Keeping Up Appearances: Well-Dressed Words

A traditional Turkish garment, the caftan became popular in the West during the 1960s as a loose, oversized shirtdress used as a casual cover-up that you might wear poolside or at the beach.

A brightly colored shirt from West Africa, the dashiki became popular in the U.S. during the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. Dashiki is a Yoruba word; Yoruba is spoken in large parts of Nigeria and neighboring countries.

Frock originated in part to mean the robe worn by a monk or a priest; this meaning is still clear in defrocked, used when a priest or another member of an esteemed organization, like a judge, is stripped of that status as punishment for a serious offense.

Garb means clothing, but almost in a costume-y sense; if a person's profession is identifiable just from the clothes or uniform they wear, that's garb.

Jodhpurs may be super comfortable, and perfect for riding horses (which they were designed for), but they sort of look like the tailor started to run out of fabric halfway down the legs.

Shift means many things; in this case the word refers to an often sleeveless undershirt from 18th century Europe. The shape became popular here in the 1920s, as a rebellion against the corsets, bustles and long skirts from earlier fashion eras. During the Twenties, flappers wore shifts as a rebellious fashion statement, but an added bonus is that the short, loose dress is easy to dance in.

The noun smock refers to a garment; you may have worn one of your dad's old shirts backwards as a smock in art class to keep paint from ruining your clothes. The verb describes a way of using stitches to add decorative pleats to fabric.

Vests come in every possible material and style, but the one thing they all have in common — their essence, their nature, their very soul — is a complete and total lack of sleeves.