question_answer

What changes occurred in British clothing due to the introduction of new materials and technologies? Or Explain the reasons for the change in clothing patterns and materials in the 18th century?

Answer:

British women before the 17th century possessed clothes made of flax, linen or wool which was difficult to clean. After 1600, trade with India brought cheap and beautiful Indian chintzes within the reach of many Europeans. In the 19th century, due to the Industrial Revolution, Britain mass produced cotton textiles which made cotton clothes more accessible to a wider section of European people. By the early 20th century, century, artificial made clothes became cheaper and easier to wash and maintain. In the late 1870's, heavy restrictive underclothes were gradually discarded. Clothes got lighter, shorter and simpler. Thus though clothes were ankle length till 1914, in 1915 skirt's hemlines dramatically rose to mid-calf.