Scientific Intervention: The Progress Of Fashion Through The Ages

1921: Crown Prince Hirohito of Japan commissioned Henry Poole & Co, a respected Savile Row Tailor, to create Westernized suits for his state tour of Britain. A representative of Poole's sailed to Gibraltar with pattern templates where he met The Crown Prince's destroyer and cabled measurements to London so the order would be accomplished three weeks later when the Prince was due to reach the UK. Japan consciously embrace western culture and looked to Savile Row as the finest example of suiting.

This is just one episode in its illustrious history. Countless creations have been channelled to the world. If you try and chart the course of style creations, Savile Row is a good place to start.

Thanks to scientific intervention, information could be cabled immediately around the world, similarly to emailing, but far less open to abuse.

Many clothing styles and fashion accessories worn on a day to day basis are often products of an accident or created purely for functional uses. It has taken many decades to achieve “Designer label” status. No Catwalks were apparent, models, or fashion media in the early days of fashion/style creation.

A gradual evolution aided by such brands as Jaeger, who remained at the fore front of style for many decades, using (science) photography in fashion.

Thomas Burberry Noticing how local shepherds and farmers wore linen smocks, which were cool in summer and warm in the winter, he attempted to apply the same principles to other clothing.

In 1879 he developed a fabric which was weatherproofed in the yarn before weaving, using a secret process and then proofed again in the piece, using the same undisclosed formula. The new material was untearable and weatherproof, whilst cool and breathable. He called the cloth ‘gabardine’ and registered the word as a trademark.

It became the choice mackintosh for British officers during the Trench War in Europe, hence the name Trench Coat. It remains true to original form apart from some colour additions

Another example is English Madder Print. The “madder” part of this lovely phrase refers to a natural dye from a Eurasian herbaceous plant, Rubia tinctoria.

Its continuing success through decades of rise and fall owe much too scientific intervention. The colouring agent in madder root called alizarin was in fact first chemically extracted and then synthesized in 1869 by two English chemists. Although the dyeing process, even today, requires a variety of painstaking steps, synthesized alizarin brought the price within the reach of commercial producers.

The fashion industry is a very repetitive one, naturally so, you don’t see many people walking down the street with wearing clothes fresh off the catwalk. Everything is watered down to meet demand. Believe it or not, we’re all very conservative.

We can’t change history but can learn a lot from its turbulent past. Many fashion designers have drawn elements from the past and given them a lick paint to create contemporary men’s fashion accessories
.

During the eighties, Vivienne Westwood did well launching her “Pirates Collection” elements of this are still being mimicked today, and by very conservative brands.

If you’re a dedicated follower of fashion you will have noticed how often the look of the seventies makes regular visits. Style is constant, fashion comes and goes.

Science has underpinned every movement in fashion, evident even more so in today’s high tech world.

The next time to you don the favourite designer silk ties, or admire your collection of cufflinks, remember it’s elementary.

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