During these holidays I had the opportunity to visit one of the largest and oldest museums in the world “The Hermitage Museum”, located in St Petersburg-Russia. Every time I go into a museum, I can’t help being amused by our evolution in the different fields.
As I was walking around I realized how wrong some people are to think that clothes and fashion are irrelevant, or shallow. The truth is that there is more to fashion than just clothes or accessories; we have learned so much about other cultures and civilizations just by studying and analyzing their clothes and accessories. For instance in ancient Egypt ordinary Egyptians wore linen, while the richer and wealthier Egyptians dressed in a lighter fabric, semi-transparent “royal linen”. The pharaoh and the priest would wear skins, usually leopard, for religious rituals. And also royalty wore elaborate clothing for ceremonial occasions.
On the other hand, I was also surprised by how fashion doesn’t change; it evolves. Designers are always looking back at past trends and making references of them. It is amazing how some of the shapes of the clothing and accessories remain the same through, literally, thousands of years. Of course there is an obvious evolution regarding fabrics, materials, fitting and lots of other details, but its essence is eternal.
As the economist that I am, I like to support my ideas with other people´s theories. Here are some of them:
-“I think fashion is that we go two steps forward and go 15 back each time because you always have to look back and see what's been done.” Bob Mackie (American fashion and costume designer)
-“Fashion is usually a gentle progression of revisited ideas.” Bruce Oldfield (British fashion designer)
-“There's never a new fashion but it's old. “ Geoffrey Chaucer (British Poet, considered the father of English literature)
-“Fashion is never in crisis because clothes are always necessary.” Achille Maramotti (Italian fashion designer, founder of Maxmara)
But careful! I am not saying that there's no innovation in fashion, I am saying that the main structure of fashion was created millions of years ago, and designers will always have to look back as a reference to create.
Here are some pictures that will help illustrate my point! ;)
Museum pictures taken by marifulleda
Other pictures taken from internet
Editing by Lina Lis
Impressive! You can trace the path of mankind through history with clothing!! First time I see a comparison taken from the collection of the Hermitage Museum!
ResponderEliminarGreat Job!
Keep Posting!