 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Clothing terminology" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(January 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Clothing terminology comprises the names of individualgarments and classes of garments, as well as the specializedvocabularies ofthe trades that havedesigned,manufactured,marketed andsoldclothing over hundreds of years.
Clothing terminology ranges from the arcane (watchet,[1] a pale blue color name from the 16th century), and changes over time in response tofashion which in turn reflectssocial,artistic, andpolitical trends.
At its broadest, clothing terminology may be said to include names for:
Despite the constant introduction of new terms byfashion designers, clothing manufacturers, and marketers, the names for several basic garment classes in English are very stable over time.Gown,shirt/skirt,frock, andcoat are all attested back to the earlymedieval period.
Gown (fromMedievalLatingunna) was a basic clothing term for hundreds of years, referring to a garment that hangs from the shoulders. InMedieval andRenaissance Englandgown referred to a loose outer garment worn by both men and women, sometimes short, more often ankle length, withsleeves. By the 18th centurygown had become a standard category term for a women'sdress, a meaning it retained until the mid-20th century. Only in the last few decades hasgown lost this general meaning in favor ofdress. Today the termgown is rare except in specialized cases:academic dress orcap and gown,evening gown,nightgown,hospital gown, and so on (seeGown).
Shirt andskirt are originally the same word, the former being the southern and the latter the northern pronunciation in earlyMiddle English.
Coat remains a term for an overgarment, its essential meaning for the last thousand years (seeCoat).
Names for new styles or fashions in clothing are frequently the deliberate inventions of fashion designers or clothing manufacturers; these includeChanel'sLittle Black Dress (a term which has survived) andLanvin'srobe de style (which has not). Other terms are of more obscure origin.
Clothing styles are frequently named after people—often with a military connection:
Another fertile source for clothing terms is place names, which usually reflect the origin (or supposed origin) of a fashion. Modern terms such as Bermuda shorts,Hawaiian shirts, andFair Islesweaters are the latest in a long line that stretches back toholland (linen),damask ("fromDamascus"),polonaise ("in the fashion ofPolish women"),basque,jersey (originallyJerseyfrock),Balaclava,Capri pants,mantua, anddenim ("serge deNîmes" after the city).
Costume historians, with a "rearward-looking" view, require names for clothing styles that were not used (or needed) when the styles were actually worn. For example, the Van Dyke collar is so-called from its appearances in 17th century portraits byAnthony van Dyck, and the Watteau pleats of therobe á la française are called after their appearance in the portraits ofAntoine Watteau.
Similarly, terms may be applied ahistorically to entire categories of garments, so thatcorset is applied to garments that were calledstays or apair of bodies until the introduction of the wordcorset in the late 18th century. Anddress is now applied to any women's garment consisting of a bodice and skirt, although for most of its historydress simply meant clothing, or a complete outfit of clothing with its appropriate accessories.
A notable trend at the turn of the 21st century is "cute" short forms:camisole becomescami, hooded sweaters orsweatshirts becomehoodies, and as of 2005, short or "shrunken" cardigans arecardies.
The much-older termshimmy for "slip" is most likely afalse singular fromchemise.
| Headwear | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neckwear | |||||||||
| Underwear andlingerie |
| ||||||||
| Tops | |||||||||
| Bottoms |
| ||||||||
| Full-Body Wear |
| ||||||||
| Coats and outerwear |
| ||||||||
| Nightwear | |||||||||
| Swimwear | |||||||||
| Legwear | |||||||||
| Footwear | |||||||||
| Accessories |
| ||||||||
| Dress codes |
| ||||||||
| Related | |||||||||
