The famous American fashion scholar, FIT Fashion Institute museum director ValerieSteele once said: "Where power is, fashion is where!" "The international influence of fashion week is first proportional to the country's political, economic and civilized development.
To be precise, fashion is a mirror of society, culture and economy.
New York, Paris, Milan and London are not only the fashion capitals of the world, they are also the world leaders in terms of economic power and cultural undertakings (museums, music and art, exhibition centres, galleries, film and television, etc.).
Secondly, in the fashion industry, almost all of these countries (cities) have experienced the path from the fashion "manufacturing center" to the fashion "consumption center" and finally to the "creative center".
Britain and Italy, for example, were largely French textile and manufacturing backlands in the early years of World War II.
Almost at the same time, these places are also the consumption centers of French fashion. Finally, through the development of the local fashion industry and the development of education, these countries have produced their own designers.
The United States, introduced at the beginning of this book, has also experienced such a pattern.
Other factors related to the fashion industry include war -- France nearly lost its world monopoly because of World War II; However, Britain and Italy have gradually established their position in the fashion industry in the process of reconstruction after World War II.
Although the war is an abomination, in the course of the war, the mass demand for military uniforms by the troops of various countries objectively stimulated the clothing industry from the individual tailoring model to the production of large machines in factories, so that the clothing industry moved to large-scale production.
The development of fashion is also inseparable from the development of science and technology. Without the invention of the first chemical dye in the mid-19th century by Sir William Henry Perkin (1838-1907), the fabrics used in clothing over the past 100 years would not have been so colorful (before chemical dyes were invented, clothing dyes came from plants and animals).
These dyes have limited color options and tend to fade).
And Sir Perkin was English. It was also British scientists who invented polyester in 1941.
Polyester is now almost the most widely used fabric fiber in the garment industry because it is cheap, easy to paint, wear-resistant and recyclable.
However, neither factor is more important to the success of any industry than talent.
Whether it's New York, London, Paris or Milan, if you go there, you will find that there are great people from almost all over the world.
Especially in the fashion, creative and cultural industries.
In the early days, immigrants were synonymous with cheap labor, and it was they who enabled London, Milan, and New York to become the manufacturing centers for clothing at home and abroad.
The descendants of these immigrants and new immigrants, not only become the new economic engine of these cities, but also bring unprecedented cultural impact to these cities, and creativity, precisely in these seemingly contradictory, diverse and complex cultural collision produced.
We started with how New York became a fashion capital, and now we look at how Paris, Milan and London have achieved their success in the fashion world.
