Fashioning fads, functions and fearlessness

In the course of human development, fashion trends have mutated in line with changing social and economic contexts. Every decade, approaches to dressing have adapted to reflect prevailing political, psychological and environmental conditions, movements and interests. Bemusing styles propagated the process of fashion development, fostering innovation and signalling the disappearance of some design features-only for some to re-emerge centuries later.
As with any aesthetic epoch in history, our current responses to avant-garde styles appearing on the streets, or to fashion-art launched on international catwalks, range from shocked resistance to delighted amazement.
However, it is not phenomenal in itself for individual or groups of designers to storm through the boundaries of accepted norms, so establishing iconic identities and labels. Nor is our post-modern enlightenment always entirely new - antecedents for apparel rebellion can be traced back far earlier than we might realise.
According to fashion folklore, a trend of wearing less and less was orchestrated in 18th Century France by Mesdames Racamier and Tallient. One day in 1796, two young women took to the Paris streets in attire that was arresting, so to speak-one in a length of sheer gauze swathed across her body, the other appearing topless. Transparent clothing, worn without underwear and adorned with jewellery across the thighs and breasts, did not last long, though, as the moral authorities of the time apprehended any women who dared to wear such revealing garb.
The nobility of bygone eras also played a part in fashion evolution-such as Lord Raglan's famous sleeve, and the cardigan being named after Lord Cardigan. The Duke of Windsor (King Edward VIII after his abdication) brought his distinctive necktie-knot into common usage, and was known for popularising turn-ups on trousers. The creasing down the front and back of trousers is credited to royalty. King Edward VII is said to have ignited the practice of unbuttoning the lower portion of a waistcoat, and the emergence of long coats is attributed to King Louis XIII wishing to mask his bandy legs.
The naming of fabrics has always been an important element in textile manufacturers' marketing strategy, seeking to capture the sensory appeal created by the textile's colour and texture, and to resonate with contemporary lifestyles. Designers working with the new fabrics had to be inspired by such names. In the 18th Century, some odd examples emerged in this context: "Sick Spaniard", "Unhappy Friend", "Poisoned Ape", "Sewerage", "Small-Pox" and "Carmelite's Paunch". In 1961, a fabric dye called "Congealed Blood" became one of the colours most favoured by UK fashion designers.
Fashion concepts have often been constructed around weaponry and even used to hide weapons. A South African firm manufactured a brassiere designed to hold a small pistol. In 1959, a British tailor made suits with a "cosh-pocket" for local teenagers to carry a baton on their person. Teenagers in Glasgow during the 1920s and 30s embedded razor blades in the edges of their peaked caps. Men's double-breasted coats, with the left flap buttoned over the right, derive from 18th Century and earlier European styling to accommodate swords, and the buttoning of tunics was implemented to prevent the hilt of the sword from catching on the coat when drawn.
Wearing pants below the hips, exposing the top of the buttocks or underwear, is not unique to contemporary urban style. In 1964, the unzipped-trouser look was introduced in women's clothing: shorts were unzipped in the front to reveal bikini underwear as an erotic teaser. The word "bikini" comes from the Bikini Atoll, the site of a nuclear weapon test-clearly analogous with shock value; it was reasoned that the excitement of the bikini, co-conceived by French engineer Luis Reard and fashion designer Jacques Heim in 1946, would be likened to a nuclear blast. Even the style of the modern bikini is not a modern concept: archaeologists have discovered murals in Sicily depicting women in the years 286-305 wearing items of skimpy clothing that we would currently identify as bikinis.