The manner in which we dress provides an immediate impression to the world of who we are. Across history, fashion has played a significant part in exemplifying and defining our gender responsibilities in the society. Our culture is developed from persons who use fashion as a way of explaining and exhibiting individual beliefs to the society. Not like sex that determines the biological traits of an individual, notions of gender are fluid cultural and social concepts that are dynamic, that is change with time. As such, the way gender identity is constructed with clothing presently is different from what was in ages past. Fashion was not always concretely gender reliant like it is currently. Therefore, the relation amid fashion and gender is a significant point, even with diverse aspects. It implies that if society changes, changes in norms occur, and if changes in norms take place, fashion changes as well and vice versa. Additionally, the changes may come out through changes in perceptual viewpoint. In this paper the societal rules that dictate gender roles in dress will be explored, cloth design and parts of body covered discussed and how the society changes with expression depicted.
Societal Rules that Dictate Gender Roles in Dress
Society has some popular and unspoken rules regarding dressing codes for different gender. The stereotypical feminine or masculine qualifications are not characteristics of personality for individual women and men rather gender representations that are socially constructed based on what society wants of each gender.
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Since dress could be used as a tool for communication to pass information like the status or gender of a person, it may bear with it some stereotypes according to the society, religion or culture. Prior to 1649, influences of Puriten on dress codes after the dead of King Charles I, there was no substantial variations amid sexes in their dressing manner (Kehn & Ruthig, 2013) . Both sexes would put on decorated costumes. The class of an individual was determined by the shapes and colors of the gowns rather that the gender of the person. the bourgeois and aristocrats used to display their silks, rich velvets, abundant lace, decorated shoes, plenty of perfume, wigs and elaborate hats. A silk suit, pink in color with silver and gold decorations was seen as wholly masculine. The dressing was the signifier of a social class plus the more elegant the clothing was, the higher the social class.
Societal rules dictate what a woman can wear or do. On the other hand, much like women, men are entangled with dictations that define the word “man”. As a result, these societal rules has cause a wide differentiation on the kind of dressing which men and women wear. Further, the type of dressing defines their gender roles. The societal rules elaborate that men and boys, women and girls are defined by the dressing as well as certain biological traits or by particular mental setting.
Most of the gender rules can be broken. This is because most people presently refuse to succumb to changes in the roles of society. Fashion artists are pushing the boundaries of what is regarded acceptable for man to perform and which is gaining a lot of praise from the mass (Burman, 2004) . Irrespective of the way negative a reaction from a society may seem to be when any regular person pushes boundaries of gender.
Part(s) of Body Emphasized Given the Design of Clothing
At a functional level, dressing was done to maintain the body that the cloths cover. Also they acted as a modesty function though their focus varied with respect to societal norms and/ or to some extent religious norms. The dressing of the 14 th century continued with the traditions of the late middle ages (Mackie, 2006) . Both women and men continued to put on houppelande in order to cover the body starting from the neck down to the floor. This kind of dressing was designed from a wide range of fabrics, from simple wool to rich velvet and silk. Houppelandes for the women was increasingly tailored in order for the gown to fit closely over the upper body whereas the skirt billowed outwards. In addition, women, wore bliaut which was a long gown. Also, increasingly the males choose to put on breeches and hose on their legs as well as a pourpoint (a padded over shirt that is closely fitted) or a tunic on their upper body. Both women and men also wore different kinds of over garments that include a mantle (a light cape) a cotehardie and the cote.
There are some parts the society considered a taboo to expose. Such parts included the loin area for both male and female and the chest region. The design of the clothing was intentionally made long enough in order to be able to cover the body from the neck to the floor (Mackie, 2006) . In addition, the societal rules deterred the design of short clothing such as miniskirts which could not sufficiently cover the body according to the demands of the society. It was because the society viewed the body as sacred and in addition it intended to maintain the purity and as well uphold the norms of societal morality.
Costume Revolution due to Societal Changes
A number of remarkable changes in the society were witnessed to mark a real change in the clothing styles across Europe. The initial change was the overall rise in wealth in the continent. Expanding trade and increased political stability implied that many people in the swelling European cities could be able to afford finer items in life, notably, dress. The increasing wealth allowed individuals to put on a range of diverse fabrics such velvet, taffeta and silk together with the traditional linen, wool and cotton. As a result of this expression new norms resulted that generally allowed men and women to incline to their tastes and preferences (Burman, 2004) . Due to such trends, the males wore doublets and hose that were more closely fitting. The doublets, which were initially buttoned to the neck, opened to a V neck that was even deeper having long laces cutting across the V revealing the shirt underneath. Hose for men were sewn together around the genital region.
The clothing for the women as well saw changes. The gowns become more fitted in the arms and torso whereas skirts billowed outwards. The women also started to use hoops by wearing them inside the skirts partly give the skirts shape and partly make it swish as they walked.
Conclusion
Changes in the norms of a society results in a consequent change in gender identity/ roles and so is the fashion/clothing. The societal rules dictate the clothing for men and women. However, such rules are dynamic and are changing with time and so is the clothing style. Most of the early clothing designs covered from the neck to the floor but societal changes have made such designs to change.
References
Burman, B. (2004). Review: Fashion Classics: From Carlyle to Barthes * Review: Fashion Foundations: Early Writings on Fashion and Dress. Journal Of Design History , 17 (4), 414-417. doi: 10.1093/jdh/17.4.414
Kehn, A., & Ruthig, J. (2013). Perceptions of Gender Discrimination across Six Decades: The Moderating Roles of Gender and Age. Sex Roles , 69 (5-6), 289-296. doi: 10.1007/s11199-013-0303-2
Mackie, E. (2006). Designing Women: The Dressing Room in Eighteenth-Century English Literature and Culture (review). Eighteenth Century Fiction , 19 (1), 225-227. doi: 10.1353/ecf.2006.0087
