The Significance Of Clothing In Society

For many people, clothes are nothing more than objects to be worn because society doesn't allow us to go around naked. If these folks are cold, they simply put on a coat, and if they start to feel too hot then they take it off again without giving the matter much thought. Probably the only time most people think about the significance of clothing is when they are attending a wedding, funeral or a black-tie event, for instance, and even then the concern is one of appropriateness as befitting the occasion; the clothes themselves are not imbued with any particular significance other than their functionality.

Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with viewing clothing as being purely functional. After all, the first clothes were invented to protect humans from the elements. Embellishments and jewellery only came later and even then were often given a religious or cultural significance. When people stopped being hunter-gatherers and settled in villages and towns, guilds of craftspeople grew. People who could sew became tailors and seamstresses and as the centuries progressed their craft became more and more advanced in line with the rest of the technological advancements that were taking place in society.

The garments these craftspeople produced came to be embellished with all manner of designs and clothes naturally became more decorative in appearance, sometimes to the point of being more decorative than practical, and out of this the fashion industry was born. Now this is not to say that the fashion industry is unnecessary because everybody needs clothing, after all, but it has gained something of a reputation for being frivolous because there are garments being produced and going down runways that the person in the street might find not only un-wearable but out of their price-range.

At the level of haute couture, clothing is seen by some as an art form which possesses all the elements of art and design that recognized art forms have. Then there are the people who view clothing as a way of communicating messages about the self such as a person's personality, their aspirations and the things they relate to, for example. Whether clothes are viewed as art, a form of communication or merely as functional objects, fashion and the production of apparel is a million dollar industry that is very much alive and well in contemporary society. Hence we cannot deny that clothing has some sort of significance in society whatever that significance may be.