以时尚和纺织品展览会：Introduction比较研究

Introduction 介绍
 

一个人可以说，时尚从来不是一个现代词。事实上，穿的衣服完全是一个人的特点，同样，时尚的想法，需要展示和区分自己从别人的衣服是大多数人类社会的特征。The history of clothing and textiles signalsa lot more than our aesthetic progress. the changes in clothing and textiles also signals the availability and use of textiles, or other materials, and the development of technology in the making of clothing over human history. One can argue that fashion is never a modern term. In fact, the wearing of clothing is exclusively a human trait; likewise, the idea of fashion and the need to display and differentiate ourselves from others by our clothing is a feature of most human societies. 

 

人类学家认为，最初人们用动物的皮毛和植物来覆盖，因为我们需要从寒冷、炎热、雨水和新的气候中得到保护，而我们的祖先也无法准确地确定当人类开始穿衣服的时候，另一种假设提供了更多的文化元素。反对这一理论的反对者认为，首先使用的是，如魔术，装饰，邪教和威望的目的。只是后来，人们发现衣服是可行的。服装和纺织品在人类历史上很重要，它们反映了人类所掌握的一种文明和人类所掌握的技术。成品的社会意义体现了他们的文化。

Anthropologists believe that, initially humans used animal skins and vegetation and adapted them into coverings, because we needed protection from cold, heat, rain and new climates that our ancestors moved into, although it is impossible to pinpoint exactly when humans began wearing clothes.An alternative hypothesis gives the history of clothing a more cultural element. Opponents of this theory argue that covering is first used for purposes such as magic, decoration, cult, and prestige. It is only later that humans found clothing to be practical as well. Clothing and textiles have been important in human history; they reflect the materials available to a civilization as well as the technologies that humans hasmastered. The social significance of the finished product reflects their culture.

 

在我们的文明意识到它可能意味着在社会环境中，“时尚”的概念可能已经被启发了。时尚是非常追求的王室和贵族在中世纪、文艺复兴和启蒙时代确实伟大。然而，时尚已经成为第一和第二次世界大战之间的社会“疯狂”在现实中，当大批量生产的服装真正发展起来。这是在旧社会阶层被打乱的时候，还有更多的人可以和想买一种时尚的习惯。后来，在英国，生产方法变得更加精简，部分原因是由于服装配给在英国推出。布和缝纫用品配给制，以及严格的规范保证更快速生产的服装制造商，高效和经济的方式，同时达到一定标准的质量控制。到了20世纪50年代，越来越多的妇女被遗弃的小裁缝从增加大多数连锁店买的。The notion of “fashion” may have been inspired way before our civilization realise what it could mean in social settings. Fashion is very much pursued by the royals and nobles throughout the medieval, the renaissance, and the great Enlightment times indeed. Yet fashion has only become a social “frenzy” inreality between the First and Second World Wars, when mass production of clothing truly developed. This is when old social classes were disrupted, and many more people could and wanted to afford a habit of fashion. Later still, production methods became more streamlined  due partly to the clothes rationing was introduced in the UK. Rationing of cloth and haberdashery, along with strict specifications ensured manufacturers produced garments in an ever more speedy, efficient and economical manner, and at the same time attaining a certain standard of quality control. By the 1950s, increasing numbers of women abandoned the little dressmaker and bought from the increasing majority of chain stores.
 

New materials, or in other words the invention of new textiles definitely has also had profound impact in fashion industry.Whole range of exciting, new fashion fabrics have been engineered and became widely available after 1960. New materials and fabric finishing techniques are at first exclusive and expensive. Initially they are offered to the world of Haute Couture. A couple of years later they too, filtered to the mass market. Nowadays some of the most common clothing fabrics are new fabrics. In contrast, the most expensive clothing stick to traditional yarn, cotton, wool, etc.
 

The discussion above provides an interesting angle for this thesis: the changes in fashion and textile trends, and how people’s perceptions of them change over time, are of paramount interest in a varieties of subjects. To name a few of them: social studies, cultural studies, history studies and design studies. To fulfil this end, exhibitions of fashion and textile are serving a wilful end. Fashion and textile industry thrives on their nature, which is for display. All textile and fashion enterprises wish to showcase their products in front of the public. Runway shows and trade exhibitions are common ways to reach audiences, but we must also keep in mind the importance of museum exhibitions. Exhibitions are crucial ways to present their unique fashion identities, their quality and status. However, for the argument point of this paper, fashion and textile exhibitions are more significant as they represent a history. History of a time, of society and its opinions, of technology as well. Indeed, apart from catwalk shows, fashion exhibitions tell a story as museums do. That is also, why we have museums devoted to fashion and textile exhibitions. 
 

This thesis, therefore, tries to conduct a comparative research into fashion and textile exhibitions and museum practices towards such exhibitions. We firstly begin by looking at provenance of fashion and textile industry. We try to understand the past and present of fashion exhibitions, the changes that have occurred along the history in forms. Museum practices in fashion exhibitions will them be examined, in both its success and drawbacks. The second part will be concentrated on how to construct a good fashion exhibition in practice. This thesis will compare and contrast fashion exhibitions to general museum exhibitions and runway shows. We will try to identify the significant factors in exhibitions, and discuss the commercial impact of fashion exhibitions.