Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
Fashion is a term used commonly to describe a popular style of clothes worn at a particular time. A fashion remains popular for a few months or years before being replaced by yet another fashion.
During the mid-1800s, mass production of clothing made fashionable clothes available to more people at lower prices. People of all social classes began to wear similar styles of clothing. Today, it is easier to identify an expensive garment by the quality of its fabric and manufacturer than by its style. Through the years, fashions in games and sports have influenced the way people dress. During the 1700s, people in England adopted simpler clothing styles after they became interested in fox hunting and other outdoor sports. Today, many people wear special clothing for activities such as golf, horse riding, hunting and tennis. Wars have also affected the style of dress in some countries. European soldiers returning from crusades during 1100s and 1200s brought back various eastern ideas of dress styles. The crusaders also returned with rich silks and other textiles not available in Europe.
The development of new dyes, machinery and textiles has greatly affected most areas of fashion, especially on clothing. The style of dress has changed frequently in countries that have highly mechanised production systems. During the 1700s, new dyes made new colour combination possible. In the late 1700s, the invention of the toothed cotton gin, the power loom and the foot and water powered machinery for spinning and weaving made factory production of cloth possible.
After the Industrial Revolution began in Europe in the 18th century, it became increasingly possible to produce cloth and clothing quickly and inexpensively. The invention of foot and water powered machinery stimulated the development of sewing machine. Barthelemy Thimonnier of Paris patented the first practical machine in 1830. Improved versions soon followed, including on Isaac M. Singer of Pittstown, New York, in 1851. Fashionable clothing styles began to spread rapidly from the upper classes to the middle and working classes in the West. As communication improved, styles also spread to members of the elite classes in other parts of the world. Mass production of clothing meant that the traditional clothing styles of Africa, Asia, and the Americas were largely replaced by everyday European styles. As national economies grow increasingly international, clothing styles have become correspondingly global. Young people in Johannesburg and Jakarta, Boston and Buenos Aires, New York and Nairobi all tend to wear the same kind of clothing. However, different cultures have modified these originally European styles in accordance with local values and lifestyles. In particular, religious beliefs have influenced the clothing that women wear in public. Thus, a woman in Iran may wear blue jeans and a T-shirt at home, but cover the up with an enveloping robe called a chador when she goes outside. In addition, many people enjoy wearing their traditional clothing on holidays and other special occasions for reasons of national or ethnic pride. Fashion change includes both short-term fluctuations in style and longer-term trends. Two trends seen in the 20th century seem likely to continue in the future. The first of these is the blurring of gender boundaries.
Fashionable clothing of the 19th century made very sharp distinctions between men’s and women’s clothing in colour, shape, fabric, and decoration. Gradually these distinctions have broken down, especially when women claimed masculine items of clothing for themselves. Trousers and tailored suits are two notable examples of men’s styles now worn regularly by both men and women. Today’s standard wardrobe includes a large number of garments that are essentially engendered(neither male nor female), including T-shirts, jeans, casual jackets, and many kinds of special sports clothing, such as running shorts and sweat suits.
At the same time, true unisex clothing is very rare and is likely to remain so. Men’s and women’s tailored business suits, for example , can be regarded as simply two versions of the same basic garment, but they are generally very different in shape and in details, such as on which side the buttons are placed. Even outwardly ungendered items, such as jeans, are usually made in slightly different versions for men and women. An important function of clothing is to serve as a signifier of social identity, including gender, and that is likely to remain true. A second continuing long-term fashion trend is the increasing importance of casual and sports attire in the overall wardrobe of both men and women. Tailored suits as business attire are now rapidly giving way to more casual dress. Innovations .in textiles and clothing often appear first in specialised sports clothing and then rapidly spread to everyday dress. Just as clothing sends signals about gender, it carries messages about situations and occasions; special formal attire of some sort will continue to be part of fashion for the foreseeable future. However, such clothing is likely to become even more occasion-specific than it is today, and the trend toward ever more casual everyday dress is expected to continue. Today, fashion has become a multi-million dollar global industry, attracting millions of highly-trained designers, hairdressers, jewellers, beauticians and models, and controlling space in prime premises that house fashion chain stores in most cities of the world. In modern –day world, a mere global village, fashion ideas and styles move quickly across continents-what happens in the fashion centres of Paris and New York soon affects fashion in Australia, China and across the globe. Beauty contests and fashion shows are two ways in which the fashion industry market its wares to a word consumed with changing tastes in fashion. QUESTIONS
a) How is fashion determined? (1mk)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… b) Explain why in the 1800s people of all social classes began to wear similar styles of clothing (2mks) ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… c) How did the development of new dyes affect fashion? (1mk) …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… d) In what ways have games and sports influenced the way people dress? (2mks) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… e) Name three machines that made factory production of clothes possible. (3mks) ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… f) Explain how traditional clothing styles came to be replaced by everyday European styles. (2mks) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… g)Identify and explain three fashion trends mentioned in the passage (3mks) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… h)How are different cultures dealing with global clothing styles? (2mks) ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… i)Explain the meaning of the following words and phrases as used in the passage. (4mks) Mass production …………………………………………… Fluctuations…………………………………………………… Distinctions…………………………………………………… Innovations……………………………………………………… ANSWERS AND MARKING SCHEMEREADING COMPREHENSION a)Fashion is determined by time and events(1mk) b)Cloths were produced in large quantities; making fashionable clothes available to more people. (2mks) c)The development of dyes made new colour combinations possible (1mk) d)Games and sports have influenced the way people dress because of the need to dress differently for different sports. (2mks) e) The three machines that made factory production of clothes possible were toothed cotton gin; the power loom; and the foot and water powdered machinery for spinning and weaving. (3mks) f) This was as a result of mass production and improved communication. (2mks) g) Three fashion trends mentioned in the passage are the blurring of gender boundaries, true unisex clothing and casual and sports attire. (3mks) h) Different cultures have modified these originally European styles in accordance with local values and lifestyles. (2mks) i) Mass production………………………………..made in large quantities. ii) Fluctuations……………………………………….changes iii) Distinctions…………………………………………differences iv) Innovations……………………………………..new ideas (4mks)
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