Dictionary definitions are unadorned with the adjectives that the fashion industry uses to distinguish its output. Dictionary definitions reveal that, while those within the fashion industry look to more specialist texts to understand their field, laymen’s or lexicographers ’ understanding of a garment is not ornamented by connections to culture, history or style. While the language of the fashion industry helps us to understand the relationship between garments, contexts, and style, dictionary definitions free designers from the historical or cultural contexts that are so important in the connotative meaning of any garment.