Dress for men and women has experienced a tremendous change over the past 50 years. The evolution of fashion from ancient days to the current century is evidently conspicuous. Unlike the modern century, both men and women in the ancient century adored similar attires. Dresses and skirts were common, and worn by any gender. Until the 14th century, the essence of clothes was basically to cover the unspeakable and both gender wore tunics and unshaped clothes (Charlie, 2021). Every household had sewing machines hence tailoring was an easy activity, proficient to many. However, the development of technology has brought a drastic development in tailoring. Industrial revolution and feminism have also brought about a shift in how men and women dress. Gendered clothing has become a norm in the society today, and fashionable clothes are preferred rather than quality.

1. The Cultural Evolution of
Dress for Men and Women

2. Introduction
• Dress for men and women has a great cultural expression as it
signifies our identity.
• The way we dress has a great cultural significance since it addresses
who we are and where we come from.
• It give us an identity, especially in the modern society , about our age
group, social status, gender, cultural and religious beliefs.
• The aim of this presentation is to explore the cultural influences of
dress through historical and religious discipline.

3. Historical Perspective
• Dress for men and women in the modern society is evidently different from
the ancient days.
• Men and Women wore similar clothes, regardless of gender, Tunica being
the most common. Clothes were an identity for different cultures.
Egyptians wore wrap around skirts known as schenti, while Greeks wore
Chitons.
• Among Roman solders, the most common attire worn were short skirts,
regardless of whether they were fighting, farming, building or conducting
religious rituals (Charles, 2021)
• In the 1940s, women’s dresses were similar to uniforms, simple and fitted
with a slim-belted waistline (Sunny, 2020). Later on, women started
wearing trousers but not in public.

4. Historical perspective
• Clothing reflected societal norms of different societies. In Medieval France,
actual laws were imposed that dictated how people dressed.
• Regulations were imposed that regulated the number of clothes people
wore and the material used for making clothes was also regulated for
people with low social ranks and poor income. Glamorous clothing were
worn by people with high social rank. This norm was however eradicated
by the French revolution.
• Dress for men and women also distinguished genders. In Victorian England,
women were raised to be able to bear pain and suffering while men were
expected to be independent and aggressive (Careers, 2018). This
phenomenon was reflected in their dressing as women were often dresses
in tight small wasted dresses that made them attractive to men.

5. Religious Perspective
• Dress plays a role in religious practices and identity. Dress in religious is not
limited to physical adornment, but also include behavior.
• Catholic priests use different colors of dresses to symbolize different
occasions in church. Their adornment represents that of the early clergy.
• Religion uses dress to maintain their traditions and custom as well as
controlling the individual identities of it’s members. Muslim and Hindu
religion have managed to maintain their traditions and customs.
• Muslim religion shapes fashion in that their dresses are intended to
prevent their figures from being seen. Most of the designers of the Muslim
dresses tend to highlight the beauty of the dress instead(Dispatch, 2019).
The embroidery used in making these dresses has improved over the years,
eradicating the idea that religious people cannot be fashionable.

6. Modesty and Adornment
• Modesty is a virtue that is highly valued in religious set ups. Similar to
the ancient days, religion still has cultural influence over how people
dress in the modern century.
• For Christians, modesty is expressed in clothing choice by putting on
clothes that are not revealing or provocative. For the Islamic religion,
Hijab is an important concept as it shows respect, reverence and an
outward symbol of piety (Afra, 2023)
• The purpose of modesty adornment in religion is to prevent
temptation and respect for faith and culture.

7. Religion and Modern Fashion Trends
• Religion shapes modern fashion trends in that;
• Modern renowned fashion designers such as Balenciaga draw their
inspiration from their catholic religion. The designer highlight that fashion
embraces a holy and mythic storytelling experience, similar to religion.
• The annual theme of Met Gala is also given by a catholic who says that
“couture draws inspiration from the imagery and ideas of heaven, the
architecture of church interiors and holy orders” (Dispatch, 2019).
• Modern fashion designers have come up with modest designs, unlike in the
ancient days, that eliminates the notion that religious clothes are not
fashionable.

8. Cultural Influence on Gender norms
• Until the 17th Century, both men and women’s clothes were similar,
and distinction was based on social classes. However, in the modern
society clothes are used to differentiate genders.
• Dresses and skirts are now associated to women while trousers and
shorts associated with men. However, fashion designers have fought
against gender stereotyping in dressing, advocating for the embrace
of unisex wear for both men and women.
• Technology and globalization has influenced the spread of fashion
across cultures through social media, and online websites.

9. Sustainable and Ethical Fashion
• Dress continues to be a means of self-expression and identity. The
emerging trend of unisex clothes has contributed to the rising
phenomenon of LGBTQ+ community, which is a controversial issues to
many.
• The rise of sustainable and ethical fashion as a cultural movement is
one that should be embraced. The modern fashion trends have
brought about the production of under quality clothes that do not
last.
• Similar to the ancient days, the emerging fashion trends should be
able to produce sustainable and authentic clothes with high quality.

10. Conclusion
• Dress for men and women symbolizes our identity such as age, sex, cultural
and religious beliefs.
• Unlike the 1940s were women were not allowed to were trousers,
technology, globalization and feminism have brought about a revolution
whereby women and men are allowed to wear any kinds of clothes.
• Religious perspective advocates for modesty in adornment as it symbolizes
their tradition and maintains individual identities.
• Dress continues to have a cultural influence in the modern century by
creating a distinction between genders, unlike in the ancient days where it
was used to distinguish social classes.
• The current fashion trends should value quality over fashion, by producing
sustainable and ethical clothes that are long- lasting.

11. Reference
• Dispatch. 2019. Religion and History: How It Has Shaped Fashion. A
Publishing Platform for Student Pieces.
• Charlie Elizabeth. 2021. Fashion Wasn’t Always About Gender: A History of
Men In Dresses. https://guap.co.uk/fashion-gender-a-history-of-men-in-
dresses
• Sunny Jane. 2020. 1940s Fashion: Women’s and Men’s Clothing Worn,
1940–1950.
• Careers. 2018. Clothing: A Social History.
https://static.careers360.mobi/media/uploads/froala_editor/files/Clothing
-A-Social-History.pdf
• Afra, Khan. 2023. The Cultural and Religious Significance of Modest Dress in
Islam. https://www.arabicattire.com/blogs/blog/the-cultural-and-religious-
significance