Since prehistoric times, people in almost all societies have worn some kind of clothing. Many theories have been advanced as to why humans began to wear clothing. One of the earliest hypotheses is the so-called modesty/shame theory, also known as the fig leaf theory. This theory is based on the biblical story of creation. In the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve, the first human beings, realize they are naked after they eat an apple from the tree of knowledge. Ashamed of their nakedness, they make clothing for themselves out of fig leaves. As late as the 19th century, most Europeans and Americans believed that people wore clothing primarily for reasons of modesty. With the rise of a nonreligious worldview, however, people began to offer other theories. Some argued that the origin of clothing was functional-to protect the body from the environment. Others argued that some clothing was designed for sexual attraction-to display the body's beauty.
Evidence that early clothing was indeed functional came from a 1991 discovery of a 5,000-year-old male body, frozen on top of a glacier near the Austrian-Italian border. It was clothed in a fur cap, a crudely tanned leather cape, a loincloth (strip of cloth wrapped around the waist and between the legs), leggings, and leather shoes. A grass cloak covered the fur and leather clothing. These clothes would have provided protection against the cold and rain. The Iceman, as he is called, also had tattoos, which may have been marks of decoration or tribal identity, or were perhaps intended to provide magical protection.
Decoration seems to satisfy a fundamental human need. Other animals groom themselves, but only human beings have ornamented themselves. Although in some societies people have worn little or no clothing, so far as we know, people have decorated their bodies in some way in all societies throughout history. Archaeological and anthropological evidence suggest that early people may have decorated their bodies with paint, tattoos, and other types of ornamentation even before they began wearing clothing made of fur or fabric. Body decoration, like clothing, has served a variety of social and symbolic purposes.
Modern scholars believe that clothing provides a mark of identity and a means of nonverbal communication. In traditional societies, clothing functions almost as a language that can indicate a person's age, gender, marital status, place of origin, religion, social status, or occupation. In modern industrialized societies, clothing is not so rigidly regulated and people have more freedom to choose which messages they wish to convey. Nevertheless, clothing can still provide considerable information about the wearer, including individual personality, economic standing, even the nature of events attended by the wearer. When a woman who usually wears blue jeans puts on a frilly, flowered dress, she may be stating that she wants to look more traditionally feminine. A person wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the name of a rock band is probably a fan of that music group and may have attended one of the group's concerts.
A society's economic structure and its culture, or traditions and way of life, also influence the clothing that its people wear. In many societies, religious laws regulated personal behavior and permitted only members of an elite class to wear certain prestigious items of clothing. Even in modern democracies, clothing may represent social standing. Clothing with a designer label tends to be relatively expensive, so it may function as an outward sign of a person's economic standing. Clothing most obviously defines a social role in the case of uniforms, such as those worn by police officers and nurses, and garments worn by clergy or members of religious orders. Clothing metaphors-blue-collar and white-collar workers, for example-are used to distinguish between types of work (factory or office, in this example).
Clothing also derives meaning from the environment in which it is worn. In most cultures brides and grooms as well as wedding guests wear special clothes to celebrate the occasion of a marriage. The clothing worn for rituals such as weddings, graduations, and funerals tends to be formal and governed by unwritten rules that members of the society agree upon. Clothing may also signal participation in leisure activities. Certain types of recreation, especially active sports, may require specialized clothing. For example, football, soccer, and hockey players wear matching jerseys and pants designed to accommodate such accessories as protective pads.
Most modern societies comprise different social groups, and each group has its own beliefs and behaviors. As a result, different clothing subcultures exist. Within a single high school, for example, teenagers known as jocks are likely to wear different styles of clothing than teens called nerds. This difference can indicate to which group a teen belongs.