Clothing and Fashion

Clothes have always been important for people. In ancient times mainly because they protected people against cold or rain, later with the development of society clothes became an important sign of people‘s social status. In the past women‘s and men‘s clothes were totally different. Poorest woman wore dark clothes, which signed that a woman was married. However richer woman wore more fancy and colourful clothes, no matter what their marital status. Of course, fashion sometimes depend on religion – Islam woman have to wear clothes which veils(zahaliť) the whole body. And according to religion man have to wear tunic.
The revolution in clothing began in the half of the 19th century with the start of the industrial revolution and the invention of the sewing machine that led to the mass production of clothes.

Nowadays differences in clothing among man and woman are negligible (nepatrny) – trousers have became a necessary part of women‘s wardrobes.
I think that clothes are very important, mainly for young people. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a woman or a man. In our language we are used to say that clothes make man, and I think it’s true. Because clothes can tell you what person is like. Everybody prefers something different. Some people like to wear modern clothing; they want to be dressed in the latest fashion, even if it does not suit them. It’s also their hobby, they go to fashion shows and follow fashion magazines. For some people is very important to wear designer clothes and spend a lot of money on it. Others prefer comfortable clothes, in which they feel good and would never pay a lot of money for it. Some are indifferent; they do not care what they wear. Some people buy ready-made clothes, others prefer to have them made to measure or buy them at second-hand shops.

Fashion concerns (týkať sa) not only clothes, but also hair style, make-up and accessories (doplnky), such as shoes, handbags, gloves, belts, hats etc.
Influence of season and climate in clothing:The way we dress also depends on the season and the weather. In summer we wear light summer dresses, loose blouses (voľné) with a low neckline and with short sleeves (rukávy) or without sleeves, skirts or cropped trousers, shorts or Bermuda shorts and various T-shirts. On our feet we pull on sandals, slippers (papučky) or flip-flops (vietnamky). When we go swimming we put on a swim suit or trunks, sometimes a straw hat (slamený klobúk). In winter we need to wear something warm — suits, trousers, jeans, cardigans (pletený sveter), jumpers, anoraks, winter coats and jackets, sometimes even a fur coat (kožuch), gloves, caps (čiapka), hats, scarfs (šatka) and mufflers (šál). And boots of course.
For special occasions women wear cocktail dresses or long evening dresses, high-heeled shoes and jewelleries, usually golden or silver necklaces and earrings or also brooches.

Styles, cuts, designs and length of clothes change very quickly because dressmaking has become big business nowadays. One style is almost every year replaced by other style. Fashions often revert (vracia sa) to older styles; what is out of fashion now, may become hot a few years later. The most famous designers are Donatella Versace, Karl Lagerfeld, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Vivien Westwood etc. The cities of fashion are Paris, Milan, New York or London. I like designer clothes, but not because I wont to vaunt (chvastať sa). I like it because I don’t like if someone else is wearing the same clothes as I am. And these marks make only couple of pieces of one kind of clothing. It’s important for me mainly in special occasion as balls. It’s quite embarrassing if two women have the same dress.

The way we dress also depends on the proper occasion. At home I wear casual clothes such as jogging suit (tepláky) and some T-shirt. In school I like wear mainly clothes in which I feel comfortable such as jeans, trousers or skirt in the summer and some shirt, pullovers or jumper. When I go to the city or on a trip the most important is shoes – tennis shoes. There is also a variety of materials the dress can be made of - traditional natural materials such as cotton, wool, linen, silk and the vast (rozsiahla) collection of new fabrics based on man-made fibres. Special kinds of clothes are uniforms and costumes. Uniforms are worn particularly by professionals such as the police or students in schools. Costumes on the other band reftect the style of a past time.