Designing and construction of suitable clothing for elderly women of 65-85 years of age
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Date
2009-07
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
As a person ages, usually agility decreases. Proper clothing for this time in life is vitally important to one's overall well-being and happiness. Attractive clothing that fits well is important for senior citizens, but they also desire clothing that improves functional independence, offers ease in dressing and undressing, provides physical & thermal comfort and contributes to ease in performing routine duties. Inspite of increasing number of elderly women in population, clothing designed especially for this age group is unavailable in market. Therefore, present research was carried out to know the needs and preferences of elderly women of 65-85 years of age in Udham Singh Nagar (Uttarakhand) and to design and construct suitable clothing for them accordingly. Elderly females preferred semi fitted, tailor made garments with cool colours, semi deep necklines and three quarter sleeves. Maximum females preferred buttons as fasteners and embroidery as trim. Among fabric properties, absorbency and light weight were preferred by maximum respondents. On the basis of results obtained from survey, 10 design sketches of Salwar kurta and gowns (5 each) were made. These sketches were then evaluated by a panel of judges comprising of Staff members and post graduate students of Home Science College, G.B.P.U.A. & T. Total 4 designs i.e. 2 designs of salwar kurta and 2 designs of gown which got maximum scores were selected for construction. The fitting of constructed dresses were tried and features like ease in wearing, ease in manipulating fasteners, safety, comfortability, appropriateness of garment to age and over all appearance were also evaluated by the respondents. The present study thus indicates that elderly women also want to fulfill their needs and desires related to clothing and they may be uncomfortable wearing the clothes they have, especially if those clothes are out of date, are in colours or designs that are mismatched or simply no longer fit properly. Elderly women form an important part of society, therefore their needs and desires related to clothing should not be neglected. Clothes which promote independent dressing and boost the psychological spirit of elderly females have been tried to prepare under the current research work.
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