<div><span style="font-size: 11pt"><strong><u>What Fashion is about?</u></strong></span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 11pt">This question troubles me a lot, especially when I watch on television all those designers talk about the new trends in fashion and what we have to wear every season. Is there a rule? Or is it just a matter of spending money. If fashion was changing every one year or every ten years what would all those designers do about it? How would they pay there expensive tastes for vacations in exotic islands, or redecorating there huge houses? On the other hand, a lot of people are able to find work because of all this industry. Anyway, let’s talk about fashion as if it was just a matter of history… </span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 11pt">Looking back to history from earliest times, man has changed his clothing frequently finding always something new to wear. This phenomenon known as “fashion”, spray up thousands of years ago. Men and especially women have tried to wear new things, different things, clothes and accessories that would impress people or frighten others. Everything is a matter of taste anyway. To fulfil these people’s need, to give those new clothes, other people had to have new ideas, to create always something different and new; and so the 1st fashion designer was born around 5,000 years ago. From then and onwards designers are an active part of society. Some of them are classics, some just quite good, others new and some are worth keeping an eye on because they are going to go places.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 11pt">Accessories always played a big role in fashion. Shoes and boots for example were from prehistoric times a must for man since he needed them to cover his feet, to protect him from rough ground, stones, and insect bytes. In 15,000 year old wall paintings, in caves in </span><span style="font-size: 11pt">Spain</span><span style="font-size: 11pt">, the first known images of footwear are boots. </span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 11pt">Archaeologists found the earliest footwear in </span><span style="font-size: 11pt">Egypt</span><span style="font-size: 11pt">. These were the sandals that workers building the pyramids left behind and since they were left in the dry sand, they were preserved till now. In Ancient Egypt sandals were made of palm leaves plaited together, with thongs at the ankle and toes.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 11pt">Footwear can be divided into three groups: Sandals, Shoes and Boots. During the approximately 8,000 years of recorded history man has made millions of different shapes of footwear. Imagine an ancient man naked and barefoot, running over the ground chasing animals for food. It is almost certain that he would cut his feet on sharp rocks or prickly undergrowth. As a result, this would be very painful and also would slow him down. As man evolved into thinking human being he would find ways to protect his feet, as this was very important since the feet should be in a good condition to enable him to walk, run and therefore hunt.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 11pt">One of the first inventions of man was string since he had to use it in order to keep the skins of the animals tied to his feet. It does not sound like an exciting invention, but actually it was tremendous. The reason is that when human learned how to use plant fibres in order to make string (by twisting them together), he could use that string to make several things for his everyday life; like bags to carry things, to make belts so the animal skin would stay onto there body, to make nets etc. Oregon Sandal is the oldest shoe found in the world and it is about 10,000 years old.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 11pt">Shoes played a major role in people’s lives through the years. If a bride, in the 16<sup>th</sup> century in </span><span style="font-size: 11pt">England</span><span style="font-size: 11pt">, falsified her height by wearing Chopines her husband was entitled to an annulment. “Elephant’s Ear” boots were used by Cavaliers in the 17<sup>th</sup> century. They took this name because the top fold-over leather was wide and floppy and looked like an elephant ear. In </span><span style="font-size: 11pt">France</span><span style="font-size: 11pt">, before the French revolution, gentlemen wore very decorative high-heeled shoes with buckles, jewels and embroidery; called “Louis” after the King. One aristocrat lost his life because he had diamonds on the buckles of his shoe, so as you can see that was not a very good idea… For the Victorians the tightly laced high boot was compulsory, since they felt that the sight of a women’s naked foot was too erotic. In </span><span style="font-size: 11pt">Byzantium</span><span style="font-size: 11pt"> only at the very beginning people wear Roman footwear. The most common was enclosed tied overshoes made of cloth, or wore over stockings, or silk and leather slippers up to the ankle decorated with jewels. If the person was a priest there was a cross on them. Soldiers and manual workers wore strips of linen or leather tied on wood or leather soles. A very light sandal of a single thread through the toe was worn sometimes. In the late 1800s, in </span><span style="font-size: 11pt">United States of America</span><span style="font-size: 11pt">, the first rubber soled shoes were developed. They were called plimsolls. In the 20<sup>th</sup> century Yves St. Laurent made one of the longest boots in 1963. They were made from crocodile skin. The Go – Go boot of Andres Courreges is another famous 60’s boot. </span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 11pt">There are shoes for every occasion; formal or informal, walking shoes, running shoes, slippers etc. All made from materials we can find in nature or man can create himself (like plastic or rubber for example).</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 11pt">Shoes are a very important part of the history of costume, and the people who make them are very creative and imaginative. You can spend thousands on shoes. They are not only a necessity but a fashion must as well.</span></div>
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