Dress

Introduction
The history of Middle Eastern and Western dress
- Ancient Egypt
- Mesopotamia
- The Aegean: Minoan and Mycenaean dress
- Ancient Greece
- Etruria
- Ancient Rome
- Ancient nonclassical Europe
- The pre-Columbian Americas
  - Native Americans
  - The Eskimo
  - The Aztec, the Maya, and the Inca
- The Middle East from the 6th century
- The Byzantine Empire
- Medieval Europe
- Europe, 1500–1800
- Colonial America
- The Ottoman Empire
- Europe and America: 19th and 20th centuries
  - The 19th century
  - The early 20th century
  - Post-World War II
The history of Eastern dress
- China
- Japan
- Korea
- South Asia
The nature and purposes of dress
- Display of the human physique
  - Male display
  - Female display
- Government regulation of dress
  - Sumptuary laws
  - Other types of legislation
- Rebellion
- Exotica

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Portrait of King Henry VIII of England wearing ornate 16th-century royal attire with a fur-lined cloak, gold jewelry, and a feathered hat, standing against a dark background.

A black-and-white photo of a white man from the late 19th century wearing an extremely long mustache. Cut-out hands hold a blue razor to the right side of the image.

alabaster head of a man wearing a turban

Quizzes

Dog dressed with oversized sunglasses, pink jeweled dog collar, and flowing pink scarf. (pampered pets, fashionable pets)

Fashionable Words Vocabulary Quiz

A brown-colored dog wearing a red-checked shirt with an orange hard helmet and hammer. Labor Day concept, work, jobs.

Odd Jobs Vocabulary Quiz

Elizabeth I (1533-1603), Queen of England, 1558-1603, The Rainbow Portrait 1600-1602 in Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, England

Quiz: Name These Historical Fashion Trends

Jane Austen an English writer who first gave the novel it's distinctly modern character through her treatment of ordinary people in everyday life.

Women's Headgear Through the Ages

Related Questions

How can clothing identify a person’s age, occupation, culture, or social status?
How did Charles Frederick Worth help establish haute couture?
How did Christian Dior’s New Look change women’s fashion after World War II?
How did France become Europe’s leading fashion centre during the reign of Louis XIV?
How did Indian pajamas become popular in Europe?
How did Joan of Arc’s male clothing become part of the charges at her trial?
How did Neoclassicism influence women’s gowns in the late 18th and early 19th centuries?
How did Queen Tomyris defeat Cyrus II of Persia?
How did Renaissance fashions differ from Reformation-influenced fashions in 16th-century Europe?
How did T-shirts and jeans become symbols of youth fashion in the 1950s?
How did buttonholes change the way medieval clothes could be tailored?
How did crinolines and bustles change the shape of women’s dresses in the 19th century?
How did expensive fabrics make certain clothing styles symbols of prestige?
How did modest dress traditions continue among Amish, Mennonite, and conservative Muslim women?
How did nylon tights make the miniskirt easier to wear?
How did punk, grunge, hip-hop, and emo music influence clothing styles?
How did silk travel from China to the ancient Mediterranean world?
How did synthetic fibers make clothing cheaper and easier to care for after World War II?
How did the Japanese kimono enter Western wardrobes in the 17th century?
How did the Renaissance encourage clothing that displayed the human figure?
How did the justaucorps help inspire the modern three-piece suit?
How did the sewing machine and ready-to-wear clothing change fashion in the 19th century?
How did underwear become outerwear in fashion history?
How did wealth and social class influence fashion in history?
How did women’s adoption of male clothing challenge traditional social roles?
How do fashion designers use patterns, fitting forms, and draping to make garments?
Which five elements do fashion designers use to create clothing designs?
Why did Amelia Bloomer promote trousers for women?
Why did Marie-Antoinette’s chemise dress cause controversy in France?
Why did some people wear impractical clothing such as corsets or powdered wigs?
Why did young people wear the granny look in the 1960s and 1970s?
Why do fashions change before older clothes wear out?
Why have Western-style business suits been adopted in many non-Western cultures?
Why were ruff collars mainly worn by wealthy people?

Visual Arts Fashion & Personal Adornment

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External Websites

Social Sciences LibreTexts - Fashion - Identity, Labor, Power, and the Global Runway
The Royal Society Publishing - Biology Letters - A review of clothing microbiology : the history of clothing and the role of microbes in textiles
ABC listen - Life Matters - What do your clothes say about you?
History of Clothing
Iowa State University Digital Press - Dress, Appearance, and Identity

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

clothing - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
clothing industry - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Dress

clothing

Also known as: apparel, attire, clothes, clothing, costume, garment(Show More)

Written by

James Laver

Keeper, Departments of Engraving, Illustration and Design, and of Paintings, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1938–59. Author of A Concise History of Costume.

James LaverAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 8, 2026 •History

Dress, clothing and accessories for the human body. The variety of dress is immense. The style that a particular individual selects is often linked to that person’s sex, age, socioeconomic status, culture, geographic area, and historical era. This article considers the chronological development of fashionable dress and decoration—that is, the attire selected and adopted by the leading members of a society. This reflects the fact that in any group of people—whether constituting a small community...

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