Globalization and Fashion Essay

In the 19th century, countries started trading more, because it was right after the Great depression of the 1930 when mass production became more accessible. The reason for this was the advance in technology. Improvement in technology has made life in many certain extents easier, not only for trading, but for many other aspects of human life. Meanwhile technology is getting so advanced that it has a great influence on cultures. With globalization, all the cultures in the world are fading away and giving their place to one major common culture. Evidence of this can be seen clearly in fashion. From planes to the Internet, people and their culture are strongly connecting with each other. To  this date people travel from one country to another for various reasons including business, touring and education. Some of business people are the buyers of great fashion departments. They have a major influence on bringing different culture from one country to another. For instance, a trend in Europe transfers to North America from tourist who has traveled to Europe and buyers of department stores who choose the items. On the other hand, buyers are strongly concerned about what is going to sell and what is not. If the garment that they are buying for is for United States of America, it must be more practical than something, which they transfer from New York to Europe. The reason behind that is that culture of fashion in America is more practical than the culture of fashion in Europe. In American life style practicality has a strong voice, therefore, it is a better target market for casual wear. People tend to wear more comfortable clothes, such as jeans, sportswear, t-shirts, as well as converse shoes[1]. A good advertisement on the Internet has a worldwide impact, which can lead to a new trend. Most women in the world are very vulnerable to these beautiful new items shown on the Internet advertisement; they catch new trends and mix them up with their own home country fashion. The spread of globalization will bring changes to the countries it reaches, but change is very important part in everyone’s life. The Internet has proven a big part in projecting traditional culture. Various reports have showed that the world trade in goods with cultural content increased over the years. Magazines are one thing that has always been there and has always been a strong way of communication between cultures. Today’s world of commercials and advertisements has made a huge diversity in the world of magazines. Magazines such as Vogue have had a major role in changing the fashion world. Vogue was first published in 1910 in Britain, but now there are vogue in Italy, France, Spain, and America[2]. The strongest and most influential one of all is Americas Vogue People tend to pick up new trends from such sources every day in every single place in the world, but since English is the most spoken language across the globe,  American Vogue sells the most and it automatically transfers American fashion more around the world. Satellites and TVs are just as influential as magazines. For example, Fashion TV was found in 1997 in France as the first fashion only international network. In later years even in countries in the Middle East, some fashion channels were created and changed the whole country’s fashion. People copy all the new western trends, and try to use them as much as possible even though they have some restrictions in how they are supposed to dress in Muslim countries. For example, all Iranian woman follow the European  fashion[3]. They are forced to cover up their hair but they are still very much fashionable and dress nice. The effects of globalization on culture has also been perpetuated through music. Music has been termed as one of the strongest culture that has taken over a large number of young people across the globe. The different music genres including gangster rap, hip-hop, RNB, rock, reggae and others plays an important role in creating a global culture. This has been made possible by technology and media including MTV, You Tube as well as other social networks in the internet. More particularly, the hip-hop culture is a wave that has dominated in various countries[4]. Today, every young man and women want to associate with a particular hip-hop star and imitate and adore their dressing code, style and even speaking. Hence, a college boy in New York living under the footsteps of Tupac Shakur (A popular hip-hop pioneer) is no different to a peer in China or Africa idolizing the same. As a result, these young men share the same fashion mode of wearing jeans, necklaces famous as ‘bling bling’, and even earrings as part of their accessories[5]. Similarly, the fashion trend goes beyond clothing. Globalization has made people in the world adopt a particular fashion of identity. The influence of media also blamed for brainwashing people’s identity. The contemporary woman as depicted in western movies is slender with long legs. This has influenced several young women to emulate this style to an extent of undergoing cosmetic surgery. Likewise, an ideal man portrayed in the movies emphasizes a well built masculine figure which has also influenced the lifestyles of many young men around the world. There has been concern that globalization is synonymous with Americanization. The western particularly American culture is highly idolized all over the world. The fashion trends in America spreads more quickly and are readily embraced in all countries with music, Hollywood celebrities and even models playing as agents for perpetuating American fashion to the rest of the world. The internet has enabled the transfer of the American culture to the global community. In conclusion, Globalization has a major affect in world’s fashion. Sources such as Internet, telemarketing and advertisements tend to change peoples  perspective about fashion. People pick up trends from such sources and sometimes mix them up with their own ideas and cultural restriction. Globalization is sometimes associated with Americanization due to the large adoption of American fashion in virtually all aspects of lifestyles. Globalization has transformed the diversified culture in the world into one single culture, the global culture. Hence, the world has become a global village sharing everything including fashion and culture. Bibliography Anthony Giddens. Runaway World: How Globalization is Shaping our World. New York: Sage, 2003. Dress – Globalization Of Fashion retrieved Dress – Globalization Of Fashion [accessed May 4, 2010] Ian Condry and Shara Rambarran. Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2006. Kai Hafez, Alex Skinner. The Myth of Media Globalizations. New York: Polity, 2007. Kolawole A. Owolabi. Globalization, Americanization   and Western Imperialism. Journal of Social Development in Africa. 16, No. 2 (2001): 71-92.