clothing

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Clothing refers to items of textile material that are worn to cover the body and provide insulation. Wearing clothes is a strictly human trait, and it has had such an important presence in our civilization, that it modified the way our bodies adapted to exposure to the elements.

For example, the gradual loss of bodily hair over tens of thousands of years of human evolution is thought to be a direct result of the use of clothing. Throughout time, clothing has suffered many changes in terms of style and materials used. In some form or another, clothing dates back at least 100,000 years, as evidenced by the development of the body louse, which split form the head louse around that time. According to historians and anthropologists, the first clothing items likely consisted of various types of furs and leathers, as well as draped leaves, that were wrapped around the body.


Clothing serves a practical purpose but also has a series of symbolic and social functions. Physically, clothing protects the body against the weather, UV radiation, and improves safety during dangerous activities. In many cultures, clothing can also indicate one's social status, gender, profession, political or religious affiliation, and even determine someone's age. Because the human body is naturally vulnerable, humans have devised suits that enable them to perform optimally even under extreme circumstances. This includes space suits, body armor, diving suits, and racing gear. Clothing may also be used to protect the environment against contaminants potentially carried by human skin cells, as is the case with medical scrubs and sterile laboratory suits.

Gender differentiation of clothing is also very common in most cultures, although it is considered more acceptable for women to wear clothing items that are typically worn by men, than the other way around. In most Western countries, typically women's clothing items include skirts, dresses, high heels, and bikinis, while neck-ties, and bow-ties are considered items of men's clothing. Trousers used to be considered a male-only clothing item in the past, but as societies evolved and women took on tasks normally carried out by men, their dressing style also had to change to accommodate these new professions. Nowadays, trousers are a common clothing item in women's wardrobes.

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