Clothing

The wearing of clothing is mostly restricted to human beings and is a feature of all human societies.

Humans use tools to a much higher degree than any other animal, are the only extant species known to build fires and cook their food, and are the only extant species to clothe themselves and create and use numerous other technologies and arts.

Wearing clothes is also a social norm, and being deprived of clothing in front of others may be embarrassing, or not wearing clothes in public such that genitals, breasts or buttocks are visible could be seen as indecent exposure.

A dress code is a set of written and, more often, unwritten rules with regard to clothing.

For example, coats, hats, gloves and other outer layers are normally removed when entering a warm home, particularly if one is living or sleeping there.

A coat is a garment worn by either sex, for warmth or fashion.

For example, coats, hats, gloves and other outer layers are normally removed when entering a warm home, particularly if one is living or sleeping there.

A glove (Middle English from Old English glof) is a garment covering the whole hand.

Clothing performs a range of social and cultural functions, such as individual, occupational and gender differentiation, and social status.

Cultural universals are found in all human societies; these include expressive forms like art, music, dance, ritual, religion, and technologies like tool usage, cooking, shelter, and clothing.

Articles carried rather than worn (such as purses), worn on a single part of the body and easily removed (scarves), worn purely for adornment (jewelry), or those that serve a function other than protection (eyeglasses), are normally considered accessories rather than clothing, except for shoes.

A fashion accessory is an item used to contribute, in a secondary manner, to the wearer's outfit, often used to complete an outfit and chosen to specifically complement the wearer's look.

Conversely, clothing may protect the environment from the clothing wearer: for instance doctors wear medical scrubs.

Scrubs are the sanitary clothing worn by surgeons, nurses, physicians and other workers involved in patient care in hospitals.

Humans have been ingenious in devising clothing solutions to environmental or other hazards: such as space suits, air conditioned clothing, armor, diving suits, swimsuits, bee-keeper gear, motorcycle leathers, high-visibility clothing, and other pieces of protective clothing.

Swimwear is clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing.

Humans have been ingenious in devising clothing solutions to environmental or other hazards: such as space suits, air conditioned clothing, armor, diving suits, swimsuits, bee-keeper gear, motorcycle leathers, high-visibility clothing, and other pieces of protective clothing.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection.

Humans have been ingenious in devising clothing solutions to environmental or other hazards: such as space suits, air conditioned clothing, armor, diving suits, swimsuits, bee-keeper gear, motorcycle leathers, high-visibility clothing, and other pieces of protective clothing.

High-visibility clothing, sometimes known as "hi-viz", is any clothing worn that has highly reflective properties or a colour that is easily discernible from any background.

In Western societies, skirts, dresses and high-heeled shoes are usually seen as women's clothing, while neckties are usually seen as men's clothing.

A skirt is the lower part of a dress or gown, covering the person from the waist downwards, or a separate outer garment serving this purpose.

Trousers were once seen as exclusively male clothing, but can nowadays be worn by both genders.

Trousers (British English) or pants (American English) are an item of clothing that might have originated in East Asia, worn from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth extending across both legs as in robes, skirts, and dresses).

Men may sometimes choose to wear men's skirts such as togas or kilts in particular cultures, especially on ceremonial occasions.

Outside Western cultures, men's clothing commonly includes skirts and skirt-like garments; however, in North America and much of Europe, the wearing of a skirt is today usually seen as typical for women and girls and not men and boys, the most notable exceptions being the cassock and the kilt.

In many societies, norms about clothing reflect standards of modesty, religion, gender, and social status.

Charles E. Hurst states that some people think sex will, "...automatically determine one's gender demeanor and role (social) as well as one's sexual orientation (sexual attractions and behavior). Gender sociologists believe that people have cultural origins and habits for dealing with gender. For example, Michael Schwalbe believes that humans must be taught how to act appropriately in their designated gender to fill the role properly, and that the way people behave as masculine or feminine interacts with social expectations. Schwalbe comments that humans "are the results of many people embracing and acting on similar ideas". People do this through everything from clothing and hairstyle to relationship and employment choices. Schwalbe believes that these distinctions are important, because society wants to identify and categorize people as soon as we see them. They need to place people into distinct categories to know how we should feel about them.

Clothing appears in numerous contexts in the Bible; the most prominent passages are: the story of Adam and Eve who made coverings for themselves out of fig leaves, Joseph's cloak, Judah and Tamar, Mordecai and Esther.

In the Hebrew Bible, the coat of many colors (undefined ketonet passim) is the name for the garment that Joseph owned, which was given to him by his father, Jacob.

Clothing can be made of textiles, animal skin, or other thin sheets of materials put together.

Textiles have an assortment of uses, the most common of which are for clothing and for containers such as bags and baskets.

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 and the Javanese sarong.

A sari, saree or shari is a women's garment from the Indian subcontinent that consists of a drape varying from five to nine yards (4.5 metres to 8 metres) in length and two to four feet (60 cm to 1.20 m) in breadth that is typically wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder, baring the midriff.

The cloth remains uncut, and people of various sizes can wear the garment.

In clothing, clothing size refers to the label sizes used for garments sold off-the-shelf.

Clothing can be cut from a sewing pattern and adjusted by a tailor to the wearer's measurements.

In sewing and fashion design, a pattern is the template from which the parts of a garment are traced onto fabric before being cut out and assembled.

Costume history can inspire current fashion designers, as well as costumiers for plays, films, television, and historical reenactment.

Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories.

The mechanization of the textile industry made many varieties of cloth widely available at affordable prices.

The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing.

Articles carried rather than worn (such as purses), worn on a single part of the body and easily removed (scarves), worn purely for adornment (jewelry), or those that serve a function other than protection (eyeglasses), are normally considered accessories rather than clothing, except for shoes.

The craft of knitting garments such as scarves is an important trade in some countries.

Modern European fashion treats cloth much less conservatively, typically cutting in such a way as to leave various odd-shaped cloth remnants.

Fashion is a popular style, especially in clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle and body.

Clothing can be made of textiles, animal skin, or other thin sheets of materials put together.

Skins and hides from the different animals are used for clothing, bags and other consumer products, usually in the form of leather, but also as furs.

Activewear has also become a large and growing market.

Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise.