Culture is considered an integral part of our fashion industry and they both go hand in hand. The clothes that we wear act as a mean of communication and shows our roots. What we wear tells others where we belong. Every country has its national dress. For example, the Japanese have Kimono, Pakistan has Shalwar Kameez, China has Cheongsam and Koreans wear Hanbok.
But they are all national dresses and people do not usually wear them in their daily routine. However, whatever they wear, shows a bit of their cultural belonging. Fashion designers of every country have to connect their designs to their cultural values. This brings out a unique design as well as attracts people.
One of the most common global fashion trends is wearing t-shirts with jeans and shorts or skirts and even pants. You will find them in almost every country. Even in developing countries, wearing t-shirts is becoming common.
You want to relax, wear them in pajamas or shorts and relax at your home. If you have a meeting, you can wear your t-shirt with dress pants and coat. It gives a perfect casual office look. In short, t-shirts have taken control over global consumerism. You can find them with designs of every trend. For example, Blackmerch.co has the latest black pride t-shirts.
Influence of culture
To become successful in the fashion environment, you need to meet cultural and social movements. Because the main purpose is to sell out your products and earn money. Therefore, it is important that you create designs that go along well with the latest trends.
Fashion is not an isolated entity, it is connected with the different aspects of life. For example, if you are a housekeeper, you won’t wear dresses that office workers wear. Likewise, it is not appropriate to wear wedding dresses for an office job. Every job has its specific dressing requirements. Likewise, every event has its demands.
When creating fashion designs for office workers, culture has a limited role. On the other hand, for weddings and cultural events, the most important factor is culture. You can wear a veil as a part of your office uniform. However, when you are attending a cultural event, you need to wear a gown. Thus, there are high culture dresses, low culture and then there is the pop culture.
1. Fashion of ancient Egypt
In old days, culture and environment had a major role in determining fashion. Egyptians had different social classes like any other region but they also have a hot climate. Therefore, dresses for the upper class were glamorous but the colors were mostly light and white. It was necessary because in ancient times there were no air conditioners. Therefore, people used to wear less.
For example, if you are relaxing in your home, you won’t wear a shirt. Likewise, children and workers also were naked. They used to cover their private parts only. Thus, they were capable of working in the scorching heat of Sun. However, the people of the upper social class used to wear jewelry to show their style. Also, the maximum clothing was also a sign of being rich.
In ancient Egypt, if you are rich, you will sit in gatherings and chill. Therefore, you can afford to wear more clothes. However, if you have to work during the day, you will wear the minimum possible clothing.
2. Use of Emu bird feather
Emu bird belongs to Australia. It is a native bird and is found in many different areas. Therefore, using feathers of Emu bird remained in the fashion designs for a long time. For example, wearing headwear was a cultural fashion of Australia and designers used to use feathers on this headwear.
In addition to this, you will also see the natural fauna and flora on the Australian millinery. Various natural details are a part of Australian fashion designs.
3. Use of Asian culture in global fashion
Asian culture is rich in colors and designs. Therefore, even global designers have been making use of this aspect in the fashion industry. Chinese and Japanese culture has a significant role in this. You must have heard of Yves Saint Laurent, a big fashion brand indeed. So Carolina Herrera and Yves Saint Laurent have been taking their inspiration from East Asian culture.
The 1977 fashion week collection of Yves Saint Laurent had Chinese cultural aspects. Likewise, Tom Ford also took inspiration from Chinese culture in his 2004 collection. The inspiration of the 2011 fashion week collection of Carolina Herrera was ethnic dresses of Korea.
All these collections were successful in their respective times. Moreover, Asian cultural aspects in fashion trends also introduced silken slippers, dressing gowns and oriental robes in this industry.
4. Wearing gowns
Gowns and abayas have been a cultural style of Arabic and middles eastern countries. However, non-Arab designers have also been using these styles in their fashion clothing lines. Alexander Vauthier and Algerian Karakou make use of the embroidery style.
Givenchy, on the other hand, almost goes through the same thing. The dress was a black gown going through the whole body and a head covering that also covered the upper body. The ramp walk model was wearing golden jewelry. The overall concept was a true inspiration from Arab and Middle Eastern culture.
Saint Laurent also made her model wear the crotchet cap that Muslim men wear while praying.
Dior copied the face makeup of Egyptian style on his runway models.
Colors of seasonal foods
According to Jattin Kochhar; a fashion design of India, if you want to remain in trend, you can wear the colors of seasonal fruits and vegetables. This is a factor that fashion designers keep in their minds too. Therefore, if you cannot afford to buy the latest collection, you can go with the colors. So even if you wear clothes from last year, you won’t seem like an out-of-fashion person.