Portal:Clothing

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The Clothing Portal

Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural products found in the environment, put together. The wearing of clothing is mostly restricted to human beings and is a feature of all human societies. The amount and type of clothing worn depends on gender, body type, social factors, and geographic considerations. Garments cover the body, footwear covers the feet, gloves cover the hands, while hats and headgear cover the head, and underwear covers the private parts.

Clothing has significant social factors as well. Wearing clothes is a variable social norm. It may connote modesty. Being deprived of clothing in front of others may be embarrassing. In many parts of the world, not wearing clothes in public so that genitals, breast, or buttocks are visible could be considered indecent exposure. Pubic area or genital coverage is the most frequently encountered minimum found cross-culturally and regardless of climate, implying social convention as the basis of customs. Clothing also may be used to communicate social status, wealth, group identity, and individualism. (Full article...)

Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the only manufacturing method, and many other methods were later developed to form textile structures based on their intended use. Knitting and non-woven are other popular types of fabric manufacturing. In the contemporary world, textiles satisfy the material needs for versatile applications, from simple daily clothing to bulletproof jackets, spacesuits, and doctor's gowns. (Full article...)

Textile arts are arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects. (Full article...)

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Samuel Slater

Samuel Slater (June 9, 1768 – April 21, 1835) was an early English-American industrialist known as the "Father of the American Industrial Revolution", a phrase coined by Andrew Jackson, and the "Father of the American Factory System". In the United Kingdom, he was called "Slater the Traitor" and "Sam the Slate" because he brought British textile technology to the United States, modifying it for American use. He memorized the textile factory machinery designs as an apprentice to a pioneer in the British industry before migrating to the U.S. at the age of 21.

Slater designed the first textile mills in the U.S. and later went into business for himself, developing a family business with his sons. He eventually owned 13 spinning mills and had developed tenant farms and company towns around his textile mills, such as Slatersville, Rhode Island. (Full article...)
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Illustration by Vilhelm Pedersen, Andersen's first illustrator

"The Emperor's New Clothes" (Danish: Kejserens nye klæder [ˈkʰɑjsɐns ˈnyˀə ˈkʰlɛːðə]) is a literary folktale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, about a vain emperor who gets exposed before his subjects. The tale has been translated into over 100 languages.

"The Emperor's New Clothes" was first published with "The Little Mermaid" in Copenhagen, Denmark, by C. A. Reitzel, on 7 April 1837, as the third and final installment of Andersen's Fairy Tales Told for Children. The tale has been adapted to various media, and the story's title, the phrase "the Emperor has no clothes", and variations thereof have been adopted for use in numerous other works and as idioms. (Full article...)
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Reconstruction of a Saxon sprang hairnet

Sprang is an ancient method of constructing fabric that has a natural elasticity. Its appearance is similar to netting, but unlike netting, sprang is constructed entirely from warp threads. Archaeological evidence indicates that sprang predates knitting; the two needlework forms bear a visible resemblance and serve similar functions but require different production techniques.

Although examples of sprang have been unearthed from as early as the Bronze Age, sprang was almost entirely undocumented in written records until the late nineteenth century when archaeological finds generated interest in Europe. Museum examples of sprang had been misidentified as knitting or lace until discoveries of ancient examples prompted reexamination of newer pieces. Subsequently, sprang has been identified in a variety of cultures and traditions across several continents. Its practice as a folk art waned during the twentieth century and sprang traditions have disappeared in most locales. Knitting has largely supplanted sprang. (Full article...)
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Fabrics dyed in the current era from different species of sea snail. The colours in this photograph may not represent them precisely.

Tyrian purple (Ancient Greek: πορφύρα porphúra; Latin: purpura), also known as royal purple, imperial purple, or imperial dye, is a reddish-purple natural dye. The name Tyrian refers to Tyre, Lebanon, once Phoenicia. It is secreted by several species of predatory sea snails in the family Muricidae, rock snails originally known by the name Murex (Bolinus brandaris, Hexaplex trunculus and Stramonita haemastoma). In ancient times, extracting this dye involved tens of thousands of snails and substantial labour, and as a result, the dye was highly valued. The colored compound is 6,6'-dibromoindigo. (Full article...)
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The Leader of the Luddites, 1812. Hand-coloured etching.

The Luddites were members of a 19th-century movement of English textile workers who opposed the use of certain types of automated machinery due to concerns regarding decreased pay for textile workers and a perceived reduction of output quality, and often destroyed the machines in organised raids. Members of the group referred to themselves as Luddites, self-described followers of "Ned Ludd", a mythical weaver whose name was used as a pseudonym in threatening letters to mill owners and government officials.

The Luddite movement began in Nottingham, England, and spread to the North West and Yorkshire between 1811 and 1816. Mill and factory owners took to shooting protesters and eventually the movement was suppressed by legal and military force, which included execution and penal transportation of accused and convicted Luddites. (Full article...)
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An Aran cardigan in the traditional white báinín colour.

The Aran jumper (Irish: Geansaí Árann), also called a fisherman's jumper, is a style of jumper that takes its name from the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland. A traditional Aran Jumper usually is off-white in colour, with cable patterns on the body and sleeves. Originally the jumpers were knitted using unscoured wool that retained its natural oils (lanolin) which made the garments water-resistant and meant they remained wearable even when wet.

Use of the word jumper (or other options such as "pullover" and "jersey") is largely determined by the regional version of English used. In the case of Ireland, Britain and Australia, "jumper" is the standard word, “jersey” is used in South Africa and New Zealand, whereas "sweater" is mainly found in tourist shops and in North America. The word used in Irish is geansaí. (Full article...)
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A contemporary Navajo rug

Navajo weaving (Navajo: diyogí) are textiles produced by Navajo people, who are based near the Four Corners area of the United States. Navajo textiles are highly regarded and have been sought after as trade items for more than 150 years. Commercial production of handwoven blankets and rugs has been an important element of the Navajo economy. As one art historian wrote, "Classic Navajo serapes at their finest equal the delicacy and sophistication of any pre-mechanical loom-woven textile in the world."

Navajo textiles were originally utilitarian weavings, including cloaks, dresses, saddle blankets, and similar items. By the mid-19th century, Navajo wearing blankets were trade items prized by Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and neighboring tribes. Toward the end of the 19th century, Navajo weavers began to make rugs for non-Native tourists and for export. (Full article...)
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Catholic clergymen wearing pleated rochets

A pleat (plait in older English) is a type of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and securing it in place. It is commonly used in clothing and upholstery to gather a wide piece of fabric to a narrower circumference.

Pleats are categorized as pressed, that is, ironed or otherwise heat-set into a sharp crease, or unpressed, falling in soft rounded folds. Pleats sewn into place are called tucks. (Full article...)
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Cotton corduroy

Corduroy is a textile with a distinctively raised "cord" or wale texture. Modern corduroy is most commonly composed of tufted cords, sometimes exhibiting a channel (bare to the base fabric) between them. Both velvet and corduroy derive from fustian fabric. Corduroy looks as if it is made from multiple cords laid parallel to each other. (Full article...)
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Courtaulds was a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals. It was established in 1794 and became the world's leading man-made fibre production company before being broken up in 1990 into Courtaulds plc and Courtaulds Textiles Ltd. (Full article...)
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"Summer", detail from a tapestry called The Seasons or Orchard, woven by Morris & Co. in wool, silk, and mohair on a cotton ground at Merton Abbey in 1890, designed by William Morris and John Henry Dearle.

John Henry Dearle (22 August 1859 – 15 January 1932) was a British textile and stained-glass designer trained by the artist and craftsman William Morris who was much influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Dearle designed many of the later wallpapers and textiles released by Morris & Co., and contributed background and foliage patterns to tapestry designs featuring figures by Edward Burne-Jones and others. Beginning in his teens as a shop assistant and then design apprentice, Dearle rose to become Morris & Co.'s chief designer by 1890, creating designs for tapestries, embroidery, wallpapers, woven and printed textiles, stained glass, and carpets. Following Morris's death in 1896, Dearle was appointed Art Director of the firm, and became its principal stained glass designer on the death of Burne-Jones in 1898.

Morris's reputation overshadowed Dearle's work throughout Dearle's career: Dearle exhibited early patterns under Morris's name and Dearle designs continue to be sold as Morris patterns. Critical assessment of Dearle's work then underwent a significant change during the final decades of the twentieth century, recognizing Dearle's mature work as having a unique artistic vision of its own. Dearle always remained close to Morris's aesthetic, but from the 1890s onward he incorporated a distinctive set of Persian and Turkish influences. (Full article...)
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Striking CIO mill workers in Georgia, May 1941.

Emil Rieve (June 8, 1892 – January 24, 1975) was an American labor leader. He was president of the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) from 1939 to 1956, a vice president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) from 1939 to 1955, and a vice president of the AFL-CIO from 1955 to 1960.

Emil Rieve was born in Poland and moved to Pennsylvania as a child. He left school early and first became a union member at age fifteen, quickly rising within the union hierarchy. He organized his first strike in 1930 in Reading, Pennsylvania. His aggressive drives to unionize the region's textile workers and achieve union recognition led to the Reading Formula of 1933 in negotiating with the National Labor Board, a precedent which resolved large numbers of other labor disputes. Rieve was a major figure in the unsuccessful textile workers strike of 1934. When the Congress of Industrial Organizations formed the following year, Rieve received international recognition for his efforts to avoid a rift with the American Federation of Labor. (Full article...)
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David, between personifications of Wisdom and Prophecy, is depicted in a chlamys of patterned Byzantine silk. Paris Psalter, 10th century.

Byzantine silk is silk woven in the Byzantine Empire (Byzantium) from about the fourth century until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.

The Byzantine capital of Constantinople was the first significant silk-weaving center in Europe. Silk was one of the most important commodities in the Byzantine economy, used by the state both as a means of payment and of diplomacy. (Full article...)
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A modern industrial knitting machine in action

A knitting machine is a device used to create knitted fabrics in a semi or fully automated fashion. There are numerous types of knitting machines, ranging from simple spool or board templates with no moving parts to highly complex mechanisms controlled by electronics. All, however, produce various types of knitted fabrics, usually either flat or tubular, and of varying degrees of complexity. Pattern stitches can be selected by hand manipulation of the needles, push-buttons and dials, mechanical punch cards, or electronic pattern reading devices and computers. (Full article...)
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Utility pole warmer on New York City street corner.

Knitta Please, also known as simply Knitta, is the group of artists who began the "knit graffiti" movement in Houston, Texas in 2005. They are known for wrapping public architecture—e.g. lampposts, parking meters, telephone poles, and signage—with knitted or crocheted material, a process known as "knit graffiti", "yarn storming" or "yarnbombing".
The mission is to make street art "a little more warm and fuzzy."

Knitta grew to eleven members by the end of 2007, but eventually dwindled down to its founder, Magda Sayeg, who continues to travel and knit graffiti. Internationally, as many as a dozen groups have followed Knitta's lead. Sayeg and the group have shown their art across the United States and around the world. (Full article...)

Did you know (auto generated)

... that Jacqueline Kennedy did not want to make her clothes the focus of her 1962 goodwill tour of India and Pakistan, but still wore 22 different outfits in the first nine days?
... that pioneering Daily News camerawoman Evelyn Straus had her clothes custom-made to carry her film and flashbulbs?
... that during the Second World War, the British government's campaign Make-Do and Mend encouraged the public to fashion men's clothes into womenswear?
... that Church Clothes 4 deals with Christian hip hop artist Lecrae's faith deconstruction and reconstruction?
... that after being criticized for dressing "like a doll" at an important meeting, pioneering Russian feminist Anna Filosofova replied that "clothes do not make the woman"?
... that Liberian paramount chief Tamba Taylor worked as a tailor and claimed to have sewn clothes for Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie and Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah?

More Did you know

... that Byzantine silk designs include the tree of life, winged horses, and imaginary beasts, along with fashionable images of hunting and quadrigas (pictured)?
...that hand knotted Persian style rugs with Mexican indigenous designs are made in Temoaya, Mexico?
... that invoking paduasoy silk for 18th-century local colour has got historical novelists into errors about a Paduan origin?

Related portals

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Portrait of Young man of the Chigi Family.

Point de Venise (also Gros Point de Venise) is a Venetian needle lace from the 17th century characterized by scrolling floral patterns with additional floral motifs worked in relief (in contrast with the geometric designs of the earlier reticella).

General images - load new batch

The following are images from various clothing-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Kaia Gerber at the 2019 Max Mara Fashion Week in Milan (from Fashion)
Image 2The Boxer Codex, showing the attire of a Classical period Filipino, made of silk and cotton (from History of clothing and textiles)
Image 3Slashing at its height: Henry IV, Duke of Saxony, c. 1514 (from History of clothing and textiles)
Image 4Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, was a leader of fashion. Her choices, such as this 1783 white muslin dress called a chemise a la Reine, were highly influential and widely worn. (from Fashion)
Image 5Cover of Marcus Clarks' spring and summer catalogue 1926–27 (from Fashion)
Image 614th-century Italian silk damasks (from History of clothing and textiles)
Image 7Celebrities such as Britney Spears have popularized the concept of wearing underwear as outerwear. (from Fashion)
Image 8Melania Trump with Argentine first lady Juliana Awada in 2017 (from Fashion)
Image 9A Mexican sports reporter Inés Sainz wearing a little black dress and knee-high boots (from Fashion)
Image 10A woman in Bengal region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, clad in fine Bengali muslin, 18th century. (from History of clothing and textiles)
Image 11Albrecht Dürer's drawing contrasts a well-turned out bourgeoise from Nuremberg (left) with her counterpart from Venice. The Venetian lady's high chopines make her look taller. (from Fashion)
Image 12Indigenous Americas Map Tunic designed in 2018 by Carla Fernández and Pedro Reyes for Taller Flora. (from Fashion)
Image 13Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of President John F. Kennedy, made pink a popular high-fashion color. (from Fashion)
Image 14Latin dancers in their costumes. The woman is wearing backless dress with deep slits on its lower portion, while the man is wearing a shirt with top buttons open. (from Fashion)
Image 15Fur fashion for sale in Tallinn, Estonia (from Fashion)
Image 16Gensei Kajin Shu by Yoshu Chikanobu, 1890. Various styles of traditional Japanese clothing and Western styles. (from Fashion)
Image 17Textile machinery at the Cambrian Factory, Llanwrtyd, Wales in the 1940s (from History of clothing and textiles)
Image 18Woman's Bicycling Ensemble, 1898, LACMA (from Fashion)
Image 19Liu Wen, supermodel, walks the runway modeling fashions by designer Diane von Fürstenberg at New York Fashion Week 2013. (from Fashion)
Image 20Estonian national clothes are a fine example of change in clothing after the industrial revolution. They changed a lot during 18th and 19th of century with the addition of new types of colors (like aniline dyes), placement of colors (like lengthwise stripes) and with the addition of new elements (like waistcoats). By the end of the 19th century they went out of use in most of the country (except more remote places as in Kihnu island) and it was only in mid 20th century when they once again gained popularity and now as a formal clothing. Members of University of Tartu Folk Art Ensemble wearing clothes specific to Kihnu island, Tori Parish (women in red skirts) and Tõstamaa area (men in brown clothing). (from History of clothing and textiles)
Image 21Timberland boots are an everyday shoe in streetwear. (from Fashion)
Image 22A see-through top worn along with pasties by a model at a fashion show in US, 2017. Such fashion trends get popularised through media. (from Fashion)
Image 23Tie dye vendor, July 2013 (from Fashion)
Image 24A French reinterpretation of Spanish fashion, with elaborate reticella ruff, 1609 (from History of clothing and textiles)
Image 25Bold floral patterned silks, 15th century (from History of clothing and textiles)
Image 26This 1921 clipping from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, with story and drawings by Marguerite Martyn, represents the saturation newspaper coverage given to society women at a fashionable dance. (from Fashion)
Image 27Gross sales of goods vs IP laws (US 2007) (from Fashion)
Image 28Edgar I of England in short tunic, hose, and cloak, 966 (from History of clothing and textiles)
Image 29Model with a modern dress reflecting the current fashion trend at a fashion show, Paris, 2011 (from Fashion)