question
By dufresne
@dufresne (137)
China
May 5, 2009 9:11am CST
In the sentence "be aware that your attire can literally become a costume. I have known a lot of terrific-looking scoundrels and a lot of well-dressed bums." I'd like to know what's the difference between "attire" and "costume".
1 response
@gerald_lian (2188)
• Australia
5 May 09
Well, I have a pre-conceived idea of the difference of the two words, but I'm not sure if they are correct. Based on my understanding, the word "attire" is simply any clothing that you wear on your body. For instance, T-shirt, pants, socks, shoes and hat can be your attire. On the other hand, the word "costume" refers to clothing or attire that is specific to a certain occasion or to a specific race/religion/group/culture. For example, you only see certain people from certain countries dress in a certain way.
Hope that clarifies a little on the difference between the two words! 
