What Fashion Questions & Answers

Knowing that you have visited this page, we assume that you wish to learn something. The question is, “what” do you want to learn? We typically use the word “what” when asking for information that specifies something — what a garment is, what a fabric is made of, or what separates two garments that look almost identical at first glance. Most of the questions collected here are of that last, hardest-working kind: pairs of things that shoppers, students, and industry newcomers constantly confuse, from a chemise versus a camisole to denim versus chambray. Each question below leads to a focused answer page, so you can go straight to the comparison you need.

Difference Questions: Garments That Get Confused

A large share of the list is garment pairs. A chemise and a camisole are both light, sleeveless, and worn in layers, yet they differ in length, cut, and job. Capri pants and cropped pants both end above the ankle, but at different points on the leg and with different proportions. Skinny pants and slim pants both fit close, while a coat and a jacket divide mainly by length and weight, and a dress and a gown divide by formality and occasion. Leggings, hosiery, and tights form a three-way comparison that shoppers mix up constantly, as do sleepwear and loungewear, catsuits and jumpsuits, visors and baseball hats, and headwear and hats — headwear is the whole category, and a hat is one member of it. Each linked answer takes one pair at a time and states the distinguishing features plainly, so the next buying or styling decision is easier.

Difference Questions: Fabrics, Fibers, and Stores

Another group compares materials and retail formats. Denim and dungaree, and denim and chambray, are classic fabric confusions: the weave, weight, and yarn coloring are what separate them, not the garments made from them. Lycra, spandex, and elastane turn out to be one stretch fiber family under a brand name and two regional generic names. Wet and dry crocking is a colorfastness question — how much dye rubs off fabric dry, and how much transfers when the fabric is wet. On the shopping side, a thrift store and a consignment shop sell secondhand clothing in fundamentally different ways, and a specialty store and a specialty chain store differ in ownership structure and scale. Mercerized cotton, Irish linen, bohemian fashion, antique versus vintage versus retro styling, protective face mask materials, and the surgical mask versus N95 respirator comparison round out the list — use the question index above to jump to any of them.

We certainly hope that this page helped you find what you were looking for. If your question begins with a different word, the word index above leads to the who, where, how, is, and are collections as well.