Abstract

Clothing is a defining anthropological feature of humans as opposed to animals. It can be understood in a functional way, serving as a protection from the irregularities of weather, fulfilling special functions, or expressing social rank or task. Also, it can be seen as a symbol, and then it has a cultural meaning in that it indicates certain sub-communities through traditional or established norms. Dress codes founded through tradition are probably embedded more strongly in individual and collective sets of values and beliefs than those established through convention. The functional meaning of clothing and its traditional-cultural meaning cannot be replaced by each other, but each demand separate consideration and a separate handling. Through global exchange, the clothing tradition is politically functionalized as, conversely, in the solely function-oriented understanding of clothing in secularized, deregulated, or open societies public dress is always regarded in a functional way. On a global level, different concepts confront each other in the communication system of clothing, which cannot be ignored or mediated, but demand new modes of intermediation.