服装专业外文翻译--服装的发展和市场销售

Clothing of the development and marketing

Fashion is anything that is currently “in”. Fashion usually means clothes, but there are fashion in hairstyles，in home decorating, and in the foods that we eat. Several years ago, very few people ate yogurt. Now yogurt is very popular and fashionable.

Many years ago, fashion changes very slowly. Changes in technology current gradually and communications between groups of people took a long time. People often wore the same style of clothing for their whole life.

Sometimes a particular style of clothing continued for more than a lifetime. An outfit that was worn for special occasions was often handed down from generation to generation. The nobility might be able to afford new styles of clothing, but the lower classes could not.

Today, fashion changes very quickly. New technology creates new fashion. New forms of communication, such as radio, television, and the computer, can tell us this afternoon what people in London were wearing this morning.

Advertisement and articles about fashion contain terms such as “fad”, “classic”, and “status symbol”. If you understand what these terms mean, it will help you to become a wiser and more informed consumer. You will be able to select clothes that meet your own needs and wants. You will be able to better evaluate clothing style as to how long they might stay in fashion.

A fad is a fashion that is very popular for a short time, and then suddenly it seems as if nobody is wearing it. A fad can be a color, such as mauve or chartreuse. It can be an accessory, such as Earth shoes or rhinestone jewelry. Fads can also be an item of clothing. Short miniskirts and trooper pants with many pockets are example of a fad. Fads can even be a certain look, such as “punk-rock”.

Fads usually involve less expensive items of clothing or accessories. For example, wearing colored shoelaces in your sneaker is a fad. “Pop-it” plastic necklaces were a fad in the 1950s. Fluorescent socks, camouflage pants, and leg

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warmers were fads in the early 1980s.

Many fads are popular only with teenagers. Fads help the teenager express two important needs. The fist need is to belong to a group. Many teenagers want to be a part of a group that is special and different from the rest of the world. The other need is for individuality. Teenagers many adapt fads in unique ways to express their own individuality within a group.

The principles of design are artistic guidelines for using the various design elements-lines, shape, space, texture, and color-within a garment. These principles include balance, proportion, emphasis, rhythm, and harmony.

Balance

Balance is how the internal spaces of a shape work together. Balance can be symmetrical or asymmetrical. Symmetrical balance occurs when the space within a garment is divided into equal parts. A simple skirt with a center front seam and a simple shirt with a center front closing are example of symmetrical balance. Both the left front and the right front of each garment are the same. Symmetrical balance usually has a more formal or tailored look.

Proportion

Proportion is size relationship of each of the internal spaces within a garment to one another and to the total look. The most pleasing proportions are those that are unequal. For example, a garment split exactly in half by a belt or horizontal seam is usually less attractive than one that is divided unevenly.

Clothing should also be in proportion or scale to your own size. If you are short or small-framed, stay away from large, overpowering details, such as wide lapels and collars, or huge pockets and bows. If you are tall or large-framed, avoid tiny details. The selection of accessories also involves an understanding of proportion. Ties, belts, jewelry, hats, handbags, shoes, and boots are available in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Be sure that the accessories you choose are in proportion to your outfit and to you.

Emphasis

Emphasis is the focal point, or center of interest, of a garment. In fashion design, emphasis should highlight your best features and draw attention away from your figure faults. Emphasis can be accomplished with line, design details, color, texture, trims, or accessories. For example, a colorful belt would emphasis a

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waistline. A contrasting collar would focus attention on your neckline. A bright tie or shiny buttons could be a center of interest.

Rhythm

Rhythm is the pleasing arrangement of all the parts of a garment. Good rhythm is apparent when all the lines of an outfit work well together. For example, a curved pocket compliments the curve of a jacket them. A pointed shirt collar repeats the point of a jacket lapel. Rhythm can also be achieved through repetition. Rows and rows of ruffles have rhythm. There is rhythm in a gradual change if size or color. Unmatched stripes the unmatched seam-lines upset the natural rhythm of the fabric design. Jagged or jerky lines are seldom attractive.

Harmony

Harmony is the pleasing arrangement of all the parts of a garment. Harmony is achieved when the design elements work well together. The colors, lines, shapes, spaces, and textures look like they belong together. However, the total result is not perfect unless the design is also harmonious with you – your size and shape, your coloring, and your personality.

Put it all together

Each of us has body characteristics that we cannot change. They help to make each of us look unique. Some of us may have wide shoulders, narrow hips, or a bit more waistline than we would like. The key to improving your appearance is learning how to select clothing that brings your total look into balance. You can use your knowledge of the design elements and the design principles to enhance the way you look.

Study your size and shape, you’re coloring, and even your face and hair. Which fashion combinations are best for you? Once you know about them and use them, you will show yourself to best advantage.

The first phase of design is a brief which defines the garment type, age group, purpose, climate and price range which the designer should aim at. The later stages of the design process may lead to adoption of the design brief.

The second phrase is research. The designer must of course be immersed in all the current means of communication of fashion ideas. The designer may also look for new ideas in historic costume, garments from many cultures, the forms of architecture, the dramatization of fashion in the performing arts, and the colors

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textures and shapes of plants and animals. New fabrics, colors or trims may provide inspiration.

In the third phrase, the designer’s collection may begin with the selection of fabrics or the development of a theme through a series of sketches of front and back views. This is extended into a story board, as large as necessary, to display related colors, textures, trims and sketches which build up to a theme or story.

Fourthly, the shapes which the designer selects to represent concepts are infinitely varied. The overall silhouette is the outline. Within the silhouette the designer creates lines, or seams, which define panels. The seams may represent vertical, horizontal, diagonal or curved lines. The lines may create symmetry or asymmetry between different parts of a garment. Again the designer is concerned with proportion or the relationship between each part and the whole garment, for instance that between bodice and shirt. The designer also includes decisions about sleeve length and shape, cuffs, collar shape and type, yokes, pockets (patch, inset or those in a seam), design details such as belts and epaulettes, fastenings, braids and other trims, fabric treatment such as fringes, gathers, pleats, tucks smocking, shirring and quilting, the use of contrasting fabrics and surface decoration such as embroidery.

This summary of the shapes with which the designer wrestles to create the initial concept of a style is intended to give only an impression of what starts the total process of design.

Traditionally, a new apparel design was created by asking the designer to make a watercolor sketch. If the fabric was having a pattern, there might also be a close-up colored sketch of it. Many designs would be grouped together into a storyboard, which was then presented to managers for final decisions. Next the designers that passed this stage went through a technical design step in which details were added and patterns made. After this step fabric might be cut and a sample made to see how it would look on a mannequin. If the new garment was a blouse, for example, the designer was not satisfied with the drape of the garment, the fit or the pattern, he or she might go back to square one. Several iterations of these initial design steps could add weeks or months to the process before production began.

Although some haute couture or high-end apparel designers may still work

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