Scholarship

Function of clothingedit

Serious books on clothing and its functions appear from the 19th century as imperialists dealt with new environments such as India and the tropics. Some scientific research into the multiple functions of clothing in the first half of the 20th century, with publications such as J.C. Flügel's Psychology of Clothes in 1930, and Newburgh's seminal Physiology of Heat Regulation and The Science of Clothing in 1949. By 1968, the field of environmental physiology had advanced and expanded significantly, but the science of clothing in relation to environmental physiology had changed little. There has since been considerable research, and the knowledge base has grown significantly, but the main concepts remain unchanged, and indeed Newburgh's book is still cited by contemporary authors, including those attempting to develop thermoregulatory models of clothing development.further explanation needed

History of clothingedit

Clothing reveals much about human history. According to Professor Kiki Smith of Smith College, garments preserved in collections are resources for study similar to books and paintings. Scholars around the world have studied a wide range of topics, including the history of specific items of clothing ,clothing styles in different cultural groups and the business of clothing and fashion.

Clothing presents a number of challenges to historians. Clothing made of textiles or skins are subject to decay, and the erosion of physical integrity can be seen as a loss of cultural information. Costume collections often focus on important pieces of clothing considered unique or otherwise significant, limiting the opportunities scholars have to study everyday clothing.