Jessica Simpson

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Jessica Simpson

2008 spring-summer fashion trends for females

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2008 spring-summer fashion trends for females

It's about time to dress up for spring! It's the time to manage your wardrobe and get some fashionable pieces for refreshing spring weather and hot summer days. Let's take a look at hottest trends for spring and summer 2008.

Designers often choose muted shades for autumn-winter collections, and spring-summer often stuns with vivid colors. The trends of 2008 are no exceptional: We will see bright and bold colors on clothing, accessories and everything you can wear. Even "Technicolor brights" - neonic pink, green, yellow and orange - are fashionable once again. If clothing of such colors is too bright for you, pick several accessories to highlight your regular wear. Purple was the hit of the past season and it is still around for spring and summer 2008. But the shade of colors has changed a lot: forget the deep purple and violet, meet lilac, subtle amethyst and lavender tones. The sweet lilac shade fits another hot trend of summer 2008, the pale azure denim fabric.

If you're looking for trendy patterns of spring-summer 2008, reveal the blossom of your beauty with floral prints. Look for clothes with flower motives all over them, because a single herb embroidered on a blouse or jacket is not enough. If you don't feel like wearing colorful floral patterns, there's another classic combination ready for spring and summer. It doesn't matter if you choose black on white or white on black - it will be the most fashionable pattern of the season. All possible combinations of B&W ruled the runways and they will rule the streets for sure. Let's not forget ethnic trend; it's on top once again. Choose tribal inspired patterns and ikat fabric clothing and combine it with chunk tribal jewelry to create a safari-chic image.

Can you imagine spring fashion without a skirt or a dress? Spring and summer trends wouldn't be complete without amazing dress. Squishy skirt is the top for spring and it will hold its positions on summer as well. Choose high-waist silk organza skirt to stun everyone. This type of skirt looks great with another fashionable detail: the cropped jacket. The fashionable length of skirt and dresses became shorter; even though the knee-length remains popular, the hottest trend is a few inches above the knees.

Feminine glamour will take over all the women. Forget the image of bad girl and look like a lady, because you are one. Highlight your figure with lovely little dresses and see-through details. Naughty decorations are recommended for spring and summer of 2008: outfit decorated with ribbons, lace and bows will make you feel and look very feminine. Corset as outwear is trendy once again; wear it on top of shirt for sexy sophisticated look. The trend of transparent clothing doesn't make you walk around half naked: playing hide-and-seek with several layers makes you appear mysterious and alluring. Glamorous ancient Roman inspired dress is another fashionable wear of spring and summer 2008. Choose intricate pleated dress, one-shouldered dress deco...

Read full 2008 spring-summer fashion trends for females article

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Sex, drink and fashion

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drink and fashion

Sex

It seemed like a coup for feminism when Slate, an online magazine, launched a new, women-focused website, Double X, last month. Declaring its dedication to "tackling subjects high and low" in voices that were "unabashedly intellectual without being dry or condescending", Double X burst on to the blogosphere, seemingly ready to tackle the knotty question of what it means - and takes - to be a fully liberated woman today.

Except that, instead of squaring up to the sexual politics of the outside world, the site chose to fight its first battle with one of its own, accusing Jezebel - one of America's biggest and liveliest websites for women - of damaging women, degrading its own writers and betraying the quest for true sexual equality.

Jezebel is a tabloid-style website dedicated to "Celebrity, sex, fashion for women - without airbrushing". Based in the US, it has almost 900,000 readers across the world. Its writers lead divided lives: landing some hard-hitting feminist punches - such as raising funds for the victims of "honour" killings in Basra - while at the same time writing salaciously and candidly about their choice to live lives of unashamed promiscuity.

It was in response to one of these articles that Double X lit the fuse that has set the online global community alight. Under the heading "The trouble with Jezebel: how Jezebel is hurting women", it accused its rival of mistaking self-indulgence for acting in pursuit of a political goal.

Double X columnist Linda Hirshman, also a contributor to the New York Times and the Washington Post, referred to an hour-long television appearance by Tracie Egan, a Jezebel blogger who goes by the moniker "Slut Machine", and Maureen "Moe" Tkacik, in which the two young women refused to engage with a serious discussion about sexual politics and culture. Shrugging off a question about rape and sexual responsibility, Tkacik casually explained why she didn't report her own date rape to the police. "I had better things to do," she said. "Like drinking more."

After the programme, presenter Lizz Winstead explained how shocked she had been by the behaviour of the young women. Writing on her Huffington Post blog, Winstead said: "They do not understand the influence they have over the women who read them, nor do they accept any responsibility as role models for young women who are coming of age searching for lifestyles to emulate."

In last week's article for Double X, Hirshman singled out Egan and Tkacik as "a symptom of the weaknesses in the model of perfect egalitarian sexual freedom". The Jezebel website, she argued, is guilty of promoting the belief that modern-day feminism is simply "doing what feels good to you". In doing so, it uses the language of old-style feminism to betray the movement's ideals.

Hirshman, author of Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World, added: "It's the supposed concern with feminism that makes the site so problematic. The Jezebels are ... a living demonstration of the chaotic possibilities the movement always contained." The writer said that she found the attitudes particularly surprising because they "look a lot like the natural heirs of feminism: young, college-educated, urban (mostly New York), single, hard-working, sexually liberated".

Her accusations have reverberated around the global online community. The Jezebel website has responded with "Who are you calling a bad feminist?", in which Hirshman is decried as creating a "victim-shaming diatribe" and for promoting a feminist philosophy that is deeply sexist. "I have seen misogyny and, most of the time, it looks a lot like the ideology Hirshman has the audacity to call 'feminism'," the article stated.

The argument has become so furious that others have stepped in, with all guns blazing. Speaking to the Observer, Naomi Wolf, author of Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries, agrees with Hirshman. "Third-wave feminism is pluralistic, strives to be multi-ethnic, is pro-sex and tolerant of other women's choices," she said. "It has led to an embrace of what was once so politically suspect - the notion that you can be a 'lipstick lesbian' or a 'riot grrrl' [referring to a feminist punk movement that emerged in the 90s] if you want to be, that you can choose your persona and your freedom for yourself.

"But that very individualism, which has been great for feminism's rebranding, is also its weakness: it can be fun and frisky, but too often it's ahistorical and apolitical. As many older feminists justly point out, the world isn't going to change because a lot of young women feel confident and personally empowered, if they don't have grassroots groups or lobbies to advance woman-friendly policies, help break through the glass ceiling, develop decent work-family support structures or solidify real political clout.

"But feminists are in danger if we don't know our history, and a saucy tattoo and a condom do not a revolution make," she added. "The fact is, we know the answers to western women's problems: the way is mapped out, the time for theory is pretty much over. We know the laws and the policies we need to achieve full equality. What we lack is a grassroots movement that will drive the political will. 'Lipstick' or lifestyle feminism won't produce that movement alone."

Julie Bindel, a feminist campaigner and journalist, admitted being infuriated by women like Egan and Tkacik. "Feminism is not the freedom to act like a dickhead," she said. "These women are individualists, not feminists. They are lazy, bone-idle women who have no interest taking part in a political movement for change but are trying to get credibility for their selfish lives by playing identification politics. You can't claim to be a feminist simply because you're a woman."

Sandrine Levêque, campaigns manager at Object, the human rights organisation which challenges the sexual objectification of women in popular culture, agreed. "It's almost like what was seen as sexist 20 years ago has been repackaged as empowerment and liberation for women in the 21st century," she said. "It is difficult to make choices in today's pornified culture which bombards us with the message that raunch culture is where it's at for women in 2009."

Younger feminists, however, are more inclined to be critical of Hirshman. "When it comes to Double X, I think we're just left with questions - is it feminist, or is it not feminist? Why did it host a story blaming another woman for not reporting being raped? What is promiscuity? What does that mean? To me, it speaks of trying to slut-shame women who are having consensual sex as and when they want it," said Jess McCabe, editor of the F Word, a British website that describes itself as feminist.

"There is no such thing as a bad feminist. Feminism is a social justice movement, it is not about chiding other women, or establishing yet another set of standards for women to be judged against. We all mess up - we've all been raised in a sexist, racist, transphobic, heteronormative society, and guess what, that affects our behaviour. We all also differ in terms of what feminism means to us."

Ellie Levenson, author of the forthcoming book The Noughtie Girl's Guide to Feminism, is also critical of Hirshman's definition of "good" and "bad" feminism. "A lot of the criticism against Jezebel is against women being open about their sexual antics," she said. "Feminism is about women choosing how to behave and having the same rights and freedoms to behave badly as men do, so in order to make these choices we need to be able to read about women who have made all kinds of choices."

The main problem with feminism today, added Levenson, is that it has become a word that people don't want to be associated with. "But when you start asking them whether they believe in equal rights for men and women they say, yes, absolutely. So it is the word and not the concept that is the problem."

Leveque agreed. Feminism today is very definitely alive and fiercely kicking. "Just look at the number of feminist groups launching up and down the UK, from the Million Women Rise march in London, from the resurgency of reclaim-the-night marches, from the growth of feminist blogs," she said.

"The tide is slowly growing, and it is badly needed," she added. "Things like the rape conviction rate being so pathetic it is almost non-existent, women's services facing closure and the pay gap actually increasing - there is more of a need for feminist activism than ever."

Source URL: https://unknowablejourney.blogspot.com/2009/10/
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Fashion 09

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Fashion09

Fashion is the style and custom prevalent at a given time. In its most common usage however, "fashion" describes the popular clothing style. Many fashions are popular in many cultures at any given time. Important is the idea that the course of design and fashion will change more rapidly than the culture as a whole. Fashion designers create and produce clothing articles.

The terms "fashionable" and "unfashionable" were employed to describe whether someone or something fits in with the current or even not so current, popular mode of expression. However, more so in the modern era items termed 'not so current' may indeed fit into the term 'Retro.' Retro fashion allows rule shifts, such as 'old is suddenly new,' thus fashionable. The term "fashion" is frequently used in a positive sense, as a synonym for glamour, beauty and style^{[citation needed]}. In this sense, fashions are a sort of communal art, through which a culture examines its notions of beauty and goodness. The term "fashion" is also sometimes used in a negative sense, as a synonym for fads and trends, and materialism.

There exist a number of cities recognized as global fashion centers or fashion capitals. Fashion Weeks are held in these cities where designers exhibit their new clothing collections to audiences. The main five cities are Tokyo, London, Paris, Milan and New York - these five are renowned for their major influence on global fashion and are headquarters to the greatest fashion companies. Other cities, including Mumbai, Los Angeles, Seoul, Berlin, Rome, Osaka, Toronto, Hong Kong, Dubai, São Paulo, Sydney, Moscow,Madrid and Shanghai also hold fashion weeks and are better recognized every year.

[hide]

1 Areas of fashion
2 Clothing
3 Media
4 Intellectual property
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links

[edit] Areas of fashion

Fashion as social phenomena is common. The rise and fall of fashion has been especially documented and examined in the following fields:

Architecture, interior design, and landscape design
Arts and crafts
Body type, clothing or costume, cosmetics, personal grooming, hairstyle, and personal adornment
Dance and music
Forms of address, slang, and other forms of speech
Economics and spending choices, as studied in behavioral finance
Entertainment, games, hobbies, sports, and other pastimes
Etiquette
Fast fashion
Management, management styles and different ways of organizing
Politics and media, especially the topics of conversation encouraged by the media
Philosophy and religion: although the doctrines of religions and philosophies change very slowly if at all, there can be rapid changes in what areas of a religion or a philosophy are seen as most important and most worth following or studying.
Social networks and the diffusion of representations and practices
Sociology and the meaning of clothing for identity-building
Technology, such as the choice of computer programming techniques
Hospitality industry, such as designer uniforms custom made for a hotel, restaurant, casino, resort or club, in order to reflect a property and brand.

Of these fields, costume especially has become so linked in the public eye with the term "fashion" that the more general term "costume" has mostly been relegated to only mean fancy dress or masquerade wear, while the term "fashion" means clothing generally, and the study of it. This linguistic switch is due to the so-called fashion plates which were produced during the Industrial Revolution, showing novel ways to use new textiles. For a broad cross-cultural look at clothing and its place in society, refer to the entries for clothing, costume and fabrics. The remainder of this article deals with clothing fashions in the Western world.^[1]

[edit] Clothing

Main article: History of Western fashion

Some historians observe the frequently changing clothing styles as a distinctively Western habit among urban populations.^{[dubious – discuss]} Changes in costume often took place at times of economic or social change (such as in ancient Rome), but then a long period without large changes followed. In 8th century Cordoba, Spain, Ziryab (a famous musician of that time) is said to have introduced sophisticated clothing styles based on seasonal and daily timings from his native Baghdad and his own inspiration.

English caricature of Tippies of 1796

The beginnings of the habit in Europe of continual and increasingly rapid change in styles can be fairly reliably dated to the middle of the 14th century, to which historians including James Laver and Fernand Braudel date the start of Western fashion in clothing.^[2]^[3] The most dramatic manifestation was a sudden drastic shortening and tightening of the male over-garment, from calf-length to barely covering the buttocks, sometimes accompanied with stuffing on the chest to look bigger. This created the distinctive Western male outline of a tailored top worn over leggings or trousers.

Marie Antoinette was a fashion icon

The pace of change accelerated considerably in the following century, and women and men's fashion, especially in the dressing and adorning of the hair, became equally complex and changing. Art historians are therefore able to use fashion in dating images with increasing confidence and precision, often within five years in the case of 15th century images. Initially changes in fashion led to a fragmentation of what had previously been very similar styles of dressing across the upper classes of Europe, and the development of distinctive national styles, which remained very different until a counter-movement in the 17th to 18th centuries imposed similar styles once again, finally those from Ancien Régime in France.^[3]^:317-24 Though the rich usually led fashion, the increasing affluence of early modern Europe led to the bourgeoisie and even peasants following trends at a distance sometimes uncomfortably close for the elites - a factor Braudel regards as one of the main motors of changing fashion.^[3]^:313-15 The fashions of the West are generally unparalleled either in antiquity or in the other great civilizations of the world. Early Western travellers, whether to Persia, Turkey, Japan or China frequently remark on the absence of changes in fashion there, and observers from these other cultures comment on the unseemly pace of Western fashion, which many felt suggested an instability and lack of order in Western culture. The Japanese Shogun's secretary boasted (not completely accurately) to a Spanish visitor in 1609 that Japanese clothing had not changed in over a thousand years.^[3]^:312-3^:323 However in Ming China, for example, there is considerable evidence for rapidly changing fashions in Chinese clothing.^[4]

Albrecht Dürer's drawing contrasts a well turned out bourgeoise from Nuremberg (left) with her counterpart from Venice. The Venetian lady's high chopines make her taller

Ten 16th century portraits of German or Italian gentlemen may show ten entirely different hats, and at this period national differences were at their most pronounced, as Albrecht Dürer recorded in his actual or composite contrast of Nuremberg and Venetian fashions at the close of the 15th century (illustration, right). The "Spanish style" of the end of the century began the move back to synchronicity among upper-class Europeans, and after a struggle in the mid 17th century, French styles decisively took over leadership, a process completed in the 18th century.^[3]^:317-21

Though colors and patterns of textiles changed from year to year,^[5] the cut of a gentleman's coat and the length of his waistcoat, or the pattern to which a lady's dress was cut changed more slowly. Men's fashions largely derived from military models, and changes in a European male silhouette are galvanized in theatres of European war, where gentleman officers had opportunities to make notes of foreign styles: an example is the "Steinkirk" cravat or necktie.

The pace of change picked up in the 1780s with the increased publication of French engravings that showed the latest Paris styles; though there had been distribution of dressed dolls from France as patterns since the 16th century, and Abraham Bosse had produced engravings of fashion from the 1620s. By 1800, all Western Europeans were dressing alike (or thought they were): local variation became first a sign of provincial culture, and then a badge of the conservative peasant.^[6]

Although tailors and dressmakers were no doubt responsible for many innovations before, and the textile industry certainly led many trends, the history of fashion design is normally taken to date from 1858, when the English-born Charles Frederick Worth opened the first true haute couture house in Paris. Since then the professional designer has become a progressively more dominant figure, despite the origins of many fashions in street fashion.

Modern Westerners have a wide choice available in the selection of their clothes. What a person chooses to wear can reflect that person's personality or likes. When people who have cultural status start to wear new or different clothes a fashion trend may start. People who like or respect them may start to wear clothes of a similar style.

Princess Diana was a fashion icon of the late 20th century

Fashions may vary considerably within a society according to age, social class, generation, occupation, and geography as well as over time. If, for example, an older person dresses according to the fashion of young people, he or she may look ridiculous in the eyes of both young and older people. The terms fashionista or fashion victim refer to someone who slavishly follows the current fashions.

One can regard the system of sporting various fashions as a fashion language incorporating various fashion statements using a grammar of fashion. (Compare some of the work of Roland Barthes.)

[edit] Media

The Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen is one of the most famous faces seen on fashion magazine covers.

An important part of fashion is fashion journalism. Editorial critique and commentary can be found in magazines, newspapers, on television, fashion websites, social networks and in fashion blogs.

At the beginning of the 21st century, fashion magazines began to include photographs and became even more influential than in the past. In cities throughout the world these magazines were greatly sought-after and had a profound effect on public taste. Talented illustrators drew exquisite fashion plates for the publications which covered the most recent developments in fashion and beauty. Perhaps the most famous of these magazines was La Gazette du Bon Ton which was founded in 1912 by Lucien Vogel and regularly published until 1925 (with the exception of the war years).

Vogue, founded in the US in 1902, has been the longest-lasting and most successful of the hundreds of fashion magazines that have come and gone. Increasing affluence after World War II and, most importantly, the advent of cheap colour printing in the 1960s led to a huge boost in its sales, and heavy coverage of fashion in mainstream women's magazines - followed by men's magazines from the 1990s. Haute couture designers followed the trend by starting the ready-to-wear and perfume lines, heavily advertised in the magazines, that now dwarf their original couture businesses. Television coverage began in the 1950s with small fashion features. In the 1960s and 1970s, fashion segments on various entertainment shows became more frequent, and by the 1980s, dedicated fashion shows like FashionTelevision started to appear. Despite television and increasing internet coverage, including fashion blogs, press coverage remains the most important form of publicity in the eyes of the industry.

Fashion Editor, Sharon Mclellan said, "There's a misconception in the industry that TV, magazines and blogs dictate to the consumer, what to wear. But most trends aren't released to the public before consulting the target demographic. So what you see in the media is a result of research of popular ideas among the people. Essentially, fashion is a group of people bouncing ideas off of one another, like any other form of art." ^[7]

Media, social, political, and cultural influences have a significant effect on how fashion is viewed. In the United States in 2009, there was considerable interest and discussion in the media on the clothing choices of Michelle Obama, First Lady. The majority of articles praised her sense of fashion, irrespective of how her clothing selections fit within the larger realm of current trends in contemporary fashion. The political and cultural popularity of an individual can play a role equal or greater than artistic factors in how their sense of fashion is viewed by the media.^{[citation needed]}

Another genre of media that has become a vital influential fashion source has been the use of social media. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have proven to be beneficial to fashion houses in garnering momentum for their high-end fashion lines. Social networking has been particularly significant during the infamous Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (formerly known as New York Fashion Week), as A-list celebrities and fashion designers post the latest updates to their followers from under the tents in the historical Bryant Park. Fashion brands are further enlisting assistance in the world of immediacy and networking by launching social sites specifically geared to promoting their products. Burberry will launch its social media savvy site, artofthetrench.com in October 2009.

[edit] Intellectual property

Within the fashion industry, intellectual property is not enforced as it is within the film industry and music industry. To "take inspiration" from others' designs contributes to the fashion industry's ability to establish clothing trends. Enticing consumers to buy clothing by establishing new trends is, some have argued, a key component of the industry's success. Intellectual property rules that interfere with the process of trend-making would, on this view, be counter-productive.

In 2005, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held a conference calling for stricter intellectual property enforcement within the fashion industry to better protect small and medium businesses and promote competitiveness within the textile and clothing industries.^[8]^[9]

[edit] See also

Look up fashion in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fashion

Fashion accessory
Fashion capital
Fashion Net
Fashion week
Sustainable fashion
List of fashion designers
List of fashion topics
Runway (fashion)

[edit] References

^ For a discussion of the use of the terms "fashion", "dress", "clothing" and "costume" by professionals in various disciplines, see Valerie Cumming, Understanding Fashion History, "Introduction", Costume & Fashion Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8967-6253-X
^ Laver, James: The Concise History of Costume and Fashion, Abrams, 1979, p. 62
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Fernand Braudel, Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Centuries, Vol 1: The Structures of Everyday Life," p317, William Collins & Sons, London 1981
^ Timothy Brook:"The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China" (University of California Press 1999); this has a whole section on fashion.
^ Thornton, Peter. Baroque and Rococo Silks.
^ James Laver and Fernand Braudel, ops cit
^ http://www.Composing-Moments.com
^ IPFrontline.com: Intellectual Property in Fashion Industry, WIPO press release, December 2, 2005
^ INSME announcement: WIPO-Italy International Symposium, 30 November - 2 December 2005