AP® Spanish Language and Culture review sheet from Aim for Five (aimforfive.com/spanish/units/3/3-4)
Unit 3 · Topic 3.4
3.4 Fashion and Design (Moda y diseño)
Clothing and design express identity, follow trends and drive a huge global industry, much of it led by Spanish companies. Know the story of Zara and fast fashion, designers like Cristóbal Balenciaga, and the debate over cultural appropriation of Indigenous designs.
Key terms
- la moda
- la moda rápida
- la tendencia
- el diseño
- la alta costura
- la apropiación cultural
Fashion as identity
What people wear signals who they are and where they belong. In La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia, many Aymara women, known as cholitas, wear wide layered skirts (polleras), shawls and bowler hats. They once faced discrimination for this dress; today many wear it with pride, and it appears on fashion runways. The guayabera, a light shirt with pleats and pockets, is formal wear in hot places such as Cuba, Mexico's Yucatán and much of the Caribbean.
Trends pull two ways: following them helps people fit in, and breaking them helps people stand out. Useful phrases: estar de moda (to be in fashion), pasado de moda (out of fashion), seguir las tendencias (to follow trends).
Zara and fast fashion
Amancio Ortega and Rosalía Mera opened the first Zara store in A Coruña, Galicia, in 1975. Its parent company, Inditex, is now one of the largest clothing companies in the world. Zara's model is la moda rápida (fast fashion): small batches, new designs reaching stores within a few weeks, and quick restocking of whatever sells.
Fast fashion made trendy clothes affordable and created many jobs. Critics point to its costs: people buy more and wear things less, factories in its supply chains often pay low wages, and textiles pile up as waste. Huge dumps of discarded used clothing in Chile's Atacama Desert became a symbol of the problem. Responses include second-hand shopping (la ropa de segunda mano), repair, rental and slow fashion (la moda lenta).
Designers
Cristóbal Balenciaga was born in 1895 in Getaria, in the Basque Country. He opened fashion houses in Spain and moved to Paris in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. He was famous for sculptural shapes like the balloon skirt and the sack dress, other designers called him a master, and he closed his house in 1968. A museum in Getaria honors him. His work was la alta costura (haute couture): clothes made to measure, largely by hand.
Other names from the Spanish-speaking world include Carolina Herrera (Venezuela), Óscar de la Renta (Dominican Republic) and the shoe designer Manolo Blahnik (Canary Islands, Spain).
Cultural appropriation
La apropiación cultural means taking elements of another culture, especially a marginalized one, without permission, credit or benefit to that community. Mexico's government has publicly challenged international brands over this. In 2019 its culture minister asked the Carolina Herrera label to explain designs that resembled embroidery from Tenango de Doria, Hidalgo, and in 2022 Mexico passed a federal law to protect the cultural heritage of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican communities.
The other side argues that fashion has always borrowed across cultures and that inspiration isn't theft. Many people propose a middle path: credit the community, pay artisans fairly and design together with them.
- la talla (clothing size), probarse (to try on), quedar bien (to fit or suit)
- la tela (fabric), el algodón (cotton), bordado (embroidered)
- la marca (brand), el escaparate or la vitrina (shop window)
Worked examples
Try each one yourself first, then open the solution.
- Example 1
Connecting an article and a table
Texto escrito para esta práctica. Artículo: «Lucas, de 18 años, compraba una camiseta nueva casi todas las semanas. “Eran baratas y siempre había algo diferente”, explica. Hoy compra en tiendas de segunda mano y en aplicaciones de reventa: “Gasto menos y no me siento culpable”.» Tabla (datos inventados): Razón principal para comprar ropa de segunda mano, jóvenes de 16 a 24 años. Ahorrar dinero: 46 %. Cuidar el medio ambiente: 31 %. Encontrar prendas únicas: 18 %. Otra razón: 5 %. ¿Qué afirmación se apoya en el artículo y en la tabla? (A) Lucas compra ropa usada principalmente para seguir la moda. (B) El ahorro es una razón importante tanto para Lucas como para el grupo más grande de jóvenes encuestados. (C) La mayoría de los jóvenes compra ropa usada para cuidar el planeta. (D) Lucas nunca compró ropa barata.
Show the solutionHide the solution
- Step 1: Sum up the article: Lucas switched from cheap new shirts to second-hand clothes; he spends less and doesn't feel guilty.
- Step 2: Sum up the table: saving money is the top reason (46 %), followed by the environment (31 %).
- Step 3: (A) isn't in the article; he mentions money and guilt, not trends. (D) contradicts «Eran baratas».
- Step 4: (C) is the trap. The environment is a real reason, but 31 % isn't a majority (la mayoría means more than half). Even 46 % isn't a majority, so be careful with that word.
- Step 5: (B) works: Lucas says «Gasto menos», and saving money is the largest group in the table.
Answer: (B) El ahorro es una razón importante tanto para Lucas como para el grupo más grande de jóvenes encuestados.
Common mistakes
- Reading «la ropa» as “rope.” It means clothes; rope is «la cuerda».
- Calling the largest group in a chart «la mayoría» when it's under 50 %. It's the largest group, not a majority.
- Treating every use of another culture's design as appropriation. The debate centers on permission, credit and who benefits.
- Confusing «la moda» (fashion) with «el modo» (way, manner).
On the exam
- Fashion topics often come as an article with a chart, for example on shopping habits or textile waste. The right answer must be supported by both sources.
- For an essay on fast fashion or appropriation, show both sides with the sources, then take a clear position, which may be a qualified one.
Connected topics
Videos
Check yourself
5 questions on 3.4 Fashion and Design (Moda y diseño). Pick an answer to see if you got it, and why.
| Porcentaje de jóvenes que… | 2018 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Compra ropa al menos una vez al mes | 46 % | 38 % |
| Compra ropa de segunda mano | 12 % | 31 % |
| Revisa de qué material está hecha una prenda antes de comprarla | 21 % | 34 % |
| Compra una prenda porque la ha visto en redes sociales | 29 % | 44 % |
| Arregla o transforma su ropa en vez de tirarla | 18 % | 22 % |
Texto escrito para esta práctica
Según la tabla, ¿qué hábito aumentó más entre 2018 y 2025?
¿Qué hábito disminuyó entre 2018 y 2025?
¿Qué dato de la tabla podría preocupar a una persona que critica la moda rápida?
¿Qué afirmación se apoya en los datos de la tabla?
Quieres escribir un artículo basado en esta tabla. ¿Qué título sería el más adecuado?
0 of 5 answered