Clothing 1

CLOTHING A SOCIAL HISTORY

• Clothing styles were regulated by CLASS,GENDER OR STATUS. • With the spread of DEMOCRATIC ideals and growth of an INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY, people could use styles and materials that were drawn from other cultures and locations. • WESTERN style for men was adopted worldwide.

• CLOTHING IS ALSO CALLED dress, garment,attire or apparel. USES OF CLOTHING

As functional To protect the body from weather, insects, social status chemicals or any injury

As a social message Marital status, social status, Occupation, ethnic, political and religious affiliation

CLOTHING AND NOTIONS OF BEAUTY • • • • • • •

French Revolution Ended inequality and aristocratic privileges and laws Differences between social strata remained Laws no longer barred people’s right to dress in the way they wished They could wear as per their earnings Different classes developed their own culture of dress The notion of what was beautiful or ugly, proper or improper, decent or vulgar differed.

STYLES OF CLOTHING AMONG MEN AND WOMEN • Victorian England • Women- docile, submissive,dutiful, obedient and delicate. • From childhood, girls were tightly laced up and dressed in stays. Older girls had to wear tight fitting corsets. • Clothing played a part in creating the image of frail, submissive Victorian women. • Men-serious, strong, independent and aggressive reflected in their dressings also.

NEW TIMES •

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In Britain, changes were brought in clothing due to introduction of new materials and technologies. 17th century,women in Britain possessed very few clothes made of flux, linen or wool [difficult to clean]. After 1600, trade from India brought cheap, beautiful and easy to maintain Indian chintzes [cotton- dacca muslin]. Industrial revolution in 19th century- Britain exported cotton textiles used by many people. 2oth century- more artificial fibres. By late 1870s clothes got lighter, shorter and simpler as compared to heavy, restrictive underclothes.

THE WAR- TWO WORLD WARS • Changes in women’s clothing due to two WW I. • Many European women stopped wearing jewellery and luxurious clothes. A simple way of dressing. • Clothes got shorter during WW I as 7 lacs women were employed in ammunition factories. • They wore uniform of blouse and trousers with accessories such as scarves, which was later replaced by khaki overalls and caps. • Bright colours faded from sight and only sober colours were worn as the war dragged on.

TRANSFORMATIONS IN COLONIAL INDIA •

Influence of western style clothing.

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The wealthy Parsis of western India were the 1st to adapt. Baggy trousers and the phenta[a hat] were added to collarless coats, with boots and a walking sticks to look like a gentleman.

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Western clothes were a sign of modernity and progess.

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Groups of Dalits who got converted to Christianity were attracted to western style dressing.

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Others were convinced that western culture would lead to loss of traditional cultural identity.

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Some of them adopted western clothes without giving up their Indian identity.

BRITISH RULE AND DRESS CODES •

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In British and Indian cultures, specific items of clothing often convey contrary meanings. Like turban in India and hat in Britain, both are headgears with different purposes. Turban:- protection from heat, sign of respectibility and could not be removed at will. Hat:- to be removed before the superiors as a sign of respect. Britishers were often offended if Indians did not take off their turban when they met colonial officials. In the 19th century, it was customary for British officials to follow Indian etiquettes and remove their footwear in the courts of ruling kings or chiefs and wore Indian clothes. In 1830, Europeans were forbidden from wearing Indian clothes at official functions.

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At the same time, Indians were expected to wear Indian clothes to office and follow Indian dress codes.

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In 1824-28, Gen Amherst insisted Indians to take their shoes off as a sign of respect, but was not followed strictly.

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When Lord Dalhousie was GovernorGen, this rule became more stricter. Only those who wore European clothes were exempted from this rule.

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The British insisted that since Indians took off their shoes when they entered a sacred place or home, they should do so when they entered the court.

DESIGNING THE NATIONAL DRESS •

As nationalist feelings swept across India, Indians began devising cultural symbols for the unity of the nation.

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The Tagore family experimented with the national dress by combining elements of Hindu and Muslim dresses. Thus a long buttoned coat- achkan was considered as the most suitable dress for men.

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In the late 1870s, Jnanadanandini devi, wife of Satyendranath Tagore, the 1st member of the ICS, returned to Calcutta from Bombay and adopted the Parsi style of wearing the sari pinned to the left shoulder with a brooch and worn with a blouse and shoes.

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Later this adopted by Brahmo Samaj, Maharashtrians and Uttar Pradesh Brahmos and Non- Brahmos.

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Women of Gujarat, Kodagu, Kerala and Assam continued to wear different types of saris.

THE SWADESHI MOVEMENT •

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Before Britishers came here, India accounted for one-fourth of the world’s exports manufactured goods. Industrialisation in England led to increase in demand for raw materials such as cotton and indigo and changed India’s status in the world economy. Indian peasants were forced to grow indigo. The cheap machine made British goods easily replaced coarser Indian one. In 1905, Lord Curzon partitioned Bengal and Swadeshi Movement also started. People were urged to boycott British goods and mass protests followed.

• Use of Khadi was made a patriotic duty. • Women were urged to throw away their silks and glass bangles and wear shell bangles. • After 15 years, many among the upper classes also returned to wearing European dresses.

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 or coarse cloth made from homespun yarn, very powerful symbols. • These were not only symbols of self- reliance but also of resistance to the use of British mill- made cloth.

NOT ALL COULD WEAR KHADI •

Khadi as means of erasing differences between religions,classes etc according to Mahatma Gandhi.

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Nationalists such as Motilal Nehru gave up their expensive western style suits and adopted the Indian dhoti and kurta but that was not made of coarse cloth.

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Dalits e.g. Dr B R Ambedkar.

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Women from Maharastra found khadi very expensive.

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Sarojini Naidu and Kamala Nehru wore coloured saris with designs, instead of coarse, white homespun.