Anita Briey
thoughtportal reblogged
autisticexpression
Hollywood has no concept of what 5th century Romans looked like. If I'm watching a movie about the final days of the Western Roman Empire, I should be seeing zero togas. It's like if you made a movie about the Trump administration, you wouldn't have people dressed like the founding fathers. That's how wrong it is.
This is what 5th century Romans looked like:
I think the problem is that pop culture has this theme park version of history that treats time periods like distinct worlds with no fluidity between them. In Roman Times, people dressed like this vs Medieval Times when people dressed like that. But that is obviously not how time works. The end of the Western Roman Empire led directly into and overlapped with the Middle Ages, and the aesthetics we associate with medieval Europe were already long established.
On a related note, the "barbarians" didn't dress like you think they did either. Less of this:
More of this:
(Art by Angus McBride)
Again, the end of the Western Roman Empire was the beginning of medieval Europe, and it already looked like it.
The notable exception was the Franks, who apparently really did dress like that:
There really is an exception to everything, and it's usually the French.
french wearing stripes since the beginning of time
thoughtportal reblogged
A podcast about a Victorian book of fabrics
In 2016, fashion historian Kate Strasdin was given an extraordinary object – an album of richly coloured and brightly patterned fabric scraps, all collected by one woman across the Victorian age. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, Kate reveals what Anne Sykes’ dress diary can tell us about style, culture and the experiences of ordinary women in the era – and how it led her to poisonous stockings and pirates in Borneo.
Fashion historian Jessica Glasscock joins us for a two-part episode on the fascinating, 750 year history of eyeglasses and eyewear. Jessica is the author of the new book Making a Spectacle: A Fashionable History of Glasses.
Put on your Docksiders for a stroll through history with Avery Trufelman, who shows us how Ivy style became “preppy,” and how preppy fashion escaped the campus and took over the world. We’re talking about clothing, class, race, and the American dream: you may be through with the polo shirt, but the polo shirt isn’t through with you. Here's where to find Avery: Articles of Interest on Substack Articles of Interest podcast
Founder of the Brooklyn Lace Guild, Elena Kanagy-Loux joins us to discuss her work and the contemporary scene for makers of handmade lace.
Lace maker and historian Elena Kanagy-Loux joins us this week to talk about the history of handmade lace and its makers.
In episode 71 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews the acclaimed writer, fashion critic, and art curator, Charlie Porter on Louise Bourgeois, Anne Truitt, Sarah Lucas and Martine Syms !!!!!!
[This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!]
In this episode, which will work slightly differently from normal, we will focus on four artists mentioned in Charlie's latest book, one of my favourite books of this year: What Artists Wear!!! An incredibly fascinating book that chronicles the lives and careers of artists through their clothes and how they have worn, incorporated, used, recycled, referenced, and drawn from garments from the early 20th century to the present day.
From chapters dedicated to Louise Bourgeois and Martine Syms, an in-depth look into the history of the suit (think Frida Kahlo to Georgia O’Keeffe); a focus on the subject of workwear with the likes of Agnes Martin and Barbara Hepworth, and how they dressed ‘for the studio’. What ‘casual’ means today, how artists have worn jeans, how they integrate clothing for performance or made ‘wearable art’, to those who use garments as their chosen medium or for acts of transformation.
This book, for me, provided such a rich, fascinating insight into artists and their work, mostly for the reason that it offered an alternative viewpoint. Never has something made me think so deeply about how artists presented themselves, and in effect our own identities, but also how clothing has been used in art in so many different ways, circumstances, and for so many different reasons. ENJOY!!!!!!
A visiting lecturer in fashion at the University of Westminster, Charlie is one of the leading cultural commentators of our time and has been described as one of the most influential fashion journalists of his generation, with many of his garments now in the collection of the V&A.
Further links:
www.penguin.co.uk/books/314/314590…0and%20at%20play. lismorecastlearts.ie/read-watch-lis…the-exhibition
LISTEN NOW + ENJOY!!!
Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Nada Smiljanic Sound recording by Amber Miller Artwork by @thisisaliceskinner Music by Ben Wetherfield
How jeans and denim are made and the history of slavery, cotton, and indigo
There are hundreds more such stories woven into the fabric of our everyday vocabulary. If today’s language seem a little less elaborate, it is because modern media demand that we are, above all, succinct. There, too, hides a tale of fashion: this time a Roman toga tied with a girdle or belt and which was consequently succinctus (sub, meaning under, and cintus, girdled).
Whether you stick with hufflebuffs or go for the domino effect, our fashion has long dictated far more than our wardrobes. Clothes maketh language far more than we realise.
Since day one of Dressed, our listeners have deluged us with requests for an episode on pockets. This week we deliver with a two part episode on the history of the pocket with Dr. Ariane Fennetaux.
RECOMMENDED READING:
- Burman, Barbara and Ariane Fennetaux. The Pocket: A History of Women's lives, 1660-1900. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2019.
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Next week marks St. Catherine's Day on November 25th. In this week's minisode we explore the special nature of St. Catherine's Day to the French fashion industry.
Won't somebody please write a poem about how sexy it is that I am dying of a disease?? Come with me on a journey through the costume design in Crimson Peak, and how an epidemic shaped the fashion of the Victorian Era.
This week we honor the work of costume designer, fashion historian and expert on the history of paper patterns, Joy Spanabel Emery.
RECOMMENDED READING:
- Emery, Joy Spanabel. A History of the Paper Pattern Industry: The Home Dressmaking Revolution. New York: Bloomsbury, 2014
- Commercial Pattern Archive https://copa.apps.uri.edu/
