26 Present and past tenses Read the text about changing fashions and study the verbs in bold. Which tense do you use to say that: a something has existed or has been going on up to now? b something happened in the past? c something has changed? d something is generally true now? LANGUAGE 1 Why do fashions change over time? If you look in your wardrobe, you realise that you have a certain number of clothes to choose from. But how did those clothes get there? Did you buy them yourself? Or did somebody else buy them for you? Why? Fashion is all about what is currently popular. Fashion is so much more than just clothes, though. It can mean shoes, jewellery, and even how you style your hair. The one thing that stays the same with fashion is this: It always changes! Don’t believe us? Spend some time on the internet looking at fashion over the ages. In the 1960s and 1970s, hippies made flared jeans popular. In the 1980s, Michael Jackson and MC Hammer made parachute pants all the rage. Now try to find these items in today’s stores. It may be pretty difficult because in the meantime, fashions have changed and different styles have become fashionable. Why do fashions change? Of course, advertising plays a role, but people also want to dress like people they admire, for example, film and TV stars and influencers on social media. In this way, fashions constantly change over time. These changes have been happening for hundreds of years! Ever since people invented clothes, they have used them as a form of expression. In the 1700s, people in France spent hours looking through fashion magazines to learn about the latest styles. This trend quickly spread across Europe. For years, people have used clothes to separate people into groups. Even today, people often use expensive brand-name clothing to distinguish themselves from others. Unfortunately, this often has the effect of excluding certain groups. Don’t forget that it’s always OK to develop your own sense of style. You can be unique and separate from others in the fashion world. Stay true to yourself and let your personality – not your clothes – speak for who you are! Writing tip This combination of tenses is quite common and very useful when you explain how something has developed over time. Unit 06 All the rage Key Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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