Does Fashion Contribute Anything to Society？

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Make np, Dress up, Warm up, Brighten'up When 43-year-old Wang I.ongzhu stepped out of a beauty parlour in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province in East China, she felt all the people around were staring at her with admiration. She said, “Years ago, it would be unusual for a middleaged woman like me to make up because Chinese women who have married and raised children usually do not care much about their appearance.”When I came home and looked in the mirror, I found myself younger and I felt relaxed and confident,“ she added. Wang, an official of a pharmaceutical factory in Nanjing, believes a good appearance may leave people with a better impression in social contacts. She goes to the Nanjing Dongfang beauty parlour centre to have face massotherapy once a week. Founded three months ago, the centre has helped more than 100 middie-aged and older people to improve their appearance. Zhang Yahui, director of the centre, said,”Everyone gets old. But we can keep our youthful appearance longer through daily care.“Middle-aged and older people in China are now breaking with the conventional idea and paying more attention to keeping fit and caring about their appearance.

　　According to a shop assistant of the Taiping Department Store, who looks after a counter selling clothes specially for rniddle-aged and older people, more and more of her senior customers like to buy fashionable and bright-coloured clothes. The dark and grey uniforms which used to be popular among old people are now unsellable. He Minsheng, director of a city committee looking after affairs concerning the aged, said that when people are getting old, they often begin to feel useless and lose interest in life. The purpose of the committee is to help them overcome these iroubles.

　　He said the city has set up more than 400 recreational and sports organizations to promote various activities for older people. Early in the morning, old people can be found performing disco, qigong（a system of deep breathing exercises） and other exercises in gardens and parks. However, not all middle-aged and older people in China openly express their views about their wish to remain in good physical condition. A reporter from a local weekly aimed at senior citizens complained that about 1, 000 people signed for a recent healthcare exercise training course, but few of them are willing to be interviewed. The reporter said, “Maybe these people are still afraid of being laughed at.

　　II. Read Read the following passages. Underline the important viewpoints while reading. 1. “New Fashions in Clothing Are Created Solely for the Commercial Exploitation of Women Whenever you see an old film, even one made as little as ten years ago, you cannot help being struck by the appearance of the women taking part. Their hair- styles and make-up look dated： their skirts look either too long or too short： their general appearance is, in fact, slightly ludicrous. The men taking part in the film, on the other hand, are clearly recognizable. There is nothing about their appearance to suggest that they belong to an entirely different age.

　　This illusion is created by changing fashions. Over the years, the great majority of men have successfully resisted all attempts to make them change their style of dress. The same cannot be said for women. Each year a few so-ca lled “top designers” in Paris or London lay down the law and women the whole world over rush to obey. The decrees of the designers are unpredictable and dictatorial. This year, they decide in their arbitrary fashion, skirts will be short and waists will be high； zips are in and buttons are out . Next year the law is reversed and far from taking exception, no one is even mildly surprised.

　　If women are mercilessly exploited year after year, they have only themselves to blame. Because they shudder at the thought of being seen in public in clothes that are out of fashion, they are annually blackmailed by the designers and the big stores. Clothes which have been worn only a few times have to be discarded because of the dictates of fashion. When you come to think of it, only a woman is capable of standing in front of a wardrobe packed full of clothes and announcing sadly that she has nothing to wear.

　　Changing fashions are nothing more than the deliberate creation of waste. Many women squander vast sums of money each year to replace clothes that have hardly been worn. Women who cannot afford to discard clothing in this way, waste hours of their time altering the dresses they have. Hem-lines are taken up or let down； waist-lines are taken in or let out； neck-lines are lowered or raised, and so on.

　　No one can claim that the fashion industry contributes anything really important to society. Fashion designers are rarely concerned with vital things like warmth, comfort and durability. They are only interested in outward appearance and they take advantage of the fact that women will put up with any amount of discomfort, providing they look right. There can hardIy be a man who hasn,t at some time in his life smiled at the sight of a woman shivering in a flimsy dress on a wintry day, or delicately picking her way through deep snow in dainty shoes.

　　When comparing men and women in the matter of fashion, the conclusions to be drawn are obvious. Do the constantly changing fashions of women's clothes, one wonders, reflect basic qualities of fickleness and instability？ Men are too sensible to let themselves be bullied by fashion clesigners. Do their unchanging styles of dress reflect basic qualities of stability and reliability？ That is for you to decide.

　　2. For Fashion-mad Youth Money Is No Object Young women in Beijing are showing a new look in fashions this year. They are wearing elegant long trouser-like skirts and loose pantalets with a connected top, both made of colourful satin, silk and polyester As a popular saying among young people in the capital nowadays goes - “Fashion for women and labels for men.”Fashion had been lang neglected in Beijing. During the “cultural revolution” （1966-1976）, the city was filled with people clad in blue, grey, black and green. Army uniforms were the norm. Green caps, suits and coats were in vogue. But no longer. The drab look is no more.

　　Wherever there are shops, there are some that sell the latest fashions in garments a,nd shoes. Street pedlars and private clothing store owners have been trying to collect new designs from all over the country and to put them on display in ihe markets as soon as possible. Prominent Beijing garment companies such as Blue Sky, Leimeng and Zaocun have been replaced in popularity by Smart Garments Lrd, Wacoal Co. I.td. and De-Carty, all of which are joint ventures. Although their clothes are much more expensive than those in ordinary shops, they are selling very well.