National costume, (also: national dress, regional costume, folk dress or traditional garment), expresses an identity through costume which usually relates to a geographic area or a period of time in history, but can also indicate social, marital and/or religious status.

Most countries have one. In fact all countries have some sort of recognised clothing; the most obvious being the Japanse kimono, the Indian sari and the German lederhosen. All of these garments date back to old traditoinal customs, and are easily recognised for representing their country. However what is Englands national costume?

England has seen many fashions through the ages and never had some sort of continous English costume- but if one asked of a typical english dress, I think most people would imagine a suited man sporting a net moustache complete with monacle, pipe and walking stick. But when was the last time you saw a man of that calibre?

It would be far more common to see an English man walking down the road in a football shirt for example. Or possibly you might meet and "emo", "hoodie", "poshnob", "freak" or "slut". It is amazing how quick people are to label fellow citizens from their clothing.

It is what people notice first: our clothing projects an image of our personality - or rather the projected image we want people to see. Thats why clothing becomes such a big part of outr lives; the desire to impress (one of human and animal nature) is one of utmost importance. In our judgemental society, when we first meet someone, what they say accounts for only 10% of our first imporession of them - the rest their appearance, clothing and body language.

Is that why England doesn't have a nationally recognised uniform? Everyone strives to be different, to stand out, make an impression, which can be easily done if you step out normal clothing rules. We are influenced by our different backgrounds and upbringings; no one is the same.

You can see this by taking a look at a school uniform worn by two different children. From afar they would look the same; however is you zoomed in you would notice the differences: this ones wears its tie low, the other has pulled down its socks etc.

To the outsiders looking in (in this case our uniformed schoolkids from afar) we might all look the same, but look that little bit harder and you'll notice the differences. Don't judge a book by its cover - don't judge a person by their clothes.


The recognised national costume of England is the one worn by the Morris Dancers and the Pearly Kings & Queens.

By Georgia Wright