Exercise 8. Look through the fashion magazines and watch tv programmes to describe updated suit styles offered by designers and worn by famous people (businessmen, politicians and so on).

Reading for general understanding.

Text c. Types of Fashion Silhouettes

Clothing silhouette is the area of a garment, which is defined by its outer profile. There are close-fitting, straight, extended, and bell-shaped silhouettes.

In this picture you see so-called A-Line silhouette characterized by shift shoulders, very often with raglan sleeves. Clothes is expanded down to bottom margin without a band. The shape of the clothes looks like letter A.

A fashion silhouette is the shape which clothing and undergarments give the body in the attire of a definite period. Shapes and silhouettes in fashion change over time. Many periods in women’s fashion even have a distinct silhouette that we can easily associate with the clothing of that decade or era.

Edwardian Silhouettes

The Edwardian silhouette is often described as an S-Curve. Corsets changed during this period, allowing more space at the front of the body, but less at the sides of the waist. The overall shape was wasp-waisted with a monobosom or pigeon chested effect at the bust.

The Roaring '20s

One of the biggest changes in fashion silhouettes was in the 1920s. The wasp-waisted and matronly look of the Edwardian era was replaced by a clean, rectangular shape with no bust, waist or hip definition. Drop waists, soft fluid fabrics and breast binding were typical to achieve the silhouette of the roaring '20s.

Glamour and Practicality

Silhouettes of the 1930s and 40s were relatively similar. Shoulders were strong and there was clear waist definition in both casual and more formal wear. Clothing fit closer to the body, in part due to fabric rationing in the war years. The body was not exaggerated by these fashion silhouettes and they worked well with many body types, unlike the boyish figure of the 1920s.

The New Look

The end of World War II brought about a new fashion silhouette. The waist was tiny, thanks to shapers and girdles and skirts were full, with crinolines adding to their fullness. The bullet or cone bra and fitted tops and sweaters completed this overall look. This is the stereotypical 1950s fashion silhouette.

Silhouettes in Modern Fashion

The straight shifts made famous by Jackie Kennedy represent the most familiar silhouette of the 1960s and the broad shoulders of power suits remind many of us of the 1980s, but these are not the only or even the primary fashions of the time. While fashion magazines from the 1960s onward have occasionally hailed a fashion silhouette as representative of the year or decade, changes in style and undergarments have made fashion more variable and less about set shapes or silhouettes

Vocabulary

bullet or cone bra n	-	бюстгальтер конусовидной формы
curve n	-	изгиб
drop waist n	-	заниженная линия талии
to exaggerate v	-	преувеличивать, чрезмерно подчеркивать
to hail v	-	провозглашать
outer profile n	-	внешний контур, очертание
rectangular adj	-	прямоугольный
tiny adj	-	очень маленький, крошечный
shape n	-	форма
shift shoulders n	-	спущенные плечи
wasp-waisted	-	с осиной талией (напоминающей осу)

Exercise 9. Return to the text “Types of Fashion Silhouettes” to find the English equivalents. Consult them while translating the text.

Плотно облегающий фигуру… и имеющий форму колокола силуэт; нижний край (низ) одежды; большие пространства в передней части тела; сходство с очертаниями голубиного зоба; мягкие, струящиеся ткани; четкая линия талии; нормирование ткани в военные годы; принес новый модный силуэт; менее зависимая от установленных форм или силуэтов; повседневная одежда; нижнее белье.

Exercise 10. Ask your partner to name:

1. clothing silhouettes and fashion silhouettes as it is given in the text;

2. the main features of silhouettes of the 1930s and 40s;

3. the silhouette popular in the 1950s.

Exercise 11. Answer the questions on the text.

1. What helps people associate the clothing of the decade or historical period?

2. How was monobosom or pigeon chested effect achieved in the Edwardian silhouette?

3. Why didn’t the silhouette of the roaring ‘20s work well with many body types? Do you think it may return back?

4. Can a single person influence the fashion? Prove your position.

5. What silhouette or silhouettes represent the 2010s?

Exercise 12. Take 2 pictures of suits/dresses typical to different historical periods. Ask your partner to describe the difference between them in silhouette and details.