History of Fashion in Western Society

History of Fashion in Western Society History of Fashion. Fashion has always been a reflection of the collective consciousness and unconsciousness of society.   In politically conservative times, fashion reflects the staidness of the majority, but also the subversive elements of the minority.   No less a controversial figure than King Louis XIV of France was rumored to have said that fashion was a mirror.   Music, films, and television, all potent pop culture mirrors in their own right of the anxieties, hopes, and dreams of any society, all collectively form a synergistic relationship with fashion, each informing, influencing, and cross-pollinating the others in various turns.   Fashion is also a pop culture manifestation of the intellectual and cultural trend of postmodernism.   Fashion depends on newness; summer, fall, winter, spring are seasons that occur inexorably each year, and with them, the demand for new fashion lines.   The inexhaustible hunger for new ideas and inspirations in fashion and other pop culture arenas lead s inevitably to cannibalization, plagiarism, re-contextualization, and re-imagination of ideas past and present – the essence of postmodernism.   If we survey the landscape of where pop culture and fashion have been, we can to some degree predict the elements which may define where it will go, though in the postmodern universe of the 21st century, it is next to impossible to predict what incarnations will come to pass. Fashion is the byproduct of a leisure society that has transcended many of the basic human struggles on the lower level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.   Most people in prosperous Western nations are fortunate enough to lead lives in which the acquisition and/or maintenance of food, shelter, and clothing is not a struggle that consumes their existence, as is sadly true in many African nations, for example.   Free to ponder the meaning of their lives and the many ways in which it is possible for humans to express their inner thoughts and feelings, citizens of the leisure society began to use fashion as a mode of self-expression and reflection of any number of zeitgeists of their time.   As far back as the 1700s, French women consulted fashion magazines to learn the latest fashion trends.   Sketch artists were present in royal courts to make note of the fashion choices made by the ruling classes, and communicated these ideas to dressmakers across the nation, who in turn crafted facsimiles for those who were able to afford such fashion mimicry.   The French have historically held a special place in the fashion universe since this time.  Ã‚   As the 1800s and 1900s saw Western societies evolve from agrarian societies to industrial societies, with the concurrent increase in wealth and disposal income, the focus on and indulgence in fashion increased.   With the advent of pop music, most notably rock-and-roll in the 1950s, and television, teenagers all around the world saw the likes of Elvis Presley and his gyrating hips, causing a global fashion sensation.   Boys everywhere began to sport white t-shirts (in whose sleeves the more raucous ones rolled packs of cigarettes), blue jeans, and grease their hair.   Celebrities from the arenas of music, film, and then television became the new royalty, the new elites, for Western cultures, and the fashion trends they embodies became inspirations for millions in each successive generation. The messages of rock-and-roll became more complex, subversive, and powerful in the 1960s, corresponding with the United States’ controversial entry into the Vietnam War and a wholesale rejection on both sides of the Atlantic of many of the traditional values of the Cold War era.   The Beatles’s turn from fresh-scrubbed, feel-good bubblegum pop to psychedelic and metaphysical subject matter influences a new set of fashion trends which shocked the Establishment to the core.   Men and women everywhere began wearing colorful (both literally and figuratively), outrageously expressive, and even outlandish fashions, and allowing their hair to grow long. The exhaustion from the myriad political and socio-cultural revolutions of the 1960s, and the stagnant Western economies of the 1970s gave way to a culture preoccupied with escapism and simply having a good time.   Sit-ins and political protests gave way to champagne-filled boogie nights.   The flower-power psychedelia fashion trends of the late 1960s and early 1970s gave way to the groovy leisure suit styles inspired by the music trend of disco that consumed the world from roughly 1976 to 1980 and cemented by the global box office phenomenology of the film Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta and featuring a soundtrack packed with disco hits written by the Bee Gees.   The tight-fitting and well-cut suits worn by Travolta, and the sexy, stylish dresses and pantsuits of the women in the film inspired millions to change their wardrobes accordingly.   On the tail end of the disco era came a brief but potent preoccupation with cowboy fashion, inspired by the peculiar util itarian clothing from the American Old West – cowboy boots, rugged blue jeans, ten-gallon cowboy hats, etc., again propelled into the collective fashion consciousness of the world by another hugely successful film, 1982’s Urban Cowboy. At the same time the fashion trends inspired by disco and cowboy culture were dying out, the realm of the political again profoundly affected the universe of fashion.   The elections of conservative political figureheads Margaret Thatcher in England and Ronald Reagan in the U.S. sparked a schizophrenic revolution in clothing and music:   as economic recoveries were engineered on the backs of the working poor, the culture that proclaimed â€Å"greed is good† took to reveling in the wearing conservative, yet expensive or even shocking clothing – furs, for example which reflected the mindset of conspicuous consumption.   Simultaneously, those cultural elements who were not benefiting from the economic boom were rebelling against the conservative establishment trends and adopting controversial styles embodied, for example, in the slut-chic clothing popularized by the music and videos of Madonna.   Music videos, a new invention in pop culture and institutionalized b y the power of MTV, became a new showcase for outrageous fashion statements in the 1980s and beyond. The greed and spiritual bankruptcy of the 1980s gave way to the hippie nouveaux culture of the Earth-and-cause-friendly early-to-mid 1990s, and then to the greed nouveaux culture of the late 1990s, spawned by the phenomenal economic growth of the Internet boom.   By this time, pop culture had begun to liberally cannibalize itself for new ideas, having exhausted much of its potential for true originality.   As technology and civilization continue their exponential evolution of consumption, genuinely original ideas become more and more difficult to generate, leading fashion designers to borrow from past ideas, to combine hitherto uncombined or un-combinable ideas, as evidenced by the infamous phrase â€Å"What’s old is new; what’s new is old.† The early 21st Century is a time of profound uncertainty in fashion, with a myriad of recycled influences competing for the crown of the next hot fashion trend.   The inherent self-referentiality and cannibalism of post-modernism, however, makes it virtually impossible to predict which trends will take hold and when.   The next decade will make for a fascinating time in the universe of fashion.

Female Genital Mutilation: A Gross Violation of Human Rights Essay

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has often been viewed as a rite of passage for women in various countries within Africa, South America, the Middle East and Asia. However, due to societal norms and pressures, whether it based in culture or religion, forces women to partake in a practice that has serious health risks and takes away the rights of women who believe they have no other choice. The Universal Declaration of Human rights are applicable to all member states including most of the countries that still practice FGM. However, despite claiming that the human rights set forth would be observed as obligated in terms of their memberships, FGM violates numerous rights and freedoms that claim to be recognized but, are not known to the people. These rights are neglected, and frequently go unacknowledged within communities because of denied access to media or information. Nonetheless whether it is intentional or a direct result of the poverty levels within these countries these are rights that the people deserve to know they have. If women were exposed to various forms of media and knew of their rights, FGM would not be so highly practiced. Female Genital Mutilation is a flagrant violation of one’s human rights. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is also known as female circumcision. There is this passivity and social acceptance that implied when using female circumcision versus FGM because, circumcision of males in western cultures is a norm and therefore, not viewed as a violation of one’s rights. However, if female genital cutting is referred to as female circumcision then it equating the severity of FGM with that of a male which is not the case. FGM is more harmful to the health of the woman at question and in no means beneficial to... ... Study Using Female Genital Mutilation†. Health and Human Rights. The President and Fellows of Harvard College. Vol. 2, No. 2 (1997), pp. 137-146. Web. Dorkenoo, Efua. â€Å"Combating Female Genital Mutilation: An Agenda for the Next Decade†. Women's Studies Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 1/2, Teaching About Violence Against Women, The Feminist Press at the City University of New York (Spring - Summer, 1999), pp. 87-97. Web R. Beitz, Charles. â€Å"Human Rights as a Common Concern†. The American Political Science Review, American Political Science Association, Vol. 95, No. 2 (Jun., 2001), pp. 269-282. Web N. Davis, Aisha. â€Å"Female Genital Cutting: The Pressures of Culture, International Attention, and Domestic Law on the Role of African Women†. Gender and Sexuality Law Online. Columbia Law School. 25 January 2012. Web. http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a3

Grade Inquiry Essay

Project context Innovation have made possible for the operations of the computer easy enough in processing records system such as, creation of data, storing, filing and retrieval of data. This Online Grade inquiry with subject evaluation and SMS notification is a process whereby a department head input the grades of the students who are enrolled to the said department and evaluates what subjects should they be taking after they passed their current enrolled subject for them to take their proceeding subject to the next semester after the input of data to the system. The system sends also the grades to the students via SMS every end of the trinal exam who is enrolled to the said department before that they will give first the data to the registrar in order to send the data to the students because the registrar clarify first the data because one of the foremost responsibilities of the registrar office is to keep the student’s grades data secured for their records and purposes. The head of the sa id department may now easily encode the data to the system and give the standing records to their students without a consuming a lot of time and gives convenient kind of servicing to the student. The system basically keeps all the records of the students about their grades and class subjects and it will determine if a particular student passed or fail the subject and it also display announcements like meetings and dates of signing of clearances etc. Purpose and Description Our project focuses mainly on keep in track of the students grade and subject and also sending the grade of the student via SMS who are enrolled to the said department. This system on the other hand can display important announcement like meetings and news. By this, the head of the department can easily gives the grades of a student by just encoding the grades of the students into the system. And also if the head of the department has special announcements to make to the said department, the students can easily read the announcement made by the dean even if they are not in the school. Statement of the problem General: The manual submission and distribution of the grades in the department (BSBA) or in the registrar (NDKC). The time consuming of subject evaluation at the registrar’s office. Specific:Â  The students need to go directly to their respective department or at the school registrar to inquire their grades. The long processes of inquiry of grades are inconvenient, tiresome, and some instances are time consuming. Objectives General: To develop an online grade encoding, inquiry and evaluation system. To develop a system that will lessen the registrar’s tasks in encoding of grades. Specific: To develop a system that can able to send grades automatically via SMS. To develop a system that is convenient and less effort to inquire the grades of the student. Scope and Limitations The proposed system is concerned in sending SMS about the student’s grades and displays the evaluation of a student and announcement. This covers only the grade data; their class subjects to evaluate; and announcements to post and only limited to the following: 1. Send SMS about students Grade; 2. Displays evaluation of the student and the announcement of the dean; 3. Control the records of the students; 4. Update the records; 5. Organize new coming data; Scope The request of the grades can be done through any network of mobile phones/ cellular phones. The head of the department only has the authority to the system. The head of the department can encode grades of the students through online. The system automatically back-up the records being encoded. The device use in the system is for inquiry only. The head of the department can print the summary of grades and also the subjects taken by the students. Limitations It cannot be used for conversation. The system has no capability of handling delayed messages. If the responsible of inputting grades submitted a wrong grade of a student, the system is not reliable of human error. The system cannot accept landline number in registration for the students as their contact number. The system can be accessed by internet connection only. Significance of the study: This study was made to find out the use of online – based system that will lessen the time for transaction, accommodation and convenience of releasing the grades of the students. The college of Business of Administration which is one of the top departments of NDKC with high population which is fit to this project for us to cope/manage all the records about their student grades class subject evaluation and announcement using the said system. Through this project the said department can easily organize all the records of the students and keep in track in its database. The department would have a website that can easily use and can interact between the department and with their students. The system provides accessibility to the head of the department only and can update the grades and give evaluation to the subjects taken to the certain student. Students can receive their grades via SMS, view their evaluation subject and also can see what their head of the department announcement s. The said department will be assured of an accurate, high performance and a high level of security using the system. One benefit is that the students will know the announcements of their college dean and receive or to know their grades anywhere, as long as they are connected to the internet.

Analysis Of The Book Alice Adventures - 1055 Words

AP Book Report 1. Alice Adventures in Wonderland 2. Lewis Carroll was the author of Alice Adventures in Wonderland. Written in 1862- 1863 during a journey with Reverent Robinson Duckworth and his three young daughters. 3. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson better known as his pen name, Lewis Carroll, was an English author was born January 27, 1832. He was a writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican cleric, and artist. 4. Characters: Major: Alice: Alice is a seven-year-old girl who stumbles upon the Wonderland after following a white rabbit. She comes from a family in Victorian England. When she stumbles upon Wonderland, she is frustrated with all the surroundings it has on her. - Curious: Once she sees the rabbit her curious nature sparks to follow it. - Emotional: When she didn’t know what to do she would start crying, The Mouse: The first creature Alice meets in Wonderland. Mouse is initially scared of Alice, when she talks about her cat. He later on takes her with him with other creatures. - Frightened: The mouse is frightened of Alice and the way she would talk about her pet cat Dinah. - Leader: When with the animal it seemed he was the only one with the authoritative figure. By the why he talked to them and such. The Queen of Hearts: Ruler of Wonderland. The Queen is very dominating towards everyone, and if they don’t follow her command the only solution she has is beheading everyone. - Impulsive: When things wouldn’t go the way she’d like she automatically sends someone toShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Book Alice s Adventures 1773 Words   |  8 Pagesâ€Å"Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland†, a famous English storybook written by Lewis Carroll in 1865. Burton’s adaptation of Carroll’s original tale takes quite a few liberties in order to make a more connected message of growth and renewal he believed was needed in order to enhance the story of Alice. 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