1790 – 1897
Women Communicate Clothing Information
Throughout the 1790s, women relay cutting and styling information for clothing through fashion plates, miniature garments made for dressmaker’s dolls, descriptive letters, and copies of other items of clothing
1807
Sweatshops were made illegal
1850
First Department Stores Open
1856
First Synthetic Dye Invented
1870
Abba Gould Woolson Promotes Ready-to-Wear Clothing in Place of Custom-Made Clothing
1885
Bloomingdale’s Starts Mail-Order Catalogs
1909
International Ladies Garment Workers Union Founded
1911
Natural Rayon Invented
Nov 22, 1911
Garment Workers Strike
1939
Glamour Magazine Published
1967
Academy Awards Bans Miniskirts
1972
Richard Nixon creates the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) in order to impose trade barriers on foreign goods
Jan 1, 1994
NAFTA goes into effect. The agreement creates a free-trade zone spanning Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
2001
Vietnam Trade Impacts Textiles by 6,000%
Dec 2003
American Textiles Protected: issued 12-month import limit on Chinese made bras, gowns, and knit fabric
Feb 2005
Virginia Underwear Bill Ridiculed: “below-waist undergarments, intended to cover a person’s intimate parts, in a lewd or indecent manner.” Violators would be subject to a $50 fine
Jun 11, 2007
Saggy Pants Outlawed in Delcambre, Louisiana to a fine of as much as $500 or six months in jail
Jul 20, 2007
Hillary Clinton’s Cleavage Discussed
Dec 10, 2007
Atlanta Schools Ban Baggy Clothes
(Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008)
I found these dates to be of significance as laws and regulations have been put in place surrounding fashion, which encrypts on personal freedom. Fashion has evolved over time with trends and beliefs have been shared, all surrounding to how we think of the commodity itself. What first was meant to serve a functionality purpose, serves way more than that now.
Citations:
Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). History of American Fashion Learning Guide: Citations. Retrieved November 28, 2017, from https://www.shmoop.com/history-american-fashion/citations.html#16