Fashion
The fashion industry came to light in the 20th century as a concept of modern times. Pre-19th century all clothing was either hand made or made by tailors. Advances in recent years have led to the inventions of sewing machines and the development of large scale manufacturing factories. The increased supply of clothing, accessories and shoes has helped to introduce retail outlets and major chain brands.
The fashion industry is a huge business all over the world with many countries having their own fashion Capitals. Not only is the fashion industry a big part of providing clothes, jewellery, shoes and accessories it provides many jobs surrounding the industry such as fashion journalists. Fashion journalists are a large part of why fashion is so important. It is also a large part of which designers will succeed or not.
There has been a large amount of controversy around the fashion industry due to the self image projected by fashion designers and their models. The fashion industry brought light to the size 0 issue which has huge implications of humans. Many young girls dieted and put themselves at risk to make themselves a size 0 which is the equivalent to a UK size 4; many of these girls put themselves at risk of eating disorders due to the need to be size 0.
In recent years the fashion industry has started to promote a healthier body image with ensuring all models be a certain weight or have a healthy Body Mass Index score (BMI). 2010 saw the first plus size models walk in a fashion week catwalk show.