1.

The Belle Epoque 1900 1914 :

Paris was the fashionable centre of the Western world. Womens bodies
were moulded into the S - bend shape: bust out,hips back,stomach
smooth and flat. The society womans day was a whirl of dressing and redressing from day dresses to visiting dresses to afternoon dresses. For
paying calls in the morning she would wear tailor - made skirt suits were
expected in the evening. Only the early evening tea govn,allowed
women to remove their corsets and retire to their boudoirs.
Designer Paul Poiret offered women some respite from corsets topped with
lace and frills. The waistline shot up to hang underneath the bust,and
fabric fell in a softly draped column to the ground. Eastern costumes for
Cleopatre and Scheherazade had flooded the city in a wave of exoticism.
He began offering soft tunics,harem pants,kimonos,turbans. Only the very
rich could afford made-to-measure clothes from a couture house. The
fading popularity of the full corset coincided with a wider struggle for a
womens freedom.
2. Boom and Bust 1920 1929 :
Period comes after the dark war years. Fashion was no exception.
Bechelor girl silhouete emerged. Skirts became daringly short,breasts
were flattened with bandeaus and waistlines were slung on the hip.
Women smoothed their hair into a short shingle,then hid it under a tight
cloche hat. Chanels designs epitomised this borrowed from the boys
look,with nauticalsailor trousers,reefer jackets and blazers as well as more
classic pyjamas,open-necked shirts and jumpers. Her cardigan suit and
little black dress have remained timeless classics.
As the skirts went up,morals went down,and doctors warned that women
were turning to cigarettes and alcohol to fuel their debauched lifestyles.
They piled on the bracelets,scarves,hats and feathers.
3. The Glamour Years 1930 1938 :
Around the world,millions flocked to the talkies to see and to hear their
idols,stars such as Marlene Dietrich,Joan Crawford,Greta Garbo. They
became icons,idealised goddresses and arbiters of style. Image was all.
Women was dedicated to selling copycat Hollywod looks.
The ideal figure was lithe, toned and streamlined,with thin hips,a defined
waist and broad shoulders. For daywear she might choose a slim-cut dress
with wide shoulders and a belted waist or tailored suit which reached
below the knee. Eveningwear fell into two main categories : the first was a

classicaly draped, bias-cut style,the second harked back a generation to

the prosperous Belle Epoque.
As the decade passed,beach holidays and sunbathing became more
fashionable. Holidaymakers donned sailor-style tops,shorts and thin floral
dresses,and mother-and-daughter swimwear.
4. New World New Look 1947 1956 :
With fewer wartime constraints,fashion began to blossom. Designers
smothed off fashions sharp lines to create a softer silhouette,but Christian
Dior had the nerve to exaggerate the feminine silhuette to cartoon-like
proportions. Extravagance f ballerina skirts,tapered waists and bustenhancing bodices. Women had already fallen in love with the romantic
style which made the wartime suits look so mean. Dior set the
trends,everyone else copied them and the companu reaped the
considerable financial rewards. Looks for each season: the H-line,the Aline,the tulip line and the Y-line.
Cristobal Balenciagas ergonomic suits with stand-away collars were
smooth,and, in contrast to wide New Look skirts,he offered tight pencil
skirts with jackets that rested on the hip.
With the increase of ready-to-wear and mass production couture found
itself being shunted onto the sidelines. America began to land in
quality,mass-produced,ready-to-wear clothing. The fifties marked the
liberation of the teenager as free spirit: biker girls rode up behind the boys
in unisex jeans,boots,leather jackets.. Fashionable clothes specifically
targeted at the young.
5. Minis and Mods 1957 -1966:
In 1960, Dior elevated beatnik and biker styles from street level to the
catwalk. Dresses influenced by the geometric style ofthe artist Mondrian,a
collection inspired by the Warhols Pop Art prints. In the late fifties to
straight up and down sack dress by Dior and Balenciaga paved the way for
tunics and mini-dresses,and women rejected wide skirts for pencil skirts
and nipped-in jackets.
Mary Quant launched the mini-skirt from her Kings Road boutique. New
era and setting the seal on London as the new fashion centre. The
transition from New Look to the girl-child in her mini tunics of the late
sixties is similar to the changes between thw Belle Epoqe and the
twenties.
The curvaceous,womanly corseted silhouette once more gave birth to a
lok of adlescent androgyny and a driving youth culture. The model better

known as Twiggy. Boutiques sprang up ewerywhere. Designers began

experimenting with new materials: stretch fabric,experimented with plastic
and PVC .. Mary Quant used PVC for her wet-look rainwear.
6. The Daisy Age 1967 1978 :
Free your mind and your clothes will follow. Man was about to walk on the
moon and anything,it seemed,could happen. Fashion rejected geometric
futurism for a longer length,romantic style. The world was shrinking as air
travel became more affordable. Souvenirs from the hippie trails soon
worked themselves into womens wardrobes: Indian cheesecloth
shirts,ponchos,gypsy skirts..
Pop stars set the trends. Wearing the printed silks and
satins,chiffon,leather jacket metallic,unisex flared jeans and T-shirts . man
and women grew their hair and girls now wanted trousers rather than
skirts. The individual was free to choose frm a myriad styles.
Punk gobbed. Women wore tight leathers,leopard skin. Bodies were
pierced. In the late seventies designers moved from the theatrical to the
practical. In America Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren launched designer
jeans and Halston did sleek jersey trouser suits and dresses.