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The Fashion of 1910’s

Dresses and Skirts

The fashion silhouette softened significantly during the decade, with less emphasis on the S-shape that corsets created and more focus on a fluid, more flowing look.

This shift was reflected in the way dresses and skirts were designed. Dress lengths fell to just above the ankle, which was higher than the floor-length ball gowns of previous years.

In contrast to the hoop skirts of previous decades, the 1910s brought a new trend, where skirts tightened around the ankle.

These skirts looked almost like a longer, more flowing version of the pencil skirts of today. They were often worn with a tunic, jacket, or even a fur-lined coat.

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By 1910, designers such as Paul Poiret, Lucile (Lady Duff Gordon), and Jacques Doucet had revolutionized fashion by producing clothes that defined the more natural contours of the female form. These details included a wider waist, audacious assessories such as large feather hats and unpratica umbrellas added to the trend of hyper feminization.

These designers rebelled against the old Edwardian notion of women being required to have a constricted waist, and instead promoted a silhouette that was less restrictive and fuller in figure. Women essentially wanted healthier lives and healthier clothes to go with those lives.

Many are surprised when studying women’s fashions in the 1910s to learn that this was when hemlines began to rise. The 1910’s is a fancinating time in the history of fashion as the turn of the century ushed in a new wave of progressive styles. .

The 70’s is Making a Comeback!

This year the media has propelled 70’s fashion forward. Many new releases have relied on the time period to shape their stories and characters. Jesus Revolution is a biopic of Greg Lauri, a retired hippy turned Jesus freak. The movie follows many hippies’ journeys as they convert from spiritual druggies to Christians. However, they are never forced to give up their classic 70’s bellbottoms and flowy shirts. This movie has catalyzed a 70’ ‘s renaissance among Christian youth in the fashion world.

Another recent piece of media that is propelling the 70’s style into the trend cycle is Daisy Jones and the Six. A fictional band based on the real-life 70’s band Fleet Wood Mac is causing many stores to add 70’s inspired peices to their catalogs. Free people even collabs with the show to create a shoppable Daisy Jones Inspired Collection. The clothing collection is filled with funky patterns, Penny Lang esc furs, and muted warm tones.

“dream big little bird. love, daisy”

TheStyleBands Funky Florarls

“Dress Well or Die Trying”

Sparkle and Flow

Penny Lang Furs

The Trend Cycle Has Been Trashed!

Leaving the Consumer Torn

The pressure to stay on trend is nothing new. However, without proper knowledge of how the trend cycle has accelerated, from mass media, the average consumer can be swept up in societal pressures, credit card debt, and lacking a sense of self. For centuries society has looked up to monarchs, socialites, and different forms of media for fashion advice to stay current. The trends trickled down from the top to the bottom as powerful industries regulated what was in style and for how long. However, in the past decade, changes in the nature of media and the fragmentation of information have accelerated the fashion cycle dramatically. This has led to the progression of fashion trends speeding up, as consumers now have

platforms to create their own fashion athletics creating demand for cheap fast fashion. The power to develop fashion trends has shifted from a limited industry to the masses, making fashion cycles shorter and unpredictable, and has created a demand for fast fashion leaving consumers overwhelmed.

The internet has fundamentally changed the way we communicate in the fashion industry “the audience, once passive, is now cast in a more central and influential role than ever before.”(Hirshberg) Between 1950 and 1970, the Big Three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) accounted for around 95 percent of primetime viewing. A small amount of these network advertisements were fashion related, making the propagators of fashion trends a small group of individuals.

vation “Industry as Propagator of New Fashions” ( Sproles 118) and “Consumer Behavior as Propagator of New Fashions” ( Sproles 118).

However, with social media’s influence on the fashion world, the past fashion trend cycle that followed the “20year rule – the time it takes for a trend to die, then become fashionable again.” is now obsolete.

anyone with a platform. Once a following is built around an item, it doesn’t take long for fast fashion companies to replicate the item and oversaturate the market with the piece.

George Sproles, a scholar who studied the fashion life cycle and consumer behavior toward fashion, can give us a perspective of the past. Stating that “Fashion theory has developed around two-time frames, long run cycles, the secular evolution of one style to the next, spanning decades and centuries and short run cycles, the seasonal acceptance mentation, color, fabric, and trim may exhibit of a single style during a period of months to years.” While fashion trends can be a complex phenomenon, two main factors drive inno-

(Pavlick) Historically the Industry controlled the media, such as “Women’s Wear Daily,” indicting what was in style and was “viewed as [one of the most] powerful forces” in indicting what fashions would be manufactured. (Sproles 200) However, our digital culture has repositioned the consumer as the main propagator of trends; no longer can traditional limited media control the time frame a trend will last. Instead, the nature of modern media has accelerated the widespread adoption of trends. Designers, bloggers, and influencers can spread visuals and concepts worldwide with lightning speed. These micro trends can come from

As media consumption has been splintered through social media outlets, fashion companies must look to the consumer for what will be in demand in the fashion world. According to McKinsey fashion, companies have had to turn to “buzz analytics to gain product and marketing edge.”(Dave) As Consumer Behavior is now the propagator of new trends, “reading the burgeoning signals from social media” can help companies in many industries “capture consumer insight.”(Dave) Brands such as H&M have pioneered this method as they have struck their companies to capture consumer insights and “respond quickly to changes in fashion trends.” (L. Muran 15) Their strategy is to create clothes that are “designed and manufactured quickly, are affordable, and are aimed at mainstream consumers.”(L. Muran 15) However, it is not just fast fashion com-

panies that are responding to consumer desires notorious designer companies such as “Burberry and Tom Ford began experimenting with the fashion-industry concept known as “see now, buy now” in 2016.

(Achim)

While they received backlash for listening to consumer insights as high fashion brands, the nature of modern media has broken down the wall between the industry and the average person leaving companies no choice but to consulate consumers.

fast fashion companies saw the demand and produced knockoffs saturating the market, making the dress overexposed in the media, and this pattern is not just unique to the Hockney dress. Social media makes trends quickly detectable “A video on TikTok can receive millions of views in mere minutes” (Maya) while previously it would take the industry years to roll out new styles, now it can be done in a matter of seconds.

ucts. Keeping up with the trend cycle for many consumers is easier than ever with services such as Kredit Carma adopting the buy now pay it later method of financing purchases.

However, by shifting the production of fashion to consumer whims, the demand for quick, cheap clothing continues to proliferate. New styles spread like wildfire “thanks to the app’s accessibility and insanely niche algorithm, the fashion industry is no longer the only voice directing new styles and trends.”(Maya) A good example of a trend that invaded the internet was the House of Sunnies Hockney. The bright green dress that retails $128 skyrocketed into popularity through platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. Vogue called it “The Cult Dress Of Summer 2020”; everyone who was anyone wanted to have a picture of them in the dress. However, as quickly as it rose to popularity, it fell. In a few short months,

Online consumers are introduced to new styles on a weekly basis, and fashion companies are often blamed for enabling overconsumption. However, the fracturing of digital media has amplified the once-controlled pressure to stay current. In 2020 “just over seven in 10 consumers said that they shop in “micro-moments” of those, 35% say they do it weekly or more often.” While fast fashion companies have been “enabling anytime shopping experiences,” the demand was created by consumers on digital media. As shoppers, it is easy to blame the temptation to go into credit card debt on fast fashion companies’ ever-changing prod-

However, it is vital that we are aware that historically while it may have been feasible to stay culturally on trend as certain styles were propagated by the industry to remain current for years to come, now it is more important than ever to find a timeless personal style. To avoid drawing in credit card debt and placing false blame on companies that are just enabling our desires. Mass media will perpetually push the next best thing to the consumer, which will never change. Consequently, it is more important than ever to be aware that the present-day accelerated trend cycle will always leave us behind. The conversation around the accelerated trend cycle always casts the consumer as the victim however, maybe it is our pride to “stay in vogue” on social media platforms that truly needs to be checked. Fashion companies, low and high-end, are now merely responding to our demands they no longer have the wield all the power to propagate trends. Leaving the hypothetical ball in our court, and we must decide whether we let social media pressure control us.