Be it outrageously expensive, affordable, or low priced, clothes are one of the very few necessities that all humans have in common. Granted, the fashion industry isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but there are so many fascinating facts about our clothes and its history that I think would be interesting to a lot of people.
Some of these facts are very useful and others are downright weird; and I hope you’ll remember at least one the next time you open your closet door:
- The T-shirt is one of the most popularly owned items in closets around the world. More than 2 billion pieces are sold worldwide each year.
- The most common materials used to make clothes are cotton, nylon, silk, polyester, rayon, and linen.
- Needles date back to 30,000 years ago and were made from the bones of animals instead of metals.
- Before the 19th century, children were dressed like miniature adults but this changed in the 1800s when seamstresses started designing clothes specifically for kids without copying adult fashion.
- Up until 1910, it was very common for little boys to wear dresses until they were 5 or 6 years old.
- Although men have been wearing shorts in public for several decades, women were only allowed to wear shorts in public after World War II. This was due to the scarcity of fabrics and as a result, shorts were less expensive than dresses and skirts.
- The second oldest clothing in the history of fashion is the skirt.
- While fashion magazines are very common today, the very first magazine was sold in Germany in 1586.
- A woman was arrested in 1907 in Boston, United States, for wearing a one piece swimsuit on the beach.
- According to history, even though the tiny pockets that sit inside larger pockets in jeans are too small to be used, they were designed for cowboys to keep their pocket watches in.
- High heels dates back to the 18th century where it was commonly and fashionably worn— even by children. High heels for men also dates back to Persian riders in the 1600s who wore them to get extra foothold stability when riding.
- Models were not used to showcase clothes before the beginning of the 19th century. Fashion companies used dolls or porcelain dolls instead.
- Queen Victoria was the first person to wear a white wedding dress. Prior to this, white was worn to signify mourning.
- Purple clothing in Ancient Rome were exclusively worn by royals and magistrates.
- Eyeliner became popular only after it was discovered in King Tutankhamen’s tomb in the 1920s.
- Vintage clothes are clothes made between 20 to 100 years ago; and retro clothing are clothes that are made to resemble clothing styles from other periods.
- The bikini was once declared to be a sin by the Vatican and was banned in Spain, Australia, Italy, and Belgium.
