BYZZANTINE

Late Roman and “Byz-antine” dress is more body covering than earlier Roman costume, usually including long sleeves and long hems. This is generally assumed to be a reaction to the grow-ing Christian view that the body was not beautiful, but a pit of vice. When the tunica is shorter (only on men) the lower limbs are encased in trousers, a “barbarian” inven-tion first adopted by the Ro-man army and lower classes, and eventually (after some aristocratic resistance) by all men. The toga remained for emperors and other high officials in this period, but in vestigial form as a long thin (about 6”) strip wrapped round the torso in the tradi-tional manner.

Long half circle capes were part of male court dress, worn in place of the old toga over the new long sleeved tunica. The most notable feature of the Eastern Empire’s dress is its surface decoration. Unlike the earlier period which left fabric largely un-decorated, the people of the Byzantine Empire used all manner of woven, embroidered and beaded surface embellishment, particularly on Church vestments and court dress. This style of decoration, and many of the garment shapes, survive to this day in the priestly vestments of Orthodox churches in Greece, Eastern Europe and Russia.

RENAISSANCE

we called garment or cloth as fashion. , Northern part of europe were more feminine. Headdress was a very popular fashion. The most spectacular sample of all was the butterfly headdress. , Anna of Austria wears farthingale which was the most fash-ionable dress at the time. and Queen Elizabeth the soul of the fashion, she put the idea of wearing and display to the public. She was to open the ruff in front so as to expose the bosom, and to allow it to rise in gauze wings at the back of the head.

VICTORIAN JEWELRY

The Grand or Mid-Victorian era corresponded with the death of Queen Victoria’s husband, many jewelry pieces have solemn, grave de-signs. Known as mourning jewelry, the pieces feature heavy, dark stones. Jet, onyx, amethyst, and garnet are frequently found in jewelry from this period. Compared to previous periods more colorful designs were found

using shells, mosaics and gemstones and some would argue more creativi-ty to the design process was applied.

Industrial Revolu

tion

Industrial Revolu

tion

During the industrial revolution, both men’s and women’s dress becomes more complex during this era due to the invention of the Sewing Machine, and the popular dissemination of pattern books and systems for garment cutting. Men’s clothing, while outwardly simple, begins to acquire the internal padding, inter-facings and complex structure that makes modern men’s suits fall so smooth-ly even over an object as lumpy and mobile as the human form. Men’s fashion becomes a series of undecorated black tubes, like the smoke stacks of The Indus-trial Revolution, while women’s dress continues to balloon out with ruffles, dec-orations and petticoats.

Elias Howe, the inventor of the first mass produced, practical sewing machine, orig-inally demonstrated its utility to a group of prospective investors by holding a sewing race between himself and his ma-chine, and ten professional hand stitchers. He easily won, and the economic situation of stitchers (mostly female) declined as a consequence of the adoption of the in-vention. Industrialists would invest in the machines, hire the stitchers cheaply, and then take the profits for themselves that their increased output produced. With profits so high, soon competition between manufacturers of clothes got fierce, and so producers tried to “improve” their prod-uct by adding more sewing decoration, such as ruffles, pleats, and top stitching, to lure customers. The end result was that fashionable Women’s dress became in-credibly over decorated in the 19th Cen-tury. Another result of this increased out-put in clothing manufacture was that poor people’s clothing got better, and the rags of earlier eras were replaced by cheaply made mass manufac tured work clothes. The middle classes were able to afford more than clean simple clothes, and be-gan to actively indulge in fashion for its own sake.

Burberry 2010 Fall Man wearIdea from Industrial Revolution

LA B E L L E

ÉPOQUE

The fashions of the La Belle Époque still retained the elaborate, upholstered, hour-glass-shaped style of the 19th century. No fashionable lady could (or would) yet dress or undress herself without the assistance of a third party. The constant need for radical change, which is now essen-tial for the survival of fashion within the present system, was still literally unthinkable. The use of different trim-mings were all that distin-guished one season from the other.Conspicuous waste and conspicuous consumption defined the fashions of the decade and the outfits of the couturiers of the time were incredibly extravagant, elabo-rate, ornate, and painstakingly made. The curvaceous S-Bend silhouette dominated fashion up until around 1908. The S~Bend corset was very tight-ly laced at the waist which forced the hips back and the drooping mono bosom was thrust forward in a pouter pigeon effect creating an S shape. Toward the end of the decade the fashionable silhou-ette gradually became some-what more straight and slim, partly due to Paul Poiret’s high-waisted, shorter-skirted Directoire line of clothes.

Chanel was credited with liberating women from the constraints of the “corseted silhou-ette” and popularizing the acceptance of a sportive, casual chic as the feminine stan-dard in the post-World War I era. A prolific fashion creator, Chanel’s influence extended beyond couture clothing. Her design aesthetic was realized in jewelry, handbags, and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, has become an iconic product.Chanel was known for her lifelong determination, ambition and energy which she applied to her professional and social life. She achieved both success as a businesswoman and social prominence thanks to the connections she made through her work. These includ-ed many artists and craftspeople to whom she became a patron. However, Chanel’s highly competitive, opportunistic personality led her to make questionable life choices which have generated controversy around her reputation, particularly her behaviour

CHRISTIAN

Women protested because his designs covered up their legs, which they had been unused to because of the previous limitations on fabric. There was also some backlash to Dior’s designs due to the amount of fabrics used in a single dress or suit. During one photo shoot in a Par-is market, the models were attacked by female vendors over this prof-ligacy, but opposition ceased as the wartime shortages ended. The “New Look” revolution-ized women’s dress and reestablished Paris as the center of the fashion world after World War II.