costume

Costume is the distinctive style of dress of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch.

The term also was traditionally used to describe typical appropriate clothing for certain activities, such as riding costume, swimming costume [=swimsuit], dance costume, and evening costume. Appropriate and acceptable costume is subject to changes in fashion and local cultural norms.

"But sable [紫貂; 黑貂] is worn more in carriages, lined [衬里] with real lace over ivory [象牙色的] satin /'sætn/ [缎子], and worn over some smart costume suitable for an afternoon reception [欢迎会; 招待会; 宴会]." --A Woman's Letter from London (23 November 1899).

This general usage has gradually been replaced by the terms "dress", "attire", "robes" or "wear" and usage of "costume" has become more limited to unusual or out-of-date clothing and to attire intended to evoke a change in identity, such as theatrical, Halloween, and mascot costumes.

Before the advent of ready-to-wear apparel, clothing was made by hand. When made for commercial sale it was made, as late as the beginning of the 20th century, by "costumiers", often women who ran businesses that met the demand for complicated or intimate female costume, including millinery [女帽] and corsetry [corset类]. →off-the-rack, off-the-shelf

Costume comes from the same Italian word, inherited via French, which means fashion or custom.

National costume or regional costume expresses local (or exiled) identity and emphasizes a culture's unique attributes. They are often a source of national pride. Examples include the Scottish kilt or Japanese kimono.

"Costume" often refers to a particular style of clothing worn to portray the wearer as a character or type of character at a social event in a theatrical performance on the stage or in film or television. In combination with other aspects of stagecraft, theatrical costumes can help actors portray characters' and their contexts as well as communicate information about the historical period/era, geographic location and time of day, season or weather of the theatrical performance.

六级/考研单词: costume, gender, epoch, clothe, vogue, norm, lace, ivory, reception, usage, gradual, evoke, advent, seldom, complicate, intimate, nationwide, exile, attribute, portray, era