Lesson Two. Men’s and Women’s Clothing

Text A. Classification of Clothing

Text B. Caftan and Coat

Text C. Business and Tailored Suits

Reading: Skimming or reading for general understanding

Text A. Classification of Clothing

Traditionally clothing may be divided into three groups according to the gender and age of a wearer: men’s wear, women’s wear and children’s wear. Nowadays women’s wear is gradually becoming identical in many cases with men’s wear. The names of many articles of clothes are the same in men’s and women’s wear. They are: heavy-weight coats, light-weight coats, raincoats, two-piece suits, three-piece suits, trousers, shorts, jackets, anoraks, cardigans, pullovers, slipovers, sweaters, vests, shirts, T-shirts. In children’s wear there is the move now towards the miniaturization of the adult fashion. The opposite trend in clothing development is the diversity of types of clothes. For example, women’s dresses unite a multi-purpose dress, a jumper dress, a dress and a vest, a dinner dress, an evening dress, etc.

The name “trousers” may include slacks, pants, jeans, cords, each with its own peculiarity.

There are also many styles of suits: double-breasted suits, British suits, Italian suits, American suits, Contemporary suits and some non-traditional tailored suit styles of the past century.

The political and social dominance of the West in the world during the 20^th century has led to the adoption of the suit as business and formal wear in almost every part of the globe. Refusing to wear a suit, therefore, can be a symbolic rejection of Western culture. For instance, some political leaders reject wearing business suits in order to send a message that they do not conform to Western patterns.

Exercise 1. Read the title of the text, the first and the last sentences and decide what it is about.

Exercise 2. Use information from the text to answer the “Yes/No” questions.

1. May clothing be divided into three groups?

2. Do the names of most clothes differ in men’s and women’s wear today?

3. Can we speak about diversity of types of clothes today?

4. Has the suit spread as business and formal wear in the world?

5. Do all contemporary political leaders wear suits?

Vocabulary

adoption n	-	принятие
adult adj	-	взрослый
article n	-	изделие
diversity n	-	разнообразие
dominance n	-	господство, влияние
heavy-weight coat n	-	зимнее пальто
jumper dress n	-	сарафан
light-weight coat n	-	демисезонное пальто
multi-purpose dress n	-	многофункциональное платье
to refuse v	-	отказывать(ся)
rejection n	-	отрицание

Exercise 3. Try to learn words in phrases. Find the nouns in the text which the following words describe or define.

Example

political leaders

1. business and formal _____

2. multi-purpose _____

3. three-piece _____

4. double-breasted _____

5. non-traditional tailored suit _____

6. Western _____

7. adult ______

8. clothing _____

9. political and social - _____ of the West

10. men’s and women’s _____

Exercise 4. Choose phrases from exercise 3 to complete the sentences.

1. In the past ___ greatly differed from the clothes worn in the East.

2. ______ can be worn both at work and at the theatre.

3. ______ have two parallel rows of buttons; this style is considered very conservative.

4. The Beatle suit, the Safari suit, the Disco suit and some other extravagant variations belong to _____

5. Today children’s wear generally copies the _____.

6. People on all continents adopted the suit as _____.

Exercise 5. Ask your partner to name:

1. the articles of men’s wear;

2. the articles of women’s wear;

3. the garments which are the monopoly of women;

4. the symbol of Western culture and the attitude (отношение) to it in the world.