress. Celebrities, royalty, politicians, pop stars, and supermodels also are major influencers of fashion. The lives, including what they wear, of all these people are watched and reported back to the general public through newspapers, magazines, tv, and the internet. Hence, when the public sees what the celebrities are wearing, they too want to wear similar clothing. This illustrates the Trickle Down Theory where the fashions of the higher levels of society work their way down to the lower levels of society. Hence, the term trickle because the fashions eventually get to the lower levels in a similar way that water trickles down on certain surfaces. One example includes the recent tradition of the white wedding dress. It was traditional for women to wear blue or pink or their favorite color in a dress or skirt suit to get married, but then in 1840 Queen Victoria chose to wear a white satin and lace dress. The white wedding dress began to catch on and by the 1920s “white was established as the only color for a respectable Western bride”(Worsley 21). To further illustrate people’s influence on fashion Grace Kelly, a Hollywood star and