ARTIST: a story of clothing (Part 1)

It's difficult to say why you like to dress, why you are directly or indirectly interested in trends, why you attach importance to your wardrobe.

You feel the soul ARTIST, the works and their artists provoke little madness in you.

This summer, the brandArt-to-wear offers you a chronicle on the history of clothing and fashion. The digital magazine will therefore devote a few articles to the saga of this infinite universe, both community and so personal.

Homo sapiens would have started to dress only 170,000 years ago! Before that, Neanderthal men, women and children covered themselves with simple animal skins.

Impossible to summarize in a few lines what dates from the dawn of time, inseparable from its sociology.

We must go back to the most ancient periods to understand how clothing was socially and politically defined, and what the respective dress codes of each era were.

The purpose of clothing is multiple: practical because it is protective, symbolic as a sign of a moral or even social posture, it displays status. From a utility point of view, it protects from the elements (cold, heat, etc.), from external aggressions (abrasions, bites, blows, etc.). It can have a role in terms of modesty aimed at promoting verbal communication and reflection. It adds intangible functions in the field of beautification.

In the early days of humanity, clothing was only functional. Quickly, we improve it, color it, sew it. We customize it: we hang jewelry, brooches. We personalize it. Depending on their tribe, geographic origin, family, age and gender.

These are the beginnings, very nascent, of what will become several thousand years later, “fashion”.

From the Greco-Roman tunic to the unisex medieval dress, Roman dress formed the new basis of clothing, essentially lordly, until the last third of the 14th century when fashion became as complex as it became richer.

In France, from the 14th century, due to technical progress and the intensification of commercial exchanges, fashion was an aristocratic whim. The wealthy classes are distinguished from the working classes. Fashion is then a foil; if it does not yet really have an identity, it is the mirror of the social condition.

At court, the courtesans (years) compete in elegance. Obligingly flashy, the materials are rare and the fabrics sumptuous.

From the Renaissance to the 18th century: the French dress became the prerogative of women with the appearance of dresses with virtuegadins, baskets, or turns...

Common ancestor of the jacket, shirt and t-shirt, the doublet (padded) imposes itself and creates the clothing distinction between men and women in the silhouette.

As the Middle Ages moved away, half-dress (separation of top and bottom) became completely diversified to break with medieval austerity. Under Louis

For men, it was soon the loose, puffy culottes that became popular in the mid-17th century. Then the trend for the “leotard” emerged, which spread widely until the end of the 18th century.

The history of fashion really begins in the 19th century. The designer Charles Frédéric Worth, pioneer of Haute Couture, parades his models on real mannequins, in prestigious salons, undoubtedly the first couture parades in history. In 1900, Paris had around twenty Haute Couture houses. There will be around a hundred in 1946 (and barely 15 at the turn of the 21st century).

 From the Enlightenment to the 20th century, everything became considerably lighter and clearer. The silhouettes are more and more natural. Only the fabrics remain precious. Women are returning to Greek-style dresses of fine muslin, reveal their shoulders and adopt cashmere shawls in this regard.

We gradually get rid of too sumptuous accessories. We also owe to the Revolution the famous classic pants of today, accompanied by the famous short or long frock coat, the short waistcoat, imposing the three-piece suit.

The outfit, certainly more sober, managed to retain a certain eccentricity when English dandyism won the hearts of the French in the 19th century. We invent the tuxedo. Long, wide coats become androgynous.

For women, dresses and skirts are losing their fullness. The only exception: the crinoline dress. Women's costume evolved especially at the very end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century: war, sports, more frequent travel by bicycle in particular and the automobile industry inspired new adornments, thus further mobilizing the textile industry.

To note : the order of the Paris police headquarters prohibiting women from dressing as men in 1800 (and the opposite order promulgated in 1907 by Louis Lépine, prohibiting men from cross-dressing as women) was only repealed 'in February 2013.

ARTIST will address the history of fashion in the 20th centuryIt is century in his next articles… To be continued…