For this task, I decided to read the chapter from the book ‘Fashion Media: Past and Present’ by Djurdja Bartlett, Shaun Cole and Agnes Rocamora. I chose this extract because I thought the topic would be more interesting to research. After reading the chapter once, I got a rough understanding of the key themes and ideas that were discussed. One of the main ideas was about taste and how people changed the way they saw art to make it more personal to them hence the saying ‘beauty is in the eyes of the beholder’ (Bartlett et al, 2013, p.14). The Enlightenment (a movement influenced by philosophers) played a major part in getting people to have individual opinions about art instead of following tradition. This change proved that not everyone had the same likes and dislikes as it was just a ‘matter of preference’ (Bartlett et al, 2013, p.14). The Salons were introduced in 1737 and art critics were developed so people could view and enjoy the artwork that was on display. Another main idea topic was about the first French fashion magazines and how they helped to sculpt taste by telling people about dress, interiors and entertainment. Their aim was to ‘represent the latest outfits worn at the French court’ (Bartlett et al, 2013, p.17) as well as ‘representations of “real life”’ (Bartlett et al, 2013, p.17) women from different classes. After the French Revolution, fashion magazines became ‘increasingly well – informed’ (Bartlett et al, 2013, p.18) with the latest news and developments in fashion.

The concept of taste is also present in the book ‘Fashion Brands: Branding Style from Armani to Zara’ by Mark Tungate from the line ‘you can dress from head to toe in Gucci if you like – it proves you’re rich, but it doesn’t prove you have taste’ (Tungate, 2004, p.45). For me this proves the point that class doesn’t matter when it comes to fashion as just because you have money and can afford high end brands, doesn’t make you any more stylish than someone who is less fortunate. In the book ‘Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity’ by Elizabeth Wilson, it states that fashion became the way in which people displayed their ‘unique individual personality’ (Wilson, 2003, p.156). Also in the book however, it mentions about the ‘rapidly changing styles’ (Wilson, 2003, p.16) which created a negative impact as people were criticised for adapting the different styles to make them their own.  Fashion has also had bad connotations linked to it, especially for women. In ‘Adorned in Dreams’, Wilson speaks about how a female fashion writer called Doris Langley Moore tried to get men to have ‘conservative attitudes towards women’ (Wilson, 2003, p.48) as she found they had ‘coy, sometimes amusedly patronising, sometimes downright offensive’ (Wilson, 2003, p.48) opinions towards women because the majority of the writers at the time were male. The French fashion magazines also used women in a negative way to mock the victims of the French Revolution by using ‘a young lady seen from the back wearing a white muslin dress with victim-style crossed bands’ (Bartlett et al, 2013, p.20). I don’t agree with these statements as now women play a major part of the fashion industry and it’s sad to see how they were treated in the early years.

After reading and analysing the topic in depth, I have a clear understanding about how taste developed and became personal to the individual as well as the evolution of the fashion magazine in 18^th century France. I have also found and acknowledged other sources that contrast and compare with the common themes and issues I felt were important.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

[1] Bartlett, D., Cole, S. and Rocamora, A. (2013) Fashion Media: Past and Present. London/New York: Bloomsbury

[2] Wilson, E. (2003) Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity, 2^nd ed. London/New York: I.B. Tauris

[3] Tungate, M. (2004) Fashion Brands: Branding Style from Armani to Zara. London/Philadelphia: Kogan Page