Goldman\'s \'Lets Wrap\'

[Lepidina]

One word - polyester. Oy!<br>
<br>
But it was pretty informative if not a little dry. She could have also dressed the models with an undertunica instead of modern clothes underneath for some examples.<br>
<br>
I did a concentration in costume history with my theater degree so there's a lot more to studying costume than just recreating the styles. I would have liked to have seen more information on textile composition and period patterns with the different styles. She mentioned them at the beginning but it was hard to know if she was trying to be accurate with the colors and patterns on her models. My guess is not since she herself was wearing an awful gold lame' mu-mu. Just say no!<br>
<br>
For the Romans, since there are only a few fabric scraps from the time period and I don't think any complete garments, we have to rely primarily on artwork for the clothing styles. Statues are particularily helpful because they allow you to really see the drape and hang of a garment from all angles. Fortunately, the Romans were pretty realistic in their artwork.<br>
<br>
That being said, you also have to know a bit of art history, know your artist and know why the piece of work exists. Is it a portrait comissioned by a wealthy patron? Is it mean to be a decoration? Is it a record of an event or a slice of "real life" activities? Is the artist trying to idealise something or someone? Like Rich mentioned, sometimes what is being depicted is an ideal instead of the norm.<br>
<br>
For most time periods, the vast majority of people in artwork are the rich and famous, not the norm of society. So it's always a challenge to figure out what the common person wore for day to day life. Fortunately, from what I've seen, I think for the Greeks and Romans everyone pretty much wore the same styles and just added jewelry and finer fabrics as they got richer. Politicians being the exception of having a well-defined set of guidelines of who could wear what and when.<br>
<br>
The other side of costume history is looking at fabric production and textiles. Researching that will help you understand how clothing draped and hung on a person which helps you interpret what you are looking at in the artwork. Studying weaving techniques will tell you how much cloth could have been produced and what kinds of patterns cloth would have, whether they were woven, painted, embroidered, dyed or a combination.<br>
<br>
Does anyone know if the Romans painted prints onto their fabrics? I've seen some stripes which would have been woven. I'm thinking that the purple or red edging on togas would have been a woven stripe instead of a sewn on trim. Anyone have an references for that?<br>
<br>
So costume history can get pretty complex when you add in all the factors. I've seen plenty of reenactors recreate something out of a picture or even a photo and interpret it as being something that was common for the time. It's much harder to make those assumptions, especially the further you go back in history because you have less and less to work with. Too bad the Romans didn't publish fashion magazines.<br>
<br>
Deb <p></p><i></i>