MASTERS OF FASHION VOL 32 – Americans

Amongst other things American fashion has come to represent a number of things in the minds of many, Comfort/Casual, Sportswear & Jeans, Practicality/Utility, Sophisticated-Preppy, Value for Money, Clean Lines/Ethnically Neutral. Like the American Bar, American fashion is now a style sought around the world.

The American clothing industry was born in the early 1800s for menswear. Up until this point, menswear was produced by tailors, for those whom could afford it, and womenswear was made at home for by amateur sewers.

In the late 19th century, the concentration of transportation systems, manufacturing facilities, immigrant workers and skilled tailors in New York allowed for the rapid development of a concentrated production region. In fact, New York had already become the capital of ready-to- wear production by 1900, but by 1925, 78% of the fashion produced in Manhattan was in womenswear. World War 2 went further to isolate the Parisian fashion capital from the rest of the world, accelerating the idea of American sportswear and encouraging the isolationist attitude of the fashionable American woman, who increasingly viewed European fashion with suspicion rather than envy. By the mid-20th century, New York had become the fashion focus of the American woman, and the starkly functional and smart product style would remain the legacy of US fashion, as it is around the world today.