Interesting facts about sportswear. The concepts of "vintage" and "retro"

Did you know that the inventor of the sewing machine also invented the zipper? Or that buttons were originally a piece of jewelry? We bring to your attention some interesting facts that will make you take a fresh look at your wardrobe.

(Total 8 photos + 1 video)

1. The inventor of the sewing machine also invented the zipper. Six years after the invention of the modern sewing machine, Elias Howe patented the "automatic, continuous fastener for clothes" in 1851. metal zippers first appeared in 1918, but did not come into general use until the 1930s.

2. The first socks were worn with sandals (that's what they were made for), so this is the ORIGINAL way to wear socks.

3. Cowards and family members came up with less than 100 years ago. The first "boxers" were invented in 1925, and the first briefs were sold in Chicago in 1935.

4. Buttons were used as decorations for many centuries before holes were invented for them. The first "real" buttons appeared in Germany in the 13th century.

5. Levi Strauss invented jeans in 1873 with his partner Jacob Davis.

6. Sunglasses were originally prescribed for patients with syphilis. Syphilis leads to light sensitivity, so in the XIX and early XX centuries. doctors prescribed tinted glasses for syphilis patients.

7. The bra inventor also helped build careers for James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence and Henry Miller. After patenting the modern bra, Carissa Crosby founded a publishing company in Paris, where many writers and poets published. She was friends with Picasso and Dali and threw incredible parties.

Fashion and style came along with clothes. Each thing keeps its secrets of creation and transformation. This collection contains the most interesting facts about clothes.

Secrets of origin

Have you ever thought about the process of inventing outfits? For example, two trouser legs used to be tied with an ordinary rope. A lot of time passed before they managed to tie them into one product - pants. The sweater was originally used for weight loss. People wore it to workouts, which caused sweating. Leggings were sewn from elk skin, which gives rise to the name.

It is not known for certain when and why buttons began to be placed on men's clothing on the right, and on the female - on the left. There are assumptions:

• for the convenience of servants of noble nobles in medieval Europe. Buttons were made from expensive materials and were considered an element of decor for wealthy people. It was appropriate for noble women to dress with the help of servants, which determines the tradition;
• not to confuse women's and men's decorations;
• for the convenience of breastfeeding mothers.

Interestingly, the progenitors of ties are scarves of Croatian mercenaries. In 1630 they were recruited into the French army. French fashionistas adopted the attribute and began to tie it in a special way around the neck.

superstition

Do you know why you can't sew clothes on yourself? By performing these actions, a person can turn against himself a dangerous magical attribute - a needle. The logical explanation lies in poor quality tool. The technology of the past centuries did not allow the needles to resist corrosion. The products had burrs that contained dirt. If you prick, you can bring the infection.

Many other signs are known:

• “to dress inside out - to walk beaten” - the boyars, who were fined before Ivan the Terrible, put things on backwards and mounted a horse facing the tail; in England - to good news or a gift;
• new thing on big holidays- a harbinger of success and prosperity;
• dress from the left sleeve - bring trouble;
• a new thing attracts money and fulfills dreams - when wearing it for the first time, make a wish and put a coin in your pocket.

Practical Information

Things are beaten by a small discharge of current. But why? Clothing becomes electrified because it has positive and negative charges of electricity. Touching creates friction, which transmits the discharge. Neutralize static with a special powder added during washing or with an antistatic agent. Polyester, nylon, wool are actively electrified. Less susceptible to the process are viscose, cotton and silk.

Over time, delamination forms on the materials. It can be compared to the keratinized layer of the skin. The natural process is the result of long wear and washes. That's why there are pellets on clothes. The only material that does not lend itself to rolling particles is natural cotton.

In 2016, a Danish designer introduced a sports uniform made from condom material. The designer claims that the new equipment is ideal for long jumpers. The suit has slits that improve aerodynamics.

There are sets of robes that completely follow the contours of the body, tightly fitting it. They provide comfort, a sense of freedom. Such things are effective to wear when playing sports. Many fans of watching competitions on TV are wondering: why do we need compression clothing? Tight-fitting properties reduce the psychological and physical activity which gives strength and endurance.

Fashion does not stand still. Tomorrow she will offer us new design solutions for outfits. Piggy bank of cognitive facts on the topic is constantly updated.

Designer clothing is a special aesthetic category, which is influenced by preferences and lifestyle, "external" trends and "internal" factors.

Top and experimental brands - brands that differ in spirit, but are united by the talent and special taste of their creators.

Buying premium-format clothes is a guarantee of quality and confirmation of your own life success. At the same time, the branded items of young progressive designers are the choice of women with extraordinary thinking, who appreciate fashion, and not just follow it.

Are you looking for your favorite brand? Then take a look at the online store of branded women's clothing clasno.com.ua

Think you know everything about fashion? Check it out! Here are a few amazing facts about fashion that you may not know!

1. The first official Fashion Week took place in 1943 in New York. Her the main objective- divert attention from french fashion and give a start to American designers.

2. In total, 40 fashion weeks and 100 official events. The five most famous Fashion Week events are held in the fashion capitals of the world: Milan, New York, Berlin, London, Paris.

3. In order to become a High Fashion Designer, a person must be approved by the Chamber of Syndicale. It is the governing body of fashion in Paris. How serious is this confirmation? Only 14 fashion houses, out of huge amount designers, have such confirmation of haute couture. Among the unapproved applicants are big designers such as Giorgio Armani.

4. Valentino owns five pugs. Their names are Monty, Maude, Margo, Maggie, and Molly. They travel everywhere with him.

5. Louis Vuitton allegedly burns all of its old merchandise to maintain the brand's full exclusivity.

6. Christian Louboutin introduced shoes with blue soles so that brides could wear something blue on their wedding day.

7. Michael Kors created his first piece of clothing at the age of five - a wedding dress for his mother.

8. Christian Dior strongly believed in psychics. He made sure to visit one of them to determine which day would be the best to show his latest collection.

9. The ancient Greeks could well walk naked. In fact, our word "gymnasium" comes from; γυμνός (gymnos) meaning "naked".

10. The skirt is oldest species clothes, second only to the loincloth. Until 1600-1700, everyone wore a skirt - men and women.

11. Initially, both men and women wore togas in Rome, but after the 2nd century BC, respectable women wore stolas and only prostitutes were required to wear togas.

12 Wearing shorts in public was considered unacceptable for women until the First World War.

13. The first fashion magazine appeared in 1586. It began to be published in Germany.

14. The five most common clothing materials are linen, cotton, polyester, and viscose. Cotton fabric has been used for clothing for over 7,000 years.

Fun denim fact:

• The word "jeans" is a local term of the Genoese sailors, meaning "cotton trousers".
• One bale of cotton can make 215 pairs of jeans.
• The average American usually owns 7 pairs of blue jeans.
• The Guinness Book of Records has made Gucci as the manufacturer of the most expensive jeans in the world. Gucci Genius jeans are $3134

15. Sneakers came to us thanks to Keds, the first company to create this type of shoe, in 1917. And sandals are considered the earliest known human history as shoes.

16. More than 2 billion T-shirts are sold every year. Initially, T-shirts were an element of underwear. But now, the T-shirt is a popular piece of clothing as outerwear.

17. Until the 1800s, there was no concept of children's clothing. The children dressed the same as the adults.

18. In the 1500s, fashion designers began to show off their clothes by putting them on miniature dolls. There was no such thing as a model yet. The first models appeared only in 1853.

19. Napoleon contributed to fashion in many ways. For example, the buttons on the sleeves of jackets were invented by Napoleon when he got tired of his soldiers wiping
sleeve noses.

20. It may seem surprising that, in fact, men, at the executive level, use the fashion industry more than women. Most executives and presidents (men, not women) are regular customers of major fashion houses.

21. Valentino Garavani, italian fashion designer, made the red dress famous, just as Coco Chanel brought the famous little black dress into fashion. His red dresses became so popular that he was nicknamed "Valentino Red".

22. The first fake eyelashes were invented by Hollywood film producer Griffith, who wanted to improve the eyelids of actresses. They were made from real hair.

23. Eyelash liner became popular after its discovery in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in the 1920s. Since that time, the production of eyeliners has been launched.

24. Mary Phelps, New Yorker socialite, has created a modern bra. The bras she made and patented in 1914 are very different from those worn today. Hers bras were made from handkerchiefs.

25. Clothing prices have dropped 8.5% worldwide since 1992, even after adjusting for inflation.

26. It is estimated that Americans spend about 3.8% of their income on clothing, which is equivalent to about $1,700 per person. By comparison, in 1950, Americans spent 11% of their income on clothing. An American woman buys approximately 3,000 items of clothing in her lifetime, including 271 pairs of shoes, 185 dresses, and 145 suits.

27. Bikinis are named after the island, Bikini Atoll, where the US military tested their bombs in World War I. Their creator, Louis Reard, believed that the "mini" suit would create the effect of an atomic bomb with its appearance, due to the nominal sizes of the clothes.

28. social status and the profession of a person during the Middle Ages was represented by the color of clothing. Nobles wore red robes, peasants wore brown and grey, while merchants, bankers and officials wore green robes.
In Rome, purple was reserved exclusively for emperors and magistrates. Wearing black was taboo unless there was mourning in the house. Victorian widows were required to wear black mourning robes for two years after the death of their husbands.

29. What pink color is feminine and cyan (blue) is masculine, and that women's shirt has buttons on the left, and men's on the right: this is a relic old tradition, which we transferred to the old world.

30. The average life span of clothing is approximately three years. This standard is used to compare the standard of living.

• candle magic

  Candle rituals are best done at night, on any day of the week except Sunday. Concentrate on your desire and look directly into the fire. Let the candles burn out completely. A prematurely extinguished candle means a rejection of what was planned.
• Renowned Hollywood director David Lynch collects used chewing gum. According to him, "she reminds human brain».
• In the UK, it is customary to decorate a house with mistletoe branches. According to the custom of the English, once a year, on New Year, a man can kiss any girl who stops under a sprig of mistletoe.
• Except for everyone famous holidays there are many more in the world that we have heard almost nothing about, but they are no less interesting. For example, the festival of colors in New Delhi.
• 32% of Muscovites are convinced that vegetarianism is some kind of religion, about the same number - that it is a fashionable diet. The rest are divided into people who consider vegetarians mentally ill, and those who consider themselves to be vegetarians.
• The term "flying saucer" also arose thanks to Kenneth Arnold. He compared the nature of the movement of the objects he saw with a saucer thrown on the surface of the water.
• The moon was revered in many ancient cultures as a deity. The Greeks and Romans even had three goddesses of the Moon: Artemis (Diana) embodied the new Moon, Selene - the Moon in full phase, and Hecate personified the reverse side of this celestial body.
• There are about 1500 volcanoes on Earth that can become active at any moment. Magma flows can remain underground for hundreds of years, and then abruptly break out to the surface.
• Now horoscopes not only predict the future for various periods of time, but also provide fairly detailed characteristics certain types people or made to order for one person.
• People who are in a difficult situation are painting the cells in a checkerboard pattern, perhaps they are trying to strategize to get out of it.
• In the 9th century, an Arab traveler who visited China was shocked. “The Chinese do not care about cleanliness at all,” he wrote, “they do not use water, but only wipe themselves with paper.”
• In 2001, an Englishman filled a 600 with helium balloons and climbed more than 3 thousand meters. There, the balloons burst, and he had to use a fallback, that is, a parachute. If you also want to take to the air, remember that one balloon can lift about three grams.
• Grapes were cultivated 5-7 thousand years ago in Central and Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Syria, Mesopotamia and Egypt. Were known various ways production and filtration of wines.
• The first diamonds were discovered in India over 3000 BC. e. About some large diamonds, found in India, goes into disrepute. Especially famous in this regard is the Koh-i-nur diamond.
• The longest marriage was marked by Lazarus Rose and Molly Weber from the USA. They got married in 1743. After 86 years of marriage, their marriage broke up for reasons beyond their control - in 1829, the husband died.
• In some countries in general full freedom in choosing names. In Brazil, parents sometimes give their children the names of French. The country annually holds competitions for unusual names.
• All New Year's Eve in Korea is supposed to stay awake. old belief says: "If you sleep on New Year's Eve, your eyebrows will turn gray." Girls guess: they take turns jumping up from a board laid on a log - whoever jumps higher will get married faster.
• Modern sport stimulates scientific developments. The high achievements of an athlete depend not only on physical form but also on how he is equipped. An athlete may not know how much know-how is invested in his victory.
• Most goods in this country cannot be sold on Sundays, with the exception of carrots. Also, in foggy Albion, women are forbidden to eat chocolate on public transport.
• The joyful anticipation of the New Year is always associated with gifts. The palm when choosing the most expensive New Year's surprises belongs to wealthy Russians.
• In the United Kingdom, where tradition is most valued, an indispensable attribute of Christmas is a short speech by the Queen, which she delivers immediately after Christmas dinner.
• The tradition of decorating a Christmas tree for the New Year came to us from Germany. In the 16th century, on Christmas and New Year's Eve, the guilds of German cities began to be installed on the squares " Christmas tree».
• The Roman emperor Caligula on the first day of the New Year went to the square in front of the palace and accepted offerings from his subjects, while writing down who gave what.
• Sharon Stone does not turn on the TV if she is alone in the room. It seems to her that he can explode at any moment.
• Kissing, in addition to pleasure, also brings a lot of benefits to lovers. Experts from various fields confirm the beneficial effects of gentle and passionate kiss on the body.
• There are about 20,000 types of beer in the world, and it is brewed in 180 ways: from ales, light, strong beer to bitter and frozen beer.
• Moles, it turns out, can tell a lot about a person. Not in vain in old days ladies specially pasted flies to hint to gentlemen about those character traits that were not even in sight.
• One of the first references to the astrological weather forecast is contained in the book Tetrabiblos by Claudius Ptolemy.
• Some US laws are quite unusual.
• True, the Rooster - the owner of 2017 - is not suitable for flying. But in the New Year, any miracles happen!
• The dog will bring sweet bones to those who deserve it - hardworking, sympathetic, fair people.

• Clay

  Clay can be eaten. In Italy at the beginning of the last century, there was a dish called "alipa", which consisted of clay and wheat.

• funny laws

  In Joliet, Illinois, a woman can be arrested for trying on more than six dresses at a time in a store.

• In law

  In Indiana, you can't open cans with firearms. Residents of the state are forbidden to visit the theater or cinema, ride the tram for four hours after they have eaten garlic.

• Interesting laws

  In Russia, all color printers must be registered with the police in connection with the spread of counterfeit money.

• Ignorance of the law...

  Sticking a postage stamp with a portrait of the British monarch upside down on an envelope will commit an act of high treason.

• Elections

  In the state of New Mexico, there is a law that if two candidates for any office get the same number of votes, the result is determined by some kind of game.

• New Year - the beginning of the year

  The beginning of the year in France until 755 was considered December 25, then March 1, in the XII century - Easter Day, and from 1564, by decree of King Charles IX - January 1. In Germany, they began to celebrate the New Year on January 1 from XV! century, and in England - from the XVIII century.

• New Year

  In Ireland, in the evening, on the eve of the New Year, the doors of houses open wide. Anyone who wishes can enter any house and become a welcome guest there, they will seat him in a place of honor and feed him.

• Such a different New Year.

  Colombians make puppets old year. They are carried on sticks, read funny "testaments". Then they throw the dolls away from themselves, and at midnight the charges and gunpowder hidden in the dolls begin to explode.

• New Year traditions

  In Spain, at midnight, under each stroke of the clock, you have to eat one grape, each of which symbolizes one of the coming months. If you have time to eat them all, this guarantees the fulfillment of your cherished desire.

• Easter

  Australian Easter is a four-day holiday that begins on Good Friday and end on Monday. The symbol of Easter is not the Easter Bunny, but the local animal Bilby. This is due to the fact that rabbits are a real disaster for farmers.

• Pancake week.

  The tradition of celebrating Maslenitsa appeared in Rus' in pagan times and is associated with farewell to winter and a meeting of spring. It was believed that those who refused to celebrate would live in trouble.

• March 8

  Women's Day has existed since Ancient Rome. On this day, free women received gifts from their husbands, and slaves were given a day off.

• And interesting facts about cinema

  The oldest actress to appear on screen is Jeanne Louise Calment. At 114, she played herself in the Canadian film Vincent and Me. After this film debut, she lived for another 8 years.

• Space

  Neutron stars have a very thin crust and a liquid core. The weight of one spoonful of the substance of which their nuclei are composed is 150 million tons.

• planets

  Astronauts sleep less soundly. 16 sunrises per day serve main reason disruption of their circadian rhythm. The most difficult thing for those who have been in orbit for a long time is to adjust again to life on Earth: to the fact that when you let go of objects, they still fall.

• Cyclones

  Cyclones are huge atmospheric eddies that can reach a diameter of several hundred to several thousand kilometers. In the center, the cyclone has reduced pressure and moves counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

• Solar eclipse

  Scientists have calculated that in 600 million years the Moon will move away from the Earth so that it will not be enough to “close” the Sun, so solar eclipses will stop.

• Tornado

  The air in whirlwinds and tornadoes usually moves counterclockwise, but sometimes also clockwise. At the same time, in some areas the air rises in a spiral, while in others it falls, resulting in the formation of a closed column.

• Snow

  The largest snowflake was witnessed on January 28, 1887 during a snowfall in Fort Keo (Montana, USA). It had a diameter of about 38 cm. Usually, snowflakes are about 5 mm in diameter.

• Rain

  Approximately one in a hundred million people is allergic to rain. Any exposure to water on the skin causes redness, swelling, and such people can die from exposure to rain.

• Rivers and lakes

  Rivers annually carry 16 billion tons into the seas and oceans hard materials- stones, debris and other substances. If all this is loaded into freight cars, then it is possible to make a train that will wrap around the globe three times along the equator.

• Hurricanes

  However, the honor to wear given name not all hurricanes are awarded, but only those in which the funnel rotates counterclockwise, and the wind speed inside the hurricane is at least 63 kilometers per hour.

• desert

  The Sahara is the leader in the number of observed mirages, there is even a map of the Sahara with marks of places where mirages are observed more than 100 thousand times a year.

• Museums

  About 2,000 works are kept in the largest non-state Museum of Contemporary Art in Russia, Erarta. The museum is open to the public for exactly one year.

• Books

  The heaviest book in the world weighs 50 kg and tells the story of the development of rugby in New Zealand. And the smallest is the edition of the fairy tale "Old King Cole". Its size is one square millimeter. It was published in 1985 in an edition of 85 copies.

• Clock

  The very first clock on Earth was a solar clock. A time scale was drawn around the stick stuck in the ground, along which the shadow moved. Later, such clocks were made of wood or stone and installed on the walls of public buildings.

• Car wipers

  Initially, the cleaning tape was made of rather hard rubber, but in the 21st century, rubber, silicone, or a mixture of similar materials began to be used to make it.

• Art

  In show business, the term "Gold Disc" means that a million dollar copies of a disc have been sold, while "Platinum Disc" means that a million copies of a disc have been sold.

• Dancing

  The cha-cha-cha dance is called the "coquette dance" because it is characterized primarily by the expressive movements of the hips.

• Music

  Spiders, if you play the violin in front of them, crawl out of their hiding places. Although, of course, not in order to listen to music: the web vibrates from the sounds of the violin, so the spider thinks that prey has been caught in the net.

• Carnivals

  Nowadays Venice Carnival lasts 10 days. Selected every year new topic carnival, according to which costumes are sewn. Theatrical troupes perform on the squares and streets of the city, masquerade costume contests, solemn processions and festive shows are held.

• Airships

  The inventor of the airship is Jean Baptiste Marie Charles Meunier. Meunier's airship was to be made in the shape of an ellipsoid. Manageability was to be carried out with the help of three propellers, manually rotated by the efforts of 80 people.

• Radio

  Radio communication was first successfully used during the rescue operation of the passengers of the steamer "Masens" (Mathens), which was wrecked on March 3, 1899.

• Flags

  The US flag changes every time new states are admitted to the state - new stars are added. Last time The flag was changed in the late 1950s when Hawaii and Alaska were granted statehood.

• Helicopters

  In the manuscript of Leonardo da Vinci there is a drawing of a machine with a screw on a vertical axis, set in motion by the muscular strength of a person flying on it. It is believed that it was a prototype of a helicopter.

• Computer games

  The most expensive game to develop is called ShenMue. It was created for the Sega Dreamcast and cost the developers $20 million.

• Sport

  Sports appeared already in ancient times and were very popular in Ancient China and Egypt, but it was especially diverse in Ancient Greece, where wrestling, running, discus throwing and chariot battles took place.

• Soap

  The Celts and the ancient Romans used soap as a pomade for their hair and as a cure for skin conditions.

• Cars

  The three-pointed star on the Mercedes-Benz logo, designed in 1909, symbolizes the brand's success on land, in water and in the air. This is due to the fact that the owner of the brand, the Daimler company, produced marine and aircraft engines in addition to cars.

• Forks

  The first fork appeared at the end of the 11th century and even has exact date and place of birth. This happened in 1072 in Constantinople, in the imperial palace. It was made in one copy of gold, and its handle was inlaid with mother-of-pearl on ivory.

• Matches

  The world's first match appeared in 1826 thanks to the English chemist and pharmacist John Walker. He mixed the chemicals with a stick, and a dried drop formed at the end of it. To remove it, Walker struck the floor with a stick, and a fire suddenly broke out.

• Schools

  The word "school" comes from the ancient Greek "skole", which means "leisure". In ancient times, philosophers and their followers met somewhere on the seashore and discussed sports, world order and other topics suitable for demagogy.

• Aircraft

  Every 3 seconds, one plane lands in the world. Air transport is the most safe view transport. According to statistics, car accidents happen 62 times more often than plane crashes.

• Photo

  The term "photography" appeared in 1839, and two astronomers - the Englishman William Herschel and the German Johann von Medler - used it simultaneously and independently of each other.

• "Formula 1"

  In 1975, the Italian Lella Lombardi managed to score points in one of the Grand Prix. No other woman has been able to repeat this success.

• Transport

  In 1640 public transport was divided into 3 classes: the richest class traveled in a wagon, the middle class on the back bench, and the poor sat right on the roof.

• Cities

  The capital of Peru, Lima, is located near the ocean, but at the same time it is located in an arid desert. The city hardly knows rain. His houses have no drainpipes, and Lima's annual rainfall is only 37mm.

• About silver

  The family of Count G. G. Orlov, one of the favorites of Catherine II, used to have a service consisting of 3275 silver items, the production of which took more than 2 tons of silver.

• Umbrella

  The invention of the umbrella dates back to the 11th century BC. Some scientists consider China to be the birthplace of this habitual thing in everyday life, others - Egypt. In both countries, the umbrella was the privilege of kings and nobles.

• Do you know?

  The sound "f" first entered the Russian language along with the borrowed words of the Greek language: Fedor, Foma, Philip, lantern and others.

• Is it a joke..?

  Many securities can not only be sold, donated, stored, but also thrown away!

• The great ones said...

  “We need to learn at school, but we need to learn much more after leaving school, and this second teaching is immeasurable in its consequences, in its influence on a person and on society. more important than the first"(D. Rockefeller).

• Do you hear well?

  Not all animals have ears on their heads. For example, in grasshoppers, the hearing organ is located on the front legs under the “knees”, and in night moths, under the wings.

• Do you understand me?

  In America, when they meet, they ask: “How are you?” (they usually answer: “Good”), and in Malaysia it is customary to ask: “Where are you going?”. But since this is not a question, but a greeting, they usually answer: “Just take a walk.”

• Nanotechnology - in life!

  Nanotechnology makes it possible to create a material that will speed up the transfer of data on the Internet a hundred times. It is a polymer glued to a set of carbon buckyball molecules (spherical structures consisting of several tens of carbon atoms).

• Puzzle.

  Japan - the historical birthplace of many inventions - has recently become one of the world leaders in the production of mechanical puzzles, as well as in the number of inventors of these puzzles.

• Miscellaneous about games

  The charter of an Australian golf club says that if the ball hits a kangaroo, then it is necessary to play on as if nothing had happened.

• short stories

  Mark Twain is the author of the short article in the newspaper. The article was called "Football Match" and consisted of only a few words: "It was raining and the match did not take place."

• About everything in the world

  In the US state of Alabama, it is illegal to wear a mustache in a form that could cause laughter in church.

• You may not believe it, but...

  American Airlines saved $40,000 by removing just one olive from salads served to first-class passengers.

• Didn't you know that...?

  Archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, through training, ensured that the next foreign language learned in 6-8 weeks.
• Due to the length of the neck, the giraffe has the highest blood pressure of all animals known to us. It is about three times higher than the blood pressure of a healthy person.

• Words and idioms

  In Indonesia, the so-called "styrax tree" grows, from the resin of which in 1833 the German chemist E. Mitscherlich isolated a new substance and called it ... gasoline. Now this substance is called benzene.

• You probably didn't know that...

  The number of digits that can be stored at the same time for most people is between 5 and 9. Therefore, most telephone numbers, without area or country codes, contain no more than 7 digits.
• Even the most notorious pessimists believe that a meeting with aliens on our Earth is possible in principle.

• Historical facts

  The inventor of rubber, Charles Goodyear, was so in love with his offspring that he dressed only in all rubber - a coat, hat, raincoat and boots.

• Why do we say so?

  The colloquial "shabby look" means "everyday, unsmart". Shabby, that is, made of shabby (motley). Zatrapez - the name of a cheap coarse fabric from which work clothes were sewn, mattresses, came from the name of the merchant Zatrapeznikov, to whom Peter I handed over the motley factory.

• Let there be light!

  The very first candles were made from reeds, dipped in melted lard. They were also used as a clock, calculating how quickly a candle burns out in an hour: people put appropriate marks on it.
• The world's largest private collection of meteorites belongs to the American Robert Haag - it contains two tons heavenly stones. Haag began collecting meteorites when he was 12 years old.

• Everything you didn't know about books

  Every police officer in the Mexican capital is required to read at least one book per month. Those who disobey the order face problems with promotion.

• Origin of words

  Plombier owes its name to the French city of Plombier, where this type of ice cream was first made.
• The Mulhouse Automobile Museum (France) is the most prestigious in the world. The collection contains more than 500 cars of 102 brands, demonstrated all periods of French production, from 1878 to the present day.

• All can kings

  First wedding ring with a diamond was presented in 1477 by the Austrian Archduke Maximilian to his bride Mary of Burgundy. He ordered a ring set with diamonds in the shape of the letter "M" from his jeweler.
• Not far from Luxor there are two huge statues - the "colossi of Memnon". Sphinxes “lived” next to them for many years, which now adorn the Neva embankment near the Academy of Arts.

• These eccentric writers...

  Cooper liked to chew honey cakes while working on the piece. Byron was inspired by the smell of truffles, with which his pockets were always stuffed. Théophile Gautier preferred the smell of smoking candles. And Charles Baudelaire loved perfume.
• The monetary unit of Greece, the drachma, almost completely depreciated during the years of World War II; this was the reason for the monetary reform, as a result of which 1 new drachma became equal to 50 billion old drachmas.

• Inventions and patents

  During the war with Caesar, information about the progress of his army was transmitted by the Gauls with the help of screamers placed in a chain. The information, the transmission of which the messengers needed a month, they "shouted" in a day.

• Pirates and Islands

  According to legend, on the island of Cocos, located in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the famous pirates William Dampier, Benito Bonito and others unloaded the stolen gold.

• Fact kaleidoscope

  At a passenger plane speed of 1,000 km/h, the length of the plane becomes one atom shorter than its actual length.

• Numbers within us

  500 eggs - with such a "set" a girl is born. So potentially a woman could become a mother of 500 children.
• Andorra has a small army, in which all fit men must serve, but they do not receive monetary rewards and uniforms. The Andorran army is remarkable in that it consists exclusively of officers and has not fought since the beginning of the 13th century.

• famous fortresses

  Towering over the Spanish city of Alicante, the Benacantil cliff (height 166 m) is crowned with the medieval castle of Santa Barbara. Carthaginian commanders in the III century. BC e. built a fort on this site

• Origin of scientific terms

  The word "algebra" comes from the second word of the work "Kitab al-jabr almukabala", published by Muhammad al-Khwarizmi at the beginning of the 9th century. The great mathematician meant by this word "combining the parts of an equation."

• All about bees

  In the air, bees achieve amazing results. An airplane, for example, lifts less than its own weight. And some species of bees can fly with a load several times the weight of the bee itself.

• All about reptiles

  The longest known reptile measured is the reticulated python (10 m). It is generally accepted that the largest reptiles are anacondas, but so far not a single specimen longer than 9 meters has been found among them.

• All about spiders

  Almost all spiders live on land. These are nocturnal animals, only a few of them are active during the day. Along with mobile, running spiders that do not build permanent nests and shelters, there are inactive ones that live on nets or in minks and lairs.

• These funny animals

  The hummingbird is not only the smallest member of the feathered family, but also the only bird that can fly backwards.

• About a human

  A fresh human fingerprint consists of water, fats, proteins and salts secreted by the skin. It weighs about one millionth of a gram.

• What you didn't know about yourself

  There are approximately 5 million hairs on the surface of our body. The scalp contains up to 40 chemical elements. In people engaged in mental work, copper and zinc predominate.

• Crystal

  The Indian Maharajah, on the offer of the British government to give him whatever he wanted, asked to deliver the trading floor of a crystal store on Paradise Street in Paris to his palace, which was done.

• Calligraphy

  In some Arab countries the ability to write in a calligraphic way is an indicator of education and spiritual perfection of a person. This is not surprising, because any example of medieval Arabic calligraphy is the work of an artist, mathematician and subtle stylist all rolled into one.

• About bees and honey

  The closest relative of the bee - the hairy bumblebee - is a real paradox. After studying its aerodynamic qualities and body weight, American scientists came to the conclusion that it cannot fly, but still flies.

• food lovers

  Today there are about 1000 types of cheese in the world. The oldest cheese recipe that has come down to us is two thousand years old, and its homeland is Persia.

• Plants and music

  In America, one of the flower growers regularly broadcast concerts on the radio classical music for their wards - flowers. The plants not only bloomed more abundantly than their “unvoiced” counterparts, but also differed in richness of color and did not fall off for a longer time.

• Something about football

  The Botswana national team has not won a single international match in its twenty-eight years of existence. More than fifty head coaches have changed in the team, four of which were former Soviet athletes.

• Difficult insects

  In the mouth of a garden snail, there can be up to 14 thousand teeth. They grow in rows on the surface of a ribbon-like tongue called a grater. Acting like a file, mollusks clean and eat plant tissues.

• You didn't know this about yourself

  Numerous measurements have shown that a man swallows an average of 21 milliliters of liquid in one gulp, and a woman 14 milliliters.

• Music life

  If the horn is a wind musical instrument- unwind in the opposite direction, it will stretch to the length of the whole bus. And an ordinary, without any bells and whistles, bassoon with the same manipulation has a length of about 3 meters.

• The best

  Residents of the UK Percy Arrowsmis and his wife Florence, who are 105 and 100 years old respectively, got into the Guinness Book of Records because on June 1, 2005 they celebrated their eightieth wedding anniversary.

• The first aeronauts

  The first model of a balloon filled with warm air was demonstrated by Joseph Montgolfier and was a silk bag that rose to the ceiling of furnished rooms in Avignon (France) in November 1782.

• Fencing

  Fencing as a spectacular art was widespread in ancient Greece - there were special schools where they taught to fight with swords, spears, daggers, rapiers.

• Poets and writers

  Hesiod (the end of the 8th century BC - the 1st half of the 7th century BC), the author of the poems "Works and Days" and "Theogony", is the first historically reliable poet not only of Ancient Greece, but also throughout Europe.

• Sports achivments

  In the United States, only two days a year there are no games in any of the professional American sports leagues - this is the day before and the day after the all-star baseball game.

• Nobel Prize

  The youngest of the Nobel Prize winners in physics - William Lawrence Bragg - received the prize at the age of 25 (1915) together with his father William Henry Bragg for his major contribution to the study of the structure of crystals using X-rays.

• Steam locomotive and steamer

  When in 1873 A.N. Lodygin turned to the mayor of St. Petersburg with a proposal to replace gas lamps with brighter and cheaper lamps he invented, the answer was short and categorical: "Refuse as unnecessary."

• Christmas traditions

  The tradition of decorating a tree goes back to myths. Ancient people believed that the souls of ancestors were hidden in the lower branches, and the top of the tree touched the stars. It was believed that with the birth of a person in the sky ignites new star, and with death - goes out. Hence the custom to decorate the top of the Christmas tree with a star.

• Amazing Numbers

  1961 is the most recent of those whose entry reads the same way in usual form, and inverted. The next such year will be 6009.

• Cars: stars, emblems and safety

  According to Israeli doctors, an indicator of the risk of an accident is music in the car. Drivers who prefer quiet, slow compositions are twice as likely to break the rules and endanger themselves and others less than those who like something loud and dynamic.
• Bernard Shaw often found plots for his plays... in markets and other busy places, where he specially went with a notebook.

• How did the dancing start?

  Medieval ladies and gentlemen danced ballroom dancing separately - strict moral standards allowed only occasionally to touch each other with fingertips.

• Taxes in the past and today

  In the summer of 1996, the authorities in the Chinese city of Tianjin introduced a "sin tax", according to which cohabitation without a marriage license costs violators 1,000 yuan.

• Clock and time

  Watches with two hour hands "go" on ferries plying between Finland and Sweden. One hour hand(it shows the flag of Finland) shows Finnish time, and the other shows Swedish time, respectively.

• From the history of football

  In 1888, the first professional championship was held in England. And in 1914, King George V, for the first time in the history of football, personally attended the final match of the Football Association Cup in England.
• The oldest pocket watch (portable chronometer) was made of iron around 1504 by Peter Henlein in Nuremberg, Germany.

• snow and ice

  The height of icebergs above the water surface reaches 70 m in the Arctic and 100 m in the Antarctic. The life expectancy of these ice mountains in the Arctic is up to 4 years, in the Antarctic - up to 10 years or more.

• All about chairs

  Chair long time was the privilege of the mighty of this world. In Russia, until the time of Peter the Great, everyone, with the exception of the tsar, sat on benches. In Western Europe, during receptions, only important people could sit on chairs, the rest respectfully stood.

• Vikings

  The Vikings are not at all a nationality and far from all the inhabitants of Ancient Scandinavia, but only sea robbers who left their homeland, covering not only all of Europe, but also North America with conquests and trade routes!

• Terrible volcanoes

  From the northwest of Sumatra to the island of Halmahera inclusive, over a distance of about 5000 km, there are up to 400 volcanoes, including about 80 active ones. There are especially many volcanoes on the island of Java (over 100 volcanoes).

• funny monuments

  In the center of Berdyansk there is a monument to a plumber, it depicts a tired man climbing out of a sewer manhole.

• Animation

  For the first time, the drawing stirred and came to life in the laboratory of the Belgian physicist J. Plateau in 1832. It was a drawn little man who ran, vigorously waving his arms.

• Something from astronomy

  Archimedes built a unique globe: with the help of complex mechanical devices, it was even possible to reproduce the movement of the stars.

• Heat and cold

  On the island of Fernandudi Noronha off the coast of Brazil for a fifty-year period from 1911 to 1966. the lowest temperature was +18.6 °С, and the highest +32 °С.

• amazing buildings

  The building of the "Butyrka Prison Castle" is an architectural monument built by the famous Moscow architect M. Kazakov. The name comes from the village of Butyrkino. "Butyrki" - means the outskirts, a village standing on the outskirts. Today it is the center of Moscow.

• From the history of chess

  Alexander Alekhine, the fourth world chess champion, had a live talisman - his beloved Siamese cat Chese (in English "chess"), which sat in the hall on his wife's lap during matches.

• Around the water

  The Dead Sea is located at the lowest point on the globe - 395 m below sea level and is also the most salty.

• famous statues

  The Statue of Liberty by sculptor Bartholdi was donated by France to the United States and was first made in Paris. She was taken to New York by steamer in 214 wooden boxes and restored on Liberty Island.

• Women's holidays

  In accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of January 30, 1998, annually in last sunday November in the Russian Federation is Mother's Day.

• The power of the gaze

  Since ancient times, contemplation of the sun (indirect and not at noon) and the moon was recommended to improve vision, which had a much more effective effect on the eyes than simply observing the horizon.

• Keys and locks

  One of the oldest surviving keys is the key of the 6th century BC. BC e. from the Temple of Artemis in Arcadia, about 50 cm long, which is now in the "Museum of Fine Arts" in Boston, USA.

• From the life of great composers

  Gioacchino Rossini, at the age of 18, wrote one of his first operas in a few days - "Promissory Note for Marriage". The opera was a resounding success, and at the age of 19, young Rossini could already support his parents.

• Ruble and dollar

  Eight million "green" banknotes issued annually could encircle the globe at the equator more than 30 times. The weight of one banknote, regardless of its denomination, is approximately 1 gram.
• Kigelia, a sausage tree from Africa, has very original fruits, they look like large (up to 60 cm long) liver sausages hanging from branches on long legs.

• From the life of great writers

  Alan Alexander Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh and his friends, never read the Pooh stories to his son, Christopher Robin, preferring to educate Christopher on the works of his favorite writer, Pelham Wodehouse.

• From the life of the constellations

  They tried to rename the constellation Orion in honor of Napoleon, but astronomers did not support this proposal. The names of European monarchs - George II and George III, Charles II and Louis XIV - did not get to heaven either.

• Musical instruments

  The saxophone is one of the woodwind instruments, although it is made of metal - silver or a special alloy. This instrument got its name from the name of the inventor - Saks (Sax) and the Greek word phone - sound.

• Heat and cold

  Desert air is unusually dry, so clouds in the desert are rare, and rain is even rarer. And when this happens, you can see how it's raining, stand under it and stay completely dry.

• Football awards

  In 1928, by order of FIFA, the Parisian jeweler A. Lefleur made the Golden Goddess Prize - an 1800-gram gold figurine of the goddess of victory Nike.

• About milk

  In Nicaragua, there is a tree called the "wood cow". If you make an incision in its bark, a white liquid is released that tastes very much like milk.

• How the newspaper started

  For the first time, the words "to be continued ..." were printed by the editors of the Revue de Paris magazine. And the circulation of the magazine has doubled!

• From the life of great artists

  Towards the end of his life, when Henri Matisse could no longer paint, he began to make cut-outs from colored paper and stick them on canvas. Now the teachers primary schools children all over the world are being forced to do the same.

• Coca Cola

  The active ingredient in Coca-Cola is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. In four days, it can dissolve human nails.

• The circus

  The "man-core" was not fired from a cannon with the help of gunpowder, but was pushed out by a powerful catapult. Flash, smoke, and the sound of a shot were added using a fireworks system.

• cartoons

  In 2005 and 2002, Scrooge McDuck was ranked sixth and fourth, respectively, in the list of the fifteen richest fictional characters (according to Forbes magazine). In 2007, he topped this list.

• Chocolate

  According to scientists, chocolate is very good for health. The flavonoids included in its composition increase immunity.

• Golf

  Medium wage a professional golfer is $80,000 a year, and a good championship has a prize pool of tens of millions of dollars.

• For World Football Day

  The longest football match was played on August 1-3, 1981 by the Irish teams of the Callinafersea Football Club in Kerry. The winner was revealed only after ... 65 hours 1 minute.

• Collectors and collections

  Collection playing cards Russian Lieutenant General D. P. Ivkov has more than 2 thousand decks. It is currently kept in the State Hermitage.

• From the history of cinema

  The Lumiere brothers did not believe in the future of cinema. Moreover, they were sure that the cinema would never go beyond showing scenes from life, and believed that interest in it would quickly dry up.

• From the history of the fire service

  One of the first professional fire brigades was created under Peter I. During his reign, the first fire station was created at the Admiralty.

• About mushrooms

  Unusual names of mushrooms in Russian are striking in their expressiveness: Judas' ear, the pipe of the dead, deer's wattle, govorushka, shurshavka, ram mushroom and even swollen rubber mushroom.

• porcelain cup

  Attempts to organize the production of porcelain or faience in Russia began under Peter I. On the instructions of the emperor, Russian agent Yuri Kologrivy tried to find out the secret of porcelain production in Meissen, but failed.

• our planet

  Death Valley, the driest and hottest place on earth, is home to over 15 bird species, 40 mammal species, 44 reptile species, 12 amphibian species, 13 fish species and 545 plant species.

• military secrets

  One Siamese king, retreating, ordered to fire at the enemy from cannons not with cannonballs, but silver coins than disorganized the enemy and won the battle.

you can start counting from the moment when the clothes themselves first appeared. The word "fashion" Latin meant "rule", in clothing it concerned the requirements of what and how to wear.

1. First - until the 15th century, fashion changed very slowly - some items of clothing for several decades, and sometimes more than a hundred years, did not change. But today you can’t keep up with fashion, and this is all thanks to technological progress, which has made it cheaper to obtain fabrics, threads, dyes, the invention of sewing machines and a person’s love for creativity.
2. The clothing of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Rome, Greece, India and other territories was a piece of fabric draped around the body, there were many options, but they all had to emphasize the grace, elegance, majesty of the body.

   

3. The first trousers appeared among the Scythians around 500 BC. uh. It was the most comfortable clothing for nomads, who spent most of their lives in the saddle. The Romans and Greeks did not adopt this type of clothing for a long time, considering it a sign of barbarism, of low origin.

   

4. Until the New Age, buttons looked like balls with loops for sewing on.. They served not only for fastening clothes, but also emphasized the viability of the owner, especially in cases where they were made of noble metals with glass inserts precious stones. In wills of the 13th-15th centuries, buttons were often bequeathed upon the death of the owner, and even separately from the clothes themselves. There could be several dozen of them on one dress.

   

5. In the 14th century fashion clothes sharply from wide to narrow, and for men it was also greatly shortened, sewn from expensive bright fabrics, richly decorated. The church was indignant, the king issued the “Luxury Laws” which limited the amount of jewelry, the quality of fabrics and the number and length of outfits, but this did not help much - fashion was stronger.

   

6. Fashionistas in France in 1630 got ties, the idea of ​​which was borrowed from Croatian soldiers who wore scarves around their necks. Ties have changed, but have not disappeared so far, and their name "cravate", as a derivative of the word "Croat", has also been fixed in many European languages.

   

7. By the middle of the 17th century, heels became fashionable.. Women's shoes was not visible from under the long hem, and the men's, which everyone saw, became the object of attention due to the colored heels. Reds had the right to wear representatives high nobility, king and princes.

   

8. Contemporaries of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna said that there was no other such fashionista - her wardrobe was huge, dresses were constantly ordered from Europe, and it was believed that the queen allegedly did not wear the same clothes twice. But almost none of her dresses survived, and most of the outfits were altered during the life of Elizabeth.

   

9. Until 1772, umbrellas were used only for protection from the sun.. When silk and lace were replaced with dense, waterproof fabric, it became possible to hide under an umbrella from the rain, although the ladies for a long time preferred to hide under an umbrella from an “ignoble” tan, and not from bad weather.

   

10. Until the 19th century, wedding fashion did not involve clothes of a special color, but in Europe, Russia, Asia, red remained the most popular color for such celebrations. White took its place in 1840 when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in white.

    

11. After the Revolution of 1917, Prince Felix Yusupov, like other Russian aristocrats, having emigrated to Europe, opened the Irfe fashion house with his wife. Princess Irina Yusupova became a fashion designer, tailor and fashion model all rolled into one.

    

12. Coco Chanel believed that there is no other such ugly part female body like knees and therefore she sewed all dresses and skirts so that her knees were covered.

    

13. The Hugo Boss company was founded in 1923, managed to go bankrupt, and only with the outbreak of World War II found success when it began to sew a uniform for the German army, which was worn by both ordinary soldiers and high-ranking officers. The German form of those times is recognized as the pinnacle of style in men's fashion of the 20th century.

    

14. In 2001, the Levi Strauss Company bought out its own jeans production for $45,000.. Work pants from one mining village at that time turned 121 years old. The first jeans were made from tent canvases.

    

15. 10 years in shows of the week haute couture in Paris, Russia was represented only by Valentin Yudashkin. Some of his dresses are kept and exhibited in the Louvre.