54 L6-Clothes Then and Now

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Oxford Read and Discover level 6 Clothes Then and Now by Richard Northcott

Introduction Let's think about clothes. Jeans, T-shirts, dresses, and sweaters... you can find these clothes in most countries around the world. Look at the photos below. Which clothes are the same as clothes in your country? Which are different? What clothes can you see here? What are your favorite clothes? What are they made of and where were they made? What do you know about clothes in the past? Discover! Now read and discover more about clothes in the past and clothes today!

Chapter 1 Why Do We Wear Clothes? We wear clothes because we want to be comfortable. We wear clothes because we want to look good. Do we always wear the same clothes? Of course not! We wear different clothes when we do different things. Clothes For Important Days Are you wearing your best clothes today? Maybe not. We wear good clothes at school, but we wear better clothes at parties or on important days. Weddings are very important days. In this photo of a wedding, the people are wearing beautiful clothes. They are made of an expensive fabric called silk. Wedding clothes are different in different countries, but one thing is the same everywhere— people wear their best clothes on the most important days. Clothes For Every Day In the past, clothes were often big and heavy. The old clothes above don't look very comfortable. Most people couldn't buy clothes made of light fabrics, like silk, because they were too expensive. There were no synthetic fabrics like nylon. Today, our clothes are light and easy to wear. They are made quickly in big factories. Millions of clothes are made every day. Most people have lots of different clothes because they are cheaper now.

Staying Cool or Warm We wear clothes because we want to be comfortable in hot or cold weather. In hot weather, tight clothes are uncomfortable. If we wear loose clothes, the air can move around our bodies and help us to stay cool. The men above live in a hot country. They are wearing long, white shirts called dishdashas. White clothes are cool in hot weather. The men's turbans and scarves protect their heads from the sun. In colder countries, people also cover their heads. This is because they don't want to lose heat. In places where the winter is very cold, people wear hats made of wool or fur. Heat from the body stays in the wool or fur and keeps people warm. Looking Good 'That's a great T-shirt! Where did you buy it?'... We're always happy when our friends like our clothes. We like wearing nice clothes because we want to look good. How do we look good? People's ideas about that have sometimes changed. About 400 years ago, people in Europe wore big white collars around their necks. You can see one in this painting of a woman from Holland. To look good today, men wear ties, and women wear scarves or jewelry. The head and neck have always been important in the design of clothes. When we meet people, we usually look at the top half of their body— their face and their eyes. Some people want to look rich and important. They buy expensive clothes made by famous designers. Presidents and politicians usually wear expensive clothes. Discover! In Ancient China, yellow was the emperor's color. Only the emperor could wear yellow clothes.

Chapter 2 The History of Clothes People started wearing clothes about 100,000 years ago. Their clothes were made of animal skins. People also used to weave grass together to make rough fabric. Clothes were probably the same for men and women. Making Fabrics About 8,000 years ago, people learned to weave threads together to make pieces of fabric. They used threads of wool, cotton, or linen. They sewed the pieces of fabric together to make simple tunics. These early clothes were like our T-shirts today, but they were longer. Later, people used looms for weaving. This linen tunic from ancient Egypt is now in a museum. It's about 1,500 years old. We don't have many clothes as old as this tunic. Fabric doesn't usually last long, so people throw old clothes away. If we want to know about clothes in the past, we can look at old paintings. The spinning wheel was invented about 2,500 years ago in India. With spinning wheels, people could make thread more quickly, so making fabric was easier. Fabrics became more comfortable. If you were rich, you could buy lots of different clothes. This picture was painted in 1434. It's from Belgium in Europe and it shows a rich man and woman. The man is wearing a long tunic. At this time, men in Europe and in Asia wore tunics. The woman is holding the front of her dress. There's beautiful decoration on her dress, but its shape is simple. It's like a tunic, but it's longer than the man's tunic. Discover! People carried their money in small purses tied around their waists. They cut slits in their tunics to reach their purses. Later, these slits became pockets.