Page 223 - Encyclopedia Of World History
P. 223
dress 573
A pair of Korean
women in 2004 dressed
in traditional clothing
pose for a picture.
Korean traditional
clothing is designed to
be light and airy.
bands or fathers, making dress
an economic indicator. Some
forms of women’s dress, such
as foot binding in China, have
become symbolic of women’s
reduced position in paternalis-
tic societies.The Islamic veil, to
many Westerners, symbolizes
the subjugation of Islamic
women. However, for many
Islamic women the veil is a
symbol of religious identity. It
determination of the wearer’s place and status.Any devi- is also an example of the strength of custom.Veiling pre-
ation from the norm could be read as a change of iden- dates the Prophet Muhammad by six hundred years or
tity or status and determine who was friend or foe. more and is not a requirement of the Quran. As Islam
Dress became even a tool of governmental social policy spread, religion and local customary practices became
—to promote national solidarity, to define the limits of inextricably linked. Deveiling campaigns in the former
accepted society, and even to force modernization. Rus- Soviet Union, Republican Turkey, and modern France
sian Czar Peter the Great’s insistence on Western dress have met with resistance by religious women who view
for nobles and the Turkish soldier and statesman Kemal the veil as an important part of their religious identity.
Ataturk’s dress reform for Turkey were attempts to Dress also has served to identify and define class and
achieve modernization through clothing reform. to mark social divisions. Divisional dress predates the rise
of consumerism and is tied to a desire for upward mobil-
Gender ity. Elaborate garments for the ruling elite highlight per-
Gender is an important component of dress. Most cul- sonal and national prestige and wealth and set the ruling
tures have specific styles that differentiate or reinforce elite apart from the rest of society. At the same time pre-
gender divisions and enforce gender and social stability. scribed dress for those participating in royal courts lim-
For Western societies gender dress has meant skirts for its their participation outside the rarefied atmosphere of
women and pants for men. This differentiation is not a the court. Expensive fabrics, trimmings, and extravagant
global standard, and women often wear pants, whereas cuts elevated the wearer above the working classes.This
in other regions men wear “skirts,” usually in the form of elevation came at a price.Women’s fashionable dress in
sarongs, hipwraps, or kilts. The symbolism placed on a Renaissance Italy, with its ultrawide sleeves, restricted
garment by a particular society makes a garment “male” movement, as did the heavy woolen folds of the Roman
or “female.” Gender-specific dress can accentuate physical toga. Court ritual in China required the emperor to com-
differences between the genders and/or emphasize erotic ply with elaborate rules and highly specific dress require-
areas of the body, often by deformation of the body by ments for rituals. He was both elevated and restricted by
padding, corseting, or other means. In many cultures the same dress that reinforced his power.
women’s dress directly reflects the wealth of their hus- Dress also can be used to enforce the status quo.