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'Clothing terminology' comprises the names of individual garments and classes of garments, as well as the specialized vocabularies of
the trades that have designed, manufactured, marketed and sold clothing over hundreds of years.
Clothing terminology ranges from the arcane (watchet, a pale blue color name from the sixteenth century) to the everyday (t-shirt), and changes over time in response to fashion which in turn reflects social, artistic, and political trends.
At its broadest, clothing terminology may be said to include names for:
★ Classes of basic garments: shirt, coat, dress, suit, underwear
★ Contemporary and historical styles of garments: frock coat, t-shirt, doublet
★ Parts of garments: sleeve, collar, lapel
★ Styles of these: juliette sleeve, Peter Pan collar
★ Clothing details: pocket, french cuff, zipper
★ Functional uses: base layer, insulation layer, outer shell
★ Traditional garments: cheongsam, kilt, dirndl
★ Fashions and "anti-fashions": preppy, New Look, hip-hop, rational dress
★ Fabrics: denim, wool
★ Fabric treatments: fabric painting, transfers, ikat, tie-dye, batik
★ Fabric manipulation: pleat, tuck, gather, smocking
★ Colors and dyes: madder red, indigo, isabella
★ Sewing terms: cut, hem, armscye, lining
★ Patternmaking terms: sloper, toile
★ Methods of manufacture: haute couture, bespoke tailoring, ready-to-wear
★ Retailers' terms:
★
★ Size ranges: missy, plus size, big-and-tall
★
★ Retail seasons: back-to-school, holiday, resort
★
★ Departments: special occasion, sportswear, bridge fashion
★
★ Degrees of formality: formal wear, bridal, business casual
★
★ Market: high end, high street, ethical consumer, cut price
Despite the constant introduction of new terms by fashion designers, clothing manufacturers and marketers, the names for several basic garment classes in English are very stable over time. ''Gown'', ''shirt/skirt'', ''frock'', and ''coat'' are all attested back to the early medieval period.
''Gown'' (from medieval Latin ''gunna'') was a basic clothing term for hundreds of years, referring to a garment that hangs from the shoulders. In medieval and renaissance England ''gown'' referred to a loose outer garment worn by both men and women, sometimes short, more often ankle length, with sleeves. By the eighteenth century ''gown'' had become a standard category term for a woman's dress, a meaning it retained until the mid-twentieth century. Only in the last few decades has ''gown'' lost this general meaning in favor of ''dress''. Today the term ''gown'' is rare except in specialized cases: academic dress or ''cap and gown'', evening gown, nightgown, hospital gown, and so on (''see'' Gown).
''Shirt'' and ''skirt'' are originally the same word, the former being the southern and the latter the northern pronunciation in early Middle English. Like ''gown'', ''shirt'' is becoming a specialized term in Britain, though it retains its general meaning in the U.S. (''see'' Shirt).
''Coat'' remains a term for an overgarment, its essential meaning for the last thousand years (''see'' Coat).
Names for new styles or fashions in clothing are frequently the deliberate inventions of fashion designers or clothing manufacturers; these include Chanel's Little Black Dress (a term which has survived) and Lanvin's ''robe de style'' (which has not). Other terms are of more obscure origin.
Clothing styles are frequently named after people — often with a military connection:
★ The ''Garibaldi jacket'' and ''Garibaldi shirt'' were bright red woolen garments for women with black embroidery or braid and military details popular in the 1860s; they are named after the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi who visited England in 1863.
★ The ''Eisenhower'' or "Ike" jacket is a waist-length, military jacket of World War II origins. Called the "Jacket, Field, Wool, M-1944", it was commissioned by then General Dwight Eisenhower as a new field jacket for the US Forces in Northern Europe. The jacket was based on the British Army 'Battle Dress' jacket of the same era.
★ The ''cardigan'' is a knitted jacket or button-front sweater created to keep British soldiers warm in Russian winters. It is named for James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, who led the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War (1854).
★ The ''Mao jacket'' is a very plain (often grey), high-collared, shirtlike jacket customarily worn by Mao Zedong and the people of China during his regime. Its drab design and uniformity was a reaction to pre-Revolution class distinctions of clothes, with elites dressing in elaborate silks, while poor laborers wore very rough clothes.
★ The ''Nehru jacket'' is a uniform jacket without lapels or collars, popularized by Jawaharial Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India.
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, and Fair Isle sweaters are the latest in a long line that stretches back to ''holland'' (linen), ''damask'' ("from Damascus"), ''polonaise'' ("in the fashion of Polish women"), ''jersey'' (originally Jersey frock), ''Balaclava'', ''mantua'', and ''denim'' ("serge de Nîmes" 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 seventeenth century portraits by Anthony Van Dyck, and the Watteau pleats of the ''robe á la française'' are called after their appearance in the portraits of Antoine Watteau.
Similarly, terms may be applied ahistorically to entire categories of garments, so that ''corset'' is applied to garments that were called ''stays'' or a ''pair of bodies'' until the introduction of the word ''corset'' in the late eighteenth century. And ''dress'' is now applied to any woman's garment consisting of a bodice and skirt, although for most of its history ''dress'' simply meant clothing, or a complete outfit of clothing with its appropriate accessories.
A notable trend at the turn of the twenty-first century is "cute" short forms: camisole becomes ''cami'', hooded sweaters or sweatshirts become ''hoodies'', and as of 2005, short or "shrunken" cardigans are ''cardies''.
The much-older term ''shimmy'' for "slip" is most likely a false singular from chemise.
★ Oxford English Dictionary
★ Picken, Mary Brooks: ''The Fashion Dictionary'', Funk and Wagnalls, 1957. (1973 edition ISBN 0-308-10052-2)
★ Stylopedia -- an online dictionary of fashion details
★ ApparelSeach glossary of textile and apparel terms
★ Garibaldi jacket
★ Eisenhower jacket
★ Fashion Glossary
the trades that have designed, manufactured, marketed and sold clothing over hundreds of years.
Clothing terminology ranges from the arcane (watchet, a pale blue color name from the sixteenth century) to the everyday (t-shirt), and changes over time in response to fashion which in turn reflects social, artistic, and political trends.
| Contents |
| Categories of clothing terminology |
| Persistence of clothing terminology |
| Sources of new terminology |
| Personal names |
| Place names |
| Costume historian's terms |
| Short forms |
| References |
| External links |
Categories of clothing terminology
At its broadest, clothing terminology may be said to include names for:
★ Classes of basic garments: shirt, coat, dress, suit, underwear
★ Contemporary and historical styles of garments: frock coat, t-shirt, doublet
★ Parts of garments: sleeve, collar, lapel
★ Styles of these: juliette sleeve, Peter Pan collar
★ Clothing details: pocket, french cuff, zipper
★ Functional uses: base layer, insulation layer, outer shell
★ Traditional garments: cheongsam, kilt, dirndl
★ Fashions and "anti-fashions": preppy, New Look, hip-hop, rational dress
★ Fabrics: denim, wool
★ Fabric treatments: fabric painting, transfers, ikat, tie-dye, batik
★ Fabric manipulation: pleat, tuck, gather, smocking
★ Colors and dyes: madder red, indigo, isabella
★ Sewing terms: cut, hem, armscye, lining
★ Patternmaking terms: sloper, toile
★ Methods of manufacture: haute couture, bespoke tailoring, ready-to-wear
★ Retailers' terms:
★
★ Size ranges: missy, plus size, big-and-tall
★
★ Retail seasons: back-to-school, holiday, resort
★
★ Departments: special occasion, sportswear, bridge fashion
★
★ Degrees of formality: formal wear, bridal, business casual
★
★ Market: high end, high street, ethical consumer, cut price
Persistence of clothing terminology
Edward VI in a red fur-lined gown with split hanging sleeves, a men's fashion of the mid-16th century
Despite the constant introduction of new terms by fashion designers, clothing manufacturers and marketers, the names for several basic garment classes in English are very stable over time. ''Gown'', ''shirt/skirt'', ''frock'', and ''coat'' are all attested back to the early medieval period.
''Gown'' (from medieval Latin ''gunna'') was a basic clothing term for hundreds of years, referring to a garment that hangs from the shoulders. In medieval and renaissance England ''gown'' referred to a loose outer garment worn by both men and women, sometimes short, more often ankle length, with sleeves. By the eighteenth century ''gown'' had become a standard category term for a woman's dress, a meaning it retained until the mid-twentieth century. Only in the last few decades has ''gown'' lost this general meaning in favor of ''dress''. Today the term ''gown'' is rare except in specialized cases: academic dress or ''cap and gown'', evening gown, nightgown, hospital gown, and so on (''see'' Gown).
''Shirt'' and ''skirt'' are originally the same word, the former being the southern and the latter the northern pronunciation in early Middle English. Like ''gown'', ''shirt'' is becoming a specialized term in Britain, though it retains its general meaning in the U.S. (''see'' Shirt).
''Coat'' remains a term for an overgarment, its essential meaning for the last thousand years (''see'' Coat).
Sources of new terminology
Names for new styles or fashions in clothing are frequently the deliberate inventions of fashion designers or clothing manufacturers; these include Chanel's Little Black Dress (a term which has survived) and Lanvin's ''robe de style'' (which has not). Other terms are of more obscure origin.
Personal names
Clothing styles are frequently named after people — often with a military connection:
★ The ''Garibaldi jacket'' and ''Garibaldi shirt'' were bright red woolen garments for women with black embroidery or braid and military details popular in the 1860s; they are named after the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi who visited England in 1863.
★ The ''Eisenhower'' or "Ike" jacket is a waist-length, military jacket of World War II origins. Called the "Jacket, Field, Wool, M-1944", it was commissioned by then General Dwight Eisenhower as a new field jacket for the US Forces in Northern Europe. The jacket was based on the British Army 'Battle Dress' jacket of the same era.
★ The ''cardigan'' is a knitted jacket or button-front sweater created to keep British soldiers warm in Russian winters. It is named for James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, who led the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War (1854).
★ The ''Mao jacket'' is a very plain (often grey), high-collared, shirtlike jacket customarily worn by Mao Zedong and the people of China during his regime. Its drab design and uniformity was a reaction to pre-Revolution class distinctions of clothes, with elites dressing in elaborate silks, while poor laborers wore very rough clothes.
★ The ''Nehru jacket'' is a uniform jacket without lapels or collars, popularized by Jawaharial Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India.
Place names
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, and Fair Isle sweaters are the latest in a long line that stretches back to ''holland'' (linen), ''damask'' ("from Damascus"), ''polonaise'' ("in the fashion of Polish women"), ''jersey'' (originally Jersey frock), ''Balaclava'', ''mantua'', and ''denim'' ("serge de Nîmes" after the city).
Costume historian's terms
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 seventeenth century portraits by Anthony Van Dyck, and the Watteau pleats of the ''robe á la française'' are called after their appearance in the portraits of Antoine Watteau.
Similarly, terms may be applied ahistorically to entire categories of garments, so that ''corset'' is applied to garments that were called ''stays'' or a ''pair of bodies'' until the introduction of the word ''corset'' in the late eighteenth century. And ''dress'' is now applied to any woman's garment consisting of a bodice and skirt, although for most of its history ''dress'' simply meant clothing, or a complete outfit of clothing with its appropriate accessories.
Short forms
A notable trend at the turn of the twenty-first century is "cute" short forms: camisole becomes ''cami'', hooded sweaters or sweatshirts become ''hoodies'', and as of 2005, short or "shrunken" cardigans are ''cardies''.
The much-older term ''shimmy'' for "slip" is most likely a false singular from chemise.
References
★ Oxford English Dictionary
★ Picken, Mary Brooks: ''The Fashion Dictionary'', Funk and Wagnalls, 1957. (1973 edition ISBN 0-308-10052-2)
External links
★ Stylopedia -- an online dictionary of fashion details
★ ApparelSeach glossary of textile and apparel terms
★ Garibaldi jacket
★ Eisenhower jacket
★ Fashion Glossary
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