Portal:Clothing

The Clothing Portal

Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles; over time, it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural products found in the environment, put together. Clothing is worn primarily by humans and is a feature of all human societies. The amount and type of clothing worn depend on gender, body type, social factors, and geographic considerations. Garments cover the body, footwear covers the feet, gloves cover the hands, hats and headgear cover the head, and underwear covers the intimate parts.

Clothing has significant social factors as well. Wearing clothes is a variable social norm. It may connote modesty. Being deprived of clothing in front of others may be embarrassing. In many parts of the world, not wearing clothes in public so that genitals, breast, or buttocks are visible may be considered indecent exposure. Pubic area or genital coverage is the most frequently encountered minimum across cultures and climates, implying social convention as the basis of customs. Wearers may also use clothing to communicate social status, wealth, group identity, and individualism. (Full article...)

Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fibre-based materials, including fibres, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the only manufacturing method, and many other methods were later developed to form textile structures based on their intended use. Knitting and non-woven are other popular types of fabric manufacturing. In the contemporary world, textiles satisfy the material needs for versatile applications, from simple daily clothing to bulletproof jackets, spacesuits, doctor's gowns and technical applications like geotextiles. (Full article...)

Textile arts are arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects. (Full article...)

Selected articles -


  • Palestinian traditional clothing are the types of clothing historically and sometimes still presently worn by Palestinians. Foreign travelers to Palestine in the 19th and early 20th centuries often commented on the rich variety of the costumes worn, particularly by the fellaheen or village women. Many of the handcrafted garments were richly embroidered and the creation and maintenance of these items played a significant role in the lives of the region's women.

    Though experts in the field trace the origins of Palestinian clothing to ancient times, there are no surviving clothing artifacts from this early period against which the modern items might be definitively compared. Influences from the various empires to have ruled Palestine, such as Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome and the Byzantine Empire, among others, have been documented by scholars largely based on the depictions in art and descriptions in literature of costumes produced during these times. (Full article...)


  • Smocking is an embroidery technique used to gather fabric so that it can stretch. Before elastic, smocking was commonly used in cuffs, bodices, and necklines in garments where buttons were undesirable. Smocking developed in England and has been practised since the Middle Ages and is unusual among embroidery methods in that it was often worn by labourers. Other major embroidery styles are purely decorative and represented status symbols. Smocking was practical for garments to be both form fitting and flexible, hence its name derives from smock — an agricultural labourer's work shirt. Smocking was used most extensively in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. (Full article...)

  • Perkin in 1906

    Sir William Henry Perkin FRS (12 March 1838 – 14 July 1907) was an English chemist and entrepreneur best known for his serendipitous discovery of the first commercial synthetic organic dye, mauveine, made from aniline. Though he failed in trying to synthesise quinine for the treatment of malaria, he became successful in the field of dyes after his first discovery at the age of 18.

    Perkin set up a factory to produce the dye industrially. Regina Lee Blaszczyk, professor of business history at the University of Leeds, states, "By laying the foundation for the synthetic organic chemicals industry, Perkin helped to revolutionize the world of fashion." (Full article...)

  • Mamianqun ornamented with Chinese goldwork and embroideries, a traditional skirt of the Han Chinese, Qing dynasty

    Goldwork is the art of embroidery using metal threads. It is particularly prized for the way light plays on it. The term "goldwork" is used even when the threads are imitation gold, silver, or copper. The metal wires used to make the threads have never been entirely gold; they have always been gold-coated silver or cheaper metals, and even then the "gold" often contains a very low percentage of real gold. Most metal threads are available in silver and sometimes copper as well as gold; some are available in colors as well.

    Goldwork is always surface embroidery and free embroidery. The vast majority is a form of laid work or couching; that is, the gold threads are held onto the surface of the fabric by a second thread, usually of fine silk. The ends of the thread, depending on type, are simply cut off, or are pulled through to the back of the embroidery and carefully secured with the couching thread. A tool called a mellore or a stiletto is used to help position the threads and create the holes needed to pull them through. The threads most often have metal or gold leaf wound around a textile core, or are treated with an adhesive and rolled in powdered gold or other metal. (Full article...)

  • Aesthetics in textiles is one of the basic concepts of the serviceability of textiles. It is determined by the perception of touch and sight. Aesthetics imply the appearance and attraction of textile products; it includes the color and texture of the material. It is a statement about the end user (consumer) and the target market. When combined with fabric construction, the finish of the clothing material, garment fit, style, and fashion compatibility, colours create an aesthetic comfort. All of these elements work together to satisfy our visual perception. Aesthetics incorporates the role of evaluation (analysing and judging) also.

    There are various arts and applications that imparts aesthetic properties in textiles. Additionally, the use of LEDs and optical fibres enables the creation of aesthetic properties such as illuminated textiles. (Full article...)

  • Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft, woof, or filling. The method in which these threads are interwoven affects the characteristics of the cloth.
    Cloth is usually woven on a loom, a device that holds warp threads in place while filling threads are woven through them. A fabric band that meets this definition of cloth (warp threads with a weft thread winding between) can also be made using other methods, including tablet weaving, backstrap loom, or other techniques that can be done without looms.

    The way the warp and filling threads interlace with each other is called the weave. The majority of woven products are created with one of three basic weaves: plain weave, satin weave, or twill weave. Woven cloth can be plain or classic (in one colour or a simple pattern), or can be woven in decorative or artistic design. (Full article...)

  • Kimono for a young woman (furisode), Japan, 1912–1926

    The Khalili Collection of Kimono is a private collection of more than 450 Japanese kimono assembled by the British scholar, collector and philanthropist Nasser D. Khalili. It is one of eight collections assembled, published and exhibited by Khalili, each of which is considered to be among the most important collections within their respective fields.

    The Khalili Collection of Kimono includes formal, semi-formal, and informal kimono made for men, women, and children, illustrating the evolution of the kimono through cut, construction, materials, and decorative techniques from the 17th through the 20th centuries, with kimono representing the Edo period, the Meiji period, the Taishō period, and the Shōwa period. The kimono within the collection are not on permanent display, but are periodically lent or donated in part to cultural institutions; including the Kremlin Museums in Moscow and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Khalili, who also owns a collection of Meiji-era Japanese art, describes kimono as "one of the wonders of the world." He started the kimono collection with the aim of collecting and cataloguing cultural works that were not already actively being collected. (Full article...)


  • Knitta, also known as Knitta Please, was a group of artists based in Houston, Texas often attributed with the creation of the yarn bombing movement, a type of grafitti where participants wrap public architecture—e.g. lampposts, parking meters, telephone poles, and signage—with knitted or crocheted material. Founded in 2005 by Magda Sayeg and Akrylik, the group held yarn bombings in several cities and continents, and were invited to stage installations

    Knitta grew to eleven members by the end of 2007, and over the next several years held installations in several countries and on multiple continents. However, by the 2010s, membership had dwindled to just Sayeg. (Full article...)

  • 1822 portrait of Whitney by Samuel Morse

    Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765 – January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin in 1793, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Whitney's invention made upland short cotton into a profitable crop, which strengthened the economic foundation of slavery in the United States and prolonged the institution. Despite the social and economic impact of his invention, Whitney lost much of his profits in legal battles over patent infringement for the cotton gin. Thereafter, he turned his attention to securing contracts with the government in the manufacture of muskets for the newly formed United States Army. He continued making arms and inventing until his death in 1825. (Full article...)

  • Tyrian purple (Ancient Greek: πορφύρα porphúra; Latin: purpura), also known as royal purple, imperial purple, imperial dye, or simply tyrian, is a reddish-purple natural dye. It is secreted by several species of predatory sea snails in the family Muricidae, rock snails originally known by the name Murex (Bolinus brandaris, Hexaplex trunculus and Stramonita haemastoma). The coloured compound is 6,6'-dibromoindigo.

    The name Tyrian refers to the city of Tyre in ancient Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon). In ancient times, extracting this dye involved tens of thousands of snails and substantial labour, and as a result, the dye was highly valued. (Full article...)

  • A knitting machine is a device used to create knitted fabrics in a semi or fully automated fashion. There are numerous types of knitting machines, ranging from simple spool or board templates with no moving parts to highly complex mechanisms controlled by electronics. All, however, produce various types of knitted fabrics, usually either flat or tubular, and of varying degrees of complexity. Pattern stitches can be selected by hand manipulation of the needles, push-buttons and dials, mechanical punch cards, or electronic pattern reading devices and computers. (Full article...)

  • Sprang is an ancient method of constructing fabric that has a natural elasticity. Its appearance is similar to netting, but unlike netting, sprang is constructed entirely from warp threads. Archaeological evidence indicates that sprang predates knitting; the two needlework forms bear a visible resemblance and serve similar functions but require different production techniques.

    Although examples of sprang have been unearthed from as early as the Bronze Age, sprang was almost entirely undocumented in written records until the late nineteenth century when archaeological finds generated interest in Europe. Museum examples of sprang had been misidentified as knitting or lace until discoveries of ancient examples prompted reexamination of newer pieces. Subsequently, sprang has been identified in a variety of cultures and traditions across several continents. Its practice as a folk art waned during the twentieth century and sprang traditions have disappeared in most locales. Knitting has largely supplanted sprang. (Full article...)

  • The Valois Tapestries are a series of eight large tapestries depicting festivities or "magnificences" held by Catherine de' Medici's Royal Courts in the second half of the 16th century. The tapestries were primarily modeled on drawings by Antoine Caron, but to Caron's distant views of large panoramas crowded with figures much larger portraits of leading persons at the French court have been added in the foreground, usually to the side, as well as elaborate borders.

    They were produced by teams of weavers in the Spanish Netherlands, probably in Brussels or Antwerp, shortly after 1580. A number of great artists and artisans worked on the creation of these tapestries but today we are left with nothing but theories and speculation to their identities. Scholars such as Frances Yates and Jean Coural have developed nuanced theories backed by solid evidence to identify these unknown contributors, and also the political meaning of the tapestries, but research has yet to confirm many of these findings. These works display surprisingly intimate and personal moments within the royal inner circle clashing against the busy backdrops of these lavish festivals. (Full article...)

  • Illustration by Vilhelm Pedersen, Andersen's first illustrator

    "The Emperor's New Clothes" (Danish: Kejserens nye klæder [ˈkʰɑjsɐns ˈnyˀə ˈkʰlɛːðə]) is a literary folktale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, about a vain emperor who gets exposed before his subjects. The tale has been translated into over 100 languages.

    "The Emperor's New Clothes" was first published with "The Little Mermaid" in Copenhagen, Denmark, by C. A. Reitzel, on 7 April 1837, as the third and final installment of Andersen's Fairy Tales Told for Children. The tale has been adapted to various media, and the story's title, the phrase "the Emperor has no clothes", and variations thereof have been adopted for use in numerous other works and as idioms. (Full article...)


  • Machine embroidery is the process of using a sewing or embroidery machine to create decorative stitching on fabric. It is widely used in commercial branding, product decoration, uniform embellishment, and personal customization. Most modern embroidery machines are computer-controlled and rely on digitized embroidery files to execute designs.

    The most common stitch types in machine embroidery include the running stitch (a simple line used for outlines or travel paths), the satin stitch (used for narrow, dense decorative elements and lettering), and the tatami stitch (also known as fill stitch, used to cover larger areas). To connect distant parts of a design, embroidery software generates connector stitches—short stitches that may be visible (as jump stitches) or hidden beneath other stitching. At the beginning and end of sections, lock stitches are often used to secure the threads and prevent unraveling. (Full article...)

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A medieval ship flag captured by forces from Lübeck in the 1420s showed the arms of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Pomerania. At the time, Denmark, Norway and Sweden were united in the Kalmar Union. The saint accompanying the Virgin Mary and infant Christ is Saint James the Greater, identified by his scallop shell emblem. The flag was made of coarse linen. All figures and heraldic insignia were created using oil-based paint.

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Wikipedia:WikiProject Arts

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Textile Arts WikiProject

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WikiProject Fashion  • WikiProject Knots  • WikiProject Sculpture  • WikiProject Visual arts

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