Arts & Humanities Campus News

Assistant professor discusses key moments in fashion history

Monica Sklar, an assistant professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, was recently quoted in a BBC article about the differing fashion styles of Generation X, Generation Z and millennials.

Experts say that style is a tool that young people use to establish and express their perspective.

For example, Christian Dior rattled the fashion industry in 1947. After years of rationing and material shortages due to the Great Depression and World War II, Dior presented his “New Look”: a sculptural jacket with rounded shoulders and a voluminous circle skirt.

Dior’s design was considered both frivolous and wasteful from older generations.

Sklar said this “revolt” in fashion reiterated a histrionic change in circumstance.

“It was as much about Christian Dior creating something innovative, as it was a garment representing supply-chain availability and the symbolic goals of the population,” she said.

The article continued to detail the later styles and evolution in the fashion industry.