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Casual wear (or casual attire or clothing) is a Western dress code that is relaxed, occasional, spontaneous and suited for everyday use. Casual wear became popular in the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...

following the

counterculture of the 1960s The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon and political movement that developed in the Western world during the mid-20th century. It began in the early 1960s, and continued through the early 1970s. It is ofte ...

. When emphasising casual wear's comfort, it may be referred to as leisurewear or loungewear. While casual is "

informal Formal, formality, informal or informality imply the complying with, or not complying with, some set of requirements ( forms, in Ancient Greek). They may refer to: Dress code and events * Formal wear, attire for formal events * Semi-formal att ...

" in the sense of "not formal",

informal wear Informal wear or undress, also called business wear, corporate/office wear, tenue de ville or dress clothes, is a Western dress code for clothing defined by a business suit for men, and cocktail dress or pant suit for women. On the scale of ...

traditionally refers to a Western dress code associated with

suit A suit, also called a lounge suit, business suit, dress suit, or formal suit, is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles generally worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt su ...

s—a step below

semi-formal wear Semi-formal wear or half dress is a grouping of dress codes indicating the sort of clothes worn to events with a level of formality between informal wear and formal wear. In the modern era, the typical interpretation for men is black tie for e ...

—thus being more formal than casual attire.

Overview

History

Modern casual fashion can be traced to fashion sportswear from the 1920s, including tweed

blazer A blazer is a jacket worn as part of a smart casual or business casual look. Similar to a sport jacket, a blazer is not part of a formal suit, and the terms "sport coat" and "blazer" may be used interchangeably in daily life. A nautical bl ...

s, oxford shoes, and golf skirts. An increase in the popularity of bicycling brought about a need for

culottes Culottes are an item of clothing worn on the lower half of the body. The term can refer to either split skirts, historical men's breeches, or women's underpants; this is an example of fashion-industry words taken from designs across history, ...

, a forerunner for casual shorts. As the century progressed, "casual" came to encompass more styles, including denim

workwear Workwear is clothing worn for work, especially work that involves manual labour. Often those employed within trade industries elect to be outfitted in workwear because it is built to provide durability and safety. The workwear clothing industr ...

and elements from

military uniform A military uniform is a standardised clothing, dress worn by members of the armed forces and Paramilitary, paramilitaries of various nations. Military dress and styles have gone through significant changes over the centuries, from colourful ...

s. With the popularity of

spectator sports A spectator sport is a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its competitions. Spectator sports may be professional sports or amateur sports. They often are distinguished from participant sports, which are mor ...

in the late 20th century, a good deal of athletic gear has influenced casual wear, such as jogging suits,

running shoe Sneakers ( US) or trainers ( UK), also known by a wide variety of other names, are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but are also widely used for everyday casual wear. They were popularized by compani ...

s, and track clothing. Basic materials used for casual wear include

denim Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more Warp (weaving), warp threads. This twill weave produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. Denim, as it is recognized today, was f ...

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

flannel Flannel is a soft woven fabric, of varying fineness. Flannel was originally made from carded wool or worsted yarn, but is now often made from either wool, cotton, or synthetic fiber. Flannel is commonly used to make tartan clothing, blankets, ...

, and fleece. Materials such as

velvet Velvet is a type of woven fabric with a dense, even pile (textile), pile that gives it a distinctive soft feel. Historically, velvet was typically made from silk. Modern velvet can be made from silk, linen, cotton, wool, synthetic fibers, silk ...

, chiffon, and

brocade Brocade () is a class of richly decorative shuttle (weaving), shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in coloured silks and sometimes with gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word "broccoli", comes from Italian langua ...

are often associated with more formal clothes. While casual dress evokes utilitarian costume, there is a wide range for expression, including

punk fashion Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewellery, and body modifications of the punk counterculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited to the dressed-dow ...

and fashion inspired by earlier decades, such as the

1970s File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War ...

and

1980s File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 335px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Space Shuttle Columbia, Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union, Soviet General Secretary of the Communist Party of ...

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

popularized

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

jewelry Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

, and

cosmetics Cosmetics are substances that are intended for application to the body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering appearance. They are mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either Natural product, natural source ...

into casual wear during the 1980s. In the 1990s,

hip hop fashion Hip-hop fashion (also known as rap fashion) refers to the various styles of dress that originated from Urban Black America and inner city youth in American cities like New York City, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Being a major part of hip-hop culture ...

played up elaborate jewelry and luxurious materials worn in conjunction with athletic gear and the clothing of manual labor.

Gender expression

Casual wear introduced a "unisexing" of fashion. By the

1960s File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the Woodstock, 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong ...

, women adopted

T-shirts A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...

jeans Jeans are a type of trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with the addition of copper pocket rivets added by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and patented by ...

, and collared shirts, and for the first time in nearly 200 years, it was fashionable for men to have long hair. Casual wear is typically the dress code in which forms of

gender expression Gender expression (or gender presentation) is a person's behavior, mannerisms, interests, and appearance that are associated with gender in a particular cultural context, typically understood in terms of masculinity and femininity. Gender expr ...

are experimented with. An example is

masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some beh ...

jewelry, which was once considered shocking or titillating even in casual circles, and is now hardly noteworthy in semi-formal situations.

Amelia Bloomer Amelia Jenks Bloomer (May 27, 1818 – December 30, 1894) was an American newspaper editor, women's rights and temperance advocate. Even though she did not create the women's clothing reform style known as bloomers, her name became associa ...

introduced trousers of a sort for women as a casual alternative to formal hoops and skirts. The trend toward female exposure in the 20th century tended to push the necklines of formal

ball gown A ball gown, ballgown or gown is a type of evening gown worn to a ball or a formal event. Most versions are cut off the shoulder with a low décolletage, exposed arms, and long bouffant styled skirts. Such gowns are typically worn with opera-len ...

s lower and the skirts of

cocktail dress A cocktail dress is a dress suitable at semi-formal occasions, sometimes called cocktail parties, usually in the late afternoon, and usually with accessories. After World War I, the idea of the "working woman" became popular. After 1929, it w ...

es higher. Jeans, dress shirt (casually turn down collared), and a T-shirt or

sleeveless shirt A sleeveless shirt, is a shirt that is manufactured without sleeves or with sleeves that have been cut off. Depending on the style, they can be worn as undershirts, by athletes in sports such as track and field and triathlon, or as casual wear ...

are typically considered casual wear for men in modern times. For men, the exposure of shoulders, thighs, and backs is still limited to casual wear.

Gallery

File:Beautful women and handsome man.jpg, A man wearing a

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...

and

and a woman wearing black

and white long

skirt A skirt is the lower part of a dress or a separate outer garment that covers a person from the waist downwards. At its simplest, a skirt can be a draped garment made out of a single piece of fabric (such as pareos). However, most skirts are ...

File:Cycling woman wearing miniskirt.jpg, A woman cycling while wearing a

sweater A sweater (North American English) or pullover, also called a jersey or jumper (British English, Hiberno-English and Australian English),

and

miniskirt A miniskirt (or mini-skirt, mini skirt, or mini) is a skirt with its hemline well above the knees, generally at mid-thigh level, normally no longer than below the buttocks; and a dress with such a hemline is called a minidress or a miniskirt ...

in Canada. File:Cassandra Morris 2014.jpg, Voice actress

Cassandra Morris Cassandra Lee Morris (born April 19, 1982) is an American voice actress. After starting her career as a teenage program host for an educational video series called ''Real World Science'', she worked as a journalist in New York City and Los An ...

wearing a casual

minidress A miniskirt (or mini-skirt, mini skirt, or mini) is a skirt with its hemline well above the knees, generally at mid-thigh level, normally no longer than below the buttocks; and a dress with such a hemline is called a minidress or a miniskirt ...

during a public interaction. File:2010 Run to the Sun Fashion Show in Anchorage Alaska 06.jpg, A model in

and cargo shorts. File:Man wearing green shirt-jacket, blue jeans and desert boots 01.jpg, Model in

and a military-style shirt. File:2013 ColognePride - CSD-Parade-2397.jpg, A woman in bra-shaped top and mini-shorts in Germany

References

{{Fashion 20th-century fashion 21st-century fashion Workwear

Overview

History

Gender expression

Gallery

See also

References