Fashion advertising

   Fashion advertising can be traced back to fashion plates, which were introduced in France and England during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These fashion illustrations were the first advertising vehicles used to sell clothing. Fashion illustrations continued to sell clothing through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in fashion magazines such as the Lady's Magazine, Godey 's Lady's Book, and the Gallery of Fashion. Advertisements became more sophisticated with the introduction of photography in fashion magazines in 1913, notably by Harper's Bazaar (1867) and Vogue (1892). However, early ads were a combination of image and copy. The growing number of retail establishments and clothing manufacturers found that advertising in newspapers and magazines gave them a competitive advantage. By the 1930s, photography replaced illustration and advertising agencies devised ads that not only sold product but more importantly, projected an image. In the 1950s, fashion's landscape changed with the baby boom and 1960s press promotions were selling and marketing an image of "youth." Fashion advertising in the 1970s exploded with a plethora of jeans ads. Calvin Klein was the first designer to use the media to his advantage, beginning with his jeans ads featuring Brooke Shields. Throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, advertising agencies realized that controversy sold products. A series of print and billboard ads created buzz, such as those from United Colors of Benetton which addressed race, religion, and health issues; Kenneth Cole's shoe ads which made social and political statements; Calvin Klein ads flirted with sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll; and Dove beauty ads featured plus-size women as the "real beautiful." The use of supermodels, celebrities, and iconic sports figures in the 1990s and 2000s made advertising a powerful tool for the fashion industry and often overshadowed the merchandise itself.