The Evolution of

Fashion.

Description to The Evolution of

Fashion
My presentation will be about the evolution of fashion from the 1920s to the present, by focusing
on emerging trends and their fashion icon counter parts. Through following the evolution of
fashion we can see how new trends emerged, how some trends quickly disappeared, and
observe the ones that surprise us by coming back all over again.
As the presentation continues, each slide will introduce you to a different era of fashion,
complete with photographs, text and information that will better your understanding of what
certain items of clothing represented to the individual wearing it and to those around them.
Fashion is much more than clothing, it is a physical representation of who we are and what we
like as an individual.

Fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.

- Coco Chanel

1920s-1940s
The 1920s brought fashion into the modern era.
Referred to as the Roaring Twenties, women began
to wear skirts and dresses that were comfortable
rather than constricting. And men dressed in more
casual suits rather than the formal wear that was the
norm. The most defining style of the 20s was the
Flapper. Flappers were women who dressed in short
skirts, had a bobbed haircut, smoked, and showed
their discontent with the mainstream society. Actress
Norm Talmadge (right above) was know as your
prototypical Flapper. Here we see her wearing a
Flapper Dress, showing her arms, wearing heels
which was also a new style to emerge in the 20s.
1930s known as the Stylish Thirties was the return
of a more contemporary lady like look whose main
stylistic feature for this period was the emphasis on
the shoulders. The 1940s continued this look while
experimenting with more synthetic fibers, the
introduction of nylons and the use of the zipper.
Bathing suits were also a huge trend as traveling
became part of North Americans Lifestyle. Fashion
icons included actors Fred Astaire and Lauren Bacall
(right below).

1950s-1970s
The 1950s was the Glamour Decade. The
designs of Christian Dior was largely influential to
the style of the period as his designs came after
the war and emphasized womens figures
something that hadnt been done in a while.
Fashion trends of the 50s included the ever
famous Audrey Hepburn little black dress, shaped
fitted jackets, A line skirts to emphasize a womens
waist, as well as hairstyles which included the
beehive and the classic tight curls.Icons included,
Marilyn Monroe, Brigette Bardot, Carey Grant. With
the rise of new music and Italian inspired mod
fashion the 1960s was a time for change in the
fashion world. Tons of trends emerged included the
mini skirt, bare legs instead of stockings, usage of
lace, and hats for both women and men. Major
fashion icon was skinny model Twiggy.
With the Hippie movement in the late 60s and
traveling into the early 1970s, fashion became a
large statement of an individual. With the summer
of love, light airy fabrics, tie die and baby doll tops
were huge trends. Late 70s again was influenced
through music. Disco fashion was introduced with
high platforms, flashy colours and tight clothing for
both women and fashion. Icons of this era were
Farrah Fawcett, and John Travolta.

1980s- Present.
The 1980s were full of emerging trends that came
and went. From big shoulder pads to even larger
hair, the 80s were all about making a large
statement. Accessorizing also became a huge
trend in the 80s. From earrings, to hair pins, to
fishnet stockings accessories were what made the
outfit, especially it was flashy and bold in colour. A
major icon was of course Madonna, whose fashion
style was copied by thousands.
From the 1990s to the present, we see new trends
forming but we also see a huge comeback of many
of styles from the previous fashion decades. Rock
music of the 90s had an influence in style including
the creation of the grunge and emo scene. New
trends also include dark denim jeans especially the
famous skinny jeans, high fashion gym wear like
Lululemon, the flat shoe and the scarf or pashmina
that goes with every outfit not just your out door
wear. However the present has definitely become a
collection of trends from previous decades. Ray
ban sunglasses, Audrey Hepburns tiny black
dress, 80s accessories, hippie inspired bohemian
dresses, the 1950s hairstyle and so many more.

Past inspired fashion

Does fashion say a lot about who

you are as an individual?
12
10
8
Boys
Girls

6
4
2
0

Yes

No

Sort of

As discussed before, many different styles

represented different social meanings to
those around them. What you choose to
wear and how you choose to present
yourself can say a lot about you. Or does
it? I decided to ask 20 girls and 20 boys
what they thought about whether or not
fashion says a lot about an individual?
As you can see form the results on the
chart, the majority of girls said yes, and the
majority of the boys said sort of. These
results show us that girls put more
importance on what they are wearing
because of the belief that it displays a
message about you. Where boys seemed
to be unaware or undecided on whether or
not fashion has that much effect on
surrounding people and what they perceive
of you based on your outfit.

Which fashion decade influences

your style the most?
As one of the previous collages showed us,
past styles continues to influence our fashion
sense today. Fashion icons of the present such
as Jennifer Lopez, Scarlett Johansson and Ed
Westwick complete their outfits with past
inspired trends.
I though it would be interesting to see of the
fashion eras I explored, which one has the
most influence on the students at McMaster
University. After asking several students the pie
chart shows that while most students seem to
be influenced by the most recent decades, a
large number of students take ideas for their
own style from the time era between 19501970s.
No matter whether students were born to even
experience a certain decade, the trends of the
past re appear and affects what they pick to
wear and how they look.
Style therefore lives on forever. And today we
are creating fashion trends that will appear on
the generations to come.

19201940s
1950s1970s
1980s2007

Citations
Photos Courtesy of

Information from

Blog.lib.umn.ed
www.sarasattic.co.uk
www.thefashionspot.com
www.time.com
www.vintagestyles.com
www.vogue.com
www.gossipgirlnews.com
www.fashionmuseum.co.uk
www.retrowow.co.uk

www.Wikipedia.org
www.fashion-era.com
www.thinkexist.com

www.thefashionpolice.net
www.liketotally80s.com
www.people.com
www.geocities.com