Clothing & Shoes

Clothing, like other aspects of human physical appearance, has various social aspects. more...

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Wearing specific types of clothing or the manner of wearing clothing can have the deliberate purpose, or the desirable or undesirable side-effect, to correctly or incorrectly be interpreted in terms of social class, income, occupation, ethnic and religious affiliation, attitude, marital status, sexual availability, and sexual orientation. This may be considered a "social message", even if it is not deliberate. If the "code of interpretation" applied by the receiver differs from the "sending code", this may give misinterpretations.

The manner of consciously constructing, assembling, and wearing clothing to convey a social message in any culture is governed by current fashion. The rate at which fashion changes varies; easily modified styles in wearing or accessorizing clothes can change in months, even days, in small groups or in media-influenced modern societies. More extensive changes, that may require more time, money, or effort to effect, may span generations. When fashion changes, messages from clothing change.

For example, wearing expensive clothes can be due to (a combination of)

Being wealthy; preferring to spend more money on clothing; Managing to obtain clothing cheaper than usual;

An observer can see the resultant, expensive clothes, but may be wrong about the extent to which these factors apply. See also conspicuous consumption. All factors apply inversely for wearing inexpensive clothing, and similarly for other goods.

Other messages clothing can give:

Stating or claiming personal or cultural identity; Establishing, maintaining and defying social group norms;

Social status

In many societies, people of high rank reserve special items of clothing or decoration for themselves as symbols of their social status. In ancient times, only Roman senators could wear garments dyed with Tyrian purple; only high-ranking Hawaiian chiefs could wear feather cloaks and palaoa or carved whale teeth. In China before the establishment of the republic, only the emperor could wear yellow. In many cases throughout history, there have been elaborate systems of sumptuary laws regulating who could wear what. In other societies (including most modern societies), no laws prohibit lower-status people from wearing high-status garments, but the high cost of status garments effectively limits purchase and display. In current Western society, only the rich can afford haute couture. The threat of social ostracism may also limit garment choice.

Occupation

Military, police, and firefighters usually wear uniforms, as do workers in many industries. School children often wear school uniforms, while college and university students sometimes wear academic dress. Members of religious orders may wear uniforms known as habits. Sometimes a single item of clothing or a single accessory can declare one's occupation or rank within a profession — for example, the high toque or chef's hat worn by a chief cook.

Read more at Wikipedia.org