Color of clothing

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Model in a designer gown reflecting the current fashion trend at an Haute couture fashion show, Paris, 2011 E1266601 (5398889640).jpg
Model in a designer gown reflecting the current fashion trend at an Haute couture fashion show, Paris, 2011
The transformative power of clothes, the impact of changes in colors and style. A video on social expression through dress.

Color is an essential aspect of the aesthetic properties of clothing. The color of clothing has a significant impact on one's appearance. Our clothes communicate about us and reveal our social and economic standing. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Significance

Color is a visual characteristic that is described by terms like red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple etc. Typically, it is the color of an object that attracts the most attention. [6] Color is one of the primary properties that is noticed when a consumer makes a decision to buy a dress. The colors are distinctive and distinguishable; we frequently refer to clothing by its color, for instance, a "blue shirt." [7]

Self decoration

Decoration of self is prevalent in societies, and self-decoration is a fundamental characteristic of humans. Decorative values of clothing are regarded as "primary if not the most primary." [8] Hence, as a decorative element, color plays a critical part in meeting the necessary criterion.

Aesthetic comfort

Colors create aesthetic comfort when combined with fabric construction, the finish of the clothing material, garment fitting, style, and fashion compatibility. All these elements collectively contribute to satisfying our visual perception. [1] [4] [5]

Symbolic representations

Preah Pithu T Monks - Siem Reap Preah Pithu T Monks - Siem Reap.jpg
Preah Pithu T Monks - Siem Reap

Historically, different societies have set their own restrictions and norms for different clothing. For example, during the Tudor period, the crimson red color was not allowed in the ranks below the “knights of the garter.” [9] During the Renaissance era, the significance of clothing color increased, with specific colors reserved for the upper class and royalty. Sumptuary laws were created in medieval Europe, which restricted the wearing of expensive colors such as purple, obtained from seashells of the Mediterranean to the nobility. [10]

Colors of clothing have specific associations with certain types of clothing styles and symbolize cultural beliefs. Blue, for example, is closely associated with denim. [11]

Social significance

Colors have social, cultural and political significance. Clothing colors also discriminates. In the past, some societies and cultures have adopted unconventional fashion trends. Pink and blue, for example, have a gender stereotype. Gender stereotypes can be seen not only on the color of clothing, but also regarding clothing being genderly classified.Such as jeans for men, hence skirts for women. These gender stereotypes also classified by colors such as pink for women, hence blue for men. [13] In Hinduism, for example, widows are required to wear white, and in contrast to this Brides in western cultures wear white wedding gowns. In Christianity, the color black is associated with mourning. [14] [15]

Identity

US President George W. Bush and Laura Bush attend funeral services Friday, April 8, 2005, for the late Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square. George W. Bush John Paul II funeral.jpg
US President George W. Bush and Laura Bush attend funeral services Friday, April 8, 2005, for the late Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square.

Clothing color represents the identity of political parties, sports teams, and various professions. The Bharatiya Janata Party uses the saffron color in their promotional activities. [16] Cricket whites is a type of white colored uniform worn in the sports of cricket. A white coat is a smock worn by professionals in the medical field or by those involved in laboratory work. There are various terms denoting groups of working individuals based on the colors of their collars worn at work. (See: Designation of workers by collar color)

Uniform

A uniform depicts the use of a similar color of clothing in a group, organization, or profession.

School uniform

A school uniform is a standardized outfit worn by students of an educational institution.

Military uniform

Russian Ground Forces officers during the 2019 Moscow Victory Day Parade in full dress uniform. Moscow Victory Day Parade (2019) 51.jpg
Russian Ground Forces officers during the 2019 Moscow Victory Day Parade in full dress uniform.

A standardized dress worn by military personnel and paramilitary groups of various nations.

Political uniform

A political uniform is distinctive clothing worn by members of a political movement.

Sportswear

A Standardized sportswear may also function as a uniform for sports teams. In team sports, opposing teams is usually identified by their clothing colors, while individual team members can be identified by the back number on their shirt.

Dress or Garments by color names

Fashion

Chanel's Timeless Little Black Dress Modeled, 2011 Hanel's little black dress (6330181828).jpg
Chanel's Timeless Little Black Dress Modeled, 2011

Color of clothing is a key factor in capturing people's attention and persuading them to purchase a product. [17]

Quotes

To me, clothing is a form of self-expression. There are hints about who you are in what you wear

Marc Jacobs [18] :472

The best color in the whole world, is the one that looks good, on you.

Psychology

Psychologists believe that the color of our clothing influences our stress levels and moods. Color enhances a person's experience of their surroundings. [20] [21]

Literature

The color saffron is associated with the goddess of dawn (Eos in Greek mythology and Aurora in Roman mythology) in classical literature:

Cymon and Iphigeneia c. 1884 by Frederic Leighton - saffron suffuses the canvas at sunrise Lord Frederic Leighton - Cymon and Iphigenia - Google Art Project.jpg
Cymon and Iphigeneia c. 1884 by Frederic Leighton - saffron suffuses the canvas at sunrise

Homer's Iliad : [22]

Now when Dawn in robe of saffron was hastening from the streams of Okeanos, to bring light to mortals and immortals, Thetis reached the ships with the armor that the god had given her. (19.1)

Virgil's Aeneid : [23]

Aurora now had left her saffron bed,

And beams of early light the heav'ns o'erspread,

When, from a tow'r, the queen, with wakeful eyes,

Saw day point upward from the rosy skies.

Value addition

Greige goods have limited shades ranging from offwhite to white, colors add value to the products. Application of color involves many textile arts such as dyeing, printing, painting, etc. [24] Royal blue dye is one of the costliest dye to obtain the Royal blue hues. [25] Different colors have different cost because of longer and shorter dye cycles. [26]

Application

Colors can be applied to textiles in a variety of ways, the most common of which are dyeing and printing. Dyeing is a uniform color application, whereas in printing, color is applied in certain patterns. Coloring has a set of procedures.

Seasons and colors

Retailers and buyers design the merchandise as per the seasonal forecast. [27] Primarily, there are four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Some fast fashion brands, like Zara, have more than four seasonal changes on their shelves. [28] [29]

There are professional organizations that forecast colors, such as the Color Marketing Group, Color Association of the United States, and International Colour Authority.

Color matching systems

Pantone is a standardized color reproduction system that conveys colors through color matching systems. These standards can be used by manufacturers all over the world. [30]

Production

Textile dyeing mills use color standards in physical and digital forms for the reproduction of these colors. Physical color standards are cut pieces of reference colors, whereas digital color standards are known as "QTX files" (Spectral data), which is a more efficient method. [31]

When working with color matching and quality control software, it is possible to import a QTX file. With regard to color, a QTX file is simply a text file containing reflectance measurements for the color in question. [32]

Measurement (Delta-E)

Color is a subjective visual perception that varies between individuals. There are spectrophotometers that can objectively compare spectral values and colors. Though colors are viewed visually and digitally, both depend on the customer's requirements. [33] [34] Delta E (dE-CMC) expresses the difference between the original standard and the reproduction.

Alternative technologies for color application

In Morpho butterflies such as Morpho helena the brilliant colors are produced by intricate firtree-shaped microstructures too small for optical microscopes. Butterfly Morpho rhetenor helena (M) KL.jpg
In Morpho butterflies such as Morpho helena the brilliant colors are produced by intricate firtree-shaped microstructures too small for optical microscopes.

Structural coloration

Microstructures that interfere with the light cause structural coloration. Some examples of structural coloration include bird feathers and butterfly wings. (see:Iridescence)

Nano coating (of microscopically structured surfaces fine enough to interfere with visible light) in textiles for biomimetics is the new method of structural coloration without dyes. [35] In structural coloration, interference effects are used to create colors instead of using pigments or dyes. [36]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red</span> Primary color

Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary color in the CMYK color model, and is the complementary color of cyan. Reds range from the brilliant yellow-tinged scarlet and vermillion to bluish-red crimson, and vary in shade from the pale red pink to the dark red burgundy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purple</span> Range of colors with the hues between blue and red

Purple is a color similar in appearance to violet light. In the RYB color model historically used in the arts, purple is a secondary color created by combining red and blue pigments. In the CMYK color model used in modern printing, purple is made by combining magenta pigment with either cyan pigment, black pigment, or both. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purple is created by mixing red and blue light in order to create colors that appear similar to violet light.

Pink is a pale tint of red, the color of the pink flower. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, sensitivity, tenderness, sweetness, childhood, femininity, and romance. A combination of pink and white is associated with innocence, whereas a combination of pink and black links to eroticism and seduction. In the 21st century, pink is seen as a symbol of femininity, though it has not always been seen this way. In the 1920s, light red, which is similar to pink, was seen as a color that reflected masculinity.

<i>Cheongsam</i> Fitted dress in Chinese culture

Cheongsam or zansae, also known as the qipao and sometimes referred to as the mandarin gown, is a Chinese dress worn by women which takes inspiration from the qizhuang, the ethnic clothing of the Manchu people. The cheongsam is most often seen as a longer, figure-fitting, one piece garment with a standing collar, an asymmetric, left-over-right opening and two side slits, and embellished with Chinese frog fasteners on the lapel and the collar. It was developed in the 1920s and evolved in shapes and design over years. It was popular in China from the 1920s to 1960s, overlapping with the Republican era, and was popularized by Chinese socialites and high society women in Shanghai. Although the cheongsam is sometimes seen as traditional Chinese clothing, it continues to evolve with the times, responding to changes in contemporary modern life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue-collar worker</span> Working-class person who performs manual labour

A blue-collar worker is a person who performs manual labor or skilled trades. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involve manufacturing, retail, warehousing, mining, excavation, carpentry, electricity generation and power plant operations, electrical construction and maintenance, custodial work, farming, commercial fishing, logging, landscaping, pest control, food processing, oil field work, waste collection and disposal, recycling, construction, maintenance, shipping, driving, trucking, and many other types of physical work. Blue-collar work often involves something being physically built or maintained. In social status, blue-collar workers generally belong to the working class.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Navy blue</span> Very dark shade of the color blue which almost appears as black

Navy blue is a dark shade of the color blue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey</span> Intermediate color between black and white

Grey or gray is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma and therefore no hue. It is the color of a cloud-covered sky, of ash, and of lead.

Clothing in India varies with the different ethnicities, geography, climate, and cultural traditions of the people of each region of India. Historically, clothing has evolved from simple garments like kaupina, langota, achkan, lungi, sari, to perform rituals and dances. In urban areas, western clothing is common and uniformly worn by people of all social levels. India also has a great diversity in terms of weaves, fibers, colors, and the material of clothing. Sometimes, color codes are followed in clothing based on the religion and ritual concerned. The clothing in India also encompasses a wide variety of Indian embroidery, prints, handwork, embellishments, and styles of wearing clothes. A wide mix of Indian traditional clothing and western styles can be seen in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fuchsia (color)</span> Color

Fuchsia is a vivid pinkish-purplish-red color, named after the color of the flower of the fuchsia plant, which was named by a French botanist, Charles Plumier, after the 16th-century German botanist Leonhart Fuchs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military uniform</span> Standardised military dress

A military uniform is a standardised dress worn by members of the armed forces and paramilitaries of various nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morning dress</span> Formal Western dress code for day attire

Morning dress, also known as formal day dress, is the formal Western dress code for day attire, consisting chiefly of a morning coat, waistcoat, and formal trousers for men, and an appropriate gown for women. Men may also wear a popular variant, where all parts are the same colour and material, often grey, and usually called "morning suit" or "morning grey" to distinguish it; considered properly appropriate only to festive functions, such as summer weddings and horse races, which consequently makes it slightly less formal. The correct hat would be a formal top hat, or if on less spacious audience settings, optionally a collapsible equivalent opera hat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruff (clothing)</span> Tightly gathered collar set into formal or informal pleats

A ruff is an item of clothing worn in Western, Central and Northern Europe, as well as Spanish America, from the mid-16th century to the mid-17th century. The round and flat variation is often called a millstone collar after its resemblance to millstones for grinding grain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1990s in fashion</span> Costume and fashion of the 1990s

Fashion in the 1990s was defined by a return to minimalist fashion, in contrast to the more elaborate and flashy trends of the 1980s. One notable shift was the mainstream adoption of tattoos, body piercings aside from ear piercing and, to a much lesser extent, other forms of body modification such as branding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Army Service Uniform</span> Military uniform worn by United States Army personnel

The Army Service Uniform (ASU) is a military uniform for wear by United States Army personnel in garrison posts and at most public functions where the Army Combat Uniform is inappropriate. As of 2021, the Army has two service uniforms for use by its personnel. The Army Green Service Uniform, announced in 2018 and authorized in 2020, is used primarily for daily use in situations where civilians wear business attire, such as office settings or official meetings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uniforms of the United States Marine Corps</span> US military uniform

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) prescribes several types of military uniform to distinguish its service members from other armed services, depending on the situation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clothing in ancient Egypt</span>

Ancient Egyptian clothes refers to clothing worn in ancient Egypt from the end of the Neolithic period to the collapse of the Ptolemaic Kingdom with the death of Cleopatra in 30 BC. Egyptian clothing was filled with a variety of colors. Adorned with precious gems and jewels, the fashions of the ancient Egyptians were made for not only beauty but also comfort. Egyptian fashion was created to keep cool while in the hot desert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gendered associations of pink and blue</span> Cultural attribution of colors to genders

The colors pink and blue are associated with girls and boys respectively in large parts of the Western world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fashion icon</span> Influential people who introduce new styles

A fashion icon or fashion leader is a influential person who introduces new styles which spread throughout fashion culture and become part of fashion. They initiate a new style which others may follow. They may be famous personalities such as political leaders, celebrities, or sports personalities. For example, during the 1960s, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was a great fashion icon for American women, and her style became a sign of wealth, power, and distinction; and her famous Pink Chanel suit is one of the most referenced and revisited of all of her items of clothing. Twiggy was an It girl, she was a teenaged model and fashion icon of Swinging Sixties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aesthetics (textile)</span> Concept of serviceability of textiles

Aesthetics in textiles is one of the basic concepts of serviceability of textiles. It is determined by the perception of touch and sight. Aesthetics imply the appearance and attraction of textile products; it includes the color and texture of the material. It is a statement about the end user (consumer) and the target market. When combined with fabric construction, the finish of the clothing material, garment fit, style, and fashion compatibility, colours create an aesthetic comfort. All of these elements work together to satisfy our visual perception. Aesthetics incorporates the role of evaluation also.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue in culture</span>

The color blue has been important in culture, politics, art and fashion since ancient times. Blue was used in ancient Egypt for jewelry and ornament. In the Renaissance, blue pigments were prized for paintings and fine blue and white porcelain. In the Middle Ages, deep rich blues made with cobalt were used in stained glass windows. In the 19th century, the color was often used for military uniforms and fashion.

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