Class IX - Clothing : A Social History

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS 

Q.1. Which of these changes came about in dressing styles after the 18th century?

(a) People dressed according to their regional codes

(b) Dressing was limited by the types of clothes and the cost of material available in their region

(c) Clothing styles were strictly regulated by class, gender or status

(d) People could use styles and materials that were drawn from other cultures and locations

Ans. (d)

Q.2. The existing dress codes in Europe were swept away by

(a) American Revolution (b) French Revolution

(c) Russian Revolution (d) The First World War

Ans. (b)

Q.3. State the period when people of France were expected to strictly follow the ‘Sumptuary Laws’?

(a) 1294 to 1798 (b) 1300 to 1799 (c) 1308 to 1800 (d) 1350 to 1809

Ans. (a)

Q.4. Which one of the following is the most appropriate definition of Sumptuary Laws?

(a) Laws on taxes framed by the government

(b) Laws giving privileges to higher sections of society

(c) Laws meant to emphasise the social hierarchy (d) All the above

Ans. (c)

Q.5. Which of these sentences is not correct about medieval France?

(a) The items of clothing a person could purchase was regulated not only by income but by social rank

(b) The material to be used for clothing was legally prescribed

(c) Everybody could wear expensive materials

(d) None of the above

Ans. (c)

Q.6. Simplicity of clothing was the symbol of which of the following in France?  

(a) Liberty (b) Fraternity (c) Equality (d) None of these

OR

The simplicity of clothing of ‘Sans-Culottes’ was meant to express

(a) the poverty among the common people

(b) the prosperity of textile industries

(c) the idea of equality

(d) none of the above

Ans. (c)

Q.7. Which of the following were among the things that became a symbol of equality and liberty among the French people?

(a) The colours of France–blue, white and red

(b) The red cap

(c) Revolutionary cockade pinned on to a hat

(d) All the above

Ans. (d)

Q.8. England passed a law which compelled all persons over 6 years of age, except those of high position, to wear woolen caps made in England on Sundays and all holy days. What does this mean?

(a) All sumptuary laws were meant to emphasis social hierarchy

(b) Some sumptuary laws were passed to protect home production against imports

(c) Some sumptuary laws were made to promote the religion

(d) None of the above

Ans. (b)

Q.9. In Victorian England why were women from childhood tightly laced up and dressed in stays, because : 

(a) they were dutiful and docile

(b) these clothes helped in creating the expected image of girls

(c) women were trained to bear and suffer

(d) women looked graceful in these dresses

Ans. (d)

OR

How did clothing play a part in creating the image of frail, submissive women?

(a) From childhood, girls were tightly laced up

(b) When slightly older, girls had to wear tight fitting corsets

(c) Tightly laced, small waisted women were admired as attractive, elegant and graceful

(d) All the above

Ans. (d)

Q.10. When did women in England start agitating for democratic rights?

(a) 1820s (b) 1830s (c) 1840s (d) 1850s

Ans. (b)

Q.11. Who said the following, ‘It is evident physiologically that air is the pabulum of life, and that the effect of a tight cord round the neck and of tight lacing differ only in degrees ... for the strangulations are both fatal. To wear tight stays in many cases is to wither, to waste, to die.’

(a) The Registrar General in the Ninth Annual Report of 1857

(b) Martha Somerville (c) John Keats (d) Thackeray

Ans. (a)

Q.12. On what grounds were the traditional feminine clothes criticised in the USA?

(a) Long skirts swept the grounds collecting filth and causing illness

(b) The skirts were voluminous and difficult to handle

(c) They hampered movement and prevented women from working and earning

(d) All the above

Ans. (d)

Q.13. Which of the following associations in the USA campaigned for dress reform in the 1870s?

(a) National Woman Suffrage Association (b) American Woman Suffrage Association

(c) Global Woman Suffrage Association (d) Both (a) and (b)

Ans. (d)

Q.14. Who was the first American dress reformer to launch loose tunics?

(a) Mrs Amelia Bloomer (b) Martha Somerville

(c) Queen Victoria (d) None of the above

Ans. (a)

Q.15. When and where was ‘Rational Dress Society’ started?

(a) 1880, USA (b) 1881, England (c) 1882, France (d) 1883, Russia

Ans. (b)

Q.16. Radical changes in women’s clothing came about due to the

(a) Russian Revolution (b) World War I (c) World War II (d) Both (b) and (c)

Ans. (d)

Q.17. Which of the statements given below is correct?

(a) After 1600, trade with India brought cheap and beautiful ‘chintz’ within the reach of many Europeans

(b) During the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, cotton clothes became more accessible to people in Europe

(c) By the late 1870s, heavy, restrictive underclothes were gradually discarded

(d) All the above

Ans. (d)

Q.18. Which of the following events had an impact on the dressing style of women?

(a) Women working in industries during the First and Second World Wars.

(b) Gymnastics and games entered school curriculum for women.

(c) The Battle of Waterloo (d) Both (a) and (b)

Ans. (d)

Q.19 Why did the clothes get shorter during the First World War?

(a) Shortage of cloth (b) Out of practical necessity at workplace

(c) New dressing laws were passed (d) None of the above

Ans. (b)

Q.20. Which  of the following were among other important changes that came about for women?

(a) Trousers became a vital part of western women’s clothing

(b) Women took to cutting their hair short for convenience

(c) As women took to gymnastics and games, they had to wear clothes that did not hamper movement

(d) All the above

Ans. (d)

Q.21. Who were the first among the Indians to adopt the western-style clothing?  

(a) Christians (b) Parsis (c) Gujaratis (d) Maharashtrians

Ans. (b)

Q.22. To some Indians western clothes were a sign of

(a) progress (b) modernity

(c) freedom from poverty (d) both (a) and (b)

Ans. (d)

Q.23. Dresses in India were defined by

(a) sumptuary laws (b) caste system (c) both (a) and (b) (d) none of the above

Ans. (c)

Q.24. Why were Shanar women attacked by Nairs in May 1922?

(a) For wearing a tailored blouse

(b) For wearing a cloth across their upper bodies

(c) For wearing gold ornaments (d) For using umbrellas

Ans. (b)

Q.25. When was slavery abolished in Travancore? What did it result in?

(a) 1855, frustration among upper castes (b) 1865, shortage of labour force

(c) 1867, end of caste system

(d) 1895, permission to Shanar women to cover the upper part of their body

Ans. (a)

Q.26. Wearing of which two things created misunderstanding and conflict between the British and the Indians?

(a) the wearing of turban and shoes (b) the umbrella and gold ornaments

(c) the wearing of saris and dhotis (d) The wearing of gowns and long skirts

Ans. (a)

OR

Wearing of which two things created misunderstanding between the British and the Indians?

(a) Turbans (b) Hat (c) Shirt (d) Both (a) and (b)

Ans. (d)

Q.27. Which Governor General asked the Indians to remove their shoes as a mark of respect before him?

(a) Ripon (b) Hastings (c) Amherst (d) Wellesley

Ans. (c)

Q.28. Who was Manockfee Cowasjee Entee?

(a) A taxpayer (b) A  revenue collector (c) An  assessor (d) A technocrat

Ans. (c)

Q.29. Which of these statements are correct about the cultural symbols which Indians began to devise to express unity of the nation?

(a) A debate began over the design of national flag

(b) Poets wrote national songs

(c) The search for a national dress began

(d) All the above

Ans. (d)

Q.30. What was the idea of national dress as suggested by Rabindranath Tagore?

(a) Combination of Hindu and Muslim dress

(b) Combination of Indian and European dress

(c) Only Hindu dress (d) Combination Hindu and Parsi dress

Ans. (a)

Q.31. In the late 1870s, Jnanadanandini Devi, wife of Satyendranath Tagore, adopted ______

(a) British style of skirt and blouse (b) Rajasthani style of Ghagra-Choli

(c) Parsi style of wearing sari (d) None of the above

Ans. (c)

Q.32. Jnanadanandini Devi’s style of wearing sari was adopted by Brahmo Samaji women and came to be called 

(a) Brahmika sari (b) Brahmo sari (c) Samaji sari (d) Bhoomika sari

Ans. (a)

OR

Jnanadanandini Tagore is associated with :

(a) Sans Culottes (b) Brahmika Saris

(c) Community of toddy tappers (d) Partition of Bengal

Ans. (b)

Q.33. In the first decade of the 20th century, which movement in Bengal was linked to the politics of clothing?

(a) Khilafat movement (b) Swadeshi movement

(c) Bardoli satyagraha (d) Champaran satyagraha

Ans. (b)

Q.34. In reaction to which measure of the British did the Swadeshi Movement begin?

(a) Partition of Bengal in 1905 (b) Surat split in 1907

(c) Starting of World War I in 1914 (d) Montague-Chelmsford Reforms of 1919

Ans. (a)

Q.35. Which of the statements are not correct about the Swadeshi movement?

(a) The use of Khadi was made a partiotic duty

(b) Women were urged to throw away their silks and glass bangles

(c) Rough homespun cloth was glorified in songs and poems to popularise it

(d) Men were allowed to wear the British-made clothes

Ans. (d)

Q.36. According to Gandhiji, which kind of dress would have a more powerful political effect?

(a) Western style (b) Indian style

(c) Dressing unsuitably (d) Dressing suitably for the occasion

Ans. (c)

Q.37. Where and why did Gandhi first appear in a  lungi  and  kurta with his head shaved, in 1913?

(a) London, to attend the Round Table Conference

(b) Durban, to protest against the shooting of Indian coalminers

(c) Natal, to show Indian style of dressing

(d) None of the above

Ans. (b)

Q.38. In which year did Gandhiji adopt  dhoti?

(a) 1913 (b) 1915 (c) 1921 (d) 1928

Ans. (c)

Q.39. For Mahatma Gandhi, khadi, white and coarse, was a sign of

(a) purity (b) simplicity (c) poverty (d) all the above

Ans. (d)

Q.40. Why did Mahatma Gandhi adopt loin cloth and a chaddar as his dress?    

(a) it was easy to wear (b) it was not easy to practise

(c) he believed that poor peasants could not afford more than that

(d) it was a political statement of self-respect

Ans. (c)

OR

Gandhiji’s decision to wear loin cloth only (and chaddar  if necessary to protect his body) throughout his life was seen by him as

(a) his duty to the poor (b) saving country’s resources

(c) giving in to the wishes of Britishers (d) none of the above

Ans. (a)

Q.41. Which of the following Indians was associated with the case of defiance of the shoe-respect rule? 

(a) Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar (b) Manockjee Cowasjee Entee

(c) Mahatma Gandhi (d) Sir M. Visveswaraya

Ans. (b)

Q.42. Many Dalits from the early 1910s began to wear three-piece suits on all public occasions as :

(a) a political statement of self-respect

(b) they were more comfortable in western style suits

(c) they did not like Khadi as it was a coarse material

(d) they wanted to imitate the British

Ans. (a)

Q.43. Many women reformers in India changed back into traditional clothes as :  

(a) faced by persistent attacks, they decided to conform to conventions

(b) they found the new style of clothing too stylish

(c) new style of clothing did not fit them well

(d) there were no good tailors to stitch the new style of clothing

Ans. (a)

Q.44. Which one of the following statements about women's fashion in the twentieth century is not true?

(a) women started wearing trousers and blouses

(b) women started wearing jewellery

(c) women started wearing shorter skirts (d) women started wearing sober colours

Ans. (b)

Q.45. A long, buttoned coat is called

(a) coat (b) suit (c) maxi (d) achkan

Ans. (d)

Q.46. What was a cockade?

(a) a fashionable dress of France (b) a cap that usually wore on one side

(c) a skirt worn upto the knee (d) a type of fur

Ans. (b)

Q.47. Which among the following is associated with sumptuary laws in France?  

(a) only the members of royalty and aristocracy could wear expensive clothes made of ermine, silk or brocade

(b) promoted for hunting game in certain areas

(c) laws were not strict towards social inferiors

(d) socially inferior were allowed to wear ermine, silk or brocade

Ans. (a)

Q.48. The women in Victorian England wore tightly fitting corsets when they slightly grew older :

(a) because the women could not move freely

(b) it was considered fashionable

(c) because it gave shape and support to the figure

(d) because women were expected to be serious, independent and aggressive

Ans. (c)

Q.49. Which of the following sections of society lamented that those women, who had given up traditional norms of dressing up, no longer looked beautiful?

(a) radicals (b) revolutionaries (c) liberals (d) conservatives

Ans. (d)

Q.50. Who among the following headed the American woman suffrage association?

(a) Lucy Stone (b) Amelia Bloomer (c) Mrs. Stanton (d) None of these

Ans. (c)