Survey of Historic Costume by Phyllis G. Tortora

PREFACE:
We are delighted to present the sixth edition of Survey of Historic Costume, now celebrating its 25th anniversary as a bestselling textbook for the study of fashion history. We are pleased to introduce new co-author Sara B. Marcketti, Associate Professor at Iowa State University, who has taught History of European and American Dress and Twentieth Century Dress History courses since 2005 and is an associate director of the university’s Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. She brings a wealth of scholarship, knowledge, and teaching experience to this edition. Marcketti is delighted to join esteemed Professor Emerita Phyllis Tortora in this revision. This edition is supported by a new multimedia resource—STUDIO: Survey of Historic Costume—which provides a digital study tool directly related to the content of the book, including online self-quizzes with results and personalized study tips, flashcards with definitions and image identification, chapter videos and images, maps, a timeline, and activities to help students master concepts and improve grades.

NEW TO THIS EDITION
One goal of this edition is to refine the historic content and help students draw connections between themes and dress history. We have decreased the length of part openers and made chapters a more manageable length. A new Chapter 20, The New Millennium, places greater emphasis on major fashion events of this century, making this book as current as possible and more relevant to the study of fashion today.

In addition to streamlining and updating the text for 2014, this edition includes two new features. Decorative and Fine Arts tables of previous editions have been incorporated into new, illustrated chapter-opening timelines. Each timeline spread quickly orients the student in the era’s history, including political, economic, social, technological, decorative and fine arts, and cultural events.

Survey of Historic Costume is a basic text for readers who need an overview of the history of costume in the Euro-American world. We make no attempt to survey the vast topic of historic costume in all parts of the world. Our purpose is to present a survey of Euro-American dress rather than an infinitely detailed picture. At the same time, it is our intention to make that picture as complete as possible within the limitations of space. Thus, another key change to this edition is introduction of global dress through a new Global Connections boxed feature, which demonstrates cross-cultural interactions of dress and clothing.

FEATURES
The consistent organization and parallel contents across chapters provide a systematic way for students to read and learn the information. Each chapter contains the following features.

Timeline
The one-page chapter chronologies of previous editions have been expanded in this edition to full-spread, illustrated timelines, which coordinate with six themes that appear in the chapters: fashion and textiles; politics and conflicts; decorative and fine arts; economics and trade; technology and ideas; and religion and society. Illustrations from the chapter-opening timeline appear again at relevant points in the chapter, drawing clear connections to chapter topics and adding depth to the chapter.

Chapter Organization
We must view the dress of each era within the context of the period. To assist readers who may have a limited background in history, a brief summary of the major historical developments related to the chapter is provided both in the chapter opener pages and in the text.

Clothing is a part of the basic equipment for everyday life, and so each chapter makes note of some of the important aspects of the lives of the people of the time. Where the arts, specific individuals, events, or societal values can be seen to have influenced styles, they are discussed. The technology and economy of the production and distribution of fabrics often influence dress; therefore, changes in technology for the making of cloth and items of dress, and in the economic systems of production and distribution, are noted. As the fashion industry becomes more complex, changes in its organization and function are stressed.

After the setting has been delineated, specific styles of each period worn by men, women, and children are described. Organization and contents are parallel in all chapters, and all elements of dress, ranging from undergarments to accessories, are included for every period. In this way, a rather detailed picture of costume can be provided even within the space limitations imposed on a single volume. Each chapter concludes with a summary of the themes evident in the dress of the period.

Illustrations
The history of dress is in major part a visual history. In this sixth edition, 90 percent of the photographs are full color, with black and white reserved for important illustrations not available in color.

Readers need depictions of costume from original source materials not only to understand unfamiliar terms, but also to supplement the general, survey approach of the text. The captions of the illustrations not only identify various parts of the costume and provide the contemporary names for elements of the styles, but also identify the aspects of the pictures that provide supporting evidence to the costume historian of the nature of costume in this period. The material in the captions of illustrations is as important as the contents of the book and should be read as carefully as the text.

Tables
Survey includes both illustrated and descriptive tables. Illustrated tables summarize material briefly and effectively. These are usually line drawings based on primary source materials. We have chosen to use clean line drawings without color, because these can often provide a clearer idea of the structure of the item than a photograph. Illustrated Tables depict important accessories, footwear, and headwear that were predominant during the period, and Visual Summary Tables show clear line drawings of the fashionable silhouettes and details of the period. Types of descriptive tables include those listing names of style, influential designers, and fashion influences from the period.

Global Connections
Global Connections is a new boxed feature that illustrates how items from one culture have influenced another. Usually, items will relate to influences on Euro-American dress, but in a few examples readers will see the influence traveling in another direction. The photographs are of items that originated or were in use during the time periods discussed in each chapter. Our objective in these features is to make readers aware that no culture, present or past, is without some connections to other cultures around the globe. By showing images and physical objects that demonstrate cross-cultural influence, students are able to holistically understand the ways in which the world has influenced Western dress.

Contemporary Comments
Each chapter includes at least one box in which comments from contemporary sources on some aspect of clothing are reproduced. These quotations are intended to provide readers with a flavor of the attitudes toward clothing that individuals of the period held as well as contemporary descriptions.

Modern Influences
This feature appears throughout the book and depicts a recent fashion that has been influenced by some aspect of dress from the period surveyed in that chapter.

Notes and References
A list of references used by the authors is placed at the end of each chapter.

Terminology
Historic costume reference books and materials (particularly for some of the early periods where actual records are confusing, contradictory, and scarce) show marked differences in terminology and content. We have attempted to present as accurate a summary as possible and one that we hope is free from the tendency to present largely apocryphal stories of the origins of styles as fact. When such material is introduced, it is clearly labeled as questionable or as legend.

In this text, the terms clothes and clothing are synonymous and mean wearing apparel. Dress is a general term that includes not only garments and accessories, but also aspects of personal appearance that can be changed, such as grooming, and management of parts of the body such as hair, manipulation through piercing, decoration by tattooing, or addition of cosmetics and fragrances. Style is the predominant form of dress of any given period or culture. Styles may persist for very long or shorter periods of time. The term fashion is used synonymously with style after the latter part of the medieval period. It implies styles of relatively short duration. Costume is used as a synonym for dress by those who work in the museum field and by many scholars who study historic dress. Some scholars prefer the use of the word dress, because to many people, costume means dress used in the theater, in dance, or for masquerade.

Several tools have been provided for readers. Many of the words for items of historic costume are not English terms. Where the pronunciation of these terms is not obvious, a phonetic pronunciation of the word is provided in parentheses just after the word. The index is organized so that it can be used as a glossary of terms. Terms printed in boldface type are defined within the text; the page numbers printed in bold type immediately after these words in the index are the pages on which these words are defined or explained.

Bibliography
A bibliography at the end of the book lists some of the many books written about historic costume. This bibliography does not include books dealing with techniques of theatrical costuming or sociocultural aspects of dress.

Contents

Preface xiii
New Online Student Resources xvi
Acknowledgments xvii

Chapter One

Introduction 1
The Origins of Dress 1
Limitations to the Design of Garments 3
Common Themes in Costume History across Time 4
Sources of Evidence for the Study of Historic Costume 10
Summary 12

PART ONE

The Ancient World c. 3000 BCE – 400 CE 14
Table I.1 Civilizations of the Ancient World 16

Chapter Two

The Ancient Middle East c. 3500–600 BCE 18
Historical Background 20
Differences in the Egyptian and Mesopotamian Civilizations 22
Mesopotamian Civilization 23
Sources of Evidence about Sumerian Costume 25
Mesopotamian/Sumerian Costume: c. 3500–2500 BCE 25
Costume of Mesopotamians/Later Sumerians and Babylonians: c. 2500–1000 BCE 26
Costume of Mesopotamians/Later Babylonians and the Assyrians: c. 1000–600 BCE 28
Global Connections 29
Egyptian Civilization 32
Sources of Evidence for Egyptian Costume 33
Contributions of Artisans to Costume 35
Egyptian Costume: c. 3000–300 BCE 36
Table 2.1 Egyptian Garments 37
Contemporary Comments 2.1 38
Illustrated Table 2.1 Some of the Headdresses
Worn in Ancient Egypt 46
Summary 47
Visual Summary Table 48
Legacies of Mesopotamian and Egyptian Dress 49

Chapter Three
Crete and Greece c. 2900–100 BCE 50
Historical Background: Minoan and Mycenaean Civilizations 52
Social Organization and Material Culture 53
Minoan Costume: 2900–1100 BCE 54
Transitions in the Dominant Styles 57
Illustrated Table 3.1 Examples of Hairstyles and Headdress Worn by Men and Women in Greece 58
Global Connections 59
Historical Background: Greek Civilization 59
Sources of Evidence for the Study of Greek Costume 64
Greek Costume: 650–100 BCE 64
Table 3.1 Types of Chitons Worn by Greek Men and Women 65
Contemporary Comments 3.1 67
Contemporary Comments 3.2 69
Summary 71
Legacies of Greek Dress 72
Visual Summary Table 73

Chapter Four

Part Two

The Middle Ages c. 330–1500 100

Chapter Five

PART THREE

The Renaissance c. 1400–1600 178

Chapter Seven