Clothing
From Mod Mania
Clothing has always been an element of society, whether your faith tells you it began as a sin in the Garden of Eden, or if the history books tell you it was simply for warmth in the time of the 'cave man'. Fashion however is, in perspective, a relatively modern element of clothing. This discussion is related to modifications in fashion which have stemmed from class/economic restrictions or practical use as seen on the battle field. http://en.allexperts.com/q/Anthropology-2291/Early-clothing.htm
Most people will agree that clothing began as a purely practical benefit to day to day life, allowing people to work into the colder hours of the evening or winter months and working as camouflage during hunting tours (although some tribes still today use body paint as an alternative). Around the same time that practicality was recognised, gender clothing emerged. This allowed clothing to be used as an identity tag, women wore a certain combination of animal skins or manipulated flora (still speaking in relation to tribal clothing) and men wore the 'bare essential's.
PLEASE TAKE THIS DISCUSSION WHEREVER YOU THINK IT WILL GO. Treat it a bit like chinese whispers.. Cheers, Sophie.
As from the origin of clothing, it was worn consisting of the most simple and most available elements such as fur, leather, leaves or grass, drapped or tied around the body as a means of protection against the elements and environment. Such ease in, and what we would now refer to as "un-civilized" clothing would be most established to the era of neanderthals, and cave men. However, just like we as humans evolved, so did our need and sense for clothing, where fur and skin were traded in for cloth, and our first simple ideal developments for warmth and protection evolved over thousands of years into an astonishing array of styles and era's.
Throughout many societies, indifferent of age and year, clothing was used to recognise a persons rank, or social status, such as it may still be found today through class of brand and style. Apart from a clothings ability to recognise class and status, clothing has also been developed through religion and religious habits, where in some, there are certain garments for marriage, or death, others signifying which religion one might belong to, such as the religious dresses in eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism.
Clothings various array of meaning and use has considerably been around for hundreds/ thousands or years, however, a relativly new aspect of such an old idea, is fashion. Fashion, by definition, changes constantly.
Chris.
Again...PLEASE TAKE THIS DISCUSSION WHEREVER YOU THINK IT WILL GO. Treat it a bit like chinese whispers.. Cheers, Sophie.
... And the discussion continues...
As Sophie has pointed out, clothing has always been an element of society.
As to why it became apart of society can be discussed, many people would say it was made to keep ourselves warm, which is also true. Devot christians could refer to the bible to gain the answers. It is said that the first humans on earth (Adam and Eve) lived in the garden of Eden, they felt no shame whatsoever there. When God had told them not to eat the fruit from a certain tree they didn't. Adam and Eve were convinced by the devil to eat the forbidden fruit and brought sin into the world. Due to this they felt shamefull, and covered up their body. Clothes could symbolise a mask, in the sense that we are hiding part of ourselves from others.
In medieval times clothing was used not only as protective wear from the weather but also to distingiush between the upperclass and lowerclass people. The peasants would often be wearing just a sack, therefore making it easy for people to know they were of no significance and had little to do with anything. The people of more importance, (eg. Kings, Queens, Noblemen, Knights etc...) Would have warmer clothing, and made of more expensive material. Their clothing would be significantly brighter than that of the peasant.
Armour can be deemed as clothing now. Bringing up the medieval times again, it was the knights who would wear metal for protection. They would have the crest of their country or hometown on a vest of metal which would be placed over the metal. The armour progessed throughout the years and bulletproof vests came in. Apparently the rap artist 50 Cent, never leaves home without a bulletproof vest on. From what i've heard he has been shot 9 times, thus the need for the vest. It has been modified over the years, from plain bulky metal to something that it lighter and fits more snuggly around your body. The army is an example of clothing that changes among the years. The main aim of the uniform was to camouflage the soldiers. A long time ago it was all green camo, but now it has changed to suit the place and scenary. The Australian soldiers who are currently serving in Afghanistan have light brown/grey camo. The land being desolate so not much can be grown, lef the land sparse and dry.
In the present day and age, clothing is not only used for warmth and comfort, it is also used to make a statement. You can sometimes see people dressed in all sorts of ways. It can also be seen as a way to identify what kind of person you are. "Emos" are supposedly always wearing tight black jeans, some people walking down a street could point out someone wearing the black skinny jeans and think he/she in an emo. Another example would be the "Gangsta" look, which entails baggy clothing, pants that are too big for you, t-shirts big enough to be worn as a dress and maybe even jumpers you could make a tent out of. They would be seen as the people who would listen to Rap music.
Magazines and celebrities are a big thing in clothing. Celebrities get awarded best dressed, and worst dressed. I'm sure no person wants to be seen wearing the clothes that have been deemed as one of the worst clothes to wear. It has a major influence on the lives of everyday people
JR signing out
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Continuing on about what Sophie and Jonathan Ramanathan has stated, I would like to focus on clothing in the fashion industry. As we know, fashion has contributed tremendously towards our life, whether it is from buying the most recent Gucci bag to keeping up with the latest ipods. It is an endless cycle where producers just keep competing against each other and consumers endlessly spending money on what they desire.
Clothing is a big factor in this endless cycle. People, as consumers like to keep themselves happy with what they desire. Most of them feel the need to keep in fashion by wearing what is in style for the season. This desire is provoked by producers who advertise their clothing to get people to think that if they wear a certain piece of clothing they will be considered beautiful, elegant, cool, etc. With the exceeding amount of money spent on unnecessary clothing, people struggle to stay in fashion due to money restrictions. This brings upon people being judged by others. It is commonly noticed within the younger generation of people. There are famous people and a large amount of magazines that set examples of how to dress and keep in fashion with everyone else. They incorporate the message of making you want to buy a certain item for example, “must have bag” “make him love you more by buying this rah rah ”. This is a serious matter, which younger people struggle to handle as they are more insecure and unsure about themselves. This issue can start anywhere from a person not wearing what is “in style” to being bullied and teased at. It is a worldwide issue that cannot be stopped as producers will never stop competing against each other and consumers will always have desires.
Between the mess of keeping in style and trying to keep satisfied at the same time, there are those who try to break out of the structure of fashion to define themselves as an individual. They are commonly known as “trend-setters”. They design their own style by mix and matching and also going against what is normal. This is where modifying comes into place. People change their clothes by sewing, cutting, adding other materials, etc for satisfaction by use or either satisfaction of being different to others. Some people break the structure of spending a lot of money on clothing and buy cheap clothes and altering them into what is in fashion for the season. As high waist pants have recently been in fashion again, I met these girls on a night out and commented on how nice their high-waist shorts looked and also asked them where they bought them from. I was surprised to find out that they purchased them for $2-$5 as pairs of jeans from their local opportunity stores and altered them into shorts. It was amazing just to hear about people taking their own paths towards fashion.
Culture varies within different places and therefore the use of clothing does too. As Sophie mentioned, some cultures use clothing to define their rank/status/etc. But in our society where it is a free country we are able to wear what we desire. The use of clothing is no longer just for keeping ourselves warm and covered up like back in the old days. It is now also used as an accessory.
My conclusion is that nowadays, clothing plays a large role in our society, distinguishing who we are and our reflections towards the way we view society. Clothing, used as an accessory gives us identity to be distinguish against other people.
Christine jibajaba
