The power of fashion

"The king yesterday in the council declared his decision to set a fashion for clothes". Samuel Pepys, October 7, 1666

London Fashion Week shows Britain continues to lead the fashion and fashion education sectors. These are important British success stories in an industry that is in reality far removed from the achievements outlined in the "Zoolander" films. Fashion is by no means trivial, but remains a strong source of ideas and contributes significantly to the international influence of the United Kingdom.

STYLE AND SUBSTANCE

Fashion has always been an important part of how people define themselves and others. As such, it can be a powerful influencing instrument. This can be direct: Studies show that we tend to trust and even follow orders from people in suits or uniforms. The influence of fashion can also be indirect and represent a form of soft power. From Wellingtons Boots to Gandhi's Scarf and Mao's "Mao Suit"; From Elizabeth's collars, to Diana's dresses, to Thatcher's handbags, celebrities are associated with particular garments that they often consciously project into themselves or their country.

The British fashion industry has a value of 26 billion pounds and 800,000 jobs for the economy

Clothing has always been big business in the UK. The wool trade once accounted for 80% of exports from the British Isles. Now the British fashion industry, with a value of £ 26 billion and 800,000 jobs, is the UK's largest creative industry. Exports of textiles and fashion alone are estimated at over £ 6.5bn (UKFT Manifesto, UKFT 2012) and the majority of British fashion companies are exporting to other countries (The Value of Fashion, BFC, 2012). Foreign investment has risen as multinational conglomerates have invested heavily in young fashion companies such as Christopher Kane and JW Anderson (The Great British Fashion Invasion, 2014 Guardian).

But the British fashion has not only economic advantages, but also advantages in the field of soft power. With six of the world's top 20 fashion universities, the UK is the world leader in fashion education (Fashionista survey, 2014). Like most of the higher education sector, the student body is very international. An estimated 1,500 international students attend British fashion classes each year, including hundreds from China and East Asia. This international character is reflected throughout the industry. Many catwalk designers from London Fashion Week come from outside the UK.

The London Fashion Week is itself influential and widely recognized as one of the four major international fashion festivals. As such, an important aspect of the British Fashion Council's decision is to position London as a hotbed for new, young and multicultural talents, as opposed to focusing on more traditional and established brands that are often seen in New York, Paris and Milan.

The more Reforbes the better.

The last London Fashion Week included the fifth international fashion showcase, where 80 designers from 24 countries presented designs on the subject of "Utopia" (a reference to the 500th anniversary of the publication of the same book by Thomas More). Among them, four Indonesian designers presented collections of "modest clothing" - an update of traditional Muslim fashion to combine "collective and cultural roots with a creative, cosmopolitan future" - a sign of London's importance as a center for the delicacies luxury Muslim fashion market an estimated value of GBP 160 billion.

A POWERFUL TOOL OF INFLUENCE

22% of young people in countries of strategic importance to the UK said fashion was something that made Britain attractive to them

This is just one of many ways in which the British fashion industry creates value and influence through its international appeal. In a study conducted by Ipsos Mori for the British Council in 2014, 22% of young people in countries of strategic importance to the UK say that fashion is attractive to them, and 15% said that design is attractive for the UK.

Of course, these soft power effects are not limited to the UK. Dior's "New Look" spread the idea of ​​modern French chic to millions. Armani strengthened the image of Italy as the center of style. American jeans are worn on every continent. It has even been said that they played a significant role at the end of the Cold War, as part of the soft power of Western consumption over those living in the drab Soviet Union.

Fashion and politics are inextricably linked. In today's China, Peng Liyuan, the wife of President Xi Jinping, is making headlines about her fashion sense. Their wardrobe, which carries lesser-known Chinese than Western brands, may simultaneously signal a growing nationalist confidence and a turn of the Chinese economy towards domestic consumption and creative industries, which may be pushing their production and export's limits to growth. The fashion world continues to be a strong social, political and cultural commentator.

That has always been like that. The suit jacket began her life when Charles II literally dictated a new fashion to her as part of a calculated strategy to undermine French influence on Britain. The colors of modern suits are owed to Beau Brummell, the Regency Dandy, whose subtle sense of style influenced King George IV and the high fashion, although at the same time the British Industrial Revolution - initially fueled by the demand for fabrics - democratized fashion as never before and its spread of British influence around the world. The suit soon became a symbol of modernization around the world. In Japan, for example, the word for suit points to an influence of the United Kingdom: "Sebiro" is a London street corruption that is perhaps most associated with the quality of fashion: Saville Row.

Fashion may change, but fashion has always been and always is. As long as people wear clothes and accessories, they consciously or unconsciously influence each other through their clothes. The connection between fashion and soft power thus remains inherent and permanent. And fashion will continue to project Britain's influence and benefit the economy.