By Kate Stanton
Keeping up with fashion is not a priority at Crown Northampton. The idea of constantly designing and selling ‘new’ each year doesn’t fit with our ethos. We’re about longevity, quality, sustainability and – of course – keeping traditional skills alive.
With that in mind, it got us thinking about where it all began – fashion as a concept, and its influence and place in the world.
In the beginning, of course, there was no fashion, because there were no clothes. Early humans got on with life without the distraction or the protection of footwear or clothing. Many anthropologists reckon it was at least 120,000 years ago that we began to cover up around our bodies – though it could go as far back as 800,000 years.
Stone Age Man © Internet Archive. Flickr.
At first, animal skins were probably thrown around shoulders for warmth, before people came up with ways to hold fabrics together. Then, it seems, things evolved fairly quickly. Humans began to travel and settle in new lands, with climates and environment that demanded different garments to shield from. Variations also distinguished between different tribes, cultures and positions within communities.
Fashion design, as a more deliberate concept, is thought to have begun in Ancient Egypt around 5,000 years ago. Now, the clothes one wore were not just for comfort or protection, they were signifiers of one’s social status.
Ancient Egyptian Dress © Internet Archive. Flickr.
Fine fabrics in bright, vibrant colours were for the wealthy, while the poor made do with outfits of rough, undyed materials, better suited for a life of hard work. This growing use of clothing as a way to express one’s status – including lifestyle, religion, gender and age – continued through Ancient Greece and then Roman times.
Ancient Greek and Roman Dress © Internet Archive. Flickr.
Fashion began to signify more and more about the wearer – even their apparent morality – and flouting conventions could have serious consequences. Showing too much skin in Europe in the Middle Ages, for example, was considered ‘improper’. It could mark you as ‘unclean’ or ungodly and punishments for such a crime could be severe – public shamings, whippings, even death could be visited upon those who didn’t follow the current rules around modesty.
The Betrothal © Internet Archive. Flickr.
Yet back in the earlier times of Egypt, Rome or Greece, nudity or scant clothing was not considered a question of morals – merely proof of poverty. The flamboyance of those countries does not appear to have influenced the rest of Europe until the mid-14th century, with British styles, in particular, tending to be very plain.
This all began to change as new fabrics were imported from Europe and the East, and influence from the Renaissance in Italy spread across to Britain. Men and women were wearing huge wigs, high heels and tightly fitted outfits in brightly decorated materials. Fashion was once again a crucial way in which to express one’s status, with comfort and practicality much less of a factor.
As the 15th century got underway, outfits – for the rich, at least – were decoration. Those with money made flaunted their wealth through the finest fabrics and fanciest jewellery they could afford. Dressing in such a way also provided a way for outsiders to attempt to elevate their social standing or at least imitate the upper classes they wished to join.
But while the rich could afford to buy new outfits more often and in better fabrics and brighter colours, poorer folk were still making do with rougher materials, undyed and reworn until they fell apart. Clothes were not a leisure interest, they were simply a necessity and another drain on meagre resources.
Some historians point to Louis XIV of France, as the ‘inventor’ of modern fashion, back in the late 1600s. The king set a strict but luxurious dress code for his staff. Regarding fashion as not only a way to show off but also a means to improve his country’s standing and finances, he banned the import of foreign fabrics, while supporting production of materials in France.
Portrait de Louis XIV en costume de sacre © Internet Archive. Flickr.
He is also regarded as having invented ‘seasons,’ with orders for new collections to be made twice a year, in time for winter and summer, beginning the idea that new looks and styles need to be introduced and celebrated on a regular schedule. Newspapers and magazines have long included clothing and style in their pages, with fashion journalism a distinct genre developing in 18th century Paris.
This added focus gave further exposure and credence to the idea that one’s personal image was a serious business, while encouraging consumer thirst for ever newer looks and inspirations. It also helped create a more definite idea of what was ‘in’ or ‘out’, becoming a major industry of its own, later incorporating radio, television, the internet and social media.
While fashion journalism was finding its feet, Europe’s industrial revolution was also taking effect. The rise of factories meant textiles and garments could be made faster and in bulk.
Manufacturers would use the same pattern to make hundreds or even thousands of copies of a garment, bringing about uniformity of style. It also meant clothing prices dropped significantly, meaning customers could expand their wardrobes even on lower wages.
Fashion plate costumes and accessories for 1839 © Internet Archive. Flickr.
At the same time, wanting to distinguish themselves from the common crowds, the wealthier classes sought out made-to-measure pieces, of better quality fabrics. Lifestyles and world events were influential too: women began wearing trousers in the mid-1800s as a sign of emancipation, and for practical reasons such as riding a bicycle.
Wars have always meant changes to what people need for practical reasons, and what materials are available, often leading to utilitarian or minimalist styles. An increase in people participating in sport brought about innovations such as the ‘gumshoe,’ an early type of trainer or sneaker, in around 1830. By the 1990s, globalisation had brought ‘fast fashion,’ as factories in the majority world began competing to offer brands in the West ever cheaper manufacturing. Where big designers had been used to bringing out a few collections a year to suit seasonal changes in weather and lifestyle, soon companies were turning around micro-seasons – as many as 52 per year.
High street chains began offering copies of outfits that had been worn by supermodels on major catwalks just a few weeks before, at a fraction of the price. The quality wasn’t as good, but customers weren’t buying them to last. Within weeks they might be forgotten or even discarded as yet more designs flooded into shops.
There was a backlash, both from designer brands and those concerned with the ethical implications. It’s worth noting that conditions and pay for garment workers in factories making high-end pieces for big names were not necessarily any better than for those making £2.99 t-shirts. In fact, many factories made for a mix of price points and whether they made more on the pieces that cost hundreds of pounds differed. The vast majority of workers, often in countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia and China, were and are women. They’re often low-paid, with few workplace protections. They may work up to 16 hours a day, seven days a week.
Fast Fashion © Internet Archive. Flickr.
Fashion, as a force for change, expression, production and employment, shows no sign of releasing its grip. It is unlikely humans will move completely beyond fashion. We seem to desire progress and fashion gives a feeling of progress even when it is echoing style cycles of a few years before. But while in some areas it speeds up, with ever more garments produced and delivered to customers within days, many consumers are leaning towards a different approach.
Crown Northampton is not alone in prizing quality and longevity over trends.
Terms such as ‘slow fashion’ and ‘slow clothing’ have been around for the past couple of decades, referring to a rethink of the way the industry works.
Sustainability and focus on quality, as well as a reduction in consumption overall, is a key trend in and outside of the fashion industry.
While Crown Northampton does not deliberately set out to follow what’s popular, this area is one in which we are definitely in-line.
