History of Clothing and Fashion

Warning - work in progress. Please leave comments if you have any...

Fig Leaf

God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.

The monkeys get dressed.

The exact date at which homo sapiens began to wear clothing is unknown. It is thought that about half a million years ago our distant ancestors had fire and hunted animals. Its unlikely that our ancestors were wasteful of the animal, and at some point men and women began to skin and use the pelts, probably first to sleep on, and then wrapped on the body.

The use of clothing is one of the factors that enabled humans to populate most of the planet, and surivive the many ice-ages. But clothing can offer more than survival - it can also signal one's skills and identity; wearing the skin of the lion advertises the prowess of the huntsman, much as a bowler hat in 1950s London identified a certain class of gentleman. Like language, clothing allows us to communicate with one another - denoting tribe, rank and sometimes personality. The rituals of applying warpaint, dressing for ceromonies and preening for courtship were evident in our species then as they are today.

20 000 year old bone needles

Certainly by 25000 years ago, clothing and adorment was commonly worn. Cave paintings from this era show groups of hunters dressed in tribal finery. They wore skins as capes and belts, they wore headresses and jewelery. Ancient beads and carvings suggest that adornment was fairly common.

Some unidentified hero(s) developed the needle, and the art of sewing began. 20 000 year old bone needles have been found. Some think that fishermen may have been the first to sew, developing tools to work thier nets and sails. Similarly, basketry may have developed into weaving. With sewing and cloth available, the fundamentals of modern clothing were in place.

the look of 3500 BCE

Vaguely 6000 years ago, humans began to settle and leave evidence of civilisation. For example, the standard of Ur(1) is a detailed pictograph of the city celebrating a victory in about 3500 BCE. It depicts people dressed in belted tunics, decorative cloaks, hoods and rather natty divided skirts.

oh to be able to put a picture in here...

pharoes in fine satins and gold

roman robes, togas and battlegear

the dark ages

As the Roman Empire slowly crumbled the barbarians took over Europe, and thier style was a little more savage. Trade diminished, and the finery of roman high-life was replaced by more a more homespun look, of woolen hose, tunic and cloak. Although the dark ages weren't actually dark, they are generally considered a dull period, and only the highest of classes could obtain brightly coloured clothing dyed by imported pigments.

the middle ages - the clothier, the tailor, cottage industry

Gradually in Europe trade resumed, cities grew, and things got a bit brighter. Over time a network of clothing trade developed, with clothiers buying and importing yarn, to be spun and woven in outworkers homes, which was then sold to taliors to cut into clothes. Although the work was still done by hand, the sophistication of spinning and weaving and the intricacies of cut were developing rapidly.

the industrial revolution, the sweatshop, the french revolution and the department store.

new fashion labels arrive from Paris!

the nineteen hundreds.

1910 the end of an era

1914 - 18 mass production of uniform death suits.

the roaring twenties.

depression in the thirties, dirty deals and glamourama

1940s war, rationing, mass-production and the active female

1950s teddy boys and teenagers, and the season goes on...

the sixties

1970 a dire decade.

1980 The Power Dressed

1990 A gentler stance, and the rise of the logo.

Well, all together in a list like that it looks like an awful lot, but clothes are one of the most fundamental human things, and so worth explaining properly. There are also some examples where fashion and clothing styles, and the production and consumption and deconstruction of clothing illustrate more general social trends.

I intend to write a short entry for each header, with a picture and a paragraph or two, and a link if you're really lucky.

Contributing Researchers

If you have further information that you think might be useful in this project, please post it in the conversations below, or contact the Field Researcher running this project (see above).