Page 223 - Encyclopedia Of World History
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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.
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