fashion design history

1. BYZANTINE AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

13. ART AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION ABOUT COSTUME
•Decorated churches with mosaics (pictures or designs made from small,
coloured stones).
•Carving of ivory and illumination hand painting and lettering of manuscripts.
•Art during this time shows blending of classical and Middle Eastern motifs
and forms of decoration.
•Religious motifs in art.
•Christ as a king and Mary as a queen, dressed in royal robes which
symbolised their status.

14. TEXTILE PRODUCTION AND TECHNOLOGY
•Byzantines wove fine textiles like linen and wool.
•Initially silk production being the secret knowledge of countries like China,
Japan and Korea it later moved westwards too before the 1st century B.C.
But it happened only on a limited scale.
•By 6fth century the secret of sericulture was brought by a pair of monks
to this region.
•Byzantines produced silk for the rest of the western world till the 9th
century till later Greeks also picked it up.
•The emperor charged heavy prices for the monopoly. Brocades woven
were desirable with Persian influence in design along with a few Christian
subjects. Precious and semi precious stones, small medallions of enamel,
embroidery or appliqués were also used for decoration.

37. BYZANTINE COSTUME
FOR MEN AND WOMEN: AD 300 – 1450
COSTUME COMPONENTS FOR MEN AND WOMEN

43. WESTERN EUROPE FROM THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE TO AD 900
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

49. COSTUME IN THE WESTERN EUROPE: FALL OF THE ROMAN
EMPIRE
•People were Romanised in their dress.
•Men with tunics and women with layered tunics with pallas.
•With the essence of the roman style, the other influences in terms of
components came from barbarian tribes. They too had a tunic cut to
knee but combined with a type of a trouser.
•They used fur as they came from colder climates, often as sleeveless
vest over the tunic.
•Gartered hose which became part of the western, medieval dress
was also derived from the barbarian costume.
•Draped garments were replaced by those which were made by
pieces cut and sewn.

50. THE PRODUCTION OF CLOTH
•Women were the major producers of textiles and cloth.
•Gynaecium or women’s workshop in estates in rural areas were present.
•Linen and wool were the main textiles.
•Dyes were in use with colours like blue, yellow, green and purple.

67. •THE GERMAN DYNASTIES
•ANGLO-SAXON AND NORMAN BRITAIN
•THE FRENCH KINGS

72. MEDIVAL CASTLE AND COURTS
•Private quarters in the form of large fortified castles. Ventilated rooms, with
fireplaces for winters but they were damp and chilly.
•Simple and not very comfortable furnishings and a bit more luxurious items
being brought from east as a result of crusades.
•Multiple layering was the kind of clothing done for castles.
•The institution of knighthood and chivalry, the system for training knights,
required that boys learn not only the arts of war, but also the manners and
customs of the upper classes.
•Training for the knights happened in the castles.
•These courts especially of the dukes and kings attracted artistes, poets,
troubadours or wandering singers, musicians, and other entertainers.
•A stage for display of fashion too.

73. TOWN LIFE
•After the fall of the Rome many cities perished.
•During the 10th and 11th centuries urban life revived again, with agriculture,
manufacturing, and trade.
•Wealthy merchants with styled clothes just below the nobility with
disapprovals from clergy.
EARLY INDICAITONS OF FASHION
•The concept of fashion began in this period – acceptance of style for a short
period of time.
•Women dressed to attract and tailors had to be more adept in giving new
styles.
•French as leaders in fashion has its roots from this time onwards.
•Word velvet appears for the first time.

74. FABRIC PRUDCTION
•Major evolution in fabric production.
•Factories and workshops called the gynaecium or at home where the
women worked.
•Men also got involved in processes like weaving.
•Dying and other related crafts became specialised and were done outside
home.
•Decline in slavery and movement of people from rural to urban areas in
Middle Ages.
•Workshops were stopped and fabric production moved to homes and men
also got involved in works earlier done only by men.
•Technological changes too.
•Water powered mills and horizontal looms improved the working
condition.

75. •The machines were brought from India for fabric development.
•European craftsmen established centres for fabric production and
export.
•Trade guilds had first been established in 11th century by merchants who
wanted to prevent the import of competing goods.
•By the 12th century the craftsmen also formed their own guilds.
•Apprenticing and training of young boys at these guilds to regulate
quality standards, pays, working condition etc.
•Wool was an important fibre in this trade especially the wool from
England apart from flax and linen. Silk was also becoming a major
industry on its own in Italy, Sicily and Spain. Cotton originally from India
was brought to Spain.

76. ART
•Marked changes in art too with the economic awakening.
•Not just for decoration but also used as a means for telling stories about
Christianity.
•The old styles of dressing of gods and angel were also added by
contemporary styles.
•Apart from the monks and the monasteries the lay artistes and urban
workshops also got involved in art work.
•Rich source of visual evidence.
•Manuscript illumination and carving of miniatures in ivory and wood.
•Romanesque architecture of the 10th and the 11th centuries,
characterised by rounded arches and massive well proportioned
buildings, utilized the work of sculptors as an important element of
decoration.
•Then gothic architecture superseded the roman till about 1400s.
•Gothic churches with their pointed arches and soaring graceful structures
used not only sculpture but also beautiful stained glass windows.

77. COSTUMES IN THE 10TH & THE 11TH CENTURIES
COSTUME COMPONENTS FOR MEN:
10TH & 11TH CENTURIES
•Underclothing consisted of undershirts and under-drawers.
•The garment that eventually evolved into the modern man’s shirt
originated as an undergarment worn next to the skin, and this garment
was partially or not visible.
•Post 19th century shirt was no longer considered underwear.
•Undershirts, sometimes referred to as chemises were shirt sleeved
linen garments.
• Underdrawers called braies, were loose fitting linen breeches
fastened at the waist with a belt with length s ranging from knee length
to longer ankle length variations.

79. • Men wore tunics: an outer and an inner
usually of same length, sometimes the
inner tunics were longer in length and
visible at the lower edge.

80. • When short in length outer tunics were almost always
made with close fitting sleeves, sometimes with gathers
over the wrist and extra fabrics pushes up.
• Long outer tunics were made either with fitted
sleeves, or cut wide and full, slowing the sleeve of the
under tunic to show.
• Tunic necklines were round and square made in linen
and wool and belted at waist. Silk was imported by the
rich class for garments.

81. •Social class distinctions were
evident in decoration and length of
tunics with the wealthy having
tunics decorated at hem, neck and
sleeves with band of silks.
•The nobility and the clergy wore
long flowing robes for ceremonial
occasions.
•For hunting and warfare more
practical clothing.

112. COSTUME COMPONENTS FOR WOMEN: 12TH CENTURY
•Not much of a change in the lower class women’s costume.
•Changes in the costumes for upper class women as seen in the last
century.
•The chemise, under tunic and the outer tunic became fitted
•Some bliaut girone show that the fabric may have been pleated,
smocked or crinkled.
•Sleeves of bliauts for women were exaggerated.
•If both the tunics were worn then the one below will have sleeve long
and fitted while outer garments had sleeves narrow at the top and
flaring gradually at the end.
•Chainse, distinctive garment for upper class women, made of linen, was
long and pleated.
•Chainse was worn over the chemise as a house dress, washable, made
with lighter fabric for summers.

131. HAIR AND HEADRESS

139. MILITARY COSTUME