Dress Studies

Exhibition Review: Saint Laurent Rive Gauche: la révolution de la mode

by Alexis Romano

Published in 'Textile History,' vol. 42:2 (November 2011), 268-271.

'Elle' and the Development of 'Stylisme' in 1960s Paris

by Alexis Romano

Published in 'Costume. Journal of the Costume Society,' vol. 46:1 (January 2012), 75-91.

Yohji Yamamoto and the Museum: a Contemporary Fashion Narrative

by Alexis Romano

Published in 'Yohji Yamamoto,' edited by Ligaya Salazar (London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2011), 102-127.

You Are What You Wear: Scythian Costume as Identity

by Margarita Gleba

In M. Gleba, C. Munkholt and M.L. Nosch (eds.), 2008, Dressing the Past, 13-28, Oxford, Oxbow Books

Call for Papers: Rags to Riches: dress and dress accessories in social context

by Rosie Weetch

2009 ‘Jack, Queen, King - Playing Cards as Influence of Empire’ in Context, Journal of Costume

by Patricia Te Arapo Wallace

Material Worlds: The Shared Cultures of Southern Italy and its Mediterranean Neighbours in the Tenth to Twelfth Centuries

by Tehmina Goskar

Now available in the peer-reviewed journal: Al-Masaq. Islam and the Medieval Mediterranean, vol. 23 (3) (Dec 2011).

This article compares the dress and textile cultures of southern Italy, Fatimid Egypt (through the Genizah document... more This article compares the dress and textile cultures of southern Italy, Fatimid Egypt (through the Genizah document archives) and the heartlands of Greek Byzantium. Several points of similarity and affinity existed between the vestimentary systems of the ‘consuming classes’ of the Mediterranean in the central Middle Ages but there were also notes of difference that are illustrated in some of the comparisons I make. I argue for a more social anthropological approach to be taken with descriptions of dress and textiles and suggest that the Mediterranean does work as an heuristic device for such an exercise. We lose sight of comparisons when we only work within our disciplinary traditions, in this case, ‘western Latin’, ‘Byzantine’ and ‘Islamic’.

PAPER John Ruskin, Visceral Dress, and the Rejection of 'Renaissance' Architecture

by Anuradha Chatterjee

ABSTRACT John Ruskin, Visceral Dress, and the Rejection of 'Renaissance' Architecture

by Anuradha Chatterjee

This paper considers John Ruskin and his views on science and medicine as they intersected with art and architecture.... more This paper considers John Ruskin and his views on science and medicine as they intersected with art and architecture. It examines Ruskin's rejection of Renaissance architecture, demonstrating his negative view of the Renaissance age, which according to him gave rise to a scientific mindset and desire to expose the invisible world.

The exposure of truth was epitomized by the anatomical sciences and its influence was amplified by Renaissance representations of the human body, which showed the interior of the body (muscle, bones, and tendons) pushing itself to the surface (skin). Horrified by this, Ruskin believed that the exposure of depths was a form of sexual desire, and that science was fundamentally immoral. Ruskin saw a connection between the scientific image of the body and the design of dresses during and after the Renaissance age. While he knew little about the actual Renaissance costume, his criticism was directed towards the Baroque dress and drapery depicted in sculptures and paintings. He argued that the scientific vision of the body had led to immodesty in dressing, as the seamless and even folded surfaces of the dress were converted into skin-like surfaces with protruding forms, echoing the texture and form of the Renaissance body. As Ruskin viewed architecture as the analogy of the dressed human figure, his rejection of the rusticated surface of Renaissance buildings and the sculptured facades of Venetian Baroque buildings was underpinned by this view. From this perspective, this paper advances an original argument about Ruskin's unusual and subtle connections drawn between art, science, and medicine on one hand, and the intersection of these debates with architecture on the other.

"Een gouwen rync ende een ransse" De gerimpelde hoofddoek in het modelandschap van de Lage Landen der late middeleeuwen, Een interdisciplinaire studie

by Isis Sturtewagen

MA-thesis (in Dutch)

Simple frilled veils were already in use long before the mid 14th century, in the Low Countries as well as in most... more Simple frilled veils were already in use long before the mid 14th century, in the Low Countries as well as in most other European countries. From c. 1340 onwards frilled veils with multiple frilled edges became fashionable, and a greater regional variety of types of frilled veils came to be the order of the day. Around 1350 this multilayered style first appears at the courts of the Low Countries and about 1360-70 it reached the middle classes. After c. 1460 the frilled veils seem to disappear as a noble fashion, wealthy townswomen held on to wearing them until at least c. 1475. The ranse was a precious piece of female attire that was worn mainly by noble women and the citizen elite. Rarely it can be seen being flaunted by the working class as well. The occasions at which the ransen were worn were generally of a formal nature, but were not necessarily ceremonial.
Comparisons between late medieval art and (post-)medieval sewing- and weaving techniques allow us to have some understanding of the possible construction methods used for this headwear. Experimental studies have resulted in a better understanding of the construction and arrangement of the frilled veils, allowing a better typological categorisation of iconographic sources. The experiments also show that with limited resources a wide variety of veils could be achieved.
Thanks to the compilation of a database containing more than 200 sources from the Low Countries it was possible to construct a detailed typology of the frilled headwear in this region.

Tectonic into Textile: John Ruskin and His Obsession with the Architectural Surface

by Anuradha Chatterjee

Tectonic into Textile: John Ruskin and His Obsession with the Architectural Surface

Author: CHATTERJEE, ANURADHA

Source: Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture, Volume 7, Number 1, March 2009 , pp. 68-97(30)

Publisher: Berg Publishers

This paper considers the architectural writings of John Ruskin (1891-1900), an important architecture, art and social... more This paper considers the architectural writings of John Ruskin (1891-1900), an important architecture, art and social critic in Victorian England and interprets his preoccupation with surface ornament. The paper reveals that, for Ruskin, architecture was a living entity. His idea of life was influenced by Thomas Carlyle's philosophy of clothes, according to which the human soul was more important than the body and it could be expressed only through clothing. Ruskin translated this notion into an architectural theory. He believed that the soul of architecture was contained in the veneer of decoration that concealed the exterior walls. In addition, he argued that the composition of the decorative veneer exhibited qualities of dresses and textiles. This article terms this as Ruskin's theory of the adorned “wall veil.” It argues that this was the motivation for his interest in the architectural surface. The article counters the claim that Ruskin's writings were unarchitectural or, in other words, unconcerned with space, structure and function. It argues that the theory of the adorned wall veil attempted to shift the ontological identity of architecture. It also contributed to the nineteenth century debates on architectural ornament and dress.