party

party

A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, and recreation. A party will typically feature food and beverages , and often music and dancing as well.
Some parties are held in honor of a specific person, day, or event (e.g., a birthday party, a Super Bowl party, or a St. Patrick’s Day party). Parties of this kind are often called celebrations .
A party is not necessarily a private occasion. Public parties are sometimes held in pubs and bars , and people attending such parties may be charged an admission fee by the host.
In Western cultures , particularly in the United States , the United Kingdom , Australia and New Zealand , birthday parties are often accompanied by colorful decorations, such as balloons and streamers. A birthday cake is often served with candles that are to be blown out after a “birthday wish” has been made. The birthday boy/girl gets the first piece of cake. While the birthday cake is being brought to the table, the song Happy Birthday to You is sung by the guests. Event management agencies and professional party services are being utilized increasingly to organize birthday parties. [ citation needed ]
Themed birthday parties are growing increasingly popular as licensed plates, streamers, napkins and piñatas are being distributed with characters from kids' games, books, television shows, movies and even websites.
A child’s birthday party may be held at his/her home or in a public place. Soft drinks are often served alongside water and both sweet and savory foods. In many cultures, a birthday cake is served. Birthday parties for children often feature entertainment, party games and goody bags. Adults’ birthday parties in Western countries are often held in restaurants, bars or nightclubs . In some cultures, guests are expected to bring birthday gifts.
There are a wide range of gifts given at birthday parties. For kids, toys like barbies , action figures , and stuffed animals are popular. For teens and adults, in addition to more personalized gifts, gift cards to his/her favorite store are also popular. Some people opt to have gifts given to others in donation , instead of accepting gifts for themselves. For children, popular benefiting charities are animal shelters and rescue houses. For adults, political or social causes may be chosen more often.
Contents

1 Surprise party
2 Parties for teenagers and young adults
3 Singles dance party and mixer
4 Marriage-related parties
5 Dinner party
6 Tea party
7 Housewarming party
8 Block party
9 Welcome party
10 Farewell party
11 Cast party
12 Pre-party
13 After-party
14 Fundraising party
15 Parties on special days
16 Famous parties
17 Other parties
18 See also
19 References
20 Bibliography

Surprise party
A surprise party is a party that is not made known beforehand to the person in whose honor it is being held.
Birthday surprise parties are the most common kind of surprise party. At most such parties, the guests will arrive an hour or so before the honored person arrives. Often, a friend in on the surprise will lead the honored person to the location of the party without letting on anything. The guests conceal themselves from view, and when the honored person enters the room, they leap from hiding and all shout “Surprise!”
Sometimes the surprised person is especially emotional because they thought that everyone had forgotten about their birthday.
For some surprise birthday parties, it is considered to be a good tactic to shock the honored person. Streamers, silly string , and balloons may be used for this purpose. Evidence of a party, such as decorations and balloons, are not made visible from the exterior of the home, so that the honored person will suspect nothing.
Parties for teenagers and young adults
Parties that are held by teenagers and young adults include house parties , dance parties , and outdoor parties .
The term “house party” refers to a party where a large group of people get together at a private home to socialize. House parties that involve the drinking of beer pumped from a keg are called keg parties or “keggers.” These parties are popular in the North America and Australia but are illegal for persons under the legal drinking age . Sometimes, even older partygoers run afoul of the law for having provided alcoholic beverages to minors . Arrests may also be made for violating a noise ordinance, for disorderly conduct , and even for operating a “ blind pig .”
Dance parties and gatherings in bars or community centers where the guests dance to house music , techno music , or disco . The music for dance parties is usually selected and played by a disc jockey .
A spin-off of dance parties, the rave involves dancing to loud house music or techno music . Rave parties may be attended by as few as a score of people in a basement or, more likely, by a few hundred people in a club, to as many as thousands in a large warehouse, field, or even tens of thousands in a sporting arena, city block, or other large space. Outdoor parties include bush parties and beach parties. Bush parties (also called “field parties”) are held in a secluded area of a forest (“bush”), where friends gather to drink and talk. These parties are often held around a bonfire . Beach parties are held on a sandy shoreline of a lake, river, or sea, and also often feature a bonfire.
College parties are parties thrown by college students. They most often refer to house parties, but can also include dance and outdoor parties. They frequently involve excessive amounts of alcohol and drinking games .
School-related parties for teenagers and young adults include proms and graduation parties , which are held in honor of someone who has recently graduated from a school or university.
A crush party is a party in a sorority or fraternity where the sisters or brothers are given a certain number of invitations (according to their “crushes”). These are passed on to friends outside of the sorority/fraternity and given to the “crushes” (while keeping secret the name of the inviter). There may be some sort of disclosure at the party, so that the guests can find out who has a crush on her/him.

Young people at a party in Canada
Singles dance party and mixer
A singles dance party and mixer is a party which is organized for people who are not married and who want to find a partner for friendship , dating , or sex .
Usually a “mixer game” is played, to make it easy for people to meet each other. For example, each guest may be given a card with an inspiring quotation on it. The game is to find someone of the opposite sex who has the same quotation. Couples who have matching cards may be given a small prize.
These parties are sponsored by various organizations, both non-profit and for-profit.
Marriage-related parties

Bachelor party (aka UK: Stag Night; Australia: Bucks Night)
Bachelorette party (aka Hens Night)
Divorce party
Wedding reception

Dinner party
A dinner party is a social gathering at which people eat dinner together, usually in the host’s home. At the most formal dinner parties, the dinner is served on a dining table with place settings . Dinner parties are often preceded by a cocktail hour in a living room or bar, where guests drink alcoholic beverages while mingling and conversing.
At less formal dinner parties, a buffet is provided. Guests choose food from the buffet and eat while standing up and conversing. Women guests may wear cocktail dresses ; men may wear blazers .
At some informal dinner parties, the host may ask guests to bring food or beverages (a main dish , a side dish , a dessert , or appetizers ). A party of this type is called a potluck or potluck dinner. In the United States , potlucks are very often held in churches and community centers.
Tea party
In Anglo-American culture, a tea party is a formal gathering for afternoon tea . These parties are traditionally attended only by women, but men may also be invited.
Tea parties are often characterized by the use of prestigious tableware , such as bone china and silver . The table, whatever its size or cost, is made to look its prettiest, with cloth napkins and matching cups and plates.
In addition to tea, larger parties may serve punch or, in cold weather, hot chocolate. The tea is accompanied by a variety of easily managed foods. Thin sandwiches such as cucumber or tomato, cake slices , buns , and cookies are all common choices.
Housewarming party
A housewarming party may be held when a family, couple, or person moves into a new house or apartment. It is an occasion for the hosts to show their new home to their friends. Housewarming parties are typically informal and do not include any planned activities other than a tour of the new house or apartment. Invited family members and friends may bring gifts for the new home.
Block party
A block party is a public party that is attended by the residents of a specific city block or neighborhood. These parties are typically held in a city street that has been closed to traffic to accommodate the party.
At some block parties, attendees are free to pass from house to house, socializing, and often drinking alcoholic beverages .
Welcome party
A welcome party is for new members of a business, a new baby, and many other things. People in the business which throws a party for the new member of the business pay for everything. For a new baby, parents and friends pay for the party.
Farewell party
In many cultures, it is customary to throw a farewell party in honor of someone who is moving away or departing on a long trip.
Cast party
A cast party is a celebration following the final performance of a theatric event, such as a play , a musical , or an opera . A party of this kind may also be held following the end of shooting for a motion picture (called a “wrap party”) or after the season’s final episode of a television series . Cast parties are traditionally held for most theater performances, both professional and amateur.
Invited guests are usually restricted to performers, crew members, and a few others who did not participate in the performance.
Pre-party
A pre-party is a party that is held immediately before some event, such as a school dance , a wedding , a birthday party, or a bar mitzvah . These parties are usually of short duration and sometimes involve getting ready for the event (e.g., the guests may put on makeup or costumes). Guests usually leave at the same time and arrive at the event together.
After-party
An after-party is a party that is held after a musical or theatric performance or after some other event, such as a wedding or a school dance . Guests are usually limited to friends of the host.
Fundraising party
A fundraising party, or fundraiser, is a party that is held for the purpose of collecting money that will be given to some person or to some institution, such as a school , charity , business , or political campaign . These parties are usually formal and consist of a dinner followed by speeches or by a presentation extolling whatever the money is being raised for.
It is very common to charge an admission fee for parties of this kind. This fee may be as high as several thousand dollars, especially if money is being raised for a political campaign .
Parties on special days
Australia

Australia Day
ANZAC Day

Canada

Canada Day
Victoria Day

Christian

Christmas
Easter
Mardi Gras
Saint Patrick’s Day

France

Bastille Day

India

Chaand Raat (Eid)
Diwali
Holi

International

All Saints’ Day
Candle Night
Cinco de Mayo
Eid
Festivus
Halloween
New Year’s Eve
Saint Patrick’s Day

Iran

Nowruz

Ireland

Saint Patrick’s Day

Islamic

Eid al-Adha
Eid ul-Fitr

Jewish

Hanukkah
Passover
Purim

Scotland

Hogmanay

Sweden

Midsummer Eve

United Kingdom

Guy Fawkes Night

United States

Independence Day , aka the Fourth of July
Super Bowl Sunday

Famous parties

Exotic Erotic Ball
Burning Man
Full Moon Party
Lollapalooza
Nuit Blanche
Woodstock Festival

Other parties

A costume or fancy dress party


A game party


A LAN party


A political houseparty


A pool party


A sleepover or pajama party , also called a slumber party


A toga party


A sandwich party

See also

Bash
Convention (meeting)
Crayfish party
Cuddle party
Event management
Event planning
Gate-crashing
List of party organizations
Naked party

References
Bibliography

Tung, Jennifer (2005). In Style Parties: The Complete Guide to Easy, Elegant Entertaining . New York: Melcher Media, Inc. ISBN 978-1-932994-11-7 .  

event

event

Event can refer to many things such as:

A phenomenon , any observable occurrence, or an extraordinary occurrence

A type of gathering :

A ceremony , for example, a marriage
A competition , for example, a sports competition
A convention (meeting)
A happening , a performance or situation meant to be considered as art
A festival , for example, a musical event
A media event , a happening that attracts coverage by mass media
A party
A sporting event

In science, technology, and mathematics :

Event (computing) , a software message indicating that something has happened, such as a keystroke or mouse click
Event, Particle accelerator , experiments which produce high energy (Electron volt|MeV, GeV, and TeV) subatomic particle collisions
Event (probability theory) , a set of outcomes to which a probability is assigned
Event (UML) , in Unified Modeling Language, a notable occurrence at a particular point in time
Event chain methodology , in project management
Event (relativity) , a point in space at an instant in time, i.e. a location in spacetime
Event horizon , a boundary in spacetime, typically surrounding a black hole, beyond which events cannot effect an exterior observer
Extinction event , a sharp decrease in the number of species in a short period of time
Celestial event , an astronomical phenomenon of interest

In philosophy :

Event (philosophy) , an object in time, or an instantiation of a property in an object
Mental event , something that happens in the mind, such as a thought

See also

Eventing , an equestrian event comprising dressage, cross-country and show-jumping
Event management
Event planning
News , new information or information on current events
Portal:Current events (Wikipedia portal)

modern

modern

Modern history , or the modern era , describes the historical timeline after the Middle Ages . Modern history can be further broken down into the early modern period and the late modern period . Contemporary history describes the span of historic events that are immediately relevant to the present time.
The beginning of the modern era started approximately in the 1500s . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] In England the modern period is often dated to the start of the Tudor period with the victory of Henry VII over Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Many major events caused the Western world to change around the turn of the 16th century , starting with the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the fall of Muslim Spain and the discovery of the Americas in 1492, and Martin Luther 's Protestant Reformation in 1517. Early modern European history is usually seen to span from the turn of the 15th century, through the Age of Reason and Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries, until the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century.





Contents


1 The study of modern history

1.1 Source text
1.2 Terminology and usage

1.2.1 Pre-Modern
1.2.2 Modern
1.2.3 Postmodern and contemporary




2 Modern era

2.1 Significant developments
2.2 Modern as post-medieval

2.2.1 The "Early modern period"
2.2.2 The "Late modern period"




3 Modern events

3.1 Early modern period
3.2 Western transformations

3.2.1 Reason and Enlightenment
3.2.2 Scientific Revolution
3.2.3 American wars and revolution
3.2.4 The French Revolutions

3.2.4.1 National and Legislative Assembly
3.2.4.2 The Directory and Napoleonic Era


3.2.5 Italian unification


3.3 Industrial revolutions

3.3.1 Industrialization
3.3.2 Revolution in manufacture and power
3.3.3 Notable Engineers
3.3.4 Social effects and classes

3.3.4.1 Mid-19th century European Revolts
3.3.4.2 Industrial age reformism




3.4 European Hegemony and the 19th century

3.4.1 Imperialism and empires
3.4.2 British Victorian era
3.4.3 French governments and conflicts
3.4.4 Slavery and abolition
3.4.5 African colonization
3.4.6 Meiji Japan


3.5 United States egress

3.5.1 Antebellum Expansion
3.5.2 US Civil War and Reconstruction
3.5.3 The Gilded Age and legacy


3.6 Transitions and Enlightenment negation

3.6.1 Notable persons
3.6.2 Social Darwinism
3.6.3 Marxism's society


3.7 European decline and the 20th century

3.7.1 World Wars era

3.7.1.1 Turn of the 20th century
3.7.1.2 Edwardian Britain
3.7.1.3 World War I
3.7.1.4 Russian Revolutions and Civil War
3.7.1.5 The Twenties and the Depression
3.7.1.6 The League and crises
3.7.1.7 World War II


3.7.2 Post-1945 World

3.7.2.1 American Peace
3.7.2.2 Cold War era
3.7.2.3 Space Age




3.8 Contemporary era


4 Modern History education and schools

4.1 British education
4.2 Universities


5 See also
6 Further reading
7 References
8 External links





//

The study of modern history
Source text
Main articles: Historical method and Source text
The fundamental difficulty of studying modern history is the fact that a plethora of it has been documented up to the present day. It is imperative to consider the reliability of the information obtained from these records.
Further information: Historiography and Philosophy of history
Terminology and usage
Pre-Modern
Main articles: Ancient philosophy and Medieval philosophy
In a historical context, Pre-Modern is the period in Western civilization that came after Ancient history and before Modernity . It is usually recognized [ weasel words ] to have begun in the mid-1400s, marked by the invention of the printing press and the introduction of movable type in Europe. Pre-Modern ideas are thought [ weasel words ] to have begun in the Dark Ages around 500 AD .
In the Pre-Modern era, a person's sense of self and purpose was expressed via a faith in some form of deity , be that in a single god or in many gods . [ citation needed ] Religious officials , who often held positions of power, were the spiritual intermediaries to the common person. It was only through these intermediaries that the general masses had access to the divine . Tradition was seen as sacred and unchanging & the social order was strictly enforced. [ citation needed ]
See also: Ancient history  and Medieval history
Modern
In contrast to the pre-modern era, Western civilization made a gradual transition from premodernity to modernity when scientific methods were developed which led many to believe that the use of science would lead to all knowledge, thus throwing back the shroud of myth under which pre-moderns lived. Truth was available to be discovered by empirical observation , and that the world's problems could be solved by applying the appropriate methods and apparatus to the issues. [ citation needed ]
The term "modern" was coined shortly before 1585 to describe the beginning of a new era. [ 2 ] The European Renaissance (about 1420–1630) is an important transition period beginning between the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, which started in Italy.
The term "Early Modern" was introduced in the English language in the 1930s. [ 5 ] to distinguish the time between what we call Middle Ages and time of the late Enlightenment (1800) (when the meaning of the term Modern Ages was developing its contemporary form). It is important to note that these terms stem from European History; in usage in other parts of the world, such as in China, India, and Islam, the terms are applied in a very different way, but often in the context with their contact with European culture in the Age of Discoveries . [ 6 ]
Postmodern and contemporary
" Postmodernism ", coined 1949, on the other hand, would describe rather a movement in art than a period of history, and is usually applied to arts, but not to any events of the very recent history. [ 7 ] This changed, when postmodernity was coined to describe the major changes in the 1950s and 1960s in economy, society, culture, and philosophy. Sometimes distinct from the modern periods themselves, the terms " modernity " and " modernism " refer to a new way of thinking, distinct from medieval thinking. " Contemporary " is applied to more recent event because it means "belonging to the same period" and "current".
Modern era
Significant developments
The modern period has been a period of significant development in the fields of science , politics , warfare , and technology . It has also been an age of discovery and globalization . During this time that the European powers and later their colonies, began a political, economic, and cultural colonization of the rest of the world.
By the late 19th and early 20th century, modernist art , politics , science and culture has come to dominate not only Western Europe and North America , but almost every civilized area on the globe, including movements thought of as opposed to the west and globalization. The modern era is closely associated with the development of individualism , capitalism , urbanization and a belief in the positive possibilities of technological and political progress .
The brutal wars and other problems of this era, many of which come from the effects of rapid change, and the connected loss of strength of traditional religious and ethical norms, have led to many reactions against modern development. Optimism and belief in constant progress has been most recently criticized by postmodernism while the dominance of Western Europe and North America over other continents has been criticized by postcolonial theory .
Modern as post-medieval
One common use of the term is to describe the condition of Western history since the mid-1400s, or roughly the European development of moveable type and the printing press . In this context the "modern" society is said to develop over many periods, and to be influenced by important events which represent breaks in the continuity.
The "Early modern period"
Main article: Early modern period
The modern era includes the early period, sometimes called the early modern period , which lasted from c. AD 1500 to around c. AD 1800 (most often 1815). Particular facets of early modernity include:

The Renaissance
The Reformation and Counter Reformation .
The Age of Discovery
Rise of capitalism

Important events in the development of early modernity period include:

The Arrival of the Printing Press
The English Civil War

The "Late modern period"



Modern Age characteristics
The concept of the modern world as distinct from an ancient or medieval world rests on a sense that the modern world is not just another era in history , but rather the result of a new type of change. This is usually conceived of as progress driven by deliberate human efforts to better their situation.
Advances in all areas of human activity— politics , industry , society , economics , commerce , transport , communication , mechanization , automation , science , medicine , technology , and culture —appear to have transformed an Old World into the Modern or New World . In each case, the identification of the old Revolutionary change can be used to demarcate the old and old-fashioned from the modern.
Portions of the Modern world altered its relationship with the Biblical value system , revalued the monarchical government system, and abolished the feudal economic system, with new democratic and liberal ideas in the areas of politics , science , psychology , sociology , and economics .



This combination of epoch events totally changed thinking and thought in the late modern period, and so their dates serve as well as any to separate the old from the new modes. Particular ways to categorize late modernity include:

The Age of Reason
The Enlightenment
the Romantic era
the Victorian era

As an Age of Revolutions dawned, beginning with those revolts in America and France , political changes were then pushed forward in other countries partly as a result of upheavals of the Napoleonic Wars and their impact on thought and thinking, from concepts from nationalism to organizing armies. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] The early period ended in a time of political and economic change as a result of the Industrial Revolution , the American Revolution , the first French Revolution ; other factors included the redrawing of the map of Europe by the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna [ 11 ] and the peace established by Second Treaty of Paris which ended the Napoleonic Wars. [ 12 ] The Modernism worldview's emergence and the industrialization of many nations was initiated with the industrialization of Britain. Particular facets of the late modernity period include:

Increasing role of science and technology
Mass literacy and proliferation of mass media
Spread of social movements
Institution of representative democracy
Individualism
Industrialization
Urbanization

Other important events in the development of the late modern period include:

The Revolutions of 1848
The Russian Revolution
The First World War and the Second World War

Our most recent era — Modern Times — begins with the end of these revolutions in the 19th century, and includes the World Wars era (encompassing World War I and World War II ) and the emergence of socialist countries that lead to the Cold War . The contemporary era follows shortly afterward with the explosion of research and increase of knowledge known as the Information Age in the latter 20th century and 21st century . Today's Postmodern era is seen in widespread Digitality .
Modern events
Some events, though born out of context not entirely new, show a new way of perceiving the world. The concept of modernity interprets the general meaning of these events and seeks explanations for major developments. Historians analyze the events taking place in Modern Times, since the Middle Ages between the present and ancient times .
Early modern period
Main article: Early modern period





Waldseemüller map with joint sheets, 1507




The early modern period is a term used by historians to refer to the period from approximately 1500 AD to 1800 AD. follows the Late Middle Ages period, and is marked by the first European colonies, the rise of strong centralized governments, and the beginnings of recognizable nation states that are the direct antecedents of today's states.
In Africa and the Ottoman Empire, the Muslim expansion took place in North and East Africa. In West Africa, various native nations existed. The Indian Empires and civilizations of Southeast Asia were a vital link in the spice trade. On the Indian subcontinent, the Great Mughal Empire existed. The archipelagic empires, the Sultanate of Malacca and later the Sultanate of Johor, controlled the southern areas.
Concerning the Asian dynasties and politics, various Chinese dynasties and Japanese shogunates controlled the Asian sphere. In Japan, the Edo period from 1600 to 1868 is also sometimes referred to as the early modern period. And in Korea, from the rising of Joseon Dynasty to the enthronement of King Gojong is referred to as the early modern period. In the Americas, Native Americans had built a large and varied civilization, including the Aztec Empire and alliance, the Inca civilization, the Mayan Empire and cities, and the Chibcha Confederation. In the west, the European kingdoms and movements were in a movement of reformation and expansion.
Later religious trends of the period saw the end of the expansion of Muslims and the Muslim world. Christians and Christendom saw the end of the Crusades and end of religious unity under the Roman Catholic Church. It was during this time that the Inquisitions and Protestant reformations took place.





World Colonization of 1492 (Early Modern World), 1550, 1660 (Age of Enlightenment), 1754 (Age of Revolution), 1822 (Industrial revolution), 1885 (European Hegemony), 1914 (World War I era), 1938 (World War II era), 1959 (Cold War era), 1974 (Recent history), and 2008 (Contemporary era).



During the early modern period, an age of discovery and trade was undertaken by the European nations. European powers went on a colonial expansion and took possession throughout the world. There was a conquest of the Americas and exploitation of its resources. Various European powers set up colonies in North America and Latin America.
Toward the end of the early period, Europe was dominated by the evolving system of mercantile capitalism in its trade and the New Economy. European states and politics had the characteristic of Absolutism. The French power and English revolutions dominated the political scene. There eventually evolved an international balance of power that held sway a great conflagration till years later.
The end date of the early modern period is usually associated with the Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in about 1750. Another significant date is 1789, the beginning of the French Revolution, which drastically transformed the state of European politics and ushered in the Prince Edward Era and modern Europe.
Western transformations


Human history and prehistory
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Earliest records (2500 - 500 BCE)
Antiquity (500 BCE - 500 CE)
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see also: Modernity , Futurology


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Reason and Enlightenment
Traditionally, the European intellectual transformation of and after the Renaissance bridged the Middle Ages and the Modern era. The Age of Reason in the Western world is generally regarded as being the start of modern philosophy , and a departure from the medieval approach, especially Scholasticism. Early 17th century philosophy is often called the Age of Rationalism and is considered to succeed Renaissance philosophy and precede the Age of Enlightenment, but some consider it as the earliest part of the Enlightenment era in philosophy, extending that era to two centuries. The 18th century saw the beginning of secularization in Europe, rising to notability in the wake of the French Revolution .
The Age of Enlightenment is a term used to describe a time in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century, in which reason was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for authority. Developing more or less simultaneously in many parts of Europe and America. Developing during the Enlightenment era, Renaissance humanism was an intellectual movement spread across Europe. The basic training of the humanist was to speak well and write (typically, in the form of a letter). The term umanista comes from the latter part of the 15th century. The people were associated with the studia humanitatis , a novel curriculum that was competing with the quadrivium and scholastic logic . [ 13 ]
Renaissance humanism took a close study of the Latin and Greek classical texts, and was antagonistic to the values of scholasticism with its emphasis on the accumulated commentaries; and humanists were involved in the sciences, philosophies, arts and poetry of classical antiquity. They self-consciously imitated classical Latin and deprecated the use of medieval Latin . By analogy with the perceived decline of Latin, they applied the principle of ad fontes , or back to the sources, across broad areas of learning.
The quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns was a literary and artistic quarrel that heated up in the early 1690s and shook the Académie française . It opposed two sides, the Ancients ( Anciens ) who constrain choice of subjects to those drawn from the literature of Antiquity and the Moderns ( Modernes ), who supported the merits of the authors of the century of Louis XIV . Fontenelle quickly followed with his Digression sur les anciens et les modernes (1688), in which he took the Modern side, pressing the argument that modern scholarship allowed modern man to surpass the ancients in knowledge.
Scientific Revolution
Main article: Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution was a period when European ideas in classical physics , astronomy , biology , human anatomy , chemistry , and other classical sciences were rejected and led to doctrines supplanting those that had prevailed from Ancient Greece to the Middle Ages which would lead to a transition to modern science . This period saw a fundamental transformation in scientific ideas across physics , astronomy , and biology , in institutions supporting scientific investigation , and in the more widely held picture of the universe . Individuals started to question all manners of things and it was this questioning that led to the Scientific Revolution, which in turn formed the foundations of contemporary sciences and the establishment of several modern scientific fields.
See also: History of electromagnetism  and Science in the Age of Enlightenment
American wars and revolution
The French and Indian Wars were a series of conflicts in North America that represented the actions there that accompanied the European dynastic wars. In Quebec, the wars are generally referred to as the Intercolonial Wars. While some conflicts involved Spanish and Dutch forces, all pitted Great Britain, its colonies and American Indian allies on one side and France, its colonies and Indian allies on the other.
The expanding French and British colonies were contending for control of the western, or interior, territories. Whenever the European countries went to war, there were actions within and by these colonies although the dates of the conflict did not necessarily exactly coincide with those of the larger conflicts.




John Trumbull 's Declaration of Independence , showing the five-man committee in charge of drafting the Declaration in 1776 as it presents its work to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia


Beginning in the Age of Revolution, the American Revolution and the ensuing political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century saw the Thirteen Colonies of North America overthrow the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and then reject the British monarchy itself to become the sovereign United States of America. In this period the colonies first rejected the authority of the Parliament to govern them without representation, and formed self-governing independent states. The Second Continental Congress then joined together against the British to defend that self-governance in the armed conflict from 1775 to 1783 known as the American Revolutionary War (also called American War of Independence).
The American Revolution begun with fighting at Lexington and Concord. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their independence from Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union. In June, 1776, Benjamin Franklin was appointed a member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence . Although he was temporarily disabled by gout and unable to attend most meetings of the Committee, Franklin made several small changes to the draft sent to him by Thomas Jefferson .
The rebellious states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War , the first successful colonial war of independence. While the states had already rejected the governance of Parliament, through the Declaration the new United States now rejected the legitimacy of the monarchy to demand allegiance. The war raged for seven years, with effective American victory, followed by formal British abandonment of any claims to the United States with the Treaty of Paris.
The Philadelphia Convention set up the current United States ; the United States Constitution ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights , comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791.
The French Revolutions
Main article: French Revolution
Toward the middle and latter stages of the Age of Revolution, the French political and social revolutions and radical change saw the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy transform, change to forms based on Enlightenment principles of citizenship and inalienable rights. The first revolution was the National Assembly , the second was the Legislative Assembly , and the third was the Directory .
The changes were accompanied by violent turmoil which included the trial and execution of the king, vast bloodshed and repression during the Reign of Terror, and warfare involving every other major European power. Subsequent events that can be traced to the Revolution include the Napoleonic Wars, two separate restorations of the monarchy, and two additional revolutions as modern France took shape. In the following century, France would be governed at one point or another as a republic, constitutional monarchy, and two different empires.
National and Legislative Assembly
Main articles: National Assembly (French Revolution) and Legislative Assembly (France)
During the French Revolution, the National Assembly , which existed from June 17 to July 9 of 1789, was a transitional body between the Estates-General and the National Constituent Assembly.
The Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from October 1, 1791 to September 1792. It provided the focus of political debate and revolutionary law-making between the periods of the National Constituent Assembly and of the National Convention.
The Directory and Napoleonic Era
Main articles: French Directory and Napoleonic Era
The Executive Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate. The period of this regime (2 November 1795 until 10 November 1799), commonly known as the Directory (or Directoire) era, constitutes the second to last stage of the French Revolution.
The Napoleonic Era is a period in the History of France and Europe. It is generally classified as the fourth stage of the French Revolution. The Napoleonic Era begins roughly with Napoleon 's coup d'état , overthrowing the Directory and ends at the Hundred Days and his defeat at Waterloo (November 9, 1799 – June 28, 1815). The congress of Vienna soon set out to restore Europe to pre-French revolution days.
Italian unification
Italian unification was the political and social movement that annexed different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century. There is a lack of consensus on the exact dates for the beginning and the end of this period, but many scholars agree that the process began with the end of Napoleonic rule and the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and approximately ended with the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, though the last città irredente did not join the Kingdom of Italy until after World War I .
Industrial revolutions
Main articles: Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution




A Watt steam engine in Madrid . The development of the steam engine started the industrial revolution in England. The steam engine was created to pump water from coal mines, enabling them to be deepened beyond groundwater levels.


The date of the Industrial Revolution is not exact. Eric Hobsbawm held that it 'broke out' in the 1780s and wasn't fully felt until the 1830s or 1840s, [ 14 ] while T.S. Ashton held that it occurred roughly between 1760 and 1830 (in effect the reigns of George III , The Regency , and George IV ). [ 15 ] The great changes of centuries before the 19th were more connected with ideas, religion or military conquest, and technological advance had only made small changes in the material wealth of ordinary people.
The first Industrial Revolution merged into the Second Industrial Revolution around 1850, when technological and economic progress gained momentum with the development of steam-powered ships and railways, and later in the nineteenth century with the internal combustion engine and electric power generation. The Second Industrial Revolution was a phase of the Industrial Revolution; sometimes labeled as the separate Technical Revolution. From a technological and a social point of view there is no clean break between the two. Major innovations during the period occurred in the chemical, electrical, petroleum, and steel industries. Specific advancements included the introduction of oil fired steam turbine and internal combustion driven steel ships, the development of the airplane, the practical commercialization of the automobile, mass production of consumer goods, the perfection of canning, mechanical refrigeration and other food preservation techniques, and the invention of the telephone.
Industrialization
Industrialization is the process of social and economic change whereby a human group is transformed from a pre-industrial society into an industrial one. It is a subdivision of a more general modernization process , where social change and economic development are closely related with technological innovation , particularly with the development of large-scale energy and metallurgy production. It is the extensive organization of an economy for the purpose of manufacturing. Industrialization also introduces a form of philosophical change, where people obtain a different attitude towards their perception of nature .
Revolution in manufacture and power
An economy based on manual labour was replaced by one dominated by industry and the manufacture of machinery . It began with the mechanization of the textile industries and the development of iron -making techniques, and trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals , improved roads , and then railways .
The introduction of steam power (fuelled primarily by coal ) and powered machinery (mainly in textile manufacturing ) underpinned the dramatic increases in production capacity. [ 16 ] The development of all-metal machine tools in the first two decades of the 19th century facilitated the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries.
The modern petroleum industry started in 1846 with the discovery of the process of refining kerosene from coal by Nova Scotian Abraham Pineo Gesner . Ignacy Łukasiewicz improved Gesner's method to develop a means of refining kerosene from the more readily available "rock oil" ("petr-oleum") seeps in 1852 and the first rock oil mine was built in Bóbrka , near Krosno in Galicia in the following year. In 1854, Benjamin Silliman , a science professor at Yale University in New Haven , was the first to fractionate petroleum by distillation. These discoveries rapidly spread around the world.
Notable Engineers
Engineering achievements of the revolution ranged from electrification to developments in materials science. The advancements made a great contribution to the quality of life. In the first revolution, Lewis Paul was the original inventor of roller spinning, the basis of the water frame for spinning cotton in a cotton mill. Matthew Boulton and James Watt 's improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both the Kingdom of Great Britain and the world.




Nikola Tesla, with Ruđer Bošković 's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis , sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.


In the latter part of the second revolution, Thomas Alva Edison developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world and is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. In 1882, Edison switched on the world's first large-scale electrical supply network that provided 110 volts direct current to fifty-nine customers in lower Manhattan. Also toward the end of the second industrial revolution, Nikola Tesla made many contributions in the field of electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Much of Tesla's early work in electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of importance. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current electric power systems, including the polyphase systems power distribution and the alternating current motor , with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution. In 1887, Tesla filed a number of patents related to a competing form of power distribution known as alternating current. In the following years a bitter rivalry between Tesla and Edison, known as the " War of Currents ", took place over the preferred method of distribution. After Tesla's demonstration of wireless communication ( radio ) in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America.
Social effects and classes
The Industrial Revolutions were major technological , socioeconomic , and cultural changes in late 18th and early 19th century that began in Britain and spread throughout the world. The effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century, eventually affecting the majority of the world. The impact of this change on society was enormous and is often compared to the Neolithic revolution , when mankind developed agriculture and gave up its nomadic lifestyle . [ 17 ] It has been argued that GDP per capita was much more stable and progressed at a much slower rate until the industrial revolution and the emergence of the modern capitalist economy, and that it has since increased rapidly in capitalist countries. [ 18 ]
Mid-19th century European Revolts
The European Revolutions of 1848 , known in some countries as the Spring of Nations or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout the European continent. Described by some historians as a revolutionary wave, the period of unrest began in France and then, further propelled by the French Revolution of 1848, soon spread to the rest of Europe. Although most of the revolutions were quickly put down, there was a significant amount of violence in many areas, with tens of thousands of people tortured and killed. While the immediate political effects of the revolutions were reversed, the long-term reverberations of the events were far-reaching.
Industrial age reformism
Industrial age reform movements began the gradual change of society rather with episodes of rapid fundamental changes. The reformists' ideas were often grounded in liberalism, although they also possessed aspects of utopian, socialist or religious concepts. The Radical movement campaigned for electoral reform, a reform of the Poor Laws, free trade, educational reform, postal reform, prison reform, and public sanitation.
Following the Enlightenment's ideas, the reformers looked to the Scientific Revolution and industrial progress to solve the social problems which arose with the Industrial Revolution. Newton's natural philosophy combined a mathematics of axiomatic proof with the mechanics of physical observation, yielding a coherent system of verifiable predictions and replacing a previous reliance on revelation and inspired truth. Applied to public life, this approach yielded several successful campaigns for changes in social policy.
European Hegemony and the 19th century
Main article: 19th century
Historians sometimes define the nineteenth century historical era stretching from 1815 (the Congress of Vienna ) to 1914 (the outbreak of the First World War ); alternatively, Eric Hobsbawm defined the "Long Nineteenth Century" as spanning the years 1789 to 1914. During this time, the fall of the Spanish Armada enabled the rise of the British Empire .
Imperialism and empires
Main article: Imperialism
During the 19th century, the Spanish , Portuguese , and Ottoman empires began to crumble and the Holy Roman and Mughal empires ceased. Following the Napoleonic Wars , the British Empire became the world's leading power, controlling one quarter of the World's population and one third of the land area. It enforced a Pax Britannica , encouraged trade, and battled rampant piracy.
Electricity, steel, and petroleum enabled Germany to become great international power that raced to create empires of its own . The Meiji Restoration was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure that was taking a firm hold at the beginning of the Meiji Era which coincided the opening of Japan by the arrival of the Black Ships of Commodore Matthew Perry and made Imperial Japan a great power . However, Russia and Qing Dynasty China failed to keep pace with the other world powers which led to massive social unrest in both empires. The Qing Dynasty's military power weakened during the 1800s, and faced with international pressure, massive rebellions and defeats in wars , the dynasty declined after the mid-19th century.
See also: Chronology of colonialism
British Victorian era
Main articles: British Empire and Victorian era




National flag of the United Kingdom.


The Victorian era of the United Kingdom was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June 1837 to January 1901. This was a long period of prosperity for the British people, as profits gained from the overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements at home, allowed a large, educated middle class to develop. Some scholars would extend the beginning of the period—as defined by a variety of sensibilities and political games that have come to be associated with the Victorians—back five years to the passage of the Reform Act 1832.




The British Empire in 1897, marked in the traditional colour for imperial British dominions on maps


Between 1815 and 1914, a period referred to as Britain's "imperial century" by some historians, around 10,000,000 square miles (25,899,881 km 2 ) of territory and roughly 400 million people were added to the British Empire. Victory over Napoleon left Britain without any serious international rival, other than Russia in central Asia. Unchallenged at sea, Britain adopted the role of global policeman, a state of affairs later known as the Pax Britannica , and a foreign policy of " splendid isolation ".
Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, Britain's dominant position in world trade meant that it effectively controlled the economies of many nominally independent countries, such as China , Argentina and Siam , which has been characterised by some historians as " informal empire ". Of note during this time was the Anglo-Zulu War , which was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Empire .
British imperial strength was underpinned by the steamship and the telegraph , new technologies invented in the second half of the 19th century, allowing it to control and defend the Empire. By 1902, the British Empire was linked together by a network of telegraph cables, the so-called All Red Line .
French governments and conflicts
The Bourbon Restoration followed the ousting of Napoleon I of France in 1814. The Allies restored the Bourbon Dynasty to the French throne. The ensuing period is called the Restoration, following French usage, and is characterized by a sharp conservative reaction and the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic Church as a power in French politics. The July Monarchy was a period of liberal constitutional monarchy in France under King Louis-Philippe starting with the July Revolution (or Three Glorious Days) of 1830 and ending with the Revolution of 1848. The Second Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.




Napoleon III and Bismarck after the Battle of Sedan


The Franco-Prussian War was a conflict between France and Prussia, while Prussia was backed up by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria. The complete Prussian and German victory brought about the final unification of Germany under King Wilhelm I of Prussia. It also marked the downfall of Napoleon III and the end of the Second French Empire, which was replaced by the Third Republic. As part of the settlement, almost all of the territory of Alsace-Lorraine was taken by Prussia to become a part of Germany, which it would retain until the end of World War I.
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France between the end of the Second French Empire following the defeat of Louis-Napoléon in the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 and the Vichy Regime after the invasion of France by the German Third Reich in 1940. The Third Republic endured seventy years, making it the most long-lasting regime in France since the collapse of the Ancien Régime in the French Revolution of 1789.
Slavery and abolition
Slavery was greatly reduced around the world in the 19th century. Following a successful slave revolt in Haiti , Britain forced the Barbary pirates to halt their practice of kidnapping and enslaving Europeans, banned slavery throughout its domain , and charged its navy with ending the global slave trade . Slavery was then abolished in Russia , America , and Brazil (see Abolitionism ).
African colonization
Following the abolition of the slave trade, and propelled by economic exploitation, the Scramble for Africa was initiated formally at the Berlin West Africa Conference in 1884–1885. All the major European powers laid claim to the areas of Africa where they could exhibit a sphere of influence over the area. These claims did not have to have any substantial land holdings or treaties to be legitimate. The French gained major ground in West Africa , the British in East Africa , and the Portuguese and Spanish at various points throughout the continent, while King Leopold was able to retain his personal fiefdom, Congo .
Meiji Japan
Around the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, the Meiji era was a marked by the reign of the Meiji Emperor . During this time, Japan started its modernization and rose to world power status. This era name means "Enlightened Rule". It wasn’t until the beginning of the Meiji Era that the Japanese government began taking modernization seriously. Japan expanded its military production base by opening arsenals in various locations. The hyobusho (war office) was replaced with a War Department and a Naval Department. The samurai class suffered great disappointment the following years.
Laws were instituted that required every able bodied male Japanese citizen, regardless of class, to serve a mandatory term of three years with the first reserves and two additional years with the second reserves. This action, the deathblow for the samurai warriors and their daimyo feudal lords, initially met resistance from both the peasant and warrior alike. The peasant class interpreted the term for military service, ketsu-eki (blood tax) literally, and attempted to avoid service by any means necessary. The Japanese government began modelling their ground forces after the French military. The French government contributed greatly to the training of Japanese officers. Many were employed at the military academy in Kyoto, and many more still were feverishly translating French field manuals for use in the Japanese ranks.
After the death of the Meiji Emperor, the Taishō Emperor took the throne, thus beginning the Taishō period . A key foreign observer of the remarkable and rapid changes in Japanese society in this period was Ernest Mason Satow .
United States egress
Main article: History of the United States (1865–1918)
Antebellum Expansion
The Antebellum Age was the a period of increasing sectionalism that led up to the American Civil War. The Antebellum Age was a time of great transition because of the industrial revolution in America. It also was a time of growth in slavery in the American South. In a sense, the Antebellum Period is often considered to have begun with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, though it is sometimes stipulated to extend back as early as 1812.




American westward expansion is idealized in Emanuel Leutze 's famous painting Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way (1861).


" Manifest Destiny " was the territorial expansion of the United States from 1812 to 1860. Manifest Destiny incorporated the belief that the United States was destined, even divinely ordained, to expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. This era, from the end of the War of 1812 to the beginning of the American Civil War, has been called the "Age of Manifest Destiny." During this time, the United States expanded to the Pacific Ocean—"from sea to shining sea"—largely defining the borders of the contiguous United States as they are today.
See also: American Old West  and Territorial changes of the United States
US Civil War and Reconstruction
Main articles: American Civil War and Reconstruction era of the United States
The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the U.S. and formed the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy) . Led by Jefferson Davis , they fought against the U.S. federal government (the Union ), which was supported by all the free states and the five border slave states in the north.
Northern leaders agreed that victory would require more than the end of fighting. It had to encompass the two strategies : secession had to be totally repudiated and all forms of slavery had to be eliminated. They disagreed sharply on the military tactics and political tactics for these goals. They also disagreed on the degree of federal control, that should be imposed on the South and the process by which Southern states should be reintegrated into the Union. The Reconstruction Era in United States history existed in the post-Civil War era in the entire United States between 1865 and 1877.
The Gilded Age and legacy
Main article: Gilded Age
The Gilded Age saw a substantial growth in population in the United States and extravagant displays of wealth and excess of America's upper-class during the post-Civil War and post-Reconstruction era, in the late 19th century. The wealth polarization derived primarily from industrial and population expansion. The businessmen of the Second Industrial Revolution created industrial towns and cities in the Northeast with new factories, and contributed to the creation of an ethnically diverse industrial working class which produced the wealth owned by rising super-rich industrialists and financiers called the "robber barons" . An example is the company of John D. Rockefeller , who was an important figure in shaping the new oil industry. Using highly effective tactics and aggressive practices, later widely criticized, Standard Oil absorbed or destroyed most of its competition.
The creation of a modern industrial economy took place. With the creation of a transportation and communication infrastructure , the corporation became the dominant form of business organization and a managerial revolution transformed business operations . In 1890, Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act — the source of all American anti-monopoly laws. The law forbade every contract, scheme, deal, or conspiracy to restrain trade, though the phrase "restraint of trade" remained subjective. By the beginning of the twentieth century, per capita income and industrial production in the United States exceeded that of any other country except Britain. Long hours and hazardous working conditions led many workers to attempt to form labor unions despite strong opposition from industrialists and the courts. But the courts did protect the marketplace, declaring the Standard Oil group to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1911. It ordered Standard to break up into 34 independent companies with different boards of directors. [ 19 ]
Transitions and Enlightenment negation
Around the turn of the 20th century, Enlightenment philosophy was challenged in various quarters. After the use of classical physics since the end of the scientific revolution, modern physics arose with the advent of quantum physics; [ 20 ] substituting mathematics studies for experimental studies and examining equations to build a theoretical structure . [ 21 ] [ 22 ] The old quantum theory was a collection of results which predate modern quantum mechanics , but were never complete or self-consistent. [ 23 ] The collection of heuristic prescriptions for quantum mechanics were the first corrections to classical mechanics . [ 23 ] [ 24 ] In addition, the various number of aether theories in classical physics which supposed a " fifth element ", such as the Luminiferous aether , [ 25 ] was nullified by the Michelson-Morley experiment in an attempt to detect the motion of earth through the aether. In biology, Darwinism gained acceptance and exposed adaptation in the theory of natural selection . The fields of geology , astronomy and psychology also made strides and gained new insights. In medicine , there were advances of medical theory and treatments .
Another philosophical trend was Chinese philosophy began to integrate concepts of Western philosophy, as steps toward modernization. By the time of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, there were many calls, such as the May Fourth Movement , to completely abolish the old imperial institutions and practices of China. There have been attempts to incorporate democracy , republicanism , and industrialism into Chinese philosophy, notably by Sun Yat-Sen ( Sūn yì xiān , in one Mandarin form of the name) at the beginning of the 20th century. Mao Zedong ( Máo zé dōng ) added Marxism , Stalinism , and other communist thought. When the Communist Party of China took over power, previous schools of thought, excepting notably Legalism , were denounced as backward, and later even purged during the Cultural Revolution .
Developed from earlier secular traditions, modern Humanism ethical philosophies affirm the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal human qualities, particularly rationality , without resorting to the supernatural or alleged divine authority from religious texts. [ 26 ] [ 27 ] For liberal humanists such as Rousseau or Kant , the universal law of reason guided the way towards total emancipation from any kind of tyranny. These ideas were challenged. The young Karl Marx criticized the project of political emancipation (embodied in the form of human rights ), asserting it to be symptomatic of the very dehumanization it is supposed to oppose. For Friedrich Nietzsche , humanism was nothing more than a secular version of theism . In his Genealogy of Morals , he argues that human rights exist as a means for the weak to collectively constrain the strong. On this view, such rights do not facilitate emancipation of life, but rather deny it. In the twentieth-century, the notion that human beings are rationally autonomous was challenged by the concept that humans were driven by unconscious irrational desires.
Notable persons
Sigmund Freud is renowned for his redefinition of sexual desire as the primary motivational energy of human life, as well as his therapeutic techniques, including the use of free association , his theory of transference in the therapeutic relationship, and the interpretation of dreams as sources of insight into unconscious desires .
Albert Einstein is known for his theories of special relativity and general relativity . He also made important contributions to statistical mechanics , especially his mathematical treatment of Brownian motion , his resolution of the paradox of specific heats , and his connection of fluctuations and dissipation . Despite his reservations about its interpretation, Einstein also made contributions to quantum mechanics and, indirectly, quantum field theory , primarily through his theoretical studies of the photon .
Social Darwinism
At the end of the 19th century, Social Darwinism was promoted and included the various ideologies based on a concept that competition among all individuals, groups, nations, or ideas was the framework of social evolution in human societies. In this view, society's advancement was dependent on the " survival of the fittest ", the term was in fact coined by Herbert Spencer and referred to in " The Gospel of Wealth " theory written by Andrew Carnegie .
Marxism's society




The Communist Manifesto


Karl Marx summarized his approach to history and politics in the opening line of the first chapter of The Communist Manifesto (1848). He wrote:

The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles . [ 28 ] [ 29 ]

The Manifesto went through a number of editions from 1872 to 1890; notable new prefaces were written by Marx and Engels for the 1872 German edition, the 1882 Russian edition, the 1883 German edition, and the 1888 English edition. In general, Marxism identified five (and one transitional) successive stages of development in Western Europe. [ 30 ]

Primitive Communism : as seen in cooperative tribal societies.
Slave Society: which develops when the tribe becomes a city-state. Aristocracy is born.
Feudalism : aristocracy is the ruling class. Merchants develop into capitalists.
Capitalism : capitalists are the ruling class, who create and employ the true working class.
Dictatorship of the proletariat : workers gain class consciousness, overthrow the capitalists and take control over the state .
Communism : a classless and stateless society.

European decline and the 20th century
Main article: 20th century
Major political developments saw the former British Empire lose most of its remaining political power over commonwealth countries, most notably by ways of the dividing of the British crown into several sovereignties by the Statute of Westminster , the patriation of constitutions by the Canada Act 1982 and the Australia Act 1986 , and by the independence of countries like India , Pakistan , South Africa , and Ireland . Other events include the Israeli–Palestinian conflict , two world wars, and the Cold War .
World Wars era
Turn of the 20th century
Begun at the Battle of Port Arthur , the Russo-Japanese War establishes the Empire of Japan as a world power. The Russians were in constant pursuit of a warm water port on the Pacific Ocean , for their navy as well as for maritime trade. The Manchurian Campaign of the Russian Empire was fought against the Japanese over Manchuria and Korea . The major theatres of operations were Southern Manchuria, specifically the area around the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden , and the seas around Korea, Japan, and the Yellow Sea . The resulting campaigns, in which the fledgling Japanese military consistently attained victory over the Russian forces arrayed against them, were unexpected by world observers. These victories, as time transpired, would dramatically transform the distribution of power in East Asia, resulting in a reassessment of Japan's recent entry onto the world stage. The embarrassing string of defeats increased Russian popular dissatisfaction with the inefficient and corrupt Tsarist government.
The Russian Revolution of 1905 was a wave of mass political unrest through vast areas of the Russian Empire . Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included terrorism , worker strikes, peasant unrests, and military mutinies. It led to the establishment of the limited constitutional monarchy, the establishment of State Duma of the Russian Empire , the multi-party system and Russian Constitution of 1906 .
In China, the Qing Dynasty was overthrown following the Xinhai Revolution . The Xinhai Revolution began with the Wuchang Uprising on October 10, 1911 and ended with the abdication of Emperor Puyi on February 12, 1912. The primary parties to the conflict were the Imperial forces of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), and the revolutionary forces of the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance (Tongmenghui).
Edwardian Britain
The Edwardian era in the United Kingdom is the period spanning the reign of King Edward VII up to the end of the First World War, including the years surrounding the sinking of the RMS Titanic . In the early years of the period, the Second Boer War in South Africa split the country into anti- and pro-war factions. The imperial policies of the Conservatives eventually proved unpopular and in the general election of 1906 the Liberals won a huge landslide. The Liberal government was unable to proceed with all of its radical programme without the support of the House of Lords , which was largely Conservative. Conflict between the two Houses of Parliament over the People's Budget led to a reduction in the power of the peers in 1910. The general election in January that year returned a hung parliament with the balance of power held by Labour and Irish Nationalist members.
World War I
Main article: World War I
The causes of World War I included many factors, including the conflicts and antagonisms of the four decades leading up to the war. The Triple Entente was the name given to the loose alignment between the United Kingdom , France , and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907. The alignment of the three powers, supplemented by various agreements with Japan , the United States , and Spain , constituted a powerful counterweight to the Triple Alliance of Germany , Austria-Hungary , and Italy , the third having concluded an additional secret agreement with France effectively nullifying her Alliance commitments. Militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism played major roles in the conflict. The immediate origins of the war lay in the decisions taken by statesmen and generals during the July crisis of 1914, the spark (or casus belli) for which was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
However, the crisis did not exist in a void; it came after a long series of diplomatic clashes between the Great Powers over European and colonial issues in the decade prior to 1914 which had left tensions high. The diplomatic clashes can be traced to changes in the balance of power in Europe since 1870. An example is the Baghdad Railway which was planned to connect the Ottoman Empire cities of Konya and Bagdad with a line through modern-day Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The railway became a source of international disputes during the years immediately preceding World War I. Although it has been argued that they were resolved in 1914 before the war began, it has also been argued that the railroad was a cause of the First World War. [ 31 ] Fundamentally the war was sparked by tensions over territory in the Balkans . Austria-Hungary competed with Serbia and Russia for territory and influence in the region and they pulled the rest of the great powers into the conflict through their various alliances and treaties. The Balkan Wars were two wars in South-eastern Europe in 1912–1913 in the course of which the Balkan League (Bulgaria, Montenegro, Greece, and Serbia) first captured Ottoman-held remaining part of Thessaly, Macedonia, Epirus, Albania and most of Thrace and then fell out over the division of the spoils, with incorporation of Romania this time.





Various periods of World War I; 1914.07.28 (Tsar Nicholas II of Russia orders a partial mobilization against Austria-Hungary), 1914.08.01 (Germany declares war on Russia), 1914.08.03 (Germany declares war on Russia's ally France), 1914.08.04 (Britain declares war on Germany), 1914.12 (British and German Christmas truce ), 1915.12 (French and German Christmas truce), 1916.12 ( Battle of Magdhaba ), 1917.12 (British troops take Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire), and 1918.11.11 (World War I ends: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies).

Allies and Central Powers in the First World War
          Allied powers and areas
          Central powers and colonies or occupied territory
     Neutral countries



The First World War began in 1914 and lasted to the final Armistice in 1918. The Allied Powers , led by the British Empire , France , Russia until March 1918, Japan and the United States after 1917, defeated the Central Powers , led by the German Empire , Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire . The war caused the disintegration of four empires — the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman, and Russian ones — as well as radical change in the European and Middle Eastern maps. The Allied powers before 1917 are sometimes referred to as the Triple Entente , and the Central Powers are sometimes referred to as the Triple Alliance .
Much of the fighting in World War I took place along the Western Front , within a system of opposing manned trenches and fortifications (separated by a “ No man's land ”) running from the North Sea to the border of Switzerland . On the Eastern Front , the vast eastern plains and limited rail network prevented a trench warfare stalemate from developing, although the scale of the conflict was just as large. Hostilities also occurred on and under the sea and — for the first time — from the air. More than 9 million soldiers died on the various battlefields, and nearly that many more in the participating countries' home fronts on account of food shortages and genocide committed under the cover of various civil wars and internal conflicts. Notably, more people died of the worldwide influenza outbreak at the end of the war and shortly after than died in the hostilities. The unsanitary conditions engendered by the war, severe overcrowding in barracks, wartime propaganda interfering with public health warnings, and migration of so many soldiers around the world helped the outbreak become a pandemic . [ 32 ]
Ultimately, World War I created a decisive break with the old world order that had emerged after the Napoleonic Wars , which was modified by the mid-19th century’s nationalistic revolutions. The results of World War I would be important factors in the development of World War II approximately 20 years later. More immediate to the time, the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire was a political event that redrew the political boundaries of the Middle East. The huge conglomeration of territories and peoples formerly ruled by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire was divided into several new nations. [ 33 ] The partitioning brought the creation of the modern Arab world and the Republic of Turkey . The League of Nations granted France mandates over Syria and Lebanon and granted the United Kingdom mandates over Mesopotamia and Palestine (which was later divided into two regions: Palestine and Transjordan ). Parts of the Ottoman Empire on the Arabian Peninsula became parts of what are today Saudi Arabia and Yemen .
Russian Revolutions and Civil War
Main articles: Russian Revolution (1917) and Russian Civil War




National flag of the Soviet Union.


The Russian Revolution is the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union . Following the abdication of Nicholas II of Russia , the Russian Provisional Government was established. In October 1917, a red faction revolution occurred in which the Red Guard , armed groups of workers and deserting soldiers directed by the Bolshevik Party, seized control of Saint Petersburg (then known as Petrograd ) and began an immediate armed takeover of cities and villages throughout the former Russian Empire .
Another action in 1917 that is of note was the armistice signed between Russia and the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk . [ 34 ] As a condition for peace, the treaty by the Central Powers conceded huge portions of the former Russian Empire to Imperial Germany and the Ottoman Empire, greatly upsetting nationalists and conservatives . The Bolsheviks made peace with the German Empire and the Central Powers , as they had promised the Russian people prior to the Revolution. Vladimir Lenin's decision has been attributed to his sponsorship by the foreign office of Wilhelm II, German Emperor , offered by the latter in hopes that with a revolution, Russia would withdraw from World War I . This suspicion was bolstered by the German Foreign Ministry's sponsorship of Lenin's return to Petrograd . [ 35 ] The Western Allies , expressed their dismay at the Bolsheviks, upset at:

the withdrawal of Russia from the war effort,
worried about a possible Russo-German alliance, and
galvanized by the prospect of the Bolsheviks making good their threats to assume no responsibility for, and so default on, Imperial Russia's massive foreign loans . [ 36 ]

In addition, there was a concern, shared by many Central Powers as well, that the socialist revolutionary ideas would spread to the West. Hence, many of these countries expressed their support for the Whites, including the provision of troops and supplies. Winston Churchill declared that Bolshevism must be "strangled in its cradle". [ 37 ]
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed and the Soviets under the domination of the Bolshevik party assumed power, first in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and then in other places. In the wake of the October Revolution , the old Russian Imperial Army had been demobilized; the volunteer-based Red Guard was the Bolsheviks' main military force, augmented by an armed military component of the Cheka , the Bolshevik state security apparatus. There was an instituted mandatory conscription of the rural peasantry into the Red Army. [ 38 ] Opposition of rural Russians to Red Army conscription units was overcome by taking hostages and shooting them when necessary in order to force compliance. [ 39 ] Former Tsarist officers were utilized as "military specialists" ( voenspetsy ), [ 40 ] sometimes taking their families hostage in order to ensure loyalty. [ 41 ] At the start of the war, three-fourths of the Red Army officer corps was composed of former Tsarist officers. [ 41 ] By its end, 83% of all Red Army divisional and corps commanders were ex-Tsarist soldiers. [ 42 ]
The principal fighting occurred between the Bolshevik Red Army and the forces of the White Army . Many foreign armies warred against the Red Army, notably the Allied Forces , yet many volunteer foreigners fought in both sides of the Russian Civil War. Other nationalist and regional political groups also participated in the war, including the Ukrainian nationalist Green Army , the Ukrainian anarchist Black Army and Black Guards , and warlords such as Ungern von Sternberg . The most intense fighting took place from 1918 to 1920. Major military operations ended on 25 October 1922 when the Red Army occupied Vladivostok , previously held by the Provisional Priamur Government . The last enclave of the White Forces was the Ayano-Maysky District on the Pacific coast. The majority of the fighting ended in 1920 with the defeat of General Pyotr Wrangel in the Crimea , but a notable resistance in certain areas continued until 1923 (e.g., Kronstadt Uprising , Tambov Rebellion , Basmachi Revolt , and the final resistance of the White movement in the Far East ).
The Twenties and the Depression
Main articles: Interwar period , Roaring Twenties , and Great Depression
The interwar period was the period between the end of the First World War and the beginning of the Second World War. This period was marked by turmoil in much of the world, as Europe struggled to recover from the devastation of the First World War.
In North America, especially the first half of this period, people experienced considerable prosperity in the Roaring Twenties . The social and societal upheaval known as the Roaring Twenties began in North America and spread to Europe in the aftermath of World War I . The Roaring Twenties , often called " The Jazz Age ", saw a exposition of social, artistic, and cultural dynamism. ' Normalcy ' returned to politics, jazz music blossomed, the flapper redefined modern womanhood, Art Deco peaked. The spirit of the Roaring Twenties was marked by a general feeling of discontinuity associated with modernity, a break with traditions. Everything seemed to be feasible through modern technology. New technologies, especially automobiles , movies and radio proliferated 'modernity' to a large part of the population. The Twenties saw the general favor of practicality, in architecture as well as in daily life. The Twenties was further distinguished by several inventions and discoveries, extensive industrial growth and the rise in consumer demand and aspirations, and significant changes in lifestyle .




Europe between 1920 and 1938.


Europe spent these years rebuilding and coming to terms with the vast human cost of the conflict. The economy of the United States became increasingly intertwined with that of Europe. In Germany, the Weimar Republic gave way to saw an episodes of political and economic turmoil, which culminated with the German hyperinflation of 1923 and the failed Beer Hall Putsch of that same year. When Germany could no longer afford war payments, Wall Street invested heavily in European debts to keep the European economy afloat as a large consumer market for American mass produced goods. By the middle of the decade, economic development soared in Europe, and the Roaring Twenties broke out in Germany, Britain and France, the second half of the decade becoming known as the " Golden Twenties ". In France and francophone Canada, they were also called the " années folles " ("Crazy Years"). [ 43 ]
Worldwide prosperity changed dramatically with the onset of the Great Depression in 1929. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 served to punctuate the end of the previous era, as The Great Depression set in. The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries. [ 44 ] It was the largest and most important economic depression in the 20th century, and is used in the 21st century as an example of how far the world's economy can fall. [ 45 ]
The depression had devastating effects in virtually every country, rich or poor. International trade plunged by half to two-thirds, as did personal income, tax revenue, prices and profits. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially those dependent on heavy industry . Construction was virtually halted in many countries. Farming and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by roughly 60 percent. [ 46 ] [ 47 ] [ 48 ] Facing plummeting demand with few alternate sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries suffered the most.
The Great Depression ended at different times in different countries with the effect lasting into the next era . [ 49 ] America's Great Depression ended in 1941 with America's entry into World War II. [ 50 ] The majority of countries set up relief programs, and most underwent some sort of political upheaval, pushing them to the left or right. In some world states, the desperate citizens turned toward nationalist demagogues — the most infamous being Adolf Hitler — setting the stage for the next era of war. The convulsion brought on by the worldwide depression resulted in the rise of Nazism . In Asia, Japan became an ever more assertive power, especially with regards to China.
The League and crises
The interwar period was also marked by a radical change in the international order, away from the balance of power that had dominated pre-World War I Europe. One main institution that was meant to bring stability was the League of Nations , which was created after the First World War with the intention of maintaining world security and peace and encouraging economic growth between member countries. The League was undermined by the bellicosity of Nazi Germany , Imperial Japan , the Soviet Union , and Mussolini's Italy, and by the non-participation of the United States , leading many to question its effectiveness and legitimacy.
A series of international crises strained the League to its limits, the earliest being the invasion of Manchuria by Japan and the Abyssinian crisis of 1935/36 in which Italy invaded Abyssinia , one of the only free African nations at that time. The League tried to enforce economic sanctions upon Italy, but to no avail. The incident highlighted French and British weakness, exemplified by their reluctance to alienate Italy and lose her as their ally. The limited actions taken by the Western powers pushed Mussolini's Italy towards alliance with Hitler's Germany anyway. The Abyssinian war showed Hitler how weak the League was and encouraged the remilitarization of the Rhineland in flagrant disregard of the Treaty of Versailles. This was the first in a series of provocative acts culminating in the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the beginning of the Second World War.
World War II
Main article: World War II
The Second World War was a global military conflict that took place in 1939–1945. It was the largest and deadliest war in history, culminating in the Holocaust and ending with the dropping of the atom bomb .




National flag of the Third Reich ( Nazi Germany ).


Even though Japan had been fighting in China since 1937, the conventional view is that the war began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland , the Drang nach Osten . Within two days the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany, even though the fighting was confined to Poland. Pursuant to a then-secret provision of its non-aggression Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact , the Soviet Union joined with Germany on September 17, 1939, to conquer Poland and to divide Eastern Europe.
The Allies were initially made up of Poland , the United Kingdom , France , Australia , Canada , New Zealand , South Africa , as well as British Commonwealth countries which were controlled directly by the UK, such as the Indian Empire . All of these countries declared war on Germany in September 1939.
Following the lull in fighting, known as the " Phoney War ", Germany invaded western Europe in May 1940. Six weeks later, France, in the mean time attacked by Italy as well, surrendered to Germany, which then tried unsuccessfully to conquer Britain. On September 27, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed a mutual defense agreement, the Tripartite Pact , and were known as the Axis Powers .
Nine months later, on June 22, 1941, Germany launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union, which promptly joined the Allies. Germany was now engaged in fighting a war on two fronts. This proved to be a mistake by Germany - Germany had not successfully carried out the invasion of Britain and the war turned against of the Axis.




Ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy


On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor , bringing it too into the war on the Allied side. China also joined the Allies, as eventually did most of the rest of the world. China was in turmoil at the time, and attacked Japanese armies through guerilla-type warfare. By the beginning of 1942, the major combatants were aligned as follows: the British Commonwealth, the United States, and the Soviet Union were fighting Germany and Italy; and the British Commonwealth, China, and the United States were fighting Japan. From then through August 1945, battles raged across all of Europe, in the North Atlantic Ocean , across North Africa , throughout Southeast Asia , throughout China, across the Pacific Ocean and in the air over Japan.
Italy surrendered in September 1943 and split in a northern Germany-occupied puppet state and in an Allies-friendly state in the South; Germany surrendered in May 1945. Following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , Japan surrendered , marking the end of the war on September 2, 1945.
It is possible that around 62 million people died in the war ; estimates vary greatly. About 60% of all casualties were civilians, who died as a result of disease, starvation, genocide (in particular, the Holocaust ), and aerial bombing. The former Soviet Union and China suffered the most casualties. Estimates place deaths in the Soviet Union at around 23 million, while China suffered about 10 million. No country lost a greater portion of its population than Poland: approximately 5.6 million, or 16%, of its pre-war population of 34.8 million died.
The Holocaust (which roughly means "burnt whole") was the deliberate and systematic murder of millions of Jews and other "unwanted" during World War II by the Nazi regime in Germany. Several differing views exist regarding whether it was intended to occur from the war's beginning, or if the plans for it came about later. Regardless, persecution of Jews extended well before the war even started, such as in the Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). The Nazis used propaganda to great effect to stir up anti-Semitic feelings within ordinary Germans.
After World War II, Europe was informally split into Western and Soviet spheres of influence . Western Europe later aligned as North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Eastern Europe as the Warsaw Pact . There was a shift in power from Western Europe and the British Empire to the two new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. These two rivals would later face off in the Cold War . In Asia, the defeat of Japan led to its democratization . China's civil war continued through and after the war, resulting eventually in the establishment of the People's Republic of China . The former colonies of the European powers began their road to independence.
Post-1945 World




The Earth seen from Apollo 17. The second half of the 20th century saw an increase of interest in both space exploration and the environmental movement .


The mid-20th century is distinguished from most of human history in that its most significant changes were directly or indirectly economic and technological in nature. Economic development was the force behind vast changes in everyday life, to a degree which was unprecedented in human history.
Over the course of the 20th century, the world’s per-capita gross domestic product grew by a factor of five, [ 51 ] much more than all earlier centuries combined (including the 19th with its Industrial Revolution). Many economists make the case that this understates the magnitude of growth, as many of the goods and services consumed at the end of the century, such as improved medicine (causing world life expectancy to increase by more than two decades) and communications technologies, were not available at any price at its beginning. However, the gulf between the world’s rich and poor grew wider, [ 52 ] and the majority of the global population remained in the poor side of the divide. [ 53 ]
Still, advancing technology and medicine has had a great impact even in the Global South . Large-scale industry and more centralized media made brutal dictatorships possible on an unprecedented scale in the middle of the century, leading to wars that were also unprecedented. However, the increased communications contributed to democratization . Technological developments included the development of airplanes and space exploration , nuclear technology , advancement in genetics , and the dawning of the Information Age .
American Peace
Main article: Pax Americana




National flag of the United States.


Pax Americana is an appellation applied to the historical concept of relative liberal peace in the Western world, resulting from the preponderance of power enjoyed by the United States of America starting around the turn of the 20th century. Although the term finds its primary utility in the latter half of the 20th Century, it has been used in various places and eras. Its modern connotations concern the peace established after the end of World War II in 1945.
For more details on this topic, see American Century .
Cold War era
Main article: Cold War
The Cold War began in the mid-1940s and lasted into the early 1990s. Throughout this period, the conflict was expressed through military coalitions, espionage, weapons development, invasions, propaganda, and competitive technological development. The conflict included costly defense spending, a massive conventional and nuclear arms race , and numerous proxy wars ; the two superpowers never fought one another directly.





Borders of NATO (blue) and Warsaw Pact (red) states during the Cold war era.



The Soviet Union created the Eastern Bloc of countries that it occupied, annexing some as Soviet Socialist Republics and maintaining others as satellite states that would later form the Warsaw Pact . The United States and various western European countries began a policy of " containment " of communism and forged myriad alliances to this end, including NATO . Several of these western countries also coordinated efforts regarding the rebuilding of western Europe, including western Germany, which the Soviets opposed. In other regions of the world, such as Latin America and Southeast Asia , the Soviet Union fostered communist revolutionary movements, which the United States and many of its allies opposed and, in some cases, attempted to " roll back ". Many countries were prompted to align themselves with the nations that would later form either NATO or the Warsaw Pact, though other movements would also emerge.
The Cold War saw periods of both heightened tension and relative calm. International crises arose, such as the Berlin Blockade (1948–1949), the Korean War (1950–1953), the Berlin Crisis of 1961 , the Vietnam War (1959–1975), the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979–1989) and NATO exercises in November 1983 . There were also periods of reduced tension as both sides sought détente . Direct military attacks on adversaries were deterred by the potential for mutual assured destruction using deliverable nuclear weapons . In the Cold Ware era, the Generation of Love and the rise of computers changed society in very different, complex ways, including higher social and local mobility.







European trade blocs as of the late 1980s. EEC member states are marked in blue, EFTA – green, and Comecon – red.








East and West in 1980, as defined by the Cold War. The Cold War had divided Europe politically into East and West, with the Iron Curtain splitting Central Europe .





The Cold War drew to a close in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The United States under President Ronald Reagan increased diplomatic, military, and economic pressure on the Soviet Union, which was already suffering from severe economic stagnation . In the second half of the 1980s, newly appointed Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the perestroika and glasnost reforms. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, leaving the United States as the dominant military power, though Russia retained much of the massive Soviet nuclear arsenal.
Space Age




This high-resolution image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field includes galaxies of various ages, sizes, shapes, and colors. The smallest, reddest galaxies, are some of the most distant galaxies to have been imaged by an optical telescope


The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race , space exploration , space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events. The Space Age began with the development of several technologies that culminated with the launch of Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union . This was the world's first artificial satellite, orbiting the Earth in 98.1 minutes and weighing in at 83 kg. The launch of Sputnik 1 ushered a new era of political, scientific and technological achievements that became known as the Space Age. The Space Age was characterized by rapid development of new technology in a close race mostly between the United States and the Soviet Union . The Space Age reached its peak with the Apollo program which captured the imagination of much of the world's population. The landing of Apollo 11 was an event watched by over 500 million people around the world and is widely recognized as one of the defining moments of the 20th century. Since then and with the end of the space race due to the collapse of the Soviet Union , public attention has largely moved to other areas.
Contemporary era
Main article: Contemporary history
In the Contemporary era , there were various socio-technological trends, Among the challenges and problems the modern world faces was climate change. Regarding the 21st century and the late modern world, the Information age and computers were forefront in use, not completely ubiquitous but often present in daily life. The development of Eastern powers was of note, with China and India becoming more powerful. In the Eurasian theater, the European Union and Russian Federation were two forces recently developed. A concern for Western world, if not the whole world, was the late modern form of terrorism and the warfare that has resulted from the contemporary terrorist acts.
Modern History education and schools
The humanities are academic disciplines which study the human condition , using methods that are primarily analytic , critical , or speculative , as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural and social sciences . Although many of the subjects of modern history coincide with that of standard history, the subject is taught independently by various systems of education in the world.
British education
A-level is the lowest tier of education at which modern history is taught in the UK , and students can also choose the subject at University . The material covered includes from the mid-18th century, to analysis of the present day . Virtually all colleges and sixth forms that do teach modern history do it alongside standard history; very few teach the subject exclusively.
Universities
At the University of Oxford 'Modern History' has a somewhat different meaning. The contrast is not with the Middle Ages but with Antiquity. The earliest period that can be studied in the Final Honour School of Modern History begins in 285. [ 54 ]

grooms

grooms

A bridegroom (usually shortened to groom ) is a man who is about to be married , or who has just been married.
The word bridegroom is dated to 1604, derived from bride and the archaic goom , from Old English guma , "boy". [ 9 ]
A bridegroom is typically attended by a best man and groomsmen.
The style of the groom's clothing depends upon the time of day, the location of the ceremony, the style in which the ceremony is performed, and whether the groom is a member of the armed forces . In most parts of the world, active-duty members of the military and some law enforcement agencies wear their military uniforms instead of civilian clothing.
Western traditions usually have the groom wearing a suit of an appropriate level of formality to the occasion and the time of day. In the US, the groom usually wears a dark-coloured suit (daytime) or tuxedo (evening) during the wedding ceremony. British tradition requires groom, male ushers and close male family to wear morning suits . [ 10 ] In Scotland, a full evening suit is customarily worn for evening ceremonies, often comprising a kilt .
The groom usually wears a neckwear that fits the attire he is wearing. Most grooms will wear bowtie to match their tuxedo or suit as this is the most formal neckwear in the series. [ 11 ] A cravat is usually more flamboyant and less formal and is worn with morining suits. The four in hand tie is also getting more common due to the variety that is easily obtainable.

design

design

Design is the planning that lays the basis for the making of every object or system. It can be used both as a noun and as a verb and, in a broader way, it means applied arts and engineering (See design disciplines below). As a verb, "to design" refers to the process of originating and developing a plan for a product, structure, system, or component with intention [ 1 ] . As a noun, "a design" is used for either the final (solution) plan (e.g. proposal, drawing, model, description) or the result of implementing that plan in the form of the final product of a design process [ 2 ] . This classification aside, in its broadest sense no other limitations exist and the final product can be anything from clothing to graphical user interfaces to skyscrapers . Even virtual concepts such as corporate identity and cultural traditions such as celebration of certain holidays [ 3 ] are sometimes designed. More recently, processes (in general) have also been treated as products of design, giving new meaning to the term process design .
The person designing is called a designer , which is also a term used for people who work professionally in one of the various design areas, usually also specifying which area is being dealt with (such as a fashion designer , concept designer or web designer ). Designing often requires a designer to consider the aesthetic , functional , and many other aspects of an object or a process, which usually requires considerable research , thought , modeling , interactive adjustment , and re-design. With such a broad definition, there is no universal language or unifying institution for designers of all disciplines. This allows for many differing philosophies and approaches toward the subject. However, serious study of design demands increased focus on the design process [ 4 ] [ 5 ] .




Contents


1 Design as a process

1.1 Defining a design process

1.1.1 Redesign


1.2 Typical steps


2 Philosophies and studies of design

2.1 Philosophies for guiding design
2.2 Approaches to design
2.3 Methods of designing
2.4 Philosophies for the purpose of designs


3 Terminology

3.1 Design and art
3.2 Design and engineering
3.3 Design and production
3.4 Process design


4 See also

4.1 Design disciplines
4.2 Design approaches and methods
4.3 Other design related topics


5 External links
6 Footnotes





//

Design as a process
Design, as a process, can take many forms depending on the object being designed and the individual or individuals participating.
Defining a design process
According to video game developer Dino Dini [ 6 ] [ 7 ] , design underpins every form of creation from objects such as chairs to the way we plan and execute our lives. For this reason it is useful to seek out some common structure that can be applied to any kind of design, whether this be for video games, consumer products or one's own personal life.
For such an important concept, the question "What is Design?" appears to yield answers with limited usefulness. Dino Dini states that the design process can be defined as "The management of constraints". He identifies two kinds of constraint, negotiable and non-negotiable. The first step in the design process is the identification, classification and selection of constraints. The process of design then proceeds from here by manipulating design variables so as to satisfy the non-negotiable constraints and optimizing those which are negotiable. It is possible for a set of non-negotiable constraints to be in conflict resulting in a design with no solution; in this case the non-negotiable constraints must be revised. For example, take the design of a chair. A chair must support a certain weight to be useful, and this is a non-negotiable constraint. The cost of producing the chair might be another. The choice of materials and the aesthetic qualities of the chair might be negotiable.
Dino Dini theorizes that poor designs occur as a result of mismanaged constraints, something he claims can be seen in the way the video game industry makes "Must be Fun" a negotiable constraint where he believes it should be non-negotiable.
It should be noted that "the management of constraints" may not include the whole of what is involved in "constraint management" as defined in the context of a broader Theory of Constraints , depending on the scope of a design or a designer's position.




An architect at his drawing board , 1893. The Peter Arno phrase "Well, back to the old drawing board" makes light of the fact that designs sometimes fail and redesign is necessary. The phrase has meaning beyond structural designs and is an idiom when a drawing board is not used in a design.


Redesign
Something that is redesigned requires a different process than something that is designed for the first time. A redesign often includes an evaluation of the existent design and the findings of the redesign needs are often the ones that drive the redesign process. Some authors nevertheless suggest that from the evolutionary point of view the functionality, and even the aesthetic sophistication of artifacts is best understood as a result of redesign rather than design, as all successful artifacts are outcomes of cumulative improvements.
Typical steps
A design process may include a series of steps followed by designers. Depending on the product or service, some of these stages may be irrelevant, ignored in real-world situations in order to save time, reduce cost, or because they may be redundant in the situation.
Typical stages of the design process include:

Pre-production design

Design brief or Parti – an early often the beginning statement of design goals
Analysis – analysis of current design goals
Research – investigating similar design solutions in the field or related topics
Specification – specifying requirements of a design solution for a product ( product design specification [ 8 ] ) or service.
Problem solving – conceptualizing and documenting design solutions
Presentation – presenting design solutions


Design during production

Development – continuation and improvement of a designed solution
Testing – in situ testing a designed solution


Post-production design feedback for future designs

Implementation – introducing the designed solution into the environment
Evaluation and conclusion – summary of process and results, including constructive criticism and suggestions for future improvements


Redesign – any or all stages in the design process repeated (with corrections made) at any time before, during, or after production.

These stages are not universally accepted but do relate typical design process activities. For each activity there are many best practices for completing them. [ 9 ]
Philosophies and studies of design
There are countless philosophies for guiding design as the design values and its accompanying aspects within modern design vary, both between different schools of thought and among practicing designers. [ 10 ] Design philosophies are usually for determining design goals. A design goal may range from solving the least significant individual problem of the smallest element, to the most holistic influential utopian goals. Design goals are usually for guiding design. However, conflicts over immediate and minor goals may lead to questioning the purpose of design, perhaps to set better long term or ultimate goals.




A 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic from the Ralph Lauren collection. " Form follows function " can be an aesthetic point of view that a design can heighten, as often seen in the work of the Bugattis , Ettore , Rembrandt , and Jean .


Philosophies for guiding design
A design philosophy is a guide to help make choices when designing such as ergonomics , costs, economics, functionality and methods of re-design. An example of a design philosophy is “dynamic change” to achieve the elegant or stylish look you need.
Approaches to design
A design approach is a general philosophy that may or may not include a guide for specific methods. Some are to guide the overall goal of the design. Other approaches are to guide the tendencies of the designer. A combination of approaches may be used if they don't conflict.
Some popular approaches include:

KISS principle , (Keep it Simple Stupid, etc.), which strives to eliminate unnecessary complications.
There is more than one way to do it (TIMTOWTDI), a philosophy to allow multiple methods of doing the same thing.
Use-centered design , which focuses on the goals and tasks associated with the use of the artifact, rather than focusing on the end user.
User-centered design , which focuses on the needs, wants, and limitations of the end user of the designed artifact.

Methods of designing
Main article: Design methods
Design Methods is a broad area that focuses on:

Exploring possibilities and constraints by focusing critical thinking skills to research and define problem spaces for existing products or services —or the creation of new categories; (see also Brainstorming )
Redefining the specifications of design solutions which can lead to better guidelines for traditional design activities (graphic, industrial, architectural, etc.);
Managing the process of exploring, defining, creating artifacts continually over time
Prototyping possible scenarios, or solutions that incrementally or significantly improve the inherited situation
Trendspotting; understanding the trend process.

Philosophies for the purpose of designs
In philosophy , the abstract noun "design" refers to a pattern with a purpose . Design is thus contrasted with purposelessness, randomness , or lack of complexity .
To study the purpose of designs, beyond individual goals (e.g. marketing , technology , education , entertainment , hobbies ), is to question the controversial politics, morals , ethics and needs such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs . "Purpose" may also lead to existential questions such as religious morals and teleology . These philosophies for the "purpose of" designs are in contrast to philosophies for guiding design or methodology.
Often a designer (especially in commercial situations) is not in a position to define purpose. Whether a designer is, is not, or should be concerned with purpose or intended use beyond what they are expressly hired to influence, is debatable, depending on the situation. In society, not understanding or disinterest in the wider role of design might also be attributed to the commissioning agent or client, rather than the designer.
In structuration theory , achieving consensus and fulfillment of purpose is as continuous as society . Raised levels of achievement often lead to raised expectations. Design is both medium and outcome, generating a Janus -like face, with every ending marking a new beginning.
Terminology



Look up design in Wiktionary , the free dictionary.


The word "design" is often considered ambiguous depending on the application.




The new terminal at Barajas airport in Madrid , Spain


Design and art
Design is often viewed as a more rigorous form of art, or art with a clearly defined purpose. The distinction is usually made when someone other than the artist is defining the purpose. In graphic arts the distinction is often made between fine art and commercial art . Applied art and decorative arts are other terms, the latter mostly used for objects from the past.
In the realm of the arts, design is more relevant to the "applied" arts, such as architecture and industrial design. In fact today the term design is widely associated to modern industrial product design as initiated by Raymond Loewy and teachings at the Bauhaus and Ulm School of Design (HfG Ulm) in Germany during the 20th Century.
Design implies a conscious effort to create something that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing. For example, a graphic artist may design an advertisement poster . This person's job is to communicate the advertisement message (functional aspect) and to make it look good (aesthetically pleasing).
The distinction between pure and applied arts is not completely clear, but one may consider Jackson Pollock's (often criticized as "splatter") paintings as an example of pure art. One may assume his art does not convey a message based on the obvious differences between an advertisement poster and the mere possibility of an abstract message of a Jackson Pollock painting. One may speculate that Pollock, when painting, worked more intuitively than would a graphic artist, when consciously designing a poster. However, Mark Getlein suggests the principles of design are "almost instinctive", "built-in", "natural", and part of "our sense of 'rightness'." [ 11 ] Pollock, as a trained artist, may have utilized design whether conscious or not.




A drawing for a booster engine for steam locomotives . Engineering is applied to design, with emphasis on function and the utilization of mathematics and science.


Design and engineering
Engineering is often viewed as a more rigorous form of design. Contrary views suggest that design is a component of engineering aside from production and other operations which utilize engineering. A neutral view may suggest that design and engineering simply overlap, depending on the discipline of design. The American Heritage Dictionary defines design as: "To conceive or fashion in the mind; invent," and "To formulate a plan" , and defines engineering as: "The application of scientific and mathematical principles to practical ends such as the design, manufacture, and operation of efficient and economical structures, machines, processes, and systems." . [ 12 ] [ 13 ] Both are forms of problem-solving with a defined distinction being the application of "scientific and mathematical principles". How much science is applied in a design is a question of what is considered " science ". Along with the question of what is considered science, there is social science versus natural science . Scientists at Xerox PARC made the distinction of design versus engineering at "moving minds" versus "moving atoms".




Jonathan Ive has received several awards for his design of Apple Inc. products like this laptop. In some design fields, personal computers are also used for both design and production


Design and production
The relationship between design and production is one of planning and executing. In theory, the plan should anticipate and compensate for potential problems in the execution process. Design involves problem-solving and creativity . In contrast, production involves a routine or pre-planned process. A design may also be a mere plan that does not include a production or engineering process, although a working knowledge of such processes is usually expected of designers. In some cases, it may be unnecessary and/or impractical to expect a designer with a broad multidisciplinary knowledge required for such designs to also have a detailed specialized knowledge of how to produce the product.
Design and production are intertwined in many creative professional careers, meaning problem-solving is part of execution and the reverse. As the cost of rearrangement increases, the need for separating design from production increases as well. For example, a high-budget project, such as a skyscraper , requires separating (design) architecture from (production) construction . A Low-budget project, such as a locally printed office party invitation flyer , can be rearranged and printed dozens of times at the low cost of a few sheets of paper, a few drops of ink, and less than one hour's pay of a desktop publisher .
This is not to say that production never involves problem-solving or creativity, nor that design always involves creativity. Designs are rarely perfect and are sometimes repetitive. The imperfection of a design may task a production position (e.g. production artist , construction worker ) with utilizing creativity or problem-solving skills to compensate for what was overlooked in the design process. Likewise, a design may be a simple repetition (copy) of a known preexisting solution, requiring minimal, if any, creativity or problem-solving skills from the designer.

black

black

Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum ; they absorb all such frequencies of light. Although black is sometimes described as an "achromatic", or hueless, color, in practice it can be considered a color, as in expressions like "black cat" or "black paint".




Contents


1 Color or light in science

1.1 Absorption of light


2 Usage, symbolism, colloquial expressions

2.1 Authority and seriousness
2.2 Clothing
2.3 Demography
2.4 Music
2.5 Philosophy
2.6 Politics
2.7 Science
2.8 Sexuality
2.9 Sport
2.10 Ambiguity and secrecy
2.11 Beliefs, religions and superstitions
2.12 Economy
2.13 Fashion
2.14 Symbolic dualism with white
2.15 Historical events
2.16 Expressions


3 Pigments
4 See also
5 References
6 External links





//

Color or light in science




Nighttime


Black can be defined as the visual impression experienced when no visible light reaches the eye. (This makes a contrast with whiteness , the impression of any combination of colors of light that equally stimulates all three types of color-sensitive visual receptors.)
Pigments that absorb light rather than reflect it back to the eye "look black". A black pigment can, however, result from a combination of several pigments that collectively absorb all colors. If appropriate proportions of three primary pigments are mixed, the result reflects so little light as to be called "black".
This provides two superficially opposite but actually complementary descriptions of black. Black is the lack of all colors of light, or an exhaustive combination of multiple colors of pigment. See also Primary colors

† various CMYK combinations

c
m
y
k


0%
0%
0%
100%
(canonical)


100%
100%
100%
0%
(ideal inks, theoretical only )


100%
100%
100%
100%
( registration black )


In physics , a black body is a perfect absorber of light, but by a rule derived by Einstein it is also, when heated, the best emitter. Thus, the best radiative cooling, out of sunlight, is by using black paint, though it is important that it be black (a nearly perfect absorber) in the infrared as well.
In elementary science, far Ultraviolet light is called " black light " because, unseen, it causes many minerals and other substances to fluoresce .
On January 16, 2008, researchers from Troy, New York ’s Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute announced the creation of the darkest material on the planet. The material, which reflects only .045 percent of light, was created from carbon nanotubes stood on end. It absorbs nearly 30 times more light than the current standard for blackness, [ 1 ] and is 3 times darker than the record holder for darkest substance. Scientists claim that the new material has great potential in the manufacturing of solar panels . [ 2 ]
Absorption of light
Main article: Absorption (electromagnetic radiation)
A material is said to be black if most incoming light is absorbed equally in the material. Light ( electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum ) interacts with the atoms and molecules , which causes the energy of the light to be converted in to other forms of energy, usually heat . This means that black surfaces can act as thermal collectors, absorbing light and generating heat(see Solar thermal collector ).
Absorption of light is contrasted by transmission , reflection and diffusion , where the light is only redirected, causing objects to appear transparent, reflective or white respectively.
Usage, symbolism, colloquial expressions




A black cat


Authority and seriousness
Black can be seen as the color of authority and seriousness.

Black Watch is the senior Highland Regiment of the British Army .
In Japanese culture , kuro (black) is a symbol of nobility, age, and experience, as opposed to shiro (white), which symbolizes serfdom, youth, and naiveté. Thus the black belt is a mark of achievement and seniority in many martial arts , whereas in, for example, Shotokan karate, a white belt is a rank-less belt that comes before all other belts. These ranks are called dan .
Black was the color of the Arab dynasty of Abbasid caliphs , which is the reason black is frequently used in flags of Arab countries . [ dubious – discuss ]
The riot control units of the Basque Autonomous Police in Spain are known as beltzak ("blacks") after their uniform.
Traditionally, police vehicles ( panda cars ) were in black and white.





Goth costuming


Clothing

Academic dress includes black robes for graduates.
Black tuxedos are worn at formal occasions known as black tie functions.
Black is worn by religious figures within Christianity , e.g. priests (especially of the older religious denominations ), monks and nuns.
Black is worn by Hassidic Jews .
Black is worn by some Muslim women ; see List of types of sartorial hijab for photographs of examples such as the abaya .
Lawyers and judges often wear black robes.
Many performers of European classical music or other serious art music dress in black for a concert or recital .
Members of the modern goth and some punk subcultures dress predominantly in black (see also goth fashion ).

Demography

The term "black" is often used in the West to denote the ethnicity of people whose actual skin color ranges from light to darker shades of brown such as sepia . For a discussion of usage, see the main entry at Black people and color terminology for race .

Music

" All Black " is a song by Good Charlotte that depicts the love for the color black.
"Black & White", a song by In Flames from their album Reroute To Remain Fourteen Songs of Conscious Insanity .
" Paint It Black " is a 1966 hit song by the Rolling Stones .
Metallica 's self titled album is known as "The Black Album."
Amy Winehouse 's Grammy Award winning song and album Back to Black .
Black metal is a style of music including bands such as Darkthrone and Mayhem .
Johnny Cash was commonly referred to as "The Man in Black" due to his preference for black clothing. His song " Man in Black " presents it as a show of solidarity with the outcasts of society.
The folk song " Black Is the Color (of My True Love's Hair) ".
The band AC/DC sang " Back in Black ", a song about being successful and ambitious once again.
Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Hermosa Beach, California that broke up in 1986.
" Black or White ", the first single off of Michael Jackson 's Dangerous album.

Philosophy

In arguments, things can be black-and-white , meaning that the issue at hand is dichotomized (having two clear, opposing sides with no middle ground).
In ancient China , black was the symbol of North and Water , one of the main five colors.





Anarchist flag


Politics

The List of black flags , although not exclusively political, gives many political meanings.
The Lützow Free Corps , composed of volunteer German students and academics fighting against Napoleon in 1813 , could not afford to make special uniforms and therefore adopted black, as the only color that could be used to dye their civilian clothing without the original color showing. As these volunteers were greatly praised and glorified by later revolutionaries, their choice of the black color might have influenced its later connotations.
Black is used for anarchist symbolism , sometimes split in diagonal with other colors to show alignment with another political philosophy . The plain black flag is explained in various ways, sometimes as an anti-flag or a non-flag. Wearing black clothing is also sometimes an anarchist tactic during demonstrations, with a practical benefit of not attracting attention and making later identification of a subject difficult. This strategy is referred to as a black bloc .
In Portuguese politics, black (and red) is the party color of the Left Bloc .
The blackshirts were Italian Fascist militias.
In Nazi Germany , the blackshirts was a nickname for the SS , as opposed to the brownshirts , the SA .
The black triangle was used by the Nazis to designate "asocial" people (homeless and Roma , for example); later the symbol was adopted by lesbian culture .

Science

Black sky refers to the appearance of space as one emerges from the Earth's atmosphere.
A black dwarf is the designation used in astronomy for a star that has burned out.
The term " black hole " is applied to collapsed stars .
Black body radiation refers to the radiation coming from a body at a given temperature where all incoming energy (light) is converted to heat.

Sexuality

In the bandana code of the gay leather subculture , wearing a black bandana means that one is into the Sexual fetish of Sadomasochism , sadists wearing the bandana in the left rear pocket, masochists on the right. [ 3 ]

Sport

The national rugby union team of New Zealand is called the All Blacks , in reference to their black outfits, and the color is also shared by other New Zealand national teams such as the Black Caps (cricket) and the Kiwis (rugby league).
Association football (soccer) referees traditionally wear all-black uniforms, however nowadays other uniform colors may also be worn.
A large number of teams have uniforms designed with black colors—many feeling the color sometimes imparts a psychological advantage in its wearers. Among the more famous (or infamous) include Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL , the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat of the NBA , and Inter Milan of the Serie A of the Italian soccer leagues .
In auto racing , a black flag signals a driver to go into the pits.
In baseball , "the black" refers to the batter's eye , a blacked out area around the center-field bleachers, painted black to give hitters a decent background for pitched balls.

Ambiguity and secrecy

A black box is any device whose internal workings are unknown or inexplicable. In theatre, the black box is a smaller, undecorated theater whose auditorium and stage relationship can be configured in various way.
A black project is a secretive project, like Enigma Decryption , other classified military programs or operations, Narcotics , or police sting operations .
Some organizations are called "black" when they keep a low profile, like Sociétés Anonymes and secret societies .
A polished black mirror is used for scrying , and is thought to help see into the paranormal world without interference or distraction.
Black frequently symbolizes ambiguity , secrecy , and the unknown.

Beliefs, religions and superstitions

Black is a symbol of mourning and bereavement in Western societies, especially at funerals and memorial services. In some traditional societies, within for example Greece and Italy, widows wear black for the rest of their lives. In contrast, across much of Africa and parts of Asia, white is a color of mourning and is worn during funerals.
In English heraldry , black means darkness, doubt, ignorance, and uncertainty. [ 4 ]
The Black Sun is an occult symbol used by those who believe in Nazi mysticism .
In the Maasai tribes of Kenya and Tanzania , the color black is associated with rain clouds, a symbol of life and prosperity.
Native Americans associated black with the life-giving soil.
The Hindu deity Krishna means "the black one".
The medieval Christian sect known as the Cathars viewed black as a color of perfection.
The Rastafari movement sees black as beautiful.
In the Japanese culture, Black is associated with honor, not death with the white color being associated with death.
Black-dog bias is a veterinarian and animal shelter phenomenon in which black dogs are passed over for adoption in favor of lighter colored animals.
Black cats may be thought of as either good luck or bad.

Economy

To say one's accounts are "in the black" is used to mean that one is free of debt.

Being "in the red" is to be in debt—in traditional bookkeeping, negative amounts, such as costs, were printed in red ink, and positive amounts, like revenues , were printed in black ink, so that if the " bottom line " is printed in black, the firm is profiting.


Black Friday (shopping) occurs the day after Thanksgiving . The idea is that the shopping that begins on this day can put a company into the black (i.e., make a profit) for the year.

Fashion

In Western fashion , black is considered stylish, sexy, elegant and powerful.
The colloquialism "X is the new black " is a reference to the latest trend or fad that is considered a wardrobe basic for the duration of the trend, on the basis that black is always fashionable. The phrase has taken on a life of its own as a snowclone , and has been stretched and parodied as a rhetorical device and a cliché .

Symbolic dualism with white
Main article: Black-and-white dualism

Black magic is a destructive or evil form of magic , often connected with death , as opposed to white magic . This was already apparent during Ancient Egypt when the Cush Tribe invaded Egyptian plantations along the Nile River.
Evil witches are stereotypically dressed in black and good fairies in white.
In computer security , a blackhat is an attacker with evil intentions, while a whitehat bears no such ill will. (This is derived from the Western movie convention.)
In many Hollywood Westerns , bad cowboys wear black hats while the good ones wear white.
Melodrama villains are dressed in black and heroines in white dresses.

Historical events

A "black day" (or week or month) usually refers to a sad or tragic time. The Romans marked fasti days with white stones and nefasti days with black.

E.g., the Wall Street Crash 1929 , the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, which is the start of the Great Depression , is nicknamed Black Tuesday, and was preceded by Black Thursday, a downturn on October 24 the previous week.
Black Monday , stock market crash on October 19, 1987.
Black Wednesday caused Britain to pull out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism .
Black Friday , various tragic events. (Exception: See Black Friday (shopping) .)


Black months include:

the Black September in Jordan , in which thousands of people were killed.
Black July killing of the Tamil population by the Sinhalese government in Sri Lanka .
Black Spring 2001 ( Printemps noir ), in the Berber region of Kabylia ( Algeria ), when the police shot and killed more than 100 people.


The Black Death , also known as the Black Plague, was a pandemic in Europe that killed tens of millions of people.
The Black Hole of Calcutta was the overcrowding of an impromptu prison cell in which many died.


Expressions

A black-hearted person is mean and unloving.
A blacklist is a list of undesirable persons or entities (to be placed on the list is to be "blacklisted").
Black comedy is a form of comedy dealing with morbid and serious topics.
A black mark against a person relates to something bad they have done.
A black mood is a bad one (cf Winston Churchill 's clinical depression , which he called "my black dog"). [ 5 ]
black market is used to denote the trade of illegal goods, or alternatively the illegal trade of otherwise legal items at considerably higher prices, e.g. to evade rationing .
Black propaganda is the use of known falsehoods, partial truths, or masquerades in propaganda to confuse an opponent.
Blackmail is the act of threatening to reveal information about a person unless the threatened party fulfills certain demands. This information is usually of an embarrassing or socially damaging nature. Ordinarily, such a threat is illegal.
If the black eight-ball, in billiards , is sunk before all others are out of play, the player loses.
The black sheep of the family is the ne'er-do-well.
To blackball someone is to block their entry into a club or some such institution. In the traditional English gentlemen's club , members vote on the admission of a candidate by secretly placing a white or black ball in a hat. If upon the completion of voting, there was even one black ball amongst the white, the candidate would be denied membership, and he would never know who had "blackballed" him.
Black tea in the Western culture is known as "crimson tea" in Chinese and culturally influenced languages, ( 紅 茶 , Mandarin Chinese hóngchá ; Japanese kōcha ; Korean hongcha ), perhaps a more accurate description of the color of the liquid.
"The black" is a wildfire suppression term referring to a burned area on a wildfire capable of acting as a safety zone.
Black coffee refers to coffee without sugar or cream.

Pigments
Black pigments include carbon black , charcoal black, ebony , ivory black and onyx .
See also

List of colors
Rich black , which is different from using black ink alone, in printing.

References





This article needs additional citations for verification .
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (June 2007)




^ 30 times darker:
^ Darkest ever material created:
^ Card showing list of bandana colors and their meanings, available at Image Leather, 2199 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94114 and Gay City USA Hanky Codes:
^ (The American Girls Handy Book, p. 370)
^ Hal Haralson. "Dancing with the Black Dog" . christianethicstoday.com . http://www.christianethicstoday.com/Issue/016/Dancing%20with%20the%20Black%20Dog%20By%20Hal%20Haralson_016_7_.htm . Retrieved 2006-11-10 .  


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Web colors


black
gray
silver
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yellow
navy
blue
teal
aqua


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 






v   •   d   •   e

Shades of gray


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Davy's gray
Feldgrau
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bridal gowns custom bridal gowns

bridal gowns custom bridal gowns

A wedding dress or wedding gown is the clothing worn by a bride during a wedding ceremony. Colour, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants.




Contents


1 Western culture
2 Eastern culture
3 Native American culture
4 Gallery
5 Notes





//

Western culture
Weddings performed during and immediately following the Middle Ages were often more than just a union between two people. They could be a union between two families, two businesses or even two countries. Many weddings were more a matter of politics than love, particularly among the nobility and the higher social classes. Brides were therefore expected to dress in a manner that cast their families in the most favorable light, for they were not representing only themselves during the ceremony. Brides from wealthy families often wore rich colors and exclusive fabrics. It was common to see them wearing bold colors and layers of furs, velvet and silk .




The woman to the far right is wearing a typical wedding dress from 1929. Up until the late 1930s, wedding dresses reflected the styles of the day. From that time onward, wedding dresses have traditionally been based on Victorian styles.


Over the centuries, brides continued to dress in a manner befitting their social status—always in the height of fashion, with the richest, boldest materials money could buy. The poorest of brides wore their best church dress on their wedding day. The amount of material a wedding dress contained also was a reflection of the bride's social standing and indicated the extent of the family's wealth to wedding guests. Today, there are wedding dresses available in all price ranges, and Western traditions have loosened up to include a rainbow of colors and variety of lengths, which are now considered acceptable. Women may purchase ready-made gowns, wear a family heirloom, or they may choose to have a dressmaker create one for her. In addition, today many bridal salons have samples of wedding gowns in their stores where the bride selects a certain style and orders one to be made to fit.
Wedding dresses have traditionally been based on the popular styles of the day. For example, in the 1920s, wedding dresses were typically short in the front with a longer train in the back and were worn with cloche -style wedding veils. This tendency to follow current fashions continued until the late 1940s, when it became popular to revert to long, full-skirted designs reminiscent of the Victorian era. Although there has always been a style that dominates the bridal market for a time, and then shifts with the changes in fashion, a growing number of modern brides are not choosing to follow these trends. This is due in large part to non-traditional and non-first-time weddings, and women who are marrying later in life.
Today, Western wedding dresses are usually white , though "wedding white" includes creamy shades such as eggshell , ecru and ivory . Philippa of England was actually the first documented princess in history to wear a white wedding gown during a royal wedding ceremony: she wore a tunic with a cloak in white silk bordered with grey squirrel and ermine ). [ 1 ]
White did not become a popular option until 1840, after the marriage of Queen Victoria to Albert of Saxe-Coburg . Victoria had worn a white gown for the event so as to incorporate some lace she owned. The official wedding portrait photograph was widely published, and many other brides opted for a similar dress in honor of the Queen's choice. [ 2 ]
The tradition continues today in the form of a white wedding , though prior to the Victorian era , a bride was married in any color, black being especially popular in Scandinavia. [ 3 ] Later, many people assumed that the color white was intended to symbolize virginity , though this had not been the original intention. (It was the color blue that was connected to purity.) The white gown is in fact a symbolic Christening gown . They are a variation of the white surplice worn in the Western Catholic tradition by members of the clergy, church choirs and servers and the gowns worn by girls making their first communion and at their confirmation and also by women making religious vows . Today, the white dress is normally understood merely as the most traditional and popular choice for weddings.
Eastern culture




Vietnamese wedding Ao dai


Many wedding dresses in China , India ( wedding sari ) and Vietnam (in the traditional form of the Ao dai ) are colored red, the traditional color of good luck and auspiciousness. Nowadays, many women choose other colors besides red. In modern Chinese weddings, the bride may opt for Western dresses of any color, and later don traditional costume for the official tea ceremony .
South Indian weddings traditionally use red or gold-colored saris. [ citation needed ] Indian brides in Western countries often wear the sari at the wedding ceremony and change into traditional Indian wear afterwards ( lehnga , choli , etc.).
In Japan , brides will often wear three or more dresses throughout the ceremony and subsequent celebrations with a traditional kimono , white and colour dress combination being popular. The Javanese people of Indonesia wear a kebaya , a traditional kind of blouse, along with batik .
In the Philippines , variations of the Baro't saya are considered to be wedding attire for women, along with the Barong Tagalog for men.
Native American culture




Apache bride


The indigenous peoples of the Americas have varying traditions related to weddings and thus wedding dresses. A Hopi bride traditionally would have her garments woven by the groom and any men in the village who wished to participate. The garments consisted of a large belt, two all-white wedding robes, a white wedding robe with red stripes at top and bottom, white buckskin leggings and moccasins, a string for tying the hair, and a reed mat in which to wrap the outfit. This outfit also would serve as a shroud, since these garments would be necessary for the trip through the underworld. A Pueblo bride wore a cotton garment tied above the right shoulder, secured with a belt around the waist. In the traditions of the Delaware , a bride would wear a knee-length skirt of deerskin and a band of wampum beads around her forehead. Except for fine beads or shell necklaces, the body would be bare from the waist up. If it were a winter wedding, she would wear deerskin leggings and moccasins and a robe of turkey feathers. Her face would be painted with white, red and yellow clay. The tribes of Northern California (which include the Klamath , the Modoc and the Yurok ) had a traditional bridal dress woven in symbolic colors: white for the east, blue for the south, yellow (orange) for the west; and black for the north. Turquoise and silver jewelry were worn by both the bride and the groom in addition to a silver concho belt. Jewelry was considered a shield against evils including hunger, poverty and bad luck. [ 4 ]

lace gowns

lace gowns

A wedding dress or wedding gown is the clothing worn by a bride during a wedding ceremony. Colour, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants.




Contents


1 Western culture
2 Eastern culture
3 Native American culture
4 Gallery
5 Notes





//

Western culture
Weddings performed during and immediately following the Middle Ages were often more than just a union between two people. They could be a union between two families, two businesses or even two countries. Many weddings were more a matter of politics than love, particularly among the nobility and the higher social classes. Brides were therefore expected to dress in a manner that cast their families in the most favorable light, for they were not representing only themselves during the ceremony. Brides from wealthy families often wore rich colors and exclusive fabrics. It was common to see them wearing bold colors and layers of furs, velvet and silk .




The woman to the far right is wearing a typical wedding dress from 1929. Up until the late 1930s, wedding dresses reflected the styles of the day. From that time onward, wedding dresses have traditionally been based on Victorian styles.


Over the centuries, brides continued to dress in a manner befitting their social status—always in the height of fashion, with the richest, boldest materials money could buy. The poorest of brides wore their best church dress on their wedding day. The amount of material a wedding dress contained also was a reflection of the bride's social standing and indicated the extent of the family's wealth to wedding guests. Today, there are wedding dresses available in all price ranges, and Western traditions have loosened up to include a rainbow of colors and variety of lengths, which are now considered acceptable. Women may purchase ready-made gowns, wear a family heirloom, or they may choose to have a dressmaker create one for her. In addition, today many bridal salons have samples of wedding gowns in their stores where the bride selects a certain style and orders one to be made to fit.
Wedding dresses have traditionally been based on the popular styles of the day. For example, in the 1920s, wedding dresses were typically short in the front with a longer train in the back and were worn with cloche -style wedding veils. This tendency to follow current fashions continued until the late 1940s, when it became popular to revert to long, full-skirted designs reminiscent of the Victorian era. Although there has always been a style that dominates the bridal market for a time, and then shifts with the changes in fashion, a growing number of modern brides are not choosing to follow these trends. This is due in large part to non-traditional and non-first-time weddings, and women who are marrying later in life.
Today, Western wedding dresses are usually white , though "wedding white" includes creamy shades such as eggshell , ecru and ivory . Philippa of England was actually the first documented princess in history to wear a white wedding gown during a royal wedding ceremony: she wore a tunic with a cloak in white silk bordered with grey squirrel and ermine ). [ 1 ]
White did not become a popular option until 1840, after the marriage of Queen Victoria to Albert of Saxe-Coburg . Victoria had worn a white gown for the event so as to incorporate some lace she owned. The official wedding portrait photograph was widely published, and many other brides opted for a similar dress in honor of the Queen's choice. [ 2 ]
The tradition continues today in the form of a white wedding , though prior to the Victorian era , a bride was married in any color, black being especially popular in Scandinavia. [ 3 ] Later, many people assumed that the color white was intended to symbolize virginity , though this had not been the original intention. (It was the color blue that was connected to purity.) The white gown is in fact a symbolic Christening gown . They are a variation of the white surplice worn in the Western Catholic tradition by members of the clergy, church choirs and servers and the gowns worn by girls making their first communion and at their confirmation and also by women making religious vows . Today, the white dress is normally understood merely as the most traditional and popular choice for weddings.
Eastern culture




Vietnamese wedding Ao dai


Many wedding dresses in China , India ( wedding sari ) and Vietnam (in the traditional form of the Ao dai ) are colored red, the traditional color of good luck and auspiciousness. Nowadays, many women choose other colors besides red. In modern Chinese weddings, the bride may opt for Western dresses of any color, and later don traditional costume for the official tea ceremony .
South Indian weddings traditionally use red or gold-colored saris. [ citation needed ] Indian brides in Western countries often wear the sari at the wedding ceremony and change into traditional Indian wear afterwards ( lehnga , choli , etc.).
In Japan , brides will often wear three or more dresses throughout the ceremony and subsequent celebrations with a traditional kimono , white and colour dress combination being popular. The Javanese people of Indonesia wear a kebaya , a traditional kind of blouse, along with batik .
In the Philippines , variations of the Baro't saya are considered to be wedding attire for women, along with the Barong Tagalog for men.
Native American culture




Apache bride


The indigenous peoples of the Americas have varying traditions related to weddings and thus wedding dresses. A Hopi bride traditionally would have her garments woven by the groom and any men in the village who wished to participate. The garments consisted of a large belt, two all-white wedding robes, a white wedding robe with red stripes at top and bottom, white buckskin leggings and moccasins, a string for tying the hair, and a reed mat in which to wrap the outfit. This outfit also would serve as a shroud, since these garments would be necessary for the trip through the underworld. A Pueblo bride wore a cotton garment tied above the right shoulder, secured with a belt around the waist. In the traditions of the Delaware , a bride would wear a knee-length skirt of deerskin and a band of wampum beads around her forehead. Except for fine beads or shell necklaces, the body would be bare from the waist up. If it were a winter wedding, she would wear deerskin leggings and moccasins and a robe of turkey feathers. Her face would be painted with white, red and yellow clay. The tribes of Northern California (which include the Klamath , the Modoc and the Yurok ) had a traditional bridal dress woven in symbolic colors: white for the east, blue for the south, yellow (orange) for the west; and black for the north. Turquoise and silver jewelry were worn by both the bride and the groom in addition to a silver concho belt. Jewelry was considered a shield against evils including hunger, poverty and bad luck. [ 4 ]

couture gowns

couture gowns

A wedding dress or wedding gown is the clothing worn by a bride during a wedding ceremony. Colour, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants.




Contents


1 Western culture
2 Eastern culture
3 Native American culture
4 Gallery
5 Notes





//

Western culture
Weddings performed during and immediately following the Middle Ages were often more than just a union between two people. They could be a union between two families, two businesses or even two countries. Many weddings were more a matter of politics than love, particularly among the nobility and the higher social classes. Brides were therefore expected to dress in a manner that cast their families in the most favorable light, for they were not representing only themselves during the ceremony. Brides from wealthy families often wore rich colors and exclusive fabrics. It was common to see them wearing bold colors and layers of furs, velvet and silk .




The woman to the far right is wearing a typical wedding dress from 1929. Up until the late 1930s, wedding dresses reflected the styles of the day. From that time onward, wedding dresses have traditionally been based on Victorian styles.


Over the centuries, brides continued to dress in a manner befitting their social status—always in the height of fashion, with the richest, boldest materials money could buy. The poorest of brides wore their best church dress on their wedding day. The amount of material a wedding dress contained also was a reflection of the bride's social standing and indicated the extent of the family's wealth to wedding guests. Today, there are wedding dresses available in all price ranges, and Western traditions have loosened up to include a rainbow of colors and variety of lengths, which are now considered acceptable. Women may purchase ready-made gowns, wear a family heirloom, or they may choose to have a dressmaker create one for her. In addition, today many bridal salons have samples of wedding gowns in their stores where the bride selects a certain style and orders one to be made to fit.
Wedding dresses have traditionally been based on the popular styles of the day. For example, in the 1920s, wedding dresses were typically short in the front with a longer train in the back and were worn with cloche -style wedding veils. This tendency to follow current fashions continued until the late 1940s, when it became popular to revert to long, full-skirted designs reminiscent of the Victorian era. Although there has always been a style that dominates the bridal market for a time, and then shifts with the changes in fashion, a growing number of modern brides are not choosing to follow these trends. This is due in large part to non-traditional and non-first-time weddings, and women who are marrying later in life.
Today, Western wedding dresses are usually white , though "wedding white" includes creamy shades such as eggshell , ecru and ivory . Philippa of England was actually the first documented princess in history to wear a white wedding gown during a royal wedding ceremony: she wore a tunic with a cloak in white silk bordered with grey squirrel and ermine ). [ 1 ]
White did not become a popular option until 1840, after the marriage of Queen Victoria to Albert of Saxe-Coburg . Victoria had worn a white gown for the event so as to incorporate some lace she owned. The official wedding portrait photograph was widely published, and many other brides opted for a similar dress in honor of the Queen's choice. [ 2 ]
The tradition continues today in the form of a white wedding , though prior to the Victorian era , a bride was married in any color, black being especially popular in Scandinavia. [ 3 ] Later, many people assumed that the color white was intended to symbolize virginity , though this had not been the original intention. (It was the color blue that was connected to purity.) The white gown is in fact a symbolic Christening gown . They are a variation of the white surplice worn in the Western Catholic tradition by members of the clergy, church choirs and servers and the gowns worn by girls making their first communion and at their confirmation and also by women making religious vows . Today, the white dress is normally understood merely as the most traditional and popular choice for weddings.
Eastern culture




Vietnamese wedding Ao dai


Many wedding dresses in China , India ( wedding sari ) and Vietnam (in the traditional form of the Ao dai ) are colored red, the traditional color of good luck and auspiciousness. Nowadays, many women choose other colors besides red. In modern Chinese weddings, the bride may opt for Western dresses of any color, and later don traditional costume for the official tea ceremony .
South Indian weddings traditionally use red or gold-colored saris. [ citation needed ] Indian brides in Western countries often wear the sari at the wedding ceremony and change into traditional Indian wear afterwards ( lehnga , choli , etc.).
In Japan , brides will often wear three or more dresses throughout the ceremony and subsequent celebrations with a traditional kimono , white and colour dress combination being popular. The Javanese people of Indonesia wear a kebaya , a traditional kind of blouse, along with batik .
In the Philippines , variations of the Baro't saya are considered to be wedding attire for women, along with the Barong Tagalog for men.
Native American culture




Apache bride


The indigenous peoples of the Americas have varying traditions related to weddings and thus wedding dresses. A Hopi bride traditionally would have her garments woven by the groom and any men in the village who wished to participate. The garments consisted of a large belt, two all-white wedding robes, a white wedding robe with red stripes at top and bottom, white buckskin leggings and moccasins, a string for tying the hair, and a reed mat in which to wrap the outfit. This outfit also would serve as a shroud, since these garments would be necessary for the trip through the underworld. A Pueblo bride wore a cotton garment tied above the right shoulder, secured with a belt around the waist. In the traditions of the Delaware , a bride would wear a knee-length skirt of deerskin and a band of wampum beads around her forehead. Except for fine beads or shell necklaces, the body would be bare from the waist up. If it were a winter wedding, she would wear deerskin leggings and moccasins and a robe of turkey feathers. Her face would be painted with white, red and yellow clay. The tribes of Northern California (which include the Klamath , the Modoc and the Yurok ) had a traditional bridal dress woven in symbolic colors: white for the east, blue for the south, yellow (orange) for the west; and black for the north. Turquoise and silver jewelry were worn by both the bride and the groom in addition to a silver concho belt. Jewelry was considered a shield against evils including hunger, poverty and bad luck. [ 4 ]

custom veils

custom veils

An occasion on which a Western woman is likely to wear a veil is on her wedding day, if she follows the traditions of a white wedding . Brides used to wear their hair flowing down their back at their wedding to symbolise their virginity, now the white diaphanous veil is often said to represent this.
It is not altogether clear that the wedding veil is a non-religious use of this item, since weddings have almost always had religious underpinnings, especially in the West: in the Christian tradition this is expressed in the Gospel passage, "What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder" (Mt. 19:6). Veils, however, had been used in the West for weddings long before this. Roman brides, for instance, wore an intensely flame-colored and fulsome veil, called the flammeum , apparently intended to protect the bride from evil spirits on her wedding day.
The lifting of the veil was often a part of ancient wedding ritual, symbolising the groom taking possession of the wife, either as lover or as property, or the revelation of the bride by her parents to the groom for his approval.
In Judaism, the tradition of wearing a veil dates back to biblical times. When Rebekah went to meet her betrothed, Isaac, she veiled herself as he approached. The veiling was both a symbol of modesty, and a definition of her personal space. Rebekah is known as the most self-assured of the matriarchs, and by veiling herself she indicated that she would still be her own person even when she would be living her life with Isaac. [ 10 ] . It is important to note that Rebekah did not veil herself when traveling with men to meet Isaac, but only did so when he was approaching. Just before the wedding ceremony the badeken or bedeken is held. The groom places the veil over the bride's face, and either he or the officiating Rabbi gives her a blessing. The veil stays on her face until just before the end of the wedding ceremony - when they are legally married according to Jewish law - then the groom helps lift the veil from off her face.
The most often cited interpretation for the badeken is that when Jacob went to marry Rachel, his father in law Laban tricked him into marrying Leah, Rachel's older and homlier sister. Many say that the veiling ceremony takes place to make sure that the groom is marrying the right bride! Some say that as the groom places the veil over his bride, he makes an implicit promise to clothe and protect her. Finally, by covering her face, the groom recognizes that he his marrying the bride for her inner beauty; while looks will fade with time, his love will be everlasting. in some ultra-orthodox traditions the bride wears an opaque veil as she is escorted down the aisle to meet her groom. This shows her complete willingness to enter into the marriage and her absolute trust that she is marrying the right man. In Judaism, a wedding is not considered valid unless the bride willingly consents to it.

custom head pieces

custom head pieces

An occasion on which a Western woman is likely to wear a veil is on her wedding day, if she follows the traditions of a white wedding . Brides used to wear their hair flowing down their back at their wedding to symbolise their virginity, now the white diaphanous veil is often said to represent this.
It is not altogether clear that the wedding veil is a non-religious use of this item, since weddings have almost always had religious underpinnings, especially in the West: in the Christian tradition this is expressed in the Gospel passage, "What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder" (Mt. 19:6). Veils, however, had been used in the West for weddings long before this. Roman brides, for instance, wore an intensely flame-colored and fulsome veil, called the flammeum , apparently intended to protect the bride from evil spirits on her wedding day.
The lifting of the veil was often a part of ancient wedding ritual, symbolising the groom taking possession of the wife, either as lover or as property, or the revelation of the bride by her parents to the groom for his approval.
In Judaism, the tradition of wearing a veil dates back to biblical times. When Rebekah went to meet her betrothed, Isaac, she veiled herself as he approached. The veiling was both a symbol of modesty, and a definition of her personal space. Rebekah is known as the most self-assured of the matriarchs, and by veiling herself she indicated that she would still be her own person even when she would be living her life with Isaac. [ 10 ] . It is important to note that Rebekah did not veil herself when traveling with men to meet Isaac, but only did so when he was approaching. Just before the wedding ceremony the badeken or bedeken is held. The groom places the veil over the bride's face, and either he or the officiating Rabbi gives her a blessing. The veil stays on her face until just before the end of the wedding ceremony - when they are legally married according to Jewish law - then the groom helps lift the veil from off her face.
The most often cited interpretation for the badeken is that when Jacob went to marry Rachel, his father in law Laban tricked him into marrying Leah, Rachel's older and homlier sister. Many say that the veiling ceremony takes place to make sure that the groom is marrying the right bride! Some say that as the groom places the veil over his bride, he makes an implicit promise to clothe and protect her. Finally, by covering her face, the groom recognizes that he his marrying the bride for her inner beauty; while looks will fade with time, his love will be everlasting. in some ultra-orthodox traditions the bride wears an opaque veil as she is escorted down the aisle to meet her groom. This shows her complete willingness to enter into the marriage and her absolute trust that she is marrying the right man. In Judaism, a wedding is not considered valid unless the bride willingly consents to it.

complementary bridal design

complementary bridal design

A wedding dress or wedding gown is the clothing worn by a bride during a wedding ceremony. Colour, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants.




Contents


1 Western culture
2 Eastern culture
3 Native American culture
4 Gallery
5 Notes





//

Western culture
Weddings performed during and immediately following the Middle Ages were often more than just a union between two people. They could be a union between two families, two businesses or even two countries. Many weddings were more a matter of politics than love, particularly among the nobility and the higher social classes. Brides were therefore expected to dress in a manner that cast their families in the most favorable light, for they were not representing only themselves during the ceremony. Brides from wealthy families often wore rich colors and exclusive fabrics. It was common to see them wearing bold colors and layers of furs, velvet and silk .




The woman to the far right is wearing a typical wedding dress from 1929. Up until the late 1930s, wedding dresses reflected the styles of the day. From that time onward, wedding dresses have traditionally been based on Victorian styles.


Over the centuries, brides continued to dress in a manner befitting their social status—always in the height of fashion, with the richest, boldest materials money could buy. The poorest of brides wore their best church dress on their wedding day. The amount of material a wedding dress contained also was a reflection of the bride's social standing and indicated the extent of the family's wealth to wedding guests. Today, there are wedding dresses available in all price ranges, and Western traditions have loosened up to include a rainbow of colors and variety of lengths, which are now considered acceptable. Women may purchase ready-made gowns, wear a family heirloom, or they may choose to have a dressmaker create one for her. In addition, today many bridal salons have samples of wedding gowns in their stores where the bride selects a certain style and orders one to be made to fit.
Wedding dresses have traditionally been based on the popular styles of the day. For example, in the 1920s, wedding dresses were typically short in the front with a longer train in the back and were worn with cloche -style wedding veils. This tendency to follow current fashions continued until the late 1940s, when it became popular to revert to long, full-skirted designs reminiscent of the Victorian era. Although there has always been a style that dominates the bridal market for a time, and then shifts with the changes in fashion, a growing number of modern brides are not choosing to follow these trends. This is due in large part to non-traditional and non-first-time weddings, and women who are marrying later in life.
Today, Western wedding dresses are usually white , though "wedding white" includes creamy shades such as eggshell , ecru and ivory . Philippa of England was actually the first documented princess in history to wear a white wedding gown during a royal wedding ceremony: she wore a tunic with a cloak in white silk bordered with grey squirrel and ermine ). [ 1 ]
White did not become a popular option until 1840, after the marriage of Queen Victoria to Albert of Saxe-Coburg . Victoria had worn a white gown for the event so as to incorporate some lace she owned. The official wedding portrait photograph was widely published, and many other brides opted for a similar dress in honor of the Queen's choice. [ 2 ]
The tradition continues today in the form of a white wedding , though prior to the Victorian era , a bride was married in any color, black being especially popular in Scandinavia. [ 3 ] Later, many people assumed that the color white was intended to symbolize virginity , though this had not been the original intention. (It was the color blue that was connected to purity.) The white gown is in fact a symbolic Christening gown . They are a variation of the white surplice worn in the Western Catholic tradition by members of the clergy, church choirs and servers and the gowns worn by girls making their first communion and at their confirmation and also by women making religious vows . Today, the white dress is normally understood merely as the most traditional and popular choice for weddings.
Eastern culture




Vietnamese wedding Ao dai


Many wedding dresses in China , India ( wedding sari ) and Vietnam (in the traditional form of the Ao dai ) are colored red, the traditional color of good luck and auspiciousness. Nowadays, many women choose other colors besides red. In modern Chinese weddings, the bride may opt for Western dresses of any color, and later don traditional costume for the official tea ceremony .
South Indian weddings traditionally use red or gold-colored saris. [ citation needed ] Indian brides in Western countries often wear the sari at the wedding ceremony and change into traditional Indian wear afterwards ( lehnga , choli , etc.).
In Japan , brides will often wear three or more dresses throughout the ceremony and subsequent celebrations with a traditional kimono , white and colour dress combination being popular. The Javanese people of Indonesia wear a kebaya , a traditional kind of blouse, along with batik .
In the Philippines , variations of the Baro't saya are considered to be wedding attire for women, along with the Barong Tagalog for men.
Native American culture




Apache bride


The indigenous peoples of the Americas have varying traditions related to weddings and thus wedding dresses. A Hopi bride traditionally would have her garments woven by the groom and any men in the village who wished to participate. The garments consisted of a large belt, two all-white wedding robes, a white wedding robe with red stripes at top and bottom, white buckskin leggings and moccasins, a string for tying the hair, and a reed mat in which to wrap the outfit. This outfit also would serve as a shroud, since these garments would be necessary for the trip through the underworld. A Pueblo bride wore a cotton garment tied above the right shoulder, secured with a belt around the waist. In the traditions of the Delaware , a bride would wear a knee-length skirt of deerskin and a band of wampum beads around her forehead. Except for fine beads or shell necklaces, the body would be bare from the waist up. If it were a winter wedding, she would wear deerskin leggings and moccasins and a robe of turkey feathers. Her face would be painted with white, red and yellow clay. The tribes of Northern California (which include the Klamath , the Modoc and the Yurok ) had a traditional bridal dress woven in symbolic colors: white for the east, blue for the south, yellow (orange) for the west; and black for the north. Turquoise and silver jewelry were worn by both the bride and the groom in addition to a silver concho belt. Jewelry was considered a shield against evils including hunger, poverty and bad luck. [ 4 ]

bridal sketch

bridal sketch

fluted strapless mermaid alencon

fluted strapless mermaid alencon

Custom Indian Wedding Gown

Custom Indian Wedding Gown

A wedding dress or wedding gown is the clothing worn by a bride during a wedding ceremony. Colour, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants.




Contents


1 Western culture
2 Eastern culture
3 Native American culture
4 Gallery
5 Notes





//

Western culture
Weddings performed during and immediately following the Middle Ages were often more than just a union between two people. They could be a union between two families, two businesses or even two countries. Many weddings were more a matter of politics than love, particularly among the nobility and the higher social classes. Brides were therefore expected to dress in a manner that cast their families in the most favorable light, for they were not representing only themselves during the ceremony. Brides from wealthy families often wore rich colors and exclusive fabrics. It was common to see them wearing bold colors and layers of furs, velvet and silk .




The woman to the far right is wearing a typical wedding dress from 1929. Up until the late 1930s, wedding dresses reflected the styles of the day. From that time onward, wedding dresses have traditionally been based on Victorian styles.


Over the centuries, brides continued to dress in a manner befitting their social status—always in the height of fashion, with the richest, boldest materials money could buy. The poorest of brides wore their best church dress on their wedding day. The amount of material a wedding dress contained also was a reflection of the bride's social standing and indicated the extent of the family's wealth to wedding guests. Today, there are wedding dresses available in all price ranges, and Western traditions have loosened up to include a rainbow of colors and variety of lengths, which are now considered acceptable. Women may purchase ready-made gowns, wear a family heirloom, or they may choose to have a dressmaker create one for her. In addition, today many bridal salons have samples of wedding gowns in their stores where the bride selects a certain style and orders one to be made to fit.
Wedding dresses have traditionally been based on the popular styles of the day. For example, in the 1920s, wedding dresses were typically short in the front with a longer train in the back and were worn with cloche -style wedding veils. This tendency to follow current fashions continued until the late 1940s, when it became popular to revert to long, full-skirted designs reminiscent of the Victorian era. Although there has always been a style that dominates the bridal market for a time, and then shifts with the changes in fashion, a growing number of modern brides are not choosing to follow these trends. This is due in large part to non-traditional and non-first-time weddings, and women who are marrying later in life.
Today, Western wedding dresses are usually white , though "wedding white" includes creamy shades such as eggshell , ecru and ivory . Philippa of England was actually the first documented princess in history to wear a white wedding gown during a royal wedding ceremony: she wore a tunic with a cloak in white silk bordered with grey squirrel and ermine ). [ 1 ]
White did not become a popular option until 1840, after the marriage of Queen Victoria to Albert of Saxe-Coburg . Victoria had worn a white gown for the event so as to incorporate some lace she owned. The official wedding portrait photograph was widely published, and many other brides opted for a similar dress in honor of the Queen's choice. [ 2 ]
The tradition continues today in the form of a white wedding , though prior to the Victorian era , a bride was married in any color, black being especially popular in Scandinavia. [ 3 ] Later, many people assumed that the color white was intended to symbolize virginity , though this had not been the original intention. (It was the color blue that was connected to purity.) The white gown is in fact a symbolic Christening gown . They are a variation of the white surplice worn in the Western Catholic tradition by members of the clergy, church choirs and servers and the gowns worn by girls making their first communion and at their confirmation and also by women making religious vows . Today, the white dress is normally understood merely as the most traditional and popular choice for weddings.
Eastern culture




Vietnamese wedding Ao dai


Many wedding dresses in China , India ( wedding sari ) and Vietnam (in the traditional form of the Ao dai ) are colored red, the traditional color of good luck and auspiciousness. Nowadays, many women choose other colors besides red. In modern Chinese weddings, the bride may opt for Western dresses of any color, and later don traditional costume for the official tea ceremony .
South Indian weddings traditionally use red or gold-colored saris. [ citation needed ] Indian brides in Western countries often wear the sari at the wedding ceremony and change into traditional Indian wear afterwards ( lehnga , choli , etc.).
In Japan , brides will often wear three or more dresses throughout the ceremony and subsequent celebrations with a traditional kimono , white and colour dress combination being popular. The Javanese people of Indonesia wear a kebaya , a traditional kind of blouse, along with batik .
In the Philippines , variations of the Baro't saya are considered to be wedding attire for women, along with the Barong Tagalog for men.
Native American culture




Apache bride


The indigenous peoples of the Americas have varying traditions related to weddings and thus wedding dresses. A Hopi bride traditionally would have her garments woven by the groom and any men in the village who wished to participate. The garments consisted of a large belt, two all-white wedding robes, a white wedding robe with red stripes at top and bottom, white buckskin leggings and moccasins, a string for tying the hair, and a reed mat in which to wrap the outfit. This outfit also would serve as a shroud, since these garments would be necessary for the trip through the underworld. A Pueblo bride wore a cotton garment tied above the right shoulder, secured with a belt around the waist. In the traditions of the Delaware , a bride would wear a knee-length skirt of deerskin and a band of wampum beads around her forehead. Except for fine beads or shell necklaces, the body would be bare from the waist up. If it were a winter wedding, she would wear deerskin leggings and moccasins and a robe of turkey feathers. Her face would be painted with white, red and yellow clay. The tribes of Northern California (which include the Klamath , the Modoc and the Yurok ) had a traditional bridal dress woven in symbolic colors: white for the east, blue for the south, yellow (orange) for the west; and black for the north. Turquoise and silver jewelry were worn by both the bride and the groom in addition to a silver concho belt. Jewelry was considered a shield against evils including hunger, poverty and bad luck. [ 4 ]

Couture Beading

Couture Beading

A bead is a small, decorative object that is usually pierced for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under 1 millimetre (0.039 in) to over 1 centimetre (0.39 in) in diameter.
A pair of beads made from Nassarius sea snail shells, approximately 100,000 years old, are thought to be the earliest known examples of jewellery . [ 1 ] [ 2 ]
Beadwork is the art or craft of making things with beads. Beads can be woven together with specialized thread , strung onto thread or soft, flexible wire , or adhered to a surface (e.g. fabric , clay ).




Contents


1 Types of beads
2 Components

2.1 Natural materials
2.2 Synthetic materials


3 Manufacturing

3.1 Glassworking

3.1.1 Specialized glass techniques/types




4 Shapes

4.1 Hair pipe beads
4.2 Seed beads


5 Place or period of origin

5.1 Miscellaneous ethnic beads


6 Surface patterns
7 See also
8 Notes
9 References





//

Types of beads




Cloisonné beads


Beads may be divided into several types of overlapping categories, based on different criteria such as component materials, manufacturing process, place or period of origin, surface patterning, or general shape. In some cases, such as millefiori and cloisonné beads, multiple categories may overlap in an inseparably interdependent fashion.
Components
Beads can be made of many types of materials. The earliest beads were made of convenient natural materials; when found, these could be readily drilled and shaped. As human technology became capable of obtaining or working with more difficult natural materials, those were added to the range of available substances. The same was true of new synthetic materials when created.
In modern manufacturing, the most common bead materials are plastic , glass , metal , and stone .
Natural materials
Beads are still made from many naturally-occurring materials, both organic (i.e., of animal - or plant -based origin) and inorganic (purely mineral origin). However, some of these materials now routinely undergo some extra human processing beyond mere shaping and drilling, such as color enhancement via dyes or irradiation.
The natural organics include bone , coral , horn , ivory , seeds (such as tagua nuts), animal shell , and wood . For most of human history, pearls were the ultimate precious beads of natural origin because of their rarity, although the pearl-culturing process has now made them far more common. Amber and jet are also of natural organic origin, although both materials have undergone partial geologic fossilization .
The natural inorganics include various types of stones (from gemstones to common minerals ) and metals . Of the latter, only a few precious metals occur in pure forms, but other purified base metals may as well be placed in this category along with certain naturally-occurring alloys such as electrum .
Synthetic materials




Swarovski crystal beads ( 6 mm–8 mm ), pendant 3 cm






Fusible beads


The oldest-surviving synthetic materials used for beadmaking have generally been ceramics : pottery and glass . Beads were also made from the ancient alloys such as bronze and brass , but as those were more vulnerable to oxidation , those have generally been less well-preserved at archaeological sites.
Many different subtypes of glass are now used for beadmaking, some of which have their own component-specific names. Lead crystal beads have a high percentage of lead oxide in the glass formula, increasing the refractive index . Most of the other named glass types have their formulations and patterns inseparable from the manufacturing process.
Plastic fusible beads are also known as Perler Beads, or called "melty beads" by young children. These small colorful beads can be placed on a solid plastic-backed peg array to form designs and then melted together with a clothes iron ; alternately, they can be strung into necklaces or bracelets, or woven into keychains. Fusible beads come in many colors and degrees of transparency / opacity , including varieties that glow in the dark or have internal glitter ; peg boards come in various shapes and several geometric patterns.
Manufacturing
Modern mass-produced beads are generally shaped by carving or casting , depending on the material and desired effect. In some cases, more specialized metalworking or glassworking techniques may be employed, or a combination of multiple techniques and materials such as cloisonné .
Glassworking




Pressed glass beads (matte finish with an AB coating)






Fire polished beads (10 millimetres (0.39 in)) with AB coating


Most glass beads are pressed glass , mass-produced by preparing a molten batch of glass of the desired color and pouring it into molds to form the desired shape. This is also true of most plastic beads.
A smaller and more expensive subset of glass and lead crystal beads are cut into precise faceted shapes on an individual basis. This was once done by hand, but has largely been taken over by precision machinery.
"Fire-polished" faceted beads are a less expensive alternative to hand-cut faceted glass or crystal. They derive their name from the second half of a two-part process: first, the glass batch is poured into molds with faceted shapes and allowed to cool; the faceted beads are then poured onto a tray and briefly reheated just long enough to melt the surface, "polishing" out any minor surface irregularities from the mold.
Specialized glass techniques/types




Dichroic beads (10 millimetres (0.39 in))






Furnace glass beads


There are several specialized glassworking techniques that create a distinctive appearance throughout the body of the resulting beads, which are then primarily referred to by the glass type.
If the glass batch is used to create a large massive block instead of pre-shaping it as it cools, the result may then be carved into smaller items in the same manner as stone. Conversely, glass artisans may make beads by lampworking the glass on an individual basis; once formed, the beads undergo little or no further shaping after the layers have been properly annealed .
Most of these glass subtypes are some form of fused glass , although goldstone is created by controlling the reductive atmosphere of the glass batch rather than by fusing separate components together.
Dichroic glass beads incorporate a semitransparent microlayer of metal between two or more layers. Fibre optic glass beads have an eyecatching chatoyant effect across the grain.
There are also several ways to fuse many small glass canes together into a multicolored pattern, resulting in millefiori beads or chevron beads (sometimes called "trade beads"). "Furnace glass" beads encase a multicolored core in a transparent exterior layer which is then annealed in a furnace.
More economically, millefiori beads can also be made by limiting the patterning process to long, narrow canes or rods known as murrine. Thin cross-sections, or "decals", can then be cut from the murrine and fused into the surface of a plain glass bead.
Shapes

Bugle beads

Hair pipe beads
Elk rib bones were the original material for the long, tubular hair pipe beads. [ 3 ] Today these beads are commonly made of bison and water buffalo bones and are that popular for breastplates and chokers among Plains Indians . Black variations of these beads are made from the animals' horns.
Seed beads
Main article: Seed bead
Seed beads are uniformly shaped spheroidal or tube shaped beads ranging in size from under a millimetre to several millimetres. "Seed Bead" is a generic term for any small bead. Usually rounded in shape, seed beads are most commonly used for loom and off-loom bead weaving.
Place or period of origin




Carved Cinnabar lacquer beads


African trade beads or slave beads may be antique beads that were manufactured in Europe and used for trade during the colonial period, such as chevron beads; or they may have been made in West Africa by and for Africans, such as Mauritanian Kiffa beads , Ghanaian and Nigerian powder glass beads , or African-made brass beads.
Austrian crystal is a generic term for cut lead-crystal beads, based on the location and prestige of the Swarovski firm.
Czech glass beads are made in the Czech Republic , centralized around an area called Jablonec nad Nisou . Production of glass beads in the area dates back to the 14th century, though production was depressed under communist rule. Because of this long tradition, their workmanship and quality has an excellent reputation.
Vintage beads , in the collectibles and antique market, refers to an items that are at 25 or more years old. Vintage beads are available in materials that include lucite, plastic, crystal, metal and glass.
Miscellaneous ethnic beads
Tibetan Dzi beads and Rudraksha beads are customary for making Buddhist and Hindu rosaries ( malas ). Magatama are traditional Japanese beads, and cinnabar was often used for beads in China . Wampum are cylindrical white or purple beads made from quahog or North Atlantic channeled whelk shells by northeastern Native American tribes, such as the Wampanoag and Shinnecock . [ 4 ] Job's tears are a popular seed beads among southeastern Native American tribes.
Surface patterns
After shaping, glass and crystal beads can have their surface appearance enhanced by etching a translucent frosted layer, applying an additional color layer, or both. Aurora Borealis , or AB, is a surface coating that diffuses light into a rainbow. Other surface coatings are vitrail, moonlight, dorado, satin, star shine, heliotrope.
Faux beads are beads that are made to look like a more expensive original material, especially in the case of fake pearls and simulated rocks, minerals and gemstones . Precious metals and ivory are also imitated.
Tagua nuts from South America are used as an ivory substitute since the natural ivory trade has been restricted worldwide.
See also



Wikimedia Commons has media related to: beads





Look up bead in Wiktionary , the free dictionary.



Glass beadmaking
Abacus beads
Ultraviolet-sensitive bead

Red gowns

Red gowns

A wedding dress or wedding gown is the clothing worn by a bride during a wedding ceremony. Colour, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants.




Contents


1 Western culture
2 Eastern culture
3 Native American culture
4 Gallery
5 Notes





//

Western culture
Weddings performed during and immediately following the Middle Ages were often more than just a union between two people. They could be a union between two families, two businesses or even two countries. Many weddings were more a matter of politics than love, particularly among the nobility and the higher social classes. Brides were therefore expected to dress in a manner that cast their families in the most favorable light, for they were not representing only themselves during the ceremony. Brides from wealthy families often wore rich colors and exclusive fabrics. It was common to see them wearing bold colors and layers of furs, velvet and silk .




The woman to the far right is wearing a typical wedding dress from 1929. Up until the late 1930s, wedding dresses reflected the styles of the day. From that time onward, wedding dresses have traditionally been based on Victorian styles.


Over the centuries, brides continued to dress in a manner befitting their social status—always in the height of fashion, with the richest, boldest materials money could buy. The poorest of brides wore their best church dress on their wedding day. The amount of material a wedding dress contained also was a reflection of the bride's social standing and indicated the extent of the family's wealth to wedding guests. Today, there are wedding dresses available in all price ranges, and Western traditions have loosened up to include a rainbow of colors and variety of lengths, which are now considered acceptable. Women may purchase ready-made gowns, wear a family heirloom, or they may choose to have a dressmaker create one for her. In addition, today many bridal salons have samples of wedding gowns in their stores where the bride selects a certain style and orders one to be made to fit.
Wedding dresses have traditionally been based on the popular styles of the day. For example, in the 1920s, wedding dresses were typically short in the front with a longer train in the back and were worn with cloche -style wedding veils. This tendency to follow current fashions continued until the late 1940s, when it became popular to revert to long, full-skirted designs reminiscent of the Victorian era. Although there has always been a style that dominates the bridal market for a time, and then shifts with the changes in fashion, a growing number of modern brides are not choosing to follow these trends. This is due in large part to non-traditional and non-first-time weddings, and women who are marrying later in life.
Today, Western wedding dresses are usually white , though "wedding white" includes creamy shades such as eggshell , ecru and ivory . Philippa of England was actually the first documented princess in history to wear a white wedding gown during a royal wedding ceremony: she wore a tunic with a cloak in white silk bordered with grey squirrel and ermine ). [ 1 ]
White did not become a popular option until 1840, after the marriage of Queen Victoria to Albert of Saxe-Coburg . Victoria had worn a white gown for the event so as to incorporate some lace she owned. The official wedding portrait photograph was widely published, and many other brides opted for a similar dress in honor of the Queen's choice. [ 2 ]
The tradition continues today in the form of a white wedding , though prior to the Victorian era , a bride was married in any color, black being especially popular in Scandinavia. [ 3 ] Later, many people assumed that the color white was intended to symbolize virginity , though this had not been the original intention. (It was the color blue that was connected to purity.) The white gown is in fact a symbolic Christening gown . They are a variation of the white surplice worn in the Western Catholic tradition by members of the clergy, church choirs and servers and the gowns worn by girls making their first communion and at their confirmation and also by women making religious vows . Today, the white dress is normally understood merely as the most traditional and popular choice for weddings.
Eastern culture




Vietnamese wedding Ao dai


Many wedding dresses in China , India ( wedding sari ) and Vietnam (in the traditional form of the Ao dai ) are colored red, the traditional color of good luck and auspiciousness. Nowadays, many women choose other colors besides red. In modern Chinese weddings, the bride may opt for Western dresses of any color, and later don traditional costume for the official tea ceremony .
South Indian weddings traditionally use red or gold-colored saris. [ citation needed ] Indian brides in Western countries often wear the sari at the wedding ceremony and change into traditional Indian wear afterwards ( lehnga , choli , etc.).
In Japan , brides will often wear three or more dresses throughout the ceremony and subsequent celebrations with a traditional kimono , white and colour dress combination being popular. The Javanese people of Indonesia wear a kebaya , a traditional kind of blouse, along with batik .
In the Philippines , variations of the Baro't saya are considered to be wedding attire for women, along with the Barong Tagalog for men.
Native American culture




Apache bride


The indigenous peoples of the Americas have varying traditions related to weddings and thus wedding dresses. A Hopi bride traditionally would have her garments woven by the groom and any men in the village who wished to participate. The garments consisted of a large belt, two all-white wedding robes, a white wedding robe with red stripes at top and bottom, white buckskin leggings and moccasins, a string for tying the hair, and a reed mat in which to wrap the outfit. This outfit also would serve as a shroud, since these garments would be necessary for the trip through the underworld. A Pueblo bride wore a cotton garment tied above the right shoulder, secured with a belt around the waist. In the traditions of the Delaware , a bride would wear a knee-length skirt of deerskin and a band of wampum beads around her forehead. Except for fine beads or shell necklaces, the body would be bare from the waist up. If it were a winter wedding, she would wear deerskin leggings and moccasins and a robe of turkey feathers. Her face would be painted with white, red and yellow clay. The tribes of Northern California (which include the Klamath , the Modoc and the Yurok ) had a traditional bridal dress woven in symbolic colors: white for the east, blue for the south, yellow (orange) for the west; and black for the north. Turquoise and silver jewelry were worn by both the bride and the groom in addition to a silver concho belt. Jewelry was considered a shield against evils including hunger, poverty and bad luck. [ 4 ]

Custom Sari

Custom Sari

A Sari or Saree is a strip of unstitched cloth , ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles. [ 1 ] It is popular in India , Nepal , Bangladesh , Pakistan , Sri Lanka , Bhutan , Burma and Malaysia . The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist , with one end then draped over the shoulder baring the midriff. [ 1 ]
The sari is usually worn over a petticoat ( pavada/pavadai in the south, "chaniyo" in the west and shaya in eastern India), with a blouse known as a choli or ravika forming the upper garment. The choli has short sleeves and a low neck and is usually cropped, and as such is particularly well-suited for wear in the sultry South Asian summers. Cholis may be "backless" or of a halter neck style. These are usually more dressy with a lot of embellishments such as mirrors or embroidery and may be worn on special occasions. Women in the armed forces , when wearing a sari uniform, don a half-sleeve shirt tucked in at the waist. Saree developed as a garment of its own in both South and North India at around the same time, and is now a symbol for all of India. [ 2 ]




Contents


1 Origins and history
2 Styles of draping

2.1 In Bangladesh
2.2 In Pakistan
2.3 In Sri Lanka
2.4 In Nepal


3 The sari as cloth
4 Types of saris

4.1 Northern styles
4.2 Western styles
4.3 Central styles
4.4 Southern styles
4.5 Eastern styles


5 Images
6 See also
7 Notes
8 Further reading
9 External links





//

Origins and history




A Mohiniyattom dancer from Kerala , in Sari


The word 'sari' evolved from the Prakrit word 'sattika' as mentioned in earliest Jain and Buddhist literature. [ 3 ]
The history of Indian clothing trace the sari back to the Indus Valley Civilisation , which flourished during 2800-1800 BCE around the western part of the Indian subcontinent . [ 1 ] The earliest known depiction of the saree in the Indian subcontinent is the statue of an Indus Valley priest wearing a drape. [ 1 ]
Ancient Tamil poetry, such as the Silappadhikaram and the Kadambari by Banabhatta , describes women in exquisite drapery or saree. [ 4 ] In ancient Indian tradition and the Natya Shastra (an ancient Indian treatise describing ancient dance and costumes), the navel of the Supreme Being is considered to be the source of life and creativity, hence the midriff is to be left bare by the saree. [ 5 ]
Sculptures from the Gandhara , Mathura and Gupta schools ( 1st - 6th century AD) show goddesses and dancers wearing what appears to be a dhoti wrap, in the "fishtail" version which covers the legs loosely and then flows into a long, decorative drape in front of the legs. No bodices are shown. [ 6 ]
Other sources say that everyday costume consisted of a dhoti or lungi (sarong), combined with a breast band and a veil or wrap that could be used to cover the upper body or head. The two-piece Kerala mundum neryathum (mundu, a dhoti or sarong, neryath, a shawl, in Malayalam ) is a survival of ancient Indian clothing styles, the one-piece sari is a modern innovation, created by combining the two pieces of the mundum neryathum. [ 7 ]
It is generally accepted that wrapped sari-like garments, shawls, and veils have been worn by Indian women for a long time, and that they have been worn in their current form for hundreds of years.
One point of particular controversy is the history of the choli , or sari blouse, and the petticoat. Some researchers state that these were unknown before the British arrived in India, and that they were introduced to satisfy Victorian ideas of modesty. Previously, women only wore one draped cloth and casually exposed the upper body and breasts. Other historians point to much textual and artistic evidence for various forms of breastband and upper-body shawl.
In Kerala and Tamil Nadu , it is indeed documented that women from many communities wore only the sari and exposed the upper part of the body till the 20th century. [ 8 ] Poetic references from works like Silappadikaram indicate that during the sangam period in ancient Tamil Nadu, a single piece of clothing served as both lower garment and head covering, leaving the bosom and midriff completely uncovered. [ 4 ] In Kerala there are many references to women being bare-breasted, [ 8 ] including many pictures by Raja Ravi Varma . Even today, women in some rural areas do not wear cholis.
Styles of draping
The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist , with the loose end of the drape to be worn over the shoulder, baring the stomach. [ 1 ] However, the sari can be draped in several different styles, though some styles do require a sari of a particular length or form. The French cultural anthropologist and sari researcher, Chantal Boulanger , categorized sari drapes in the following families: [ 9 ]

Nivi – styles originally worn in Andhra Pradesh ; besides the modern nivi, there is also the kaccha nivi , where the pleats are passed through the legs and tucked into the waist at the back. This allows free movement while covering the legs.
Bengali and Oriya style.
Gujarati – this style differs from the nivi only in the manner that the loose end is handled: in this style, the loose end is draped over the right shoulder rather than the left, and is also draped back-to-front rather than the other way around.
Maharashtrian /Kashta; this drape is very similar to that of the male Maharashtrian dhoti . The center of the sari (held lengthwise) is placed at the center back, the ends are brought forward and tied securely, then the two ends are wrapped around the legs. When worn as a sari, an extra-long cloth is used and the ends are then passed up over the shoulders and the upper body. They are primarily worn by Brahmin women of Maharashtra , Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Dravidian – sari drapes worn in Tamil Nadu; many feature a pinkosu , or pleated rosette, at the waist.
Madisaara style – this drape is typical of Brahmin ladies from Tamil Nadu and Kerala
Kodagu style – this drape is confined to ladies hailing from the Kodagu district of Karnataka . In this style, the pleats are created in the rear, instead of the front. The loose end of the sari is draped back-to-front over the right shoulder, and is pinned to the rest of the sari.
Gond – sari styles found in many parts of Central India. The cloth is first draped over the left shoulder, then arranged to cover the body.
the two-piece sari, or mundum neryathum , worn in Kerala . Usually made of unbleached cotton and decorated with gold or colored stripes and/or borders.
tribal styles – often secured by tying them firmly across the chest, covering the breasts .

The nivi style is today's most popular sari style. (Dongerkerry K. S. 1959). [ 10 ]




A highly embroidered wedding sari



The nivi drape starts with one end of the sari tucked into the waistband of the petticoat. The cloth is wrapped around the lower body once, then hand-gathered into even pleats just below the navel. The pleats are also tucked into the waistband of the petticoat. [ 10 ] They create a graceful, decorative effect which poets have likened to the petals of a flower. [ 10 ]


After one more turn around the waist, the loose end is draped over the shoulder. [ 10 ] The loose end is called the pallu or pallav. It is draped diagonally in front of the torso. It is worn across the right hip to over the left shoulder, partly baring the midriff. [ 10 ] The navel can be revealed or concealed by the wearer by adjusting the pallu, depending on the social setting in which the sari is being worn. The long end of the pallu hanging from the back of the shoulder is often intricately decorated. The pallav may either be left hanging freely,tucked in at the waist, used to cover the head, or just used to cover the neck, by draping it across the right shoulder as well. Some nivi styles are worn with the pallu draped from the back towards the front.

The Nivi saree was popularised through the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma . [ 11 ] by modifying the south indian saree called mundum neriyathum . In one of his painting the Indian subcontinent was shown as a mother wearing a flowing nivi saree. [ 11 ]
In Bangladesh




Silk Sari Weaving at Kanchipuram , Tamil Nadu


The Sari is worn by women throughout Bangladesh. There are many regional variations of Saris in both silk and cotton. But the Jamdani Tanta/Taant Cotton, Dhakai Benarosi, Rajshahi silk, Tangail Tanter Sari, tashar silk and Katan Sari as the most popular in Bangladesh.
Theres more information of Bangladeshi Sarees on this link: http://www.sareeguru.com/acatalog/Bangladeshi_Sarees.html
It was very helpful to me and hopefully it would be for you.
In Pakistan
In Pakistan, the wearing of saris is less common than Salwar kameez which is worn throughout the country. Because of its long association with the Hindu culture and it exposing the stomach and navel, Sari is considered to be against the injunctions of Islam and as a 'Hindu dress'. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] Even though, Sari has been worn by people living in the region that is now Pakistan since ancient times, it's lost popularity since 1947. Many Islamic right wing elements have pressed on a move to ban Sari. [ 13 ] However, sari remains a popular dress among the upper class for many formal functions. [ 14 ] The sari is worn as daily-wear by Pakistani Hindus , by those elderly Muslim women who were used to wearing it in pre-partition India [ 15 ] and by some of the new generation who have re-introduced the interest in saris. [ 16 ]
In Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan women wear saris in many styles. However, two ways of draping the sari are popular and tend to dominate; the Indian style (classic nivi drape) and the Kandyan style (or 'osaria' in Sinhalese). The Kandyan style is generally more popular in the hill country region of Kandy from which the style gets its name. Though local preferences play a role, most women decide on style depending on personal preference or what is perceived to be most flattering for their figure.
The traditional Kandyan (Osaria) style consists of a full blouse which covers the midriff completely, and is partially tucked in at the front as is seen in this 19th century portrait. However, modern intermingling of styles has led to most wearers baring the midriff. The final tail of the sari is neatly pleated rather than free-flowing. This is rather similar to the pleated rosette used in the 'Dravidian' style noted earlier in the article.
Kandyan style is considered as the national dress of Sinhalese women. It is the Uniform of air hostesses of Sri Lankan Airlines.
In Nepal
In Nepal, a special style of draping is used in a sari called Haku patasi. The sari is draped around the waist and a shawl is worn covering upper half of sari which is used in place of "pallu".
The sari as cloth




Woman doing Block Printing on a sari, Halasur village, Karnataka


Saris are woven with one plain end (the end that is concealed inside the wrap), two long decorative borders running the length of the sari, and a one to three foot section at the other end which continues and elaborates the length-wise decoration. This end is called the pallu ; it is the part thrown over the shoulder in the Nivi style of draping.
In past times, saris were woven of silk or cotton . The rich could afford finely-woven, diaphanous silk saris that, according to folklore , could be passed through a finger ring . The poor wore coarsely woven cotton saris. All saris were handwoven and represented a considerable investment of time or money.
Simple hand-woven villagers' saris are often decorated with checks or stripes woven into the cloth. Inexpensive saris were also decorated with block printing using carved wooden blocks and vegetable dyes, or tie-dyeing , known in India as bhandani work.
More expensive saris had elaborate geometric, floral, or figurative ornaments or brocades created on the loom, as part of the fabric. Sometimes warp and weft threads were tie-dyed and then woven, creating ikat patterns. Sometimes threads of different colors were woven into the base fabric in patterns; an ornamented border, an elaborate pallu, and often, small repeated accents in the cloth itself. These accents are called buttis or bhutties (spellings vary). For fancy saris, these patterns could be woven with gold or silver thread , which is called zari work.
Sometimes the saris were further decorated, after weaving, with various sorts of embroidery. Resham work is embroidery done with colored silk thread. Zardozi embroidery uses gold and silver thread and sometimes pearls and precious stones . Cheap modern versions of zardozi use synthetic metallic thread and imitation stones , such as fake pearls and Swarovski crystals.
In modern times, saris are increasingly woven on mechanical looms and made of artificial fibers, such as polyester , nylon , or rayon , which do not require starching or ironing . They are printed by machine, or woven in simple patterns made with floats across the back of the sari. This can create an elaborate appearance on the front, while looking ugly on the back. The punchra work is imitated with inexpensive machine-made tassel trim.
Hand-woven, hand-decorated saris are naturally much more expensive than the machine imitations. While the over-all market for handweaving has plummeted (leading to much distress among Indian handweavers), hand-woven saris are still popular for weddings and other grand social occasions.
Types of saris




Girl standing in a veranda wearing a Pochampalli sari, Painting by Hermann Linde, 1895


While an international image of the 'modern style' sari may have been popularised by airline stewardesses, each region in the Indian subcontinent has developed, over the centuries, its own unique sari style. Following are the well known varieties, distinct on the basis of fabric, weaving style, or motif, in South Asia :
Northern styles

Banarasi – Uttar Pradesh
Shalu – Uttar Pradesh

Western styles

Paithani – Maharashtra
Bandhani – Gujarat and Rajasthan
Kota doria Rajasthan
Lugade – Maharashtra
Patola – Gujarat

Central styles

Chanderi – Madhya Pradesh
Maheshwari – Madhya Pradesh
Kosa silk – Chattisgarh

Southern styles

Kanchipuram (locally called Kanjivaram) – Tamil Nadu
Coimbatore – Tamil Nadu
Chinnalapatti – Tamil Nadu
Chettinad – Tamil Nadu
Madurai – Tamil Nadu
Arani – Tamil Nadu
Pochampally – Andhra Pradesh ( GI rights applied) [ 17 ]
Venkatagiri – Andhra Pradesh
Gadwal – Andhra Pradesh
Guntur – Andhra Pradesh
Narayanpet – Andhra Pradesh
Mangalagiri – Andhra Pradesh
Balarampuram – Kerala
Mysore Silk – Karnataka
Ilkal saree – Karnataka

Eastern styles

Tussar Silk – Bihar
Tangail cotton – Bangladesh
Jamdani – Bangladesh
Dhakai Benarasi – Bangladesh
Rajshahi Silk – Bangladesh
Mooga silk – Assam
Tant famous Bengali cotton – Shantipur , West Bengal
Dhaniakhali cotton – West Bengal
Murshidabad silk – West Bengal
Baluchari silk – West Bengal
Sambalpuri silk – Orissa
Kotki (from Cuttack) – Orissa
Ikkat (from Orissa)

Images








Women in saris









Ramanadha in sari









Fatima Jinnah









Sari Showcase at a store











North Indian Women in Sari by Raja Ravi Varma









Banarasi Sari from Baily Road, Bangladesh









A Sambalpuri Handloom Sari From Orissa









Keralite woman in Sari South India





See also

Achkan
Dhoti
Lungi
Choli
Ghoonghat
Indian dress
Salwar kameez
sarong
Churidar and Kurta
Ghagra
Lehenga
Dupatta
Wedding sari
Lehenga Style Saree

brides

brides

Wedding ceremony participants , also referred to as the wedding party are the people that participate directly in the wedding ceremony itself.
Depending on the location, religion, and style of the wedding, this group may include only the individual people that are marrying, or it may include one or more brides , grooms (or bridegrooms ), maids of honor , bridesmaids , best men , groomsmen , flower girls , page boys and ringbearers .
A woman's bridal party consists of only those on her side of the wedding party. Those on a groom's side are called his groom's party .




Contents


1 Bride

1.1 Attire
1.2 History


2 Bridegroom
3 Bridesmaids

3.1 Maid of honor
3.2 Origin and history


4 Groomsmen

4.1 Best man


5 Flower girls
6 Page boys, coinbearers and ringbearers
7 Officiant/Celebrant
8 Gallery

8.1 Modern-day weddings
8.2 Historical weddings


9 See also
10 References





//

Bride




A bride during a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony in India.






Bride and groom in traditional Chinese clothing. The bride and groom wear red or with red decoration, which is associated with courage, loyalty, honor, success, fortune, fertility, happiness, and passion in Chinese culture.






The woman to the far right is wearing a typical wedding dress from 1929. Up until the late 1930s wedding dresses reflected the styles of the day. From that time onward, wedding dresses have been based on Victorian ballgowns.






An elaborate dress from 1929


A bride is a woman about to be married or newly-wed.
The word may come from the Teutonic word for " cooking ". [ 1 ] In Western culture, a bride may be attended by one or more bridesmaids or maids of honor.
Her partner, who becomes her spouse after the wedding, is referred to as the bridegroom (or groom ) if male.
Attire
In Europe and North America , the typical attire for a bride is a formal dress and a veil. Usually, in the " white wedding " model, the bride's dress is bought specifically for the wedding, and is not in a style that could be worn for any subsequent events. Previously, until at least the middle of the 19th century, the bride generally wore her best dress, whatever color it was, or if the bride was well-off, she ordered a new dress in her favorite color and expected to wear it again. [ 2 ]
For first marriages in Western countries, a white wedding dress is usually worn, a tradition started by Queen Victoria 's wedding. Through the earlier parts of the 20th century, Western etiquette prescribed that a white dress should not be worn for subsequent marriages, since the wearing of white was mistakenly regarded by some as an ancient symbol of virginity , despite the fact that wearing white is a fairly recent development in wedding traditions. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Today, Western brides frequently wear white, cream, or ivory dresses for any number of marriages; the color of the dress is not a comment on the bride's sexual history. White wedding dresses are uncommon in Chinese, Hindu, Vietnamese , Korean, and Japanese traditions, because white is the color of mourning and death in those cultures. In many Asian cultures red is usual for brides, as this colour indicates vibrance and health and has over time been associated with brides. However in modern times other colours may be worn, or Western styles preferred. Regardless of colour in most Asian cultures bridal clothes are highly decorative, often covered with embroidery, beading or gold. In some traditions brides may wear more than one outfit, this is true for example in Japan, parts of India, and, archaically, in parts of the Arab world.
Particular styles of jewellery are often associated with bridal wear, for example wedding rings in most Western cultures, or chura (red and white bangles) in Punjabi Sikh culture. Wedding jewellery has traditionally been used to demonstrate the value of the bride's dowry.
In addition to the gown, the bride often wears a veil and carries a bouquet of flowers, a small heirloom such as a lucky coin, a prayer book , or other token. In Western countries, the bride may wear “something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue”; a bridal purse (or money bag ) is also common. [ 5 ]
History
The term bride appears in combination with many words, some of them obsolete. Thus "bridegroom" is the newly married man, and "bride-bell," "bride-banquet" are old equivalents of wedding-bells, wedding-breakfast. "Bridal" (from Bride-ale ), originally the wedding-feast itself, has grown into a general descriptive adjective, the bridal ceremony. The bride-cake had its origin in the Roman confarreatio , a form of marriage, the essential features of which were the eating by the couple of a cake made of salt, water and spelt flour, and the holding by the bride of three wheat-ears, a symbol of plenty.




Queen Victoria and Prince Albert possibly recreating a wedding pose from their 1840 wedding for the newly developed art form of photography. (1854)


The cake-eating went out of fashion, but the wheat ears survived. In the Middle Ages they were either worn or carried by the bride. Eventually it became the custom for the young girls to assemble outside the church porch and throw grains of wheat over the bride, and afterwards a scramble for the grains took place. In time the wheat-grains came to be cooked into thin dry biscuits, which were broken over the bride's head, as is the custom in Scotland to-day, an oatmeal cake being used. In Elizabeth 's reign these biscuits began to take the form of small rectangular cakes made of eggs, milk, sugar, currants and spices. Every wedding guest had one at least, and the whole collection were thrown at the bride the instant she crossed the threshold. Those that lighted on her head or shoulders were most prized by the scramblers. At last these cakes became amalgamated into a large one that took on its full glories of almond paste and ornaments during Charles II 's time. But even to-day in rural parishes, e.g. north Notts, wheat is thrown over the bridal couple with the cry "Bread for life and pudding for ever," expressive of a wish that the newly wed may be always affluent. The throwing of rice, a very ancient custom but one later than the wheat, is symbolical of the wish that the bridal may be fruitful. [ 6 ] [ 7 ]
The bride-cup was the bowl or loving-cup in which the bridegroom pledged the bride, and she him. The custom of breaking this wine-cup, after the bridal couple had drained its contents, is common to the Jewish faith. It is trodden under foot. The phrase "bride-cup" was also sometimes used of the bowl of spiced wine prepared at night for the bridal couple. Bride-favours , anciently called bride-lace, were at first pieces of gold, silk or other lace, used to bind up the sprigs of rosemary formerly worn at weddings. These took later the form of bunches of ribbons, which were at last metamorphosed into rosettes.
The bride-wain , the wagon in which the bride was driven to her new home, gave its name to the weddings of any poor deserving couple, who drove a "wain" round the village, collecting small sums of money or articles of furniture towards their housekeeping. These were called bidding-weddings, or bid-ales, which were in the nature of "benefit" feasts. So general is still the custom of "bidding-weddings" in Wales, that printers usually keep the form of invitation in type. Sometimes as many as six hundred couples will walk in the bridal procession.
The bride's wreath is a Christian substitute for the gilt coronet all Jewish brides wore. The crowning of the bride is still observed by the Russians, and the Calvinists of Holland and Switzerland. The wearing of orange blossoms is said to have started with the Saracens, who regarded them as emblems of fecundity. It was introduced into Europe by the Crusaders. The bride's veil is the modern form of the flammeum or large yellow veil that completely enveloped the Greek and Roman brides during the ceremony. Such a covering is still in use among the Jews and the Persians. [ 8 ] [ 9 ]
Bridegroom




A bridegroom in India, wearing silk clothes and a garland of flowers






Groom wearing military uniform, with his bride in 1942


A bridegroom (usually shortened to groom ) is a man who is about to be married , or who has just been married.
The word bridegroom is dated to 1604, derived from bride and the archaic goom , from Old English guma , "boy". [ 10 ]
A bridegroom is typically attended by a best man and groomsmen.
The style of the groom's clothing depends upon the time of day, the location of the ceremony, the style in which the ceremony is performed, and whether the groom is a member of the armed forces . In most parts of the world, active-duty members of the military and some law enforcement agencies wear their military uniforms instead of civilian clothing.
Western traditions usually have the groom wearing a suit of an appropriate level of formality to the occasion and the time of day. In the US, the groom usually wears a dark-coloured suit (daytime) or tuxedo (evening) during the wedding ceremony. British tradition requires groom, male ushers and close male family to wear morning suits . [ 11 ] In Scotland, a full evening suit is customarily worn for evening ceremonies, often comprising a kilt .
The groom usually wears a neckwear that fits the attire he is wearing. Most grooms will wear bowtie to match their tuxedo or suit as this is the most formal neckwear in the series. [ 12 ] A cravat is usually more flamboyant and less formal and is worn with morning suits. The four in hand tie is also getting more common due to the variety that is easily obtainable.
Bridesmaids




Seven bridesmaids in matching dresses, with the bride


The bridesmaids are members of the bride's wedding party in a wedding. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman, and often a close friend or sister. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony. Traditionally, bridesmaids were chosen from unwed young women of marriageable age.
The principal bridesmaid, if one is so designated, may be called the chief bridesmaid or maid of honor if she is unmarried, or the matron of honor if she is married. A junior bridesmaid is a girl who is clearly too young to be marriageable, but who is included as an honorary bridesmaid.
Often there is more than one bridesmaid: in modern times the bride chooses how many to ask. Historically, no person of status went out unattended, and the size of the retinue was closely calculated to be appropriate to the family's social status. Then, as now, a large group of bridesmaids provided an opportunity for showing off the family's social status and wealth .
The required duties of bridesmaids are very limited. [ 13 ] They are required to attend the wedding ceremony and to assist the bride on the day of the wedding. Bridesmaids in Europe and North America are often asked to assist the bride with planning the wedding and a wedding reception . In modern times, a bridesmaid is also typically asked to play a role in planning wedding-related events, such as a bridal shower or bachelorette party , if there are any. These, however, are optional activities; according to etiquette expert Judith Martin , "Contrary to rumor, bridesmaids are not obliged to entertain in honor of the bride, nor to wear dresses they cannot afford." [ 14 ] If it is customary in the bride's area to have a bridesmaids luncheon, then it is hosted, and therefore organized and paid for, by the bride. [ 15 ] A junior bridesmaid has no responsibilities beyond attending the wedding.
Since modern bridesmaids, unlike their historical counterparts, can no longer rely on having their clothes and travel expenses paid for by the bride's family, and are sometimes even assessed fees to pay for parties that the bride wants to have before the wedding, it has become customary for the bride to present the bridesmaids with gifts as a sign of gratitude for the support and financial commitment that comes with their roles. It has become equally customary for wary women who are invited to serve as bridesmaids to first ask after the amount of time, energy, and money that the bride expects from them before accepting this position.
Maid of honor
In the United Kingdom , the term " maid of honour " originally referred to the female attendant of a queen . The term bridesmaid is normally used for all bridal attendants in the UK. However, when the attendant is married, or is a mature woman, the term matron of honour is often used. The influence of American English has led to the chief bridesmaid sometimes being called the maid of honor.
In North America, a wedding party might include several bridesmaids, but the maid of honor is the title and position held by the bride's chief attendant, typically her closest friend or sister. In modern day weddings some brides opt to choose a long-time male friend or brother as their head attendant, using the title Best Man or man of honor .
The activities of the principal bridesmaid may be as many or as varied as she allows the bride to impose upon her. Her only required duty is to participate in the wedding ceremony. Typically, however, she is asked for help with the logistics of the wedding as an event, such as addressing invitations, and for her help as a friend, such as attending the bride as she shops for her wedding dress.
Traditionally, hosting the bridal shower falls to the mother of the bride. Gifts are not required of those who attend the shower, however it is proper etiquette. The shower normally takes place four to six weeks before the wedding. [ 16 ]
On the day of the wedding, her principal duty is to provide practical and emotional support. She might assist the bride with dressing and, if needed, help the bride manage her veil, a bouquet of flowers, a prayer book, or the train of her wedding dress during the day. In a double-ring wedding, the chief bridesmaid is often entrusted with the groom's wedding ring until it is needed during the ceremony. Many brides ask bridesmaids, if they are adults , to be legal witnesses who sign the marriage license after the ceremony. If there is a reception after the wedding, the maid of honor may be asked to offer a toast to the newlyweds.
Origin and history
The Western bridesmaid tradition is thought to have originated from Roman Law , which required ten witnesses at a wedding in order to outsmart evil spirits (believed to attend marriage ceremonies) by dressing in identical clothing to the bride and groom, so that the evil spirits would not know who was getting married. [ citation needed ] Even as late as 19th century England, there was a belief that ill-wishers could administer curses and taint the wedding. [ citation needed ] In Victorian wedding photographs, for example, the bride and groom are frequently dressed in the same fashion as other members of the bridal party. [ citation needed ]
Other people cite the Biblical story of Jacob , and his two wives Leah and Rachel , who both literally came with their own maids as detailed in the Book of Genesis (29:24, 46:18) as the origin of bridesmaids. These women were handmaidens (servants or slaves) instead of social peers. [ citation needed ]
Groomsmen
A groomsman is one of the male attendants to the bridegroom in a wedding ceremony. The term usher is more common in the UK, but in the US such a term would imply that the groom's friends are less important or honored than the bride's. Usually the bridegroom selects his closest friends and/or relatives to serve as a groomsman, and it is considered an honor to be selected. From his groomsmen, the groom usually chooses one to serve as best man. The duties of the groomsmen are to help guests find their places before the ceremony and to participate in the wedding ceremony.
Additionally, the groom may request other kinds of assistance, such as planning celebratory events such as a bachelor party, also called Stag Night or Buck's Night ; helping make the wedding pleasant for guests by talking with people who are alone or dancing with unaccompanied guests or bridesmaids, if there is dancing at a wedding reception; or providing practical assistance with gifts, luggage, or unexpected complications. Groomsmen may also participate in local or regional traditions, such as decorating the newlywed couple's car.
For a wedding with many guests, the groom may also ask other male friends and relatives to act as ushers without otherwise participating in the wedding ceremony; their sole task is ushering guests to their seats before the ceremony. Ushers may also be hired for very large weddings.
In a military officer's wedding, the role of groomsmen is replaced by swordsmen of the sword honor guard . They are usually picked as close personal friends of the groom who have served with him. Their role includes forming the traditional saber arch for the married couple and guests to walk through.
Bridegroom-men and bridesmaids had formerly important duties. The men were called bride-knights, and represented a survival of the primitive days of marriage by capture, when a man called his friends in to assist to kidnap the bride .
Best man




Three groomsmen stand to the right of the groom and three bridesmaids stand to the left of the bride in this wedding in Kampot [ disambiguation needed ] , Cambodia .


Best man is the chief male assistant to the bridegroom at a wedding. In North America and Europe, the groom extends this honor to someone who is close to him, generally either a brother or his closest male friend. When the groom wishes to give this honor to a woman, she may be termed the best woman or best person , or may still be referred to as the 'best man'. The bride's equivalent of the best man is the maid or matron of honour . A gender-neutral term is honor attendant .
While the best man's required duties are only those of a friend, in the context of a western white wedding , the best man will typically:

assist the groom on the wedding day,
keep the wedding rings safe until needed during the ceremony,
act as a legal witness to the marriage, and
make a toast to the bride and groom at the reception. (Formerly, the best man would read out the telegrams of those who couldn't attend). This is known as the Best Man Speech or toast.

In the past, the bachelor party was typically scheduled for a convenient evening during the week before the wedding. A type of farewell dinner, it was always hosted, and therefore organized and paid for, by the bridegroom. [ 15 ] Common slang names for this event are bachelor party, stag do or bucks' night in different parts of the world. In many areas, this dinner is now most commonly organized by the best man, and the costs are shared by all of the participants. [ 17 ]
The best man, or honor attendants in general, are not universal customs. [ 18 ] Even in places where a best man is customary, the role may be quite different when compared to other areas or times.
In most modern, English-speaking countries, the best man is usually the groom's closest male friend. Some authors believe that the best man derives from ancient customs of marriage by kidnapping, or from defending the bride from would-be kidnappers. [ 19 ] [ 20 ]
In Eastern Orthodox weddings in Greece , the best man is often also the koumbaros or religious sponsor, and is traditionally the groom's godfather. [ 18 ] The koumbaros (or koumbara, if a woman) is an honored participant who crowns the couple and participates in circling the altar three times. In some areas, this person also pays for all the wedding expenses.
In Ukraine a best man is responsible for guarding the bride during the wedding festivities. When he or the groom steps away, the bride gets "kidnapped" or has a shoe stolen. Then the groom or the best man must pay a ransom in exchange for returning the bride, usually by paying money (which is given to the bride) or by doing something embarrassing. [ 21 ]
In Uganda a best man is expected to guide the newlyweds in the ways of marriage. This means that ideally a best man must be married, preferably to one wife and should be in position to give sound, tried and tested advice. A best man must be a confidant and be discreet about the details he shares with the new couple. [ citation needed ]
In Bhutan the best man presents himself at the wedding as a ceremonial guardian to both bride and groom. Thereafter he entertains the guests, sometimes for several hours.
Flower girls




Flower girl


A flower girl is a participant in a wedding procession. Like ring bearers and page boys, flower girls are usually members of the bride's or groom's extended family, but may also be friends. [ 22 ]
Typically, the flower girl walks in front of the bride during an entrance processional. She may spread flower petals on the floor before the bride or carry a bouquet of flowers or thornless roses . Once the processional is over, a young flower girl will sit down with her parents. If the ceremony will not be particularly long, an older child may prefer to quietly stand at the altar with the other honor attendants.
Because very young children are overwhelmed by the duties, and older girls may feel insulted by a "baby" role, the recommended age is between four and eight years of age, [ 23 ] or even older, if not offensive to the girl's feelings.
There may be more than one flower girl, particularly if the bride has several young relatives to honor. This practice is more common at British royal weddings, at elaborate weddings modeled after royal weddings, or at Victorian-themed weddings.
Historically, the clothing was provided by the families of the bride and groom, but most modern couples expect the parents of the flower girl to pay for her clothing and other expenses related to her participation. [ 22 ]
Her male equivalent is the ringbearer or page boy . Often the ringbearer and the flower girl are made to look like a couple, and they may be dressed in miniature versions of the bride's and groom's clothes.
Page boys, coinbearers and ringbearers
A page boy is a young male attendant at a wedding or cotillion . This type of wedding attendant is less common than it used to be, but is still a way of including young relatives or the children of relatives and friends in a wedding. A page is often seen at British royal weddings. There may be many pages for effect at cotillions.
Traditionally, page boys carry the bride's train, especially if she is wearing a dress with a long train. Because of the difficulty of managing the train, page boys are generally no younger than age seven, with older boys being preferred for more complicated duties. [ 24 ]




A ringbearer holding a wedding ring on a cushion.


In a formal wedding, the ring bearer is a special page who carries the wedding rings for the bridal party. This is almost always symbolic, with the ring bearer carrying a large white satin pillow on which imitation rings are sewn, while the real wedding bands are kept in the safekeeping of the best man . If the real rings are used, they are tacked on with thread to prevent their accidental loss.
The ringbearer, not to be confused with a pallbearer, as a separate role is a relatively modern innovation. In today's common wedding ceremony, the best man carries the rings.
Ring bearers are often nephews or young brothers (although they can also be nieces or sisters) and are generally in the same age range as flower girls, which is to say that they are no younger than about 5 nor older than 10. [ 24 ] If the couple have had children prior to marriage, their own child(ren) may serve as ring bearer.
The coinbearer is similar to that of the ringbearer. The coin bearer is a young boy who marches on the wedding aisle to bring the wedding coins. The wedding coins are more commonly known as wedding arrhae . [ 25 ] [ unreliable source? ] . The coins are presented to the celebrant for a blessing. The coins usually consist of thirteen gold and silver coins, to represent Jesus and his apostles. [ citation needed ] Historially, Spanish colonizers started this custom. [ citation needed ]
Officiant/Celebrant




Jewish bride approaches a chuppah


Further information: Celebrant (United States) ,  Marriage officiant ,  Officiant , and  Humanist officiant
In the United States, Canada and many other countries around the world, a celebrant is a person who performs religious or secular celebrancy services for weddings, funerals, child namings, coming of age ceremonies, and other rituals.
Most Celebrants are ordained clergy, while some are legal officials (usually judges), and others are Officiants empowered by the Humanist Associations around the world.
Celebrants may perform alternative and nontraditional ceremonies in places, and under circumstances where mainstream religious clergy will not. Some Celebrants perform same-sex weddings and commitment ceremonies . Celebrants, also called Officiants , often perform ceremonies in parks, on beaches, on mountains, on boats, on hiking trails, in hotels, in banquet halls, in private homes, and many other places.
Laws in each state of the United States vary about who has the ability to perform wedding ceremonies, but Celebrants or Officiants are usually categorized as "clergy" and have the same rights and responsibilities as ordained clergy. In Canada and in the US States of Massachusetts , Connecticut , District of Columbia , Iowa , New Hampshire and Vermont , the only places in North America where same-sex marriages are legalized, Celebrants and Officiants perform many LGBT weddings. As of 2010, Same-sex marriage are also legally performed in seven countries in Europe including Belgium , Iceland , The Netherlands , Norway , Portugal , Spain , Sweden and one country in Africa, namely South Africa .
In Scotland , since a June 2005 ruling by the Registrar General, humanist weddings are now legal, providing that they are conducted by an Authorized Celebrant of the Humanist Society of Scotland making Scotland one of only three countries in the world where this is the case. (The other two are the USA and Norway.)
Celebrants differ from Chaplains in that Celebrants serve the unaffiliated public at large, while Chaplains are usually employed by an institution such as a hospital or other health care facility, the military, etc.
In Australia, Celebrants have a slightly different role, as regulated by local and national laws. See Celebrant (Australia) for more information.
In the United States, Celebrants are professional ceremony officiants who believe in the power and effectiveness of ceremony and ritual to serve basic needs of society and the individual. They collaborate with their clients to create and perform personalized ceremonies that reflect the client’s beliefs, philosophy of life, and personality; not the Celebrant’s. See Celebrant (United States) for more information.
In Quaker weddings the couple marry each other with no third party officiating.
Gallery
Modern-day weddings








Two Astrakhan Kalmyk brides.









Bride at a Shinto wedding









Indian Muslims bride









Two grooms and some of their wedding party











A bride in her bridal gown









Kissing the bride





Historical weddings








Bride in the late 19th century









German woodcut of a medieval wedding ceremony (a bishop is standing over bed)









Scandinavian bride and maid (bottom right)









French royalty





See also

Aufruf , a Jewish ceremony for bridegrooms
Glossary of wedding terms for definitions of other wedding terms

References


Find more about Bride on Wikipedia's sister projects :






Quotations from Wikiquote



Source texts from Wikisource



Images and media from Commons

bridal

bridal

Wedding ceremony participants , also referred to as the wedding party are the people that participate directly in the wedding ceremony itself.
Depending on the location, religion, and style of the wedding, this group may include only the individual people that are marrying, or it may include one or more brides , grooms (or bridegrooms ), maids of honor , bridesmaids , best men , groomsmen , flower girls , page boys and ringbearers .
A woman's bridal party consists of only those on her side of the wedding party. Those on a groom's side are called his groom's party .




Contents


1 Bride

1.1 Attire
1.2 History


2 Bridegroom
3 Bridesmaids

3.1 Maid of honor
3.2 Origin and history


4 Groomsmen

4.1 Best man


5 Flower girls
6 Page boys, coinbearers and ringbearers
7 Officiant/Celebrant
8 Gallery

8.1 Modern-day weddings
8.2 Historical weddings


9 See also
10 References





//

Bride




A bride during a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony in India.






Bride and groom in traditional Chinese clothing. The bride and groom wear red or with red decoration, which is associated with courage, loyalty, honor, success, fortune, fertility, happiness, and passion in Chinese culture.






The woman to the far right is wearing a typical wedding dress from 1929. Up until the late 1930s wedding dresses reflected the styles of the day. From that time onward, wedding dresses have been based on Victorian ballgowns.






An elaborate dress from 1929


A bride is a woman about to be married or newly-wed.
The word may come from the Teutonic word for " cooking ". [ 1 ] In Western culture, a bride may be attended by one or more bridesmaids or maids of honor.
Her partner, who becomes her spouse after the wedding, is referred to as the bridegroom (or groom ) if male.
Attire
In Europe and North America , the typical attire for a bride is a formal dress and a veil. Usually, in the " white wedding " model, the bride's dress is bought specifically for the wedding, and is not in a style that could be worn for any subsequent events. Previously, until at least the middle of the 19th century, the bride generally wore her best dress, whatever color it was, or if the bride was well-off, she ordered a new dress in her favorite color and expected to wear it again. [ 2 ]
For first marriages in Western countries, a white wedding dress is usually worn, a tradition started by Queen Victoria 's wedding. Through the earlier parts of the 20th century, Western etiquette prescribed that a white dress should not be worn for subsequent marriages, since the wearing of white was mistakenly regarded by some as an ancient symbol of virginity , despite the fact that wearing white is a fairly recent development in wedding traditions. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Today, Western brides frequently wear white, cream, or ivory dresses for any number of marriages; the color of the dress is not a comment on the bride's sexual history. White wedding dresses are uncommon in Chinese, Hindu, Vietnamese , Korean, and Japanese traditions, because white is the color of mourning and death in those cultures. In many Asian cultures red is usual for brides, as this colour indicates vibrance and health and has over time been associated with brides. However in modern times other colours may be worn, or Western styles preferred. Regardless of colour in most Asian cultures bridal clothes are highly decorative, often covered with embroidery, beading or gold. In some traditions brides may wear more than one outfit, this is true for example in Japan, parts of India, and, archaically, in parts of the Arab world.
Particular styles of jewellery are often associated with bridal wear, for example wedding rings in most Western cultures, or chura (red and white bangles) in Punjabi Sikh culture. Wedding jewellery has traditionally been used to demonstrate the value of the bride's dowry.
In addition to the gown, the bride often wears a veil and carries a bouquet of flowers, a small heirloom such as a lucky coin, a prayer book , or other token. In Western countries, the bride may wear “something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue”; a bridal purse (or money bag ) is also common. [ 5 ]
History
The term bride appears in combination with many words, some of them obsolete. Thus "bridegroom" is the newly married man, and "bride-bell," "bride-banquet" are old equivalents of wedding-bells, wedding-breakfast. "Bridal" (from Bride-ale ), originally the wedding-feast itself, has grown into a general descriptive adjective, the bridal ceremony. The bride-cake had its origin in the Roman confarreatio , a form of marriage, the essential features of which were the eating by the couple of a cake made of salt, water and spelt flour, and the holding by the bride of three wheat-ears, a symbol of plenty.




Queen Victoria and Prince Albert possibly recreating a wedding pose from their 1840 wedding for the newly developed art form of photography. (1854)


The cake-eating went out of fashion, but the wheat ears survived. In the Middle Ages they were either worn or carried by the bride. Eventually it became the custom for the young girls to assemble outside the church porch and throw grains of wheat over the bride, and afterwards a scramble for the grains took place. In time the wheat-grains came to be cooked into thin dry biscuits, which were broken over the bride's head, as is the custom in Scotland to-day, an oatmeal cake being used. In Elizabeth 's reign these biscuits began to take the form of small rectangular cakes made of eggs, milk, sugar, currants and spices. Every wedding guest had one at least, and the whole collection were thrown at the bride the instant she crossed the threshold. Those that lighted on her head or shoulders were most prized by the scramblers. At last these cakes became amalgamated into a large one that took on its full glories of almond paste and ornaments during Charles II 's time. But even to-day in rural parishes, e.g. north Notts, wheat is thrown over the bridal couple with the cry "Bread for life and pudding for ever," expressive of a wish that the newly wed may be always affluent. The throwing of rice, a very ancient custom but one later than the wheat, is symbolical of the wish that the bridal may be fruitful. [ 6 ] [ 7 ]
The bride-cup was the bowl or loving-cup in which the bridegroom pledged the bride, and she him. The custom of breaking this wine-cup, after the bridal couple had drained its contents, is common to the Jewish faith. It is trodden under foot. The phrase "bride-cup" was also sometimes used of the bowl of spiced wine prepared at night for the bridal couple. Bride-favours , anciently called bride-lace, were at first pieces of gold, silk or other lace, used to bind up the sprigs of rosemary formerly worn at weddings. These took later the form of bunches of ribbons, which were at last metamorphosed into rosettes.
The bride-wain , the wagon in which the bride was driven to her new home, gave its name to the weddings of any poor deserving couple, who drove a "wain" round the village, collecting small sums of money or articles of furniture towards their housekeeping. These were called bidding-weddings, or bid-ales, which were in the nature of "benefit" feasts. So general is still the custom of "bidding-weddings" in Wales, that printers usually keep the form of invitation in type. Sometimes as many as six hundred couples will walk in the bridal procession.
The bride's wreath is a Christian substitute for the gilt coronet all Jewish brides wore. The crowning of the bride is still observed by the Russians, and the Calvinists of Holland and Switzerland. The wearing of orange blossoms is said to have started with the Saracens, who regarded them as emblems of fecundity. It was introduced into Europe by the Crusaders. The bride's veil is the modern form of the flammeum or large yellow veil that completely enveloped the Greek and Roman brides during the ceremony. Such a covering is still in use among the Jews and the Persians. [ 8 ] [ 9 ]
Bridegroom




A bridegroom in India, wearing silk clothes and a garland of flowers






Groom wearing military uniform, with his bride in 1942


A bridegroom (usually shortened to groom ) is a man who is about to be married , or who has just been married.
The word bridegroom is dated to 1604, derived from bride and the archaic goom , from Old English guma , "boy". [ 10 ]
A bridegroom is typically attended by a best man and groomsmen.
The style of the groom's clothing depends upon the time of day, the location of the ceremony, the style in which the ceremony is performed, and whether the groom is a member of the armed forces . In most parts of the world, active-duty members of the military and some law enforcement agencies wear their military uniforms instead of civilian clothing.
Western traditions usually have the groom wearing a suit of an appropriate level of formality to the occasion and the time of day. In the US, the groom usually wears a dark-coloured suit (daytime) or tuxedo (evening) during the wedding ceremony. British tradition requires groom, male ushers and close male family to wear morning suits . [ 11 ] In Scotland, a full evening suit is customarily worn for evening ceremonies, often comprising a kilt .
The groom usually wears a neckwear that fits the attire he is wearing. Most grooms will wear bowtie to match their tuxedo or suit as this is the most formal neckwear in the series. [ 12 ] A cravat is usually more flamboyant and less formal and is worn with morning suits. The four in hand tie is also getting more common due to the variety that is easily obtainable.
Bridesmaids




Seven bridesmaids in matching dresses, with the bride


The bridesmaids are members of the bride's wedding party in a wedding. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman, and often a close friend or sister. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony. Traditionally, bridesmaids were chosen from unwed young women of marriageable age.
The principal bridesmaid, if one is so designated, may be called the chief bridesmaid or maid of honor if she is unmarried, or the matron of honor if she is married. A junior bridesmaid is a girl who is clearly too young to be marriageable, but who is included as an honorary bridesmaid.
Often there is more than one bridesmaid: in modern times the bride chooses how many to ask. Historically, no person of status went out unattended, and the size of the retinue was closely calculated to be appropriate to the family's social status. Then, as now, a large group of bridesmaids provided an opportunity for showing off the family's social status and wealth .
The required duties of bridesmaids are very limited. [ 13 ] They are required to attend the wedding ceremony and to assist the bride on the day of the wedding. Bridesmaids in Europe and North America are often asked to assist the bride with planning the wedding and a wedding reception . In modern times, a bridesmaid is also typically asked to play a role in planning wedding-related events, such as a bridal shower or bachelorette party , if there are any. These, however, are optional activities; according to etiquette expert Judith Martin , "Contrary to rumor, bridesmaids are not obliged to entertain in honor of the bride, nor to wear dresses they cannot afford." [ 14 ] If it is customary in the bride's area to have a bridesmaids luncheon, then it is hosted, and therefore organized and paid for, by the bride. [ 15 ] A junior bridesmaid has no responsibilities beyond attending the wedding.
Since modern bridesmaids, unlike their historical counterparts, can no longer rely on having their clothes and travel expenses paid for by the bride's family, and are sometimes even assessed fees to pay for parties that the bride wants to have before the wedding, it has become customary for the bride to present the bridesmaids with gifts as a sign of gratitude for the support and financial commitment that comes with their roles. It has become equally customary for wary women who are invited to serve as bridesmaids to first ask after the amount of time, energy, and money that the bride expects from them before accepting this position.
Maid of honor
In the United Kingdom , the term " maid of honour " originally referred to the female attendant of a queen . The term bridesmaid is normally used for all bridal attendants in the UK. However, when the attendant is married, or is a mature woman, the term matron of honour is often used. The influence of American English has led to the chief bridesmaid sometimes being called the maid of honor.
In North America, a wedding party might include several bridesmaids, but the maid of honor is the title and position held by the bride's chief attendant, typically her closest friend or sister. In modern day weddings some brides opt to choose a long-time male friend or brother as their head attendant, using the title Best Man or man of honor .
The activities of the principal bridesmaid may be as many or as varied as she allows the bride to impose upon her. Her only required duty is to participate in the wedding ceremony. Typically, however, she is asked for help with the logistics of the wedding as an event, such as addressing invitations, and for her help as a friend, such as attending the bride as she shops for her wedding dress.
Traditionally, hosting the bridal shower falls to the mother of the bride. Gifts are not required of those who attend the shower, however it is proper etiquette. The shower normally takes place four to six weeks before the wedding. [ 16 ]
On the day of the wedding, her principal duty is to provide practical and emotional support. She might assist the bride with dressing and, if needed, help the bride manage her veil, a bouquet of flowers, a prayer book, or the train of her wedding dress during the day. In a double-ring wedding, the chief bridesmaid is often entrusted with the groom's wedding ring until it is needed during the ceremony. Many brides ask bridesmaids, if they are adults , to be legal witnesses who sign the marriage license after the ceremony. If there is a reception after the wedding, the maid of honor may be asked to offer a toast to the newlyweds.
Origin and history
The Western bridesmaid tradition is thought to have originated from Roman Law , which required ten witnesses at a wedding in order to outsmart evil spirits (believed to attend marriage ceremonies) by dressing in identical clothing to the bride and groom, so that the evil spirits would not know who was getting married. [ citation needed ] Even as late as 19th century England, there was a belief that ill-wishers could administer curses and taint the wedding. [ citation needed ] In Victorian wedding photographs, for example, the bride and groom are frequently dressed in the same fashion as other members of the bridal party. [ citation needed ]
Other people cite the Biblical story of Jacob , and his two wives Leah and Rachel , who both literally came with their own maids as detailed in the Book of Genesis (29:24, 46:18) as the origin of bridesmaids. These women were handmaidens (servants or slaves) instead of social peers. [ citation needed ]
Groomsmen
A groomsman is one of the male attendants to the bridegroom in a wedding ceremony. The term usher is more common in the UK, but in the US such a term would imply that the groom's friends are less important or honored than the bride's. Usually the bridegroom selects his closest friends and/or relatives to serve as a groomsman, and it is considered an honor to be selected. From his groomsmen, the groom usually chooses one to serve as best man. The duties of the groomsmen are to help guests find their places before the ceremony and to participate in the wedding ceremony.
Additionally, the groom may request other kinds of assistance, such as planning celebratory events such as a bachelor party, also called Stag Night or Buck's Night ; helping make the wedding pleasant for guests by talking with people who are alone or dancing with unaccompanied guests or bridesmaids, if there is dancing at a wedding reception; or providing practical assistance with gifts, luggage, or unexpected complications. Groomsmen may also participate in local or regional traditions, such as decorating the newlywed couple's car.
For a wedding with many guests, the groom may also ask other male friends and relatives to act as ushers without otherwise participating in the wedding ceremony; their sole task is ushering guests to their seats before the ceremony. Ushers may also be hired for very large weddings.
In a military officer's wedding, the role of groomsmen is replaced by swordsmen of the sword honor guard . They are usually picked as close personal friends of the groom who have served with him. Their role includes forming the traditional saber arch for the married couple and guests to walk through.
Bridegroom-men and bridesmaids had formerly important duties. The men were called bride-knights, and represented a survival of the primitive days of marriage by capture, when a man called his friends in to assist to kidnap the bride .
Best man




Three groomsmen stand to the right of the groom and three bridesmaids stand to the left of the bride in this wedding in Kampot [ disambiguation needed ] , Cambodia .


Best man is the chief male assistant to the bridegroom at a wedding. In North America and Europe, the groom extends this honor to someone who is close to him, generally either a brother or his closest male friend. When the groom wishes to give this honor to a woman, she may be termed the best woman or best person , or may still be referred to as the 'best man'. The bride's equivalent of the best man is the maid or matron of honour . A gender-neutral term is honor attendant .
While the best man's required duties are only those of a friend, in the context of a western white wedding , the best man will typically:

assist the groom on the wedding day,
keep the wedding rings safe until needed during the ceremony,
act as a legal witness to the marriage, and
make a toast to the bride and groom at the reception. (Formerly, the best man would read out the telegrams of those who couldn't attend). This is known as the Best Man Speech or toast.

In the past, the bachelor party was typically scheduled for a convenient evening during the week before the wedding. A type of farewell dinner, it was always hosted, and therefore organized and paid for, by the bridegroom. [ 15 ] Common slang names for this event are bachelor party, stag do or bucks' night in different parts of the world. In many areas, this dinner is now most commonly organized by the best man, and the costs are shared by all of the participants. [ 17 ]
The best man, or honor attendants in general, are not universal customs. [ 18 ] Even in places where a best man is customary, the role may be quite different when compared to other areas or times.
In most modern, English-speaking countries, the best man is usually the groom's closest male friend. Some authors believe that the best man derives from ancient customs of marriage by kidnapping, or from defending the bride from would-be kidnappers. [ 19 ] [ 20 ]
In Eastern Orthodox weddings in Greece , the best man is often also the koumbaros or religious sponsor, and is traditionally the groom's godfather. [ 18 ] The koumbaros (or koumbara, if a woman) is an honored participant who crowns the couple and participates in circling the altar three times. In some areas, this person also pays for all the wedding expenses.
In Ukraine a best man is responsible for guarding the bride during the wedding festivities. When he or the groom steps away, the bride gets "kidnapped" or has a shoe stolen. Then the groom or the best man must pay a ransom in exchange for returning the bride, usually by paying money (which is given to the bride) or by doing something embarrassing. [ 21 ]
In Uganda a best man is expected to guide the newlyweds in the ways of marriage. This means that ideally a best man must be married, preferably to one wife and should be in position to give sound, tried and tested advice. A best man must be a confidant and be discreet about the details he shares with the new couple. [ citation needed ]
In Bhutan the best man presents himself at the wedding as a ceremonial guardian to both bride and groom. Thereafter he entertains the guests, sometimes for several hours.
Flower girls




Flower girl


A flower girl is a participant in a wedding procession. Like ring bearers and page boys, flower girls are usually members of the bride's or groom's extended family, but may also be friends. [ 22 ]
Typically, the flower girl walks in front of the bride during an entrance processional. She may spread flower petals on the floor before the bride or carry a bouquet of flowers or thornless roses . Once the processional is over, a young flower girl will sit down with her parents. If the ceremony will not be particularly long, an older child may prefer to quietly stand at the altar with the other honor attendants.
Because very young children are overwhelmed by the duties, and older girls may feel insulted by a "baby" role, the recommended age is between four and eight years of age, [ 23 ] or even older, if not offensive to the girl's feelings.
There may be more than one flower girl, particularly if the bride has several young relatives to honor. This practice is more common at British royal weddings, at elaborate weddings modeled after royal weddings, or at Victorian-themed weddings.
Historically, the clothing was provided by the families of the bride and groom, but most modern couples expect the parents of the flower girl to pay for her clothing and other expenses related to her participation. [ 22 ]
Her male equivalent is the ringbearer or page boy . Often the ringbearer and the flower girl are made to look like a couple, and they may be dressed in miniature versions of the bride's and groom's clothes.
Page boys, coinbearers and ringbearers
A page boy is a young male attendant at a wedding or cotillion . This type of wedding attendant is less common than it used to be, but is still a way of including young relatives or the children of relatives and friends in a wedding. A page is often seen at British royal weddings. There may be many pages for effect at cotillions.
Traditionally, page boys carry the bride's train, especially if she is wearing a dress with a long train. Because of the difficulty of managing the train, page boys are generally no younger than age seven, with older boys being preferred for more complicated duties. [ 24 ]




A ringbearer holding a wedding ring on a cushion.


In a formal wedding, the ring bearer is a special page who carries the wedding rings for the bridal party. This is almost always symbolic, with the ring bearer carrying a large white satin pillow on which imitation rings are sewn, while the real wedding bands are kept in the safekeeping of the best man . If the real rings are used, they are tacked on with thread to prevent their accidental loss.
The ringbearer, not to be confused with a pallbearer, as a separate role is a relatively modern innovation. In today's common wedding ceremony, the best man carries the rings.
Ring bearers are often nephews or young brothers (although they can also be nieces or sisters) and are generally in the same age range as flower girls, which is to say that they are no younger than about 5 nor older than 10. [ 24 ] If the couple have had children prior to marriage, their own child(ren) may serve as ring bearer.
The coinbearer is similar to that of the ringbearer. The coin bearer is a young boy who marches on the wedding aisle to bring the wedding coins. The wedding coins are more commonly known as wedding arrhae . [ 25 ] [ unreliable source? ] . The coins are presented to the celebrant for a blessing. The coins usually consist of thirteen gold and silver coins, to represent Jesus and his apostles. [ citation needed ] Historially, Spanish colonizers started this custom. [ citation needed ]
Officiant/Celebrant




Jewish bride approaches a chuppah


Further information: Celebrant (United States) ,  Marriage officiant ,  Officiant , and  Humanist officiant
In the United States, Canada and many other countries around the world, a celebrant is a person who performs religious or secular celebrancy services for weddings, funerals, child namings, coming of age ceremonies, and other rituals.
Most Celebrants are ordained clergy, while some are legal officials (usually judges), and others are Officiants empowered by the Humanist Associations around the world.
Celebrants may perform alternative and nontraditional ceremonies in places, and under circumstances where mainstream religious clergy will not. Some Celebrants perform same-sex weddings and commitment ceremonies . Celebrants, also called Officiants , often perform ceremonies in parks, on beaches, on mountains, on boats, on hiking trails, in hotels, in banquet halls, in private homes, and many other places.
Laws in each state of the United States vary about who has the ability to perform wedding ceremonies, but Celebrants or Officiants are usually categorized as "clergy" and have the same rights and responsibilities as ordained clergy. In Canada and in the US States of Massachusetts , Connecticut , District of Columbia , Iowa , New Hampshire and Vermont , the only places in North America where same-sex marriages are legalized, Celebrants and Officiants perform many LGBT weddings. As of 2010, Same-sex marriage are also legally performed in seven countries in Europe including Belgium , Iceland , The Netherlands , Norway , Portugal , Spain , Sweden and one country in Africa, namely South Africa .
In Scotland , since a June 2005 ruling by the Registrar General, humanist weddings are now legal, providing that they are conducted by an Authorized Celebrant of the Humanist Society of Scotland making Scotland one of only three countries in the world where this is the case. (The other two are the USA and Norway.)
Celebrants differ from Chaplains in that Celebrants serve the unaffiliated public at large, while Chaplains are usually employed by an institution such as a hospital or other health care facility, the military, etc.
In Australia, Celebrants have a slightly different role, as regulated by local and national laws. See Celebrant (Australia) for more information.
In the United States, Celebrants are professional ceremony officiants who believe in the power and effectiveness of ceremony and ritual to serve basic needs of society and the individual. They collaborate with their clients to create and perform personalized ceremonies that reflect the client’s beliefs, philosophy of life, and personality; not the Celebrant’s. See Celebrant (United States) for more information.
In Quaker weddings the couple marry each other with no third party officiating.
Gallery
Modern-day weddings








Two Astrakhan Kalmyk brides.









Bride at a Shinto wedding









Indian Muslims bride









Two grooms and some of their wedding party











A bride in her bridal gown









Kissing the bride





Historical weddings








Bride in the late 19th century









German woodcut of a medieval wedding ceremony (a bishop is standing over bed)









Scandinavian bride and maid (bottom right)









French royalty





See also

Aufruf , a Jewish ceremony for bridegrooms
Glossary of wedding terms for definitions of other wedding terms

References


Find more about Bride on Wikipedia's sister projects :






Quotations from Wikiquote



Source texts from Wikisource



Images and media from Commons

experience

experience

Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event. [ 1 ] The history of the word experience aligns it closely with the concept of experiment .
The concept of experience generally refers to know-how or procedural knowledge , rather than propositional knowledge : on-the-job training rather than book-learning . Philosophers dub knowledge based on experience " empirical knowledge " or " a posteriori knowledge".
The interrogation of experience has a long tradition in continental philosophy. Experience plays an important role in the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard . The German term Erfahrung , often translated into English as "experience", has a slightly different implication, connoting the coherency of life 's experiences.
A person with considerable experience in a certain field can gain a reputation as an expert .
Certain religious traditions (such as types of Buddhism , Surat Shabd Yoga , mysticism and Pentecostalism ) and educational paradigms with, for example, the conditioning of military recruit-training (also known as " boot camps "), stress the experiential nature of human epistemology . This stands in contrast to alternatives: traditions of dogma , logic or reasoning . Participants in activities such as tourism , extreme sports and recreational drug-use also tend to stress the importance of experience.




Contents


1 Types of experience

1.1 Physical experience
1.2 Mental experience
1.3 Emotional experience
1.4 Spiritual experience
1.5 Social experience
1.6 Virtual experience and simulation gaming
1.7 Immediacy of experience
1.8 Subjective experience


2 Contexts of experience
3 Changes in experience through history
4 Alternatives to experience
5 Writing
6 Art
7 See also
8 References
9 External links





//

Types of experience
The word "experience" may refer, somewhat ambiguously, both to mentally unprocessed immediately perceived events as well as to the purported wisdom gained in subsequent reflection on those events or interpretation of them.
Some wisdom-experience accumulates over a period of time , [ 2 ] though one can also experience (and gain general wisdom-experience from) a single specific momentary event [ 3 ] .
One may also differentiate between (for example) physical , mental , emotional , spiritual , vicarious and virtual experience(s).
Physical experience
Main article: Physical Property
A human body, for example, may exhibit traces of a past physical experience in the form of scar tissue . For more aware forms of physical experience where physicality remains important, note the popularity of extreme sports and of fairground rides . People can measure much sensory experience - directly or via instruments - as phenomena detectable by living entities or as incoming signals. [ 4 ] In other words, physical experiences relate to observables . They need not involve modal properties nor mental experiences .
Mental experience
Main article: Mind
Mental experience involves the aspect of intellect and consciousness experienced as combinations of thought , perception , memory , emotion , will [ citation needed ] and imagination , including all unconscious cognitive processes. The term can refer, by implication, to a thought process. Mental experience and its relation to the physical brain form an area of philosophical debate: some identity theorists originally argued that the identity of brain and mental states held only for a few sensations. Most theorists, however, generalized the view to cover all mental experience. [ 5 ]
Mathematicians can exemplify cumulative mental experience in the approaches and skills with which they work. Mathematical realism , like realism in general, holds that mathematical entities exist independently of the human mind. Thus humans do not invent mathematics, but rather discover and experience it, and any other intelligent beings in the universe would presumably do the same. This point of view regards only one sort of mathematics as discoverable; it sees triangles, right angles, and curves, for example, as real entities, not just the creations of the human mind. Some working mathematicians have espoused mathematical realism as they see themselves experiencing naturally-occurring objects. Examples include Paul Erdős and Kurt Gödel . Gödel believed in an objective mathematical reality that could be perceived in a manner analogous to sense perception. Certain principles (for example: for any two objects, there is a collection of objects consisting of precisely those two objects) could be directly seen to be true, but some conjectures, like the continuum hypothesis , might prove undecidable just on the basis of such principles. Gödel suggested that quasi-empirical methodology such as experience could provide sufficient evidence to be able to reasonably assume such a conjecture. With experience, there are distinctions depending on what sort of existence one takes mathematical entities to have, and how we know about them. [ citation needed ]
Emotional experience
Main article: Emotion
Humans can rationalize falling in (and out) of love as "emotional experience". Societies which lack institutional arranged marriages can call on emotional experience in individuals to influence mate-selection . [ 6 ] The concept of emotional experience also appears in the notion of emotional intelligence [ 7 ] and empathy .
Spiritual experience
Main article: Religious experience
Newberg and Newberg provide a view on spiritual experience. [ 8 ] Mystics can describe their visions as "spiritual experiences". However, psychology may explain the same experiences in terms of altered states of consciousness , which may come about accidentally through (for example) very high fever, infections such as meningitis, sleep deprivation, fasting, oxygen deprivation, nitrogen narcosis (deep diving), psychosis, temporal-lobe epilepsy , or a traumatic accident. People can likewise achieve such experiences more deliberately through recognized mystical practices such as sensory deprivation or mind-control techniques, hypnosis , meditation , prayer , or mystical disciplines such as mantra meditation , yoga , Sufism , dream yoga , or surat shabda yoga ). Some " primitive religions " encourage spiritual experiences through the ingestion of psychoactive drugs such as alcohol and opiates, but more commonly with entheogenic plants and substances such as cannabis , salvia divinorum , psilocybin mushrooms, peyote , DXM , ayahuasca , or datura . Another way to induce spiritual experience through an altered state of consciousness involves psychoacoustics , binaural beats , or light-and-sound stimulation.
Social experience
Main article: Socialization
Growing up and living within a society can foster the development and observation of social experience. [ 9 ] Social experience provides individuals with the skills and habits necessary for participating within their own societies, as a society itself is formed [ citation needed ] through a plurality of shared experiences forming norms , customs , values , traditions , social roles , symbols and languages .
Virtual experience and simulation gaming
Main articles: Virtual Reality and Simulation Game
Using computer simulations can enable a person or groups of persons to have virtual experiences in virtual reality . [ 10 ] Role-playing games treat "experience" (and its acquisition) as an important, measurable, and valuable commodity. Many role-playing video games , for instance, feature units of measurement used to quantify or assist a player-character's progression through the game - called experience points .
Immediacy of experience
Someone able to recount an event they witnessed or took part in has " first hand experience". First hand experience of the "you had to be there" variety can seem especially valuable and privileged, but it often remains potentially subject to errors in sense - perception and in personal interpretation .
Second-hand experience can offer richer resources: recorded and/or summarised from first-hand observers or experiencers or from instruments, and potentially expressing multiple points of view .
Third-hand experience, based on indirect and possibly unreliable rumour or hearsay , can (even given reliable accounts) potentially stray perilously close to blind honouring of authority .
Subjective experience
Subjective experience can involve a state of individual subjectivity , perception on which one builds one's own state of reality ; a reality based on one’s interaction with one's environment. The subjective experience depends on one’s individual ability to process data , to store and internalize it. For example: our senses collect data, which we then process according to biological programming (genetics), neurological network-relationships and other variables such as relativity etc., all of which affect our individual experience of any given situation in such a way as to render it subjective.
Contexts of experience
Experience plays an important role in experiential groups . [ 11 ]
Changes in experience through history
Some post-modernists suggest that the nature of human experiencing (quite apart from the details of the experienced surrounds) has undergone qualitative change during transition from the pre-modern through the modern to the post-modern . [ 12 ]
Alternatives to experience
Immanuel Kant contrasted experience with reason : "Nothing, indeed, can be more harmful or more unworthy of the philosopher, than the vulgar appeal to so-called experience. Such experience would never have existed at all, if at the proper time, those institutions had been established in accordance with ideas." [ 13 ]
Writing
The American author Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote an essay entitled " Experience " (published in 1844), in which he asks readers to disregard emotions that could alienate them from the divine; it provides a somewhat pessimistic representation of the Transcendentalism associated with Emerson.
Art
In 2005 the art group Monochrom organized a series of happenings that ironically took up the implications of the term "experience": Experience the Experience .
See also




Philosophy portal






Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Experience



Customer experience
Empiricism
Experience economy
Experiential education
Experiential marketing
Perception
Thrill

special

special

Seventh Avenue

Seventh Avenue

Seventh Avenue could refer to:
Streets and transportation

Seventh Avenue (Manhattan) , a street in Manhattan, New York City, New York
Seventh Avenue, Newark, New Jersey , a neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey
Seventh Avenue (IND Queens Boulevard Line) , a subway station in Manhattan
Seventh Avenue (BMT Brighton Line) , a New York City Subway station in Brooklyn
Seventh Avenue (IND Culver Line) a station on the IND Culver Line of the New York City Subway

Other

Seventh Avenue, a male vocal group specializing in Hi-NRG dance records with various line-ups during the 1970s and 1980s
Seventh Avenue (band) , a Christian heavy metal band from Germany
"Seventh Avenue", a song by Ratt from Dancing Undercover
Seventh Avenue, a mail-order catalog operated by the Swiss Colony company
7th Avenue (album) , an album by rapper KJ-52

little

little

Little is a surname and may refer to

Andrew Little (footballer) , Northern Irish footballer currently playing for Rangers .
Angela Little , American actress and model
Bentley Little , American author
Bingo Little
Booker Little , American jazz trumpeter
Brian Little (disambiguation)
Bryan Little (disambiguation)
Carlo Little
Cleavon Little
Donald Little , a Manitoba judge
Floyd Little
Frances Little
Frank Little (priest) , Australian archbishop
Frank Little (unionist) , U.S. trade unionist
Gerry P. Little
Grady Little
Henry F. W. Little , American Civil War Medal of Honor recipient
Jason Little (cartoonist)
Jason Little (rugby player)
Jean Little
Joan Little
John Little (disambiguation)
John N. Little
Joseph James Little (1841–1913), U.S. representative from New York, American printer and publisher
Josh Little (born 1990), general legend.
Ken Little (born 1947), a modernist American sculptor
Lawson Little
Little Jack Little
Malcolm Little
Mark Little (Australian actor)
Mark Little (Irish journalist)
Neil Little
Nicky Little , Fijian rugby union player
Pepita R. Little , Jamaican Television Presenter
Ralf Little
Rich Little
Robert A. Little
Ross Little , English actor
Sally Little , golfer
Sam Little
Sam Little , English golfer
Stephen Little , American Asian art scholar, museum administrator and artist
Steve Little (disambiguation)
Stuart Little , a fictional mouse in many of E. B. White's short stories, and in some films
Syd Little , English comedian
Tasmin Little , English violinist
Thomas Little , set decorator
Tony Little
Walter Little , Canadian politician
William Little (Pittsburgh mayor) , politician in Pittsburgh
William John Little , the doctor who identified cerebral palsy in children
Zarah Little

dress

dress

A dress (also frock , gown ) is a garment consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice or with a matching bodice giving the effect of a one-piece garment.
In Western culture , dresses are usually considered women's and little girls' clothing. The hemline of dresses can be as high as the upper thigh or as low as the ground, depending on the whims of fashion and the modesty or personal taste of the wearer.




Contents


1 History

1.1 19th century


2 Dress types

2.1 Dresses for particular purposes
2.2 Fads and fashions


3 Usage
4 See also
5 References
6 External links





//

History
19th century
Dresses increased dramatically to the hoopskirt and crinoline -supported styles of the 1860s; then fullness was draped and drawn to the back. Dresses had a "day" bodice with a high neckline and long sleeves, and an "evening" bodice with a low neckline ( decollete ) and very short sleeves.
Throughout this period, the length of fashionable dresses varied only slightly, between ankle-length and floor-sweeping.

See also History of Western fashion : 1795-1820 , 1820s , 1830s , 1840s , 1850s , 1860s , 1870s , 1880s , 1890s
Victorian fashion , Artistic Dress movement , Victorian dress reform .

Dress types




Monica Bellucci , wearing sheath dress


Depending on design dresses are classified. Different basic dress shapes are:

Shirtwaist , a dress with a bodice ( waist ) like a tailored shirt and an attached straight or full skirt
Sheath , a fitted, often sleeveless dress, often without a waistseam (1960s)
Shift , a straight dress with no waist shaping or seam (1960s)
Jumper dress (American English) or Pinafore dress (British English) is a sleeveless dress intended to be worn over a layering top or blouse. Jumper dresses exist for both summer and winter wear.
Sundress is an informal sleeveless dress of any shape in a lightweight fabric, for summer wear.
Tent , a dress flared from above the bust, sometimes with a yoke (1960s, renewed popularity after 2005)
Maxi dress , a long, formfitting, floor or ankle length dress.
Surplice dress - has a neckline which is formed by two pieces of fabric wrapping around each other creating a V-neck.
Wrap dress , a dress with a front closure formed by wrapping one side across the other and knotting the attached ties on the side, or fastening buttons. This forms a V-shaped neckline and hugs a woman's curves. A faux wrap dress resembles this design, except that it comes already fastened together with no opening in front, but instead is slipped on over the head. (1970s; renewed popularity from late 1990s)

Dresses for particular purposes

Gown , a dress with a fitted or tight bodice and a straight or full skirt, worn for formal occasions like a banquet , an opera , or a gala
Ballet dress, a full-skirted dress worn for ballet performances.
Tea gown , a frothy, dressy dress with a low hem for afternoon social wear, or for dinner at home
Cocktail dress , a party dress of the current street length (1950s and sporadically popular since)
Dinner dress , a formal dress worn when fashionable people "dressed for dinner" (men in tuxedos or dinner jackets). While it may be as fancy as a ball gown, the skirt is generally narrow.
Formal dress, any dress suitable for formal occasions.
Evening gown , a long flowing woman's dress worn to a formal affair.
Ball gown , a long dress with a full, sweeping, or trained skirt for dancing, which, according to etiquette, must be worn only to white-tie occasions.
Ballroom dress, a full-skirted gown, inspired by gowns for balls, worn for ballroom dancing competitions and similar occasions.
Coronation gown , formal wear for coronations
Wedding dress , a gown for the bride of a wedding

Fads and fashions

Chanel's little black dress (1920s and on)
Kitty Foyle , a dark-colored dress with contrasting (usually white) collar and cuffs (1940s, after a dress worn by Ginger Rogers in the movie of the same name)
Granny gown , an ankle-length, often ruffled, day dress of printed calico , cut like a Victorian nightgown , popularized by designer Laura Ashley (late 1960s-1970s)
Hoodie dress , this dress type became popular in 2006 and continues through 2009. This is a dress with a hoodie. This can look like the style of a regular hoodie top or it can look like a hoodie without sleeves and a long sleeved shirt underneath. Like a layered t-shirt. The hoodie dress is popular worn with jeans, leggings, or opaque tights footed or footless, and sneakers like Chuck Taylor All-Stars and Keds , and Uggs , Sperry Top-Siders and flats .
Princess gown , a gown made of fitted sections of material, worn over a crinoline and flared out at the hem. [ 1 ]

Usage




A typical pre- prom gathering, with girls in dresses, and boys in tuxedos.


In Europe and America, dresses are worn by females of all ages as an alternative to a separate skirt and blouse or trousers . Dresses are often used by young girls and as more formal attire by adult women.
Potential drawbacks of dresses include being either too long or cumbersome for the performance of some physical activities such as climbing stairs or ladders. In addition, some dress styles, particularly those with back closures , can be difficult or even impossible to don or remove without assistance.
Dresses however can be cooler and less confining than many trouser styles, and they are still very popular for special occasions such as proms or weddings .
See also




Abaya , a long-sleeved robe-like dress worn by some Muslim women
Aodai
Blouse
Bustle
Clothing
Clothing terminology      
Crinoline
Gown




Shirtdress
Skirt
Qipao
Sarong
Tunic
Women wearing pants

Bergdorf Goodman

Bergdorf Goodman

Bergdorf Goodman is a luxury goods department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City . The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son Andrew Goodman.
Today, Bergdorf operates from two stores situated across the street from each other at Fifth Avenue between 57th and 58th Streets. Bergdorf Goodman's main store, which opened at its current location in 1928, is located on the west side of Fifth Avenue. A separate men's store, established in 1990, is located on the east side of Fifth Avenue, directly across the street.
Bergdorf is a subsidiary of Neiman Marcus , which is owned by the private equity firms TPG Capital and Warburg Pincus .




Contents


1 History

1.1 Founding and early history (1899-1951)
1.2 The second generation (1951-1972)
1.3 New ownership (1972–1990)
1.4 Reaching the centennial (1990–Present)


2 In popular culture
3 References
4 External links





//

History
Founding and early history (1899-1951)
The company traces its origins to 1899 when Herman Bergdorf, an immigrant from Alsace , opened a tailor shop just above Union Square in downtown Manhattan .




Bergdorf Goodman's main store on Fifth Avenue


Edwin Goodman, a young 23-year old merchant, based in Lockport, New York , moved to New York City to work as an apprentice for Bergdorf. Within two years, Goodman had raised enough money to purchase an interest in the business, which was renamed Bergdorf Goodman in 1901. in 1906, Bergdorf Goodman moved to a new location on 32nd Street, just west off Fifth Avenue and " Ladies' Mile ". While Bergdorf preferred the less expensive side street location, Goodman with the location and bought out Bergdorf's interest in the company. Bergdorf would retire to Paris.
Although Goodman had developed a good business as a ladies' tailor on 32nd Street, in 1914, he decided to move uptown. Goodman constructed a five-story building at 616 Fifth Avenue, on the site of what is today Rockefeller Center . [ 1 ] In 1914, Goodman became the first couturier to introduce ready-to-wear , making Bergdorf Goodman a destination for American and French fashion.
The store moved to its present location at 5th Avenue and 58th Street in 1928, building its Art Deco store on the site of the Cornelius Vanderbilt II mansion. As he was unsure of the success of the new store's location, (it was uncertain whether customers would follow the store uptown), Goodman designed the new store so that it could be broken up into sections with different storefronts that could be rented out if needed. Early tenants included Van Cleef & Arpels , the Grande Maison de Blanc and Dobbs the Hatter.
[ 2 ] During the Great Depression, however, Goodman thrived, buying the entire building. Throughout the 1930s, Goodman purchased the mortgages of the surrounding businesses, eventually acquiring the entire block. During this period, Bergdorf Goodman was successful enough to have merited an expansion beyond the single store. However, Goodman preferred to operate in a single location where he would be able to personally maintain the quality of the merchandise and service.
The second generation (1951-1972)
Goodman's son, Andrew, assumed the role of president in 1951 and succeeded to the head of the company in 1953 following the death of his father. [ 3 ] Andrew was responsible for enhancing Bergdorf's reputation and expanding its range of merchandise and services.
During Andrew's tenure as chairman, Bergdorf opened a fur salon, developed the successful Bergdorf Goodman Number Nine perfume, and created Miss Bergdorf, a ready-to-wear line for younger customers.
The store began a $1 million expansion in 1959 into two adjacent buildings. The Boys and Girls gift shop expanded into a whole floor and the beauty salon and bridal, fur and men's departments also expanded. Eight years later, a $2.5 million expansion in 1967 nearly doubled the store's area, to 120,000 square feet. [ 3 ]
New ownership (1972–1990)
In 1972 Andrew Goodman sold Bergdorf Goodman to Broadway-Hale Stores, which would become Carter Hawley Hale Stores for $12.5 million. [ 3 ] . CHH had acquired Neiman Marcus , a three-unit operation at the time, in 1969. By the time of the sale, Bergdorf Goodman was the only large high-quality specialty store in the U.S. that remained independently owned. [ 3 ] But its decision not to build suburban branches left it with a relatively modest profit margin. He remained the landlord of the store and kept a penthouse apartment on the building's top floor. [ 3 ]




A Badgley Mischka fur coat on display in the window of Bergdorf Goodman's Fifth Avenue store.


At first, CHH considered building branch locations, ultimately only constructing one location, in nearby White Plains, New York in 1972. This location was eventually converted to a Neiman Marcus branch store in 1981. To combat its image difficulties, the company hired Dawn Mello in 1975 as vice president of fashion. She was successful in reinvigorating the conservative store and became president in 1984. She left her post in 1989 to work for the floundering Italian fashion house Gucci , though she returned to her post as president in 1994.
Bergdorf Goodman's parent company became the object of takeover bids in the 1980s, and as a way to maintain its independence, Carter Hawley completed a major financial restructuring. In 1987, Bergdorf Goodman was spun off, together with Neiman Marcus and Contempo Casuals to form Neiman Marcus Group. The new company was headquarted in Dallas, Texas, where the significantly larger Neiman Marcus had been based for 80 years.
Reaching the centennial (1990–Present)
Chairman and CEO Ira Neimark expanded the women's store three times in the 1990s. The men's store was moved across the street to the old FAO Schwarz space at 745 Fifth Avenue in 1990. This move made it possible to make more space available for women's fashions. In 1997, the penthouse apartment on the building's ninth floor (formerly the Goodman family residence) was converted into the John Barrett Salon and Susan Ciminelli Day Spa. In 1999, the Beauty Level opened directly below the main floor, offering a luxury spa and Goodman's Café, serving lunch and afternoon tea. [ 4 ]
In 2002, Bergdorf Goodman underwent a major renovation, during which artisans and craftspeople began a dramatic restoration of the main floor of the women's store. In 2003, the store introduced new boutiques for Chanel , Giorgio Armani , Gucci , Versace , and Yves Saint Laurent . The Bergdorf Goodman Men's store features exclusive brands such as Loro Piana , Kiton , Brunello Cucinelli , John Lobb , Bontoni , Tom Ford , and Charvet . Bergdorf's competition includes other high-end retailers such as Bloomingdale's , Lord & Taylor , Barneys New York , Saks Fifth Avenue , and owner Neiman Marcus
On May 2, 2005, Bergdorf's parent company, Neiman Marcus Group, was acquired in a leveraged buyout (LBO), selling itself to two private equity firms, Texas Pacific Group and Warburg Pincus . [ 5 ]
In popular culture
Bergdorf Goodman has found its way into a variety of movies and television shows over the years. In the 1962 movie, That Touch of Mink , Doris Day is feted by Cary Grant with a shopping spree at Bergdorf Goodman's, and the store is mentioned several times in the film. In the credits of the film Bergdorf Goodman's is thanked "for being Bergdorf Goodman". On the 1974 wedding episode of Rhoda , Phyllis shows up late to the wedding and to the reaction of everyone, she replies "Well, apparently this dress is everything the woman at Bergdorf's said it would be." In the 1981 movie Arthur , Dudley Moore shops for sweaters when he sees Linda ( Liza Minnelli ) stealing a tie.
More recently, on the television series Sex And The City , Bergdorf Goodman was a favorite shopping spot for the main character, Carrie Bradshaw . The store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan was also featured in the opening for Sex and the City 2, the girls meet at the entrance of the store, and enter to buy Wedding gifts. On the show Boston Legal , Michael J. Fox 's character tells Julie Bowen 's character, "You know that coat you liked in the window of Bergdorf Goodman's? I'll buy you Bergdorf Goodman's." On the MTV series The City , Whitney Port's friend Samantha works as an assistant buyer at Bergdorf. Bergdorf also figured into the lyrics of Jay-Z 's 2007 song, " 30 Something ". Also, Plum Sykes ' 2005 novel Bergdorf Blondes makes significant use of the store and one of its main characters is a descendent of the founding Bergdorf family.

Saks Fifth Avenue

Saks Fifth Avenue

Saks Fifth Avenue is a luxury American specialty store owned and operated by Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises (SFAE), a subsidiary of Saks Incorporated . It competes in the high-end specialty store market with Bergdorf Goodman , Neiman Marcus , Barneys New York , and Bloomingdales . The company headquarters and the company-designated flagship store are in Midtown Manhattan , New York City . [ 1 ] [ 2 ]
Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises (SFAE) consists of 54 Saks Fifth Avenue stores, 48 Saks Off 5th stores, and saks.com. [ 3 ]




Contents


1 History
2 International
3 Gallery
4 References
5 External links





//

History




Logo used until 2007. Its replacement is a modification of an older logo used until the mid-1990s.


Saks Fifth Avenue is the successor of a business founded by Andrew Saks in 1867 and incorporated in New York in 1902 as Saks & Company. Andrew died in 1912 and in 1923 Saks & Co. merged with Gimbel Brothers, Inc. , operating as a separate autonomous subsidiary. On September 15, 1924, Horace Saks and Bernard Gimbel opened Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City .
When Bernard's cousin Adam Gimbel became President of Saks Fifth Avenue in 1926 after Bernard's sudden passing, the company took on national aspirations. The very first branch store opened in 1926 in the city of Palm Beach, Florida as a resort store, followed by a Southampton resort store in 1928. The first full-line year-round Saks store was opened in Chicago in 1929, followed by another resort store in Miami Beach, Florida . In 1938 Saks expanded to the West Coast, opening in Beverly Hills , California. By the end of the 1930s Saks Fifth Avenue had a total of 10 stores, including resort locations such as Sun Valley, Mount Stowe and Newport. More full-line stores followed with Detroit in 1940 and Pittsburgh in 1949. In downtown Pittsburgh, the company moved to its own freestanding location approximately one block from its former home on the fourth floor in the downtown Gimbel's flagship. The San Francisco location opened in 1952. More expansion followed from the 1960s through the 1990s including Texas, the Midwest, and the South.
BATUS Inc. acquired Gimbel Bros., Inc. and its Saks Fifth Avenue subsidiary in 1973 as part of its diversification strategy. In 1990, BATUS sold Saks to Investcorp S.A. , which after investing in the company and weathering the early 1990s recession took Saks public in 1996 as Saks Holdings, Inc. In 1998, Saks Holdings Inc. was acquired by Proffitt's, Inc., then the parent company of Proffitt's among other department stores. Upon closing of the acquisition, Proffitt's, Inc. changed its name to Saks Incorporated .
In 2005 vendors filed against Saks alleging unlawful chargebacks. The SEC formally investigated the complaint and Saks settled with the SEC in 2007. [ 4 ]
In August 2007 the United States Postal Service began an experimental program selling the plus Zip Code extension to businesses. The first company to do this was Saks Fifth Avenue which received the zip code of 10022-SHOE for the eighth floor shoe department in its flagship Fifth Avenue (Manhattan) store. [ 5 ] Today, the New York flagship store accounts for a significant amount of the entire chain's annual revenue.

International
The chain's first international location, operated under license by SFAE, opened in Riyadh , Saudi Arabia , courting the wealth of the oil-rich Middle East. Other locations now include the United Arab Emirates , Mexico City , and Bahrain . A new store is planned for Chile and a second store in Mexico City . In January 2009, the company opened a second location in Saudi Arabia, in the city of Riyadh . [ 6 ]

feminine

feminine

Femininity refers to female qualities attributed specifically to women and girls . The complement to femininity is masculinity .




Contents


1 Feminine attributes
2 Cultural norms

2.1 Cleavage
2.2 Corsets
2.3 Foot binding
2.4 High heels
2.5 Modest dress
2.6 Neck rings


3 Femininity in men
4 See also
5 External links
6 References





//

Feminine attributes




Yin and yang


These are often associated with life-giving and nurturing qualities of elegance, motherhood , birth , intuition , creativity , life-death-rebirth and biological life cycle . The feminine archetype in mythology and world religion , is associated with a natural creative force that has a feminine or maternal function such as Mother Nature , Mother Earth , Great Mother, Great Goddess, and Mitochondrial Eve .

In Carl Jung's school of analytical psychology , the concept of anima represents the female half of anima and animus .


In Chinese philosophy , the concept of yin represents the female half of yin and yang .


In Hindu traditions, Shakti is the divine feminine creative power, the sacred force that moves through the entire universe. [ 1 ] She is the female counterpart without whom the male aspect, which represents consciousness or discrimination, remains impotent and void.


In Hinduism , the universal creative force Yoni is feminine , with inspiration being the life force of creation.


In Hebrew language , the divine presence of God, the Holy Spirit , the Shekhinah is feminine .


In the belief system of Kabbalah , Binah is the great mother, the feminine receiver of energy and giver of form.

Cultural norms
Cultural standards vary a great deal on what is considered feminine.
Cleavage
For more details on this topic, see Cleavage (breasts) .
Larger breast size, a trait considered feminine, is suggested by visual clues, such as the cleavage between the breasts. Many women in western culture will emphasize cleavage to enhance femininity. They may do so by means of the cut of the outer wear, and by brassieres (bras) that push the breasts upwards and together. Special pads and inserts in the bra can also be used to aid in the higher positioning of the breasts. Also by surgical augmentation in which the breasts are lifted up and moved closer together.
Corsets
For more details on this topic, see Corset .
Throughout history, women (and sometimes men) of many cultures have worn corsets for support and fashion. Contrary to popular belief, historically corsets did not inhibit breath, movement, change skeletal structure significantly, or permanently displace organs. "Tight lacing" was impractical and looked down upon, and therefore it was only practiced by the smallest segment of society.
Foot binding
For more details on this topic, see Foot binding .
For centuries in Imperial China , foot binding , a practice intended to produce smaller feet, which were considered more feminine, produced unnaturally small and deformed feet, where toes often rotted due to lack of circulation. [ 2 ]
High heels
Modern women often wear high-heeled shoes . The discomfort commonly associated with high-heeled shoes is endured for the visual effect of elongated legs.
Modest dress
In the Muslim world , women wear a hijab , indicating modesty in feminine dress . Most Islamic legal systems define this type of modest dressing as covering everything except the face and hands in public. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] A burqa is an outer garment worn over regular clothing when a woman goes out in public and visible to men who are not their husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles, sons and grandsons.
Neck rings
For more details on this topic, see Neck ring .
In parts of Africa and Asia , neck rings still signify femininity.








Early 20th century glamour photography showing cleavage .









Corset









In China until 1911, tiny, unnatural feet were aristocratic and lady like.









High-heeled shoes .











A woman wearing a burqa .









The Kayan people of Northern Thailand associate the wearing of neck rings with aristocratic femininity.





Femininity in men
Main article: Effeminacy
Femininity in men, as masculinity in women, is often considered to be negative due to its contradiction of traditional gender roles .
See also

Feminine psychology
Feminization (sociology)
Gender studies
Marianismo
Mitochondrial Eve
Nature versus nurture
Sociology of gender

sensibility

sensibility

Sensibility refers to an acute perception of or responsiveness toward something, such as the emotions of another. This concept emerged in eighteenth-century Britain, and was closely associated with studies of sense perception as the means through which knowledge is gathered. It also became associated with sentimental moral philosophy.
One of the first of such texts would be John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), where he says, "I conceive that Ideas in the Understanding, are coeval with Sensation; which is such an Impression or Motion, made in some part of the Body, as makes it be taken notice of in the Understanding." [ 1 ] George Cheyne and other medical writers wrote of "The English Malady," also called " hysteria " in women or " hypochondria " in men, a condition with symptoms that closely resemble the modern diagnosis of clinical depression . Cheyne considered this malady to be the result of over-taxed nerves. At the same time, theorists asserted that individuals who had ultra-sensitive nerves would have keener senses, and thus be more aware of beauty and moral truth. Thus, while it was considered a physical and/or emotional fragility, sensibility was also widely perceived as a virtue.
Originating in philosophical and scientific writings, sensibility became an English-language literary movement, particularly in the then-new genre of the novel. Such works, called sentimental novels, featured individuals who were prone to sensibility, often weeping, fainting, feeling weak, or having fits in reaction to an emotionally moving experience. If one were especially sensible, one might react this way to scenes or objects that appear insignificant to others. This reactivity was considered an indication of a sensible person's ability to perceive something intellectually or emotionally stirring in the world around them. However, the popular sentimental genre soon met with a strong backlash, as anti-sensibility readers and writers contended that such extreme behavior was mere histrionics, and such an emphasis on one's own feelings and reactions a sign of narcissism . Samuel Johnson , in his portrait of Miss Gentle, articulated this criticism:

She daily exercises her benevolence by pitying every misfortune that happens to every family within her circle of notice; she is in hourly terrors lest one should catch cold in the rain, and another be frighted by the high wind. Her charity she shews by lamenting that so many poor wretches should languish in the streets, and by wondering what the great can think on that they do so little good with such large estates. [ 2 ]

Objections to sensibility emerged on other fronts. For one, some conservative thinkers believed in a priori concepts, that is, knowledge that exists independent of experience, such as innate knowledge believed to be imparted by God. Theorists of the a priori distrusted sensibility because of its over-reliance on experience for knowledge. Also, in the last decades of the eighteenth century, anti-sensibility thinkers often associated the emotional volatility of sensibility with the exuberant violence of the French Revolution, and in response to fears of revolution coming to Britain, sensible figures were coded as anti-patriotic or even politically subversive. Maria Edgeworth 's Leonora , for example, depicts the "sensible" Olivia as a villainess who contrives her passions or at least bends them to suit her selfish wants; the text also makes a point to say that Olivia has lived in France and thus adopted "French" manners. In addition, the effusive nature of most sentimental heroes, such as Harley in Henry Mackenzie 's The Man of Feeling , was often decried by literary critics as weak effeminacy, helping to discredit sentimental novels, and to a lesser extent, all novels, as unmanly works.
See also

Sentimentalism
Sentimental novel
Cultural sensibility

Bibliography

Barker-Benfield, G.J. The Culture of Sensibility: Sex and Society in Eighteenth-Century Britain . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.
Brissenden, R. F. Virtue in Distress: Studies in the Novel of Sentiment from Richardson to Sade . New York: Barnes and Noble, 1974.
Crane, R.S. “Suggestions Toward a Genealogy of the ‘Man of Feeling.’” ELH 1.3 (1934): 205-230.
Ellis, Markman. The Politics of Sensibility: Race, Gender and Commerce in the Sentimental Novel . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Ellison, Julie. Cato’s Tears and the Making of Anglo-American Emotion . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.
Goring, Paul. The Rhetoric of Sensibility in Eighteenth-Century Culture . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Jones, Chris. Radical Sensibility: Literature and ideas in the 1790s . London: Routledge, 1993.
McGann, Jerome. The Poetics of Sensibility: a Revolution in Literary Style . Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.
Mullan, John. Sentiment and Sociability: The Language of Feeling in the Eighteenth Century . Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988.
Nagle, Christopher. Sexuality and the Culture of Sensibility in the British Romantic Era . New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Pinch, Adela. Strange Fits of Passion: Epistemologies of Emotion, Hume to Austen . Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996.
Rousseau, G.S. “Nerves, Spirits, and Fibres: Towards Defining the Origins of Sensibility.” Studies in the Eighteenth Century 3: Papers Presented at the Third David Nichol Smith Memorial Seminar, Canberra 1973. Ed. R.F. Brissenden and J.C. Eade. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976.
Todd, Janet. Sensibility: An introduction . London: Methuen, 1986.
Tompkins, Jane. Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work of American Fiction 1790-1860 . New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Van Sant, Ann Jessie. Eighteenth-Century Sensibility and the Novel: The senses in social context . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

subtle

subtle

An entremet (or entremets , from Old French , literally meaning "between servings") is in modern French cuisine a small dish served between courses or simply a dessert. Originally it was an elaborate form of entertainment dish common among the nobility and upper middle class in Western Europe during the later part of the Middle Ages and the early modern period . An entremet marked the end of a serving of courses and could be anything from a simple frumenty (a type of wheat porridge ) that was brightly colored and flavored with exotic and expensive spices to elaborate models of castles complete with wine fountains, musicians, and food modeled into allegorical scenes. By end of the Middle Ages, it had evolved almost entirely into dinner entertainment in the form of inedible ornaments or acted performances, often packed with symbolism of power and regality. In English it was more commonly known as a subtlety (also sotelty or soteltie ) and did not include acted entertainment.




Contents


1 History
2 See also
3 Notes
4 References
5 External links





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History




The staging of an elaborate entremet at the banquet of Charles V in 1378; illumination from Grandes Chroniques , late 14th century.


Dishes that were intended to be eaten as well as entertain can be traced back at least to the early Roman Empire . In his Satyricon the Roman writer Petronius describes a dish consisting of a rabbit dressed up to look like the mythical horse Pegasus . [ 1 ] The function of the entremet was to mark the end of a course, met , a serving of several dishes, of which there were could be several at a banquet. It punctuated each stage of a banquet, prepared the diners for the next one serving and served as a conversation piece. The earliest recipe for an entremet can be found in an edition of Le Viandier , a medieval recipe collection, from the early 14th century. It described a comparatively simple dish; boiled and fried chicken liver with chopped giblet with ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, wine, verjuice , beef bouillon and egg yolks served with cinnamon on top, and was supposed to be of a bright yellow color. An even simpler dish, like millet boiled in milk and seasoned with saffron, was also considered to be an entremet. [ 2 ] The most noticeable trait of the early entremets was the focus on vivid colors. Later on the entremets would take the shape of various types of illusion foods , such as peacocks or swans that were skinned, cooked, seasoned and then redressed in their original plumage (or filled with the meat of tastier fowl) or even scenes depicting contemporary human activities, such as a knight in the form of a grilled capon equipped with a paper helmet and lance, sitting on the back of a roast piglet. [ 3 ] Elaborate models of castles made from edible material was a popular theme. At a feast dedicated to Pope Clement VI , one of the Avignon popes , in 1343, one of the entremets was a castle with walls made from roast birds, populated with cooked and redressed deer, wild boar, goat, hare and rabbit. [ 4 ]
In the 14th century entremets began to involve not just eye-catching displays of amusing haute cuisine , but also more prominent and often highly symbolic forms of inedible entertainment. In 1306, the knighting of the son of Edward I included performances of chanson de geste in what has been assumed to be part of the entremets. [ 5 ] During the course of the 14th century they would often take on the character of theatrical displays, complete with props, actors, singers, mummers and dancers. At a banquet held by Charles V in honor of Emperor Charles IV in 1378, a huge wooden model of the city of Jerusalem was rolled in before the high table. Actors portraying the crusader Godfrey of Bouillon and his knights then sailed into the hall on a miniature ship and reenacted the capture of Jerusalem in 1099. [ 6 ] In late medieval and early modern England, entremets are referred to as subtleties from the late 14th century and onwards. The English term was derived from an older meaning of the word "subtle" with the meaning "clever" or "surprising". [ 7 ] The English term did not include entertainment involving actors and these were referred to as pageants . [ 8 ]




A serving of boar's head, a popular form of entremet. The image of the boar caught with an apple in its mouth was possibly among the first dishes to attempt an imitation of a live animal.


At the end of the Middle Ages, the level of refinement among the noble and royal courts of Europe had increased considerably, and the demands of powerful hosts and their rich dinner guests resulted in ever more complicated and elaborate creations. Chiquart , cook to Amadeus VIII , Duke of Savoy , described an entremet entitled Castle of Love in his 15th century culinary treatise Du fait de cuisine ("On cookery"). It consisted of a giant castle model with four towers, carried in by four men. The castle contained, among other things, a roast piglet, a swan cooked and redressed in its own plumage, a roast boar 's head and a pike cooked and sauced in three different ways without having been cut into pieces, all of them breathing fire. [ 9 ] The battlements of the castle were adorned with the banners of the Duke and his guests, manned by miniature archers, and inside the castle there was a fountain that gushed rosewater and spiced wine. [ 10 ]
Entremets also made an effective tool for political displays. One of the most famous examples is the so-called Feast of the Pheasant , arranged by Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1454. The theme of the banquet was the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, and included a vow by Philip and his guests to retake the city in a crusade , though this was never actually realized. There were several spectacular displays at the banquet referred to by contemporary witnesses as entremets. Guest were entertained by a wide extravagant displays in the form of automatons in the form of fountains and pies containing musicians. At the end of the banquet, an actor representing the Holy Church rode in on an elephant and read a poem about the plight of Eastern Christianity under Ottoman rule. [ 8 ]
See also

Medieval cuisine
Entremés
Intermezzo

sophisticated

sophisticated

Sophistication is the quality of refinement — displaying good taste , wisdom and subtlety rather than crudeness , stupidity and vulgarity . [ 1 ]

fashion

fashion

Fashion , a general term for the style and custom prevalent at a given time, in its most common usage refers to costume or clothing style. The more technical term, costume, has become so linked in the public eye with the term "fashion" that the more general term "costume" has in popular use mostly been relegated to special senses like fancy dress or masquerade wear, while the term "fashion" means clothing generally, and the study of it. This linguistic switch is due to the fashion plates which were produced during the Industrial Revolution , showing the latest designs. [ citation needed ] For a broad cross-cultural look at clothing and its place in society, refer to the entries for clothing, costume and fabrics. The remainder of this article deals with clothing fashions in the Western world . [ 1 ]




Contents


1 Clothing fashions
2 Media
3 Intellectual property
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links





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Clothing fashions




2008 runway show


For detailed historical articles by period, see History of Western fashion
The continually changing fashions of the West have been generally unparalleled either in antiquity or in the other great civilizations of the world until recent decades. Early Western travellers, whether to Persia , Turkey or China frequently remark on the absence of changes in fashion there, and observers from these other cultures comment on the unseemly pace of Western fashion, which many felt suggested an instability and lack of order in Western culture. The Japanese Shogun 's secretary boasted (not completely accurately) to a Spanish visitor in 1609 that Japanese clothing had not changed in over a thousand years. [ 2 ] However in Ming China , for example, there is considerable evidence for rapidly changing fashions in Chinese clothing . [ 3 ]
Changes in costume often took place at times of economic or social change (such as in ancient Rome and the medieval Caliphate ), but then a long period without major changes followed. This occurred in Moorish Spain from the 8th century, when the famous musician Ziryab introduced sophisticated clothing styles based on seasonal and daily timings from his native Baghdad and his own inspiration to Córdoba, Spain . [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Similar changes in fashion occurred in the Middle East from the 11th century, following the arrival of the Turks who introduced clothing styles from Central Asia and the Far East . [ 6 ]
The beginnings of the habit in Europe of continual and increasingly rapid change in clothing styles can be fairly reliably dated to the middle of the 14th century , to which historians including James Laver and Fernand Braudel date the start of Western fashion in clothing. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] The most dramatic manifestation was a sudden drastic shortening and tightening of the male over-garment, from calf -length to barely covering the buttocks , sometimes accompanied with stuffing on the chest to look bigger. This created the distinctive Western male outline of a tailored top worn over leggings or trousers.




Marie Antoinette was a fashion icon


The pace of change accelerated considerably in the following century, and women and men's fashion, especially in the dressing and adorning of the hair, became equally complex and changing. Art historians are therefore able to use fashion in dating images with increasing confidence and precision, often within five years in the case of 15th century images. Initially changes in fashion led to a fragmentation of what had previously been very similar styles of dressing across the upper classes of Europe, and the development of distinctive national styles. These remained very different until a counter-movement in the 17th to 18th centuries imposed similar styles once again, mostly originating from Ancien Régime France . [ 9 ] Though the rich usually led fashion, the increasing affluence of early modern Europe led to the bourgeoisie and even peasants following trends at a distance sometimes uncomfortably close for the elites - a factor Braudel regards as one of the main motors of changing fashion. [ 10 ]




Albrecht Dürer 's drawing contrasts a well turned out bourgeoise from Nuremberg (left) with her counterpart from Venice . The Venetian lady's high chopines make her taller


Ten 16th century portraits of German or Italian gentlemen may show ten entirely different hats, and at this period national differences were at their most pronounced, as Albrecht Dürer recorded in his actual or composite contrast of Nuremberg and Venetian fashions at the close of the 15th century ( illustration, right ). The "Spanish style" of the end of the century began the move back to synchronicity among upper-class Europeans, and after a struggle in the mid 17th century, French styles decisively took over leadership, a process completed in the 18th century. [ 11 ]
Though colors and patterns of textiles changed from year to year, [ 12 ] the cut of a gentleman's coat and the length of his waistcoat, or the pattern to which a lady's dress was cut changed more slowly. Men's fashions largely derived from military models, and changes in a European male silhouette are galvanized in theatres of European war, where gentleman officers had opportunities to make notes of foreign styles: an example is the "Steinkirk" cravat or necktie .
The pace of change picked up in the 1780s with the increased publication of French engravings that showed the latest Paris styles; though there had been distribution of dressed dolls from France as patterns since the 16th century, and Abraham Bosse had produced engravings of fashion from the 1620s. By 1800, all Western Europeans were dressing alike (or thought they were): local variation became first a sign of provincial culture, and then a badge of the conservative peasant. [ 13 ]
Although tailors and dressmakers were no doubt responsible for many innovations before, and the textile industry certainly led many trends, the history of fashion design is normally taken to date from 1858, when the English-born Charles Frederick Worth opened the first true haute couture house in Paris. Since then the professional designer has become a progressively more dominant figure, despite the origins of many fashions in street fashion. The four major current fashion capitals are acknowledged to be Milan , New York City , Paris , and London . Fashion weeks are held in these cities, where designers exhibit their new clothing collections to audiences, and which are all headquarters to the greatest fashion companies and are renowned for their major influence on global fashion.
Modern Westerners have a wide choice available in the selection of their clothes. What a person chooses to wear can reflect that person's personality or likes. When people who have cultural status start to wear new or different clothes a fashion trend may start. People who like or respect them may start to wear clothes of a similar style.
Fashions may vary considerably within a society according to age , social class , generation , occupation , and geography as well as over time. If, for example, an older person dresses according to the fashion of young people, he or she may look ridiculous in the eyes of both young and older people. The terms fashionista or fashion victim refer to someone who slavishly follows the current fashions.
One can regard the system of sporting various fashions as a fashion language incorporating various fashion statements using a grammar of fashion. (Compare some of the work of Roland Barthes .)
Media




Fashion shot from 2006


An important part of fashion is fashion journalism . Editorial critique and commentary can be found in magazines, newspapers, on television, fashion websites, social networks and in fashion blogs .
At the beginning of the 20th century, fashion magazines began to include photographs of various fashion designs and became even more influential on people than in the past. In cities throughout the world these magazines were greatly sought-after and had a profound effect on public clothing taste. Talented illustrators drew exquisite fashion plates for the publications which covered the most recent developments in fashion and beauty. Perhaps the most famous of these magazines was La Gazette du Bon Ton which was founded in 1912 by Lucien Vogel and regularly published until 1925 (with the exception of the war years).
Vogue , founded in the US in 1892, has been the longest-lasting and most successful of the hundreds of fashion magazines that have come and gone. Increasing affluence after World War II and, most importantly, the advent of cheap colour printing in the 1960s led to a huge boost in its sales, and heavy coverage of fashion in mainstream women's magazines - followed by men's magazines from the 1990s. Haute couture designers followed the trend by starting the ready-to-wear and perfume lines, heavily advertised in the magazines, that now dwarf their original couture businesses. Television coverage began in the 1950s with small fashion features. In the 1960s and 1970s, fashion segments on various entertainment shows became more frequent, and by the 1980s, dedicated fashion shows like Fashion-television started to appear. Despite television and increasing internet coverage, including fashion blogs, press coverage remains the most important form of publicity in the eyes of the fashion industry.
However, over the past several years, fashion websites have developed that merge traditional editorial writing with user-generated content. New magazines like Runway Magazine , which is led by Nole Marin from America's Next Top Model, have begun to dominate the digital market with digital copies for computers, iPhones and iPads.
Sporting a different view, a few days after the 2010 Fall Fashion Week in New York City came to a close, Fashion Editor Genevieve Tax said, "Because designers release their fall collections in the spring and their spring collections in the fall, fashion magazines such as Vogue always and only look forward to the upcoming season, promoting parkas come September while issuing reviews on shorts in January." "Savvy shoppers, consequently, have been conditioned to be extremely, perhaps impractically, farsighted with their buying." [ 14 ]
Intellectual property
Within the fashion industry, intellectual property is not enforced as it is within the film industry and music industry . To "take inspiration" from others' designs contributes to the fashion industry's ability to establish clothing trends. For the past few years, WGSN has been a dominant source of fashion news and forecasts in steering fashion brands worldwide to be "inspired" by one another. Enticing consumers to buy clothing by establishing new trends is, some have argued, a key component of the industry's success. Intellectual property rules that interfere with the process of trend-making would, on this view, be counter-productive. In contrast, it is often argued that the blatant theft of new ideas, unique designs, and design details by larger companies is what often contributes to the failure of many smaller or independent design companies.
In 2005, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held a conference calling for stricter intellectual property enforcement within the fashion industry to better protect small and medium businesses and promote competitiveness within the textile and clothing industries. [ 15 ] [ 16 ]
See also



Look up fashion in Wiktionary , the free dictionary.





Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fashion



Fashion accessory
Fashion capital
Fashion Net
Fashion week
Sustainable fashion
List of fashion designers
List of fashion topics
Runway (fashion)

statement

statement

Statement may refer to:

A kind of expression in language (linguistics)
Statement (logic) , declarative sentence that is either true or false
Statement (programming) , the smallest standalone element of an imperative programming language
"Statement" (song) , 2008 song by the Japanese band Boris
Statements (album) , 1962 album by jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson
Financial statements , formal records of the financial activities of a business, person, or other entity
Mathematical statement , a statement in logic and mathematics
Political statement , any act or nonverbal form of communication that is intended to influence a decision to be made for or by a group
Press statement , written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media
Statement of Special Educational Needs , outlining specific provision needed for a child in England

See also

Sentence (linguistics) , words grouped meaningfully to express a statement, question, exclamation, request or command
Theme (music) , a statement in music

vision

vision

Vision or visions may refer to:

Visual perception , interpreting what is seen
Visual system , the sensory mechanism of eyesight
Vision (spirituality) , inspirational experiences
Hallucination , vivid conscious perception in the absence of a stimulus


Film


Vision - From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (film) , 2010 film by Margarethe von Trotta


Music


Visions (Sun Ra album) , 1978 jazz album by Sun Ra and Walt Dickerson
Visions of Dennis Brown , 1978 reggae album by Dennis Brown, later reissued as Visions
Visions (Paul Field album) , 1985 Christian album
Visions (Stratovarius album) , 1997 power metal album
Visions (Atreyu album) , 1998/9 metalcore EP
" Visions of Johanna ," song by Bob Dylan from his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde
"Visions", B-side to "One of These Nights" (song) , 1975 single by The Eagles
"Visions", a track on the 1973 Stevie Wonder album Innervisions
"Vision", a track on the 1971 Peter Hammill album Fool's Mate (album)
Vision , MC and Producer
Visions , a Richard Stoltzman album


Pop culture


Vision (Timely Comics) (Aarkus), 1940s comic book character
Vision (Marvel Comics) , member of the superhero team, the Avengers
Visions (Magic: The Gathering) 1997 expansion to Magic: The Gathering collectible card game
Visions (convention) , a Chicago area science fiction convention.


Buildings


Vision Brisbane , proposed tower of 80 floors
Vision Tower , 60-floor tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates


Corporate


Goal or vision, a euphemism for planning in commerce and in sport
Vision statement , a corporate long-term goal
Vision Industries , U.S. sports car manufacturer
Vision Street Wear , U.S. footwear company
BT Vision , digital terrestrial television service provided in the United Kingdom
VisionTV , Canadian cable television specialty channel
Vision Airlines , US airline


Organizations


Vision Australia , blindness charity
Vision (Italian think tank) , think tank focusing on democracy, open society and social reform


Other


MV Atlantic Vision , a ferry
Sega Vision , a portable media player released in 2009
Vision for Space Exploration , a space exploration program
Visi On , an early GUI system for the IBM PC from VisiCorp
Vision Zero , a project to achieve a save road transport system
Vision, nightclub associated with Excalibur (nightclub) in Chicago
Vision (IRC) , an IRC client for the BeOS and Haiku operating systems

See also

Visionary
Least distance of distinct vision

romantic

romantic

Romance or romantic may refer to:

Romance languages , a family of languages originating in south-western Europe.
Romance (genre) , a genre of medieval and renaissance narrative fiction
Romance (music) , a type of ballad or lyrical song
Romance (meter) , a metric pattern found particularly in Spanish-language poetry
Romanticism , an artistic and intellectual movement in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, including




Romantic music
Romantic poetry




Romance (love) , love emphasizing emotion over libido.
Romance film , a genre of film of which the central plot focuses on the romantic relationships of the protagonists
Romance novel , a genre of fiction focused on romantic love

Toponyms

Romance, Arkansas , U.S.
Romance, Missouri , U.S.
Romance, West Virginia U.S.
Romance, Wisconsin U.S.

Titles and proper names

Romance (song) , also known as Romance Anónimo , a Spanish instrumental guitar piece of anonymous origin
Romance for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 in G major, Op. 40 and Romance for Violin and Orchestra No. 2 in F major, Op. 50 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Romance (novel) , a 1905 novel by Joseph Conrad
"Romance" (poem) , an 1829 poem by Edgar Allan Poe
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 , known as Romantic
"Romantic" (song) , by Karyn White
The Romantics , an American rock 'n roll band from Detroit
Romance (Luis Miguel album) , 1991
Romance (Seldom album) , 2002
Romance (Ali Project album)
Romance (Dave Palmer album)
Romance (David Cassidy album)
Romance (Mamet play)
"Romance", a track on the album Light & Shade by Mike Oldfield
Romance (1920 film) , silent film, directed by Chester Withey
Romance (1930 film) , starring Greta Garbo
Romance (1999 film) , directed by Catherine Breillat

See also

Romance of the Three Kingdoms (disambiguation)

Note: the following entries are arranged in an etymological tree.

Roma (disambiguation)

Rome (disambiguation)
Romaic
Romanus (disambiguation)

Aromanians
Romagna

Romagnol language


Romain (disambiguation)
Romaine (disambiguation)
Roman (disambiguation)

Romanesco
Romanesque (disambiguation)


Romana (disambiguation)
Romand

Romandy


Romania (disambiguation)

Romanian (disambiguation)


Romanicus

Romance (disambiguation)
Romanza (disambiguation)
Romance languages (Romanic)


Romanization (disambiguation)
Romano (disambiguation)
Romansh language

couture

couture

Couture is the name or part of the name of several communes in France :

Couture , in the Charente département
Couture-d'Argenson , in the Deux-Sèvres département
Couture-sur-Loir , in the Loir-et-Cher département

People named Couture

Randy Couture (born 1963), American mixed martial arts fighter
Guillaume Couture (1617–1701), first known Couture in North America
Thomas Couture (1815–1879), French history painter

Couture may also refer to:

La Couture , locations in France
Haute couture , fashion
Juicy Couture , apparel brand

evening

evening

Evening is the period between the late afternoon and night when daylight is decreasing, around dinner time. Though the term is subjective, evening is typically understood to begin before sunset , during the close of the standard business day (about 6 pm) – and extend until dusk , the beginning of night . Evening thus spans the period of twilight , but begins before it and depending on definition may extend past its end.
In the rural American South, "evening" (pronounced /ˈiːvnɪn/ ) often describes the entire late afternoon, especially when the main meal of the day, dinner , is taken in the early afternoon; evening is thus anytime after dinner.
Informally, the term "evening" is used in place of "night", especially in the context of an event which takes place over the course of said "evening".
See also

Crepuscular
Dusk
Evening dress
Sunset
Vespers

collections

collections

Collection or Collections may refer to:

Collection (computing) , the abstract concept of collections in computer science
Collection (mathematics) , a set , class , family , or multiset ; for brevity in proofs the term is often used loosely to make general statements, to avoid specifying which (if any) of these formal objects is meant.
Collection (payment) , a term referring to creditor 's pulled direct debit payments.
Collection (museum) , objects in a particular field forms the core basis for the museum
Collection (horse) , a term referring to the horse carrying more weight on his hindquarters than his forehand.
Collection (Oxford Colleges) , a beginning-of-term exam or Principal's Collections
Collection (Cash) , a term relation to a business function.

Albums

Collection (Mike Oldfield album)
Collection (The Stranglers album)
Collection (Tracy Chapman album)
Collection (Joe Sample album)
Collection (The Jam album)
Collection (Wynonna Judd album)
Collection (The Warratahs album)
Collection (Jason Becker album)
Collection (Pentangle album)
Collection (Praxis album)
Collection (Spyro Gyra album)
Collection (Thee Michelle Gun Elephant album)
Collections (Charlie Major album)
Collections (Amanda Marshall album)
Collections (Rick Astley album)
Collections (The Young Rascals album)
Collection I , an album compiled of early songs from The Misfits
Collection II , a companion album to The Misfits' Collection I
Collection: The Shrapnel Years (Greg Howe album)
Collection: The Shrapnel Years (Tony MacAlpine album)
Collection: The Shrapnel Years (Vinnie Moore album)
Collections (TLC album) , a compilation album by TLC

Other

Collection agency , a business that pursues payments on debts
Generated collection , a scale formed by repeatedly adding a constant interval around the chromatic circle
Collection class in object-oriented programming
The offertory money collected from a church congregation during a service, often by such means as a collection plate
A type of anthology consisting of works by a single author
Collections or collective nouns for groups of animals are found in the article on List of animal names .

See also

All pages beginning with "Collection"
All pages with titles containing "Collection"
Archive
Collect
Collecting
Collectible

personal style

personal style

Style may refer to:

Design , the process of creating something
Fashion , a prevailing mode of expression, e.g., clothing
Style (fiction) , an aspect of literary composition
Format , various terms that refer to the style of different things
Genre , a loose set of criteria for a category or composition
Human physical appearance
Typeface , style is one of the three traditional design features along with size and weight: either regular, italic or condensed

Style , in specific fields, may also refer to:

Style (visual arts) , in art and painting style can refer either to the aesthetic values followed in choosing what to paint (and how) or to the physical techniques employed
Style (botany) , a stalk structure in female flower parts
Style (manner of address) , titles or honorifics, including Chinese courtesy names

Music
Style is all these different music meanings:...

Music genre , music that shares a certain "basic musical language"
"Style" (Orbital song) , a 1999 single by Orbital
"Style" (2007 song) , from the Tamil film Sivaji: The Boss
Style (Cameo album) , an album by Cameo released in 1983
Style (Namie Amuro album) , an album by Namie Amuro released in 2003
Style (Luna Sea album) , an album by Luna Sea released in 1996
Styles P , one third of the group The LOX or one fourth of the supergroup, D-Block
Style (Swedish band) , Swedish 80s band, famous for songs like "Telefon" and "Dover-Calais"
"Style", a song from the movie Robin and the 7 Hoods
"Style", a song and single by Kana Nishino

Film and television

Style (2001 film) , a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal
Style (2004 film) , a Burmese film
Style (2006 film) , a Telugu film starring Lawrence Raghavendra and Prabhu Deva Sundaram
Style Network , a Comcast-owned cable and satellite television network
Style with Elsa Klensch , a CNN fashion series hosted by Elsa Klensch from 1980 to 2000
Style (TV series) , a 2009 Korean television series

Literature, linguistics, and rhetoric

The Mysterious Affair at Styles , a novel by Agatha Christie
Style guide in writing
Stylistics (linguistics) , in linguistics, variation in the language use of an individual, such as formal/informal style
Style , a 1998 fashion book by Elsa Klensch
Style: Toward Clarity and Grace , a 1990 writing guide by Joseph M. Williams
Style: An Anti-Textbook , a 1974 monograph by Richard A. Lanham
Style , a book by Sir Walter Raleigh
"Style", a pseudonym of author Neil Strauss
Style (magazine) , a South African women's magazine that was published between the 1980s and 2006

Other uses

Cascading Style Sheets , in web design
The part of a sundial that casts the shadow (= gnomon ).
VIP Style Awards , an annual awards ceremony named after VIP magazine

See also

Stile , a step used for crossing a fence
Stylus , a writing instrument

bridesmaids

bridesmaids

The Western bridesmaid tradition is thought to have originated from Roman Law , which required ten witnesses at a wedding in order to outsmart evil spirits (believed to attend marriage ceremonies) by dressing in identical clothing to the bride and groom, so that the evil spirits would not know who was getting married. [ citation needed ] Even as late as 19th century England, there was a belief that ill-wishers could administer curses and taint the wedding. [ citation needed ] In Victorian wedding photographs, for example, the bride and groom are frequently dressed in the same fashion as other members of the bridal party. [ citation needed ]
Other people cite the Biblical story of Jacob , and his two wives Leah and Rachel , who both literally came with their own maids as detailed in the Book of Genesis (29:24, 46:18) as the origin of bridesmaids. These women were handmaidens (servants or slaves) instead of social peers. [ citation needed ]

groomsmen

groomsmen

A groomsman is one of the male attendants to the bridegroom in a wedding ceremony. The term usher is more common in the UK, but in the US such a term would imply that the groom's friends are less important or honored than the bride's. Usually the bridegroom selects his closest friends and/or relatives to serve as a groomsman, and it is considered an honor to be selected. From his groomsmen, the groom usually chooses one to serve as best man. The duties of the groomsmen are to help guests find their places before the ceremony and to participate in the wedding ceremony.
Additionally, the groom may request other kinds of assistance, such as planning celebratory events such as a bachelor party, also called Stag Night or Buck's Night ; helping make the wedding pleasant for guests by talking with people who are alone or dancing with unaccompanied guests or bridesmaids, if there is dancing at a wedding reception; or providing practical assistance with gifts, luggage, or unexpected complications. Groomsmen may also participate in local or regional traditions, such as decorating the newlywed couple's car.
For a wedding with many guests, the groom may also ask other male friends and relatives to act as ushers without otherwise participating in the wedding ceremony; their sole task is ushering guests to their seats before the ceremony. Ushers may also be hired for very large weddings.
In a military officer's wedding, the role of groomsmen is replaced by swordsmen of the sword honor guard . They are usually picked as close personal friends of the groom who have served with him. Their role includes forming the traditional saber arch for the married couple and guests to walk through.

occasion

occasion

Occasion : Connick on Piano, Volume 2 is an instrumental album recorded in 2005, presenting Harry Connick Jr on piano and Branford Marsalis on saxophone , playing their own jazz compositions.
Presented as Volume 2 in the Connick on Piano series, from Marsalis music . (Volume 1 is Connick's quartet album Other Hours .)
A DVD with Connick & Marsalis performing music live from this album, A Duo Occasion , was released in November 2005.




Contents


1 Track listing
2 Various information
3 Musicians
4 Credits
5 External links





//

Track listing

"Brown World" ( Harry Connick Jr. ) – 4:40
"Valentine's Day" – 5:14
"Occasion" ( Branford Marsalis ) – 3:01
"Spot" – 5:58
"I Like Love More" – 5:05
"All Things" – 5:58
"Win" – 6:04
"Virgoid" – 4:12
"Remember The Tarpon" – 7:10
"Lose" – 5:51
"Steve Lacy" (Marsalis) – 3:16
"Chanson Du Vieux Carre" – 2:17
"Good To Be Home" – 6:25

All songs written by Harry Connick, Jr. , unless otherwise indicated.
Various information

Harry Connick Jr explains how it came to be a duo album: “When my drummer Arthur Latin hurt his shoulder, I decided to wait before recording another quartet album, and asked Branford if he would do something with me. What started as a project intended to mix solo piano and duo performances turned into an entire duo album.“
"Chanson Du Vieux Carré", track #12, means "Song of the French Quarter ". Chanson Du Vieux Carré is also the name of the third album in the Connick on piano series.
Track #5 "I Like Love More", #6 "All Things" and #13 "Good To Be Home" are compositions from Connick's Tony nominated score for the 2001 Broadway musical Thou Shalt Not .

Musicians

Harry Connick Jr. - piano
Branford Marsalis - soprano , tenor sax

Credits

Branford Marsalis - Saxophone , Producer
Arnold Levine - Art Direction , Design
Jean-Pierre LeGuillou - Art Producer
Frank Hunter - Album Photography
Rob "Wacko" Hunter - Engineer , Mixing
Greg Calbi - Mastering
Rick Dior - Assistant Engineer
Tracey Freeman - Producer
Harry Connick, Jr. - Piano , Liner Notes

singular occasion

singular occasion