An Inspiring Needle

Back in April, I reviewed two books by ChronoCopia Publishing:  A Handbook of Men's Clothing and Handbook of the 15th Century and A Handbook of Women's Clothing of the 15th Century.  Daniel Serra of ChronoCopia Publishing also asked me to review the following book about nålbinding:

Pasanen, Mervi.  With One Needle:  How to Nålbind. (ChronoCopia Publishing AB 2019).

Mervi Pasanen originally published this book in Finnish. When it came out, I lamented the fact that I wouldn't be able to read it, even if I could afford it.  With One Needle  makes that content available to English speakers, and I have been sent a free copy in order to write this review.  

I am always on the lookout for new books about nålbinding, because I have struggled for some time to learn the art, and am continuing to struggle to do so.  Though I have learned enough to nålbind an undistinguished cap for myself, I have failed several times now at making mittens or socks, and every time I take the craft up again after a hiatus, I have to re-learn the basics nearly from scratch.  So when I was asked to review With One Needle, I hoped that Mervi's book would finally help me reach the level of understanding I need to succeed at retaining basic nålbinding skills once and for all.

The first thing one notices about this book is that the production level is very high.  The paper is glossy and of good quality, the font is attractive and easily readable, and there are many clear and beautiful color photographs.  The cover photograph shown above gives a good idea of how much artistry was devoted to the photographs in the book.

As I read the book, I tried to look at it in terms of how it would be viewed by a total novice to nålbinding, which was not difficult since I'm not that far from being a novice anyway.  And although Mervi's book includes a tutorial for several different nålbinding starts, it's not really the best source available for teaching people who are new to the art how to begin nålbinding. Why?  Largely because there are not enough photographs of every step of the process.  If, like me, you have trouble telling right from left when looking at an object and also have poor visualization skills, you will find that Mervi's photo essay on nålbinding starts does not give you *quite* enough information to advance your game.

But even though Mervi's book may not be the best way for a total beginner--or even a serial beginner like myself--to learn nålbinding does not mean that the book is of no value to nålbinding enthusiasts.  To the contrary, there are many useful things a discerning reader with an interest in nålbinding can take away from Mervi's book.  Here are some of my takeaways from the book:

1.     Inspiration.  With One Needle is packed with dozens of clear, full color photographs demonstrating techniques and interesting projects.  Just finishing the book made me want to get my needle out and start looking for colorful yarn to attempt one of her projects.

2.     Useful Techniques.  From Mervi's book I gleaned the realization that the same basic technique can be used to put a thumb onto a mitten or a heel on a sock.  Mervi also gives the best photographic description I have seen of how to do a Russian join, which is a technique for incorporating a new piece of yarn onto the working yarn.

3.    Helpful Facts.  When I was first exploring nålbinding, I found a photograph of an archaeological find of a thigh-length, nålbinded stocking, and I wondered how such items could be made since nålbinded works are not very stretchy compared to knits.  It turns out that you have to take a lot of precise measurements of the various parts of ankle and leg that the sock must fit and thus tailor it to the wearer.  The book also says that certain stitches are stretchier than others, and thus may be more appropriate for high socks.  Mervi also provides useful measurement and proportion information for the construction of socks in general.

4.   New Stitches.  Mervi's book contains tutorials for learning a number of different variations on Finnish stitch that I've never seen anywhere else.

5.   Expert Techniques.  Have you ever seen photographs of modern nålbinded garments that appear to have a braided edge?  This book contains directions how to do that technique as well.

In short, I recommend this book most strongly for nålbinders of intermediate level--people who have made enough garments using nålbinding that they are looking for new projects to expand their skill with the technique.  However, even for people like me who are still struggling, the book is a fun and thought-provoking read, and an inspiration to increase my skills so that I can try some of the more challenging projects in the future.

Two Late 15th Century European Clothing Handbooks

At the request of Daniel Serra of ChronoCopia Publishing, I am reviewing the following books.  They are very similar to each other and even contain some of the same content, so it makes sense to review them together:

Malmborg, A. & Schütz, Willhelm, A Handbook for Men's Clothing of the 15th Century: Historical Clothing from the Inside Out. (ChronoCopia Publishing AB 2018).

Malmborg, A. & Schütz, Willhelm, A Handbook for Women's Clothing of the 15th Century: Historical Clothing from the Inside Out. (ChronoCopia Publishing AB 2018).

These books are beautifully produced.  They are printed on thick, glossy paper and are lavishly illustrated with clear diagrams and large, full color photographs showing clothed figures excerpted from period works of art.  But these books are very short (48 pages each).  At $19.90 USD for each on Amazon.com, they are a bit more expensive than the titles in Osprey Publishing's Men-At-Arms series, which are the same length and are of similarly high quality with regard to paper, photographs, and layout.

These books are too brief to be a comprehensive guide to everything there is to know about late 15th century costume.  For example, they are too small to give much information about clothing patterns, or surviving items of period clothing, or to discuss differences in costume from one European country to another.

Are Malmborg and Schütz's  handbooks worth one's money and time?  I think the answer to that question is "yes," but only for people who are just starting to learn about late 15th century costume.

What kinds of information do these books provide?  That can be discerned by scanning through the books chapters and headings.  The book's contents are divided into three chapters:  "The Period;" "A Wardrobe;" and "Accessories."

"The Period" is subdivided into five sections: "Historical context;" "The dress idiom;" "Dyes;" "Fabrics;" and "Sewing Techniques."  "Historical context" briefly describes the political situation in Europe as it existed during the period.  "The dress idiom" describes the physical outline of period costume--what I think of as its "silhouette"--and mentions some of the features of that costume, such as pleats, layers, and the importance of fabric choice in displaying social rank.  "Dyes" describes the substances used to achieve fashionable colors, and images give a sense of how those colors appeared.  "Fabrics" discusses the types of fiber used in most period fabrics and the most popular weaves used, while "Sewing Techniques" illustrates the stitches used for clothing construction.  This chapter appears with substantially the same content in both books.

The "Wardrobe" has a separate section for each item that comprises a typical outfit for a man or woman of the period (depending upon which of the two volumes you are reading), from head to toe and from the skin out.  For each item, the reader is told the fabrics from which each garment is made, the garment's basic shape, and general information about construction, tailoring techniques, and fit.  Though no sewing patterns are provided, good general advice about how to construct each garment is provided.

The "Accessories" section describes non-clothing items that are nonetheless part of a typical outfit, such as pins, jewelry, and belts.  Finally, there is a page listing the sources of the images used in the book, and a separate page listing useful books to consult for further study of 15th century clothing.

The sort of information that these handbooks provide is the information needed to develop an "eye" for when a costume looks "right."  Information that fosters such an "eye" is immensely helpful because it guides the learner in determining which other books to buy or read. Having an "eye" for the costume of a period is essential in learning how to design and construct costumes that make the wearer look as though he or she has just "stepped out" of a period artwork.  It also provides a useful framework for delving into patterns and pattern books and for understanding the clothing of figures shown in period art.  But the would-be 15th century costumer or reenactor will still need to study further in order to learn enough to be able to construct convincingly accurate 15th century clothing.

For that reason, these books would better be described as "primers" rather than "handbooks". The term "handbook" is typically used for a start-to-finish reference guide to all of the essentials of a subject, and as such may be usefully consulted by those with prior experience in the subject.  Malmborg and Schütz's books are not "handbooks" in this sense.  People with experience making or studying 15th century costume will already know most of the information presented in these books and likely will not be interested in consulting them.

On the other hand, a "primer" is a short introduction to a subject, such as the type of short text given to children to teach them how to read.  Malmborg and Schütz's books are more like primers in that they teach the uninitiated how to "read" clothing images in period art and what types of information they will need to seek in order to sew convincing period clothes.

So these handbooks are not for everyone.  However, costumers who are beginning to develop knowledge of 15th century clothing, or historical fiction writers who are looking for enough costuming information to convincingly describe their characters, may find them a pleasant way to learn to visualize how a 15th century man or woman should be dressed.  For people in those circumstances, it would be hard to find an easier and better point of entry into the study of 15th century costume, and I recommend the books for that purpose.

A Pleasant Surprise

Here's a little surprise for my readers--and me as well!

Daniel Serra has asked me to review some books from Chronocopia Publishing.  These are the books in question.  The links go to the page for each book on the Chronocopia website, though the books may be obtained from various booksellers as well.

• The English language, paperback edition of Mervi Pasanen's book on nålbinding:  With One Needle:  How to Nålbind.

• Anna Malmborg & Willhelm Schütz's books:  A Handbook of Men's Clothing in the Late 15th Century and A Handbook of Women's Clothing in the Late 15th Century. 

Daniel is one of the co-authors of another Chronocopia book: An Early Meal: A Viking Age Cookbook and Culinary Odyssey, which discusses the reasons what Viking food was probably like and why, and provides defensible period recipes for modern-day people like us to make.  I reviewed An Early Meal on my food blog, here. That review may be the reason why I've been asked to review the Chronocopia books mentioned above.

Chronocopia is being good enough to send me review copies.  After I have received and read them, I will be writing book reviews of all three for this blog.  Watch this space!

Yet Another New Resource

While exploring a post on Instagram, I found myself looking at the updated Medieval Dress and Textiles Society webpage and found out, from this page, that there is an Association of Dress Historians. This association, under the patronage of Aileen Ribeiro, publishes a scholarly journal called the Journal of Dress History, which contains articles primarily focused on historical clothing topics relating to fashions of the last 250 years.

Each issue of the Journal (except for the first few) is at least 200 pages, and Professor Emeritus Ribeiro herself has been a contributor.  Best of all, part of the Association's mission is that the Journal of Dress History is "circulated solely for educational purposes, completely free of charge and not for sale or profit." The first issue was published in 2017, and the 10 issues that have been published to date may all be downloaded for free on the Association's website, here.

Here are some papers from the Journal that may be of interest.  They are illustrated, some lavishly:

Alexander, Kimberly S. and Alison Fairhurst.  Treasures Afoot:  Shoe Stories from the Georgian Era.  (Volume 3, Issue 2, Summer 2019, page 87).

Gurr, Alice.  The Trench Coat:  Fashioning British Gender Identities in War and Peace, 1851-1930.  (Volume 3, Issue 1, Winter 2019, page 5).

Fairhurst, Alison.  Women's Shoes of the Eighteenth Century: Style, Use and Evolution.(Volume 1, Issue 2, Autumn 2017, page 25).

Middleton, James.  Their Dress Is Very Different:  The Development of the Peruvian Polleta and the Genesis of the Andean Chola.  (Volume 2, Issue 1, Spring 2018).

Each issue also includes a substantial section of detailed reviews of new books on historical clothing; that feature alone is definitely worth the time of costumers and historians interested in the period or periods discussed.

I'm not sure when I'll get the opportunity to read these issues as there is a lot of material here, but I look forward to doing so, and I invite all of you to join me.

Book Review: Extending Knowledge of Costume Through Art Analysis

From the Casemate Academic website

From the Casemate Academic website

The two books I have obtained for my costume history library most recently involve very different historical periods but a common method; they both seek to increase our knowledge of clothing from their respective periods through a through analysis of period art.

These are the books I mean (links below are to the hardback editions, but e-book versions of both are available, and my copy of Woven Threads is an e-book):

Mannering, Ulla.  Iconic Costumes:  Scandinavian Late Iron Age Costume Iconography.  Oxbow Books--Ancient Textiles Series No. 25 (2017).

Shaw, Maria C. and Chapin, Anne P., eds.  Woven Threads:  Patterned Textiles of the Aegean Bronze Age.  Oxbow Books--Ancient Textiles Series No. 22 (2015).

I have finished reading Iconic Costumes, but am still thinking my way through the material, and I am still reading Woven Threads.  Even so, there are some observations I would like to make about both that, in my opinion, demonstrate that both books are well worth reading.

Iconic Costumes seeks to obtain information about costume from the Migration Period through the Viking Age by examining and analyzing the details of artistic depictions of human beings in of Viking and pre-Viking Age Scandinavian art.  Most of this art is in the form of carvings on artifacts such as the Oseberg cart, guldgubbar (tiny, thin gold-foil plaques found in graves), or jewelry.  In contrast, Woven Textiles primarily analyzes surviving frescoes from buildings erected by the Minoan and Mycenaean Bronze Age cultures in order to learn more about costumes and patterned textiles depicted in those frescoes.  Both books reference non-artwork archaeological finds to support their conclusions.

Professors Shaw and Chapin have an easier time than Professor Mannering, for all that few textile remains survive from either culture, because despite its peculiar lack of perspective to a modern eye, Minoan and Mycenaean art is much more representational than early Scandinavian art, and has the additional benefit of having been originally created in color (and the colors survive to a surprising degree) while early Scandinavian art is mostly sculptural in nature.  Early Scandinavian art is also highly stylized, and the human figures depicted are nearly always too small to show much detail.  The Aegean frescoes often showed human figures life-sized, or close to life size, and many of them survive nearly complete and in good condition.  Even the fragmentary frescoes have much to say about patterns that may well have been used to decorate fabric.

That being said, both books manage to answer a significant question relevant to the history of clothing for their period of study.   It's the same question for both books:  Does period art really reflect what people actually wore as costume?

The authors' answer in both cases is "yes."  Having observed and analyzed most of the human figure representations dating from Iron Age Scandinavia, Professor Mannering observes: 

The vast majority of the iconographical costumes recorded are encountered in the archaeological textile and clothing material.  At the same time, there is information on the depictions [sic] that is not seen in the archaeological textile finds and vice versa. ... 

A typical male outfit in the Late Iron Age consisted of trousers, a tunic with sleeves, a rectangular cloak, belt, and shoes, while a typical female outfit included various dresses, skirts, blouses, cloaks, hairnets, and shoes, demonstrating both continuity from previous periods and new trends. ...

Generally, the investigation shows that the depictions represent clothing items that occur in the archaeological record. ... Thus, the depictions reveal costume items, e.g., kaftans, female jackets, and skirt and blouse ensembles that most likely were present in the archaeological record in the Late Germanic Iron Age, but that have not been positively identified yet.  They also demonstrate that the female dress most likely was long-sleeved, something which has not yet been securely documented via the archaeological record. (pp. 176-177) .

Professors Shaw and Chapin focus more of their efforts on comparing Minoan and Mycenaean styles by means of the surviving pictorial art.  They rely heavily on Elizabeth Wayland Barber's work as support for their conclusion that the patterns observed in clothing shown in fresco art could have achieved on textiles.  Like Professor Mannering, they conclude that certain patterns likely were used on real clothing from the fact that the same patterns turn up in clothing depictions on multiple frescoes.   However, there are enough surviving decorated fragments of cloth in archaeological finds to support Professor Barber's belief that patterned cloth was produced in the Aegean during the Bronze Age.  There is also support in contemporary Egyptian tomb art, which shows foreigners wearing garments, decorated in patterns, that compare closely to the Aegean fresco designs.

In general, Shaw and Chapin show that the creation of patterned textiles (whether through weaving, embroidery, applique, block printing, or other textile-related arts) came from centralized workshops, centered upon the great palaces of the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations, and that such items were worn only by the elite; ordinary folk made do with plain cloth.  It appears that Mycenae produced less elaborate fabrics and costumes, and reserved the more elaborate ones they did produce for unusual occasions.

Artistic evidence for how the Minoans themselves defined the luxury in luxury textiles is not confirmed by recent archaeological discoveries surveyed in Chapter 2.  Artists working in the Neopalatial era depicted their best fabrics as finely woven with colorful and complex patterns and embellished with decorative borders, fringes, and tassels; these pictorial details are consistent with the bits of surviving textiles.

*   *   *   *

The few fragments of cloth--all linen--that survive from Mycenaean contexts support the impression that Mycenaean textiles were plainer and less decorative than textiles of the Minoan era.  Linen fragments found in Grave Circle B at Mycenae and in a tomb at Ayia Kryiaki on the island of Salamis, for example, were tabby-woven (a plain weave) and undecorated.

*   *   *   *

Some Minoan-styple forms of costume, particularly festal attire with flounced skirts, continued to appear in Mycenaean art, particularly in procession frescoes, but the fanciest rapport patterns of earlier generations were replaced by simple striped designs or by fabrics woven with uncomplicated all-over scatter patterns.  Decorative bands that reinforced edges, seams, and hems on bodices, skirts, and tunics were still made by the Mycenaean weavers, but even these were plainer than before.  (Chapter 9, italic emphasis in original).

Both books are well-illustrated with excellent photogtaphs of items of the period artworks that were analyzed.  Understandably, most of the illustrations in Iconic Costumes are black and white or line-drawings, but there are also some color pictures of actual clothing finds and guldgubbar.  Woven Threads includes both color photographs of surviving frescos and portions of frescoes as well as colored illustrations of particular pattern motifs.

There is a large amount of food for thought in both books.  (For example, Professor Mannering concludes that the scale of the female figures in period art makes it impossible to draw conclusions about women's wearing of the two-brooch costume--e.g., the "apron dress" or "smokkr".)  I think people interested in the history of clothing should read them, whether or not they are interested in the clothing of the Bronze Age Aegean or Iron Age Scandinavia, just to observe how the authors analyze and apply the different types of clothing evidence available to them.

Menswear of the Lombards

Paul the Deacon, from a period MS  Artist unknown

 MS from Laurentian Library, Plut.65.35, fol 34r

(Wikimedia Commons)

As I previously posted, I recently learned of, and obtained, an ePub copy of the following book:

Gordino, Yuri. Menswear of the Lombards. Reflections in the light of archeology, iconography and written sources. (Bookstone, Dec. 25, 2016).

The Lombards were a Germanic people who conquered and ruled substantial portions of Italy between the mid-sixth and late eighth centuries CE.

My only regret is that I do not have a printed, paper copy of this book instead of an electronic copy. The book is lavishly illustrated, mostly with photographs of reproduction fabric, weapons, accessories, and clothing from the Lombard culture between roughly 550 CE and 770 CE that are based upon the research in the book.  Many of the illustrations show reproductions in lovely, primary colors that look as though they were made with period-available dyes. Despite the book's title, some of the photographs show women in period Lombard clothing, as well as men.  It would be wonderful to see those images as color photographs printed on good paper. 

The book is so beautifully illustrated that it is difficult to focus on the text.  It would be wrong to consider either text or illustrations in isolation, however, because examination of period art forms a critical element of Mr. Gordino's conclusions.  According to Mr. Gordino, information about Lombard clothing has to be derived from multiple sources, including "archaeological data, written sources and iconographic evidence" since surviving items of clothing from the region are nonexistent and only small textile scraps have been recovered from archaeological sites.  Consequently, a number of sketches based upon the most important pieces of period art appear in the book as illustrations, highlighted to demonstrate information about particular garment types. The text also discusses clothing information from Paul the Deacon's history of the Lombards, which is a major source of information about the Lombards in general (see the image in the photograph above).  In addition, the author has reviewed the available evidence in light of what is known of other Germanic people's clothing during the period of the Lombards' rule, though little explicit discussion appears on this point.

For those who are familiar with the known information about contemporary Germanic races associated with other parts of Europe, the book's conclusions will not be surprising.  They include the following:

• Lombard men typically wore undershirts and drawers made from linen.  The drawers were made with a drawstring with legs extending to just above the knee, like the underbreeches that appear in the art of the later Middle Ages in northern Europe.
• The most commonly found weaves are tabby, herringbone twill, diamond twill, and repp. Higher status men tended to wear the diamond and herringbone twill weaves, which were dyed in bright colors.
• There is some evidence for trousers as outerwear, decorated with a broad ornamental band at the hem.
• There is also evidence that other men wore leg wrappings, as did the Anglo-Saxons and various northern European peoples.
• Outer tunics were long-sleeved and A-shaped.  They came to about the knee and were decorated with broad bands of contrasting cloth, either in a straight line from shoulder to shoulder (including the neck area) or with a broad band from shoulder to shoulder and a perpendicular band starting from the neck and running down the middle of the torso to about the waist level.  
• The outfit was completed with a short (no longer than to the hem of the tunic) cloak, fastened with a brooch on the right shoulder, with the opening exposing the right side of the body.  
• There is evidence for two different types of hat:  a pillbox style, and a felted hat shaped like an inverted modern flowerpot with a small brim.  
• There is also evidence that low, slipper-like shoes were worn by Lombard men.

The book concludes with an essay on the type of sword belt of which evidence is most often found in Lombard graves.  

Menswear of the Lombards has a few drawbacks.  It is short, especially given the breadth of subject matter covered. Possibly in consequence, long descriptions of the evidence or of the analysis leading to the author's conclusions do not appear.  In addition, the book is written in English, which judging from the grammatical constructions used does not appear to be the author's primary language.  Thus, it's important to read the text slowly at first, making frequent reference to the illustrations based upon the period art evidence in order to absorb the author's meaning.  There is a significant bibliography, but note that many of the sources listed are written in Italian.

In conclusion, Menswear of the Lombards is well-worth its modest EPub price for costumers and other amateur scholars interested in the region and period, though it is far from the final word about Lombard costume.

Historical Tidbits

A while ago now, I found an interesting book on the Casemate Academic (formerly David Brown Book Company) website.  Casemate is the American affiliate of Oxbow Books, which sells many wonderful books relating to archaeological research, including archaeological research involving clothing and textiles.  Because the price was low (only $12.00 USD).  I purchased it. Here's the bibliographical information:

Nosch, Marie-Louise, Feng, Zhao, & Varadarajan, Lotika, eds. Global Textile Encounters (Ancient Textiles Series vol. 20) (Oxbow Books 2014).

As the title implies, the theme of all the essays in the book is how clothing and textile designs are inspired by contacts with foreign regions.  Most of the essays are short and informal--perhaps a bit too informal for publication in most academic journals.   However, they still have interesting snippets of information for students of historical textiles and costume.  The amount of photographs in this volume are limited, but the ones that appear are in color and of excellent quality. 

For the convenience of my readers, I have replicated below the list of the essays in the book, to make it possible to judge whether the book is worth $12.00 USD to you.  I found most of them--including those relating to clothing and textiles outside of my primary period of interest--to be fascinating.  

1.   Textiles and Elite Tastes between the Mediterranean, Iran and Asia at the end of Antiquity: Matthew P. Canepa.

2.   Palla, Pallu, Chador: Draped clothing in ancient and modern cultures: Mary Harlow.

3.   From Draupadi to Dido: The duties of dress in paintings inspired by the Mahabarata and the Aeneid: Linda Matheson.

4.   The Kaftan: An unusual textile encounter in the Scandinavian Late Iron Age: Ulla Mannering.

5.   Ancient Running Animals: Tablet-woven borders from China and Norway: Lise Ræder Knudsen.

6.   The Development of Pattern Weaving Technology through Textile Exchange along the Silk Road: Zhao Feng.

7.   The Earliest Cotton Ikat textiles from Nahal ‘Omer Israel 650-810 CE: Orit Shamir and Alisa Baginski.

8.   Northerners – Global Travellers in the Viking Age: Eva Andersson Strand.

9.   Unravelling Textile Mysteries with DNA analysis: Luise Ørsted Brandt.

10. The Traceable Origin of Textiles: Karin Margarita Frei.

11. The World of Textiles in Three Spheres: European Woollens, Indian Cottons and Chinese Silks, 1300-1700: Giorgio Riello.

12. Chinese Silks in Mamluk Egypt: Helen Persson.

13. Woven Mythology: The Textile Encounter of makara, senmurw and phoenix: Mariachiara Gasparini.

14. Textile in Art: The influence of textile patterns on ornaments in the architecture of medieval Zirikhgeran: Zvezdana Dode.

15. Coromandel Textiles: The Changing Face of Consumer Demand and Weavers’ Responses 16th to 18th Century CE: Vijaya Ramaswamy.

16. The Jesuit Dilemma in Asia: Being a naked ascetic or a court literate?: Selusi Ambrogio.

17. “The Colourful Qualities of Desire”: Fashion, colours and industrial espionage: Vibe Maria Martens.

18. Fashion Encounters: The “Siamoise” or the Impact of the Great Embassy on textile design in Paris in 1687: Corinne Thépaut-Cabasset.

19. The Chinoiserie of the 17th to 18th-century Soho Tapestry Makers: Mette Bruun.

20. Exoticism in Fashion: From British North America to the United States: Madelyn Shaw.

21. Textile symbolism and social mobility during the Colonial Period in Sydney Cove: Judith Cameron.

22. The Impact of British Rule on the Dressing Sensibilities of Indian Aristocrats: A case study of the Maharaja of Baroda’s dress: Toolika Gupta

23. Re-imagining the Dragon Robe: China Chic in Early Twentieth-Century European Fashion: Sarah Cheang.

24. Sari and the Narrative of Nation in Twentieth-Century India: Aarti Kawlra.

25. From Cool to Un-cool to Re-cool: Nehru and Mao tunics in the sixties and post-sixties West: Michael Langkjær.

26. Too Old: Clothes and value in Norwegian and Indian wardrobes: Ingun Grimstad Klepp, Lill Vramo and Kirsi Laitala.

27. A ‘stinging’ textile: Cultivation of nettle fibre in Denmark and Asia: Ellen Bangsbo.

28. Fist-braided Slings from Peru and Tibet: Lena Bjerregaard.

29. Parsi Embroidery: An Intercultural Amalgam: Shernaz Cama.

30. The Navjote Ceremony and the Sudreh Kushti: Lotika Varadarajan.

31. Globalization, Identity and T-shirt Communication: Karl-Heinz Pogner.

32. India to Africa: Indian Madras and Kalabari Creativity: Joanne B. Eicher.

33. Textile: The non-verbal language: Jasleen Dhamija.

Book Review--"The Dress of the Venetians"

My regular readers may recall that, back in 2005, I was caught up in designing a lavish, early 16th century Venetian gown for a role in a live-action roleplaying game.  Since I knew almost nothing about the costume of that place and period at the time, I was interested in obtaining a copy of this book:

Newton, Stella Mary. The Dress of The Venetians--1495 to 1525 (Pasold Studies in Textile History 7, Scolar Press 1988).

Durer's Portrait of a Young Venetian Woman

Unfortunately, Ms. Newton's book had long since gone out of print by 2005, and copies were, and are, selling for three-figure prices (in U.S. dollars) on the secondhand book market on the Internet (and I have never heard of or seen mention of a copy of the book outside of the Internet). I might have tried to obtain a copy by interlibrary loan ("ILL"), but I was concerned that I'd need the book for longer than the time period for which I could have obtained it by using ILL. So I turned to the Internet, and found that the Realm of Venus website contained more than enough information to aid me in making the gown I made for the LARP.  But I remained curious about Newton's book, and resolved to obtain a copy if I could ever do so for a modest price.

Carpaccio's Two Venetian Ladies

About two weeks ago, my opportunity came.  I found a decommissioned library copy of Dress of the Venetians on AbeBooks that was selling for $7.76 USD--with free shipping!  So I  bought it, and am eagerly reading it.  Since many of my readers might want a copy but be reluctant to pay a high price for a used copy, I figured I'd share my observations and conclusions about the book here in case they might be useful.

A couple of caveats are in order before I proceed further with this review.

First of all, this may not be the best book for you if you are looking for images of costume in Ms. Newton's target period. There are relatively few photographs in the book. Worse, most of the photographs there are are in black and white, and reproduced at scales that make examination for costume details difficult. On the other hand, the book identifies a number of artworks from the period quite clearly artist and title, so it should be easy to obtain better copies of the images for detailed examination (or perhaps even go to the relevant museums to examine them in person, if one can afford to travel).

Bellini's Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan

Second, Ms. Newton limits her study very strictly to the time period in the title--1495 to 1525 CE.  This is not the book for you if you are interested, say, in the 1560's, ladder-laced style of dress people often associate with Venetian courtesans. 

That being said, what Ms. Newton does explore in her book is fascinating.  She observes that there are not many pieces of artwork that both depict costume worn in the 30-year span in which she is interested, and can unambiguously be documented as showing a specifically Venetian fashion.  So she has primarily consulted period written sources relating to costume--primarily regulations, and texts discussing regulations--and read them in light of the few paintings that she believes do depict Venetian fashion.  I have located images of some of the paintings used as illustrations in the book  and added them to illustrate this post.*

Carpaccio's Arrival of the English Ambassadors

Because her primary sources consist of Venetian laws relating to what may and may not legally be worn, most of Ms. Newton's book focuses on clothing worn by men--particularly men over 25, since only men older than 25 could be citizens.  Citizens were subjected to a number pf regulations requiring a particular civic dress (depending to some extent upon the rank of the citizen).  Such restrictions applied even to the Doge, the supreme leader of Venice.  Bellini's portrait (left) illustrates the Doge's official costume.  Newton's text gives a very clear idea of the limited range of costume allowed to Venice's important men (citizens could wear only black, crimson or scarlet; the Doge, only crimson or cloth of gold, with the possible exception of pavonazzo, the exact hue of which is unclear, for mourning), and provides an entertaining discussion of what took place when some enterprising man sought to stretch the statutory fashion envelope.  Young men--adolescents, and men under the age of 25, wore extreme, German-influenced styles that emphasized a trim waist, tight buttocks, and powerful lean legs, as the detail from Carpaccio's Arrival of the English Ambassadors demonstrates.

Titian's Sacred and Profane Love (detail)

Clothing regulations for Venetian women took the form of sumptuary laws restricting the use of clothing elements that were deemed excessively or inappropriately luxurious.  Many of those laws related to the amount of fabric that could permissibly be used for sleeves, or the types of fabric that might be employed in a costume.  Unsurprisingly, Venetian women were even more inventive and bold in challenging these restrictions than their men.  It is possible to get a good idea of how the lines of women's clothing and hairstyles changed over the 30-year period of Newton's survey--from high-waisted gowns with narrow, segmented sleeves worn with buns on top of the head to a more normal waistline, worn with huge sleeves and hair held in a net towards the back of the head.

Overall, despite the modest number of illustrations, I think that Newton's book has a wealth of information for the costume historian interested in the period she covers.  I think that anyone interested in the costume of the period should read it, and that anyone seriously interested in the period should study it.  A historian specializing in the period would be well-advised to have a copy, even at a three-figure price.

* All images in this post obtained from Wikimedia Commons.

Medieval Garments Reconstructed--Has Arrived!

A few weeks ago, using an Amazon gift card I received as a quid pro quo for taking a survey, I ordered a copy of the English language version of Medieval Garments Reconstructed, the new book by Else Østergård, Anna Norgard and Lilli Fransen describing the construction and replication of the more intact Herjolfsnæs finds.  

It arrived on Thursday, and I have been eagerly looking through it.  What I didn't realize when I ordered the book is that the authors not only recreated the cutting and stitching of the original garments, but they also spun the thread and wove the cloth to period specifications.  Each item reproduced is shown in a color photograph, along with a color photograph of the reproduction, and a scale-drawing of the pattern for the garment discovered by the researchers.  The authors indicate in a forward that the book was inspired by the fact that readers of Ms. Østergård's book, Woven Into The Earth, "desired additional pattern drawings, with instructions on how to produce a garment either as an exact reconstruction [i.e., as the authors did] or as an adapted reconstruction [i.e., from ready-made cloth but using the same pattern and types of stitches]."  (p. 9).

Other interesting surprises include:

• A photograph of buttons made for one of the garments from the same wadmal used to make the clothes.  They are described as nearly flat, and crafted so the top surface is smooth while the gathering needed to make the button shape is all concentrated on the bottom.  (p. 14)
• A color photograph of tablets for tablet weaving found at the site.  They are made from bone, and etched with simple designs.  (p. 13)
• An odd circlet, crafted from human hair using two twisted strands of hair.  (p. 11)
• A willow basket with a handle found on the site.  (p. 10)

Because my personal costume interests lie earlier in time than the medieval period, I do not expect to make any of the garments in the near future.  But later on, I may.  It is fascinating, and impressive to me, to have in one slender volume enough information to reproduce actual items of everyday medieval clothing.

If I find any other surprising facts as I continue to read the book, I will of course blog about them.

EDIT: I have finished my first read of the book. It turns out that the authors did not use period techniques in the sewing of the garments. The cloth (a 2/2 twill in white and brown, used for all the reconstructions regardless of color of the original) was woven on a modern horizontal loom, and the reconstructions were stitched with a modern lockstitch sewing machine. Finishing was a combination of modern and period techniques, as follows:

The necklines and some of the sleeve hems are finished with a matching cotton bias binding, sewn on first by machine and afterwards blind-stitched by hand. The bottom hems of the garments have been blind-stitched by hand. There is therefore no visible stitch on the right side of the garment.  (p. 42)

I assume the authors were precluded from making their reproductions entirely with period techniques by time considerations. Nothing, of course, need stop the reader from using period techniques throughout.

Mary Eirwen Jones's Embroidery Book

Periodically, when the opportunity presents itself, I purchase inexpensively priced, used books on costume-related subjects about which I know little or nothing.  My latest acquisition of this type is the following book:

Jones, Mary Eirwen.  A History of Western Embroidery. Littlehampton Book Services Ltd. (August 1969).  ISBN-10: 0289796555.

Often, such early survey-type histories are frustrating in that they contain much less useful information than the title or length implies.  A History of Western Embroidery is such a survey.   I would like to describe its limitations in the event any of my readers may be considering adding it to their libraries.

Ms. Jones purports to address the subject of embroidery in Europe  (and, briefly, America), from earliest times up to the period that was the "present" at the time her book was written.  With the exception of several introductory chapters about embroidery generally and about "Embroidery in Antiquity", and a final chapter about modern embroidery, the book is organized by region, with each chapter  being a miniature history of embroidery in that region.   England, France, Italy, Germany, Flanders, Switzerland and the Iberian peninsula are singled out for full-chapter treatment.

Unfortunately, (perhaps because her bibliography shows that she relied upon a limited number of secondary sources to inform her examination of  primary examples), Ms. Jones's history is annoyingly vague and general.  The following passage about embroidery in the time of Charlemagne illustrates both Ms. Jones's writing style and her unfortunate lack of specificity:

Charlemagne (768-814) did much by his strong and enlightened rule to extend civilization and develop the arts among his people.  Commerce and manufactures flourished in his reign and he fostered industries in Flanders, Brabant and other regions and maintained a high standard of culture at his court.  It is recorded that his mother, Bertha (nicknamed 'of the Big Feet') taught the art of embroidery to Charlemagne's daughters while the emperor's aunt, St. Giselle, fostered skill in needlework in the many convents which she established in Aquitaine and Provence.

Valuable information concerning the life of Charlemagne and the manners and customs of his times have been bequeathed to us in the writings of a monk, Eginhard, who lived at St. Gall in the time of the great emperor.  In the Vita Karolis Imperatoris one may learn of Charlemagne's state dress comprising 'a close fitting vest or jacket of gold embroidery, sandals or slippers set with precious stones; also a cloak or mantle fastened by a golden brooch or fibula aand a crown of gold, glistening with gems.'

That is all Ms. Jones has to say about embroidery in France at the court of Charlemagne, and precious little it is.  In her chapter on German embroidery she mentions in passing that a cope presented by Charlemagne survives at Metz Cathedral, but her description of it is  vague:  "Embroidered on it are great eagles with outstretched wings, their claws being bitten by legendary creatures.  Threads of yellow, blue and green are used for the representation."

Even sadder, the number of pictures is few (because of cost?  because of inability to obtain permission to use photographs? It's impossible to tell.  However, there is a substantial list of museums containing suitable specimens at the back of the book).

My greatest frustration with the text, unsurprisingly, is with the lack of material about early period embroidery work.  Although Ms. Jones takes pains to emphasize that the art of embroidery dates back to antiquity, she provides little information from which to form a idea of what the earliest embroideries must have been like.  For example, she describes an extant artifact from ancient Egypt, the funeral tent of Queen Isi-em-Kebs, apparently dated to the 10th century B.C.E., only as being "worked on a ground made of hundreds of pieces of gazelle hide adorned with twisted pink leather cord."  This artifact, which by its very antiquity and survival is more remarkable than the modern pieces that take up three full pages of the photograph section, does not even rate a small photograph.

Although I have not yet read very far in the text, the illustrations suggest that Ms. Jones is primarily interested in later works.  Most of the photographs she has selected are of embroideries that date from the 16th century or later, and with the exception of a too-small, black-and-white photograph of St. Cuthbert's stole (a 10th century Anglo-Saxon work), there are no photographs of embroideries from before the high Middle Ages. 

Overall, there are interesting nuggets of information about historic embroideries in Ms. Jones's work, but it requires frustrating amounts of effort to tease them out.  I have found much more information more conveniently organized on the Internet--and that is something that cannot truthfully be said for many costume-related topics.  In particular, I recommend the Historical Needlework Resources website for well organized information, with pictures, about embroidery in Europe and the Middle East from the 7th through 16th centuries.  This source is also limited, but for the scope of information it contains it is, in my opinion, more useful than Ms. Jones's book.  If I had not obtained this book for a low price ($8.29 USD, plus about $4 shipping), I would be disappointed indeed.