Fashion

by Christopher Breward

Following 150 years of fashion, Christopher Breward offers a catholic view of this colorful and flamboyant universe, describing its trends, products, and inhabitants. From Haute Couture, High Street, and developing fabric technology to such stars of the fashion heavens as Coco Chanel, Giorgio
Armani, and Alexander McQueen, Breward explores territories far beyond style and function. He sees more than just an industry, giving voice to the larger cultural phenomenon fashion has become.

Breward's discerning view captures the glamorous world of Vogue and advertising; the relationship between fashion and film, and fashion as a business; and goes beyond the surface to consider individual interaction with fashion. How have ideas about hygiene and comfort influenced the direction of
style? How does dress create identity and status? Framing details of dandies, flappers, and punks within a clear overview of their respective periods, Breward takes a second look and casts everyday wear in a much different light.

In addition to all the glitz and glamour, the book includes suggestions for further reading, a timeline marking important events in fashion, and a list of relevant museums and galleries. In all, it is the most valuable, accessible, and modern text on fashion today.

Genres: Fashion, Art, Nonfiction, History, Sociology, Research, Reference

272 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

About the author

Christopher Breward is Director of Collection and Research at the National Galleries of Scotland, UK and Professorial Fellow at Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh, UK.

Reviews

[Katrina Sark · Rating 3 out of 5]

1730 – Industrialization of British textile industry increased with invention of John Kay’s Flying Shuttle
1770 – Rose Bertin emerges as premier marchande de modes in Paris
1780 – Development of early fashion magazines in Paris, London and Berlin
1783 – American War of Independence
1789 – French Revolution
1792-1815 – Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
1804 – Louis Hyppolite Leroy provides costumes for Napoleon’s court, Jacquard loom that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles patented
1822 – Charles Macintosh invents waterproof garment
1832 – Great Reform Act, UK
1833 – Abolition of slavery in British territories
1835 – Henry Fox Talbot takes first negative photograph
1837 – Queen Victoria
1846 – Sewing machine patented by Elias Howe
1848 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto
1850 – Manufacturers including Levi Strauss start making denim work trousers for US cattle-drivers and gold prospectors
1851 – Great Exhibition in London
1852 – Coronation of Napoleon III, rebuilding of Paris, The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine launched with instructions and patterns for home dressmaking, Le Bon Marché department store opens in Paris
1856 – William Perkin discovers aniline dye, publication of Flaubert’s Madame Bovary
1858 – Charles Frederick Worth starts his couture business in Paris, Japan opened to foreign trade
1861 – American Civil War
1864 – Worth supplies Empress Eugénie’s wardrobe
1865 – Abolition of Slavery in the US
1866 – Atlantic telegraph cable laid
1867 – Universal Exposition in Paris
1868 – Typewriter patented in US, precursor of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne founded
1869 – Opening of Suez Canal
1870 – Franco-Prussian War
1873 – World Exposition in Vienna
1877 – Phonograph invented by Thomas Edison
1878 – Electric light introduced
1884 – Art Workers Guild founded in UK
1885 – Marshall Field’s department store built in Chicago, safety bicycle and internal combustion engine developed
1886 – Statue of Liberty, New York
1889 – World Exposition in Paris
1892 – Vogue US launched
1893 – Chicago World Fair
1894 – Lumière brothers make first moving pictures in France
1895 – Trial of Oscar Wilde, Worth dies
1896 – Paul Poiret works for Jacques Doucet
1897 – Vienna Secession
1898 – Paris Métro opens, Sigmund Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams
1903 – Poiret established his own couture house, first flight by the Wright brothers, Wiener Werkstätte founded
1908 – Henry Ford launches Model T, Adolf Loos published Ornament and Crime
1909 – Cubism coined as an art term
1910 – Futurist manifesto published, Coco Chanel opens her first shop in Paris, New York garment district established around Penn Station
1912 – Titanic sinks, Madeleine Vionnet opens a fashion house in Paris
1913 – Marcel Proust published A la recherche du temps perdu, The Armory Show of Modern Art held in New York
1914 – WWI starts, Poiret founded Le Syndicat de Défense de la Grande Couture Française
1915 – Barrett Street Trade School (later London College of Fashion) founded
1916 – British Vogue launched, Dada movement started
1917 – Russian Revolution
1918 – WWI ends
1919 – Foundation of Bauhaus, Balenciaga opens first couture house in San Sebastian
1920 – French Vogue launched
1922 – Elsa Schiaparelli starts her knitwear design, Fascists take over Italian government
1924 – Rayon selected as generic term for artificial silk (in development since 1880s), André Breton published Manifesto of Surrealism
1925 – Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels in Paris
1926 – Chanel launched the little black dress
1928 – Muriel Pemberton established a diploma in fashion at the Royal College of Art in London
1929 – Schiaparelli opens a boutique in Paris, School of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture founded in Paris, Great Depression
1931 – Apparel Arts (precursor of GQ magazine) launched in UK
1933 – Hitler became Chancellor in Germany
1936 – First regular television broadcasts by BBC, Chambre Syndicale de la Couture reorganized into its modern form in response to industrial unrest
1937 – Balenciaga moved his business to Paris
1938 – DuPont launched nylon, Christian Dior works at Piguet
1939 – Schiaparelli moves to New York, Vionnet retires, New York World Fair, WWII starts
1940 – Occupation of Paris, Chanel closes her couture house, Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers founded, Dior moves to work for Lelong
1945 – WWII ends
1946 – Louis Reard introduced the bikini, Dior launches his own couture house
1947 – Dior’s New Look launched
1948 – Marshall Plan for European recovery
1950 – McCarthyism in US, Italian Vogue launched
1951 – Villa Torregiani fashion show in Florence promotes Italian design to the world
1954 – Schiaparelli closes her business, Chanel reopens her fashion house on rue Cambon
1955 – Mary Quant opened Bazaar on King’s Road in London, invention of Velcro, opening of Disneyland and the first McDonald’s restaurant in US, first nude centerfold in Playboy
1957 – Dior dies, Yves Saint Laurent took over as chief designer at Dior, Department of Dress established at St. Martin’s School of Art in London by Muriel Pemberton, launch of Sputnik, race riots in US, Treaty of Rome – launch of common market
1958 – First commercial transatlantic flights, Simone de Beauvoir published The Second Sex
1959 – Lycra introduced by Du Pont, Pierre Cardin expelled from Chambre Syndicale de la Couture for launching a ready-to-wear collection, Barbie doll launched
1960 – Contraceptive pill introduced
1961 – Berlin Wall constructed
1962 – YSL launched his own brand after Dior replaced him with Marc Bohan, Foundation of the Council of Fashion Designers of America
1963 – Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, John F. Kennedy shot, The Beatles world tour, Cosmopolitan magazine launched in UK, Diana Vreeland appointed editor0in-chief of US Vogue
1965 – Costume Society formed in UK, YSL Mondrian collection
1966 – Cultural Revolution in China, Twiggy start modelling, Time Magazine published the “Swinging London” article, YSL introduced “Le Smoking” and launched Rive Gauche
1967 – Summer of Love in San Francisco
1968 – Student demonstrations, Balenciaga retired, Ralph Lauren launched Polo
1969 – First supersonic flight, first man on moon, Stonewall gay riot in New York, Woodstock
1970 – Issey Miyake designed uniforms for Osaka International Exposition and opened design studio in Tokyo
1971 – Chanel dies, Malcolm McClaren and Vivienne Westwood open the first incarnation of their shop “Let It Rock” in Chelsea in London
1972 – Balenciaga died
1973 – Rei Kawakubo established Comme des Garçons, Costume Society of America founded, US withdrew from Vietnam, International oil crisis
1974 – Armani launched his own label, McLaren and Westwood relaunched their shop as “SEX”
1975 – YSL tailored trouser suit for women photographed by Helmut Newton
1976 – Calvin Klein launched his jeans label, McClaren and Westwood renamed their store “Seditionaries” with the rise of Punk
1977 – Studio 54 club opened in New York
1978 – Jean Paul Gautier launched his label, Gianni Versace founded his own business
1979 – Margaret Thatcher elected Prime Minister
1980 – Ronald Reagan elected President of US, American Gigolo released with costumes by Armani
1981 – Westwood’s first collection “Pirate” launched, first newspaper reports of AIDS, MTV launched
1983 – Apple Macintosh computer introduced, Diana Vreeland’s YSL show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
1985 – Donna Karan launched first collection
1987 – Christian Lacroix opened his own couture house, “Black Monday” economic crash
1989 – Berlin Wall demolished, Armani launched Emporio Armani line
1990 – Introduction of the internet
1991 – Gulf War
1992 – EuroDisney opened near Paris
1995 – John Galliano appointed principal designer at Givenchy
1996 – Galliano moved to Dior, Steve McQueen replace Galliano at Givenchy
1997 – Martin Margiela hired by Hermès, Gianni Versace murdered, Fashion Theory (academic journal) launched in UK, Princess Diana died, cloning of Dolly the Sheep
2000 – McQueen moved to Gucci, Armani exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York
2001 – 9/11
2002 – YSL retired, introduction of the Euro common currency

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christopher Breward's historical studies of fashion has justly earned him plaudits, so a combination of his care and sceptical insights longside the very high production values of Oxford UP's excellent History of Art series was imply too much to pass up, and I wasn't disappointed.

Breward's grasp of the literature and ability to get beyond the hagiographic writing that pervades much of the fashion literature in its obsession with the 'genius' designer is welcome. Naturally, it is the nature of the field and the character of art history discourses that significant parts of the story are old through key designers - Coco Chanel, Charles Frederick Worth, Paul Poiret, Galliano, Donna Karan, Vinenne Westwood, Gaultier et al make the expected appearances but in the context of a book with a significant section looking critically at fashion promotion, and thankfully including an (all too brief) chapter on making clothes. The book has three substantive sections - dealing with producing, promoting and wearing. Not surprisingly the final section is the longest, and it is the place where Breward gets to tease out the relationship between identities-from-wearing and fashion production in its capitals - Paris, London, New York, Milan. I would have liked more on making clothes, but this is an art history series and Breward has done well to assert the essential role of the networks that produce clothing from 'glamour' designer to sweatshop labourer, and also included many of the key texts in the supplementary reading list.

The book is beautifully produced - good quality paper, high quality images - 144 of them in 239 pages of text: a pretty good ratio and here are few double pages without an image, good binding. There is an extremely good reading list (and it is telling that I am reading this 8 years after publication and there is not much of quality to add), and all for a remarkably cheap price. This is an exceptionally good introduction to the field of study as a whole.

[Rafaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like any other Art History book, is not a quite easy book to follow. There are topics more interesting than others, but overall was a pleasant read. I was expecting a book that wold talk about the ways of dressing, but learning about the cultural changes and economic factors that influenced great names in the history of fashion was actually a great way to start.
Since my mother tongue isn't english I had to search some words that were fashion vocabulary but nothing that I'm not used to

[Maria Pantazopoulou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who'd like to read a concrete introduction to social fashion history!

[Lii · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oxford history of Art book of Fashion was a book of the general history of fashion that leads to the modern fashion industry. Although the book discusses many important factors it leaves out many other important points as well. The language is a bit pretentious and can be hard to read. It provides insight into the history but doesn't really dive properly into it.

[Maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative in a way of what fashion once was (only through late Rococo to modern day), what it is now, how society and individual designers paved the way through history. It also gives great sources and resources to further your research. Sadly, it is very limited and mainly focuses on what couture is and was. Enjoyable read and informative in what it offers.

[Jack Kinsella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for a better book, considering the publisher, but the author's use of English was let down by an over-reliance on the thesaurus, rampant inaccurate usage, and an overly wordy style. Shame really.

[Ashley Cancienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have not finished this book yet. But it is extremely boring. Some facts here and there are interesting, but its hard to follow because the author uses way too many complex words, long sentences, and reiterates a lot. Also, it doesn't follow a time line very much. It goes from 1920s to 1950s to 1930s to 1960s to 1920s. Very confusing! It's pretty much a textbook. I think this is a book fashion students are forced to read and take notes on or something. Also, theres not much on actual fashion clothing, accessories, models or photography. Its mostly about designers and what they were known for, and even then I feel like a lot of the actual interesting stuff is left out.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Breward has takes a welcome and uncommon critical look at the social, economic, and cultural forces that have shaped Western fashion as a movement and industry in the last century and a half in this book. Unfortunately, he seems to have so much disdain for both his subject and fellow fashion historians in his writing I have to wonder if he wrote the book under duress. A rigorous critical look at a subject shouldn't preclude finding joy in it, but Breward's text is as joyless as they come. I had to put it down after a few chapters because it was sucking all the fun out of fashion history and criticism for me.