FBTs: five basic terms

so for the rest of the week... we are going back to basics... it's going to be terminology overdose for some of you but for each posts, i have selected five words that will be useful for you to know... thinking of it as fashion vocabulary 101 so that when you next speak fashion, you'll be able to find the right term instead of saying... neh, that dress from that shop a few months ago...

where are these dresses from?

here are the five basic terms that i think all of us should know:

1) fashion: it is the general term for a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, footwear, accessories, make-up, body piercing or furniture. fashion usually is the newest creations made by designers and are bought by only a few number of people; however, often those 'fashions' are translated into more established trends. fashion can finally refer to clothing generally and the study of it. more from my friend wikipedia here...

2) label: yes, that little thing sewn onto your clothing that tells you which brand you bought... the first label is credited to charles frederick worth. before that, clothing design and creation was handled by largely anonymous seamstresses. worth's success was such that he was able to dictate to his customers what they should wear instead of following the customers' lead as earlier dressmakers had done. while all articles of clothing from any time period are studied by academics as costume design, only clothing created after 1858 could be considered as fashion design.

1858: Charles Frederick Worth inaugurated the first couture house in Paris

3) house: in fashion, a reference to house is not merely about the place one stays but it's a reference to maison de couture... translated, maison de couture is simply house of fashion. while you can find a label that goes by the same name, the idea of a fashion house is people working from a house instead of a huge factory. think the personal attention to details, handcraft as opposed to machines and mass production... and the most popular address? nope not wisteria lane but rue du faubourg saint-honore...

Hermes, image courtesy of panoramio.com

Miranda Kerr spotted outside Dior

4) seasons: spring, summer, fall (autumn), winter... yes... we all know the four seasons but in fashion, seasons operate on a slightly different schedule. several months in advance of the season, fashion weeks are held to allow the press and buyers a chance to preview fashion designs for the following season. from january through april, designers showcase their autumn and winter collections. the fashion week for spring and summer is held from september through november. this is also to allow time for retailers to arrange , to purchase or incorporate the designers into their retail marketing. the latest innovations in dress designs are showcased by renowned fashion designers during these fashion weeks and all these latest collections are covered in magazines.

over the past few years, more and more designers have shown inter-seasonal collections between the traditional autumn/winter and spring/summer seasons. these collections are usually more commercial than the main season collections and help shorten the customer's wait for new season clothes. the inter-seasonal collections are resort/cruise (before spring/summer) and pre-fall (before autumn/winter). there is no fixed schedule for these shows in any of the major fashion capitals but they typically happen three months after the main season shows.

Valentino Pre-Fall 2012

5) couture: this is the business of designing, making and selling highly fashionable, usually custom-made, women's clothing. now, haute couture is the phrase we should all know. french for 'high sewing' or 'high dressmaking', haute couture is made to order for a specific customer and it is usually made from high quality, expensive fabric. it is sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses, often using time consuming, hand-executed techniques. 

fash'on... BAM!