Falling for Scarves and Leggings

It is fall now and we have to start putting all our summer clothes away. If you live in a state like Michigan you are starting to wear more scarves, sweatpants, sweatshirts, jeans, and leggings. This week’s post is going to be more about how to wear your scarves with a little history about where leggings really started.

A lot of us are whipping out our comfy long sleeve shirts with leggings, boots, and scarves. There are several ways to wear a scarf and most are very cute depending on your outfit of choice. Here are some ways in which to wear your scarf:

·         Leave it long and dangling

·         You can wrap it around your head with a turban style head wrap if you want to go for a bohemian look

·         Use a smaller scarf to wrap around your wrist with some bracelets

Although the above state different ways of wearing your scarf not around your neck, here are some different knots and ways to wear your scarf around your neck:

·         Double Loop

o   Loop your scarf twice around your neck. Take one end over and down through the neck loops, then tie ends together.

·         Rolled Loop

o   Wrap your scarf once around your neck. Take each scarf end up and over the neck loop.

·         Neck Wrap

o   Loop a long scarf once around your neck. Make a half know with the long ends, up near your neck. Pull the fabric of the neck loop down over the half knot.

·         Double Sided Twist

o   Put two of your favorite scarves back to back. Loop once around your neck and turn the fabric so that you can see both sides.

These are not all the different ways to wear a scarf however, these are some interesting ones I have found. Right now you see a lot of girls wearing leggings with long shirts or just plain t-shirts. But when did leggings become fashionable? When were leggings first worn?

Leggings have been worn for centuries, but not usually for fashion. Men in Europe from the 14^th to 16^th century wore a form of leggings. However, the leggings worn then were made from buckskin, not the common leggings we see today. Leggings didn’t become a big part of fashion until the fitness and aerobics craze in the 1980s. Popular ways to wear legging in the 80’s through the mid 90’s were with skirts, short dresses like baby doll dresses, over-sized shirts, sweaters etc. However this was also paired with slouch socks and keds.

Leggings are worn a little differently now and come in all different styles and colors you could imagine. There are footless, stocking style, ballet strap, Capri, bunched, ruched, studded, etc. Leggings are worn more by teenagers and college kids than adults.

Leggings are something that is worn both for fashion and comfort. The same goes for scarves. These are two perfect pieces of clothing that are great for the fall fashion season. It shows comfort, fashion, and a little bit of flare when you pair these two things together with a pair of boots and nice comfy fashionable shirt.

German Fashion

This year my sister is hosting a German Exchange student. This week’s post is going to be about the Fashion in Germany. She has told me that American clothing is much cheaper than clothing in Germany. However, she has also informed me that she doesn’t have the amount of retail stores that we have here in the US. She said that the closest Victoria’s Secret is in Berlin and is very expensive. She likes Hollister and has informed me that jeans from Hollister in Germany cost around $100 a pair and here they only cost around $50.

Traditionally German woman wore the “dirndl”, which is a dress with a blouse, bodice, apron, and full skirt. Women rarely wear the dirndl now. Men used to wear leather pants, also called, “lederhosen.” Men only wear these now for traditional events like weddings or folk festivals. Same thing with most women. A lot of them dress up for festivals such as Oktoberfest which is going on right now.

Berlin, that capital of Germany hosts a Fashion week twice a year. Some famous designers who have come from Germany are Jill Saunder and Karl Lagerfeld. Some famous models including Claudia Schiffer, Nadja Auermann, and Heidi Klum have all come from Germany.

Berlin is becoming a hub for experimental and unconventional fashion that brings creative people from all over the world. German designers play with traditions when designing new clothes. Their designs range from fresh and wacky, to elegant, colorful designs. German fashion designers may be growing but retailers are hesitant on bringing new German designers into stores. Most have to start out in Paris to test the waters. 

While on the runway there is a lot of German culture mixed with other ideas, on a normal day most people from Germany dress very westernized.  The kinds of dresses, shorts, shirts, and shoes they were are close to what we wear. There are some small differences but for the most part, we dress alike. The exchange student my sister is hosting has the same taste in fashion as I do. The clothes she wears are similar to the ones that I wear.

If you were to go to Germany and didn’t want to look like a complete tourist here are some things you would want to wear to avoid that:

• ·         Wear tighter clothing. Germans tend to wear their clothes tight to the body.
• ·         Don’t wear long clothing. Both men and women in Germany wear pants that go to the ankles, or if they are in shorts, they wear short shorts. Also if you have a long shirt on that goes past the hip, most Germans tend to tuck their shirt in.
• ·         Don’t wear sweats unless you are going to the gym or jogging on a trail.
• ·         Flip flops only get worn a small amount of the time, but never in town. They are usually worn at home or to a pool. Additionally, middle aged men or older are seen wearing socks and sandals.
• ·         White tennis shoes are not worn a lot. Usually they wear thinner-soled, narrow sneakers in brown, black, or tan.
• ·         Wearing Tommy Hilfiger will make you look like you belong. Young Professionals in Germany can be seen looking like a Tommy Hilfiger model.
• ·         NEVER wear a sports jersey unless you are going to a game.
• ·         NO Coach purses, that stuff isn’t even sold in Germany.

Fashion Week History

Fashion week has been going on in New York this past week. It started on September fourth and goes until the eleventh of September. During this week New York is booming with models, celebrities and designers all going to the shows in order to see the new products that have come out. Some of the different shows that have gone on this week are by DKNY, Monique Lhuillier, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Loren, and Michael Kors just to name a few. So many people flock to this event now but when was the first fashion week? Why was fashion week ever created?

 The first ever New York fashion week was called “Press Week”. The event was held in the year 1943 and was the world’s first ever fashion week. A fashion journalist by the name Eleanor Lambert organized this event to show different American designers to national and international media. Lambert had been able to bring 53 designers shows to the Plaza Hotel. At this point in time most people were wearing French fashion and that is what was advertised in magazines. After this week, many different magazines including vogue started to showcase American designers fashion in their magazines and articles. Eleanor Lambert also founded the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CDFA). This organization’s mission is to further the position of fashion design as a recognized branch of American art and culture.

 In 1944 Ruth Finely launched the first Fashion Calendar. She was in charge of putting all of the events into one guide. This guide was helpful in bringing together the fashion and beauty industries. This included buyers, designers, and editors. Finely is still in charge of New York Fashion Week’s official calendar.

 In the year 1994, designers showed their collections in Bryant Park under white tents. This brought out more international exposure to American designers. During this time Fashion Week accumulated some major sponsors such as Mercedes-Benz, which the event is now named after. Soon there were so many people coming that the tents could no longer hold the large crowds. The shows moved to Lincoln Center and that is where it is being held today. Since this time, Fashion Weeks are held around the world in places like Australia, Berlin, and Istanbul. New York Fashion Week is held twice a year for designers to show their Spring/Summer collections and their Fall/ Winter collections. Fashion week gets bigger every year with designers, A-list celebrities and media.

Why Fashion

Choosing to write a blog about fashion is something I find interesting. Fashion is amazing and big in our world. The Victoria’s Secret Annual fashion show gets broadcast worldwide once a year. People watch it, most not for the half naked girls in bras and angel wings. People are interested in what was new this year, what amazing angel outfits did designers come up with this year? What is it about fashion that is so big to our world and why does it matter to us? What is new and trending throughout the world in fashion? Why do we care so much about it and why do we need to learn about it? That is what this blog is going to be about.

Fashion is a huge part of our everyday life. Everywhere you look fashion is there, in the stores, magazines, and on tv. It's all about what we wear, how we look, the makeup, the hairstyles, and the clothes. Fashion is a big thing all over the world, not just in the United States.

Fashion is different from place to place. When you go from Michigan to Florida, the fashion is similar but not completely the same. Learning about the way people dress and the fashion of different places is interesting. To know how you need to dress in other places and countries is important so you do not offend the people in that particular place.

Fashion is different in every country. I think it is interesting to see the difference in fashion from the United States to Germany, or Japan to Australia. Knowing about the fashions going on in different countries is interesting. Seeing how differently people in America dress compared to people in Thailand dress is something that changes the way you look at fashion. Just comparing prices of clothes from another country to ours is interesting and really makes you think.

Fashion is something big throughout the world. There are fashion shows throughout many different countries. Fashion styles stem from many aspects of different countries. Learning where the new styles are coming from and what inspired them is something we will be learning about in this blog. Look at the new style for girls called kimono’s, you can find those in stores like Deb. These stem from the Japanese culture and have now made it into the US and have become a big part of our fall fashion this year.

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