Fig. 6. Major stages in the evolution of clothing.

The main transitions in clothing, from ad hoc to routine use and from simple (loose) to complex (fitted ± layered) garments, together with the acquisition of decorative and symbolic functions. These transitions occurred within an environmental context of intensified global climate change from the mid-Pleistocene, associated with temperature fluctuations of increasing magnitude. Clothing charts by F. d’Errico; temperature chart from Brunetti and Prodi (39); reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.