English Girl in Florence

The history of fashion communication and it's development into what is now a thriving industry is a long and extensive one. It's roots can be dated back as far as the 16th century,when fashion began to make itself know as an important aspect of society, especially within European culture. The division and grouping of society through visual clues and codes allowed individuals to show status through colours, shapes, fabrics and accessories. But how was upper-class society able to keep up with what was in or out of fashion, information necessary if they were to maintain the elite status of being fashionable? From it's origin the spreading of the latest style from person to person and social group to social group has developed in such a way as to allow certain fashions to take hold. In this article we shall be looking at how the spreading of style was developed from the 16th century to the present day, and we will do this by examining fashion communication tools such as fa...

The relationship between fashion and feminism has a long and varied past in which the two have influenced each other in a number of ways. When studying the history of fashion it is evident how fashion has been influenced by feminism, for instance, the abandoning of the corset, whilst the opposite effects are fashion related issues that need to be addressed by feminism. It could be stated that the first good example of the relationship between feminism and fashion was during the 14th to 16th century. During this time fashion was the only means that allowed women to show good taste. Indeed, it was the only form of art that women were allowed to express this in and resulted in the fame of such female figures as Lucrezia Borgia and Eleonora di Toledo. However, at present the relationship between the two has taken on other issues, for example, whether it is possible to be both a feminist and fashionable at the same time? Some feminists believe that the fashion sector is highly sexist, quoti...