First Blog Post: Fashion Moment

Hello, so this is my first official Blog post and I thought it would be interesting to start my blog with a key fashion moment as I am studying Colin McDowell, a ridiculously knowledgeable fashion historian at University at the moment. I decided to do my fashion moment on a fabric and delve into the materials history and where it ordinated.

Fashion Moment- Jersey


In 1916 Gabrielle Coco Channel set out to change the way the fashion industry used jersey.   Chanel’s formal innovative use of menswear’s colours and cuts also transcended into the designer’s’ use of fabrics.  Once merely associated and used for men’s underwear, Chanel restated the respectability of this stretchy, blasé fabric. Although Chanel purchased jersey primarily for its low cost, Chanel’s work with this fabric exhibits and signalled the enormous change for women’s fashion wear and the start of ‘sweater dressing.’ 

During the women’s emancipation, women exerted a high demand for the change of women’s wear and the wear ability of their clothing. Chanel’s sweater dressing directly played upon the need and demand to gain the same social status of men. Women were trying to exert the same power and status of men by dressing in a more overt nonchalant and masculine manner -which jersey allowed them to do. 

The love for this fabric both in today’s society and in the 1920’s is primarily based upon its  practicality and its simplistic nature, whether loosely draped in one of Chanel’s fluid jersey suits  or used for one of the casual T. shirt’s which saturate the high street stores of today’s fashion industry. One thing’s for sure- we’ve seen the end of Jersey just being used for men’s underwear.  

Here's a link to Colin McDowell's website be sure to check it out:
http://colinmcdowell.com/