Fashion and Cultural Diversity, Research Paper Example

Without a doubt, the fashion industry is a multi-billion dollar global business that touches a vast majority of the people around the globe and is comprised of the “design, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, retailing, advertising, and promotion of all types of apparel” (Fashion Industry). This stretches across gender, age, race and cultural boundaries and includes men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, shoes and accessories and represents everything about fashion from sporty clothing to high fashion apparel.

According to Fashion Industry (2012), the word Fashion refers to “the style or styles of clothing and accessories worn at any given time by groups of people.” This basically refers to how groups of people have varied, but similar, tastes and the significant influence of people over what direction fashion trends move, and this is something that got its start earlier in history.

Prior to the invention of the sewing machine, people basically made their own clothes. After the invention of the sewing machine, in the mid-1800s, fashion began to thrive as a modern-age industry that gave way to capitalism and commercialization. This led to the mass production and sale of clothing, as well as the rise of the many fashion designers, in the United States, Europe, Paris, Milan, and then around the globe. Consequently, the fashion industry began its emergence into the everyday lives of people from various cultures (Fashion Industry).

The emergence of the fashion industry is the reason fashion is seen everywhere and in all cultures, presenting it through the trends of the people who want to communicate information about all aspects of life such as wealth, sexuality, subcultures, social status, professionalism, loyalties, and mood. The fashion industry has various ways of impacting these aspects of people’s lives through celebrity branding, media promotions, mainstream retail, the meaning of clothing in various countries, pop culture influences and global influences (Craik).

Fashion in Everyday Life

The significance of fashion in the everyday lives of people is demonstrated in the high dollar amounts invested in the fashion industry by society and the high number of people employed by the industry. For instance, New York City is known as the fashion industry center of the world, and is the headquarters of many major fashion designers and retailers, employing approximately 5.7% of New York City’s workforce (173,000 people), and is the site of over 75 major fashion trade shows, which attract hundreds of thousands of visitors annually (Why NYC?).

Fashion is a way of life for many people in America, as well as people in other countries, and it often identifies people for who they are. People often relate their fashion tastes to their personalities, their personal interests and their cultures. Fashion can be very diverse and this is evident in the diverse cultural tastes seen across the globe.

According to Bennett, some people experiment with their dress and appearance to create their own personal images in order to send messages to society about their culture or to make personal statements about their values and interests, and this can come from an individual, or entire groups of people who share the same values, norms and cultural identities.

Fashion’s Impact on Identity

As it relates to identities in society, fashion plays a key role. This is because so many aspects of a person’s identity are involved in fashion choices such as race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic class, educational achievement, and age. Fashion also encourages people to celebrate their individualism, as well as influences groups of people to create a collective identity, which lends to the significance of cultural diversity in fashion (Bennett).

Taking a closer look at the main aspects of identity that play a role in a person’s fashion choices, gives some understanding into how this impacts fashion and style changes in society. In the area of race, it seems that fashion trend tastes are fairly constant and more related to the current times. However, in terms of ethnicity and fashion, cultural influences tend to dominate. For example, women from India often wear the traditional Indian Sari clothing with head and face veils and women from China may be seen wearing the traditional Kimonos.

Additionally, other identity-related fashion influences may sometimes include cross-dressing according to one’s sexual orientation, age-appropriate dress such as older women may prefer to wear longer length skirts and dresses as do younger women, and also socio-economic status may mean the difference between wealthy people wearing more expensive attire than those with very little money.

Clothes Mean More Than Is Realized

A person’s taste in clothing shows his or her choice of fashion styles and often communicates details about that person’s character and personality. With respect to how a person dresses, fashion choices can say a lot about what that person is like. On the other hand, however, fashion does not necessarily tell the real story about what a person is like, but it does influence other people’s perceptions about what that person may be like. For example, a young person dressed in gothic-style clothing will give rise in someone’s mind that this person is a rebel, who has a twisted way of thinking, and is possibly someone who has dark mental tendencies.

In contrast, another person may look at the gothic-style of dress and see it as merely an alternative fashion style and sees the person as having no negative mental tendencies. The point is fashion makes statements that are perceived in different ways by the eyes of the beholder or as meant to be perceived by the person wearing the fashion style.

As it relates to perception, clothing can be either concrete or abstract. Concrete clothing refers to clothing that is always surrounding people. It is what people are used to. As an abstract, clothing influences a person’s choice of fashion based on social trends meant to capture the attention of other people and to send various messages. Thus, the designer sends out messages via his or her designs that are communicated to the public which can start a fashion trend (Loschek).

Desire for Fashion

Fashion trends come and go, and all the while, many people follow the waves of changes fashion trends bring. Fashion has a way of making people desire to be and look a certain way. Being fashionable is trendy and largely universal. For example, each decade has its fashion trend history, and a few decades had fashion trends that were very distinctive such as the 50s, 60s, and 70s.

During these times, fashion was often intertwined with social movements and cultural or political statements. For example, the 1920s saw the onset of the women’s liberation movement that was characterized by cosmetics, short skirts and women smoking cigarettes, as fashion statements that went right along with the trending clothing fashions.

In the 1930s, the fashion craze intensified with the looks of popular movie stars such as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Women everywhere desired to look like them. In the 1960s, designers were targeting the younger generation to go along with the youth movement of freedom, peace and pop culture (Breward). Fashion is desired by people of all walks of life and is largely influenced by the fashion industry headquarters of New York City.

New York City and the Fashion Industry

As mentioned above, New York City is a prominent center of fashion and the fashion industry and it is also a highly culturally diverse city. This lends credibility to the idea that many fashion trends are inspired by the varied ethnicities seen in New York City. Additionally, fashion trends are often products of social and cultural evolution and societal changes such as modernization, technological innovation, artistic movements, and cultural diversity (Why NYC?).

The rich cultural diversity in New York City, no doubt, influences people to want to stand out, so their desire to embrace their individual fashion tastes intensifies. Designers can take this desire for people to stand apart, as far as fashion is concerned, and experiment with new ideas and expressions to accommodate this collective, but individual desire. New Yorkers are not shy about embracing their inner creativity and fashion designers are aware of this and often take advantage of this commercially as well as creatively (Why NYC?).

It is interesting to note the significance of New York’s Fashion Week, which is held yearly in the city and puts fashion in the spotlight for the world. According to Skarda, fashion week in New York City was originally called Press Week and came into stardom in 1943. Prior to this time, Paris was the major fashion center of the globe with magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue leading French-inspired fashion trends. In 1943, however, fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert, spearheaded what is now New York Fashion Week. This paved the way for many American designers to become well-known by having the opportunity to showcase their wares in the spotlight.

Along with Fashion Week, New York City’s fashion events include various fashion shows and shopping extravaganzas such as Fashion’s Night Out. The most recent one was held in September of 2012 and showcased the participation of more than 500 cities and 19 countries. This is an excellent example of how the fashion industry in New York embraces the cultural diversity of fashion which often leads to fashion trending (Chang).

Conclusion

As far as fashion goes, it is basically anything popular in a society or a culture at any time, and it pertains mainly to styles of dress, but can also include tastes in cuisine, art and architecture. Trends in fashion can change fast and depends on what the masses desire or what designers put out to get the masses to make certain choices.

While fashion is associated with beauty and the “in” thing, sometimes fashion can relate to fads and materialistic views, which is not so positively accepted in many parts of society. Many people like to see the changing fashion trends and they also enjoy participating in the trending wave of fashion.

Additionally, many non-American cultures see their fashion as a way of life and not just what is the “in” thing to do. Many cultures have ritualistic or ceremonial clothing and costumes to signify culturally-specific meanings about clothes and accessories. For example, women from India often where the ruby jewel embedded into their foreheads as part of their culture’s fashion and may also signify that the woman is married.

Cultural diversity in fashion covers a broad area, in terms of gender, race, ethnicity and socio-economic preferences, and it is also a significant influence on the direction that fashion trends have taken over many decades, and is sure to have a significance influence over the fashion trends to come in the future.

References

Bennett, Andy. Culture and Everyday Life. London: SAGE Publications, Ltd., 2005. Print. 14 December 2012.

Breward, Christopher. The Culture of Fashion. New York: Manchester University Press, 1995. Print. 14 December 2012.

Chang, Bee-Shyuan. “Fashion’s Night Out and About.” The New York Times 6 September 2012. Web. 14 December 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/fashion/fashions-night-out-a-selective-guide.html?_r=0>.

Craik, Jennifer. Fashion: The key concepts. New York: Berg Publishers, 2009. Print.

Fashion Industry. 2012. Web. 14 December 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1706624/fashion-industry>.

Loschek, Ingrid. When Clothes Become Fashion: Design and Innovation Systems. New York: Berg Publishers, 2009. Print. 14 December 2012.

Skarda, Erin. “A Brief History of New York Fashion Week.” Time Magazine 9 February 2012. Web. 14 December 2012. <http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/09/a-brief-history-of-new-york-fashion-week/>.

Why NYC? 2012. New York City Economic Development Corporation. Web. 14 December 2012. <http://www.nycedc.com/industry/fashion>.