Biology: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

File:The Way We Dress - The Transformative Power of Clothes.webm Color is an important aspect to the aesthetic of clothing. The color of clothing has a significant impact on one's appearance and can influence other people's perception of the wearer. This is especially present when concerning perceived socio-economic standing.[1][2][3][4][5]

Significance

Color is a visual characteristic that is further defined by terms such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Often, it is the color of an object that attracts the most attention.[6] Similarly, the color of clothing is one of the primary properties noticed when a consumer makes the decision to buy clothing. Colors are distinctive and distinguishable. Due to this feature, clothing is frequently referred to by its color: a piece of clothing, for instance, might be designated as a "blue shirt."[7]

Self-decoration

Self-decoration is a prevalent and fundamental characteristic of humans and the societal groups that we fit into. Decorative values of clothing are regarded as "primary if not the most primary."[according to whom?][8] Color, then, is an essential decorative element for meeting the necessary criterion of self-decoration.

Aesthetic comfort

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

Symbolic representations

Preah Pithu T Monks - Siem Reap

Historically, different societies have set their own restrictions and normalities for clothing. For example, during the Tudor period, wearing crimson was forbidden for ranks below the "Knights of the Garter."[9] During the Renaissance era, clothing color became more significant when specific colors were reserved for the upper class and royalty. In medieval Europe, sumptuary laws were created that restricted the wearing of expensive colors—such as purple which was 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]

  • The color Saffron is considered sacred in Hinduism and Buddhism.[12]
  • Tekhelet, a blue or violet dye, in Judaism is the religion's holiest color.
  • The color green (Arabic: أخضر, romanized: 'akhḍar) has a number of traditional associations in Islam. In the Quran, it is associated with paradise.

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, are associated with gender stereotypes in a similar way to jeans and skirts. These gender stereotypes connect skirts and pink with women, where jeans and blue are connected to men.[13] Clothing color stereotypes can also be seen across cultures. 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.

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 clothing worn by cricket players. White coats are (sometimes stereotypically) smocks 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)

  • A white-collar worker is a social-class person who performs intellectual labor.
  • A blue-collar worker is a working-class person who performs manual labor.
  • A pink-collar worker is someone working in the care-oriented career field or in fields historically and stereotypically considered to be women's work. This may include jobs in the beauty industry, nursing, social work, teaching, secretarial work, or child care.

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.

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.

List of notable garments by color name

  • White tie
  • Little black dress
  • Pink Chanel suit of Jacqueline Kennedy
  • Black Givenchy dress of Audrey Hepburn
  • White dress of Marilyn Monroe
  • Pink dress of Marilyn Monroe
  • Black dress of Rita Hayworth

Fashion

Chanel's "little black dress"

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.

— Coco Chanel[19]

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

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 off-white to white and colors add value to these products. Applying color to clothing involves many textile arts such as dyeing, printing, and painting.[24] Royal blue dye is one of the costliest hues to obtain.[25] Different colors have different costs because of longer or shorter dye cycles.[26]

Application

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

Seasons and colors

Retailers and buyers design merchandise according to the seasonal forecast.[27] Primarily, clothing falls into 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 to create uniform colors.[30]

Production

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

When working with color matching and quality control software, textile manufacturers import a QTX file. With digital color standards, 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.

Structural coloration

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

Nanocoating—specifically of microscopically structured surfaces fine enough to interfere with visible light—in textiles for biomimetics is a 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

  • Color analysis (art)
  • Clothing laws by country
  • Color appearance model
  • Colour fastness
  • Court dress
  • Dress code
  • International Commission on Illumination
  • Political color
  • Textile sample

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Li, Yan; Wong, A. S. W. (2006). Clothing Biosensory Engineering. Elsevier Science. ISBN 978-1-85573-925-3. [page needed]
  2. Richmond, Virginia P.; McCroskey, James C.; Hickson, Mark (2008) (in en). Nonverbal Behavior in Interpersonal Relations. Pearson/Allyn and Bacon. pp. 37. ISBN 978-0-205-48669-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=4TwlAQAAIAAJ&q=The+color+of+our+clothing+serves+as+a+signal+to+others;+it+tells+them+who+we+are.. 
  3. "What do you first notice about anyone?" (in en-US). 2018-12-23. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/O-zone/what-do-you-first-notice-about-anyone/. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 Faiers, Jonathan; Bulgarella, Mary Westerman (2016-11-17) (in en). Colors in Fashion. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 2. ISBN 978-1-4742-7369-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=-NgaDQAAQBAJ&q=colors+of+clothing. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 Weber, Jeanette (1990) (in en). Clothing: Fashion, Fabrics, Construction. Glencoe Publishing Company. pp. 78. ISBN 978-0-02-640161-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=nHXWE1HVdTIC&q=Different+societies+have+set+the+norms+for+different+colored+clothing.. 
  6. Maycock, Mark M. (1896) (in en). A Class-book of Color: Including Color Definitions, Color Scaling, and the Harmony of Colors. Milton Bradley. pp. 47. https://books.google.com/books?id=9nEBAAAAYAAJ&dq=Color+of+dress+attracts+attention&pg=PA47. 
  7. Steele, Valerie (2015-08-01) (in en). The Berg Companion to Fashion. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 159. ISBN 978-1-4742-6470-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=hLUIEAAAQBAJ&dq=Color+attracts+attention,+creates+an+emotional+connection,+and+leads+the+consumer+to+the+product+(Brannon,+p.+117&pg=PA159. 
  8. Tortora, Phyllis G. (1998). Survey of historic costume : a history of Western dress. Internet Archive. New York : Fairchild Publications. pp. 1. ISBN 978-1-56367-142-5. https://archive.org/details/surveyofhistoric0000tort_b0e3. 
  9. "A Point of View: The power of wearing red" (in en-GB). BBC News. 2014-09-19. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29240820. 
  10. Kodžoman, Duje (2019-06-10). "The psychology of clothing: meaning of Colors, Body Image and Gender Expression in Fashion". Textile & Leather Review 2 (2): 90–103. doi:10.31881/TLR.2019.22. https://www.tlr-journal.com/tlr-2019-22/. 
  11. "Why blue jeans are going green" (in en-GB). BBC News. 2019-07-03. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48851820. 
  12. Sen, Ragini; Wagner, Wolfgang; Howarth, Caroline (2014). "Results and Interpretation". Secularism and Religion in Multi-faith Societies. SpringerBriefs in Political Science. pp. 13–68. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-01922-2_3. ISBN 978-3-319-01921-5. 
  13. Hammond, Claudia (18 November 2014). "The 'pink vs blue' gender myth". BBC. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20141117-the-pink-vs-blue-gender-myth. 
  14. Singh, Gurmeet M.P.; Gill, Sukhdeep (1986). "Problems of Widowhood". The Indian Journal of Social Work 47 (1): 67–71. 
  15. Ferguson, George; Ferguson, George Wells (1961) (in en). Signs & Symbols in Christian Art. Oxford University Press. pp. 151. ISBN 978-0-19-501432-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=GF4XDp-eSTwC&q=In+Christianity,+the+color+black+represents+mourning.&pg=PA151. 
  16. "BJP workers distribute saffron shawls, light 93 lamps on Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birthday" (in en). 2017-12-25. https://indianexpress.com/article/india/bjp-workers-distribute-saffron-shawls-light-93-lamps-on-atal-bihari-vajpayees-birthday-4998482/. 
  17. Steele, Valerie (2015-08-01) (in en). The Berg Companion to Fashion. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 159. ISBN 978-1-4742-6470-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=hLUIEAAAQBAJ&dq=Color+attracts+attention,+creates+an+emotional+connection,+and+leads+the+consumer+to+the+product+(Brannon,+p.+117).&pg=PA159. 
  18. Fleet, David; Pajdla, Tomas; Schiele, Bernt; Tuytelaars, Tinne (2014-08-13) (in en). Computer Vision -- ECCV 2014: 13th European Conference, Zurich, Switzerland, September 6-12, 2014, Proceedings, Part I. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-10590-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=l4BHBAAAQBAJ&dq=To+me,+clothing+is+a+form+of+self-expression.+There+are+hints+about+who+you+are+in+what+you+wear&pg=PA472. 
  19. Rodriguez, Vanessa (2018-08-24). "47 of the Best Coco Chanel Quotes About Fashion, Life & Luxury!" (in en-US). https://stylishlyme.com/stylish-life/coco-chanel-quotes/. 
  20. "Color Psychology: What Colors Should You Wear and Why" (in en-US). 2013-12-16. https://www.scienceofpeople.com/color-psychology/. 
  21. Clothing, Little River (2019-06-25). "Dress Your Mood with Color in Clothing" (in en-US). https://littleriverclothing.com/dress-your-mood-with-color-the-relationship-between-color-preferences-clothing/. 
  22. Next Page. "The Iliad - Free Online Book". http://publicliterature.org/books/iliad/xaa.php. 
  23. The Aeneid by Virgil - Free Ebook. 1995-03-01. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/228. Retrieved 2016-02-27. 
  24. "Textile - Dyeing and printing" (in en). https://www.britannica.com/topic/textile. 
  25. "Why blue is the costliest colour" (in en). 2015-04-17. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/17/colour-blue-rich-divine-ancient-egyptians-virgin-mary. 
  26. Lewis, David M.; Rippon, John A. (2013-05-20) (in en). The Coloration of Wool and Other Keratin Fibres. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 120. ISBN 978-1-118-62510-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=1XjHI7E1gPcC&q=cost+because+of+longer+and+shorter+dyeing+time.&pg=PA120. 
  27. Jacobs, Bel (10 April 2019). "What will fashion be like 20 years from now?" (in en). https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190410-what-will-fashion-be-like-20-years-from-now. 
  28. Jackson, Tim; Shaw, David (2004-09-20) (in en). The Fashion Handbook. Routledge. pp. 49. ISBN 978-1-134-52112-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=ETXhAQAAQBAJ&dq=clothing+fashion+trends+of+four+seasons:+spring,+summer,+autumn+and+winter.&pg=PA49. 
  29. "ZARA: Achieving the "Fast" in Fast Fashion through Analytics" (in en-US). https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-digit/submission/zara-achieving-the-fast-in-fast-fashion-through-analytics/. 
  30. "CMYK, RGB & Pantone for Print Marketing" (in en-US). 2018-08-29. https://www.ballantine.com/the-differences-between-rgb-cmyk-and-pantone-colors/. 
  31. (in en) AATCC Review. American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists. 2005. pp. 13. https://books.google.com/books?id=1I1WAAAAMAAJ&q=QTX+files. "In the meantime , many retailers and their mills communicate with job files or qtx files to exchange spectral reflectance data . Spectral data may be emailed or shared via color communication systems" 
  32. "QTX Files - CSI Wiki" (in en-US). https://ecolorworld.com/wiki/qtx-files-3/. 
  33. "colour - The perception of colour" (in en). https://www.britannica.com/science/color. 
  34. Elert, Glenn. "Color" (in en). https://physics.info/color/. 
  35. Shao, J.; Liu, G.; Zhou, L. (2016). "Biomimetic nanocoatings for structural coloration of textiles". Active Coatings for Smart Textiles. pp. 269–299. doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-100263-6.00012-5. ISBN 978-0-08-100263-6. 
  36. (in en) Structural colour under the microscope! Feathers, beetles and butterflie!!, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DGA9eT16ec, retrieved 2021-07-04