Christian Dior's career was launched in 1947 with his very first collection, in which he introduced the “New Look“. Featuring rounded shoulders, a cinched waist, and very full skirt, the New Look celebrated ultra-femininity and opulence. After years of military and civilian uniforms, sartorial restrictions and shortages, Dior offered not merely a new look but a new outlook. (1)
Image: Plated gauntlets (mailed gloves) date back as far as the early 10th or 12th Centuries (1)
Gloves, an example of a tailored garment, are usually worn to keep ones hands warm, where as Gauntlets were developed to protect the hands in fighting. Throwing down the gauntlet as a way of challenging someone was a part of English law for 800 years. Later the glove was used by men to challenge someone to a duel. Single long gloves were made for men and actually fit over their sleeves in order to protect their sword arm. But wearing gloves as a fashion began during the 12th century. In Queen Elizabeth I court, no well dressed woman was without gloves. In the 16th and 17th century, gloves were heavily ornamented with fringe, jewels, lace and embroideries and were made of leather, silk, linen or lace. Glove making became a refined art and London became the hub of glove makers. (2)
(1) http://discussion.academyart.edu/sectionContent/54-23431/27072/session_06.html
Image: Germanic trousers of the 4th century found in the Thorsberg moor, Germany Trousers are an item of clothing tailored to be worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately Nomadic Eurasian horsemen such as the Iranian Scythians, became early adopters of trousers. In ancient China only soldiers wore trousers. Men's clothes in Hungary in the 15th century consisted of a shirt and trousers as underwear. Trousers appeared in Western European culture at several points in history, but gained their current predominance only in the 16th century. In England in the twelfth century, the rustic often wore long garments to the ankle, rather like trousers. Trouserlike garments, which became rare again in the thirteenth century, vanished during the fourteenth century and scarcely reappeared for six hundred years. (1)
Image: A model wearing a gown by designer Madeleine Vionnet, 1935Madeleine Vionnet was considered a fashion revolutionary for her use of drapery. She was inspired by the draperies on Greek statues and the dances of Isadora Duncan, and developed a technique of draping and cutting which caused her to be named “The Queen of the Bias Cut” – a technique which continues to inform the work of many leading designers today, most notably John Galliano.
Madame Vionnet was also responsible for introducing dresses made from a single length of cloth, without fastenings or buttons; hooded tunics; halter-necks and the handkerchief hem (1).
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The garment illustrated in this image is a toga, a distinctive garment of Ancient Rome (about 753 BC - 44 BC (1)). Toga's were worn by draping and wrapping a cloth of perhaps twenty feet in length around the body and generally worn over a tunic. Toga's were typically made of wool and the tunic beneath often made of linen (2).
Dress: White Wedding Gown with Strapless ruched boddice and full tulle skirt. 2009. 
Dress: 1960’s mini dress with velvet upperPolyesters are made from chemical substances found mainly in petroluem and are manufactured in fibers, films, and plastics" (Bellis).
"[Polyester] was advertised as a miracle fiber that could be worn for 68 days straight without ironing and still look presentable.
Polyester experienced a constant growth until the 1970s when sales drastically declined due to a negative public image that emerged in the late 60s.
Today, polyester is still widely regarded as a "cheap, uncomfortable" fiber, but even now this image is slowly beginning to change with the emergence of polyester luxury fibers such as polyester microfiber" (Boekhoff).
These Antique Rose Nylon stockings are an example of what was introduced in the 1940's after the inventor Dr. Wallace Hume Carothers, at DuPont, created Nylon.
Cotton was first grown in Eurasia for clothing, sheets, and towels by the Harappan people in India in about 2500 B.C.
This image depicts a typical linen undergarment that was worn by women throughout the "Anglo-Saxon period of 450-1100."
"Women wore a fairly slender undergarment, or shift, with long, narrow sleeves."
Roman garments were usually made of wool, and much of Roman clothing was designed to reveal the social status of its wearer. "In typical Roman fashion, the more distinguished the wearer, the more his dress was distinctively marked, while the dress of the lowest classes was often not marked at all.
For Lady Gaga, the clothes she wears to perform go hand-in-hand with the songs she sings, as she wants the imagery to be as powerful as her voice. Lady Gaga’s unconventional sense of style inspires and reminds me to think outside of the box and to unabashedly explore and appreciate fashion.
Just as Lady Gaga’s fashion sense is unique and inspirational, this Fashion Source Book aims to encourage and motivate ideas. This blog will act as a platform to stimulate thought by way of verbal and visual information. Images and posts will be added based on various topics and points of view in an effort to produce a comprehensive depiction of fashion and history throughout the 20th Century.
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