The fashion world has a language of its own. Fashion people have a whole jargon and phraseology that’s completely unique to the industry. If you are a fashion rookie or want to take a deeper dive in the fashion world, there are certain words or phrases that are useful and come in handy any time.
Here is a quick glossary of basic, essential fashion terminology that we always use on Attire Club and that you should know. In this guide, we will focus on words that will help you guide yourself through the complex roads of the fashion world. One for each letter.
Appliqué – A decorative element made from a piece of fabric that is sewn on top of another fabric
Boxy – A boxy garment is a piece of clothing that features a square design and minimal tailoring
Crew neck – A neckline that follows the shape of the neck (round). It is opposed to the v-neck, which has a v-form
Dress shirt – A shirt that features no pockets, 6-8 buttons and is long enough to be tucked well in a shirt. Never wear other types of shirts with suits
Espadrilles – Flexible, casual shoes made from canvas or cotton, that have a sole made of jute rope
Faux-pas – Pronounced ˈfō-ˌpä, fō-ˈ, translating from French as “False step”, a faux-pas is something that is not recommended for one to do, as it won’t ever look good. An example of a faux-pas is to wear white socks with dress shoes.
Gingham – A type of pattern that features alternating checks, generally colorful ones with white ones
Haute Couture – Pronounced ˌōt-ku̇-ˈtu̇r, meaning “High Tailoring”, in French, it refers to a series of designs created by brands that are part of a group that creates extremely sophisticated clothes for private buyers. Unless a brand is accepted in the group, they may not call their clothes “haute couture”
Investment-piece – A piece in which is it worth investing a lot of money. For example, a $400 bag that will last for over 10 years is an investment piece
Jersey – A plain fabric that is knit and not woven. Jersey is very breathable, soft and comfortable and gets softer with every wash
Knock-off – A fake
Lapel – A folded flap of cloth found on the front of jackets, coats and sometimes vests.
Muslin – A medium-weight fabric is used in a large variety of sheers and sheeting
Neutral – In fashion, neutral colors are colors that go with any other color. These colors are gray, black, white, beige, khaki, brown, ivory, tan, dark blue, etc. Metals and metallics (silver, gold, copper, etc.) are also neutrals
Open-toe – Open-toe shoes are shoes that reveal the wearer’s toe. In men’s fashion, the only open-toe shoes are sandals; in womenswear there are many types of shoes that can be open-toed (pumps, wedges, mulets, etc.)
Paisley – A vegetal, tear-drop design
Quilted – A garment that consists of two layers of fabric featuring a layer of thick material between the two, often decorated with stitching lines, which form a pattern.
Ready-to-Wear – Clothes produced in standard sizes in a factory
Silhouette – The general outline of a garment
Thread count – The number of threads that are woven together in a square inch when a fabric is made. For example, if there are 200 threads on the length and 200 on the width, the textile has a thread count of 400.
Utilitarian – A utilitarian garment is a piece of clothing that has special features that help someone when they are doing a specific job. For example, electricians need clothes with many pockets to store all their tools and therefore wear utilitarian overalls
Vintage – Commonly referred to as “old”, vintage actually means a piece that was made between 1920 and 1960.
Wingtips – Dress shoes that have a w-design on their toes.
Xavier Serrano – A model who has appeared in fashion shows and campaigns of brands such as Givenchy, Balmain and DSquared2
Yoke – The Seams found across the top of a pair of pants, shirt or a skirt that create an upside-down triangle shape.
Zebra print – A print that looks like the hide of a zebra
And there you have it! As you know, every field and every group has a vocabulary of its own, so if you want to be a fashion insider, this small list of words and phrases is a good place to start if you want to go going a long way!
Fraquoh and Franchomme
Further reading:
Culture, history and money: 32 Fashion facts
A list of fascinating fashion firsts
Fashion industry statistics you probably didn’t know
What is haute couture? 12 facts
P.S. We want to hear from you! What fashion words do you use? Share your feedback, questions or thoughts in the comments below! For more articles on style, fashion tips and cultural insights, you can subscribe to Attire Club via e-mail or follow us on Facebook or Twitter!
8 replies on “The Essential Fashion Alphabet (B)”
Very nice & very important!
Thanks for sharing!
With <3 from doliveirafashionblog.com
Glad you enjoyed it
this is useful because most people don’t know that utilitarian shirts are not dress shirts!
Definitely, we always insist on people not wearing utilitarian garments outside a job.
This was super helpful, now I know what a Xavier Serrano is! Have a lovely wkend!
Haha, well, we needed something for X too 😉
Have a great week-end as well!
Enjoyed learning about thread count, quite useful!
We’re glad to hear you enjoyed the article and learned something new from it!