Explain the reason for changes in the clothing patterns and materials in the 18th century?

Before the age of revolutions and the development of trade and markets in the eighteenth century Europe, the people generally dressed according to their regional codes. They were limited by the types of clothes and the cost of materials that were locally available. Clothing styles were also strictly regulated by class, gender or status in the social hierarchy.

After the eighteenth century, the colonisation of most of the world by Europe, the spread of democratic ideals and the growth of an industrial society, drastically changed the ways in which people thought about clothings.

People could use styles and materials that were drawn from other cultures and locations and western dress styles for men were adopted worldwide.

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Suggest reasons why women in nineteenth century India were obliged to continue wearing traditional Indian dress even when men switched over to the more convenient Western clothing. What does this show about the position of women in society?

Winston Churchill described Mahatma Gandhi as a ‘Seditious Middle Temple Lawyer’ now posing as a half naked fakir’. What provoked such a comment and what does it tell you about the symbolic strength of Mahatma Gandhiji’s dress?

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Clothing : A Social History

Explain the reason for changes in the clothing patterns and materials in the 18th century?