The etymological root for attire is found in attonĭtus, a Latin term that can be translated as “astonished. ” Beyond this translation, the concept is used to name clothing and clothing in general.
For example: “The actress wore a very sensual outfit at the awards ceremony”, “A thief who used police attire in his robberies was arrested after a long investigation”, “According to fashion specialists, the businessman chose an outfit little suitable for his marriage. “
According to DigoPaul, the idea of attire encompasses different clothing items and even accessories. Shoes, socks, pants, shirts, T-shirts, coats and hats, among many other items, are part of the outfits that people can wear.
In general, the concept of attire is used when clothing is out of the ordinary or when it is a uniform. Otherwise, in colloquial language words such as clothes or garments are often used.
Singers, to cite one case, often choose special outfits for their concerts. Many times these outfits are important in the development of the aesthetics of the artist in question, and may even be linked to some conceptual idea. Lady Gaga is one of the figures who pays a lot of attention to the outfits she wears.
Athletes can also choose certain particular outfits when they must attend an event. Many of them are dressed by famous brands who want to advertise. The footballer Lionel Messi, in this context, usually surprises with the outfits he wears in the Ballon d’Or galas.
Art, professional sports and the entertainment world have declined considerably in recent times in terms of the quality of content and the commitment of the people involved in different fields, from producers and directors to the artists and athletes themselves. Given that we are in an era characterized by the predominance of physical appearance, the importance of clothing has become almost vital in the field of celebrities, and in many cases it seems to serve as a veil to hide their shortcomings.
This does not mean that attire is not important to art; on the contrary, literature, cinema and video games are three examples of disciplines in which the characters’ clothing reflects a series of fundamental aspects of their way of being, their culture and their economic situation, without neglecting the era to which they belong.
In video games, it is very common for companies to give players the possibility to change the outfit of their characters, and for that there are different commercial methods and strategies. On the one hand, there are titles that have a microtransaction system that allows users to buy all kinds of content with real money, and this includes new settings, characters and stories to expand the experience. Some developers choose not to ask for real money but to offer the expansion in exchange for items that can be found in the game, such as gemstones, coins, and so on.
The change of outfit in a video game is something relatively recent, since due to the technical limitations of the first generations of consoles and computers it was not possible in the past. Early character models had such a low level of detail that sometimes their clothing could not be distinguished from their body, and they did not even have eyes or hair. Nowadays, since they are done in 3d, designers can create the character without clothes and add as many clothes as they want without placing a significant burden on the processors.
