Flip through glossy fashion magazines and you will find gorgeous beauties staring at you. Do you ever wonder why some people make a career out of looking pretty? Do appearances matter? If beauty is only skin deep, why do we have a multi-billion dollar industry working for the epidermis?
The four major current fashion capitals are acknowledged to be Paris, Milan, New York City, and London, which are all headquarters to the greatest fashion companies and are renowned for their major influence on global fashion. Fashion weeks are held in these cities, where designers exhibit their new clothing collections to audiences. A succession of major designers such as Coco Chanel and Yves Saint-Laurent have kept Paris as the center most watched by the rest of the world, although haute couture is now subsidized by the sale of ready-to-wear collections and perfume using the same branding.
The clothing industry accounts for a significant share of world economic output. The fashion industry consists of four levels:
- the production of raw materials, principally fibers and textiles but also leather and fur
- the production of fashion goods by designers, manufacturers, contractors, and others
- retail sales
- various forms of advertising and promotion
These levels consist of many separate but interdependent sectors. These sectors are Textile Design and Production, Fashion Design and Manufacturing, Fashion Retailing, Marketing and Merchandising, Fashion Shows, and Media and Marketing. Each sector is devoted to the goal of satisfying consumer demand for apparel under conditions that enable participants in the industry to operate at a profit.