Reading test по теме "Fashion"

1. Fashion is something we deal with every day. Even people, who say they don’t care what they wear, choose clothes every morning that say a lot about them and how they feel that day. What influences our choice of clothes is an interesting question. I believe that most people do not follow the fashion displayed on the catwalk. Those clothes are a product of famous high-class designers’ work, which is often very extravagant and extremely expensive. It is also not designed to be worn every day, but it is suitable for some special occasions.

1. We definitely borrow some ideas about fashion from music clips, videos, books and television. Movies also have a big impact on what people wear. For example it is known that more sunglasses were sold in America after the movie “Men In Black” came out. Sometimes a trend becomes global. Back in the 50’s teenagers everywhere dressed like Elvis Presley. Musicians and other cultural icons, as well as political and royal figures, have always influenced what we are wearing. Newspapers and magazines reported on what Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama were wearing when they were First Ladies. Princess Diana’s death was a severe blow to the high fashion world, where her clothes were daily news.

1. Depending on their attitude towards clothes and fashion, people can be divided to three groups: 1) fashion slaves, spending all their money on the latest clothes even if they don’t look good in them; 2) fashion fans, who enjoy wearing modern clothes but are not obsessed by them, and 3)people who just don’t care how they look. Personally I place myself between fashion fans and people who don’t care how they look. Although I enjoy shopping very much and like to try things on, especially when I look good in them, I don’t spend much time choosing and buying clothes. And of course I do it only when I really need something new to wear, and not in order to kill time.

1. My style and the range of clothes that I have are defined by the activities I engage in. Work occupies most of my time and therefore most of the clothes that I have correspond with the dress code, registered in the policy of our company. According to the dress code, an employee is not allowed to wear certain items of clothing to work. For example, men are supposed to wear ties and business suits, and nobody is allowed to wear jeans, except on Fridays. Women’s clothes are not supposed to be skintight, too short or too open. All of the shirts are supposed to have collars. Clothes also can’t be too bright, the colors should correspond to the corporate colors – dark blue and white.

1. Styles show who you are, but they also create stereotypes and distance between groups. For instance, a businessman might look at a boy with green hair and multiple piercings as a freak and outsider. But to another person, the boy is a strict conformist. He dresses a certain way to deliver the message of rebellion and separation, but within that group, the look is uniform. Acceptance or rejection of a style is a reaction to the society we live in. Fashion is a language which tells a story about the person who wears it. “Clothes create a wordless means of communication that we all understand,” according to Katherine Hamnett, a top British fashion designer.

1. Your clothes reflect your social status. It goes without saying that if you are a businesswoman you should be dressed appropriately. To put it in another way, if a person is a head of a company, it is preferable for him to wear well-branded clothes. Psychologically, people spend so much time on fashion and buying clothes to forget about different life problems. That is to say, shopping for clothes can be good therapy when life is troubling. However, it is not worth a sacrifice if you are a shopaholic and buy everything you see. The feeling of style and good taste are surely important, as well.

Choose the best variant for each paragraph.

A. If you can’t help buying everything you see, don’t forget about style and good taste.

B. Everybody deals with fashion every morning when they choose what to wear.

C. The company where a person works defines their style of clothes.

D. Mass media, movies and celebrities have always influenced what the public wears.

E. Your style can tell a lot about you and your attitude toward the society.

F. If you are a head of a company you shouldn’t wear jeans, even on Fridays.

G. I am neither a fashion fan, nor a person who doesn’t care how he looks

Transform the word in capital to complete each sentence.