Clothing: A Social History
Grade IX
Glossary
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Important Personalities
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Question Bank:
1. In which country people were expected to strictly follow the “sumptuary laws”?
2. Which colors of France became popular as they were a sign of patriotic citizen?
3. Which idea was expressed by the simplicity of clothing in France after French Revolution?
4. What was the main cause for changes in clothing styles for women during the First World War?
5. Which fibre was introduced in the early 20th century?
6. What was the uniform of the working woman in the ammunition factory in Britain during World War I?
7. What was the western clothing adopted by the wealthy Parsis of Western India?
8. Which group of people in Goa adopted Western dress in early 20th Century?
9. Under whose influence, Shanar women converts began to wear tailored blouses and clothes to cover themselves like the upper castes?
10. What was the turban called in Mysore?
11. Who was the first Indian member of the ICS?
12. When did the partition of Bengal take place?
13. Who said the following words:
“I adopt the change because I have always hesitated to advise anything I may not be prepared to follow….”
14. Who said the following words:
“The king had enough on for both of us.”
15. What was the dress of an aristocratic couple on the eve of the French Revolution? What did the dress code reflect about the French society?
16. Even after the end of sumptuary laws why everyone in the European Societies could not dress in the same way?
17. What were the ideals of womanhood in Victorian England? How clothing played a part in achieving these ideals?
18. Why did some women and government officials in England oppose the ideals of womanhood and campaigned for dress reforms?
19. Why did the changes in clothing styles lead to violent social reactions in India? Describe the caste conflict between Shanar caste and Nairs.
20. How did British react to Indian ways of dressing and what was the reaction of Indians to British attitude? Give one example of a case in
support of your answer.
21. Which symbols were used by Gandhiji in the freedom struggle against the British in India?
22. Describe the contribution of Tagore family in the designing of national dress in India.
23. Describe in brief the way the swadeshi movement was linked to the politics of clothing.
24. Describe in brief Mahatma Gandhi’s experiments with clothing.
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Important Questions with Answers
1. Describe in brief Mahatma Gandhi’s experiments with clothing.
Answer:
Mahatma Gandhi’s experiments with dress changed according to the changing attitude to dress in the subcontinent. Main stages in
experiments were given below:
(a) As a boy: as a member of a Gujarati Bania family, he usually wore a shirt with a dhoti or pyjama and sometimes a coat.
(b) In London as a student: he cut off the tuft on his head and dressed in a western suit so that no one might laugh at him.
(c) On his return to India: He wore Western suits topped with a turban.
(d) As a lawyer in Johannesburg: He wore Western clothing.
(e) In 1913 in Durban: He used lungi and kurta with his head shaved as a sign of mourning to protest against the shooting of Indian
coal miners.
(f) In 1915 in India: he dressed like Kathiawadi peasant.
(g) In 1921: He adopted the short dhoti that he wore till his death. Although, it was an experiment for a month or two but he continued
this dress as a duty to the poor. Khadi was to him a sign of purity, of simplicity and of poverty. It also became a symbol of
nationalism.
(h) In 1931, he went to England to attend Round Table Conference with the short dhoti without a shirt. He met king George V at
Buckingham Palace in the same dress. By that time his clothes had become a powerful political statement against Western cultural
domination.
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