Factors Influencing Fashion: Social, Cultural, Political & more (2024)

Clothing is not just for covering and protecting one's body, but people expect much more things from it. It is another way to express wealth, status, gender, culture etc. Everyone has his / her own unique style, something that sets them apart from others. This often changes from generation to generation. From a designer to a celebrity, in one way or the another, everyone has a vital role in influencingpopular fashion.

There are few factors involved in the development of styles in each generation. There are a couple of issues which have been identified which has a major influence over the production and consumption of fashion products. The main factors which influence fashion can be divided mainly into five different segments:

• Social Factors
• Cultural Factors
• Political Factors
• Environmental Factors
• Psychological Factors

Social Factors Influencing Fashion

Social changes have been very important in influencing fashion. There was a time when women did not have rightsto vote, could not own property, even earn except in limited occupations. In the early 19^th century, theonly choice of clothing for women was how their fathers or husbands wanted them to wear. Later on, as the result ofthe Women's Right Movement (also known as Women's Liberation Movement), the roles of women changed andhence there was a change in what they wore. There are different reasons which come under Social Influence. They are

• Social Awareness

  Digital media, fashion magazines and window displays have increased the awareness and knowledge about the latestcolor, patterns and fashion elements in people. People feel more confident to try out the latest trends rather than justtrying to stay fashionable.

• New Roles for Women

  After the Women's Right Movement, the roles of women changed from typical household duties to working at offices.Specially tailored office suits, pantsuits or formal skirts and jackets were used to maintain the formal decor instead of thetypical saree or plain salwar suits.

• Comfort

  Comfort was the key factor which everyone was in search for. From kids wear to formal wear, sports wear to night wearand even for accessories the comfort was required. This factor gave more space for designers to experiment on theirnew creations.

Few of the most common social factors are listed below:

• Class / Segment: Human beings are always interested to show their social status through their dresses. For example, Kings and Queensexpressed their pride by wearing royal clothing.
• Income
• Gender
• Ethnicity: The upbringing and cultural background of a person also has certain effects on clothing selection.
• Age
• Occupation: People choose clothes depending upon their profession. The dressing style of a Teacher, a Doctor, an IT Professional, Soldier,Navy personnel differs from one another.
• Physiological: Persons choose clothes which suit their body shape.
• Marital Status: Our dressing style changes with our marital status.

Cultural Factors Influencing Fashion

Many places like Paris, London, Milan, New York etc has huge influence on fashion. Adaptation of fashion has changedfrom Trickle Down to Trickle Across. Current fashion direction comes from everywhere such as street wear from youthand other ethnic groups. Since 1960, the sources of fashion influence had multiplied. By late 1960's, interest in the world'scultures was very evident in fashion. Designers now started to focus on ethnic minorities as every culture had somethingto offer and hence designers started to include more design aspects into their patterns. Here are few events, where the Culture has influenced fashion very much.

• Dior's New Look (1947)

  

  Christian Dior was a French Fashion Designer, who became popular with his first collection called the "New Look".This collection featured rounded shoulders, a cinched waist and a full skirt which denoted ultra femininity and luxuryin women's fashion.

• Chanel Suit (1950)

  

  In the early 1950's, women became free from social conventions & traditional thoughts and then wearing pants becamenormal. The concept of pants for women was introduced by the French fashion designer, Coco Chanel. By the mid 1950's,Coco Chanel introduced an A-line skirt & Braid-trimmed Cardigan style jacket known as the "Chanel Suit" whichwas very quickly accepted by all.

• Hawaiian Influence (1963)

  

  The movie "Blue Hawaii", set in Hawaii in the year 1961, influenced people a lot with the Hawaiian clothing. The actor "Elvis Presley"wore many beautiful floral dresses. The brightly colored Hawaiian shirt with white chinos was eye catching and became a trend later on.

• Russian Influence - Dr. Zhivago (1965)

  

  In 1965, the costume worn by the actress "Julie Christie" in the movie Doctor Zhivago resulted in a fashion revolution. Julie looked stunning,wearing a fur hat, long military grey coat and boots. Her beautiful wardrobe collections of fur coats, hats, white shirts and ribbon bow-tiedhair styles was used to illustrate social changes in Russia. Other eye catching costumes were the overcoats worn by Russian military andJulie's coat design.

• Russian Influence - Yves St. Laurent (1976)

  

  Yves St. Laurent was recognized for his Winter Collection 1976 - 77. This collection included elements of European Peasant Dress(Embroidered Folk blouses, milkmaid's tunics and cossack [Russian] dress) which were fabulously converted into couture garments.

• Egyptian Influence - King Tut's Treasures (1994)

  

  US Designers were inspired from Tutankhamun (King Tut's treasures). In 1994, designers created few clothing items, jewellery and makeupwhich were inspired from these treasures.

• Chinese Influence - (Late 1960's)

  

  In 1967, Chinese Mao Suits became popular and few years later the Chinese influence were brought into Western clothing. Mandarin collars,fabrics with typical Chinese motifs such as the dragon became very popular.

Cultural Authentication of Indian Costumes in US

In 1960's, few of the Indian costume styles were also adopted into contemporary American Fashion.

• Nehru's Jacket

  

  Nehru's Jacket with a Mandarin collar also known as Nehru's collar was popular among the Western dresses.

• Resist Dyeing Method - Tie & Dye

  In the mid 1960's, the old Indian technique of resist-dyeing called Bandhani was globally accepted and waslater known as Tie & Dye.

Designers who influenced Fashion

• Giorgio Armani

  

  The Italian Fashion Designer, Giorgio Armani has an immense contribution to the Fashion Industry. In 1980, Armani introduced Italian soft tailoring to Women's wear.

• Rudi Gernreich

  

  Rudi was popular for sport clothes, topless swimsuits, see-through blouses, no-bra bras.

• Roy Halston Frowick

  

  Halston was an American Fashion Designer, who rose to international fame in the year 1970 for soft layered effects, jumpsuits and pantsuits.

• Calvin Richard Klein

  

  Calvin Klein is an American Fashion Designer, who proved his excellence not only in the apparel sector but also has launched different products like perfumes, watches and jewellery. His designs have a spare, lean and simple look that make his products look sophisticated and really sexy.

• Karl Otto Lagerfeld

  

  Karl Lagerfeld, a German Fashion Designer, entered the fashion world by introducing his coat designs. Lagerfeld's introduced the use of rabbit and squirrel pelts into high fashion and these innovative designs became very popular and successful.

• Ralph Lauren

  

  Ralph Lauren is an American Designer, who became popular for using natural fibres in fashion. His Western & Outdoor wear collections brought him to fame in the world of fashion.

Political Factors Influencing Fashion

During the 20^th century, a number of important events have revolutionized production, influenced design and stimulated trade intextiles and clothing at both National & International levels.

• First World War (1914 - 1918)

  

  During the First World War, women were forced to step out of their homes and work in factories. It was very dangerous to wear long dresses or even to have long hairs in the working atmosphere in the factory. Women had no choice rather than to trim their hair and wear shorter skirts and dresses. Fashion was effected due to shortage of money and unemployment after World War.

• Second World War (1939 - 1945)

  

  In 1940, during the Second World War, many countries went through recession. People had less money to spend and women started using shorter skirts and fewer clothes because it was less expensive. During this period leather and T-shirt became very popular.

• Period between Wars

  

  There was a period between the two World Wars which was often considered as the Golden Age of the French Fashion. This was the time when some of the great changes happened like Prince & Princesses lost their thrones and carriages for transportation were replaced by cars. Wives and daughters of wealthy Industrialists, Actors, American heiresses started using Haute Couture dresses.

• The First Lady - 1960

  

  The First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, was undeniably one of the greatest style icons of the early 1960’s. No one was able to match her looks. She was able to afford a sharp Chanel Suit, a geometric Givenchy shift dress or a pastel Oleg Cassini coat. She stole everyone attention with her bright pink dress design, perfectly paired with a pearl choker necklace and dazzling earrings.

• Influence of Indian Leaders on Fashion

  

  Mahatma Gandhi was known as the first true Indian Designer who urged people in India to wear clothes made of Khadi. It was his initiative which could prove the Unity of India. Khadi gained more recognition after Gandhi returned from South Africa. Gandhi understood that for a nation to be self-reliant, it has to start manufacturing their own products.

• Influence of Mughal on Fashion

  

  Women in the Rajput culture had much more freedom in dressing. Rajput women lost the freedom in dressing and had to cover their faces after the invasion of Mughals. Gradually the Pardha System was introduced and all women had to cover their faces as a part of the culture.

• American Flag

  

  In most of the countries, National Flag was not used in clothes as a respect towards the flag, whereas American's prominently used flag in their dresses which became a trend later on.

There are few other political and legal factors which effect the fashion industry. In many countries, issues such as workers' rights and child labourlaws repeatedly effect the industry. Workers in the clothing industry protested as their wages and other benefits such as medical, over-time areless, compared to other industries which caused delay in the production.

Environmental Factors Influencing Fashion

Weather is one of the most dominant factors which influence clothing. We choose our clothes to take protection from extreme climaticconditions like cold, heat, rain etc. The selection of clothing changes with environment. People wear bright and light clothes during summerwhereas they prefer heavy and dull clothes during winter. Even in future, the clothing trends will always depend on atmospheric conditionsin addition to other factors.

Psychological Factors Influencing Fashion

Men & Women are distinct in nature whose actions and choices are mostly different. Both Men & Women get fed up of the samepatterns, designs, colors and textures. At a point of time, old clothes seem to be unattractive & dull and people often get bored with theusual stuffs they own and they often look for changes.

Few other factors which influence Fashion

• Economical Factors

  Economical factors can have both negative and positive impacts on fashion. Nowadays people are pursuing higher education and enrolling themselves for professional courses. Soon after their education, they start earning which increased their spending power. Many countries are emerging from recession. As the economy strengthens, fashion industries come up with new trends for younger age group and for people with more spending capabilities. With young people joining administration, companies become more liberal and fashion becomes more expensive, colorful and extreme. Changes in fashion help to keep the clothing retailers, manufacturers stay in business. It also provides job oppourtunities in various other sectors like advertisem*nt, modelling and digital & print media. Preceding the World War 2, almost all countries in the World went under a state of great recession. The recession started in 1929 and lasted till early 1940's and was the longest, most widespread and deepest recession of the 20th Century. The recession period varied across countries and this was used as an example of how worse the World's Economy could fall. In most of the countries in the world, unemployment rose 25 - 35 percentage. Economic growth and increasing wealth have been considered to accelerate the pace of fashion change, whereas high levels of unemployment and inflation reduce the pace of change in fashion.

• Actors & other Celebrities

  

  Movie stars and other celebrities get a lot of public attention and so they are one of the main influencers of fashion. Famous designers often design collections for celebrities depending upon their personality and interest, which later on become popular.

• Movies & Music Bands

  

  Hollywood movies have always been another great influencing factor of fashion. The outfits worn by the leading characters of a successful movie often grab the attention and become a fashion trend. Fancy accessories, costumes, jackets worn by Music artist also contribute towards popular fashion.

• Occasion

  The choice of what to wear also depends on the occasion i.e people choose formal dresses to office, partywear for parties etc.

• Sports Stars

  

  In the early 20^th century, a separate category for "Sportswear" was introduced. Earlier people were wearing their dailywear for the sports events they played. Sportwear has a major effect on day to day fashion. Nike was one of the very popular brands for Tracksuits which became popular in 1960. As tennis became a popular sport, it led to a sharp increase in the sales and consequently influenced the day to day fashion. The popular brand Adidas became an essential part in the casual wear segment which was often seen in the streets.

• Fabric & Color

  Uniqueness, demand and weather are the factors that a fashion designer keep in mind during the selection of fabric and color. They interact closely with Color Experts and Textile Designers to figure out which pattern and color would be stylish in the future.

• Technology

  

  A rapid change in pace of fashion happened with Industrial Revolution when the mechanism of spinning and weaving were introduced. This increased intensity of production and dramatic increase in outputs.

• Legal

  There are certain legal factors like copyrights, taxes, excise duty, patents, privatisation and globalisation which also effects the pace of fashion.

Published On	-	2021-06-22
Modified On	-	2021-06-22
Author	-	Team WIFD
Publisher	-	Waves Fashion Institute
https://wifd.in//factors_influencing_fashion

Please leave your comments, we love it..!

Explore Fashion Designing Courses