Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into outfits that depict distinctive ways of dressing as signifiers of social status, self-expression, and group belonging. As a multifaceted term, fashion describes an industry, styles, aesthetics, and trends.
Preppy, or prep, is an American subculture associated with the alumni of college-preparatory schools in the Northeastern United States. The term, which is an abbreviation of "preparatory", is used to denote a person seen as characteristic of a student or alumnus of these schools. Characteristics of preppy individuals include a particular subcultural speech, vocabulary, dress, mannerisms and etiquette reflective of an upper class and old money upbringing.
The dust jacket of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back book covers; these flaps may also double as bookmarks.
A flight jacket is a casual jacket that was originally created for pilots and eventually became part of popular culture and apparel. It has evolved into various styles and silhouettes, including the letterman jacket and the fashionable bomber jacket that is known today.
J. Press is a traditional men's clothier founded in 1902 on Yale University's campus in New Haven, Connecticut, by Jacobi Press. The brand also has stores in New York City and Washington, D.C. In 1974, the Press family sold the rights to license J. Press for the Japanese market, making it the first American brand to be licensed in Japan.
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.
Fashion of the 1960s featured a number of diverse trends, as part of a decade that broke many fashion traditions, adopted new cultures, and launched a new age of social movements. Around the middle of the decade, fashions arising from small pockets of young people in a few urban centers received large amounts of media publicity, and began to heavily influence both the haute couture of elite designers and the mass-market manufacturers. Examples include the mini skirt, culottes, go-go boots, and more experimental fashions, less often seen on the street, such as curved PVC dresses and other PVC clothes.
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 design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and place. "A fashion designer creates clothing, including dresses, suits, pants, and skirts, and accessories like shoes and handbags, for consumers. He or she can specialize in clothing, accessory, or jewelry design, or may work in more than one of these areas."
Ivy League is a style of men's dress, popular during the late 1950s in the Northeastern United States, and said to have originated on college campuses, particularly those of the Ivy League. It was the predecessor to the preppy style of dress.
Street style is fashion that is considered to have emerged not from studios, but from the population at large. Street fashion is generally associated with youth culture, and is most often seen in major urban centers. Magazines and newspapers commonly feature candid photographs of individuals wearing urban, stylish clothing. Mainstream fashion often appropriates street fashion trends as influences. Most major youth subcultures have had an associated street fashion. Street style is different all around the globe.
Hart Schaffner Marx is an American manufacturer of ready-to-wear menswear owned by New York–based Authentic Brands Group. With origins dating to a family business in 1872 Chicago and incorporated in 1911 as "Hart Schaffner & Marx", the company is now located in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Starter, Inc. is an American clothing manufacturer, focusing on major league sports teams. Starter's current licenses include MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL teams. Non-sports agreements include a partnership with Coca-Cola.
Timothy Charles Peto Everest is a Welsh tailor and fashion designer. He moved to London in his early twenties to work with the Savile Row tailor Tommy Nutter. He then became one of the self proclaimed leaders of the New Bespoke Movement, which brought designer attitudes to the traditional skills of Savile Row tailoring.
A Sense of Where You Are, by John McPhee, profiles Bill Bradley during Bradley's senior year at Princeton University. Bradley, who would later play in the National Basketball Association and serve in the United States Senate, was widely regarded as one of the best basketball players in the country, and his status as a Rhodes Scholar playing in the Ivy League only added to his allure. Published in 1965, this book describes Bradley's rise to stardom at Princeton, then follows Bradley through the final year of his college career, culminating in Princeton's third-place finish in that year's NCAA Tournament.
In the Western world, the 1950s were a decade known for experimentation with new styles and culture. Following World War II and the austerity years of the post-war period, the 1950s were a time of comparative prosperity, which influenced fashion and the concept of glamour. Hairstylists invented new hairstyles for wealthy patrons. Influential hairstylists of the period include Sydney Guilaroff, Alexandre of Paris and Raymond Bessone, who took French hair fashion to Hollywood, New York and London, popularising the pickle cut, the pixie cut and bouffant hairstyles.
Lewis Leathers is a brand name of the oldest British motorcycle clothing company. D. Lewis Ltd, manufacturer of leather jackets which was established in the late 19th century.
John Michael Ingram was an influential British menswear designer and retailer of the 1950s and '60s who founded the John Michael fashion brand, followed by a range of successful retail concepts, before establishing one of the first fashion forecasting agencies in the 1970s.
Jack Carlson is an American designer, author, archaeologist, and former U.S. national team rowing coxswain. He is the founder of the New York-based apparel brand Rowing Blazers, and has led the revival of several British and American heritage brands, including Warm & Wonderful, Gyles & George, and Arthur Ashe. In 2024, he sold his company to Tory Burch co-founder Christopher Burch's firm, Burch Creative Capital.
Rebecca C. Tuite is a British author based in Los Angeles. She specializes in writing about fashion, costume and film history.
