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The Clothing Portal
Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel,/attire) is: any item worn on theââbody. 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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Image 1Batik from Surakarta in Central Java province in Indonesia; before 1997
Batik is an Indonesian technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia.
Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of wax with a spouted tool called a canting, or by printing the wax with a copper stamp called a cap. The applied wax resists dyes and therefore allows the artisan to colour selectively by soaking the cloth in one colour, removing the wax with boiling water, and repeating if multiple colours are desired.
Indonesian coastal batik (batik pesisir) made in the island of Java has a history of acculturation, a mixture of native and foreign cultures. It is a newer model compared to inland batik, and it uses more colors, though the patterns are less intricate. This is because inland batik used to be made by select experts living in palace areas, while coastal batik can be made by anyone. (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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Woman knitting
Knitting is a method for production of textile fabrics by interlacing yarn loops with loops of the same or other yarns. It is used to create many types of garments. Knitting may be done by hand or by machine.
Knitting creates stitches: loops of yarn in a row, they can be either flat or in the round (tubular). There are usually many active stitches on the knitting needle at one time. Knitted fabric consists of a number of consecutive rows of connected loops that intermesh with the next and previous rows. As each row is formed, each newly created loop is pulled through one or more loops from the prior row and placed on the gaining needle so that the loops from the prior row can be pulled off the other needle without unraveling. (Full article...) -
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Le Courtisan suivant le Dernier Ădit by Abraham Bosse â a French courtier casting aside lace, ribbons and slashed sleeves in favor of sober dress in accordance with the edict of 1633.
Sumptuary laws (from Latin sĆ«mptuÄriae lÄgÄs) are laws that try to regulate consumption. Black's Law Dictionary defines them as "Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expenditures for apparel, food, furniture, or shoes, etc." Historically, they were intended to regulate and reinforce social hierarchies and morals through restrictions on clothing, food, and luxury expenditures, often depending on a person's social rank.
Societies have used sumptuary laws for a variety of purposes. They were used to try to regulate the balance of trade by limiting the market for expensive imported goods. They made it easy to identify social rank and privilege, and as such could be used for social discrimination and to stabilize social hierarchies. They could also be used to prevent, or at least reduce opportunities for political bribery and corruption. (Full article...) -
Image 5Courtaulds 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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Image 6Joan Schulze (born October 13, 1936) is an American artist, lecturer, and poet. Schulze's career spans over five decades: she is best known for her work of contemporary quilts, fiberarts, and collage. Schulze has been named a âpioneer of the art quilt movement,â and her influence has been compared to that of Robert Rauschenbergâs. Her work is in galleries and private collections worldwide including the Renwick Gallery/Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, & the Oakland Museum of California. (Full article...)
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Image 7
Cloak, 1580â1600 V&A Museum no. 793â1901 Techniques â Red satin, couched and embroidered with silver, silver-gilt and coloured silk threads, trimmed with silver-gilt and silk thread fringe and tassel, and lined with pink linen
Aesthetics in textiles is one of the basic concepts of serviceability of textiles. It is determined by the perception of touch and sight. Aesthetics imply the appearance and attraction of textile products; it includes the color and texture of the material. It is a statement about the end user (consumer) and the target market. When combined with fabric construction, the finish of the clothing material, garment fit, style, and fashion compatibility, colours create an aesthetic comfort. All of these elements work together to satisfy our visual perception. Aesthetics incorporates the role of evaluation (analysing and judging) also.
There are various arts and applications that imparts aesthetic properties in textiles. Additionally, the use of LEDs and optical fibres enables the creation of aesthetic properties such as illuminated textiles. (Full article...) -
Image 8
A woman from Ramallah, c. 1929â1946
Palestinian traditional clothing are the types of clothing historically and sometimes still presently worn by Palestinians. Foreign travelers to Palestine in the 19th and early 20th centuries often commented on the rich variety of the costumes worn, particularly by the fellaheen or village women. Many of the handcrafted garments were richly embroidered and the creation and maintenance of these items played a significant role in the lives of the region's women.
Though experts in the field trace the origins of Palestinian costumes to ancient times, there are no surviving clothing artifacts from this early period against which the modern items might be definitively compared. Influences from the various empires to have ruled Palestine, such as Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome and the Byzantine empire, among others, have been documented by scholars largely based on the depictions in art and descriptions in literature of costumes produced during these times. (Full article...) -
Image 9
Naturally dyed skeins made with madder root, Colonial Williamsburg, VA
Natural dyes are dyes or colorants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sourcesâroots, berries, bark, leaves, and woodâand other biological sources such as fungi.
Archaeologists have found evidence of textile dyeing dating back to the Neolithic period. In China, dyeing with plants, barks and insects has been traced back more than 5,000 years. The essential process of dyeing changed little over time. Typically, the dye material is put in a pot of water and heated to extract the dye compounds into solution with the water. Then the textiles to be dyed are added to the pot, and held at heat until the desired color is achieved. Textile fibre may be dyed before spinning or weaving ("dyed in the wool"), after spinning ("yarn-dyed") or after weaving ("piece-dyed"). Many natural dyes require the use of substances called mordants to bind the dye to the textile fibres. Mordants (from Latin mordere 'to bite') are metal salts that can form a stable molecular coordination complex with both natural dyes and natural fibres. Historically, the most common mordants were alum (potassium aluminum sulfateâa metal salt of aluminum) and iron (ferrous sulfate). Many other metal salt mordants were also used, but are seldom used now due to modern research evidence of their extreme toxicity either to human health, ecological health, or both. These include salts of metals such as chrome, copper, tin, lead, and others. In addition, a number of non-metal salt substances can be used to assist with the molecular bonding of natural dyes to natural fibresâeither on their own, or in combination with metal salt mordantsâincluding tannin from oak galls and a range of other plants/plant parts, "pseudo-tannins", such as plant-derived oxalic acid, and ammonia from stale urine. Plants that bio-accumulate aluminum have also been used. Some mordants, and some dyes themselves, produce strong odors, and large-scale dyeworks were often isolated in their own districts. (Full article...) -
Image 10
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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The cochineal (/ËkÉtÊÉȘËniËl, ËkÉtÊÉȘniËl/ KOTCH-ih-NEEL, -neel, US also /ËkoÊtÊÉȘËniËl, ËkoÊtÊÉȘniËl/ KOH-chih-; Dactylopius coccus) is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the natural dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessile parasite native to tropical and subtropical South America through North America (Mexico and the Southwest United States), this insect lives on cacti in the genus Opuntia, feeding on plant moisture and nutrients. The insects are found on the pads of prickly pear cacti, collected by brushing them off the plants, and dried.
The insect produces carminic acid that deters predation by other insects. Carminic acid, typically 17â24% of dried insects' weight, can be extracted from the body and eggs, then mixed with aluminium or calcium salts to make carmine dye, also known as cochineal. Today, carmine is primarily used as a colorant in food and in lipstick (E120 or Natural Red 4). (Full article...) -
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Samuel Slater (June 9, 1768 â 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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Lady Jane Allgood displays her embroidery of an anemone and tulips worked in long-and-short stitch, part of a set of 18th century chair covers and screens which survive at Nunwick Hall, although now much faded.
English embroidery includes embroidery worked in England or by English people abroad from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day. The oldest surviving English embroideries include items from the early 10th century preserved in Durham Cathedral and the 11th century Bayeux Tapestry, if it was worked in England. The professional workshops of Medieval England created rich embroidery in metal thread and silk for ecclesiastical and secular uses. This style was called Opus Anglicanum or "English work", and was famous throughout Europe.
With the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, the focus of English embroidery increasingly turned to clothing and household furnishings, leading to another great flowering of English domestic embroidery in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. The end of this period saw the rise of the formal sampler as a record of the amateur stitcher's skills. Curious fashions of the mid-17th century were raised work or stumpwork, a pictorial style featuring detached and padded elements, and crewel work, featuring exotic leaf motifs worked in wool yarn. (Full article...) -
Image 14Mamianqun ornamented with Chinese goldwork and embroideries, a traditional skirt of the Han Chinese, Qing dynasty
Goldwork is the art of embroidery using metal threads. It is particularly prized for the way light plays on it. The term "goldwork" is used even when the threads are imitation gold, silver, or copper. The metal wires used to make the threads have never been entirely gold; they have always been gold-coated silver or cheaper metals, and even then the "gold" often contains a very low percent of real gold. Most metal threads are available in silver and sometimes copper as well as gold; some are available in colors as well.
Goldwork is always surface embroidery and free embroidery; the vast majority is a form of laid work or couching; that is, the gold threads are held onto the surface of the fabric by a second thread, usually of fine silk. The ends of the thread, depending on type, are simply cut off, or are pulled through to the back of the embroidery and carefully secured with the couching thread. A tool called a mellore or a stilleto is used to help position the threads and create the holes needed to pull them through. The threads most often have metal or gold leaf wound around a textile thread, or threads treated with an adhesive and rolled in powdered gold or other metal. (Full article...) -
Image 15
Ainu ceremonial dress on display under glass in the British Museum
The conservation and restoration of textiles refers to the processes by which textiles are cared for and maintained to be preserved from future damage. The field falls under the category of art conservation, heritage conservation as well as library preservation, depending on the type of collection. The concept of textile preservation applies to a wide range of artifacts, including tapestries, carpets, quilts, clothing, flags and curtains, as well as objects which "contain" textiles, such as upholstered furniture, dolls, and accessories such as fans, parasols, gloves and hats or bonnets. Many of these artifacts require specialized care, often by a professional conservator. (Full article...)
Did you know (auto generated)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Nuvola_apps_filetypes.svg/47px-Nuvola_apps_filetypes.svg.png)
- ... 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 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 according to Brandy Hellville, executives at Brandy Melville have bought the clothes off of employees' backs?
- ... that pioneering Daily News camerawoman Evelyn Straus had her clothes custom-made to carry her film and flashbulbs?
- ... 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 samite was a luxurious and heavy silk fabric worn in the Middle Ages, and famously by Tennyson's Lady of the Lake (pictured)?
- ... that torchon lace is one of the oldest bobbin laces and has strictly geometric patterns?
- ... that Bucks point lace is a bobbin lace from the East Midlands in England with both floral and geometric designs?
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Selected image
![Madame de Pompadour working at a tambour frame](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Madame_de_Pompadour_by_Fran%C3%A7ois-Hubert_Drouais.jpg/350px-Madame_de_Pompadour_by_Fran%C3%A7ois-Hubert_Drouais.jpg)
Credit: François-Hubert Drouais |
Embroidery hoops and frames are tools used to keep fabric taut while working embroidery or other forms of needlework. In this portrait, Madame de Pompadour works at a floor-standing tambour frame.
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Image 1A Mexican sports reporter Inés Sainz wearing a little black dress and knee-high boots (from Fashion)
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Image 4Estonian 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 TÔstamaa area (men in brown clothing). (from History of clothing and textiles)
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Image 5Timberland boots are an everyday shoe in streetwear. (from Fashion)
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Image 7Model with a modern dress reflecting the current fashion trend at a fashion show, Paris, 2011 (from Fashion)
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Image 8Gross sales of goods vs IP laws (US 2007) (from Fashion)
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Image 9Tie dye vendor, July 2013 (from Fashion)
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Image 12Textile machinery at the Cambrian Factory, Llanwrtyd, Wales in the 1940s (from History of clothing and textiles)
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Image 13The Boxer Codex, showing the attire of a Classical period Filipino, made of silk and cotton (from History of clothing and textiles)
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Image 15Slashing at its height: Henry IV, Duke of Saxony, c. 1514 (from History of clothing and textiles)
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Image 16A 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)
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Image 17Gensei Kajin Shu by Yoshu Chikanobu, 1890. Various styles of traditional Japanese clothing and Western styles. (from Fashion)
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Image 18Edgar I of England in short tunic, hose, and cloak, 966 (from History of clothing and textiles)
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Image 19Liu Wen, supermodel, walks the runway modeling fashions by designer Diane von FĂŒrstenberg at New York Fashion Week 2013. (from Fashion)
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Image 20Albrecht DĂŒrer'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)
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Image 21Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of President John F. Kennedy, made pink a popular high-fashion color. (from Fashion)
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Image 22Indigenous Americas Map Tunic designed in 2018 by Carla FernĂĄndez and Pedro Reyes for Taller Flora. (from Fashion)
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Image 23Celebrities such as Britney Spears have popularized the concept of wearing underwear as outerwear. (from Fashion)
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Image 24A French reinterpretation of Spanish fashion, with elaborate reticella ruff, 1609 (from History of clothing and textiles)
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Image 25Latin 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)
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Image 26Marie 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)
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Image 27A 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)
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Image 28"Swinging London": Young adults in London's Carnaby Street. (from Fashion)
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Image 29This 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)
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Image 31Bold floral patterned silks, 15th century (from History of clothing and textiles)
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Image 3214th-century Italian silk damasks (from History of clothing and textiles)
Selected quote
I thought with myself some days ago, Here I shall go home to my poor father and mother, and have nothing on my back, that will be fit for my condition; for how should your poor daughter look with a silk night-gown, silken petticoats, cambric head-clothes, fine holland linen, laced shoes that were my lady's; and fine stockings! And how in a little while must these have looked, like old cast-offs, indeed, and I looked so for wearing them! And people would have said, (for poor folks are envious as well as rich,) See there Goody Andrews's daughter, turned home from her fine place! What a tawdry figure she makes! And how well that garb becomes her poor parents' circumstances!--And how would they look upon me, thought I to myself, when they should come to be threadbare and worn out? And how should I look, even if I could purchase homespun clothes, to dwindle into them one by one, as I got them?--May be, an old silk gown, and a linsey-woolsey petticoat, and the like. So, thought I, I had better get myself at once equipped in the dress that will become my condition; and though it may look. But poor to what I have been used to wear of late days, yet it will serve me, when I am with you, for a good holiday and Sunday suit; and what, by a blessing on my industry, I may, perhaps, make shift to keep up to. |
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