Thursday, 28 July 2011

Diamond's....A Jewel Wearers Aquaintance

You have often heard the saying that diamonds are a girl's best friend and that diamonds are forever. These words reflect the awesome power that diamonds hold and their absolute attraction for jewelry buyers due to their glamour and brilliant shine, not to mention their value.
Diamonds are know for their toughness and are not stones that break, chip away or crack easily. They can of course be broken by a single blow. About 90 percent of the world's diamonds today come from the diamond mines of Africa, while rest of the diamond contribution comes from the mines of Australia, Canada, Russian and South America.
Before you go out to buy diamond jewelry, you need to be aware of the four C's of diamond jewelry evaluation. The four C's stand for the diamond's cut, color, clarity and carat weight.
A diamond's cut informs about the level of light reflected by the diamond, it' dimension as well as its finish.
When looking for a diamond, check to see that it is colorless, as a diamond with colors is not considered of high value. Furthermore, colors can diminish a diamond's brilliance. Diamonds are graded in a color scale based on alphabets D-Z. 'D' stands for colorless diamonds which are also very rare. 'E' also denotes colorless diamonds, but with a slight trace of color that is only visible to the expert eye of a gemologist. The grade 'F' follows E in the scale except, the trace of color is a little more than what's found in 'E' grade diamonds. Diamonds graded 'G' or 'H' are near colorless and are of good value. Similarly the grade 'I' and 'J also indicates near colorless diamonds. The grades K-Z are for loose diamonds that have a slight or light yellow color. It' best to buy diamonds that fall in the G-I grade because they are of the best value, but finding one in the D-H grades is most optimal.
Most coveted diamonds are the ones with hardly any flaws or inclusions. A diamond's clarity reveals the number, type, size and location of such inclusions in the diamond.
Carat is the weight measurement for diamonds with large diamonds having an exceptionally large carat value.
Information about the four C's of a diamond is specified in the diamond's grading report. Be sure to have a look at the copy of this report before purchasing your diamond jewelry. The certificate is a proof of the diamond authentication and informs the buyer that it has undergone an unbiased examination by a professional diamond evaluator.
Diamonds are available in a variety of shapes for diamond lovers and collectors. You will see spectacular center pieces in round, emerald cut, heart, marquise, oval, pear, princess, radiant, and trillion shapes. Diamond jewelry can be maintained by gently brushing with a solution that's a mixture of water and ammonia. Avoid exposing diamonds to lotions, perspiration and other household cleaners as they can make the surface very dull. Store them in original velvet boxes to avoid scratching on the surface.

The Most Beautiful Jewels-Custom Jewels

Rare metals and gemstones together with a pleasant design and quality crafting are the best ingredients for the creation of the perfect piece of jewellery. Every beautiful precious stone can become a beautiful jewel if crafted right.
If you want to create a custom designed jewel, so that you can choose the metal and the gemstone that make the perfect piece of jewellery for you, you should take some things into consideration.
First of all, ask for an expert gemologist's advice in this matter. He can share precious tips and tricks with you and most important he can help you evaluate the stone's value and authenticity, because these days the market is full of stones that claim to be genuine but in fact don't worth anything. It would be perfect if the expert knows you as a friend, and he knows your tastes, because this will help him choose and design the jewellery that fits you best.
Make sure that the stone that you have chosen will be complementary to the jewel's design. The form and color of the metallic part must be attuned with the gemstone.
 Some people prefer to incorporate, instead of a precious stone, a picture of their loved one. Pictures are usually incorporated in pendants or brooches.
If you really want your custom-designed gemstone to be very special you can purchase one of the rarest stones available on the market, like a violet sapphire for example, which is only found in a few rare places in Tanzania. There are many gemstones available, so there are many colors and textures that you can choose from. Do not rush, make sure that you look at a large number of stones for your jewellery, because there are infinite possibilities in front of you when creating custom jewellery. Invest plenty of time in the search for the stone and design, because this search will be rewarded with a perfect jewel for you! If you want to order a custom piece of jewellery as a present for your significant other's birthday for example, start searching at least a month before the birthday.
Nowadays custom bracelets are very fashionable. They can be found in many shops. A custom bracelet is a special bracelet that has your own name imprinted on it. They are perfect at familiar birthday parties as a reminder from the person who organized the party.
Custom bracelets are also used by charitable organizations in order to increase the popularity of their events. Between the letters that spell your nme various stones can be placed, making some of the custom bracelets very beautiful and full of taste, they can even be considered artistic.
You may consider antique, or even other culture's jewels a source of inspiration for your custom design.
If everything will work as it should, you will have a lasting piece of jewellery of great emotional value and beauty.

Men's Croc Shoes Have Gone Hi-Tech

Men's Crocs shoes have started a new revolution in hi-tech comfort. Men are always looking for hi tech shoes that will give them the comfort they need at a price they can afford. Crocs are shoes for the hi-tech man of today. Crocs are designed to keep the busy man looking great, whether at the office or playing on the beach. Designed from high tech material, Crocs shoes are lightweight and comfortable. 
Men today are looking for shoes that go beyond the ordinary. They want an advanced shoe that is lightweight, hi-tech, and of course, comfortable. Crocs men's shoes are becoming more and more popular among men who are into these hi-tech standards. Men's shoes have notoriously been plain and boring, usually with limited colors available and not designed with comfort in mind.
Crocs shoes use a PCCR technology that molds to your foot and fits any man perfectly. This technology is the ultimate in foot comfort. PCCR is a patented closed cell resin that will warm and soften with your body's temperature. The PCCR is an anti-microbial material that is resistant to bacteria and fungus and will prevent your shoes from smelling of foot odor. Men's shoes of all types are becoming more and more advanced. Crocs shoes are determined to lead the industry in comfort and hi-tech quality for men.
Many men want to bring their shoes straight from the office to the beach. Crocs hi-tech clogs are perfect for walking the floor of the stock exchange or cruising the sand of the beach. Crocs Highland shoes are a closed shoe and absent of all ventilation ports. A pair of black highlands is great for comfort at the office and will go with any business attire.
The beach is not the first place you think of when you are thinking technical or hi-tech. Bring your Crocs to the beach and watch their hi-tech comfort transform. Crocs are the perfect men's shoes for boating, beach volleyball, or any kind of water sports. They are water resistant and will protect your feet from the hot sand without getting hot from the sun's rays.
Hi-tech has never been this easy. Men don't have to worry about getting their Crocs dirty because Crocs are easy to clean and even sanitize. If you have been on the beach playing and need to have your Crocs cleaned up for your next day of work, simply dip them in a sink of warm water or hose them off. Even medical professionals can keep their Crocs up to health standards by sanitizing them in one-cup chlorine combined with ten cups of water. No matter how dirty you get your Crocs, they will be shining with just a few seconds of clean up.
Because of their hi-tech design, men's shoes no longer are boring and plain. Now that men have a hi-tech option with Crocs shoes, they can be stylish and comfortable all at the same time! Crocs come in several designs and will keep your feet working hard and playing hard.

Why Do Women Need More Than One Handbag

Ive had men friends ask me this question loads of times and every time I give them the same answer The very same reason why we dont wear pajamas to work, darling!
To men, one handbag is enough to suit every occasion. To women, theres a handbag of different design and color to suit different occasions. This clash of opinion has caused one too many closet-fights as it is. So, here are some reasons why women need more than one handbag.
Black rules but.well admit this. Black goes with everythingand I mean everything. From yellow casual clothing to grey corporate suits. You can take a black handbag shopping and also the very same black handbag into a meeting. If you want to blend in with the curtains, fine. If you dont, you need something striking, bold and coordinate with whatever you are wearing.
Shoulder bags look fashionable and professional but its just not right to take a shoulder bag to the beach. Itll make you look dowdy and bland.
Satchels are designed for women to carry their essential documents without having to lug around a clumsy luggage of stuff everywhere. This works wonders when out shopping.
The handbag print is also very important. You can carry your fun, funky and colorful handbags out for fun outings. And in the meantime, you can take the more serious ones to corporate functions. Imagine what people will think when you bring a Mickey Mouse print handbag to a corporate meeting in China?
Backpacks and luggage are for traveling, not shopping! It works just the same way and its pretty convenient too, we have to add, but its just not something youd want to be seen lugging around.
The clutch bag, on the other hand, is very convenient and chic but you cant be carrying it to parties because you cant exactly hang it over your shoulder. If thats the case, you run the risk of leaving your handbag behind when its time to leave (with a little bit of booze in the blood, its not impossible)
Finally, last but not least, women need different handbags for the very same reason why men like to look at women. In fact, its because men appreciate womens ability to dress up and look nice why in the world shouldnt women dress up and look nice? Make perfect sense?

Fashion Foresacting

To cope with the ever-changing world, the marketing segmentation and targeting techniques are rapidly evolving from traditional, static, demographic-based criteria towards dynamic, mood, lifestyle and psycho graphic influences. Fashion forecasting is the prediction of mood, behavior and buying habits of the consumer. It is no longer a question of identifying your customers by age, geography or income, but looking into how and why they buy, based on their mood, beliefs and the occasion.
Fashion is a style that is popular in the present or a set of trends that have been accepted by a wide audience. But fashion itself is far from simple. Fashion is a complex phenomenon from psychological, sociological, cultural or commercial point of view. Fashion trends are the styling ideas that major collections have in common. They indicate the direction in which the fashion is moving. Fashion forecasters look for styles they think are prophetic, ideas that capture the mood of the times and signal a new fashion trend.

The fashion system has spread across all other sectors, from cosmetics to cars via politics and sports. All sectors observe fashion as an endless source of inspiration. Gilles Lipovetsky points out that the more the fashion society develops, the less importance will be given to the affordability of clothes! To hold on to its role as a pioneer and enhance its brand image, fashion has to continue to innovate.
Forecasting the future demand for particular styles, fabrics and colors is an important aspect of the fashion industry. Textile specialists work two years ahead to determine the general guidelines for each fashion season. Fashion forecasting is an important activity to ensure that the process of observation related to short and long term planning can be based on sound and rational decision making and not hype. Forecasting can bridge the gap between ambiguous, conflicting signs and the action taken by the design team. "Fashion forecasting combines theories of fashion changes with the process of organizing and analyzing the information and synthesizing the data into actionable forecasts." (Brannon 2000) Forecasting is a creative process that can be understood, practiced and applied. Forecasting provides a way for executives to expand their thinking about changes, through anticipating the future, and projecting the likely outcomes. (Lavenback and Cleary 1981)

Long term forecasting (over 2 years ahead) is used by executives for corporate planning purposes. It is also used for marketing managers to position products in the marketplace in relationship to competition.
Short term forecasting is used by product developers, merchandisers and production managers to give style direction and shape collections. For short term forecasting most apparel companies subscribe to one or more services, whose job is to scan the market and report on the developments in color, textiles and style directions.
Forecasters reflect the earliest views on trends some eighteen months in advance of the season. At this stage, color is a crucial consideration of yarn mills. It is also the focus of discussion among others who are interested in very early trend decision-making. Fashion forecasters combine the views emerging about color and fabric from the early yarn and fabric trade shows with their socio-economic and cultural analysis. Major trends in lifestyles, attitude and culture in particular music, sport, cinema and television are used to predict changing consumer demands.
Fashion forecasting involves the following activities such as studying market conditions, noting the life style of the people, researching sales statistics, evaluating popular designer collections, surveying fashion publications, observing street fashions etc.
The Direction of Fashion Change
Observation is not enough. If the trend watcher is to take advantage, he needs a framework for explaining how the trend began and its likely path within a social system. The directional theories of fashion change trickle down, trickle up and trickle across to make prediction easier by pointing to the likely starting points for a fashion trend, the expected direction that trend will take and how long the trend will last.
Some trend watchers visualize the dynamics of fashion as a pyramid of status level. In some theories, fashion trickles down from a highly visible elite. In others, fashion trickles up from street once it is discovered by the fashion elite and introduced to mainstream audiences in an edited version. If a fashion look is promoted by the media and manufactured rapidly enough, the look can trickle across all levels of the market simultaneously for denim, introduction of an unusual color range, a modification in a silhouette or detail, a different way to wear an accessory or a mood expressed in a distinctive style. The pattern of acceptance (or rejection) can be mapped in time.

Fashion responds to whatever is modern i.e., to the spirit of the times or the Zeitgeist. People choose among competing styles, those that "click" or connect with the spirit of the times. This collective selection forms a feedback loop between the fashion industry and the consumer, a feedback loop moderated by aesthetic trends and social-psychological processes.

The Look; Design Concept As fashion insiders and forecasters have a mental map of the marketplace, the locations where innovations are likely to be glimpsed early, the supply chain of the textile/apparel industry and the retail conduct to consumers. Fashion insiders also have another mental map - the map of seasons and shows. When consumers shop for winter coats or summer swimsuits, fashion insiders are seasons ahead in their thinking.
Forecasters use these mental maps to organize their observations of directional information. Since innovations rarely apply to the entire marketplace, information must be tagged for the appropriate price point, category and classification. In this way, forecasters turn random bits of data into useful information for decision support, points and style directions.
The drivers of fashion change
Social and cultural changes are major determinants of emerging fashions. However, they are themselves affected by the other drivers of change that include globalization of world markets and accessibility of more sophisticated communications technologies. The latter has provided people with faster and wider access to more ideas and influences from other cultures and societies, driving demand for wider choice in fashion products.
The Fashion Forecasting Process

a) Trend forecasting businesses


French companies based in Paris have traditionally dominated fashion forecasting. Although a number of larger ones are still based in Paris, many with satellite offices around the world, a number of new niche forecasters have emerged offering their own specialties of product and services.
Some better-known trend forecasters include:
. SachaPacha
. Peclers Trend Union
. Line Creative Partners
. Au Studio Promostyl
. Promostyl
Forecasting is more that just attending runway shows and picking out potential trends that can be knocked off at lower prices (although that is part of it). It is a process that spans shifts in color and styles, changes in lifestyles and buying patterns and different ways of doing business. What appears to be near random activity is in fact a process of negotiation between the fashion industry and the consumer, and between the various segments in the supply side chain.
b) Consumer research
Manufacturers and retailers may ask consumers directly about their buying preferences. Consumer reactions are compiled and tabulated to find preferences for certain garments or accessories, colors or sizes and so on ,or products to fit specific consumer tastes.
Surveys, by telephone or mail are conducted by publication and market research companies for manufacturers and retailers. These surveys include questions about income, life-style, fashion preference and shopping habits. Customers are usually selected by the market research firm to meet with manufacturers or retailers. In-store informal interview can help researchers obtain information by simply asking customers what they would like to buy, what styles they like that are currently available and what merchandise they want, but cannot find. Because of their close contact with their customers, owners of small stores can often do this most effectively.
The apparel supply chain has one purpose, i.e. to provide an appealing and desirable product to satisfy customer needs, wants or aspirations. When successful, the connection results in a sale, because this connection is the purpose of the process. Every forecast begins with the customer, by observing the customer's adjustments to the marketplace and in the unexpected ways the customer adjusts the marketplace to his lifestyle and preferences.
Consumer research figures are important in decisions about product development, brand marketing and retailing.

c) Colour Forecasting
Stimulating sales is the driving force behind color forecasting. Color grabs the customers' attention, makes an emotional connection and leads them to the product. Even when the basic product stays the same, changing the color gives a sense of something new. Color consultants help companies decide on the right color story to sell the product. Some consultants specialize in advising on color. Others develop color forecasts as part of their overall product development function. Some large companies have departments dedicated to setting color directions for multiple lines. Professional color organizations bring together experts to collaborate on forecasts for industries like women's wear, men's wear, children's wear and residential and non-residential interiors.

d) Textile Development
Frequently, the development of a completely new product is the result of a particular functional need, but often it is driven by the benefits offered by a new fabric. Specialist forecasters make the point that the technology is changing the range of product, as through the ranges of benefits that designers can build into garment product through the textiles used in construction.
Fabrics range from slick surfaces like leather and futuristic plastic to softer surfaces like cashmere, from flat weaves to heavy textures like boucle and from the solid structure of flannel to the web-like open structure of crochet. Clothing has been called "the second skin" in recognition of its intimate connection with a person's physical and psychological comfort (Horn, 1975). So it is not surprising that news about which fabrics are "in" or "out" plays such a prominent role in forecasting fashion. Newness in fabrics comes from the introduction of new fibers, the manipulation of yarn and fabric structures, variation in pattern and prints and innovative finishing processes. These innovations are introduced in trade shows and exhibitions held in the fashion capitals of the world.

e) The Range of shows
The fashion shows: The word here is its widest possible interpretation to refer to the range of organised textile and fashion garment trade shows, operating over the 16 months preceding season. Trade shows, whether yarn, fabric or product have a basic function, which is to sell products.
Visitors vary according to the nature of the show. A yarn show will attract a range of people including fabric manufacturers, some retail buyers and designers. The fabric show performs a more balanced role with great emphasis on then sales of the fabric, but with more retail designers and buyers attending, as the product on the show has a greater relevance to garment design. Garment design shows are much more diverse, ranging from the products trade shows through to the high profile Ready -to-wear Designer shows like London Fashion week and then the exclusive Couture shows.
Continuing this sequence, specialist product trade shows are held after the fabric shows. These shows are segmented according to broad sector like men's wear or women's wear, and by specialist product categories, like sports wear or lingerie. These shows are a good indicator of color, fabric, styling and new products.
f) Sales Forecasting
Forecasting is relatively easy, straightforward and accurate for products with long lifetime and steady sales. However, the fashion apparel business is one of the most volatile, because it creates products that are new, highly seasonal or have short lifetimes. In such situations forecasts become increasingly inaccurate. Errors in sales forecasting result in two kinds of losses:
. Markdowns, when retailers have unwanted goods remaining at the end of a selling period, such goods then must be sold, even at a loss.
. Lost sales on more popular items because of stockouts (merchandise not available in stock at the time when consumers request it).

Companies have been slow to recognize the changing market environment and adapt forecasting practices to decrease the uncertainty about product demand. Sales forecasting impacts every apparel executive's work life, whether they help develop the analysis, read and act on the reports or merely react to the result of over- or under-estimating sales. For this reason, apparel executives need a basic understanding of the traditional approaches to sales forecasting and the leading-edge technologies making real-time marketing a reality in the apparel industry.
Eventually, a manufacturer and retailer researches his own sales record. Rising sales statistics show what fashion trends are developing and declining sales show what styles have passed their peak.
Overall sales show, that as style is not meeting consumer needs for quality or fit , its time to drop it from the line and move on to new styles.
Introducing Innovation
While attention is showered on the most exciting and extreme runway fashions, the mechanisms of fashion change work in the background to create patterns familiar to the most experienced fashion watchers. When an innovation arrives on the scene, individuals consider it for adoption. The cumulative effect of those decisions can be tracked in sales and visually on the street. In fashion terms, the innovation may be the invention of a new fiber or a new finish.
g) Cultural Indicators
In the apparel field, companies need an early warning system so that specific product categories can be fine-tuned to trends within a market segment. While timing is important, an agile and responsive company will be able to capitalize on trends whenever they are spotted; sometimes just as a glimmer far in the future and sometimes as a phenomenon in the building stage. Waning trends are another signal. When some avocation, interest or lifestyle loses cultural power, it is a good time to survey the information landscape for the next big thing.
h) Final Stage of fore casting
The 'Fashion look' for the season is therefore the result of a process of development that combines the evolved views of textiles and product trade show, forecasters, designers buyers and ready to wear shows. Like collage, the final picture emerges after various layers have come together. Even though these shows have an impact on some last minute high street fashion buys, their major impact is mainly on reflecting the final views on trends close to the season. Crucially, the media coverage of the shows is another important dimension in the trend development process, as it highlights fashion trends that fashion editors believe will be strong for the forth coming season. Such 'authoritative' coverage of the media, focusing attention on aspects of fashion, including the 'must-have' looks, colors and products influences the consumers' acceptance of hot trends for a season.
The Future of Forecasting

For apparel executives, hitting the target requires a balancing act between anticipation of future developments and improvisation in the face of change.

The marketplace locks into one pattern, holds it briefly and then cascades into a new configuration with the slightest jar to the equilibrium. In the marketplace, those shifts may correlate with:
  • Changes in taste or lifestyles.
  • Immigration.
  • Technological developments.
  • Shifts in the prices of raw materials.
Thus Fashion forecasting is used within the fashion/textile industry as a means of directing companies into new ideas of color/fabric/theme/mood and yarn developments for different product types and levels. Knowledge of trends and future market requirements is increasingly important to the industry. While there is no definitive fashion story, accessing the right color palette, researching fabric and styling trends to suit a particular niche and customer profile is essential. The degree and quality of information available to designers and its interpretation, given an effective marketing strategy, effectively dictates their success.
Forecasting fashion in the Indian scenario
The phenomenon of fashion moving from the ramp to the road seems to have started happening in India. Over the last one year, fashion has been highly visible, at least on the streets of metros. Western winds of fashion are reaching metros like Mumbai and New Delhi virtually overnight. We also see new categories added to customer wardrobes like clubwear, travel gear and loungewear. This indicates a segmentation of the customers' wardrobe. This also means that there are new brands and labels, although not heavily advertised, easing into the market riding on the trend of new segments. We expect this trend to rise further, mainly because fashion as a market allows brands to be created mainly on the product look. The biggest achievements are not from increasing efficiency, but by risk management. This would mean that by riding on fashion trend one would fetch maximum benefits. However, there is no agency today, which brands or retailers can follow for fashion forecast of domestic market. We still have to follow international forecasts and thereby miss out on lot of opportunities.

Cycle Of Fashion Trend

It's a fashionista's worst experience, even worse than looking oversize buddy, more degrading than wearing the same dress in another party -- it's the fear of symbolizing looking yesteryear fashion trend model.
Sometimes, fashion trends is considered as fads, are disreputably erratic. The fashion industry players are always on the quest to bring up something "NEW" & "HOT".
What is Fashion Trend?

Trend is the lead in which something new evolving, mostly leaning, penchant and line of growth. Hence, fashion trend is the latest evolvement of the fashion industry.

What is Fashion Trend Really About?
Your closet can give the answer. If you don't want to look at it, well.well. this resembles that you are matching your steps with the latest fashion trends. What it's relation to fashion? People stick rigidly to the rules - okay, maybe not 'YOU'. You may be one of those who walk their own way and dress as they like. When it comes to the fashion industry, it's a continuously changing world. Even though some trends are considered as ludicrous and outdated, many other comebacks with innovative ideas.

Pace and Re-emergence of Latest Fashion Trends
Now its new millennium, but most of fashion things like the pegged pant legs, jelly bracelets, and finally the denim jeans, seem to be returning in trends again. It comes out that the latest fashion trends are simply have nothing new at all. Almost everything re-emerged in fashion trend. You can virtually find torn jeans in every clothing retail store.
Who decides What's 'Hot' and 'Not' in Fashion Trends
There is no existence of specific group who declares what is hot fashion trend or not. In fact, the fashion designers and consumers who buys-out the fashion merchandise make their judgment and throw several opinions out there and observe what is grabbed.
Basically, 'WE', the consumer decide which merchandise is hot by making our minds what to purchase and wear.
The Fashion Trend Cycle
First part of the cycle, where the trend is highly hunted immediately after seeing that great fashionable hat, dress or shoe on the runway, red carpet or music video. Next, comes the emulation phase, where everyone wants a piece of the trend. Only big shots, celebrities and fashion industry players have approach to latest fashion right off the runway, which yet not showed up in retail stores.

During second phase, this newbie will appear in news papers, fashion magazines, TV and internet. At last, the trend will be soaked in the market, commonly at bit lower cost.
In the second phase new merchandise is available in bit expensive designer collections. It is only the third phase, where the merchandise is available to the mass market at affordable cost for most buyers.
The major part of over all mass will purchase it somewhere between second and third phase.
Before two or three decades it might have taken a some rears to make it from runway to mass market, however, nowadays producers have put the fashion cycle into rapid speed. Now, a hot trend often makes it appearance in low cost or discount retail store in as little as a few days or months.
In & Out of Fashion Trend
Reasonably priced fashionable clothing is a double-edged sword that make possible to buy fashionable looks at real-life budgets, at the same time leads to abolish the trend rapidly. However, when the market is completely saturated with a same monotonous trend it loses its appeal.
So how we can assume that how long a fashion trend will last? Let us find out:
Generally, most fashion trends last nearly one year, but some trends, usually the acceptable, last much longer. It is considered that normally fashion trends re-emerge nearly every twenty years. Hence, the minis skirts of the 80s are back in trends again.
The key to assume that how long a trend will last depends on from when you bought the collection. If you bought when the knock-off or discounts are going at retail store, then the count for the trend last not more one or two seasons. Fashion industry normally dumps together two seasons together, Spring and Summer, Fall and Winter, which provides you about six months to wear before it seems looks outdated.
In fact it is not specified that how long a fashion trend will last, you can put money on the just fads such as jeans, Uggs, hats etc... It doesn't signify that you might not get fun in purchasing them. They are the evergreen items you would like to purchase any time.
Purchasing power can keep a trend on oxygen. In some cases people love particular trends so much they wouldn't let it die.
The safeguard against rapidly changing fashion trends is to have a clothing line stocked with more traditional looks: T-shirts, jeans, and black dresses.

Wednesday, 27 July 2011

1960's Men's Fashion-An Era of Diverse Trends and Non Conformity

In the 1960s, fashion really kicked off with the introduction to many new and diverse trends. You can easy determine trends from the early, middle and end of the decade. Traditional, conforming man's attire was lost due to social changes. Throughout the 60s, the focal point in fashion was the uprising of bright colors and tones. The changes in the fashion of this time were more so than any other time previous. This renaissance in fashion was influenced heavily by Italian designers and by the Modernist, Hippie and Edwardian styles of dress.

The British & the Modernist Movement

At the forefront of style in the 60s were the British. The modernist movement came about at the beginning of the era, allowing young men to push boundaries and make way for the many new trends that would follow. It was all about moving away from the 'lack of style' in the 50s and experimenting with psychedelic prints and gregarious patterns. No man wanted to be seen in dull and pale shades. No! It was time to add color and plenty of it, the brighter and more flamboyant the better. It wasn't uncommon to see frills and cravats on a man's shirt. Even neckties enjoyed their rebirth, from the skinny tie at the beginning of the 60s to the very wide ties in the Hippie age, all adorned with unusual prints, stripes and patterns.

The Mods versus the Rockers

If you lived the 60s, you were probably a Mod at one stage, and if you weren't, you were a Rocker. The two were notorious rivals. The Rockers were heavily into 50s rock-and roll, big bikes like the Harley Davidson, leather jackets and 'Elvis' greased back hairstyles. The Mods were classier, listening to British bands such as The Beatles. They preferred Vespers over Harleys and took their trends from respectable French and Italian clothes designers. Most commonly, tailored suits with slim shirts, pants and skinny ties slimmed down to just an inch. The Modernists also brought us the anorak, an item of clothing regarded as their trademark.

The Edwardian Movement

A bit further down the line, specifically the year of 1966, men embraced the Edwardian movement. Double-breasted suits in velvet were worn by men following icons such as Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones. These suits were accompanied with brocade waistcoats, shirts with frilled collars and longer hair as opposed to the previous shorter styles. All variations of colors, stripes and patterns were evident in this so-called 'dandified' look. The Nehru jacket also came about in this time and was popular with both men and women.
Hippies and an Even More Flamboyant Fashion

Towards the end of the decade, fashion became even crazier, people were not afraid to customize their clothing. Hippies were born and men became more in touch with their feminine side with long hair, polka dot neckties, paisley patterned shirts and florescent colors. Skinny became wide; for example, bell-bottomed trousers and ties returning to the 5" width. Nearly every item of clothing was tie-dyed or produced with floral prints, pop art and paisley patterns. Neckwear was commonly sold with the shirt together and designers continued to play with bold colors.