Test: Clothing A Social History - 1 - UPSC MCQ

Formed in 1890, NAWSA was the result of a merger between two rival factions--the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), led by Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, and Julia Ward Howe. 

The reformers did not immediately succeed in changing social values. They had to face ridicule and hostility. Conservatives everywhere opposed change. They lamented that women who gave up traditional norms of dressing no longer looked beautiful, and lost their femininty and grace. Faced with persistent attacks, many women reformers changed back into traditional clothes to conform to conventions

Reasons why women in Victorian England wore tightly fitting corsets:
1. Fashion:
- Wearing tightly fitting corsets was considered fashionable and a symbol of social status during the Victorian era.
- It was expected of women to conform to societal beauty standards, which included having a slim waistline achieved through corsetry.
2. Figure Enhancement:
- Corsets provided shape and support to the figure by cinching the waist and lifting the bust.
- They helped create an hourglass silhouette, which was highly desirable and considered feminine at the time.
3. Social Expectations and Etiquette:
- Victorian society had strict expectations for women, emphasizing modesty and proper behavior.
- Wearing corsets was seen as a way to maintain a ladylike posture and appearance.
- It was believed that a tightly laced corset would encourage good posture, discipline, and self-control.
4. Gender Roles and Ideals:
- Women in Victorian England were expected to be submissive, delicate, and dependent on men.
- Corsets were seen as a means to physically restrict women's movements, reinforcing the societal norms of the time.
5. Medical Beliefs:
- During the Victorian era, there was a belief that corsets provided health benefits, such as supporting the spine and preventing backaches.
- However, these claims were not always accurate, and prolonged corset use could lead to health issues like organ displacement and difficulty breathing.
In conclusion, the main reasons why women in Victorian England wore tightly fitting corsets were due to fashion trends, the desire for figure enhancement, adherence to societal expectations and etiquette, reinforcement of gender roles, and the belief in potential health benefits.

The cap should be worn directly on your head and not tilted back and it should lie about one inch above your eyebrows. Keep in mind that your cap will usuallydistinguish which side goes in the front and which side goes in the back. Simply flip your cap over and you should find the instructions on the under side.

The material to be purchased for clothing was also legally prescribed. Only royalty could wear expensive materials like ermine, fur, silk, velvet and brocade. Other classes were debarred from clothing themselves with materials that were associated with the aristocracy.

An Achkan is a long length coat buttoned in front, worn by men from South Asia, particularly in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and in Pakistan very much like the Sherwani. 

Most of the working women stopped wearing jewellery and luxurious clothes. Change in school dress: Even schools started emphasising the importance of plain dressing, and. discouraged ornamentation. With the introduction of gymnastics and games women started wearing clothes that did not hamper movement. 

 In the 1870s, the National Woman Suffrage Association headed by Mrs Stanton, and the American Woman Suffrage Association dominated by Lucy Stone both campaigned for dress reform. The argument was: simplify dress, shorten skirts, and abandon corsets. On both sides of the Atlantic, there was now a movement for rational dress reform. The reformers did not immediately succeed in changing social values. They had to face ridicule and hostility. Conservatives everywhere opposed change. They lamented that women who gave up traditional norms of dressing no longer looked beautiful, and lost their femininty and grace. Faced with persistent attacks, many women reformers changed back into traditional clothes to conform to conventions.

Many Dalits began in the early 1910s to wear three-piece suits, shoes and socks on all public occasions, as a political statement of self-respect. A woman wrote to Gandhiji, ‘‘I heard you speaking on the extreme necessity of wearing khadi, but khadi is very costly and we are poor people.’’

 (i) Manockjee Cowasjee Entee, an assessor in Surat Fouzdaree Adalat, refused to take off his shoes in the court of the Sessions Judge.
(ii) The Judge insisted that he took off his shoes as that was the Indian way of showing respect to superiors. But Manockjee remained adamant.
(iii) His entry was barred into the courtroom and he sent a letter of protest to the governor of Bombay. 

From childhood, girls were tightly laced up and dressed in stays. The effort was to restrict the growth of their bodies, contain them within small moulds. Tightly laced, small-waist women were admired as attractive, elegant and graceful.

The colonisation of most of the world by Europe, the spread of democratic ideals and the growth of an industrial society, completely changed the ways in which people thought about dress and its meanings. People could use styles and materials that were drawn from other cultures and locations, and western dress styles for men were adopted worldwide.

Mahatma Gandhi used khadi as a national symbol because :
(1) Khadi, white and coarse was to him a sign of purity, of simplicity and of poverty.
(2) Wearing khadi also became the symbol of nationalism.
(3) These were not symbols of self-reliance but also of resistance to the use of British mill-made cloth.

Ninety-five years ago on 22^nd September 1921, Gandhi made a momentous decision to change his attire. From the elaborate Gujarati attire, he decided on a simple dhoti and shawl. This epoch-making decision was taken by Gandhiji in Madurai after he decided that he has to work for and with the with the poor people of India and how can he identify with them if he wears different clothes from them. 

(i) As a boy from a Gujarati bania family, he usually wore a shirt with a dhoti or pyjama and sometimes a coat.
(ii) When he went to London to study law as a boy of 19 in 1888, he cut off the tuft on his head and dressed in a Western suit so that he would not be laughed at.
(iii) On his return, he continued to wear Western suits, topped with a turban.
(iv) As a lawyer in Johannesburg, South Africa in the 1890s, he still wore Western clothes.
(v) In Durban in 1913, Gandhiji first appeared in a lungi and kurta with his head shaved as a sign of mourning to protest against the shooting of Indian coal miners.
(vi) On his return to India, he decided to dress like a Kathiawadi peasant.
(vii) In 1921, he adopted the short dhoti, the form of dress he wore until his death. 

As a boy from a Gujarati Bania family, he usually wore a shirt with a dhoti or pyjama, and sometimes a coat. When he went to London to study law as a boy of 19 in 1888, he cut off the tuft on his head and dressed in a Western suit so that he would not be laughed at. On his return, he continued to wear Western suits, topped with a turban. As a lawyer in Johannesburg, South Africa in the 1890s, he still wore Western clothes. Soon he decided that dressing ‘unsuitably’ was a more powerful political statement. In Durban in 1913, Gandhi first appeared in a lungi and kurta with his head shaved as a sign of mourning to protest against the shooting of Indian coal miners. On his return to India in 1915, he decided to dress like a Kathiawadi peasant. Only in 1921 did he adopt the short dhoti, the form of dress he wore until his death.

Swadeshi movement was all about banding the British products so the men can't were the British made clothes.

The Swadeshi movement started with the partition of Bengal by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon in 1905 and continued up to 1911. It was the most successful of the pre-Gandhian movement.

The Swadeshi Movement had its genesis in the anti-partition movement which was stated to oppose the British decision to partition Bengal. The Government's decision to partition Bengal had been made public in December 1903.

Gandhiji’s desire to identify himself with the poor masses was not a momentary decision. He had been contemplating about it for a long time. On two earlier occasions, he had thought of donning the common man’s clothes but it was ultimately in Madurai (Tamil Nadu) where he finally took the plunge of adopting the attire of a poor peasant. He remarked later that it was Madurai that gave him the necessary strength to take a decision on his clothing though, on a couple of occasions earlier, he came closer but could not fully adopt this attire. The Mahatma said Madurai gave him necessary strength to shed his traditional attire for ‘loincloth’ at last.

Jnanadanandini Devi was the wife of Satyendranath Tagore who was the first Indian member of the ICS

When in the late 1870s, she returned from Bombay to Calcutta, she took on the Parsi style of wearing a  sari

This style of draping the sari was fastened to the left shoulder with a brooch and was accessorized with a blouse and shoes.

This kind of sari draping was quickly adopted by Brahmo Samaji women and came to be known as the Brahmika sari.

The differences tell us about the social and cultural differences among the various sections of French society at that time. The members of the Jacobin clubs wore long trousers and even called themselves the 'sans culottes' (meaning "without knee breeches") to distinguish themselves from the aristocracy who wore the fashionable knee breeches. 

The men the women both of the upper classes experimented to define India’s national dress that expressed the unity of the nation. Rabindranath Tagore suggested that the national dress should combine elements of Hindu and Muslim dress. The chapkan, which is a long, buttoned coat, was considered a suitable dress for men.

As nationalist feelings swept across India by the late nineteenth century, Indians began devising cultural symbols that would express the unity of the nation. Artists looked for a national style of art. Poets wrote national songs. Then a debate began over the design of the national flag. The search for a national dress was part of this move to define the cultural identity of the nation in symbolic ways

Manockjee Cowsjee Entee was a assessor in Criminal Court at Surat. He is well renowned for “Shoe respect controversy” during 19th century. It was during the Governor Generalship of Lord Dalhousie “Shoe Respect” was made stricter.

On the following grounds the ‘Governor-General’ Amherst insisted the‘Shoe-respect’rule,
(i) It was a common practice of Indians that they took off their shoes when they entered a sacred place or home.
(ii) In 1824-1828, Governor-General Amherst insisted that Indians take off their shoes off as a sign of respect when they appeared before him. But this was not strictly followed.
(iii) By the mid- 19th century, under Lord Dalhousie the rule became stricter. Indians were made to take off their shoes when entering any government institution, but those who wore European outfits were exempted from this rule.

During the British rule, the cultures of the Indians and the British were different, which often created misunderstanding and conflict. The turban and the hat often created misunderstanding between the British officials and Indians.

The British were often offended if Indians did not take off their turban when they met colonial officials. Many Indians on the other hand wore the turban to consciously assert their regional or national identity. Another such conflict related to the wearing of shoes.

Slavery came to be abolished in Travancore in 1855. However, it caused even more frustration among the upper castes who took it as a loss of their control over the lower castes. The frustration of the upper castes took the ugly shape of riots in October, 1859. Shanar women were attacked and stripped of their upper cloths in public places. Their houses were ransacked and chaples were burnt. At last the government had to interfere. It allowed the Shanar women whether Christian or Hindu to cover their upper bodies with jackets or in any other manner but 'not like the women of high caste'. 

1822: The Lower caste Shanar women of Travancore were attacked by the upper caste for wearing a cloth across their upper bodies. This conflict lasted for over a decade.