Editing Clothing (section)

==Origin and history==
{{anchor|History}}
{{Main|History of clothing and textiles}}
{{See also|History of Western fashion|Category:History of clothing|Evolution of hair}}

===Early use===

Estimates of when humans began wearing clothes vary from 40,000 to as many as 3&nbsp;million years ago, but recent studies suggest humans were wearing clothing at least 100,000 years ago. Recent studies by Ralf Kittler, Manfred Kayser and Mark Stoneking—[[anthropologists]] at the [[Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology]]—have attempted to constrain the most recent date of the introduction of clothing with an indirect method relying on [[Louse|lice]]. The rationale for this method of dating stems from the fact that the human body louse cannot live outside of clothing, dying after only a few hours without shelter. This strongly implies that the date of the body louse's speciation from its parent, ''[[Pediculus humanus]]'', can have taken place no earlier than the earliest human adoption of clothing. This date, at which the body louse (''[[Body louse|P. humanus corporis]]'') diverged from both its parent species and its sibling subspecies, the head louse (''[[Head louse|P. humanus capitis]]''), can be determined by the number of mutations each has developed during the intervening time. Such mutations occur at a known rate and the date of last-common-ancestor for two species can therefore be estimated from their frequency. These studies have produced dates for speciation ranging from 40,000 to 170,000 years before present, with the most likely estimates being roughly 107,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Priest |first1=Tyler |title=How shall we save the planet? The Wizard and the Prophet Charles C. Mann Alfred A. Knopf, 2018.|journal=Science |date=26 January 2018 |volume=359 |issue=6374 |pages=399 |doi=10.1126/science.aar2447 }}</ref>

Kittler, Kayser and Stoneking suggest that the invention of clothing may have coincided with the northward migration of modern ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' away from the warm climate of Africa, which is thought to have begun between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago. A second group of researchers, also relying on the genetic clock, estimate that clothing originated between 30,000 and 114,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reed |first1=David L. |last2=Smith |first2=Vincent S. |last3=Hammond |first3=Shaless L. |last4=Rogers |first4=Alan R. |last5=Clayton |first5=Dale H. |title=Genetic Analysis of Lice Supports Direct Contact between Modern and Archaic Humans |journal=PLOS Biology |date=5 October 2004 |volume=2 |issue=11 |pages=e340 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020340 |doi-access=free |pmid=15502871 |pmc=521174 }}</ref>

Dating with direct archeological evidence produces dates consistent with those of lice. In September 2021, scientists reported evidence of clothes being made 120,000 years ago based on findings in deposits in [[Morocco]].<ref name="iSC-20210916">{{cite journal |last=Hallett |first=Emily Y. |display-authors=et al. |title=A worked bone assemblage from 120,000–90,000 year old deposits at Contrebandiers Cave, Atlantic Coast,Morocco |date=16 September 2021 |journal=[[iScience]] |volume=24 |issue=9 |page=102988 |doi=10.1016/j.isci.2021.102988 |pmid=34622180 |pmc=8478944 |bibcode=2021iSci...24j2988H |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="TG-20210916">{{cite news |last=Davis |first=Nicola |title=Scientists find evidence of humans making clothes 120,000 years ago – Tools and bones in Moroccan cave could be some of earliest evidence of the hallmark human behaviour |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/sep/16/scientists-find-evidence-of-humans-making-clothes-120000-years-ago |date=16 September 2021 |work=[[The Guardian]] |accessdate=16 September 2021 |archive-date=28 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228095707/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/sep/16/scientists-find-evidence-of-humans-making-clothes-120000-years-ago |url-status=live }}</ref>

The development of clothing is deeply connected to [[human evolution]], with early garments likely consisting of animal skins and natural fibers adapted for protection and social signaling.<ref name="Gilligan2010" /> According to anthropologists and archaeologists, the earliest clothing likely consisted of [[fur]], leather, leaves, or grass that was draped, wrapped, or tied around the body. Knowledge of such clothing remains inferential, as [[clothing material]]s deteriorate quickly compared with stone, bone, shell, and metal artifacts. Archeologists have identified very early [[sewing needle]]s of bone and ivory from about 30,000&nbsp;BC, found near [[Kostenki]], Russia in 1988,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hoffecker|first1=J.|last2=Scott|first2=J.|title=Excavations In Eastern Europe Reveal Ancient Human Lifestyles |website= University of Colorado at Boulder |date=March 21, 2002 |url=http://www.colorado.edu/news/r/b278a670675fd8d2ca0700cdc0e9d808.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719175257/http://www.colorado.edu/news/r/b278a670675fd8d2ca0700cdc0e9d808.html |archive-date=2011-07-19}}</ref> and in 2016 a needle at least 50,000 years old from Denisova Cave in Siberia<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.archaeology.org/news/4784-160823-denisova-cave-needle|title=Denisova Cave Yields a 50,000-Year-Old Needle |website=Archaeology Magazine |date=23 August 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230624092913/https://www.archaeology.org/news/4784-160823-denisova-cave-needle |archive-date= 2023-06-24}}</ref> made by [[Denisovan]]s. Dyed [[flax]] fibers that date back to 34,000&nbsp;BC and could have been used in clothing have been found in a prehistoric cave in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Balter |first=M.|year=2009|title=Clothes Make the (Hu) Man |doi-access=free |journal=Science|volume= 325 |issue=5946|page=1329|doi=10.1126/science.325_1329a|pmid=19745126}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Kvavadze E, Bar-Yosef O, Belfer-Cohen A, Boaretto E, Jakeli N, Matskevich Z, Meshveliani T|year=2009|title=30,000-Year-Old Wild Flax Fibers|url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4270521|journal=Science|volume=325|issue=5946|page=1359|doi=10.1126/science.1175404|pmid=19745144|bibcode=2009Sci...325.1359K|s2cid=206520793|access-date=2017-04-22|archive-date=2020-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200304052409/https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/4270521 |url-status=live}} [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/data/325/5946/1359/DC1/1 Supporting Online Material]</ref>

===Making clothing===
{{See also|Clothing industry||knitting|weaving}}
Several distinct human [[Culture|cultures]], including those residing in the Arctic Circle, have historically crafted their garments exclusively from treated and adorned animal furs and skins. In contrast, numerous other societies have complemented or substituted leather and skins with textiles woven, knitted, or twined from a diverse array of animal and plant fibers, such as wool, linen, cotton, silk, hemp, and ramie.
[[File:Raja Ravi Varma, Lady Going for Pooja.jpg|alt=Sari|thumb|upright=.8|[[Hindu]] lady wearing [[sari]], one of the most ancient and popular pieces of clothing in the [[Indian subcontinent]], painting by [[Raja Ravi Varma]]]]

Although modern consumers may take the production of clothing for granted, making fabric by hand is a tedious and labor-intensive process involving fiber making, spinning, and weaving. The textile industry was the first to be mechanized&nbsp;– with the [[power loom|powered loom]]&nbsp;– during the [[Industrial Revolution]].

Different cultures have evolved various ways of creating clothes out of cloth. One approach involves draping the cloth. Many people wore, and still wear, garments consisting of rectangles of cloth wrapped to fit&nbsp;– for example, the [[dhoti]] for men and the [[sari]] for women in the [[Indian subcontinent]], the Scottish [[kilt]], and the Javanese [[sarong]]. The clothes may be tied up (dhoti and sari) or implement pins or belts to hold the garments in place (kilt and sarong). The cloth remains uncut, and people of various [[Clothing sizes|sizes]] can wear the garment.

Another approach involves measuring, cutting, and sewing the cloth by hand or with a [[sewing machine]]. Clothing can be cut from a [[sewing pattern]] and adjusted by a tailor to the wearer's measurements. An adjustable sewing mannequin or [[dress form]] is used to create form-fitting clothing. If the fabric is expensive, the tailor tries to use every bit of the cloth rectangle in constructing the clothing; perhaps cutting triangular pieces from one corner of the cloth, and adding them elsewhere as [[gusset]]s. Traditional European patterns for shirts and [[chemise]]s take this approach. These remnants can also be reused to make patchwork pockets, hats, [[vests]], and [[skirt]]s.

Modern European fashion treats cloth much less conservatively, typically cutting in such a way as to leave various odd-shaped cloth remnants. Industrial sewing operations sell these as waste; domestic sewers may turn them into [[quilt]]s.

In the thousands of years that humans have been making clothing, they have created an astonishing array of styles, many of which have been reconstructed from surviving garments, photographs, paintings, [[mosaic]]s, etc., as well as from written descriptions. Costume history can inspire current fashion designers, as well as costumiers for plays, films, television, and [[historical reenactment]].