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CONTEMPORARY WORLDCONTEMPORARY WORLDChapter 8Chapter 8

““CLOTHING: A Social CLOTHING: A Social History”History”

MADE BY:-

P.R. ARCHANA

YOGITA YADAV

II B.A.Ed [ 2010-2014 Batch ]

It is easy to forget that there is a history to the clothes we

wear.All societies observe certain rules, some of them quite strict about

The way in which men, women and children should dress

How different social classes and groups should present themselves

As times change and societies are transformed, these notions

also alter Modifications in clothing come to reflect these

changes.

introduction

SUMPTUARY LAWS & SOCIAL HIERARCHY

In Medieval Europe, dress codes were sometimes imposed upon members of different layers of society through actual laws.

From about 1294 to the time of the French Revolution in 1789, the people of France were expected to strictly follow what were known as ‘Sumptuary Laws’.

The material to used for clothing was also legally prescribed. Only royalty could wear expensive materials like:o Ermineo Furo Silko Velvet o Brocade

An aristocratic family on the eve of French

Revolution

Woman of middle class, 1791

An upper class in 18th century-England

Volunteers during the French Revolution

A Sans-culottes family, 1793

Pilgrim Man (or) Peasant

The Knights

CLOTHING AND NOTIONS OF BEAUTY

The end of sumptuary laws did not mean that everyone in European societies could now dress in the same way.

The French Revolution had raised the question of equality and ended aristocratic privileges. the poor could not dress like the rich, nor eat the same food.

Differences in earning, now defined what the rich and poor could wear.

And different classes developed their own culture of dress.

Women in Victorian England were groomed from childhood to be docile and dutiful, submissive and obedient.

Norms of clothing reflected these ideals. From childhood, girls were tightly laced up and dressed in stays.

The effort was to restrict the growth of their bodies, contain them within small moulds. When slightly older, girls had to wear tight fitting corsets.

Tightly laced, small-waisted women were admired as attractive, elegant and graceful.

Styles of clothing also emphasised differences between

men and women

Clothing thus played a part in creating the image of frail, submissive Victorian women.

While Men were expected to be serious, strong, independent and aggressive, This was visible in the way they dressed up.

Women Clothing

Men Clothing

A child in an aristocratic household Notice the tiny

waist even at this age, probably held in by a corset,

and the sweeping gown which would restrict her movement.

Scene of an upper-class wedding

Many women believed in the ideals of womanhood. From childhood they grew up to believe that having a small waist was a womanly duty.

To be seen as womanly, they had to wear the corset. The torture and pain this inflicted on the body was to be accepted as normal.

By the 1830s, women in England began agitating for democratic rights. As the suffrage movement developed, many began campaigning for dress reform.

Women’s magazines described how tight dresses and corsets caused deformities and illness among young girls. Doctors reported that many women were regularly complaining of acute weakness, felt languid, and fainted frequently.

Such clothing :--> restricted body growth-> hampered blood circulation-> Muscles remained underdeveloped -> the spines got bent

HOW DID WOMEN REACT TO THESE NORMS?

WOMEN IN 19th CENTURY, BEFORE THE DRESS REFORMS

NEW TIMES

What were these new values?What created the pressure for

change?Many changes were made possible in Britain due to the introduction of new

materials and technologies. Other changes came about because of the two world wars and the new working conditions for women. Let us retrace our steps a few centuries to see what

these changes were.

New Materials After 1600, trade with India brought cheap, beautiful and easy-to-maintain Indian chintzes within the reach of many Europeans who could now increase the size of their wardrobes.

During the Industrial Revolution, in the 19th century, Britain began the mass manufacture of cotton textiles which it exported to many parts of the world, including India.

By the early 20th century, artificial fibres made clothes cheaper still and easier to wash and maintain.

In the late 1870s, heavy, restrictive underclothes were gradually discarded. Clothes got lighter, shorter & simpler.

THE WAR Changes in women’s clothing came about as a result of the two World wars. Many European women stopped wearing jewellery and luxurious clothes.

As upper-class women mixed with other classes, social barriers were eroded and women began to look similar.

Clothes got shorter during the First World War (1914-1918) out of practical necessity.

By 1917, over 700,000 women in Britain were employed in ammunition factories. They wore a working uniform of blouse and trousers with accessories such as scarves, which was later replaced by khaki overalls and caps.

Skirts became shorter. Soon trousers became a vital part of Western women’s clothing, giving them greater freedom of movement.

Most important, women took to cutting their hair short for convenience.

Clothing Of the Women After The War

CLOTHING OF MEN AFTER THE WAR

By the twentieth century, a plain and austere style came to reflect seriousness and professionalism.

New schools for children emphasised the importance of plain dressing, and discouraged ornamentation.

Gymnastics and games entered the school curriculum for women. As women took to sports, they had to wear clothes that did not hamper movement.

When they went out to work they needed clothes that were comfortable and convenient.

So we see that the pressures of new times made people feel the need for change

As women took to sports,

they had to wear clothes that did

not hamper

movement.

Transformations in colonial India

What about India in this same period?

During the colonial period there were significant changes in male and female clothing in India. On the one hand this was a consequence of the influence of Western dress forms and missionary activity; on theother it was due to the effort by Indians to fashion clothing styles that embodied an indigenous tradition and culture. Cloth and clothing in fact became very important symbols of the national movement.

Sir M. Visveswaraya.

: He wore a turban

with his three-piece Western

style suit.

When western-style clothing came into India in the 19th century,

1. The wealthy Parsis of western India were among the first to adapt Western-style clothing. Baggy trousers and the phenta (or hat) were added to long collarless coats, with boots and a walking stick to complete the look of the gentleman.

2. To some, Western clothes were a sign of modernity and progress.

3. There were others who were convinced that western culture

would lead to a loss of traditional cultural identity.

4. Some men resolved this dilemma by wearing Western clothes without giving up their Indian ones

Indians reacted in 3 different ways :-

Parsis in Bombay, 1863. (who adapted the western style clothing)

Caste Conflict and Dress Change

The caste system clearly defined what subordinate and dominant caste Hindus should wear, eat, etc. and these codes had the force of law.

The Shanars (also called Nadars) were considered a ‘subordinate caste’, they were prohibited from :• using umbrellas • wearing shoes • wearing golden ornaments• never covering their upper bodies before the upper castes.

Under the influence of Christian missions, Shanar women converts began in the 1820s to wear tailored blouses and cloths to cover themselves like the upper castes. Soon Nairs, (one of the upper castes) attacked these women in public places and tore off their upper cloths.

The Government of Travancore issued a proclamation in 1829 ordering Shanar women ‘to abstain in future from covering the upper parts of the body.’ But this did not prevent Shanar Christian women, and even Shanar Hindus, from adopting the blouse and upper cloth.The government issued another proclamation permitting Shanar women, whether Christian or Hindu, to wear a jacket, or cover their upper bodies ‘in any manner whatever, But not like the women of high caste’.

British Rule and Dress CodesHow did the

British react to Indian ways of dressing?

How did Indiansreact to British

attitudes?

When European traders first began frequenting India, they were distinguished from the Indian ‘turban wearers’ as the ‘hat wearers.’

TURBAN FOR INDIANSThe turban in India was not just for protection from the heat but was a sign of respectability, and could not be removed at will.

TURBAN (i.e. HAT) FOR WESTERNERSIn the Western tradition, the hat had to be removed before social superiors as a sign of respect.

TURBAN FOR WESTERNERS TURBAN FOR INDIANS

Another such conflict related to the wearing of shoes.

In 1824 - 1828, Governor- General Amherst insisted that Indians take their shoes off as a sign of respect when they appeared before him.

In 1862, there was a famous case of defiance of the ‘Shoe Respect’ rule in a Surat courtroom. Manockjee Cowasjee Entee, an assessor in the Surat Fouzdaree Adawlut, refused to take off his shoes in the court of the sessions judge.

Manockjee Cowasjee Entee

As nationalist feelings swept across India by the late 19th century, Indians began devising cultural symbols that would express the unity of the nation.

Artists looked for a national style of art.

Poets wrote national songs.

Then a debate began over the design of the national flag.

The search for a national dress was part of this move to define the cultural identity of the nation in symbolic ways.

DESIGNING THE NATIONAL DRESS

Experiments With The National Dress

Rabindranath Tagore in 1870s suggested that instead of combining Indian and European dress, India’s national dress should combine elements of Hindu and Muslim dress. Thus the “Chapkan” (a long buttoned coat) was considered the most suitable dress for men.

RAJENDRA PRASAD IN “CHAPKAN”

In the late 1870s, Jnanadanandini Devi adopted the Parsi style of wearing the sari pinned to the left shoulder with a brooch, and worn with a blouse and shoes. This was quickly adopted by Brahmo Samaji women and came to be known as the Brahmika sari.JNANADANANDINI DEVI

(left most)

Sarala : Note the Parsi-bordered sari with the high collared and sleeved velvet blouse

Lady Bachoobai : She is wearing a silk gara embroidered with swans andPeonies.

Maharani of Travancore : Note the Western shoes

and the modest long-sleeved blouse.

Women wearing Parsi Sari

In 1905, Lord Curzon decided to partition Bengal to control the growing opposition to British rule.

The Swadeshi movement developed in reaction to this measure. People were urged to boycott British goods of all kinds and start their own industries for the manufacture of goods such as matchboxes and cigarettes.

The use of khadi was made a patriotic duty.

Women were urged to throw away their silks and glass bangles and wear simple shell bangles.

Rough homespun was glorified in songs and poems to popularise it.

Mahatma Gandhi’s Experiments with

Clothing

The most familiar image of Mahatma Gandhi is of him seated, bare chested and in a short dhoti, at the spinning

wheel.

He made spinning on the charkha and the daily use of khadi very powerful

symbols. These were not only symbols of self-reliance but also of resistance to the use of British mill-

made cloth.

As a boy he usually wore a shirt with a dhoti or pyjama, and sometimes a coat.

At the age of 7 At the age of 14

When he went to London to study law as a boy of 19 in 1888, he cut off the tuft on his

head and dressed in a Western suit.

Mahatma Gandhi (seated front right) London, at the age of 21. Note the typical Western three-piece suit.

In Johannesburg in 1900, still in Western dress, including tie

In 1913 in South Africa, dressed for Satyagraha

GANDHIJI IN WESTERN ATTIRE

In South Africa, As a Lawyer

In Johannesburg

In London

MAHATMA GANDHI AND KASTURBA

THE GANDHI CAP

Mahatma Gandhi with a turban

In an embroidered Kashmiri cap

Wearing the Gandhi cap

After shaving his head

Soon he decided that dressing ‘unsuitably’ was a more powerful political statement.

In Durban in 1913, Gandhi first appeared in a lungi and kurta with his head shaved as a sign of mourning to protest against the shooting of Indian coal miners.

On his return to India in 1915, he decided to dress like a Kathiawadi peasant.

Only in 1921 did he adopt the short dhoti, the form of dress he wore until his death.

Changes in styles of clothing are thus linked up with shifts in cultural, tastes and notions of beauty, with changes within the economy and society, and with issues of social and political conflict. So when we see clothing styles alter we need to ask:

why do these changes take place?

What do they tell us about society and its history?

What can they tell us about changes in tastes and technologies, markets and industries?

YOGITA YADAV & P. R. ARCHANA