Crossover Fashion Essay -- essays research papers

Men’s Fashion for Women and Vice Versa Civilizations as ancient as Jericho and as widespread as the Roman Empire have used clothing and jewelry as a form of nonverbal communication to indicate specific occupation, rank, gender, class, wealth, and group affiliation. These same material goods are used today for similar modes of communication. While some modern societies like the Taliban in Afghanistan make such distinctions with utmost conformity (the Taliban of Afghanistan) others like America have proven to be more dynamic. This dynamic nature can be seen in the emergence of crossover fashion within the last 80 years which has correlated with the changing role and social status of women in society. The effect of the gradual increase of power for women during the Industrial Revolution could be seen in the increase of crossover fashion. As a result, crossover fashion is dominate and socially acceptable in today’s society. From the 1700’s through the Industrial Revolution, regulating fashion was deemed as a way of preserving social and gender distinctions that were firmly established in the predominantly patriarchal society. During the 1850’s, the Victorian Era, there were strict guidelines on how people could behave and dress, and behaviors that they had to conform to their everyday lives. The rules were so strict that there were codes for how certain inanimate objects should be displayed; for example, table covers had to be long enough to cover the table’s legs because soci...