Fashion is a very broad term with many different interpretations. It can refer to the aesthetic sensibility and cultural expectations of the fashion, or it can refer to the particular materials, patterns, or designs utilized in producing any given article of fashion dress. The term has always been closely linked with the culture it comes from, and thus, a close parallel exists between fashion and culture. Fashion is also a distinctive form of self-expression, in a certain time and context and in a certain context, in relation to the changing social context and with the changing social trends.
In its daily use, however, the word actually means simply a unique appearance defined by the fashion business as what is currently trending. Thus, while people who are fashionable may want to emphasize how radically they broke with the past when they dress, or how radically they replaced the preceding style with something new, in terms of their clothing life cycle, the real essence of fashion is to create new clothes or modify existing clothes through some combination of alterations, embellishments, and fabric changes. Thus, the term is not so much concerned with altering things to make them “trendy” but rather with doing so in such a way as to result in unique clothes that are not only new in appearance but also in functionality.
Fashion designers have long had a great interest in the ways in which their clothes can affect people’s emotions, thoughts, and attitudes about fashion. A good designer makes use of symbolism, metaphors, and other techniques to emphasize these effects. For example, a designer may choose to draw attention to some emotional aspects of dress by means of objects like jewelry or clothing. He may thus represent the wearer’s individuality by suggesting some sort of conflict or paradox. Similarly, a designer might use a famous slogan or icon to suggest an underlying theme or some crucial issue. He might do this by using the symbol of a cross, for instance.
As it may seem on the surface, high fashion has little to do with actually wearing the clothes. As it turns out, it actually has everything to do with being able to wear fashionable without actually having to have a lot of money. High fashion designers spend much less money on clothes and accessories than low fashion designers do. In fact, many high fashion designers began their careers working with low fashion brands, where they could learn the techniques needed to work with fashion without incurring a lot of debt.
Of course, high fashion isn’t simply about what is worn, but about the way that a person wears it. Take skirts for example. Traditionally, women in high fashion wear their skirts at least two inches longer than their leg length; otherwise called a boat neck. Today, designers have largely given up the concept of the boat neck, and a skirt that stops a few inches below the knee is more common. The point is that a skirt should be chosen not as something to wear, but as something to look at. A woman might choose a skirt in bright colors, or a skirt that is very structured, depending on the current fashion trends.
Take fashion, for instance, and take it apart. You’ll find that the shoes that are in vogue now were popular years ago, before the trend really took off. The real key to being able to make clothes is being able to think about the way that clothes will look when a person is wearing them, rather than just going with what a certain celebrity is wearing. If you can learn how to incorporate this into your own designs, then you’ll find that you can create some very fashionable clothes that are also very affordable.