Unit 3
Active reading (1) Background information
Fashion is generally divided into subsectors: menswear, womenswear, sportswear and streetwear, hosiery
(socks, tights, stockings), formal wear and casual wear. Fashion and the choice of what clothes we buy and
wear is influenced by our beliefs, attitudes and personality. But this passage shows that the stock market can also be an influence. Culture points
The Californian gold rush (1848–1855) was a period of rapid migration of miners and other workers
into California following the dramatic discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada. It led to the settlement of California.
Swinging London is a term that describes fashion and cultural trends in music and the media in mid-1960s
Britain, especially London. Icons of the time included the miniskirt, the mini car, the first supermodels like
Twiggy (who was famous for being very thin) and fashionable shopping streets for clothes (like Carnaby Street and Kings Road in London).
The hippie movement began in the early 1960s in California and spread internationally. Hippies had
a reputation for social rebellion (eg with drugs and sexual behaviour) and alternative lifestyles (eg in
communes). They tried to find a new way of life which valued peace, individuality, and religious and cultural diversity. The movement influenced popular music, TV and film, literature and the arts. Hippie fashions
included long full skirts, bell-bottomed jeans, home-made and tie-dyed garments, the use of flower designs
(which represented peace and love), and influences from non-Western cultures in headscarves, headbands, bracelets and long beaded necklaces.
The punk period features fashions that expressed anger against society and included brightly coloured hair, ripped clothes and studded belts.
The New Romantics was a youth fashion movement, developed in 1960s in London. It is strongly associated
with music, which was inspired by historical periods, especially the English Romantic Movement. Fashions
had a dramatic, flamboyant look with luscious fabrics, loose shirts with frills and short shirt collars, unfolded,
with top buttons unfastened and using monotone colours. Power dressing is a stylish and perhaps expensive way of dressing (usually for business, the professions
or politics) which is intended to give the impression that the person wearing the clothes is assertive and
competent, through the use of structured shapes, shoulder pads, smart fabrics, high heels and clean cut styling in the form of work uniform. Whether wearing particular styles of clothing empowers the wearer or whether
newly-empowered people simply wear clothes that reflect their achievements is an open question.
Miami Vice was a classic 1980s TV crime drama about two detectives who go undercover to fight drug
traffickers. The series – and the 2006 film – was noted for its strong use of music and visual effects; it has
been rebroadcast around the world. During the five years of making this TV series the producers explicitly
sought the advice of designers (eg Gianni Versace, Hugo Boss) in order to display the latest European
fashion trends, with the result that Miami Vice had a significant influence on 1980s men’s fashion in the USA
and elsewhere, and even on the 2000s revival (it was called “retro” or “retrospective style”). The clothing
style of the TV detectives, Sonny Crockett and Rico Tubbs, had pastel coloured T-shirts and suits, no socks, sunglasses, and an unshaven appearance of a small amount of beard stubble. Heavy metal music is a kind of rock music that developed in the UK and USA in the late 1960s and early
1970s, characterized by loudness, speed, distorted amplified sounds and extended guitar solos.
Converse is a company which has produced basketball shoes since 1917, especially the Chuck Taylor All Stars trainers (often abbreviated to “Chucks” or “Cons”), named after the basketball player who contributed
to the design and was the company’s best salesman.
Nike is a leading supplier of sportswear and equipment. This American company started making Nike shoes
in 1971. They are named after the Greek winged goddess of victory. The stock market indexes show the performance of the stock market, typically reflecting the rise and fall of
the shares of large companies, eg the FTSE (also “footsie”) is an index of the top 100 companies listed on the
London stock exchange and the Nikkei 225 is an index of the stock market in Tokyo. Language points
1 No history of fashion in the years 1960 to 2010 can overlook or underestimate two constant factors: the ubiquitous jeans and ... (para 1) The word ubiquitous means present everywhere. Thus the ubiquitous jeans means that jeans can be found everywhere.
2 Exactly why women should want to expose more or less of their legs during periods of economic boom and bust remains a mystery. An economic boom is a sudden increase in trade, business activity and development in a particular area or region; an economic bust is a business failure or bankruptcy because of lack of money.
The expression economic boom and bust describes cycles in which a boom period of growth, high production and rising prices is followed by economic decline, contraction and unemployment before a new cycle.
3 Whenever the economic outlook is unsettled ... (para 2)
The economic outlook is unsettled means the economy is unstable, that is, the economy has problems
and is likely to change suddenly, making people uncertain about what may happen in the future.
4 It was given greater respectability when the great French designer, Courrèges, developed it into an item of high fashion. (para 4) For a while the miniskirt was controversial and not respectable because it showed a large extent of the
wearer’s legs, but when Courrèges developed it in Paris fashion shows, this gave approval and support,
because the miniskirt could be considered an item of high fashion (having high status from a Paris fashion house).
5 ... but the predominant colours became olive green and oatmeal. (para 10)
Predominant colours refer to the most common colours or those which seem more important or powerful.
6 ... which were described by one commentator as “the prim and proper look is
in …” (para 11) A fashion is in when it is a new or current style, or out when it is out-of-date.
7 During the whole period, fashion styles have ranged widely, and have usually been sparked off by a desire to identify people as belonging to a particular sub-culture. (para 14) During the whole period, there has been a wide range of different fashion styles, which were usually
started by people’s wish to show their identity in a way that would make them distinct from the reset of society.
Vocabulary support
The following are some terms related to clothing that appear in the passage. Understanding of these terms
may help with reading comprehension of the passage.
Hemline refers to the bottom edge of a dress or skirt. It shows the length of women’s skirts and dresses – this length changes according to fashion.
Denim is a thick cotton cloth that is usually blue and is used especially to make jeans. The name comes from French De N?mes (“from Nimes”, a city in the south France). Such cloth was made both in France and England in the 17th century.
The word jeans comes from Genoa. Sailors from the 17th-century republic of Genoa worked in France and
wore trousers made of a mix of cotton, linen and / or wool which was made near Turin in Italy. Bleached jeans were also fashionable. They had been the fashion of the 17th-century sailors, whose trousers lost their
colour when they were washed in sea water and were exposed to the sun. There are various different fits to
jeans which include baggy, boot-cut, flares, wide leg, twisted and skinny jeans.
Miniskirt is a very short skirt of mid-thigh length. A micro miniskirt is shorter, up to the upper thigh; a midi is a skirt with a moderate length below the knee, perhaps mid-calf length; a maxi is an ankle-length skirt.
A pairs of tights is a piece of women’s clothing that tightly covers the feet and legs up to the waist; stockings
only cover the feet and legs, and are held up with suspenders.
Flare is a shape that becomes wider at one end. A flared “bell-bottom” style refers to trousers with flared legs
– they get wider towards the foot and the end is even wider, like a bell.
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