Medieval clothing and textiles History of clothing and textiles

1 medieval clothing , textiles

1.1 byzantium
1.2 medieval europe
1.3 high middle ages , rise of fashion

medieval clothing , textiles

the history of medieval european clothing , textiles has inspired deal of scholarly interest in 21st century. elisabeth crowfoot, frances pritchard, , kay staniland authored textiles , clothing: medieval finds excavations in london, c.1150-c.1450 (boydell press, 2001). topic subject of annual series, medieval clothing , textiles (boydell press), edited robin netherton , gale r. owen-crocker, emeritus professor of anglo-saxon culture @ university of manchester.

byzantium

the byzantines made , exported richly patterned cloth, woven , embroidered upper classes, , resist-dyed , printed lower. justinian s time roman toga had been replaced tunica, or long chiton, both sexes, on upper classes wore various other garments, dalmatica (dalmatic), heavier , shorter type of tunica; short , long cloaks fastened on right shoulder.

leggings , hose worn, not prominent in depictions of wealthy; associated barbarians, whether european or persian.

early medieval europe

edgar of england in short tunic, hose, , cloak, 966

european dress changed gradually in years 400 1100. people in many countries dressed differently depending on whether identified old romanised population, or new invading populations such franks, anglo-saxons, , visigoths. men of invading peoples wore short tunics, belts, , visible trousers, hose or leggings. romanised populations, , church, remained faithful longer tunics of roman formal costume.

the elite imported silk cloth byzantine, , later muslim, worlds, , cotton. afford bleached linen , dyed , patterned wool woven in europe itself. embroidered decoration widespread, though not detectable in art. lower classes wore local or homespun wool, undyed, trimmed bands of decoration, variously embroidery, tablet-woven bands, or colorful borders woven fabric in loom.

high middle ages , rise of fashion


14th-century italian silk damasks

clothing in 12th , 13th century europe remained simple both men , women, , quite uniform across subcontinent. traditional combination of short tunic hose working-class men , long tunic overgown women , upper class men remained norm. clothing, outside wealthier classes, remained little changed 3 or 4 centuries earlier.

the 13th century saw great progress in dyeing , working of wool, far important material outerwear. linen increasingly used clothing directly in contact skin. unlike wool, linen laundered , bleached in sun. cotton, imported raw egypt , elsewhere, used padding , quilting, , cloths such buckram , fustian.

crusaders returning levant brought knowledge of fine textiles, including light silks, western europe. in northern europe, silk imported , expensive luxury. well-off afford woven brocades italy or further afield. fashionable italian silks of period featured repeating patterns of roundels , animals, deriving ottoman silk-weaving centres in bursa, , yuan dynasty china via silk road.

cultural , costume historians agree mid-14th century marks emergence of recognizable fashion in europe. century onwards, western fashion changed @ pace quite unknown other civilizations, whether ancient or contemporary. in other cultures, major political changes, such muslim conquest of india, produced radical changes in clothing, , in china, japan, , ottoman empire fashion changed on periods of several centuries.

in period, draped garments , straight seams of previous centuries replaced curved seams , beginnings of tailoring, allowed clothing more closely fit human form, did use of lacing , buttons. fashion mi-parti or parti-coloured garments made of 2 contrasting fabrics, 1 on each side, arose men in mid-century, , popular @ english court. hose have different colours on each leg.