Contemporary clothing

Western dress code

Western dress codes are dress codes in Western culture governing what garments are worn together and in what setting. Examples of dress codes are combinations such as "smart casual", or "morning dress". A classification of these codes is normally made for varying levels of formality and times of day. In traditional Western dressing, for men the more formal dress codes, such as "black tie", are highly codified with essentially fixed definitions, mostly unchanged for more than fifty years, while the more casual classifications change very quickly, and a worldwide or widely relevant discussion is impossible. For women, changes in fashion are more rapid.

In practical use, dress codes are either followed intuitively or enforced by peer pressure, so that people wear similar clothing in the same situations. Alternatively, at more formal events where a dress code is specified, invitees wear clothes at the specified level; if some variation is permitted (for example, "black tie preferred"), the host will wear the most formal option to save guests the embarrassment of out-dressing him. Appropriate national dress is generally permitted, and national variations are also widely worn as an exception to the trend of uniformity with peers, often in the form of the head gear (see kippa, turban, hijab).

Formal

Typical events: Weddings, state dinners, etc. Note that the use of white tie and morning dress has become rare in some countries (such as the U.S. and Australia), where black tie or a lounge suit (as appropriate) is often worn to the above events Formal wear (Canada, US) and formal dress (UK) are general terms for clothing suitable for formal social events, such as a wedding, formal garden party or dinner, débutante cotillion, dance, or race. The Western style of formal evening dress, characterised by black and white garments, has spread through many countries; it is almost always the standard formal social dress in countries without a formal national costume.

A dress code is a set of rules governing a certain combination of clothing; some examples are black tie and morning dress. Formal dress is the grouping of all the dress codes which govern clothes worn to formal events. The traditional rules that govern men's formal dress are strictly observed; from these derive the evening dress variants worn on many occasions, such as high school prom dances, formal entertainment industryaward programs.

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The dress code considered formal in the evening is white tie. In the UK, morning dress is standard formal day time clothing (a lounge suit being still considered informal dress), but in the US/Canada morning dress is rare, having been replaced with the stroller and then the lounge, or business suit. Morning dress, however, does remain in certain settings in Europe, Australia, and Japan.

Semi-formal

In Western clothing semi-formal is a grouping of dress codes indicating the sort of clothes worn to events with a level of protocol between informal(e.g., lounge suit) and formal. Both morning and evening semi-formal attire share design features in common with the informal lounge suit.In the daytime (before six o'clock), the semi-formal code requires for men a black tail-less coat with formal (striped or checked) trousers. This combination is a less formal version of morning dress, which features a longer, cutaway morning coat. This semi-formal ensemble is sometimes referred to as a "stroller" in North America though it is unknown in the UK, where, though the garment itself saw a limited period of popularity, was simply called black lounge. Because black was then reserved for formalwear, it was unknown as a color forlounge suits, so the term was unambiguous. In the UK this mode of dress is now extremely unusual, though some Masonic Lodges which meet during the day rather than (as is more common) in the evening do continue to specify it as their dress code. It also still is worn within the legal profession, especially by barristers. Indeed, the striped trousers are in some circles referred to as "barrister trousers". InGerman, a stroller is called a Stresemann, after the German foreign secretary Gustav Stresemann. Stresemann, like other German politicians of his age, wore morning dress or a frock coat in the Reichstag or when making public appearances. However, Stresemann found the long coat impractical for daily work in the Chancellery. To avoid having to change completely, he began to wear the prototype of this jacket at his office, while switching to a morning coat when engaged on more formal business. The style quickly caught on as a more practical variation on morning dress. In Japan, it is known as a "director's suit", from the term inside director.

For evening wear, the corresponding code is black tie (shortened tuxedo in American English). The name "black tie" for this type of evening wear can be misleading because it is a generally accepted practice to substitute the traditional black tie for other colors. In formal evening dress, or white tie dress, this practice of substituting colors in ties is much less common since men's fashion tends to follow tradition more deeply as it becomes more formal.

The origins of evening semi-formal attire date back to the later 19th century when Edward, Prince of Wales (subsequently Edward VII), wanted a more comfortable dinner attire than the swallowtail coat.

In the spring of 1886, the Prince invited James Potter, a rich New Yorker, and his wife Cora to Sandringham House, the Prince's hunting estate in Norfolk. When Potter asked for the Prince's dinner dress code, the Prince sent him to his tailor, Henry Poole & Co., in London, where he was given a suit made to the Prince's specifications with the dinner jacket.

On returning to Tuxedo Park, New York, in 1886, Potter's dinner suit proved popular at the Tuxedo Park Club. Not long afterward, when a group of men from the club chose to wear such suits to a dinner at Delmonico's Restaurant in New York City, other diners were surprised. They were told that such clothing was popular at Tuxedo Park, so the particular cut then became known as the "tuxedo".

From its creation into the 1920s, this dinner jacket was considered appropriate dress for dining in one's home or club, while the tailcoat remained in place as appropriate for public appearance.

Fashion and Trends

There exists a diverse range of styles in fashion, varying by geography, exposure to modern media, economic conditions, and ranging from expensive haute couture to traditional garb, to thrift store grunge.

The world of clothing is always changing, as new cultural influences meet technological innovations. Researchers in scientific labs have been developing prototypes for fabrics that can serve functional purposes well beyond their traditional roles, for example, clothes that can automatically adjust their temperature, repel bullets, project images, and generate electricity. Some practical advances already available to consumers are bullet-resistant garments made with kevlar and stain-resistant fabrics that are coated with chemical mixtures that reduce the absorption of liquids.

Some human cultures, such as the various people of the Arctic Circle, traditionally make their clothing entirely of prepared and decorated furs and skins. Other cultures supplemented or replaced leather and skins with cloth: woven, knitted, or twined from various animal and vegetable fibers.

Although modern consumers may take the production of clothing for granted, making fabric by hand is a tedious and labor-intensive process. The textile industry was the first to be mechanized – with the powered loom – during the Industrial Revolution.

Different cultures have evolved various ways of creating clothes out of cloth. One approach simply involves draping the cloth. Many people wore, and still wear, garments consisting of rectangles of cloth wrapped to fit – for example, the dhoti for men and the sari for women in the Indian subcontinent, the Scottish kilt or the Javanese sarong. The clothes may simply be tied up, as is the case of the first two garments; or pins or belts hold the garments in place, as in the case of the latter two. The precious cloth remains uncut, and people of various sizes or the same person at different sizes can wear the garment.

Another approach involves cutting and sewing the cloth, but using every bit of the cloth rectangle in constructing the clothing. The tailor may cut triangular pieces from one corner of the cloth, and then add them elsewhere as gussets. Traditional European patterns for men's shirts and women's chemises take this approach.

Modern European fashion treats cloth much less conservatively, typically cutting in such a way as to leave various odd-shaped cloth remnants. Industrial sewing operations sell these as waste; home sewers may turn them into quilts.

In the thousands of years that humans have spent constructing clothing, they have created an astonishing array of styles, many of which have been reconstructed from surviving garments, photos, paintings, mosaics, etc., as well as from written descriptions. Costume history serves as a source of inspiration to current fashion designers, as well as a topic of professional interest to costumers constructing for plays, films, television, and historical reenactment.

Origin of clothing

There is no easy way to determine when clothing was first developed, but some information has been inferred by studying lice. The body louse specifically lives in clothing, and diverge from head lice about 107,000 years ago, suggesting that clothing existed at that time. Another theory is that modern humans are the only survivors of several species of primates who may have worn clothes and that clothing may have been used as long ago as 650 thousand years ago. Other louse-based estimates put the introduction of clothing at around 42,000–72,000.

Physically, clothing serves many purposes: it can serve as protection from the elements, and can enhance safety during hazardous activities such as hiking and cooking. It protects the wearer from rough surfaces, rash-causing plants, insect bites, splinters, thorns and prickles by providing a barrier between the skin and the environment. Clothes can insulate against cold or hot conditions. Further, they can provide a hygienic barrier, keeping infectious and toxic materials away from the body. Clothing also provides protection from harmfulUV radiation.