History of Fashion

Fashion design is generally considered to have started in the 19th century.During the mid-19th century, new styles in clothing denoted middle class status. The dark suit, in somber shades of black, grey, or brown, for men connoted authority, responsibility, and respectability. The sailor suit became an essential uniform for middle-class boys. Neo-classicism influenced middle-class women's styles of dress. A respectable, middle class woman did not expose her body. They wore their hair in curls or knotted like women in classical statues. Middle-class girls, like princesses, wore bows, ruffles, and pastels as a symbol of their distinctiveness.Clothing can express emotions. Black is the color of mourning, but it can also be the color of formal evening dress. Black clothing was sometimes associated with the satanic, but also with ministers.Some clothing has become associated with particular people or social groups. Abraham Lincoln is associated with a black mourning suit and stove-pipe hat. Elvis Presley is linked with jeweled white suits. Jackie Kennedy is associated with pink pill box Halston hats and well-tailored, if somewhat boxy, Oleg Cassini suits. Beatniks of the 1950s are symbolized by black turtleneck sweaters. President Jimmy Carter was associated with cardigan sweaters. Ronald Reagan wore a cowboy hat, a symbol of America's frontier heritage and its optimism.