dress

The Byzantine Empire

In 324 ce the Roman emperor Constantine I decided to rebuild the great city at Byzantium, then a Greek centre. The city was sited strategically on the Bosporus, whose narrow waters connecting the Mediterranean and the Black Sea acted as a gateway between West and East. Constantine called his city New Rome; it was later renamed Constantinople (now Istanbul) in his honour. After the collapse of the western part of the Roman Empire, which was based in Rome (and later Ravenna), Constantinople became the capital city of the Christian-dominated Byzantine Empire, the extent of which fluctuated ... (100 of 28,805 words)

Images
Videos

Henry VIII, painting by Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1540.
Egyptian statuette with angular harp, painted wood, Late Period (1085–525 bce); in the British Museum, London.
Woman wearing sheathlike gown held up by shoulder straps, typical of Egyptian dress of the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Painted wood statue from the tomb of Meketre, Dayr al-Baḥrī, Egypt, 11th dynasty (2081–1938 bc). In the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
Egyptian dress of the New Kingdom, 18th dynasty. King Tutankhamen wearing a double skirt, long and full, with the upper one doubled and gathered in front; Queen Ankhesenamen in a draped robe tied at the breast and leaving the right arm free. Detail from the back of the throne of Tutankhamen (reigned 1333–23 bce); in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
Alabaster head of a man wearing a turban, from Adab, Akkadian period, c. 24th century bce; in the Oriental Institute, the University of Chicago
Shamash, the sun god, rising in the morning from the eastern mountains between (left) Ishtar (Sumerian: Inanna), the goddess of the morning star, and (far left) Ninurta, the god of thunderstorms, with his bow and lion, and (right) Ea (Sumerian: Enki), the god of fresh water, with (far right) his vizier, the two-faced Usmu.
Ur-Nanshe, king of Lagash, detail of a limestone relief, c. 2500 bce; in the Louvre, Paris.
Sumerian gold and faience diadems from Queen Pu-abi’s tomb, Ur, c. 2500 bce. In the British Museum.
Ashurnasirpal II (left), king of Assyria, with an elaborately dressed beard, wearing sandals and a full-length tunic decorated with embroidery and tassels. Alabaster relief from the palace of Ashurnasirpal II (reigned 883–859 bc) at Nimrūd, Iraq. In the British Museum.
Ashurnasirpal II, relief from Nimrūd; in the British Museum
Priest-king wearing elaborate loincloth attached to a tight, broad belt. Fresco from the palace at Knossos, Crete, destroyed c. 1400 bc. In the Archaeological Museum, Iráklion, Crete.
Youth wearing a Phrygian cap, marble, Roman copy of a Greek original, 4th century bce; in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Eng.
Artemis as a huntress; in the Louvre, Paris
Woman wearing the Greek chiton and himation. Marble statue from the Nereid Monument, Xanthus, Lycia, Anatolia, c. 400 bc. In the British Museum.
Charioteer wearing long chiton. Bronze statue from the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi, c. 470 bce. In the Archaeological Museum, Delphi, Greece.
Man (left) wearing the himation draped over one shoulder; the two women are dressed in the peplos. Marble figures from a fragment of the east frieze of the Parthenon, Athens, Greece, c. 440 bc. In the Louvre, Paris.
Women’s dress from the Hellenistic Age, showing the himation draped over the head and covered by a conical straw hat. Terra-cotta figurine from Myrina (near present-day Bergama, Tur.), 4th–3rd centuries bc. In the Louvre, Paris.
Etruscan musicians wearing tunics, cloaks similar to the Greek chlamys, and sandals. Detail from a fresco in the Tomb of the Leopards, 5th century bc. In the necropolis at Tarquinia, province of Viterbo, Italy.
bc"/> Detail of a gold Etruscan fibula with granulated decoration, 7th century bce; in the British Museum
Imperial Roman toga on Tiberius (reigned 14–37 ce); in the Louvre, Paris
Agrippina the Elder wearing the stola and palla, 2nd century ce.
Reconstructions of the clothing and gear found with the Iceman, whose frozen and mummified remains date to perhaps 3300 bce.
Scythians in tunics, trousers, and short boots, detail from a replica of an electrum vase; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Trajan’s Bridge, detail of Trajan’s Column, Rome
Kiksadi clan members wearing traditional Tlingit regalia.
Iroquois shoulder bag made of buckskin and decorated with porcupine quills and deer hair, c. 1750; in the Linden-Museum für Völkerkunde, Stuttgart, Ger.
Sauk and Fox Indians, painting by Karl Bodmer, c. 1833.
Eskimo (Inuit) family inside an igloo lit by a kudlik (soapstone oil lamp).
The Aztec emperor Cuauhtémoc surrendering to Hernán Cortés in 1521.
Mayan fresco from Bonampak, in Chiapas, Mex., original c. 800 ce, 20th-century reconstruction by Antonio Tejeda.
Mayan men of the upper class wearing decorated loincloths and ornamental headdresses. Detail from a polychrome vase. Quiché Maya, from Nebaj, Guat., Late Classic Period (6th–10th century). In the British Museum.
El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno"/> Inca men and women working in a cornfield; drawing from El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno (“The First New Chronicle and Good Government”), by Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala, 1612–16.
Seated Scribe, gouache and pen with ink on paper, by Gentile Bellini, 1479–80.
An Egyptian agricultural worker (fellah) wearing a traditional jellaba (gallibiya).
Turkish woman wearing long anteri (coat) over patterned chalvar (trousers) and backless slippers, c. 1618; in the British Museum, London.
Muslim woman wearing a yashmak and chador, in “Femme du peuple,” coloured engraving, Egypt, 1855–60
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, 1990.
Justinian I, 6th-century mosaic at the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.
Empress Theodora, detail of a wall mosaic, 6th century; in the Church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.
Las cántigas de Santa María"/> Detail from “The Book of Dice,” in Las cántigas de Santa María (“The Canticles of the Virgin Mary,” 1280–83), by King Alphonso X of Castile (1252–84).
Charles IV receiving his sister Isabella and her son Edward from England, miniature from Jean Froissart’s Chronicles, 14th century; in the Bibliothèque Municipale, Besançon, Fr. (MS. Fr. 864)
Fashionable mid-15th-century Italian dress. The men wear pleated, fur-trimmed tunics, fitted hose, and, on their heads, the roundlet and liripipe. The women are dressed in long gowns made from richly embroidered fabrics and a typical selection of the varied styles of headdress of the time, from turbans to heart-shaped designs. Detail from the “Adimari Wedding” cassone, Florentine, c. 1470. In the Accademia, Florence.
Woman wearing a wimple in “Portrait of a Young Lady,” oil portrait by Rogier van der Weyden, 1435; in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin
Thomas Cromwell, an engraving after a painting by Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1537.
Queen Elizabeth of England, showing the queen adorned in Renaissance fashion with pearl choker and pendant and a series of longer necklaces, portrait in oil by an unknown English artist, 16th century; in the Pitti Palace, Florence.
Woman wearing a ruff, detail of “Portrait of a Lady of the Vavasour Family,” oil on wood by Bartholomäus Bruyn, the Younger, c. 1570; in the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
The Syndics of the Amsterdam Drapers’ Guild, oil on canvas by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1662; in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. 191.5 × 279 cm.
Skittle Players in a Garden"/> Skittle Players in a Garden, oil on canvas, ascribed to Pieter de Hooch, 1660–68.
Portrait of King Louis XIV"/> Portrait of King Louis XIV, by Charles Le Brun, c. 1655.
Louis XIV and His Family, oil painting by Nicolas de Largillière, 1711; in the Wallace Collection, London.
Woman wearing corset and hoop skirt, Meissen porcelain figurine, German, 1741; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Marie-Antoinette, mixed-method colour print on two sheets of paper by Jean-François Janinet, print after Jean-Baptiste-André Gautier-Dagoty, 1777; in the British Museum.
Queen Marie Antoinette"/> Queen Marie Antoinette, also known as The Muslin Portrait, oil on canvas, by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, 1783; in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Captain John Smith, engraving.
Cotton Mather, portrait by Peter Pelham; in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass.
Mehmed I, miniature from a 16th-century manuscript illustrating the dynasty; in the Istanbul University Library, Istanbul (MS Yildiz 2653, fol. 261).
Beau Brummell, engraving by John Cooke after a portrait miniature, 1844.
The Coronation of Napoleon"/> Detail from The Coronation of Napoleon, oil painting by Jacques-Louis David, 1806–07; in the Louvre, Paris.
Chartist demonstration, Kennington Common, 1848; illustration from The Life and Times of Queen Victoria (1900) by Robert Wilson.
Some dress fashions of the 1850s.
Napoleon III, detail of a portrait by Hippolyte Flandrin; in the Versailles Museum.
Some dress fashions of the 1880s.
Charles Frederick Worth, detail of an engraving
Women holding a cage crinoline of metal hoops, detail from a cartoon in Punch, English, 1865; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
A bustle under a ruffled dress, French, 1885; in the Brooklyn Museum, New York City.
A Currier & Ives rendition of the bloomer costume influenced by Amelia Jenks Bloomer.
Boy dressed in the Little Lord Fauntleroy style, 1908.
European women’s fashion, 1902.
Glenna Collett at the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship at Troon golf course in Ayrshire, England, 1925.
Anna de Noailles, c. 1920.
Bebe Daniels wearing an elegant ensemble during the filming of Silver Dollar, c. 1932.
Lucille Ball in Her Husband’s Affairs (1947).
Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (1953).
James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
(From left) Big Boi, Bootsy Collins, and André 3000 at the VH1 Hip Hop Honors Award Show, 2006.
The Legendary Emperor Yao"/> The Legendary Emperor Yao, hanging silk scroll depicting the emperor in a pao, or robe, by Ma Lin (c. 1194–1264); in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Panel from an imperial Chinese silk dragon robe embroidered in silk and gold thread, 17th century, early Qing dynasty; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Jiang Qing and Mao Zedong, 1945.
Haniwa Garden of Heiwadai Park, Miyazaki, Japan
sokutai"/> Hirohito wearing a sokutai at his enthronement ceremony, 1926.
The 16-petaled chrysanthemum mon, or crest, of the Japanese imperial family.
Minamoto Yoritomo"/> Minamoto Yoritomo (1147–99), samurai founder of the Kamakura shogunate (1192–1333), wearing kariginu; woodblock print from the Dai nippon meisho kagami (“Mirror of Famous Generals of Japan”), by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1876–80.
Kosode, or short-sleeved outer kimono, silk decorated with a design of bamboo, from the Momoyama period (1574–1600).
The Courtesan Itsutomi Holding a Plectrum"/> The Courtesan Itsutomi Holding a Plectrum, Japanese woman wearing an uchikake, or flowing outer kimono, print by Chobunsai Yeishi, c. 1794; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Women in pink chima, or outer robes, performing during the Arirang Festival, P’yŏngyang, N.Kor.
Couple wearing long strips of cloth, the precursors of the sari and dhoti, c. 200–175 bce; detail of the caitya (Buddhist sanctuary) at Karli, Maharashtra, India.
Woman wearing a ghaghra and coli, Rajasthani miniature, late 18th century.
Woman wearing a sari, detail of a gouache painting on mica from Tiruchchirāppalli, India, c. 1850; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
An example of the deformities caused by foot binding.
Men in traditional battle regalia, from the Baier River region, Papua New Guinea.
Tournament of the Knights of the Round Table, from a 15th-century illuminated manuscript of the Tristan romance.
Gentleman in ruffled shirt with neckcloth, oil portrait by an unknown French artist, c. 1810; in the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Woman wearing a burka.
The illustration for August from Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, manuscript illuminated by the Limburg Brothers, c. 1416; in the Musée Condé, Chantilly, Fr.
Letizia Buonaparte, detail from Coronation of Napoleon in Notre-Dame, oil on canvas by Jacques-Louis David, 1805–07; in the Louvre, Paris.
Kerri Walsh (left) and Misty May-Treanor of the United States competing in the final of the 2005 beach volleyball world championships in Berlin.
Sons of Edward III wearing heraldic gipons, detail of a copy of a wall painting from St. Stephen’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey, London, 14th century; in the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Edward V (lower right) with his father, Edward IV, and mother, Elizabeth Woodville, illumination from Dictes and Sayenges of the Phylosophers, 1477; in Lambeth Palace Library, London.
Peter I.
Joan of Arc at the Coronation of Charles VII in Reims Cathedral, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1854; in the Louvre, Paris.
Messalina, marble bust; in the Uffizi, Florence
Mona Lisa, oil on wood panel by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1503–06; in the Louvre, Paris.
Royal family portrait, Aug. 22, 1951. (From left) Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, the duke of Edinburgh, King George VI, and Princess Elizabeth. Princess Anne is in the baby carriage.
Madonna, 1987.
Woman wearing a negligee, “Lady Reading,” chalk and pastel drawing by Francois Guerin; in the Albertina, Vienna
Hausa man’s embroidered robe, Nigeria; in the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam.
Hawaiian royal cloak made of netting into which feathers are knotted.
Hidatsa buffalo robe characteristic of those exchanged during the fur trade, c. 1850.
Mourner’s dress, pearl shell, turtle shell, coconut shell, feathers, bark cloth, sennit. Society Islands. In the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu.
Turkish boys in traditional dress.
Clothing adaptations for desert life.
High fashion in Paris in the 1950s.
The history of Lady Gong’s Dragon and Phoenix crown, Ming dynasty (1368–1644).
One woman recounts how she and her siblings dressed as children on the frontier.
A strategy of dressing in layers has some very practical advantages.
The actors in Shakespeare’s company were often costumed in the dicarded clothes of the aristocrats.
American fashion designer Anna Sui talking at the City University of New York Graduate Center about her career influences, April 2009. Click here to view the video at Fora.tv.

The Byzantine Empire