Fashion Vocabulary

We will break these down into categories to make them easier to understand.

Headwear

Hats are distinctly in fashion at the moment, and may well feature strongly in London Fashion week. Here are some of the more popular types:  beany (baggy, woollen hat), cap (a casual peaked hat, sometimes called a baseball cap), flat cap (traditionally worn by older people, these are tweed caps, with a firm peak, which are very fashionable), Panama hat (a white or ivory formal hat, usually worn by men, and very stylish with smart casual wear), floppy hat (any hat with a wide, loose brim).

On top of headwear we might come across jewellery. Earrings go, unsurprisingly, in the ears. A necklace, equally predictably, is jewellery that is worn on the neck, usually with a silver or gold chain.

Torso

There are two kinds of t-shirt, which are casual, short sleeved tops. A round neck t shirthas a round neck hole (not really so confusing, this English) and a Polo shirt is slightly more formal, with a collar.  A shirt is a long-sleeved garment (although, confusingly, there are short sleeved types), often made of cotton, with buttons up the front. A blouseis a shirt usually worn by women, with a more fitted styles and a smaller collar.

A jumper is the woollen or cotton extra layer that is worn over the shirt, handy for British winters…and Springs, Autumns and, sadly, often summer. It is also known as a jersey or pullover. A jumper with buttons which opens up fully is known as a cardigan, or cardyfor short. A sleeveless jumper is called a tank top.

Less formal tops include sweat shirts, a cotton casual pullover, often with a picture or logo on it. A hoodie is like a sweat shirt, but includes a hood. Outer garments for outdoor wear are called coats. But there are many varieties of these:  bomber jackets (short coats), golf coats, rain coats, overcoats (heavy, warm and formal coats), Mackintoshesand waterproofs – sometimes called kagoules and carried in case of wet weather – are other common types of coat.

A  jacket is a short, fairly smart indoor coat, often worn with a suit or for work or business. It contains a handy amount of pockets for storage.

Jewellery wise, a bracelet is worn on the wrist.  More casual, and often supporting a good cause, is a wristband. A bangle is a wide bracelet, often of ethnic styling. Cufflinksare like removable buttons sometimes worn with formal shirts.

Bottom Half

Trousers are worn to cover the entire bottom half of the body. They might be calledjeans (usually made from denim), chinos (smart casual cotton trousers), drain pipes(tight fitting trousers with narrow legs sometimes known as skinny jeans.). Shorts are trousers which end at the knee or higher.  On the beach, swimming shorts or trunks are usually worn by men, and bathing costumes (all in ones) or bikinis (two piece) are worn more usually by women.

The terms skirts and dresses can cause confusion. A skirt starts at the waist, while a dress is full length. A kilt is a heavy, pleated skirt worn by women and traditionally by Scotsmen, allegedly with nothing underneath, although that is probably not true. A sarong is a loose skirt that is tied at the waist. Usually it is worn by women, but occasionally by men. The footballer David Beckham introduced a trend for men to wear sarongs a few years ago.

Sometimes tights (all in one) or stockings (separate for each leg) can be worn under skirts and dresses.

Footwear

There are many styles of shoe; crocks, sandals, brogues, lace ups, trainers, boots, slippers. Under these people often wear socks – very short socks often worn with trainers and shorts are called trainer socks, slightly bigger are ankle socks. In the old days, shorts were worn mostly by men and boys, along with knee length socks. These are called long socks.

Underwear

Again, there are lots of names for basically the same thing. Pants is a general term for underwear in Britain (the word means trousers in the US, which can lead to some embarrassing moments.) Boxers are long, short like pants and Y fronts have a Y shaped material in the front. Knickers is the name often used for women’s pants. A bra (short for brassiere, but that word is rarely used today) is a chest supporter for women. A jock strap is a pouch worn by men to protect and support their genitalia in some sports.

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