Sociology of clothing
Clothing has various conspicuous consumption
- stating or claiming identity
- establishing, maintaining and defying sociological group norms
Thus clothing types or the manner of wearing clothing can convey messages about class, income, belief and attitude.
Dress codes
Dress codes function on certain social occasions and for certain jobs. A school or a military institution may require specified uniforms; if it allows the wearing of plain clothes it may place restrictions on their use. A bouncer of a disco or nightclub may judge visitors' clothing and refuse entrance to those not clad according to specified or intuited requirements: for example an establishment may not allow the wearing of sport shoes.
Transparent or semi-transparent clothing can play with the boundaries of dress-codes regarding modesty, for example: in a wet T-shirt contest.
See also Mourning, Sharia#Dress_code, Trousers#Law.
Gender and clothing
Various traditions suggests that certain items of clothing intrinsically suit different gender roles. In particular, the wearing of skirts and trousers has given rise to common phrases expressing implied restrictions in use and disapproval of offending behaviour. For example, ancient Greeks often considered the wearing of trousers by Persian men as a sign of effeminacy.
Extreme flouting of conventions in this area may earn the label "cross-dressing".
Clothing taboos
Possible deficiencies in clothing itself may include:
- stains
- faded colour
- smell
- tears
- broken seams
- thin spots
- holes
- missing buttons
- broken zippers
One or more safety pins may temporarily alleviate some of these imperfections.
Possible inappropriate clothing relative to the person wearing it includes garments:
- too large (wide, long)
- too small (tight, short)
- not corresponding to the sex, age or peer group of the wearer
Possible "inappropriate" or socially unacceptable ways of wearing clothing include:
- unbuttoned (notably the fly)
- unzipped (ditto)
- backward
- inside-out
- mis-matched socks
- a wide dress, skirt or shorts exposing underwear or genitals by the way one sits, or when blown upwards (see also Marilyn Monroe), etc.
- a bra, wrongly positioned, revealing a breast (one such "wardrobe malfunction" has become notorious: see Janet Jackson).
Possible "inappropriate" or socially unacceptable situations of wetness include:
- transparency, due to wetness (or thin spots), exposing underwear or intimate parts
- wetness due to sweat
- wetness apparently due to urine, etc.
Possible inappropriateness regarding day-to-day variation of clothing:
Possible inappropriateness of clothing relative to the occasion (note also the concept of dress code):
- too bright or merry for a serious or sad occasion, for example at a job interview or at a funeral
- too somber for a festive occasion
- insufficiently modest
- too prudish
Of course some of these clothing faux pas may occur intentionally for reasons of fashion or personal preference.
For example, people may wear intentionally oversized clothing. The rap duo Kris Kross of two teenage boys wore all of their clothes backwards and extremely baggy.
