Cardigan fashion of past and present

Introduction

Fashion trends are important for every society as it helps different people to be together for celebrating their individuality. The most important fashion quotes convey that being comfortable and maintaining self can be the most fashionable for an individual. Apart from the social context fashion also serves an important role for economy. Outfits are the most vivid medium to convey economical cultural status of a person. However, sometimes it can be even seen as ephemeral and frivolous. The industry even has global importance as per its contribution to the economical structure as it is considered as second biggest trade. 57 million persons are involved with the industry where as 80% of them are women. Fashion even explorers individual personality of different person where culture also plays an important role. Often it can be seen that one fashion remains popular for ages though it went through certain transformation to cope up with the contemporary outlook. In order to be in the trend the industry is mostly concerned to deal with innovation and creativity to the best extent. The paper will offer its findings about Cardigan which was a fashion trend and still now it is in the culture. The paper will showcase the journey of the cardigan from initial stage to the present era where the basic points would be clear that how a product can be all time favorite irrespective of ages or culture. The paper will concentrate its findings for cardigan which will convey that the clothing is appealing to all and through the ages where by transforming certain aspects designers make it favorite for everyone.

Object analysis of the historical fashion

Cardigan culture came in fashion during 1950s as designers Szanto and Maria Mme made these cardigans by hand-knitted wool. The fashion takes its birth from Great Britain. Gradually and eventually it became international fashion trend with the hard work of both the designers. Comfortable wearing of cardigan was the usp of the product for its quick acceptance to the customers. The most common feature was its buttons as it got tied through the button. The source of the culture came from James Brudenell as the British army major general used to wore it during the war. Basically the term refers knitted sleeveless vest however the culture did not stick to that. Popularity of cardigans came in fashion as tight necked sweaters of men created mess for the women hair. College culture can mostly be credited for its popularity during 1950. The cardigans basically wore over shirt. The college culture mainly gave it casual look as the people used it on a t-shirt.

By design it used to be open from the front side. For both men and women the clothing was comfortable as during 1950 people uses to wear it irrespective of their gender. Thereby for giving the product basic understanding it can be said that Cardigan is knitted garment type with an open front with button and became popular for its comfort and acceptance by college people.

Fashion and Society are complementary for each other as it shows dependence for each other showing the connection between these. As the society changes similarly fashion also gets changed with its novelty, time and place. Fashion can be described as collective selection where taste formation of a group responds collectively to time spirit. Display and introduction of each fashion conveys new style where selection is made by innovative customer with defending expressive notion similar to changing time. Time can be stated as impetus for fashion. A fashion trend can only be popular by two aspects where comfort and style meet each other. In this context Kante innovation with modification plays the most important role. By seeing the social structure and need of people designers Szanto and Maria Mme work to create one image or look for everyone by setting a rule that what would we wear with that piece of fashion clothing. Basically the circle starts from the centre of innovation and ends with generalization maintaining the individuality. The concern helps the designer to create cardigan by seeing social expectation and need in this context. Different model can be delivered as historical theory for the trend. Populist model talks about involvement of groups where age, status, location, culture doesn't create a bar (Hauwaert et al., 2020). For the Cardigan fashion populist model thereby cannot be the apt one to describe the fashion trend and its popularity as most importantly the fashion gains the popularity by the college people specifically through girls. Thereby it can be stated that gender is not an important factor but age is there. Fashion can be exhibited as a flow where distribution of the material can be an important part to make it popular. According to this, Trickle down model is not a justified theory for its existence as it gains popularity by the young people not by the class structure of the society (Giannetti and Rubera., 2019).

Rather, Trickle across model can be a better approach for the fashion trend to be in the social structure as the theory conveys its existence to the similar social level and for the cardigan fashion college culture is that social level. Further the design of cardigan as ready to wear can even justify the theory of its existence. As Trickle up theory is just the opposite of Trickle down thereby it doesn't have any context with the fashion trend of cardigan. It is already stated that to make any fashion trend popular innovation plays the most important role to make it appealing for the society and cardigan is not an exception (Sutapa et al., 2017). In other words it can be stated that innovation is the most prominent theory for cardigan to make it popular for every social structure (Hendrayati and Gaffar., 2016). Clothing form and purpose of wearing is the most important for any fashion clothing where Cardigan is innovated by keeping these two aspects in mind. Latest aesthetic of the then society was properly directed by the innovation. As per Lehmann fashion, creation and innovation serve the purpose of contradiction to meet the expectation of ancient and contemporary (Pedersen et al., 2018). Cardigan can be the best example as it was there in the past as well as in the present. However continuous change and modification is most important to make it appealing for every society and for the same innovation place the most important role. Further, in order to take care of the fact like social prestige, cost and function innovation is the only solution.

Translating Fashion history into contemporary fashion trends

Most of the outfits carry seasonal segment where Cardigan is just the exception of it. Cotton or woolen cardigans can be considered as derided for the fashion trends for its frumpy nature. In this context we can cite the example of Kurt Cobain whose cigarette signed famous cardigan on 200000 Euro in auction. Previously it is considered as grandmother's wearing however recent trends break the stereotype as Katie Holmes is also gone viral wearing cardigan. Comfortable texture of the cardigans make it all time favorite for all the people keeping it above their class structure. However Katie Holmes gives it another touch by wearing only bra underneath. It can be considered a revolution in the history of cardigan by offering it revive in the present era. Lyst the global fashion search platform confirms the data of 70 million shoppers around the globe who are interested with the Katie Holmes Cardigan fashion culture. Along with this, the search for cardigan gets increased up to 54% through the viral photograph (Kotouza et al. 2020). The photograph showcase adjusts the position between proper and prim aesthetic. Expert claim the look as relaxed luxury through ultimate nod. Charlotte Casey, the senior knitwear editor of trend forecast WGSN conveys that Cardigan becomes most relevant now a day’s comparing to the other ages. Down the lane, it is also conveyed that for its oversize fitting it went out of fashion however the fitted figure hugging style helps it to revive its popularity and make it on-trend. It goes without saying that different looking also serves all tastes and all seasonal needs with a hiked interest for cardigan of all sorts. Sustainability for the product is even an important factor to make it an ongoing fashion trend (Lin., 2018). Backward Cardigan is even become a fashion by offering a completely different look with the new style. The versatility of the cardigan makes it most appealing to the present modern society. Fashion stylist Anna Berkeley confirms that it is among those items which can able to flatter any type of figure.

It is said that fashion is the mirror of the society where aspirations, politics all get reflected through the fashion trend. Further the culture of the society even gets reflected through it. Social turbulence makes people more concerned for their mental health and self care where having me-time becomes most important (Kotouza et al. 2020). This changed lifestyle projects demand for those products which can showcase living style of the people offering much relaxation and lounging. Considering these concerns cardigan present all the referred characteristics as it becomes relaxing one as the same time it offers status and culture for the individual person. More or less class is not a bar for using cardigan. Choice of other accessories with the entire outfit class of the person with his or her individuality gets reflected. As feeling comfortable is most important concern for making a fashion trend thereby Cardigan culture is being accepted by all the people though use of innovation by the fashion designers’ help to make it customize (Capalbo., 2016). Further innovation makes its much comfortable that breaks stereotype concern where it has been seen that Cardigan were used in the winters however now with variation of material like using cotton instead of wool it’s become clothing of every season. One dominant change is also observed for today's Cardigan as the new trend makes it open instead of tied with buttons of previous days.

Cardigans are considered as material for both men and women thereby it can be assumed as global trend by satisfying all the requirements of both men and women without distinguish between culture and class. The Cardigan fashion trend even assimilates multicultural concern in its design. Multicultural aspect mainly shares concern on different cultures of different countries. As per the social, political, economical structure culture of the each place varies and according to the varied culture, preference or requirement gets changed (Diega., 2019). However the concern is ignorant for the use of Cardigan as acceptance of Cardigan seems varied and well spread through all over the world. For men cardigans are mostly referred as mandigan which can be made out of any material and can offer enough warmth with much comfort. Women mostly wear it with shirt though wearing with jacket can also be a preference to make it main piece of the attire. Khaite's Scarlet cardigan by Katie Holmes makes the attire so trendy that it becomes popular among all. Previously it was mostly considered as double sized where present days concept is just opposite for the cardigan. Jeanne Damas' label Rouje's Nona cardigan come as blueprint of pervasive cropped style. Multiple style plethoras are there for cardigan to suit everyone’s style and become successful fashion trend of the international market (Kotouza et al. 2020). Cable knit Cardigan with divine lilac conveys that cardigans are not only for comfort rather for putting a style statement through it as plus size people can even put it without giving any second thought and that look quite fashionable as per the ongoing trends.

Conclusion

Having went through with the entire characteristics it can be stated that it is low-key however chic way to gain the look. Except Katie Holmes’ look the Cardigan can even be finally with grenson loafers' pair. Fashion designer Lydiya King opens up the versatility of cardigan as evening wear when it goes with top and jeans where for tailored look blazer can best fit. In order to avoid mature look t-shirt would be the best option with silver jewelry and stomping boots. Libi is of the view that with global warming Cardigan can come with 90’s trend to make it print friendly by wearing with finer, shorter clothing. A research claims 22% increase of Cardigan sales in 2020 compared to the previous year which strongly establishes its all time favorite on-trend nature.

References

Capalbo, C., 2016. Creativity and innovation of the Italian fashion system in the inter-war period (1919–1943). Investigaciones de Historia Económica-Economic History Research, 12(2), pp.90-99.

Kotouza, M.T., Tsarouchis, S.F., Kyprianidis, A.C., Chrysopoulos, A.C. and Mitkas, P.A., 2020, June. Towards Fashion Recommendation: An AI System for Clothing Data Retrieval and Analysis. In IFIP International Conference on Artificial Intelligence Applications and Innovations (pp. 433-444). Springer, Cham.

Giannetti, V. and Rubera, G., 2019. Innovation for and from emerging countries: a closer look at the antecedents of trickle-down and reverse innovation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, pp.1-22.

Hendrayati, H. and Gaffar, V., 2016. Innovation and marketing performance of womenpreneur in fashion industry in Indonesia. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 219, pp.299-306.

Noto La Diega, G., 2019. Can the law fix the problems of fashion? An empirical study on social norms and power imbalance in the fashion industry. Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, 14(1), pp.18-24.

Pedersen, E.R.G., Gwozdz, W. and Hvass, K.K., 2018. Exploring the relationship between business model innovation, corporate sustainability, and organisational values within the fashion industry. Journal of Business Ethics, 149(2), pp.267-284.

Sutapa, S., Mulyana, M. and Wasitowati, W., 2017. The role of market orientation, creativity and innovation in creating competitive advantages and creative industry performance. JDM (Jurnal Dinamika Manajemen), 8(2), pp.152-166.

Van Hauwaert, S.M., Schimpf, C.H. and Azevedo, F., 2020. The measurement of populist attitudes: Testing cross-national scales using item response theory. Politics, 40(1), pp.3-21.