Harlequin print is a repeating pattern of contrasting diamonds or elongated squares standing on end.
Harlequin print is a repeating pattern of contrasting diamonds or elongated squares standing on end.
The harlequin is a character from Commedia dell'arte, a 16th-century Italian theater movement. Harlequins were witty, mischievous clowns. Their early costumes were sewn together from fabric scraps. Over time, the diamond pattern became associated with harlequins. [1]
Harlequin fabric was popularized in 1944 when Adele Simpson presented the harlequin print in a bold diamond design on the town suits she created. It was also featured in green and white with a green jacket and a black skirt. [2]
Also in 1949, Louella Ballerino employed a harlequin print motif in the jester blouse "sun and fun" fashions she made popular. The design appeared along with pointed collars, tipped with buttons reminiscent of bells, and jagged points which sometimes adorned an apron overskirt. [3]
In August 1950, Fashion Frocks of Cincinnati, Ohio marketed a white piqué dress, with an exaggerated side drape, in a red, white, and black harlequin print piqué, It was sold directly to homes by housewife representatives. [4]
Tammis Keefe, a cloth designer whose patterns appeared at Lord and Taylor in September 1952, used a harlequin print diamond pattern on a large cloth she crafted for a table setting show. [5]
In a July 1954 article in the Washington Post , columnist Olga Curtis mentioned harlequin print fabrics and cellophane as very novel ideas in accessories. [6]
A sports costume In a harlequin print topped by bright orange received the most applause at a Simplicity Patterns Fashion Show at Sulzberger Junior High School, in March 1955. Presented by Norma Riseman, the orange wraparound blouse was one of many colorful fashions modeled for teenagers. [7]
In June 1955 a silk dress at Peck & Peck had white, pink, and blue tints of harlequin print. The colors and diamond motif were embellished when worn together with a white cashmere sweater highlighted by spangles. [8]
Freddie Mercury was very well known for performing in various concerts during the late seventies in harlequin print trousers. He also wore them in his music video "Living on My Own".[ citation needed ]
Harlequin print became particularly popular in the 1960s, appearing on underwear, umbrellas, pajamas, ski wear, maternity clothes, and hosiery. A 1962 Picasso retrospective in New York fueled the trend. [9]
Beene and Rowley employed harlequin prints in their fashion designs presented at spring fashion week in November 1996. [10]
At the 2001 Ebony Fashion Fair designer Oscar de la Renta presented a multicolored harlequin print silk charmeuse gown with a skirt fashioned with accordion pleats and a halter top with a gold neck ring. [11]
A blouse is a loose-fitting upper garment that was worn by workmen, peasants, artists, women, and children. It is typically gathered at the waist or hips so that it hangs loosely ("blouses") over the wearer's body. Today, the word most commonly refers to a girl's or woman's dress shirt. It can also refer to a man's shirt if it is a loose-fitting style, though it rarely is. Traditionally, the term has been used to refer to a shirt which blouses out or has an unmistakably feminine appearance.
A kebaya is an upper garment traditionally worn by women in Southeast Asia, notably in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Southern Thailand. Outside of Southeast Asia, it is worn by Javanese, Malays and Portuguese Eurasians in Australian Cocos Islands and Christmas Island, coastal India and Sri Lanka, Macau as well as South Africa.
Fashion in the 1990s was defined by a return to minimalist fashion, in contrast to the more elaborate and flashy trends of the 1980s. One notable shift was the mainstream adoption of tattoos, body piercings aside from ear piercing and, to a much lesser extent, other forms of body modification such as branding.
Fashion of the 1980s was characterized by a rejection of 1970s fashion. Punk fashion began as a reaction against both the hippie movement of the past decades and the materialist values of the current decade. The first half of the decade was relatively tame in comparison to the second half, which was when apparel became very bright and vivid in appearance.
The wrapper, lappa, or pagne is a colorful garment widely worn in West Africa by both men and women. It has formal and informal versions and varies from simple draped clothing to fully tailored ensembles. The formality of the wrapper depends on the fabric used to create or design it.
Fashion in the period 1700–1750 in European and European-influenced countries is characterized by a widening silhouette for both men and women following the tall, narrow look of the 1680s and 90s. This era is defined as late Baroque/Rococo style. The new fashion trends introduced during this era had a greater impact on society, affecting not only royalty and aristocrats, but also middle and even lower classes. Clothing during this time can be characterized by soft pastels, light, airy, and asymmetrical designs, and playful styles. Wigs remained essential for men and women of substance, and were often white; natural hair was powdered to achieve the fashionable look. The costume of the eighteenth century, if lacking in the refinement and grace of earlier times, was distinctly quaint and picturesque.
Fashion in the years following World War II is characterized by the resurgence of haute couture after the austerity of the war years. Square shoulders and short skirts were replaced by the soft femininity of Christian Dior's "New Look" silhouette, with its sweeping longer skirts, fitted waist, and rounded shoulders, which in turn gave way to an unfitted, structural look in the later 1950s.
Fashion in the 1970s was about individuality. In the early 1970s, Vogue proclaimed "There are no rules in the fashion game now" due to overproduction flooding the market with cheap synthetic clothing. Common items included mini skirts, bell-bottoms popularized by hippies, vintage clothing from the 1950s and earlier, and the androgynous glam rock and disco styles that introduced platform shoes, bright colors, glitter, and satin.
The most characteristic North American fashion trend from the 1930s to 1945 was attention at the shoulder, with butterfly sleeves and banjo sleeves, and exaggerated shoulder pads for both men and women by the 1940s. The period also saw the first widespread use of man-made fibers, especially rayon for dresses and viscose for linings and lingerie, and synthetic nylon stockings. The zipper became widely used. These essentially U.S. developments were echoed, in varying degrees, in Britain and Europe. Suntans became fashionable in the early 1930s, along with travel to the resorts along the Mediterranean, in the Bahamas, and on the east coast of Florida where one can acquire a tan, leading to new categories of clothes: white dinner jackets for men and beach pajamas, halter tops, and bare midriffs for women.
Western fashion in the 1920s underwent a modernization. For women, fashion had continued to change away from the extravagant and restrictive styles of the Victorian and Edwardian periods, and towards looser clothing which revealed more of the arms and legs, that had begun at least a decade prior with the rising of hemlines to the ankle and the movement from the S-bend corset to the columnar silhouette of the 1910s. Men also began to wear less formal daily attire and athletic clothing or 'Sportswear' became a part of mainstream fashion for the first time. The 1920s are characterized by two distinct periods of fashion: in the early part of the decade, change was slower, and there was more reluctance to wear the new, revealing popular styles. From 1925, the public more passionately embraced the styles now typically associated with the Roaring Twenties. These styles continued to characterize fashion until the worldwide depression worsened in 1931.
This is a list of existing articles related to fashion and clothing. For individual designers, see List of fashion designers
A back closure is a means for fastening a garment at the rear, such as with a zipper, hooks-and-eyes or buttons. Back closures were once common on Western female clothing, but have recently become less so, especially on female casual and business attire. They continue, however, to be widely used in underwear, formal wear and specialized clothing. Back closures are also common in garments for infants and toddlers.
Ghagra choli is a type of ethnic clothing for women from the Indian Subcontinent, notably in the Indian states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, as well as in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh. In Punjab, the lehenga is traditionally worn with a kurti. It is a combination of the gagra or lehenga and the choli (blouse), however in contemporary and modern usage lehenga choli is the more popular and widely accepted term by fashion designers, trend setters, and boutiques in South Asia, since ghagra is synonymous with the half-slip worn as an undergarment below the sari.
Vera Borea is a French fashion house founded in 1931 in Paris, France, by Countess Borea de Buzzaccarini Regoli.
The María Clara gown, historically known as the traje de mestiza during the Spanish colonial era, is a type of traditional dress worn by women in the Philippines. It is an aristocratic version of the baro't saya. It takes its name from María Clara, the mestiza protagonist of the novel Noli Me Tángere, penned in 1887 by Filipino nationalist José Rizal. It is traditionally made out of piña, the same material used for the barong tagalog.
Paper clothing describes garments and accessories made from paper or paper substitutes. The earliest known paper clothing was made by Japanese craftspeople in the 10th century BCE, usually from washi paper, and called kamiko. Kamiko became a traditional Japanese craft of Shiroishi, Miyagi, carried out to a very high standard and skill during the Edo period. The practice began to die out in the late 19th century, before being revived in the mid-20th century. In the early 20th century, German and Austrian manufacturers began producing "ersatz" paper cloth and clothing in response to wool shortages caused by World War I. While there was a brief period of interest in paper suits and garments during the early 1920s, this did not catch on as despite paper's economic advantages, traditional woven cloth was widely preferred. However, some fancy dress costumes, hats, and fashionable accessories were made from crêpe paper during the early 20th century and in response to resource shortages before and during World War II.
The 2010s were defined by hipster fashion, athleisure, a revival of austerity-era period pieces and alternative fashions, swag-inspired outfits, 1980s-style neon streetwear, and unisex 1990s-style elements influenced by grunge and skater fashions. The later years of the decade witnessed the growing importance in the western world of social media influencers paid to promote fast fashion brands on Pinterest and Instagram.
Anne Fogarty was an American fashion designer, active 1940–1980, who was noted for her understated, ladylike designs that were accessible to American women on a limited income. She started out as a model in New York in 1939, working for Harvey Berin on Seventh Avenue, before studying fashion design. She eventually secured a full-time design job in 1948, and became well-known for full-skirted designs with fitted bodices, inspired by Dior's New Look.
Traditional Thai clothing is called chut thai, which literally means 'Thai outfit'. It can be worn by men, women, and children. Chut thai for women usually consists of a pha nung or a pha chung hang, a blouse, and a pha biang. Northern and northeastern women may wear a pha sin instead of a pha nung and a pha chung hang with either a blouse or a suea pat. Chut thai for men includes a pha chung hang or pants, a Raj pattern shirt, with optional knee-length white socks and a pha biang. Chut Thai for northern Thai men is composed of a kangkeng sado, a white Manchu-styled jacket, and sometimes a khian hua. In formal occasions, people may choose to wear a so-called formal Thai national costume.
Fashion and clothing in the Philippines refers to the way the people of the Philippine society generally dress up at home, at work, travelling and during special occasions.