Overview
In this age of industry and mass consumption, American dress was marked by practicality, mass production and popular culture.
Key garments and style
Levi Strauss’s rivet-reinforced jeans (1873) went from workwear to a national garment, and ready-to-wear and the department store democratised dress. Hollywood films, sportswear, the sneaker and the T-shirt pushed American casual dress into everyday wear worldwide. Indigenous dress is carried on as ceremonial regalia at powwows and other gatherings.
Transition
Modern North American dress remains a great engine of global fashion.