Vocabulary: Clothes and items of clothing

Think about these questions:

What's the difference between formal clothes and casual clothes?

Man wearing a dinner jacket

What kind of clothes would you wear to a job interview?
What sort of clothes would you wear to a wedding?
When you go shopping, how many items do you usually buy?
Do you browse, or do you know what you want before you go shopping?
When would you wear evening dress?
Look at the picture. What's this man wearing: formal clothes, casual clothes or evening dress?
How would you describe the man?
smart    scruffy    sophisticated    trendy    fashionable
well-dressed    good-dressed     messy     
     (one of these words is rubbish: which one?)
What different patterns do you prefer: Stripes, checks or spots?
Do you like pictures and patterns on your clothes, or do you prefer plain clothes?
Do you like light or dark clothes?
Do you prefer dark or bright colours?
What size are you? Do you prefer loose-fitting clothes or tight-fitting clothes? Skinny jeans are very popular and tight-fitting.


For clothes vocabulary, look at this website:

http://www.asos.com/Men/?WT.ac=HP|gen|top|men

On the left, you can see a list of items: Accessories, Bags, Caps & Hats, Hoodies & Sweatshirts etc. Use the website to find pictures and to help you learn the words. Here is the link for the women's section:

http://www.asos.com/Women/?WT.ac=HP|gen|top|women

Fashions change and trends change. What was fashionable and all the rage in the 1980s is not very popular now. Look at some pictures from previous decades: how have fashions changed over time?

Even better, watch some films from the 70s and 80s. Music videos are good for this too. Look at the clothes people are wearing. How would you describe them?

You can also practise your listening skills at the same time. To start, here is a link to lyrics training of one of the most popular songs of the 80s: Take on me, by A-Ha: http://www.lyricstraining.com/play/109/aha/take_on_me

A-Ha

 What type of clothes are people wearing in the video? (coats/ jackets/ denim jackets/ jeans/ checked shirts/ trainers/ leather jackets/ short-sleeved shirts/ rolled-up sleeves.....)

And the answer: good-dressed is rubbish. We say well-dressed.