Arguments for the importance of fashion in society

I recently aquired two new reference books on fashion, "Fifty Dresses that Changed the World" edited by the Design Museum and "British Fashion Designers" by Hywel Davis. In both books there are introductions making compelling arguments for the importance of fashion in society. Since I can't find them anywhere on the net, I'll have to copy them down... bare with me!

"Fifty Dresses that Changed the World" Introduction by Deyan Sudjic, Director, Design Museum

Meryl Streep's character in The Devil Wears Prada (2006) makes a powerful pitch for understanding the significance of fashion, especially to those who see in it nothing but the frivolous and the self-indulgent. 'The colour of the sweater,' she says, 'made in the Far East, on an industrial scale, providing work for poor families, and putting a developing economy on the road to the First World, is the afterglow of a couture collection.'

Fashion can be understood in many ways. It is both an industrial and a cultural phenomenon, one that goes to the heart of what we understand as design. The Industrial Revolution in Britain was fuelled by technical innovation in manufacturing textiles. Contemporary fashion is a huge and extremely vigorous industry, of which the catwalk collections provide only a glimpse. That is why fashion continues to be an important part of the Design Museum's programme.

The collection of iconic dresses included in this book provides an introduction to the path fashion has taken in the past century. It is a story that embraces social and economics change and radically fluctuating positions on gender and sexuality. These are dresses that have encapsulated particular moments in time in a particualry powerful way, and that have provided fascinating insights into the people who wore them as well as the people who designed them.

What I find interesting about Sudjic's introduction is his argument that fashion is a reflection of a moment in time. As any art form, fashion is influenced by social change. For example, in 1965 London people were still living in the shadow of postwar auserity in a city scarred by bombsites, the youth were more than ready to explode into a brand-new era far from the memories of the the early 20th century. They demonstrated this youthful irreverence by hitting the grey streets of the capital in bold colours and modern shapes best demonstrated in the brilliant clothes of Mary Quant.

The dress's clean-cut, nursery-influenced style, ideally topped with an androgynous Vidal Sassoon five-point haircut, suggested a playful innocence as well as heralding the dawning of a new age.

This is quite a hard look to accomplish in modern times as it is so synonymous with 1960s London. If you do it right it can look really chic but it does require some genuine pieces to work. Even just a pair of Mary Quant earrings can give any outfit that retro edge.

Introduction from British Fashion Designers will be the next post so stay tuned!