ENG_B2.

0802R

Different Countries,
Different Clothes
Fashion and Shopping
Reading & Writing
Level B2

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Different Countries, Different Clothes Outline

Content
Read about the fashion style of different countries. What is popular in one place
may not be in another. What does fashion have to do with the culture of a
country?

Learning Outcomes
• Learn essential vocabulary related to the fashion industry
• Practice reading comprehension
• Discuss different fashion styles using new vocabulary

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Text

Fashion trends
By the early years of the 21st century, western clothing styles
had, to some extent, become international styles. This process
began hundreds of years earlier, during the periods of European
colonialism. Fast fashion clothing has also become a global
phenomenon. These garments are less expensive, mass-
produced Western clothing.
However, some people may still wear ethnic or national dress on
special occasions or in certain roles or occupations. For
example, most Korean men and women have adopted Western-
style dress for daily wear, but still wear traditional hanboks on
special occasions, like weddings and cultural holidays.Items of
Western dress may also appear worn or accessorized in
distinctive, non-Western ways. A Tongan man may combine a
used T-shirt with a Tongan wrapped skirt, or tupenu.
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Text

In some cultures, sumptuary laws regulate what men and women

are required to wear.

Islam requires women to wear more

modest forms of attire, usually hijab.
What qualifies as "modest" varies in
different Muslim societies. However,
women are usually required to cover
more of their bodies than men are.
Articles of clothing Muslim women
wear for modesty range from the
headscarf to the burqa.

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Text

And yet fashion is becoming more and more globalized.

There exists a diverse range of styles in fashion, varying by

geography, exposure to modern media, economic conditions,
and ranging from expensive haute couture to traditional garb,
to thrift store grunge.

American fashion.
The majority of American fashion houses are based in New
York City, with a high concentration centered in the Garment
District neighborhood. American fashion design is dominated
by a clean-cut, urban, casual style; reflecting the athletic,
health-conscious lifestyles of urban city-dwellers.

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Text

A designer who helped to set the trend in the United States

for sport-influenced day wear throughout the 1940s and 50s
was Claire McCardell. Many of her designs have been revived
in recent decades.

British fashion design

London has long been the capital of the United Kingdom
fashion industry and has a wide range of foreign designs
which have integrated with modern British styles. Typical,
British design is smart but innovative yet recently has become
more and more unconventional, fusing traditional styles with
modern techniques.

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Text

Vintage styles play an important

role in the British fashion and
styling industry. Stylists
regularly 'mix and match' the
old with the new, which gives
British style that unique,
bohemian aesthetic that many
of the other fashion capitals try
to imitate. Irish fashion (both
design and styling) is also
heavily influenced by fashion
trends from Britain.

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Text

German fashion
Berlin is the center of young and creative fashion in Germany
(prominently displayed at Berlin Fashion Week), while
Düsseldorf helds Europe's largest fashion trade fairs with
Igedo. Other important centers of the scene are Munich,
Hamburg, and Cologne. German fashion is famed for its
elegant lines as well as unconventional young designs and the
great variety of styles.

Japanese fashion design

Most Japanese fashion houses are in Tokyo. The Japanese look
is loose and unstructured (often resulting from complicated
cutting), colours tend to the sombre and subtle, and richly
textured fabrics.

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Vocabulary

1) international 11) sombre

2) ethnic 12) creative
3) accessorize 13) loose
4) clean-cut 14) trade fairs
5) attire 15) elegant

6) haute couture
7) innovative
8) unconventional
9) vintage
10) bohemian

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Vocabulary

trend society
fashion industry occupation
designer special occasions
diverse techniques
urban
casual
aesthetic
expensive

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Verbs

accesorize wear

produce imitate

set a trend
be influenced by

range from
be dominated by
reflect fuse

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Open Vocabulary

Students notes vocabulary they have further questions about

colonialism
phenomenon
garment
distinctive
sumptuary
exposure
city-dweller
concentration (in)

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Review
Word formation

1. designer design

2. accessories accessorize

3. creative create

4. innovation innovative

Please note the word formations above.

Example: Innovation (N) vs. Innovative (Adj.)

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Title

Please note
Present Perfect is used to describe an action that
happened at an unknown time in the past. We cannot
use it with words like yesterday, ago, in 1997, etc.
Also, we use Present Perfect for unfinished action - action that still continues until
now.
Examples
Fast fashion clothing has also become a global phenomenon. (Is it still a
phenomenon?)
Most Korean men and women have adopted Western-style dress for daily wear. (We
don’t know exactly the time in the past and it’s not important here)

Word Order
Position 2 Ende
Fashion has also become
Has fashion also become....?

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Grammar

Compare Past Simple and Present Perfect

Finished action in the past  you use expressions like yesterday, last,
ago, in 1970,etc., or you mention specific event or time in the past.
Example
This process began hundreds of years earlier, during the periods of
European colonialism.
A designer who helped to set the trend in the United States for sport-
influenced day wear throughout the 1940s and 50s was Claire
McCardell.
Unfinished action It still continues in the present.
Example
London has long been the capital of the United Kingdom fashion
industry.
(Is it still the capital of United Kingdom fashion industry? Most
probably, yes)

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Exercises

Writing

Answer the questions below

When did western clothing styles become truly international?
a) Early 21st century
b) End of 18th cenury
c) In the midst of 19th century
What do Korean people wear on special occasions?
a) Normal western clothes like anywhere else in the world
b) Ethnic clothes
c) They wear mostly vintage clothes
What is typical British fashion style?
a) Combination of modern and vintage clothes
b) Mostly traditional clothes
c) Mostly urban, casual style
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Exercises

Writing
Complete the sentences below. Use text
as a reference.
According to the text, in some cultures _____ regulates what men and women
wear
a) social status
b) religion
c) fashion
Japanese fashion style involves _____________?
a) Complicated cutting
b) Fusion of modern and traditional techniques
c) Elegants lines and design
Clair Maccardell was a designer who helped to set fashion trends in_____?
a) England
b) The Uninted States
c) Germany
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Exercises

Writing

True or False
The establishment of international fashion began during colonization 100 years ago.
a) True
b) False

It‘s perfectly acceptable for women in Islam to wear clothes that do not cover body.
a) True
b) False

Vintage elements are no longer popular in British fashion design and trends.
a) True
b) False

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Exercises

Speaking
Match the following words with their
definitions
 Something that is old-fashioned
and yet of excellent quality
Haute Couture 
 A formal dress of fine quality
Vintage 
 Opposite of traditional; out of the
unconventional 
ordinary
attire 
 A person who creates clothes
designer
 High fashion podium clothes that
sombre can be very expensive
 dull or dark color

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Exercises

Speaking

Opinion

1) What are fashion trends in your country?

2) Do you have any cultural or religious restrictions in
clothes and fashion?
3) Do you think fashion is getting more and more
globalized? Why? Why Not?
4) Do you follow fashion trends? If yes, what kind?
5) How you define a person who has good style and fashion
sense?

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Exercises

Writing
Write a summary of the text from the previous
slides. Add your own opinion as part of conclusion.

 Western style  British fashion

 Culture and fashion  German fashion
 Religion and fashion  Japanese fashion
 Globalization  Conclusion
 American fashion

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Exercises

Writing
There are many fashion styles around the world.
Describe one of them and explain why you fancy it
or not.

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Thank you

We would like to thank

the following sources for their content
Text Fashion design, Images Shutterstock – ID 75911149
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_desi Shutterstock – ID 85727026
gn#American_fashion_design
Shutterstock – ID 203352850
, Retrieved at 14.11.2014, Creative
Commons license Shutterstock – ID 104388200

Clothing,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing,
Retrieved at 14.11.2014, Creative
Commons license

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Thank you
for choosing to learn
with

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