History of Clothing and Fashion
One technological advancement was Humanism. Humanism was the continuation of Cicero’s premise that man was a dignified rational being, this lead to individuals becoming more self-aware and extroverted. They discovered that the human body represented the beauty of proportion in nature, and clothing followed that to fit these human proportions.
Another technological advancement was textiles. The textile allowed for fabrics to become more elaborate and extravagant, adding more layers and details to the work. Textile workers continued to become more skilled expanding the delicacy of the work. They created precious silks, brocades, taffeta and velvets, making Europe renowned for their quality and beauty of design. The fancier clothes you wore the rich you portrayed yourself.
Lastly, a technological advancement was math and geometry. Math and geometry lead to clothing becoming more precise and intricate. It also lead to advancements in the efficiency and development of embroidery. Such as the Blackwork, a counted-thread embroidery woven in geometric designs with silk. It also lead to machines like treadle-powered spinning wheel which sped up the fabric process. Math And geometry was a large part of the Renaissance Development, it lead to the beginning of expanding thought and examining the human body, which also assisted in the development of humanism.
Relating to modern day, 21st century technological advancement that has affected clothing is the advancement of the internet. Whereas before you had to go to your favorite dress or hat maker down the street, now you can open the internet and look through thousands of different options from around the world. The internet has changed the way the people shop and how clothes are developed. Clothing companies must find new ways to market their products because they have to separate themselves from the many other options. These separating options can be, price, quality, design, uniqueness, charity linkage, etc.
Throughout history clothing has been used to tell a story, this was not less evident in Ancient Greece. Clothing in Ancient Greece had linked to larger symbolic meanings of culture and Gods. First there was the idea of unity. Clothing was a reflection of being a part of the society in that everyone would dress in the same types of clothing, from dress to rope wrapped around the body. A large part of presentation was showing off and perfection. The Greeks had no problem doing this, they would present their wealth by revealing the body wearing limited clothes. So much so that the Greeks had no problem with nudity and it was normal. They wanted to look perfect so badly that women would drench themselves in water before going to parties to attain the seek curvy look from their clothing. This made the clothing tight to their bodies and reveal their curves. They began to more elaborately decorated themselves with more layers, jewelry and expensive dye colors. This was a way to separate classes by the intricacy of their clothing and value of their possessions.
Ancient Greek clothing and upkeep had great links to their gods. The Greeks believed that hair was imbued with a religious and a symbolic significance. When mourning they would cut or tear off some of their own hair and lay it upon the corpse or burn it with the deceased, there were offerings by a lover or a relative. Women cuts their hair to sacrifice to their new life on the day of their weddings. The brides would do this to symbolize her humility and renunciation of her vanity. Young boys would cut their hair when it was long enough to sacrifice to Apollo, the god of youth.
The four main distinct eras of ancient Greece are: Cretan-Minoan, Mycenaean, Archaic, and Classical-Hellenistic. They first part of Greek history was hard to discover due the factors limiting the preservation of the artifacts. The first part of society was mainly focused on fertility. Then later in the Cretan-Minoan period, when ancient Greece flourished, we saw the expansion of the clothing while continuing around the idea of fertility, along with the nudity and showing off of the body. Then in Mycenaean era, we the expansion of men wearing skirts accompanied by armor during times of war. Women’s fashion pair alongside as they would wear open breasted costumes. Then in the Archaic Period, was the beginning of new civilization, when we saw men’s clothing become simpler with singular ropes and woman’s become elaborate with added layers and folds. Lastly, in Classical Period, is when we began to see the more elaborate clothing and additions to the dresses, including sewing and different cuts to show off the body and its curves.
In today’s day and age, making clothing by hand would be considered a fancy or extravagant method. With the advances in today’s technology I would say that making clothing by completely hand would be for only personal reasons, such as enjoyment of the hobbies or self-worth. Handmade clothing does create a high sense of self-worth in creating and wearing clothing you made yourself. Handmade clothing can still be seen made the same was as our history with spinning, weaving and sewing but now it is just easier. Throughout all of history, when they made clothes by hand they used other “machines to help” from metal spinners to knifes and to rocks back in the day, to nowadays machinery and tools. Technology has sped up this process and made it more efficient. The invention of machinery has sped up the process substantially. In the fashion market, handmade clothing can be sold for higher prices. This fancier label of handmade whether it being actually made by hand or by hands using sewing machine creates a elaborate demand, increasing the prices and worth. Another reason you see clothing being made by hand is for detail. You see it in fancy and expensive clothes, such as nice dresses and wedding dressing are made by hand. It is necessary to use you hands on certain clothing in order to achieve certain looks.
Personally, I would never make my ow clothing my hand, it is far too hard. I have sewn small rips in my clothes but that has been a frustrating, long experience.
Today we will be talking about the Egyptian and Mesopotamian Clothing!
All the finds that we know of the clothing from Egypt came from their artwork and engraving. Clothing in ancient Egypt consisted of mostly linens fabrics, from canvas like materials to filmy, translucent sheers. They used fibre of the stalk of flax plant to creates linens. The drapery was from the waist down and sometimes draped over the shoulder for women. Nudity was very common in Egypt and often the poor had less clothing. Egyptians loved to decorated themselves and a jewelry was a big part of this. The jewelry was made of stones and metal, gold, sliver copper and semi-precious gems like amethyst, cornelian, jasper, onyx, and quartz crystal. They also decorated themselves with tattoos, necklaces, anklets, bracelets, and elaborate head dress. The rich and power had simple or figure of serpents on their headdress to symbol their status. Cleanness was a big deal in ancient Egypt, they would shave their heads and face with the exception of a man’s mustache or goatee. They created wigs to help keep the body cleans and used perfume balls and oils to keep up hygiene. Most of what they worn was to help with the hot climate and keep the status of cleanliness. They wore the light ropes and shaved to stay cool and wigs to gain insulation from the sun.
A lot of the clothing we saw in Egypt is seen in many other cultures throughout history, including the Mesopotamians. However, there are some larger differences. A lot of the information we have from the Mesopotamian era is studying from their statues. Mesopotamian clothing was mostly made of wool and decorated with feathers, petals, or tufts of fabric. They wore the upper torso bear and used pins to hold up the fabrics. Men wrapped themselves in skirts and women worm long ropes called Launkas. Their clothing was made out of local materials and it was easy to remove and add lavers, adjusting for the weather. We see the same passion for decoration. They used lots of leaves and jewelry as well. Jewelry was made from thin gold metal leaf set with brightly-colored stones. They had necklaces, headdress and helmets for soldiers. Fancy jewelry and ropes were also a sign of wealth. Throughout the progression of time we see elaborated necklaces and headdresses as well as beautiful beaded dresses. We also see the development in women’s clothing of cross the materials around their breasts and behind the back to make a pinned up v-neck or a pinned-up dress from neck to ankles. From the sculptures, we see men had both shaved heads and long hair and beards as well as shaved faces women often had shorter hairstyles than the men or wore their hair in long elaborately- entwined braids or wrapped up in fabric. The nobility and priest hood were the top, and we see shaved faces or nudity for the priests.
Thinking about clothing that you could not wear in your own social groups and in public locations…
Items that I could not wear in the groups I inhabit would include: A suit or tuxedo in a casual environment or to class, Pjs outside of my house, clothing with bad paraphernalia on it to appropriate settings, ripped and ratty clothing to class, minimal or inappropriate clothing to dinning hall, informal clothing to graduation such as not a suit or dress clothes.
Thinking about clothing in your family dynamic…
Unacceptable clothing in my family dynamic would be wearing a hat inside the house, ripped jeans in front of my grandparents, not wearing nice clothes to church or fancy dinners, such as not a collared shirt, and sweatpants or muscle shirts to the dinner table.
RBontorin THEA 237 - HoCaF 
