The Fashion Portal
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Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into outfits that depict distinctive ways of dressing (styles and trends) as signifiers of social status, self-expression, and group belonging. As a multifaceted term, fashion describes an industry, designs, aesthetics, and trends.
The term fashion originates from the Latin word facere, which means "to make", and describes the manufacturing, mixing, and wearing of outfits adorned with specific cultural aesthetics, patterns, motifs, shapes, and cuts, allowing people to showcase their group belongings, values, meanings, beliefs, and ways of life. Given the rise in mass production of commodities and clothing at lower prices and global reach, reducing fashion's environmental impact and improving sustainability has become an urgent issue among politicians, brands, and consumers.
The world's three top fashion capitals currently are acknowledged to be New York City (Manhattan), Paris, and Milan, which are all headquarters to the most significant fashion companies and are renowned for their major influence on global fashion. The annual Met Gala held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan is widely considered to be the world's apex display of fashion's power, wealth, and influence. In some fashion circles, Tokyo, London, and Los Angeles are additionally considered as second-tier fashion centers. Fashion weeks are held in these cities, where designers exhibit their new clothing collections to audiences. A study demonstrated that general proximity to Manhattan's Garment District was important to participate in the American fashion ecosystem. However, fashion has also migrated online to a significant extent, such that the geographical iconization of cities as fashion capitals, while still centrally important, has become less so with the advent of artificial intelligence. Haute couture has now largely been spread alongside the sale of ready-to-wear collections and perfume using the same branding. (Full article...)
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Traditional Inuit clothing is a complex system of cold-weather garments historically made from animal hide and fur, worn by Inuit, a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic areas of Canada, Greenland, and the United States. The basic outfit consisted of a parka, pants, mittens, inner footwear, and outer boots. The most common sources of hide were caribou, seals, and seabirds, although other animals were used when available. The production of warm, durable clothing was an essential survival skill which was passed down from women to girls, and which could take years to master. Preparation of clothing was an intensive, weeks-long process that occurred on a yearly cycle following established hunting seasons. The creation and use of skin clothing was strongly intertwined with Inuit religious beliefs.
Despite the wide geographical distribution of Inuit across the Arctic, historically, these garments were consistent in both design and material due to the common need for protection against the extreme weather and the limited range of materials suitable for the purpose. The appearance of individual garments varied according to gender roles and seasonal needs, as well as the specific dress customs of each tribe or group. The Inuit decorated their clothing with fringes, pendants, and insets of contrasting colours, and later adopted techniques such as beadwork when trade made new materials available. (Full article...)
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Haute couture is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design. The term haute couture generally refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the 18th century, or to the upper portion of a modern dress to distinguish it from the skirt and sleeves. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became the centre of a growing industry that focused on making outfits from high-quality, expensive, often unusual fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable of sewers—often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Couture is also commonly used on its own as an abbreviation of haute couture, referring to the same concept in spirit. (Full article...)
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An 1814 engraved cartoon of a double entendre, a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué, inappropriate, or ironic. In this cartoon, the man says to the woman, "My sweet honey, I hope you are to be let with the Lodgins!" To this, she replies "No, sir, I am to be let alone." Here, the word "let" can mean either "to leave" or "to rent", so her response can be read to mean either that she wants the man to stop bothering her, or that she is available for a separate fee from the lodging.
Did you know... -
- ... that Jacqueline Kennedy disliked her own wedding dress (pictured)?
- ... that "That Dress", worn by Elizabeth Hurley at the premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral in 1994, has been voted the greatest red carpet dress of all time and is perhaps Gianni Versace's best-known creation?
- ... that Norman Hartnell designed both the wedding dress and the coronation gown of Elizabeth II?
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Kylie Ann Minogue (/mɪˈnoʊɡ/; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and the fashion world as a major style icon. Her accolades include two Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards and eighteen ARIA Music Awards. Minogue is the highest-selling Australian female artist of all time, with sales surpassing 80 million records worldwide. In 2024, Time included her in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Born and raised in Melbourne, Minogue first achieved recognition starring as Charlene Mitchell in the Australian soap opera Neighbours (1986–1988). She began her music career in the late 1980s, releasing four dance-pop studio albums under PWL. By the early 1990s, Minogue had amassed several hit singles in Australia and the UK, including "The Loco-Motion", "I Should Be So Lucky", "Especially for You", "Hand on Your Heart", and "Better the Devil You Know". Taking more creative control over her music, she signed with Deconstruction Records in 1993 and released the albums Kylie Minogue (1994) and Impossible Princess (1997). (Full article...)
General images
Garment factory workers in Bangladesh, in 2013. (from Clothing industry)
Finnish actress Elina Salo presenting clothes designed by Vuokko Nurmesniemi at a fashion show in the Helsinki Botanical Garden in 1958 (from Fashion show)
Dress attributed to Charles Frederick Worth for Elisabeth of Austria painted by Franz Xaver Winterhalter (from History of fashion design)
Moslema in style fashion show in Kuala Lumpur (from Islamic fashion)
Haute couture fashion models walking the catwalk at the Carolina Herrera show during New York Fashion Week in 2014 (from Fashion show)
Paris fashion and runway at the turn of the century (from Fashion show)
Models on the runway at São Paulo Fashion Week, 2017 (from Fashion show)
Young generation - main target of Islamic Fashion market. (from Islamic fashion)
Liu Wen, a supermodel, walking the catwalk as she models fashions by designer Diane von Fürstenberg at New York Fashion Week in 2013 (from Fashion show)
Fashionable lady of the era: portrait by Giovanni Boldini (1845–1931) showing Elizabeth Wharton Drexel in 1905. (from History of fashion design)
Clothing factory in Buryatia, Russia (from Clothing industry)
Example of an elaborate stage set used for the Chanel Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2011 show (from Fashion show)
Fashion sketching before live runway presentation (from Fashion show)
Example image of a poodle skirt. (from History of fashion design)
Fashionable Hollywood actress Louise Brooks (from History of fashion design)
Moslema in style fashion show at PWTC. (from Islamic fashion)
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More Did you know (auto generated)
- ... that Carrlyn Bathe met her husband after he sent her gear from his clothing brand?
- ... that painter and designer Mia Lee used to make doll fashions from her grandmother's scraps?
- ... that Shushu/Tong is a brand that creates fashion collections inspired by magical girl anime such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica?
- ... that Alexander McQueen pioneered the use of digitally engineered prints in fashion with Natural Dis-tinction Un-natural Selection (examples pictured)?
- ... that estimates of the boost to the British fashion industry by Catherine, Princess of Wales, range from £152 million to £1 billion per year?
- ... that a fashion designer expressed his career frustrations with a golden shower?
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