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In societies with
Jewish and
/ or
Christian traditions, certain types of ceremonial clothing are
associated with particular occasions.Life cycle
celebrations
Birth
Many Western religions welcome a new-born child into the
congregation or the community with a special ceremony, such as
baptism for Christian children or a
bris
for Jewish males. Adult participants wear clothing appropriate for
religious occasions. The child, in the Christian case, often wears a
special
christening robe. This white dress, worn by both males and
females, is typically extremely long, so that the hem of the dress
extends a meter or more past the infant's feet. The adult holding
the child to be christened arranges the hem so that it falls free.
The hem may be lavishly decorated with lace and embroidery. The
christening robe thus serves as a display of wealth and status.
Families may carefully preserve a christening robe to be used by
several generations of infants. Leaving nursery status
Until the late 19th century, young Western boys and girls
often wore the same attire: a
dress. Unisex infant clothing made changing
diapers easier and simplified the passing of garments
from one child to the next. When a young boy had reached an
age at which he could begin to train in manly pursuits, he
would be dressed in pants rather than dresses. Before the
19th century, his clothing might be simply a miniature
edition of adult wear. During the 19th century, men wore
long pants and boys wore short pants.
In current Western societies, even infant clothing may be
marked for gender, and there is no such transition as the
donning of the first pair of pants.
Reaching adult status
Some Christian churches welcome children reaching "the
age of reason" into the congregation as adults in the
ceremony of
confirmation. Girls being confirmed typically wear
pristine but modest white dresses; boys may wear suits or
other formal attire.
In 19th century England, coming of age was also marked by
a boy's wearing long pants instead of short ones, and girl
putting up her hair, in a bun or
chignon, rather than wearing it loose down her back or
in schoolgirl
braids.
In 18th and 19th century England, a well-brought-up girl
was either "out" -- admitted to adult social occasions -- or
"not out". Starting in the 18th century, it became customary
to mark a girl's "coming out" with a special festivity, such
as a
ball in her honor. Wealthy families spent great sums of
money on elaborate clothing, decorations, food and drink,
etc. Late in the 19th century, it became more common for
wealthy families to club together to sponsor a ball or
cotillion at which many girls "came out" together, or
made their debut. They were called
debutantes.
Debutantes wear
ball gowns, of course, but usually ones of restrained
cut and coloring that suggest a modest girl being introduced
to society for the first time.
Most Western girls are not debutantes; that is reserved
for girls of a certain class and wealth. For Latin Americans, however, the debut is still a major
occasion. It is called the
quinceanera and held on the 15th birthday. Even the
poorest families will spend large sums on a lavish dance,
often held in a rented hall. The girl being honored
typically wears a pink ball gown.
Graduation
Western universities took shape during the
Middle Ages and still retain many vestiges of medieval
custom. One of those vestiges is scholarly attire: gowns,
caps, and hoods, as worn hundreds of years ago. Once worn
for all lectures and other public occasions, the cap and
gown is now usually reserved for college graduation
ceremonies.
Ordinary
bachelors, or holders of B.A, B.S, etc. degrees, wear a
black gown over their ordinary clothes and a cap called a
mortarboard, consisting of a stiff square panel sewn
onto a
skull-cap. Higher degrees call for gowns of different
colors and hoods rather than caps.
In the 19th century, the bachelor's gown and mortarboard
were annexed by the new institution of the
high school. High school graduates proudly wore caps and
gowns to their ceremonies. The custom further diffused, to
the point that some
kindergartens send their graduates out into the big
world to the accompaniment of tiny caps and gowns.
Marriage
The man marrying is the
groom; he typically wears a suit or a
tuxedo. The woman marrying is the
bride and wears a
wedding dress or
wedding gown.
For a first-time bride, the dress is white, denoting
virginity. Women marrying for the second (or third, or
fourth) time are supposed to forgo the elaborate white gown
and wear a colored dress or ensemble.
The archetypal wedding gown is cut like a ball gown, with
a wide skirt, tight waist, and
decolletage. If the skirt is cut closer to the body, it
may still have a trailing
train, often carried by a child
trainbearer. The dress is accessorized with a lace
veil, often anchored by a
tiara and a bouquet of flowers, often encased in an
elaborate
bouquet-holder.
Brides are supposed to be wearing, in the words of an old
jingle:
- Something old and something new,
- Something borrowed and something blue.
Because wedding apparel is often quite expensive, most
brides find no difficulty in mixing old and new. A new dress
will be crowned with a family heirloom veil, an old dress
with new earrings, etc. The borrowed item is often a
handkerchief; the blue item is often a
garter. The garter is a decorated band of elastic once
used to hold up long
stockings. Garters are no longer used, but survive in
the wedding paraphernalia as an item that the bride removes
and throws to the crowd at the
reception following the actual marriage ceremony.
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The elaborate and expensive white wedding dress is an
innovation of the 19th and 20th centuries. It is
increasingly a component of wedding ceremonies in all parts
of the world, often in parallel with non-Western costumes
and customs. For example, Japanese brides may now dress
several times, in the traditional Japanese wedding costumes,
then appear again in a Western wedding gown.
Death
The dead are honored with a
funeral and often a
reception or a
wake following. Anyone attending the funeral is expected
to wear black or at least sombre or drab-colored clothing. A
widow may wear a black veil over her face.
Following the funeral, family and friends now resume
their normal clothing. This is a modern innovation. Until
the late 19th and early 20th centuries, relatives were
expected to wear
mourning for periods that varied depending on the
closeness of their relation to the deceased. The rules for
mourning wear were strict and complicated. They may only
have been observed in their entirety by the wealthy with
money and time for a course of mourning that started with
black clothing, progressed to grey, then violet, and ended
with the wearing of colors again. The poor might just wear a
black armband over their regular clothing as a sign of
mourning.
Mourning bore heaviest on the widow. In many
Mediterranean countries, she might wear black for the rest
of her life. In England, she wore a cumbersome outfit called
widow's weeds: an all-black dress surmounted with a
widow's cap trailing a long black veil.
Suits
Definition
Clothing Definitions
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