History of Fashion Greece Costumes

History of Fashion

The history of Western fashion is the story of the changing fashions in clothing for men and women in Europe and other countries under influence of the Western world, from the 12th century to the present. The history of fashion design refers to the development of the fashion industry which designs clothing and accessories. The modern industry, based around firms or fashion houses run by individual designers, started in the 19th century with Charles Frederick Worth who was the first designer to have his label sewn into the garments that he created.

the beginning of the 20th century—with the rise of new technologies such as the sewing machine, the rise of global capitalism and the development of the factory system of production, and the proliferation of retail outlets such as department stores—clothing had increasingly come to be mass-produced in standard sizes and sold at fixed prices. 

History of Fashion has changed through this prioed:

- The Ancient Middle East 3500-600 B.C.
- Crete and Greece c. 2900-300 B.C.
- Etruria and Rome c. 800 B.C.-A.D. 400
- The Early Middle Ages c. 300-1300
- The Late Middle Ages c. 1300-1500
- The Italian Renaissance c. 1400-1600
- The Northern Renaissance c. 1500-1600
- The Seventeenth Century 1600-1700
- The Eighteenth Century 1700-1800
- The Directoire Period and the Empire Period 1790-1820
- The Romantic Period 1820-1850
- The Crinoline Period 1850-1869
- The Bustle Period and Nineties 1870-1900
- The Edwardian Period and World War I 1900-1920
- The Twenties, Thirties, and World War II 1920-1947
- The New Look and Beyond 1947-1960
- The Sixties and Seventies: Style Tribes Emerge 1960-1980
- The Eighties and Nineties: Affluence and Information
- The 21st Century: The New Millennium
- Over 500 four-color photographs and illustrations
- Updated text to 2008
- Additional influences from one period or civilization to another, including influences from other cultures.

Greece Costumes

The Greek Bronze Age or the Early Helladic Era started around 2800 BC and lasted till 1050 BC in Crete while in the Aegean islands it started in 3000 BC. The Bronze Age in Greece is divided into periods such as Helladic I, II. The information that is available today on the Bronze Age in Greece is from the architecture, burial styles and lifestyle. The colonies were made of 300 to 1000 people.

STATUE OF A YOUNG WOMAN AND A GIRL FROM A GRAVE MONUMENT, CA. 320 B.C.,
FROM THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART,
HTTP://WWW.METMUSEUM.ORG

The Ancient Greeks were not fussy about their clothing. The garments they wore were made for function, and they were made simply. A single piece of fabric could be styled and restyled, to fit a particular occasion or a fashion. And with Greek summers being brutally hot, the less fabric and complicating seams to deal with, the better.

5.1 Historical background: The history of Greece can be traced back to Stone Age hunters. Later came early farmers and the civilizations of the Minoan and Mycenaean kings. This was followed by a period of wars and invasions, known as the Dark Ages. In about 1100 BC, a people called the Dorians invaded from the north and spread down the west coast. In the period from 500-336 BC, Greece was divided into small city-states, each of which consisted of a city and its surrounding countryside.

The Wooden Horse. A famous story tells how the

 There were only a few historians in the time of Ancient Greece. Three major ancient historians were able to record their time of Ancient Greek history, that includes Herodotus, known as the 'Father of History' who travelled to many ancient historic sites at the time, Thucydides and Xenophon.

5.2 Greece Civilization: The earliest civilization to ever appear around Greece was the Minoan civilization in Crete, which lasted approximately from 2700 (Early Minoan) BC to 1450 BC, and the Early Helladic period on the Greek mainland from ca. 2800 BC to 2100 BC.

Little specific information is known about the Minoans (even the name is a modern appellation, from Minos, the legendary king of Crete). They have been characterized as a pre-Indo-European people, apparently the linguistic ancestors of the Eteo-Cretan speakers of Classical Antiquity, their language being encoded in the undeciphered Linear A script. Ancient Greece is the period in Greek history that lasted for around one thousand years and ended with the rise of Christianity. It is considered by most historians to be the foundational culture of Western civilization.

 5.2.1 Social Structure: Greece in the Archaic Period was made up from independent states, called Polis, or city state. The polis of Athens included about 2,500 sq. kilometers of territory, but other Polis with smaller areas of 250 sq. kilometers.

Slaves had no power or status. They had the right to have a family and own property, however they had no political rights. By 600 BC chattel slavery had spread in Greece. By the 5th century BC slaves made up one-third of the total population in some city-states.

5.3 Sources of Evidence: Although the ancient Greeks achieved a high degree of sophistication in their political, philosophical, and literary analyses and have, therefore, left us with a significant amount of evidence concerning these matters, few Greeks attempted what we would call sophisticated economic analysis. Nonetheless, the ancient Greeks did engage in economic activity. They produced and exchanged goods both in local and long distance trade and had monetary systems to facilitate their exchanges. These activities have left behind material remains and are described in various contexts scattered throughout the extant writings of the ancient Greeks.
 

5.3.1 Greek Art: The art of ancient Greece has exercised an enormous influence on the culture of many countries from ancient times until the present, particularly in the areas of sculpture and architecture. In the West, the art of the Roman Empire was largely derived from Greek models. In the East, Alexander the Great's conquests initiated several centuries of exchange between Greek, the classical tradition derived from Greece dominated the art of the western world.
Periods: The art of Ancient Greece is usually divided stylistically into four periods: the Geometric, the Archaic, the Classical and the Hellenistic.
Survivals: Ancient Greek art has survived most successfully in the forms of sculpture and architecture, as well as in such minor arts as coin design, pottery and gem engraving. From the Archaic period a great deal of painted pottery survives, but these remnants give a misleading impression of the range of Greek artistic expression.

Krater (mixing bowl), 12th century BC,

Pottery: The Ancient Greeks made pottery for everyday use, not for display; the trophies won at games, such as the Panathenaic Amphorae (wine decanters), are the exception.

Greco-Buddhist frieze of Gandhara with devotees

Hellenistic: The transition from the Classical to the Hellenistic period occurred during the 4th century BC. Following the conquests of Alexander the Great (336 BC to 323 BC), Greek culture spread as far as India, as revealed by the excavations of Ai-Khanoum in eastern Afghanistan, and the civilization of the Greco-Bactrians and the Indo-Greeks.

Red-figure kylix by Euerdiges (circa 500 BC)

Temple of Hephaestus Source:Wikipedia

Architecture: Architecture (building executed to an aesthetically considered design) was extinct in Greece from the end of the Mycenaean period (about 1200 BC) until the 7th century, when urban life and prosperity recovered to a point where public building could be undertaken.

Coin design: Coins were invented in Lydia in the 7th century, but they were first extensively used by the Greeks, and the Greeks set the canon of coin design which has been followed ever since. Coin design today still recognizably follows patterns descended from Ancient Greece.

5.4 Fabric & cloth production: Clothing in Ancient Greece primarily consisted of the chiton, peplos, himation, and chlamys. Ancient Greek men and women typically wore two pieces of clothing draped about the body: an undergarment (chiton or peplos) and a cloak (himation or chlamys). Clothes were customarily homemade out of various lengths of rectangular linen or wool fabric with little cutting or sewing, and secured with ornamental clasps or pins, and a belt, or girdle (zone). Pieces were generally interchangeable between men and women.

5.4.1 Greek Clothing: Common clothing of the time was plain white, sometimes incorporating decorative borders. There is evidence of elaborate design and bright colors, but these were less common.

5.4.2 Greek Fabrics: Ancient Greek clothing was made with silk, linen and most often, wool. The production of fabric was a long and tedious process, making ready-made clothing expensive. It was socially accepted that textile making was primarily women's responsibility, and the production of high quality textiles was regarded as an accomplishment for women of high status. Once made, the cloth was rarely cut. The seamless rectangles of fabric were draped on the body in various ways with little sewing involved.

5.4.3 Manufacturing: Slavery also affected manufacturing in ancient Greece. It is often said that technology and industrial organization stagnated in ancient Greece because the availability of cheap slave labor obviated any imminent need to improve them. If one wanted to produce more, one merely bought a few more slaves. Thus, most manufactured products were literally hand-made with simple tools. There were no assembly lines and no big factories.
Hence, in comparison with agriculture, manufacturing comprised a small part of the ancient Greek economy.
5.4.4 Clothing Materials: Clothes in Greece were made out of three types of materials. The most frequently used material was wool, which was woven from very coarse to very soft. Women and men in Greece wore nearly the same kind of clothes. These clothes were not shaped or fitted to the body, but were instead draped over the body in soft folds. There were basically four types of clothes, which were all rectangles. In the later periods of Ancient Greece, the wealthy were able to buy clothes made of cotton and silk.

5.5 Costume Components: One common factor of the styles of all early clothes is that they are made from uncomplicated basic shapes, which rely on girdles, belts and brooches, clasp or pins to create shape and form around the human body. The most famous Greek pattern is the Greek key pattern.

Grecian clothes were little more than artfully arranged pieces of cloth, pinned and tucked into position as shown here.
5.5.1 Costume Components for Men & Women: Men's clothing was even simpler than women’s were (if anything). The most important piece of clothing was a shorter version of the chiton, which was also belted at the waist. The top shoulder was often left bare if the man was exercising or doing hard work. The himation was also used, especially on long journeys. A long robe could also be worn with the right shoulder left not covered. Men usually wore no clothes training for military reasons.

 The typical garment worn by women in Ancient Greece was a long tunic called the peplos. The peplos was a long piece of cloth that was fastened about the waist with a belt. Part of the peplos was folded down over the belt to make it appear as if it was two pieces of clothing. Sometimes a smaller tunic called a chiton was worn under the peplos.

 Women in Ancient Greece wore long dresses and cloaks. They wore the peplos and chiton, and the himation.
Chiton: The chiton was a simple tunic garment of lighter linen that was worn by both sexes and all ages. It consisted of a wide, rectangular tube of material secured along the shoulders and upper arms by a series of fasteners. Chitons typically fell to the ankles of the wearer, but shorter chitons were sometimes worn during vigorous activities by athletes, warriors or slaves.
Himation: The himation was a simple outer garment worn over the peplos or chiton. It consisted of a heavy rectangular material, passing under the left arm and secured at the right shoulder. The cloak would be twisted around a strap that also passed under the left arm and over the right shoulder. A more voluminous himation was worn in cold weather.
The himation could be pulled up over the head to cover the wearer when they were overcome by emotion or shame.
 Perizoma: Women often wore a strophion, the bra of the time, under their garments. The strophion was a wide band of wool or linen wrapped across the breasts and tied between the shoulder blades. Men and women sometimes wore triangular loincloths, called perizoma, as underwear.
Diplex: The diplex, a small rectangle of fabric worn by woman, especially over the Ionic chiton, was draped in much the same way as the himation.
Peplos: This body length garment was the most common attire that women in ancient Greece would most commonly wear. Somewhere in the middle of the classical era, by the time around 500 BC, people was indeed the most popular attire among women in Greece.
Chlamydon: More complicated form of woman’s diplex in which fabric was pleated into a fabric band.
Chlamys: This ancient Greek piece of clothing used to be the modern day version of cloak back in those times. Made from a seamless rectangle of woolen material about the size of a blanked which usually was bordered, people wore it by pinning a fibulae on the right shoulder. Since its first appearance in the ancient Greek fashion, Chlamys saw gradual modifications in the way it was donned. Originally it was wrapped around the waist like a loincloth, but by the end of the 5th century BC it was worn over the elbows.
Cloaks and Capes: These items are suitable for most historical periods and characters. We carry Crusader cloaks, ritual robes, fencing capes, fur trimmed cloaks, velvet mantles, monks robes, riding capes, vampire capes, warrior cloaks, Viking capes, and more. Ideal for men and women, our period capes come as shoulder capes, full-length capes, and everything in between.
Hair and Headdress for man: In Classical Period, young men wore short hair and no beards and older men longer hair and beards. Hair: In ancient Greece men and women already differed from each other through their haircuts. Many dyed their hair red with henna and sprinkled it with gold powder, often adorning it with fresh flowers. Men's hair was short and even occasionally shaved. Later, hairstyles became more ornate with hair curled tight and piled high on the head often shaped around wire frames. Popular styles included short curls and curls combed away from the face. Hats: Greek men wore hats for functional purposes, not fashionable ones. The pilos, petasos, and Phrygian caps were worn for work or travel by farmers, soldiers, and travelers.
Decorative headgear included wreaths made of natural branches or golden ornaments that were worn for special occasions and to signify great honors. Pilos: A narrow-brimmed or brimless hat with a pointed crown worn by both men and women.

 
Hair and Headdress for woman: In the Classical Period, hair was pulled into a knot or chignon at the back of the head. Fillets, scarves, ribbons, and caps were used to confine the hair. Paintings and sculpture of women depict veils that were own over the head and are sometimes shown pulled across the face. Hair: Between 1500 and 650 B.C., Greek women wore their hair long and in corkscrew curls. Later, around 500-300 B.C., women began to wear their hair in what was termed "the Greek knot," which was basically a bun at the bottom of the neck. Soon, knots and buns were all the rage in Greece. It seemed that Greek women also had a penchant for highlighting their hair, which they did with saffron. The Greeks also developed a "calami strum," which was a hollow bronze stick used to reshape their hair.

Hair coverings: In the ancient illustrations and sculptures that do show Greek women with covered heads, the head covering is usually just the himation pulled over the top and back of the head. Sometimes it is shown over the head and wrapped around the neck, without covering the face.
Footwear: Footwears have far older history than the ancient Greek civilization. While versatile and stylish options began to appear in the late Middle Ages, the shoes of ancient Greece were largely utilitarian. At home, the Greek would preferably walk around barefoot, but outside while travelling they would wear leather sandals, a typical footwear known as carbonite. Women and men typically wore sandals, slippers, soft shoes, or boots. At home they usually went barefoot.

Jewelry: Ornamentation in the form of jewelry, elaborate hairstyles and make-up was common for women. Small gold ornaments would be sewn onto their clothing and would glitter as they moved.

 Cosmetics: Writings of the period record the use of perfumes, not much information about cosmetics.

5.5.2 Greece Costume for Children: Usually the Greek children did not wear anything and would stay naked most of the times, especially when they were within the bounds of their houses, which they were for most of the times. But when they were wearing something, it would be a diaper made up of cloth that would be wrapped around their waists. It was quite unusual for children to wear full on dressings such as chiton or even footwears. Only once they reached a certain age appropriate for schooling and teaching would they wear other clothes as worn by the adults.

5.6 Specialized Occupations or Occasions: Occupation costumes are perfect for wearing to a Hen Party or on Halloween, all you need to do is add a bit of fake blood and some of our spooky contact lenses for a spine chilling costume idea. So whether your fancy is standing to attention as a Military babe or setting sail as a High Seas sexy Captain we have everything to suit your style and budget and all at a low cost. So if you're fed up with your normal job then why not take a look at our Ladies Occupation costumes and enjoy a brand new world of work.

5.6.1 Wedding Dress: Greek goddess style wedding dresses are some of the most beautiful in the market, coming in all shapes and styles. This can make it difficult for brides who are in the middle of choosing their wedding dress. When people say “Greek style”, they’re usually referring to Ancient Greek clothing styles such as the chiton—which was a popular piece of clothing for both men and women. In fact, the goddess of love herself, Aphrodite, is often depicted wearing a chiton.

5.6.2 Military Costume: Varied from one city-state to another, however generally was some form of protective clothing worn over a tunic. In Classical Period, chlamys-style cloaks were worn. Helmets had pieces that covered cheekbones, nose, jaws, and neck. Men went either barefoot or with high boots.

5.6.3 Theatrical Costume: Transcript of Ancient Greek Theatre: Masks and Costumes By Hannah Hamby and Haley Glow Ancient Greek Theatre: Masks and Costumes Masks Comedy Tragedy

•Made of wood, linen, leather cork, and occasionally real hair

•Lightweight, but not durable

Because they were not made to last, no masks have survived have survived the test of time. We know the were used from depictions such as on pieces of pottery.

• Used to enhance emotions and expressions

The actors were so far away from the audience that without the aid of exaggerated costumes and masks.

The masks were made of linen or cork, so none have survived. Tragic masks carried mournful or pained expressions, while comic masks were smiling or leering. The shape of the mask amplified the actor's voice, making his words easier for the audience to hear.

5.7 Later Survivals of Greek Dress: A "dark age" of which little is known separates the Minoan/Mycenaean period from the Archaic Period of Greek history on the mainland. The history of Ancient Greece is generally divided into the Archaic Period (800–500 B.C.E.), the Classical Age (500–323 B.C.E.), and the Hellenistic Period (after 323 B.C.E. to the absorption of Greece by the Romans).
Greece has influenced every other nation that has risen to power since.  The ideas, philosophies and writings left behind by the Greeks and the resultant archaeological finds from old ruins have created a good source of Greek era material and especially of costume.