How did fashion evolve over the centuries? Part-1

Today we all talk about new fashion trends, but have you ever thought about the origin of this concept? How did we come to know what is wearable and whats not? Who has decided on the clothing styles for men and women, and why do we feel odd if the order is not followed? But despite all the thinking, we agree that fashion existed since the earlier civilizations. Only the forms have changed during all these centuries. As a student or a designer, you need to understand the history behind fashion, and its evolution as these historical costumes can provide a wealth of ideas and inspirations and are still relevant in modern times if not taken

literally. So, let's start with the journey of Early Civilisations.

Early civilization's fashion journey.

To understand this journey, you need to dig deep into history. Let's go back to the experimenting age, where people were clueless about fashion trends. Though humankind had started using clothing at the stone age by wrapping leaves to cover and protect their bare bodies from harsh climates, actual variations in fashion evolved around 3500 BC. The wealthy class adopted it first to establish and spread new trends. These trends had limited reach as they were not suitable for the working people's requirements.

How was mass fashion introduced in Mesopotamia (3000-300 BC)?

The vast network of many empires, states, cities, and societies between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in modern-day Iraq, had many similarities in their living style. The principal civilizations under Mesopotamia were Sumerians (3000–2300 BCE), Akkadians (2350–2100 BCE), Babylonians (1900–1600 BCE), Assyrians (1100–612 BCE), Persians (538–330 BCE).

The Babylonians, Assyrians, and Cretans had almost the same clothing style for both men and women. They wore ankle-length rectangle woolly fur or thick fabric, wrapped and knotted around the waist. The torso was either left bare or covered with a mantle. The Sumerians were more fashion-conscious and emphasized more on exaggerated hairstyles, false wigs and beards, and personal grooming. Too fashion-conscious, isn't it?

During 880 BC, Assyrians introduced a new garment style. They wore an ankle-length woven tunic with sleeves worn with an embellished mantle (embroidered and tasseled) on one shoulder with a narrow Fringed Scarf. Long and thick fringes indicated higher ranks and shorter, lesser fringes for the king's attendants and no fringes for the lessor rank officials. They preferred wearing hues of purples, blues, and white colors on coarse wools, leather, fine cotton and silks. These costumes were often pleated and richly decorated. They also loved wearing ornaments on the neck, arms, ears, and fingers.

In the late 7th century B.C., Persians defeated Babylonians, and their clothing style influenced Mesopotamia in a significant way. Persians contour fitted tanned hide garments introduced the concept of tailoring. They adopted softer and woven fabrics from the tribes they conquered and introduced well-fitted clothing like jackets with set-in sleeves. Isn't it like a fashion revolution?

Why was Egyptian civilization (4000-332 BC) considered fashionable?

They mainly used woven linen fabric made of plant fibers and avoided sheep wool as it was considered unclean, but used animal leather. Although the footwear made of gold, leather, and woven straws were fashionable, Egyptians preferred to stay barefoot. Gold was a popular metal for making jewelry, belts, and hair accessories in those days.

It seems dazzling white color was Egyptians favorite color, but they used other colors too extensively. They had a dedicated color scheme for various causes like pharaohs used blue for wars that represented sky god Amon. Green symbolized the freshness of youth and life, and yellow depicted the sun and gods. They had few sets of palettes which were quite popular in those times like red, blue and white; red, yellow and blue or green, blue and black.

Along with clothing, Egyptians had given equal importance to hairstyles, ornaments, and makeup. Only royals wore false beards, while men were generally clean-shaven. They used woolen wigs of red, black, and blue colors. Women often accentuated their hair with accessories like flowers, ribbons, gold clips, ornaments, and headbands. They decorated and protected their eyes from sunlight with heavy eye makeup and applied kohl, green and blue colors on their lids. They painted their face white and used to apply red and orange zest to their lips, cheeks, temple area, and trimmed the eyebrows. These details are evidence that Egyptians truly believed in contemporary living.

How did Indus Valley civilization (3300 - 1300 BC) perceive fashion?

Another set of fashion-conscious people were from early Indus Valley Civilization, also called Harappan civilization, which was the starting point of the Indian subcontinent's bronze age. This was one of the three dominant cultures of the ancient east, along with Mesopotamia and Egypt around 3300 BC.

Although the people were not as fashionable as Egyptians, they had their own style. The clothing was very much in sync with Mesopotamia fashion, thanks to the trade between them!

Cotton, jute, silk, and woolen fabrics were used for clothing. Men considered wearing a cloth around their waist (loincloth) in the same manner as dhoti. The head of the tribe wore a long robe on the left shoulder while a long fabric was used as turban-like headgear. Whereas, women wore knee-length skirts with a long shoulder shawl to cover the upper torso.

Both men and women adorn jewelry pieces like bead necklaces, bangles, earrings, finger rings, and anklets. Women elaborated on their hairstyles and often used flowers and gold and silver accessories for hair. Much like Egyptian women, Mohen-jo-Daro women also used heavy neckpieces and makeup. They painted their face white, and the lips, cheeks, and temples were tinted red or orange and applied kohl in the eyes.

There were many similarities between these three major early East Asian civilizations due to trade. They learned many new skills in making fabric, clothing, hairstyles, accessories, and makeup from each other. They also exported and imported many such items and followed each other's fashion trends.

The fashion history of early civilization is not complete without mentioning the trends and styles followed by other cultures such as Minoans (2700-1100BC), Greece (700-53 BC), Rome (50 BC- 476 AD), and Byzantium (315-1453 AD). Soon, I will be coming up with another fad and fable attached to early western civilizations. Till then, happy reading!

Information Reference - The Fashion Design Manual