Fashion and Women

Byzantine Dress ... The bliaut A new French fashion for both men and women was the bliaut or bliaud, a long outer tunic with full skirts from the hip and sleeves that fitted tightly to the elbow and then flared into a trumpet shape...

Men's Skirts ... Some long robes also resemble a skirt or dress, including the Middle Eastern and North African caftan and djellaba. Other similar garments worn by men around the world include the Greek and Balkan fustanella (a short flared cotton skirt), the Pacific lava-lava (similar to a sarong), some forms of Japanese hakama and the Bhutanese gho...

1550–1600 In Fashion ... Early People's Republic Early in the People's Republic, Mao Zedong would inspire Chinese fashion with his own variant of the Zhongshan suit, which would be known to the west as Mao suit... Image gallery Jade burial suit fashion Emperor Wu of Jìn, by Yan Liben (600–673) Tang Dynasty court ladies from the tomb of Princess Yongtai in the Qianling Mausoleum, near Xi'an in Shaanxi Official Song Dynasty portrait painting of Empress Cao, wife of Emperor Renzong of Song Ming Dynasty Empress Xiao'an Phoenix crown of the Ming Dynasty empress A Ming Dynasty portrait of the Chinese official Jiang Shunfu (1453–1504)...

Ancient Egyptian Fashion ... The tunic ended between the hip and the knee and had either long or short sleeves. Clasps were not needed to hold the tunic together because when pulled over the head it would sit snugly around the neck without the use of lacing or ties, indicating that the garment was one continuous piece...

1400–1500 In Fashion ... Regional variations in fashionable clothing that arose in the fifteenth century became more pronounced in the sixteenth. In particular, the clothing of the Low Countries, German states, and Scandinavia developed in a different direction than that of England, France, and Italy, although all absorbed the sobering and formal influence of Spanish dress after the mid-1520s...

Sleeve ... The pattern of the sleeve is one of the characteristics of fashion in dress, varying in every country and period...

Anglo-Saxon Dress ... The silhouette, which was essentially close to the body with tight sleeves and a low, pointed waist to around 1615, gradually softened and broadened. Sleeves became very full, and in the 1620s and 1630s were often paned or slashed to show the voluminous sleeves of the shirt or chemise beneath...

1600–1650 In Fashion ... Silk cultivation spread to Japan in around 300 CE, and by 522 the Byzantines managed to obtain silkworm eggs and were able to begin silkworm cultivation. The Arabs also began to manufacture silk during this same time...

Monsoon Accessorize ... In 1984, Accessorize evolved as an exciting and a strongly differentiated High Street concept for fashion accessories in an adjoining shop to the Monsoon, Covent Garden Piazza branch...

1100–1200 In Fashion ... From this century onwards Western fashion changes at a pace quite unknown to other civilizations, whether ancient or contemporary... In most other cultures only major political changes, such as the Muslim conquest of India, produced radical changes in clothing, and in China, Japan, and the Ottoman Empire fashion changed only slightly over periods of several centuries... The French court during the minority and illness of Charles VI, filled with ambitious princes with a taste for luxury, was a fountain of innovation in fashion...

1200–1300 In Fashion ... The pardalide (made of a leopard skin) was traditionally used as the clothing for priests. Elements of Egyptian clothing In ancient Egypt, linen was by far the most common textile...

History Of Western Fashion ... The chlamys, a semicircular cloak fastened to the right shoulder continued throughout the period. The length fell sometimes only to the hips or as far as the ankles, much longer than the version commonly worn in Ancient Greece; the longer version is also called a paludamentum...

Handbag ... The modern purse, pouch or handbag came about in England during the Industrial Revolution and the increase in travel by railway. In 1841 the Doncaster industrialist and confectionery entrepreneur Samuel Parkinson (of butterscotch fame) ordered a set of travelling cases and trunks, and insisted on a travelling case or bag for his wife's particulars...

1650–1700 In Fashion ... Hanfu is presently worn only as a part of historical reenactment, festivals, hobby, coming of age/rite of passage ceremonies, ceremonial clothing worn by religious priests, or cultural exercise and can be frequently seen on Chinese television series, films and other forms of media entertainment. However, there is currently a movement in China and overseas Chinese communities to revive Han Chinese clothing in daily life and incorporate it in Chinese festivals or celebrations...

1500–1550 In Fashion ... Spanish court fashion remained out of step with the fashions that arose in France and England, and prosperous Holland also retained its own modest fashions, especially in headdress and hairstyles, as it had retained the ruff in the previous period... Romantic negligence A daring new fashion arose for having one's portrait painted in undress, wearing a loosely fastened gown called a nightgown over a voluminous chemise, with tousled curls... The mantua-and-stomacher resulted in a high, square neckline in contrast to the broad, off-the-shoulder neckline previously in fashion...

Undergarment ... Undergarments are generally of two types, those that are worn to cover the torso and those that are worn below the waist, though garments which cover both also are available. Different styles of undergarments are generally worn by women and men...

Shoe ... Shoes have traditionally been made from leather, wood or canvas, but are increasingly made from rubber, plastics, and other petrochemical-derived materials. Until recent years, shoes were not worn by most of the world's population—largely because they could not afford them...