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I am going to get a lot of people mad at me for
this. But clothing is the greatest economic business in
the world. You might say it holds this world together
economically. But its a womans trade and so it is not
as well advertized as it should be and of course
everyone lies about it. What isn’t well known about the
rag trade can fill a large room full of books. Because
men run the world we have made their trades the
important ones. We figure our economy based on timber,
lumber, mining, fishing, and sports.
So, if a few hundred loggers jobs are going to be lost
in Canada, we get all excited about it and there is a
lot of yelling and shouting. Like our whole economy is
going down the tubes with these lost jobs!
Yet, in the 1960’s a trade went down the tubes that
took at the least 300,000 jobs with it and put at least
50,000 stores out of business and not one mention
of this tragedy was published in the press. Nor did the
government do anything about it. And that was only in
Canada. This loss hit every country in the world!!!!
What was that trade? The hat business. Nothing very
exciting is it? Yet when hats went out of style it was
a great tragedy for many women and men around the
world. Lets take a look at just some of the jobs lost.
Retail outlets. In the small towns alone there were
usually two or three hat stores. Every city block of
stores had a hat shop on it. At least two people worked
in those stores.
Manufacturers.
The people that made the display cases and stands for hats.
The hat manufacturers all over the world who made the forms
of felt and straw and wool and fabric.
The people that made the ribbons,nets,ornaments, feathers,
flowers, elastic, etc. all over the world.
The fabric suppliers and farmers who supplied the leather,
skins, furs, feathers, etc. for the hats.
When we stopped making hats for women there was no one
else that used these supplies. They ALL WENT OUT OF
BUSINESS.
Here is just a few of the people and jobs that are
connected to the clothing trade.
-Sheep ranchers.
-Alpaca ranchers.
-cotton growers.
-Rabit raisers
-Flax farmers.
-Weavers
-Dyers.
-spinners
-knitters
-tanners
-balers
-shipping lines.
-fright handlers.
-packers.
-designers.
-manufacturers.
-models
-silk spinners.
-embroiderers.
One of the things that you can count on in this life is
death, birth, sex, war, taxes, and clothing.
CLOTHING TALK
i. One of the commonest phrases you are likely to hear
is; Who wears the pants in this family? This is one of
those errors that creep into our vocabulary from time
to time. It is supposed to mean that the person who
wears the pants in the family is the male or head of
the family. This was probably coined in America, as it
is incorrect, as so many things American. Pants are
only a modern male clothing item. They really belong to
the female of the species. At the time of WWII more men
in the world wore skirts than pants. In those Countries
where women wore skirts they usually had pants under
them.
Pants were designed for women to protect them from the
unwanted attentions of men. We void sitting down and so
pulling the pants down in cold weather was not too
great a hardship. Men prefered the skirt or kilt form
of cover as there was more freedom. Even in those early
tribes that followed the womens legging, the men wore an
apron front and back.
A ‘T’ shirt has two origins. It is a shirt that hugs
the torso and also when off is in the shape of a ‘T’.
Running shoes is now a style as well as telling us what
they are used for.
GENDER
j. We covered some of this subject in the section
above. Over the centuries very definate styles were
designed for the two sexes to separate them and make no
mistake about what sex a person it was. In some
countries this was a matter of life and death since
many of the actions of men and women were devided and
you did not cross the line. Since we are now quite open
about the knowledge of Homosexual behaviour ,we have to
face the fact that men dressed as women and women
dressed as men. In fact it is only now being admitted
that many women in the past dressed as men in their
very early days and passed as men. As a result they
could take advantage of the perks and chances that men
had. Especially in the military. This was made easy in
the days when having showers was unknown, let alone a
bath. So there was very little need to expose yourself
in those days.
5. PSYCHOLOGICAL USES.
WHO WE ARE.
a. Quite often clothing defines who we are. The old
picture that you used to see in the British papers of
the British upper crust and the distinct outfit he wore
said loudly, “I am somebody important.” or ,”I have a
position in society.” Take away his suit, homburg,
umbrella, and tie and he dissappears into the medly of
just anybody. Quite literally he loses his identity.
WHAT WE ARE
b. Most people can blend into a crowd that has no
features. Other people must wear clothes that announce
to the world what they are; police, Dr, ambulance
driver, guard, doorman, cook,
WHERE WE ARE
C. Sometimes clothing can tell us where we are. For
instance if we were transported during our sleep to a
strange place we had never been before, there are a
number of ways we can sometimes discover where we have
ended up. Language, terrain, style of architecture, and
clothing. 60 to 70 years ago that would have been a
sure bet. I am afraid that is not so true today, with
huge companies going world wide in distribution of
goods and idea’s, we are all beginning to look alike in
style of clothing somehow. There was a time when you
would have known you were in the Swiss Alps, and not
the Canadian Rockies or the town of Levenworth in The
mountain pass in Washington. U.S.A. There was also a
time when you could tell if you were in Korea, or
China, or Japan. By the distinct dress. Not now.
DELIBERATE CONFUSION
d.This occurrs when people who are wearing the clothes
of people who are known as gentle, all of a sudden they
turn on you and become aggressive warriors. This causes
deliberate confusion because the brain is trying to
cope with the lie. There are certain garments and
clothes that we associate with peaceful behaviour and
when it suddenly alters, it takes the brain awhile to
analize the change. In fact is some cases it shuts down
completely.
ACCIDENTAL CONFUSION
e. Why do all the countries have different styles and
colors for their armies. Why not have ALL soldiers
dress alike? For the simple reason that they would not
shoot each other. They would not want to shoot the
wrong people. In fact I wonder how long it took man to
reach this conclusion in his first fights. Confusion
also occurrs when we see people dressed for one event
enter the arena of a differente event. They are either
out of sinc or in the wrong place. The thing is we know
it from the clothing alone.
HIDING OUR GENDER.
F. Men and women are built differently and have been
trained from birth to know what each gender wears. The
use of many of the mens clothing by the women has not
really changed that as she was supposed to maintain the
feminine look with it. But since time immamorial men
and women have been trading clothes and pawning
themselves off as the opposite sex and getting away
with it very well thank you. There is only one thing
that must be done by the person wearing the wrong
clothes and that is to take on the persona of the
opposite sex. Usually they overdo it.
REVEALING OUR GENDER.
g. This aspect of clothing has see-sawed down through
the ages in many lands. It is not always a sign that
morals have decayed. In fact the opposite may be true.
What we have to look at is why we cover up the area’s
we do. Starting from the head the desert people cover
it for many reasons. Weather, religion, fear. The heat
is dangerous in the desert. The Koran tells the women
to cover their faces. Families of the poor may fear the
unwanted attentions of the wealthy who steal girls. In
some very few cases is it used to hide gender. In fact
it advertizes gender.
The neck is covered with high collars or necklaces for
beauty or to hide age wrinkles. The breast is covered
in some countries because it has become a sexual
object. The pubis is covered by all known races as far
as we know and always has been since time immemorial.
So if these are the reasons we hide parts of our bodies
then the opposite should be the case when we reveal
those same parts.
In other words we don’t wear head covering in temperate
climes. Only in the two extremes. We don’t wear veils
in those countries that don’t hold women as chattels
that are dependant on the family for a husband. We
cover/uncover the breasts according to the mores of the
times. In some cases we uncover when there has been a
terrible war and the population must be replenished.
There is need for more babies/more sex. After the first
world war there was a real fear by the British
Government that they would never be able to replenish
their population and even went so far as to approach
the church’s on the feasability of multiple wives for
the British male. But women were way ahead of them by
the use of revealing clothing to snag mates, which
ended with laxer morals, more divorce. This allowed
more women to mate and have children. In other words
one man could have many wives in a lifetime and there
fore more children. And the gene pool was further
inhanced by the children of one mother having many
fathers. By the time of the second world war things
were even more helpfull in the clothing department.
In less than 40 years we had gone from the long dress
that covered us all up to the short skirt and plunging
neckline of the 40’s and 50’s.
In fact there is a really interesting bit of history
here. After WWII the clothing manufacturers tried to
get back into buseness by what was called the “NEW
LOOK’. Women had worn short skirts to save cloth for
the war effort. Paris gave us skirts down to the ankle.
For a VERY SHORT time we fell for it. But our instincts
were ahead of us. We needed to replenish the men and
women lost in that war. Up went the skirts again to
reveal the goods. We were on the open market again.
Today another phenomena has arisen that reveals our
gender. The homosexual male is competing with women and
each other and as a result his clothing is showing
this. The tight pants to show the genitals and rear.
The open shirts to show chest. These are feminine wiles
that have been adopted by the men where it is forbidden
to dress as females in public.
DEFINING OUR PHYSICAL AGE.
h. This is another one of those human behaviour
patterns governing clothes that changes from time to
time and country to country. It is never static. From
children to the elderly we have subtley decreed what
each age shall wear. Some times it is blatent.
Some countries will have definate ideas about childrens
clothing. This was true of the American continent where
children were catered to because they were loved and
because it was a big business when it was discovered
that parents loved having their children dressed
special. When it comes to children quite often a
country will define barriers of time and experiance
with special clothing privaleges. Each stage of growth
or development will have a new rule or drop a rule.
Some examples; dresses for boys until the age of
four.Special hair cuts or hairdos for certain ages. The
wearing of long pants at the age of puberty. For native
children in Africa it is often the time when they get
to wear marks, paint, or special ornaments. Coming of
age clothing or adornment. For girls in western
countries it is wearing nylons, high heels, make up,
Bra’s. These are all rights-of-passage clothing. From
the age of puberty until the signs of ageing people in
most countries get to wear what is available to them.
There is no ‘age’ attached to clothing today. That is
until you reach a certain age. ‘Trying to look young’is
what people usually call it. There is definatly a
clothing line that may not be passed over when you are
a certain age. It isn’t so much a need to dress your
age as to dress to your look of age. There are many
forms of clothing today that have no gender and no age
limits. But there is subtle change in our looks that
does not go well with some clothes.
OUR TRICKY BEHAVIOUR.
i.After writing the above paragraph I need to write
this: We are also capable of using that same defineing
of age with clothing to fool people into thinking we
are younger or older than we really are. We can also
use clothing to fool people on what gender we are.
Which is why I say that trying to define the age limits
of clothing in this day and age is impossible. There is
one but it is so feint we cannot get a handle on it
today,but it exists.
REFLECTIONS OF SOUL
j. I think many people will wonder what I mean by that
Heading. Well think about it. Outside of our choices of
food ( which in some cases is not much) clothing is one
of the universal things we all have in common. We all
wear them. Some people in poorer countries do not have
a choice of what to wear. I know that. What we are
talking about are those millions of people that have a
choice, not only of what to wear, but of what to buy.
It is one of the easiest means of brain washing a
population. Don’t believe me? When was the last time
you bought something that wasn’t in fashion? When was
the last time you dressed to be comfortable, or unique?
Until the first world war fashion was either forced on
us by common usage, availability, and life style needs
according to the style of the day. The wealthy of
course bought from the fashion houses and they were
dictated to as far as fashion went. But when the
cheaper houses bought the styles it had to match the
lifestyles of the ordinary people as much as possible.
and that was fast becoming a working class woman.
Today there are many stores, styles, fashions we may
pick and choose from to a great extent. And the medical
world is beginning to notice that just as they can
understand a persons inner feelings and fears by the
way they move their body, clothing and colors have a
great deal of importance to the human psyche. It is a
reflection of ourselves. And that reflection may well
be of our soul. For what else are we but soul. And what
is the first thing we do with ourselves? We dress
ourselves to face the world.
COLOR IN CLOTHING
k. Another field that is making quite a stir in
Phychological circles is that of the effects of color
on the human psyche. But this is old news to the men of
Tibet and the Potala. They can tell you more about
color than is good for you. They use a color wheel to
look at the soul body and tell its health.
One of the most interesting things I noticed about
clothing and colors is; The Catholic church uses black
for its workers, (priests, nuns, etc) red for it
Cardinals and bishops. and white for its pope. The
Tibetan Monks wear a golden/orange color, or earth
tones.
Color can affect us in subtle ways. Even dangerous
ways. We can use it for association purposes. For
intimidation, fear, excitement.
Some countries will have definate ideas about childrens
clothing. This was true of the American continent where
children were catered to because they were loved and
because it was a big business when it was discovered
that parents loved having their children dressed
special. When it comes to children quite often a
country will define barriers of time and experiance
with special clothing privaleges. Each stage of growth
or development will have a new rule or drop a rule.
Some examples; dresses for boys until the age of
four.Special hair cuts or hairdos for certain ages. The
wearing of long pants at the age of puberty. For native
children in Africa it is often the time when they get
to wear marks, paint, or special ornaments. Coming of
age clothing or adornment. For girls in western
countries it is wearing nylons, high heels, make up,
Bra’s. These are all rights-of-passage clothing. From
the age of puberty until the signs of ageing people in
most countries get to wear what is available to them.
There is no ‘age’ attached to clothing today. That is
until you reach a certain age. ‘Trying to look young’is
what people usually call it. There is definatly a
clothing line that may not be passed over when you are
a certain age. It isn’t so much a need to dress your
age as to dress to your look of age. There are many
forms of clothing today that have no gender and no age
limits. But there is subtle change in our looks that
does not go well with some clothes.