The parsis were the first Indian community to adapt western-style of clothing.
Reasons:
(a) They came in close contact with Britishers due to trade links.
(b) They viewed western clothes as a sign of modernity and progress. 

The causes for change in male and female clothing in colonial India were:
(i) Influence of western dress forms and missionary activity.
(ii) Cloth and clothes became very important symbols of the Indian National Movement.

Before the First World War most European women were not working in factories. But by 1917 more than 7,00,000 women in Britain were employed in ammunition factories. As women were going out to work they needed clothes that were convenient and comfortable.
The changes that came about in women's clothing as a result of the two World Wars were:
(i) Women stopped wearing jewellery and luxurious clothes. Social barriers were eroded as women began to dress in similar ways.
(ii) Bright colours faded out and only sober colours were worm .
(iii) By 1917, many women were employed in ammunition factories. They wore a working uniform of blouse and trousers which was later replaced by khaki overalls and caps.
(iv) Clothes became plainer and simpler. Skirts became shorter and soon trousers became a vital part of western women clothing giving them greater freedom of movement.
(v) Women also took to cutting their hair short.
(vi) Thus clothing was defined by pressures of the new times and the dominant cultural attitude of seriousness and professionalism.

Before the First World War most European women were not working in factories. But by 1917 more than 7,00,000 women in Britain were employed in ammunition factories. As women were going out to work they needed clothes that were convenient and comfortable.
The changes that came about in women's clothing as a result of the two World Wars were:
(i) Women stopped wearing jewellery and luxurious clothes. Social barriers were eroded as women began to dress in similar ways.
(ii) Bright colours faded out and only sober colours were worm .
(iii) By 1917, many women were employed in ammunition factories. They wore a working uniform of blouse and trousers which was later replaced by khaki overalls and caps.
(iv) Clothes became plainer and simpler. Skirts became shorter and soon trousers became a vital part of western women clothing giving them greater freedom of movement.
(v) Women also took to cutting their hair short.
(vi) Thus clothing was defined by pressures of the new times and the dominant cultural attitude of seriousness and professionalism.

(i) From childhood they grew up to belive that having a small waist was a womanly duty.
(ii) Suffering pain was essential to being a woman
(iii) To be seen as attractive, to be womanly, they had to wear the corset.
(iv) The torture and pain the corset inflicted on the body was to be accepted as normal.

(i) From childhood they grew up to belive that having a small waist was a womanly duty.
(ii) Suffering pain was essential to being a woman
(iii) To be seen as attractive, to be womanly, they had to wear the corset.
(iv) The torture and pain the corset inflicted on the body was to be accepted as normal.

(i) In Victorian England women were groomed to be docile, dutiful, submissive and obedient. An ideal woman was one who could bear pain and suffering.
(ii) These ideas were reflected in the clothes of women. Girls from childhood were laced up and dressed in stays. The aim was to restrict the growth of their bodies and contain them in small moulds.
(iii) As they grew older, the girls had to wear tight fitting corsets. Tightly laced, small (narrow) waisted women were admred as elegant, attractive and graceful. Clothing thus played a major part in creating the image of a frail, submissive Victorian women.
(iv) Men on the other hand were expexcted to be serious, independent and aggressive. The norms of clothing reflected these ideas. The nobleman as was the custom of the time wore a long soldiers coat, knee breeches, silk stockings and high heeled shoes

The ideal woman of the Victorian period was one who could bear pain and suffering, be docile and dutiful, submissive and obedient. Norms of clothing reflected these ideals.
From childhood girls were subject to restrictive style of dresing. The stays and corsets which they wore contained their bodies in small moulds and subjected them to torture, pain and suffering. Thus clothing played a part in creating the image of ideal Victorian woman-frail and submissive.

(i) Stays were support as part of a woman's dress to hold the body straight.
(ii) Young girls in Victorian England were laced up and dressed in stays to restrict the growth of women's bodies and contain them within small moulds . When slightly older girls had to wear tight fitting corsets.
(iii) They helped in creating the image of a delicate docile and frail woman.
(iv) Tightly laced, small waisted women were admired as attractive, elegant and graceful.

The main objectives of the Sumptuary Laws were:
(i) Control the behaviour of those considered social inferiors.
(ii) To set up social codes of food and dress upon different strata of French society.
(iii) Prevent social inferiors from wearing certain clothes and consuming certain foods and beverages and hunting game in certain areas.
Reactions:
(a) Material to be used for clothing was regulated not only by income but also by social rank. It was legally prescribed.
(b) Only royalty could wear expensive materials like ermine and fur or silk, velvet and brocade.