Fashion in the 20th Century Fashion is said to be evolutionary and not revolutionary. This was not true in the 20th century. Fashion revolutionized America and the rest of the world during this time period. Furthermore, fashion has evolved enormously during this period. New fabrics and innovations were introduced to America. When World War I broke out, people had to sacrifice their clothes for the men at war and dressed more conservatively. Christian Dior changed all this when he launched the "New Look". This look consisted of draped dresses with a lot of fabric used. What Christian Dior was basically saying was that we shouldn't sacrifice the way we dress. In the 20th century, new synthetic fibers were invented, giving rise to new fabrics such as rayon and polyester. New technology has changed many different ways of making our garments towards printing and construction. Of course, the 20th century began in 1900. The woman's silhouette consisted of pigeon-shaped breasts, tiny corseted waists, and full, wavy hips. There were many joint projects in this era. One was a white, high-necked, bordered cotton blouse, with a heavier, darker shirt. Another was tailored jackets and skirts for working women. Most of the fabrics available were mostly natural fibers such as cotton, silk, linen and wool. Daywear was often in shades of white, brown, and black, commonly with a small figured or floral print. Evening wear consisted of lightweight silks in sometimes brighter solid colors or light-colored hazy prints. In this particular period, elegant trim meant status. The trims were as excessive as possible on the shoulders, waist and bottom half of the skirt. Items used included lace, embroidery, beads, flowers, ribbons and netting. All the hems reached the floor. Sergers were first introduced in this era. In 1910, most of the influence for fashion came from designer Paul Poiret and oriental influence. The daytime silhouette included head-to-ankle coverage with dropped necklines for the first time in decades. The main silhouette was a straight, boxy line with low hips. Common designs were long ethnic-influenced tunics with skirt and waist sash, and horizontal layered look in the skirt or vertical wrap effect on tailored jacket and skirt sets and dresses. Rayon was invented and used. They also used... half the paper... for evening wear, but they still used natural fibers with the organic look of flower children. Strong and contrasting colors were now present in everyday fashion prints, from the most conservative to the wildest. Swirling psychedelic prints, dotted with flowers, medallions and geometric shapes, were popular. There was widespread use of designer names and labels as an incentive for buyers, marketing everything from clothing to luggage with designers such as Geoffrey Beene and Christian Dior. No matter what decade or century you are in, fashion will change. People change fashion and evolve over the decades with different events happening. In the beginning, stylists decided what men and women wore. Over the decades it has become evident that we should choose and decide what to wear to incorporate our environment. Basically women decided to be the rulers of fashion and make fashion what it is today. Why shouldn't they choose? Obviously fashion is here to stay, so I wonder what we would wear in the 22nd century? Sources Cited: Vintage Vixen Clothing Co. History of Fashion. 1997-2005. Vintage fox. April 20, 2005.