French Fashion and Designers

French Fashion

France has always been associated with fashion and couture. This is probably due to Paris being one of the fashion capitals of the world. The "haute couture" as we know it today originated in Paris. The beginning of the fashion craze in France is largely linked to Louis XIV and the royals of that time. France today is home to many fashion houses and events such as Paris fashion week.

Some of the most well-known French fashion designers are: Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Coco Chanel.

Christian Dior
Dior was originally interested in art, he sold art when he was young to make money. When the gallery he sold it in closed down he began working for other fashion designers. In 1964 he set up his own fashion house and he completely changed the clothes that women of that time were used to. As of 2010 Dior owns 210 locations worldwide.

Louis Vuitton
At the age of thirteen Vuitton left his home and worked doing odd jobs in Paris for two years until he was taken in as an apprentice. Once he had his name established, nineteen years after he left home, Vuitton set up his label originally making trunks and luggage and even today he is most well-known for his "speedy" bags. (below)

Image From: http://allwomenstalk.com/

 Coco Chanel
Chanel was born in 1883 and had early aspirations of being a performer on stage. It was when she was a performer when she got the name "Coco" because her real name is Gabrielle. In 1910 she opened a boutique for hats mainly and three years later she opened her first clothes boutique. As of 2010 there are 310 Chanel locations worldwide.

Fashion Weeks Around the World

Fashion weeks are fashion events or trade shows. It is a chance for designers to display their latest collection that season to the public and the media. They are usually held twice a year (spring/summer and autumn/winter) in major fashion cities. They are usually held around February and September.
The most well-known would be the four fashion weeks in the fashion capitals of the world: London, New York, Milan and Paris but they are held basically all over the world.Some can be genre specific such as swimwear and bridal fashion weeks.

New York Fashion Week
New York held the first fashion week ever in 1943. It is still the first in the year to be held and the other cities follow. It was originally set up to distract people from the French fashions in WWII. The most recent was held from September 5th - 13th for the Spring 2013 collections. The video below is a summary of the trends.

 

Video From: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheNewYorkTimes

London Fashion Week
The first London fashion week was in 1984 and it was organised by the British Fashion Council. It claims that over 5000 press and buyers attend. It has been sponsored by Toni and Guy and Mercedes-Benz. Just recently London Fashion Week began showing menswear for the summer 2012 collections and in spring 2010 it began broadcasting some shows live on the Internet.

Milan Fashion Week
Milan fashion week was established in 1958. It is owned by the National Chamber for Italian Fashion. It shows menswear as well as womenswear like the other "Big Four". The events that are seen as the most important are the women's ready-to-wear and the Milano Moda Donna shows.

Paris Fashion Week 
Paris fashion week is always the last of the four to take place with the latest having been from September 25th to October 3rd. It was set up by and run by The Fédération Française de la Couture, du Prêt-à-Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode. Each year there are around 150 men's and women's ready-to-wear fashion shows in Paris fashion week.

American Fashion and Designers

American Fashion

The 1800's was when the American clothing industry started. Before this time clothes were personally made by tailors for rich people or the women of the house made clothes for poorer people. Clothes remained a status symbol and the "ready-to-wear" clothes were considered a sign of a poor person. This was the basis of American fashion though because people began wearing very similar things, trends began to emerge and uniforms were created. Soon, clothes came from all different designers and in all different price ranges.

Some of the most famous American fashion designers are: Vera Wang, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger.

Vera Wang
Vera Wang was raised in New York but her parents are Chinese. She is known for her wedding and bridesmaids dresses which were first released in 1990. She has made dresses for people such as Michelle Obama, Mariah Carey and Victoria Beckham. She owns boutiques in New York, Tokyo, London and Australia. Below are some of her dresses from her autumn collection.

Image From: http://www.ebonypeoples.com

Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren was born in New York, he studied business in college and served two years in the army. He originally owned a tie shop called "Polo" which elevated into his now clothing brand "Polo Ralph Lauren". He now has 35 boutiques in the US.

Tommy Hilfiger
Tommy Hilfiger was also born in New York. He originally bought old pieces of clothing in New York City, customised them and sold them at a local store. He founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation in 1992 and was named Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of the Fashion Designers of American. He sold his corporation in 2006 for $1.6 billion.

British Fashion and Designers

British Fashion

Similar to traditional Irish clothing, some aspects of traditional British clothing are evident in fashion today. Such items as bobble hats and mackintosh rain coats stemmed from the British Isle. A huge influence on modern British fashion comes from the royal family especially for weddings and formal clothing. Kate Middleton is a big name in British fashion today not only for her wedding dress but she is often seen in clothes from the high street.

Some of the top British fashion designers are: Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney.

Alexander McQueen
Born in London, Lee Alexander McQueen has worked for Givenchy and founded his own self-titled label. He has won four British Designer of the Year awards. McQueen died in February 2010 and he was known for his unique designs, below are some of his final pieces he made before his death.

Image from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Vivienne Westwood 

Vivienne started her career selling jewellery on Portobello Road. She hugely inspired the punk era in the 1970's and used influences from her Scottish roots. Her first runway show was in 1981 and today she has shops all over the world and has won three British Designer of the Year awards.

Stella McCartney
Being the daughter of Beatles member Paul McCartney Stella's childhood was meant to be fairly quiet, however after just two collections she was made Creative Director of Chloé. Stella is on of the few enviornmentalist deigners and never uses real fur. In 2007, she won the Best Designer of the Year at the British Style Awards.

Irish Fashion and Designers

Irish Fashion

Although traditional Irish fashions like the Brogue shoe and the Aran jumper came about around the sixteenth century some of these influential pieces are used in fashion toady. A lot of Irish fashion designers use natural fabrics and incorporate traditional patterns in their collections and because of its simplistic roots evidence of traditional Irish fashion is even seen in the high street today. (see pictures)

Traditional Aran Jumper:

Image from: http://www.shopirish.com/

High Street Jumper:

Image from: http://www.hm.com/ie/

Some of the most well-known Irish fashion designers are: Philip Treacy, Paul Costelloe, Orla Kiely and John Rocha.

Philip Treacy
This Irish born designer has designed for huge fashion names such as Ralph Lauren, Chanel and Alexander McQueen. He mainly designs hats some of which were worn at the most recent royal wedding.

Paul Costelloe
Paul Costelloe has his own label which was based in Dublin but now London. His designs include natural fabrics. He has been in the fashion industry for the last 30 years and his father was involved with Irish rainwear.

Orla Kiely
Orla Kiely started her fashion career in designing hats she broadened into handbags after her first London Fashion Week when she realised hardly anyone was wearing hats. She now owns her own business based in London.

John Rocha
Although John Rocha was born in Hong Kong, he moved to Ireland after graduating from art school and he still lives there today. Rocha designs 'pret-a-porter' (off the rack) men and womenswear for Irish stores such as Awear and Brown Thomas.

Introduction

Hi, my name is Sarah G. and I am making this blog about fashion because it's a topic that interests me and I like different fashions from around the world.