(Tessa) What is Fashion? Fashion is a term to describe a style or clothing which lots op people wear.

But it can also express yourself as a person. Fashion can be divided in different parts. There is High Fashion, or Haute Couture. This are art pieces. They are often unwearable in real life, but they are always beautiful to see. There is pret-a-porter, which is fashion created by designers for a season. Clothes like this are worn in one season, and after that they are out of fashion and not memorial. Then there is the mall fashion. The fashion based on prt-a-porter, but than for the bigger crowd. Of less quality, but more payable for the normal folk. Street style is fashion that is not based on designers, but just made up by the person who wears it. In this category much unknown brands and vintage is worn. The last category is basic fashion. This are things which are needed every season. Jeans, tops, jackets etc. (Laurie) The History of Fashion. Fashion has been existing from the moment people started to dress. At first fashion was mostly for covering and keeping the body on temperature and protect ion against claws of animals and weapons. Though even in prehistory people wore obvious accessories to impress other tribes. Fashion developed fast, but used to be possible for the richer folks only. Poor people didnt waste the time and energy on clothes when there was work to do. From the viewpoint of the poor, fashion was snooty and artificial. (Tessa) After the middle ages, in the Golden Age and afterwards, fashion started to play a bigger role in society. The first know Queen of Fashion definitely was Marie- Antoinette. Her excessive style spread a lot of rumours and people scorned on it. The poor bourgeoisie saw her expensive dresses and shoes as a waste of money. After all was one of the reasons she was executed in 1793. (Laurie) From 1900 onwards, fashion began to play a role in the life of the normal people as well. For instance, around the start of the 20th century the Haute Couture and Prt-a-porter designer houses popped up. The magazine Vogue, the first fashion magazine in the United States was founded in 1892, and included fashion drawings, which regular women copied so they looked fashionable too. There was a huge increase of the fashion interest. Starting in the 60s, street style developed. The youth didnt want to follow the regular trends anymore, including the Charleston and Tommy style, punk and goth, grunge, hippies, sporty, disco and so on. Nowadays all teenagers want to be hipster or

emo/scene kids. You see, that trends are always based on trends before. Scene style for example is kind of the love child between punk and goth.

(Laurie) Now, were going to talk about Fashion Tools. The goal of a fashion designer is making products with a nice appearance and good quality. In prt- a- porter designers want to make wearable clothes, clothes people want. In fashion it is also important that the clothes show a certain level of beauty and this fashion also needs to show that you're rich. Designer clothes are the most wanted clothes in the higher society. Mall fashion, or following fashion doesnt have the high quality demands. (Tessa) Important in Fashion: FORMS: Designers make collections. Shapes are an important thing in design. Some designers, such as Viktor and Rolf, Alexander McQueen or Jean Paul Gaultier, make weird-shaped collections, to stand out. People are interested in new things, and that's why collections like this are popular. Other designers stay to known shapes, but better them. Like Herms and Karl Lagerfeld. In the malls much of these designs are copied. H&M for example, is known for their remakes of designerpieces, but selling them for less. In some stores there are collections for different people Such as supertall, small, big or well-covered. These collections are often a little more expensive, though in the big malls the prices are quite normal, and sometimes even in the same price. (Laurie) MATERIALS: Of course in fashion a lot of fabric is used. Fabric and thread are the most important materials in the making of clothes. Of course there are many types of fabric. The most known fabrics in the people without fashion experience are leather, silk, cotton, acryl, chiffon, tulle and lace. To make clothes the designer has an idea. He or she needs to sketch a pattern. This pattern is first cut out, than pinned on the fabric, and loosely sewn with a white thread. Than the pattern is cut from the fabric, so this white lines are seen. Across this lines are cut, and then the design is sewn in the right way. Than accessories can be added. Buttons, zippers, studs, and forms made of fabrics. On some designs you see for example silk flowers and tulle petticoats. COLOUR: Designers think of the seasons color. If a designer starts with jade green, than other designers will follow this idea. Soon jade green will be sold in every shopping mall in the world. As soon as the designers think of a new color, for example deep purple all the jade green clothes will end up in a sale, and purple will be the main colour in the new collection. (Tessa)

5 INSPIRING HAUTE COUTURE AND PRT - PORTER DESIGNERS: Karl Lagerfeld: Because. A Karl item can be noticed from far off. All his collections contain nothing but black and white. He is not the chief designer of Chanel AND Fendi, for no reason. The collections are feminine and classy, but at the same time he uses modern and futuristic tools. He is different. (Laurie) Jean Paul Gaultier Because he is outstanding and extraordinary. His use of much ethnic units, odd shapes, fur and many colours. The collections are more art than wearable. That's why you never spot Gaultier wannabe's in normal stores. He now is the chief designer of Hermes (Tessa) Viktor and Rolf One of the few international Dutch designers. They are so inspiring because they design with unusual tools. They use feminine fabrics, but they make weird creations. Bows, tulle, even sleeping- bags. Lots of lace are used, and this makes everything big and beautiful. (Laurie) Herms Because this brand is so classy and cozy. Warm colors, simple shapes, great fabrics. Officially Thierry Hermes designed saddles for the rich people. After his son had took over the lable, he introduced the Herms bags and trunks. The Kelly Bag and the Birkin Bag are still very famous. (Tessa) Chanel Because of the name. Chanel changed everything. While every other designer made most flamboyant dresses and hats full of feathers, she kept everything as she was. Simple and elegant. Chanel died decennia s ago, but her work is still remember.

(Laurie) 5 Well known and inspiring fashion store Chains (In Europe) On the first place H&M, or Hennes and Mauritz. The Swedish fashion malls are spread trough over the world, mostly in Europe. This fashion house is so popular because it is everywhere, and not just in the richest countries. There are a 115 H&Ms in the Netherlands. (Tessa) Topshop is a British clothes retailer, owned by Philip Green. There are chains in the entire world, mostly in England and the US, followed up by Russia and Ireland. We have only one small top shop in Amsterdam too, but Topshop

never became very popular in the Netherlands, because compared with other houses Top shop is quite expensive. (Laurie) New Look, another British retailer, has stores in the UK, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Ireland, Malta, Singapore and the a few Arabic countries. New Look brought life to a store with good quality, exquisite clothes and looks and by that, very payable collections. The only Dutch New Look is located in Rotterdam. (Tessa) C&A, a fashion retailer with Dutch roots. There are branches in both Western and Eastern Europe, and also in a few Arabic countries such as Egypt. The company is known for his budget and basics. C&A is the only fashion branches that isnt focused on trends, but more on clothes that are wearable forever. We have a 145 branches in the Netherlands. (Laurie )Zara: The brand was originated in Spain, but now they are located from Alaska to Venezuela to Tunisia. This is one of the most expensive stores, for the following reason: Unlike other chains, only 25% of their clothes are supplied by low-cost suppliers. Most of Zaras collections are manufactured in Portugal, where the wages are quite high. This makes the quality better and there is also use of more expensive fabrics, and not imitators.. Unlike many clothing retailers, Zara is responsible for every movement made in their apparel. There are 18 Zaras in the Netherlands.

(Tessa) There are also fashion retailers that are more based on street style than on Ready To Wear. For Example Monki, a store that shares his owner with the owner of H&M. Monki is more focused on teenagers and college students, and sells clothes that differ much in H&Ms classy wear. Monki barely supplies basics, but goes all the way in eccentric wear, with lots of retro accents. There is one in Amsterdam and one in Rotterdam. (Laurie) A lot of street style is also found in vintage stores, such as Doortje Vintage in Rotterdam. Doortje Vintage sells both pieces from the fifties til the nineties, though she also sells new clothes with a vintage look. The store was originally a webshop, but now she has two locations in the Netherlands.

(Laurie) For our interactive part, which was Tessas magnificent idea and therefore all credits go to her. We dont want our assignment to influence your choice of partner, therefore we want you to make pairs first. So two people per team. >..effe wachten tot er paren zijn..< So, now Tessa and me are going to hand out plastic bags and tape. Youll probably get the idea. Here is an example by us, so get inspired. We want you to design a clothing piece. You may decide for yourself if this is going to be Haute Couture, Prt--porter, mall style or street style.