Portal:Clothing

The Clothing Portal

A garment factory in Bangladesh

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...)

Selected articles -

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  A hemp field in Côtes-d'Armor, Brittany, France, which is Europe's largest hemp producer as of 2022

  
  Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of Cannabis sativa cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants on Earth. It was also one of the first plants to be spun into usable fiber 50,000 years ago. It can be refined into a variety of commercial items, including paper, rope, textiles, clothing, biodegradable plastics, paint, insulation, biofuel, food, and animal feed.
  
  Although chemotype I cannabis and hemp (types II, III, IV, V) are both Cannabis sativa and contain the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), they represent distinct cultivar groups, typically with unique phytochemical compositions and uses. Hemp typically has lower concentrations of total THC and may have higher concentrations of cannabidiol (CBD), which potentially mitigates the psychoactive effects of THC. The legality of hemp varies widely among countries. Some governments regulate the concentration of THC and permit only hemp that is bred with an especially low THC content into commercial production. (Full article...)
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  Smocking on the collar of a sixteenth-century garment

  
  
  Smocking is an embroidery technique used to gather fabric so that it can stretch. Before elastic, smocking was commonly used in cuffs, bodices, and necklines in garments where buttons were undesirable. Smocking developed in England and has been practised since the Middle Ages and is unusual among embroidery methods in that it was often worn by labourers. Other major embroidery styles are purely decorative and represented status symbols. Smocking was practical for garments to be both form fitting and flexible, hence its name derives from smock — an agricultural labourer's work shirt. Smocking was used most extensively in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. (Full article...)
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  Joan 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 “pioneer of the art quilt movement,” and her influence has been compared to that of Robert Rauschenberg’s. 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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  Gunta Stölzl (5 March 1897 – 22 April 1983) was a German textile artist who played a fundamental role in the development of the Bauhaus school's weaving workshop, where she created enormous change as it transitioned from individual pictorial works to modern industrial designs. She was one of a small number of female teachers on the Bauhaus' staff and the first to hold the title of "Master".
  
  Her textile work is thought to typify the distinctive style of Bauhaus textiles. She joined the Bauhaus as a student in 1919, became a junior master in 1927. She was dismissed for political reasons in 1931, two years before the Bauhaus closed under pressure from the Nazis. (Full article...)
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  Roller-printed cotton cushion cover panel, 1904, Silver Studio V&A Museum no. CIRC.675–1966

  
  Roller printing, also called cylinder printing or machine printing, on fabrics is a textile printing process patented by Thomas Bell of Scotland in 1783 in an attempt to reduce the cost of the earlier copperplate printing. This method was used in Lancashire fabric mills to produce cotton dress fabrics from the 1790s, most often reproducing small monochrome patterns characterized by striped motifs and tiny dotted patterns called "machine grounds".
  
  Improvements in the technology resulted in more elaborate roller prints in bright, rich colours from the 1820s; Turkey red and chrome yellow were particularly popular. (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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  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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  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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  Rug in progress in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca

  
  The textiles of Mexico have a long history. The making of fibers, cloth and other textile goods has existed in the country since at least 1400 BCE. Fibers used during the pre-Hispanic period included those from the yucca, palm and maguey plants as well as the use of cotton in the hot lowlands of the south. After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, the Spanish introduced new fibers such as silk and wool as well as the European foot treadle loom. Clothing styles also changed radically. Fabric was produced exclusively in workshops or in the home until the era of Porfirio Díaz (1880s to 1910), when the mechanization of weaving was introduced, mostly by the French.
  Today, fabric, clothes and other textiles are both made by craftsmen and in factories. Handcrafted goods include pre-Hispanic clothing such as huipils and sarapes, which are often embroidered. Clothing, rugs and more are made with natural and naturally dyed fibers. Most handcrafts are produced by indigenous people, whose communities are concentrated in the center and south of the country in states such as Mexico State, Oaxaca and Chiapas. The textile industry remains important to the economy of Mexico although it has suffered a setback due to competition by cheaper goods produced in countries such as China, India and Vietnam. (Full article...)
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  Le Courtisan suivant le Dernier Édit by Abraham Bosse – 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 sūmptuāriae lēgēs) 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...)
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  The Silk Road (Chinese: 丝绸之路) was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the East and West. The name "Silk Road," first coined in the late 19th century, has fallen into disuse among some modern historians in favor of Silk Routes, on the grounds that it more accurately describes the intricate web of land and sea routes connecting Central, East, South, Southeast, and West Asia as well as East Africa and Southern Europe.
  
  The Silk Road derives its name from the highly lucrative trade of silk textiles that were primarily produced in China. Silk production in the Indian subcontinent began with the Indus Valley Civilization between 2450 and 2000 BCE. The Southern Route began with trade between the Indian Subcontinent with Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Northern Route began with the Han dynasty's expansion into Central Asia around 114 BCE through the missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy Zhang Qian, which brought the region under unified control. The Parthian Empire provided a bridge to East Africa and the Mediterranean. By the early first century CE, Chinese silk was widely sought-after in Rome, Egypt, and Greece. Other lucrative commodities from the East included tea, dyes, perfumes, and porcelain; among Western exports were horses, camels, honey, wine, and gold. Aside from generating substantial wealth for emerging mercantile classes, the proliferation of goods such as paper and gunpowder greatly altered the trajectory of various realms, if not world history. (Full article...)
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  William Perkin (1838–1907)

  
  Sir William Henry Perkin FRS (12 March 1838 – 14 July 1907) was a British chemist and entrepreneur best known for his serendipitous discovery of the first commercial synthetic organic dye, mauveine, made from aniline. Though he failed in trying to synthesise quinine for the treatment of malaria, he became successful in the field of dyes after his first discovery at the age of 18.
  
  Perkin set up a factory to produce the dye industrially. Lee Blaszczyk, professor of business history at the University of Leeds, states, "By laying the foundation for the synthetic organic chemicals industry, Perkin helped to revolutionize the world of fashion." (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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  1950s huipil

  
  
  Huipil [ˈwipil] (Nahuatl: huīpīlli [wiːˈpiːlːi]; Ch'orti': b’ujk; Chuj: nip) is the most common traditional garment worn by indigenous women from central Mexico to Central America.
  
  It is a loose-fitting tunic, generally made from two or three rectangular pieces of fabric, which are then joined with stitching, ribbons, or fabric strips, with an opening for the head and, if the sides are sewn, openings for the arms. Traditional huipils, especially ceremonial ones, are usually made with fabric woven on a backstrap loom and are decorated with designs woven into the fabric, embroidery, ribbons, lace, and more. However, some huipils are also made from commercial fabric. (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...)

Did you know (auto generated)

• ... 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 pioneering Daily News camerawoman Evelyn Straus had her clothes custom-made to carry her film and flashbulbs?
• ... 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 during a renovation of 4 Park Avenue, workers found a sealed room with women's clothes and shoes that was not in the building's blueprints?
• ... that Church Clothes 4 deals with Christian hip hop artist Lecrae's faith deconstruction and reconstruction?
• ... 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 canvaswork designs of plants called slips appliquéd on silk or velvet (pictured) were often based on woodcuts from herbals?
• ...that Navajo rugs sold for $50 in gold as early as 1850?
• ...that Emil Rieve was elected president of his local union when he was only 22 years old, and president of the Textile Workers Union of America when he was 46?

Related portals

Selected image

Dense floral Jacobean embroidery worn by Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset

Jacobean embroidery refers to embroidery styles that flourished beginning in the reign of King James I of England in first quarter of the seventeenth century. The term is usually used today to describe a form of crewel embroidery used for furnishing characterized by fanciful plant and animal shapes worked in a variety of stitches with two-ply wool yarn on linen.

General images -

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

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  Bold floral patterned silks, 15th century (from History of clothing and textiles)
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  Tie dye vendor, July 2013 (from Fashion)
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  Bella Hadid at the Cannes Film Festival (from Fashion)
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  The 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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  14th-century Italian silk damasks (from History of clothing and textiles)
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  Kaia Gerber at the 2019 Max Mara Fashion Week in Milan (from Fashion)
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  Timberland boots are an everyday shoe in streetwear. (from Fashion)
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  This 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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  Fur fashion for sale in Tallinn, Estonia (from Fashion)
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  A 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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  Liu Wen, supermodel, walks the runway modeling fashions by designer Diane von Fürstenberg at New York Fashion Week 2013. (from Fashion)
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  Estonian 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)
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  Marie 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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  Slashing at its height: Henry IV, Duke of Saxony, c. 1514 (from History of clothing and textiles)
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  Gross sales of goods vs IP laws (US 2007) (from Fashion)
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  Indigenous Americas Map Tunic designed in 2018 by Carla Fernández and Pedro Reyes for Taller Flora. (from Fashion)
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  Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of President John F. Kennedy, made pink a popular high-fashion color. (from Fashion)
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  A French reinterpretation of Spanish fashion, with elaborate reticella ruff, 1609 (from History of clothing and textiles)
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  A Mexican sports reporter Inés Sainz wearing a little black dress and knee-high boots (from Fashion)
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  A 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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  Latin 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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  Model with a modern dress reflecting the current fashion trend at a fashion show, Paris, 2011 (from Fashion)
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  Melania Trump with Argentine first lady Juliana Awada in 2017 (from Fashion)
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  Edgar I of England in short tunic, hose, and cloak, 966 (from History of clothing and textiles)
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  Albrecht 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)
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  "Swinging London": Young adults in London's Carnaby Street. (from Fashion)
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  Cover of Marcus Clarks' spring and summer catalogue 1926–27 (from Fashion)
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  Minidress by John Bates, 1965 (from Fashion)
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  Gensei Kajin Shu by Yoshu Chikanobu, 1890. Various styles of traditional Japanese clothing and Western styles. (from Fashion)
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  Celebrities such as Britney Spears have popularized the concept of wearing underwear as outerwear. (from Fashion)
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  Woman's Bicycling Ensemble, 1898, LACMA (from Fashion)
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  Textile machinery at the Cambrian Factory, Llanwrtyd, Wales in the 1940s (from History of clothing and textiles)

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Featured articles Bronwyn Bancroft Inuit clothing Good articles Batik Bed hangings Cora Slocomb di Brazza Dar al-Kiswa English embroidery History of silk Knitta Please William Morris Natural dye Navajo weaving Sprang Featured pictures 17.17-37-1969-Kaukasisk-broderi 17th century Central Tibeten thanka of Guhyasamaja Akshobhyavajra, Rubin Museum of Art Eugène Grasset - A La Place Clichy Khalili Collections A Composite Imaginary View of Japan Featured portals Portal:Clothing

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Textile Arts WikiProject

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WikiProject Fashion  • WikiProject Knots  • WikiProject Sculpture  • WikiProject Visual arts

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Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : Japanese embroidery, Slip stitch crochet, Angelo Testa (see Ostrich leather for example) Assess : Rate unassessed articles for quality and importance Cleanup : Tassel, Burlap, or one of the articles in our cleanup list Copyedit : History of knitting, Drawn thread work Expand : History of textiles and clothing, Casting on (knitting) Photo : Hollie point, Challis (fabric), Mountmellick embroidery, More photos... Stubs : Afghan blanket, Emilie Bach, Candlewicking, Dip stitch (knitting), Elongated stitch (knitting), More stubs... Verify : Clothing, Ply, Bobbinet, Braid, Canvas, Cardigan (sweater), Cotton-spinning machinery, Crocheted lace, Damask, Distaff, Dobby loom, Drawn thread work, Dyeing, Hemline, Ikat, Lace, Natural fiber, Neckline, Oilskin, Overlock, Machine embroidery Other : Help find and upload Requested pictures Place the {{WikiProject Textile Arts}} project banner on the talk pages of all articles within the scope of the project. Place the {{Portal|Textile arts}} portal template in the See also section of associated articles. Improve a top priority textile arts article. Original research removal: Clothing, History of knitting

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