Lesson 2 Passion for Fashion
How Fashion Items Got Their Names
Do ____ know what a jumpsuit is?
It is usually a ____ item that covers your whole body, even your arms and legs.
It is easy and quick to ____ on and to take off.
As the name indicates, the jumpsuit began as ____ for jumping from planes.
Later, designers transformed this functional design into ____ women’s fashion items seen in fashion shows around the world.
Like the jumpsuit, there are other fashion items with interesting stories about ____ they got their names.
Sneak Up in Sneakers
____ have probably owned a pair of sneakers for everyday activities or sports.
They are a type of ____ shoe designed specifically to be worn for physical activities and sports.
So, why are they ____ sneakers?
The name “sneakers” is derived from the ____ “to sneak up.”
Due to the fact that sneakers’ soles are mostly made of rubber, they ____ little noise when people walk.
This allows people who are ____ them to sneak up on others.
Before rubber, leather was used for the ____ of shoes.
Traditional leather shoes make a lot of noise, and it is easier to ____ the person wearing them.
However, with sneakers, you can quietly ____ up on your friends and surprise them.
Blue Jeans from Genoa
Whether they are loose fit or slim fit, most of you have at least ____ pair of blue jeans.
They were named “jeans” because they were made of jean, a sort of ____ cotton cloth.
The word jean is a modification of Gênes, the French ____ of the Italian city of Genoa.
In the 17th and 18th ____, Genoa was a major center for trade.
Sailing merchants from Genoa traded their goods throughout Europe, ____ in England and France.
One of the items that made Genoa famous was a ____ cotton cloth, ideally suited to making tough work clothes.
The cloth was most likely ____ blue.
French was widely spoken in Europe at that time, so the cloth was called “bleu de Gênes” (the blue of ____).
This is how the pants made with “bleu de Gênes” became ____ as blue jeans in English.
A Man in a Tuxedo in Tuxedo Park
People ____ tuxedos when a formal dress code is required, like for the opera, dinner parties, or awards shows.
The ____ likely got its name from Tuxedo Park, one of the first gated communities in New York.
In the late 19th century, men usually wore jackets with long ____ that reached their knees on formal occasions.
One evening, a man showed up with a short black ____ without tails in Tuxedo Park.
The male ____ who stayed there were fascinated by the new jacket and started to wear the same style.
Later, more people asked their tailors to make ____ a jacket “like the one worn in Tuxedo Park.”
At ____, this style of jacket was considered less formal than one with long tails.
As more and more men ____ the shorter style, it eventually replaced the longer version.
Now men’s formal wear is the ____.
Isn’t it ironic that the tuxedo was not originally considered very formal, but now it is the most formal clothing ____ wear?
Flip-flops, Flip-flop
On beaches and at pools, everyone seems to wear simple shoes with a band across the top of the foot and between the big toe and second ____.
____, they are one of the oldest shoes in history.
Ancient Egyptian paintings ____ they were worn around 4,000 B.C.
Due to the fact that they have such a long history, they have ____ names all around the world.
The Japanese call them ____.
New Zealanders call them jandals, which is a ____ form of “Japanese sandals.”
However, in the ____, these shoes are called “flip-flops.”
Just walk around in a pair of them, and you can ____ guess why they got this name.
The rubber soles hit the bottom of your feet as you walk, ____ a flip-flop, flip-flop sound.
The sound became the name of the ____, flip-flops.
Whatever origins these ____ items have, they are being worn by more and more people in various places around the world.
Why don’t you look for other ____ items that have as interesting name origins as those introduced here?