Fashion Through the Years

Clothes haven't always been about fashion, in fact people used to wear clothes just for warmth! That goes way back to the time of the cavemen. Nobody knows exactly when the cavemen lived, or exactly how they dressed but people have an idea. Cavemen didn't wear much, or sometimes nothing at all, but when they did wear clothes, it was of animals they caught. They probably wore tiger skin, or other animals that have been on this world before humans evolved into civilized beings. Later humans started to add some fashion to their style, and this slowly evolved into a trend. Soon nobody was caught dead without clothes.

Romans were around 40 AD-420 AD. What Romans wore was a lot like what the people of Greece wore. They couldn't sew as well as we can now because their needles were brittle, and weak. Togas were an easy solution to the problem. Togas are like a cloth rapped up around you, most were made of wool, but people with more money wore them made from linen. They couldn't use buttons either because you need to sew them on. This is why they used a lot of broaches and clasps. Not unlike nowadays they had different kinds of underwear; an example would be boxers to subligar, or briefs to sinctus. Women wore a cloth for underwear, tied at each side. Undergarments were made from linen. The best kinds of linen were Spanish, Syrian, and Egyptian. The tunic was usually the main outfit in Roman times. Men would wear their tunic to their knees, and their sleeves would be cut short. Women wore their tunics oppositely; they wore their pants, and sleeves long. It was very feminine to wear your tunic sleeves long, and it took men 3 centuries before they started wearing their sleeves long too. Some times it got really cold, and then Romans would wear 2 to 3 tunics. The first layer was called subucula, which would be worn tight, like a vest. The second layer was called the intusium. Emperor Augustus was known to wear 4 layers of tunics during winter. Tunics changed slightly depending on who you were. A senator would wear his tunic with a purple line going down the center; an equestrian would wear his tunic with 2 purple lines going down it. A very high-class person would wear their tunic bright with embroidered leaves. They would only wear this for very special occasions. Only true Romans could wear a toga, a foreigner could not wear a toga in public. At first a toga was worn on the naked body, but then Romans started wearing their tunics under their togas. Women's dressing was a lot less strict then men ware. Women wore dresses that were called stogas. Women started out wearing their stogas white, but this didn't stay for long, and soon they started wearing stogas of all colors. Children's dressing was a lot simpler. They just wore simple belted togas. Children wore amulets called bulla. Boys would stop wearing their bullas at age 16, but girls kept theirs on until they were married.

All we know about Egyptians is from the many paintings they drew on their walls. Egypt was very hot, so they probably wore very revealing clothes. According to the paintings they wore lots of linen clothes. Children of Egypt usually went around completely naked; they did this until age 6. Men usually wore a loincloth. Females wore straight dresses with one or two straps. Both men and women wore make-up and jewelry to honor the gods.

In the 1100s wool became very popular for all classes because it was very warm. A little bit later a new French fashion called the bliaut became the trend. A bliaut looks a little bit like what priests used to wear. A white robe that looks a little bit like a dress. Both men and women wore bliauts. At first bliauts fit moderately around its owner, but later it became a fad to wear your bliauts tight! Men in the 1100s wore undergarments called brais. This was also French. Men wore pants called hose. Hose was actually two separate pieces. One for each leg. There were all different kinds of hose, but striped were the most popular. Hose started out loose, and better fitting, and just like bliauts the style changed to tight. Hose was usually worn to the knees, and were wide enough to fit drawers in them. The upper-class men usually didn't wear hats. Female clothing was a lot less complicated. A female everyday outfit would consist of an under tunic, a tunic, and a wimple. Married women would braid their hair, and wear a veil. Long hair was a huge fashion, some were so desperate that they'd purchase hair from the dead, and would wear it. A wimple was a linen cloth that covered the neck, and often the chin too.

In the 1200s men wore tunics over linen shirts. There were more choices of tunics to choose from now. You could have one with dots, or red stripes, or pretty much anything else. Over that men wore a cyclas, which was a sleeveless shirt. Men also wore mantles, which were formal wraps. Women of the 1200s wore a loosely fitted gown, with long tight sleeves. Richer women wore more embroidery, mantles, and fur. Individuality was expressed through hair, and headdresses in the 1200s. A very common style was the barbette. This style was that the hat, or headdress has a strap that goes under the neck of its owner.

Most people in the middle ages wore wool, and undergarments made form linen. Wealthy people wore bright colors, better materials, and longer jackets. Near the end of the middle ages wealthy men wore hose, and jackets. Women wore flowing dresses, and crazy headwear such as heart, or butterfly themed, or even tall steeple caps, and Italian turbans! Holy orders wore long woolen habits. Different orders had different color habits. For example; the Benedict wore black, and the Cistercians wore un-dyed wool, or white. Clothing started to become very strict, even The Poor Clare Sisters had to petition the Pope in order to be able to wear white wool socks. Peasant men wore stockings, or tunics. Peasant women wore long sleeveless dresses, and covered their hair with wimples. In winter they'd wear sheepskin, wool, mittens, and cloaks. They covered their boots in wooden patens to keep their feet dry. Men and Women clothes were almost never washed, but undergarments were washed regularly. Rich women wore a lot of jewelry.

Fashion in the 1600s started becoming a little bit freer, and the western look came in style. Men started wearing leather boots, and leather cowboy hats, but the hose was still in style. Men's linen shirts had deep cuffs. A crazy new fashion was a ruff like collar. Large beards and mustaches were very popular in the 1600s; those were called Van Dykes. Gowns were popular, but people stopped wearing them in 1620s. Fashionable men wore capes, and cloaks. Hair was worn collar length and was brushed back. The hairstyles kept changing, and by the 1630s loose long curls were in fashion. In 1610s flat shoes became popular, soon people transformed the flat shoe into the low heels. Children dressed exactly like mini adults. Females started wearing dull plain dresses.

In the 1800s women dresses were tight around the torso. Women had about 4 outfits each, and they had different dresses for different times of the day. Morning dresses were worn inside the house. The morning dress was high necked, long sleeved, and was very plain. The evening dress, which was worn out of the house, was very decorative with lace, ribbons, and netting. They are usually cut low with short sleeves. For women the hairstyle was up in a bun, and curled in front in 1825. Married women continued to wear mobcaps, which now had wider brims to cover their ears. No women would leave the house without a hat, or bonnet. Men's fashion ended with the lace, and embroidery. Breeches became longer, and men started to adopt black coats with tail, and plain pants. Shirts were still made from linen, and top hats started to become popular. Wigs started to become very popular especially big ones; of course this led to the big white wigs fad. Girls still dressed a lot like their mom, though their dresses were a lot simpler. Finally in the late 1800s women started to work, therefore they started to wear suits, and then they started wearing pants.

In 1910, women started to wear big hats instead of big wigs, long cloaks with big pants, and long wide scarves. For business outfits, women wore black vests, with black skirts. In the 1920s a hat called the cloche hat came into style, it is hard to describe the shape of the cloche hat in a few words, because it has so many different kinds of cloches. However, the basic description of it is that it is a very snug-fit hat that was usually worn tilted, it covered the forehead but it still let people see. The hair was often cut short and styled flat to fit under these types of hats. The flapper dress also came out in the 1920s; it was kind of loose and round. 1920s weren't just the flapper, and the cloches though, this is also when people where introduced to more casual clothing, and started to wear pants more often. Men started to wear stuffed trousers, and two-toned white and tan, or white and black shoes for casual events. They'd wear black-patented leather shoes for formal occasions, though the lace up shoe was starting to become wieldly popular for men. Men and boys both wore short knee pants called knickers. They wore knickers with their sweaters. One of the most famous thing about the 1920s is the baby attire. It was a lot more practical, instead of frilly laced dresses, and other formal baby attire the 20s had much more comfortable outfits such as rompers, and short dresses. For older girls dress was different as well. They usually wore cotton frocks, cardigan, sweaters, and canvas shoes or sandals.

In the 1930s the fashion was a lot like a prom dress. It was tight, showing off a female's most feminine features, such as the hips, with a big lowcut V done the back. The hair was also very big, a little bit like an afro. Some of the outfits were based on business suits yet they were party dresses. For formal occasions men started wearing more masculine pants, and suits, and the alternative was a sweater and knickers. In the 1930s female bathing suits were very revealing like the ones we ware today. Women started wearing sailor style hats, and men started wearing berrets, and top hats.

In the 1940s a shift in fashion arrived. The war was over so people started changing into fashions that resembled the dead warrior who fought in that war. So for special occasions if a man had fought in a war he'd wear his uniform, and his wife would wear a simple office skirt suit. When the war was going on people there were limited supplys of things they could wear, mostly just cotton, so as you can imagine their clothes were very unfashoinable, and were just meant to cover up the body. As I said before there wasn't much to choose form but there was this group called Incorporated Society of Fashion Designers that probably made the best clothes of the 1940s out of the little supply of materials to make clothes with. It was really important to know how to knit because it gets really cold and you need to have scarves, and blankets for cheap. Clogs were also very popular because leather was expesive but wood was not. For formal occasions men usually wore a shirt with a V shape in front.

In the 1950-1957 formal dressing was still "in" but after that the rules of dressing was more relaxed. Teenagers everywhere started to buy their own clothes now that the war was over, and they could afford it. Black, and leather were also very popoular, some girls would go to dances dressed fully in black. Preppie clothes, and the pinafore dress was also in style at the time. The bully cotton skirt was also a cute fad but was usually not aloud at school, so it slowly died away.

In the 1960s more things were considered "in" or "not in" by the richest, or most popular teenagers. Some people didn't follow the crowd. The 1950s was majorly space themed which made people ware "space fashion".

In the 1970s it was more about individuality then fitting in. People would ware whatever they thought was "awesome" or "cool". Of course individuality led to hippies, hippies usually wore ripped jeans, ti-dye shirts, or other crazy things. Men usually wore a white suit, bell bottoms, jeans, pantsuits, and t-shirts. There were also goths, and punks. Punks would usually wear black leather boots, and leather jackets, or goths would usually ware black cothes sometimes they'd even paint their face white, wore black eye shadow and dark lipstick.

In modern times it's a lot like the 1970s we all just dress in our own individual ways. Although some trends are starting to come back, like the 80's look (pants with skirt) If I had to make a prediction of how we will dress someday I'd say we'll probably dress like we used to in the 80s, still more individual but grouped.

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