Abstract
Thepaper addresses a research work on the history of ancient Hellenic cloth andits global diachronic cultural and aesthetic influence. The author attempts toreveal the significance of Hellenic textiles and clothing, based on evidencecollected from a wide geographical and temporal expanse. The article engagesfurther with the ancient ways of production, the textile/clothing factories andthe theatrical costumes of antiquity. The cultural field of the present work covers Hellenic pre-classical and classical textiles and fashion. Though almostnothing has been preserved of ancient Hellenic textiles, the quantity andmagnificence of what was created can be studied from thousands of statues andpainted representations in Museums around the world. The Hellenes, or Greeks aswestern people have been calling them the last two centuries, were among thefinest to portray fashion and costumes with meticulous care and precision. There are also great writers such as Homer and Herodotus, who gave explicit detailsand descriptions of clothing and textiles. Hellenic draped garments, asdepicted in ancients Arts, have served as sources of inspiration for artistsand designers of all the Design periods.
Introduction
Clothingand other textiles are of great importance to the survival of the human race,playing key role in society, too. They are weather protections of the body,interrelated to sex and social rank, expressing characteristics and ways ofliving and thinking, of groups and individuals, of time periods and societies, projecting differences and similarities, capturing human nature. Textiles transcend boundaries,as they unite and divide mankind. The mode of dress differentiates friend fromfoe and peasant from prince. Changes in the appearance and types of garmentsthrough the ages are a significant indicator of social, economic andchronological changes. Clothes began from the efforts of people to cover thehuman body by the skin of an animal, to be replaced later by a rectangle pieceof loomed cloth wrapped around the body, inevitably forming folds, embracing itin a variety of elaborate ways, creating garments that are often distinguishedby their quality and simplicity (Abrams 1993:161-165).
Textiles and clothing have been also a great attraction of thetravelers of antiquity since the Egyptian and Hellenic Bronze era (Richard1998). It is evident that traveling was quite limited at that time to fewintellectuals with curiosity. Democritos, Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemywere some of the well-known travelers of the ancient world and via thosetravelers curiosity, fabulous hand made rare textiles moved from India andChina to Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Black Sea littoral, inspiring andtransplanting diverse local cultures, founding local heritages and cultivatingnational ones.
About the Author:
ProfessorMargaret C. Perivoliotis is associated withDepartment of Graphic Arts and Design of Technological Educational Institution (TEI)of Athens.
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