Ancient Mesopotamia

I'm breaking this up into two posts. The first is more general information on the time and social structure, the second post will be about the actual dress. I tried to highlight important facts about trade and agriculture to give you an idea of how all of this information affects the costume. I've started citations at the bottom of this post but further citations will be included in the next one.

Enjoy!

In the Beginning…

I’ve decided that the best place to start is with the dawn of civilization. The toughest period to research costume and I’m going to attempt to make the information as accessible as possible. To do this you’ll need to understand culture, historic context, and geography. I wish it were possible to start further back but before written language as communication there’s very little to go off of besides cave paintings…which don’t exactly give detailed depictions of the day to day dress of the average caveman.

Everything started in the Middle East as I’m sure you remember from history classes in grade school. Geographically speaking we’re talking the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, referred to as Messopotamia (which by definition means “between two rivers” in Ancient Greek). The civilizations that thrived in this fertile area were Assyria, Babylonia, and Sumer. Today it consists of Iraq and Syria.

Now--It’s important to understand how much geography affects fashion. It relates directly to what resources are available—for instance what animals might thrive there, what metals and stones are available for jewelry, and most importantly the climate. If 100 degrees is a cool day then obviously heavy wool coats won’t be fashionable. On that note, Mesopotamia is specifically divided into two distinct areas. Northern Mesopotamia consists of hills and plains. The land is fertile—so of course we can expect to see more natural materials, and agriculture was therefore a big resource for the early settlers as well as metals and stones from the mountains. Southern Mesopotamia is marshy with barren plains. There irrigation was a necessity so that the waters from the rivers could aid their crops in growing. They did not have much in the way of natural resources so trade was important. This is also a hint of why warfare was a regular aspect of early cultures. What you can’t grow for yourself you can take from others, so to speak.

Culture

There were four classes of people in Ancient Sumeria and onward. These were nobility, free men, the poor—who had little personal property, and slaves who had no property at all. Free men were artisans, craftsmen and tradesmen, as well as lower public officials. The poor consisted of farmers. There were few slaves in the culture in Sumeria but in Babylonia they became vital to the scheme of things. Families were led by the father who could in a free man’s home sell his wife, children or even adopted children into slavery to cover his debts. He would marry, likely for economic reasons. He would have a principle wife and often would have concubines as well. The society was male oriented, but women were protected economically if their husbands died.

Mythology

The Mesopotamian mythology is a web of different myths mixing is way through each of the nations inhabiting the region over thousands of years. Each story has multiple versions. This is the sort of thing that immensely interests me but isn’t entirely applicable to the costume history story, so I’ll just recommend you view this site http://www.ancient-mythology.com/mesopotamian/ if you want to learn more. Also The Epic of Gilgamesh includes in it stories that allegedly inspired the stories in the Torah/Old Testament. Go my intellectuals, read! http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/

History

Now that we have an idea of where we are, I’ll give you an idea of when. Think six thousand plus years ago. This will be broken down by civilization. I’m going to expand on the history, and finally incorporate research on costume history. I’ll be brief so we can get onto the costume facts. The Sumerians (3500-2500 BCE) founded the first cities in Mesopotamia. They were considered city-states and while they were self-sufficient, they never gained much strength and were easily overtaken by the Akkadians from the north and then the Amorites from the west. These people established the Babylonian empire and created an autocratic state which cemented the stability of the government in the region for a thousand years. The power of Babylon soon waned and seeing their chance the Assyrians invaded. Their military technology was advanced with iron swords and a standing army of great proportion. For a short time the Chaldeans took over and ruled Babylon until the Persians took over in 539 BCE. This is when the famous hanging gardens were built.

Trade

I’m not going to get into everything trade related in this section. Instead I’ll focus on the costume-related resources. While parts of Mesopotamia are lush and fertile, crops and flocks were the limit of resources for the area. They traded their fabrics, oils and grain (all crop based) for shells, precious metals and stones. Among these items were lapis lazuli, a beautiful deep blue stone used in art and jewelry, an item considered more valuable than gold. This they got from trading with Egypt. They also gained red Carnelian beads, quartz and turquoise. As far as metals go, they traded for silver, gold, but until the Assyrians never got so far as bronze or iron.

Textiles

As your imagination has probably led you to believe, at the very beginning animal skins were the chief material in clothing. Sheep skins were used, the skin turned inside and the wooly side out and combed into tufts for decoration. Animal hairs and general wool later came into use for cloth fabrication. Cotton didn’t come into the picture until much later, about 700 BCE and silk shows up even later. Wool was in fact the chief fabric. The Bible and Torah’s consistent reference to the shepherds is based in the fact that this part of the world, allegedly the location of the dawn of humanity, is to this day a very pastoral country. The methods of weaving wool were so complicated that a weaver’s apprentice would study for five years. That’s practically a college degree! Women would spin and weave the wool and men would dye and finish the fabric. Women were trusted to oversee the production of fabric while men went away to trade. References to linen in first hand sources are few in comparison to the mention of wool. Among their crops could be found flax as well, the stem used for the production of cloth including linen, as well as net.

The British Museum.  Mesopotamia.  .  07-29-2011 .

.  Ancient Mesopotamians.  .  8-7-2011 .

Fodham University.  The Internet Ancient History Sourcebook.  .  8-7-2011 .

A purpose!

I'm happy to say that instead of a rambling blog solely about the rare cataclysmic vocational events of my life I'm going to devote this blog to a passion of mine: Costume research. While I am most likely going to waver from what I'm saying in this blog the concept remains the same.

I have a skill for research--online, at the library--my brain just works. I can find things by taking a divergent route that no one else might think of as applicable. I'm not trying to toot my own horn or anything. The point is I have found on various occasions that this is helpful. Let's just say I've helped out a few friends.

On top of the influx of costume-related books I've received as birthday and christmas gifts I've found a number of amazing sites just in browsing the internet out of boredom and I'd like to share my finds...that and drool over pretty clothing.

I was thinking of compiling images and information in posts on various time periods--dedicating a week or a month to a decade, a trend, a period in fashion history. In this I'll site where I got the information--the website--the means of finding that website if it's more interesting than "I googled it," the library, in what section, etc. I'm really excited about this! I'm interested in broadening the limited information I've found in rather specific areas, such as American fashion vs. European fashion--specifics on the differences between colonists in the 18th century and the dress of the King's England. Ideally I'll be able to burrow through quite a few of these.

Obviously I've stated in previous posts that I'm employed. The next few days I'll be working a few 12/13's and generally more than 8 hours and in the evenings which as you can see tends to be my blogging time when I do it. While I hope this blog concept will mean I'll post more frequently, I am pretty busy these days. The first thing to do is to pick the first time period, but that's for the next post.

Boredom pays off.

Perhaps I should be sleeping, but I'm not. In a fit of boredom I randomly decided to look up evening wear from the 1860's. I spent the day today watching episodes of the Office while attempting facial studies of 18th and 19th century portraits, browsed through some of the books I got for my birthday--all on 18th and 19th century fashion, caught myself drooling over them.

Well--while there were a few more costume-related fragments involving reading a book on draping and wanting to attempt to re-create these gorgeous gowns, learn to make lace, and basically go on a book buying spree with money I don't have, my day ended (or is ending) with the random urge for internet research. In this spree I found (and don't get me wrong, I knew this site existed when in school and used it for quite a bit of research) The Costume Institute.

I felt like sharing a few of the gorgeous pieces the MET has in their collection.

Gorgeous isn't it? Looks like something a duchess would wear.

Modest colors and soft details in lace. It just makes me want to wear it (because that's a less strange equivalent to wanting to hug a piece of clothing, right?)

and

That search led me somehow to a few other sites. Antique Frock was the big one. I drooled quite a bit over some of their stock.

Sites that actually sell antique clothing. Of course these items are WAY out of my price range (over 1k for a dress like this). Vintage Textile is a similar site. Then as far as research goes I found a tumblr account called defunctfashion that has a wide variety of images from all sorts of time periods.

My father's girlfriend actually gave me antique clothing she found when cleaning out her father's house. I can't date it exactly. My guess is 19th century but quite honestly I don't want to get my hopes up with how old it is. it's in pretty good condition. There's lace in the cuffs which is deteriorating but otherwise the jacket is in magnificent shape. Of course I wouldn't dare estimate it worth what the lovely gown above is worth but it's fun to think about. I think if I ever strike it rich (how that would ever happen is beyond me) I would love to start a costume history museum. The only places I know that have a library of antique clothing are places that have plenty of other artwork to put up as well. They did a 200 years of fashion thing at the Peabody Historical Society that I missed and am still depressed by it. Then I heard about an exhibit of 40's fashion in a museum in the middle of nowhere but that's not easily accessible.

In my research this evening I also found the Chicago History Museum did a similar fashion history thing--something with Chic in the title but it's long over now.

On a completely different topic, I'm looking into starting my own Etsy account. I'm going to start out most likely with corsetry and then perhaps move into the extravagant provided I can find a market for it. I need to find a good place for american costume history research. It seems like around here (Massachusetts) the Revolutionary War is the big seller for reenactments and clothing for that era is VERY different from European styles which is sadly the majority of my collection of books. Then of course civil war is an option and I know that Cape May, New Jersey does Victorian week which I'm dying to go to. Beyond that I'm stumped.

On a More Menial Note

Two posts in a day...but I forgot to mention something completely unrelated to the previous post.

Last night my power cord on my mac died. This power cord was only 3 months old. I bought it for $75 in a panic because my last one kicked out during finals. Furious at Mac and afraid I was going to have to pay another 75 on a replacement cord I went to the Genius Bar at the apple store today. This cord was the new model and evidently it's been out for less than a year. Without a receipt the genius bar was able to track down my serial number and replace my failure of a cord with a brand new one for free.

My next errand of the day was to stop by Best Buy for a new video cable for my Cintiq. This same Cintiq I bought a year ago on ebay. What should have been 1k was approximately $200. Honestly for that price I can't complain that it came with the wrong cords...at least the power adapter while the right voltage was from an HP printer and not for a Wacom tablet. The video cable was also mis-matched, probably from an old monitor.

Well shortly into my time experimenting with my heavenly new piece of equipment the monitor tinted blue. I was afraid it might be because the actual tablet is a POS (pardon the expression). I was at school and very low on $$ so I held off on doing anything, hoping if I just replaced the wire all would be well. Finally today I did it. The past few days I went to a few stores to see if they had the official wire I need--pronged on both sides, larger at one end, smaller at the other, but to no avail. Finally I gave in and purchased a DVI cable and a converter. Just after my last post I sat down to plug in the wire to see if it solved the problem and I am thrilled to report that my screen is no longer tinted blue. Also the random line of red on the LCD screen has disappeared.

All in all, a very good day.

Freshly Graduated and Gainfully Employed

I finished college in March and a lot has happened since then. I now officially have a BFA in production design with a costume concentration--but I'm happy to say that my hard work paid off in more ways than just the one.

From March to May I interned at Boston Ballet while applying ferociously for jobs every morning before work. I enjoyed working with everyone there--got a taste of what a 9-5 job would be like working in a costume shop all day. It was a lot of work and I wish I had time to get to know my co-workers better. All in all I learned a ton and got a lot of construction experience. I made tights, sewed on notions, worked with various types of sewing machines.

When that ended I had a few weeks before returning to Georgia for graduation. My dad and I drove down and back up, I had a lot of fun despite wearing acrylic in 100 degree heat (graduation gown) and got to see my friends for the first time in months. I have a handful of friends I went to school with that I was literally pining for. They were my social life and when I went home everyone I knew was still in school.

In May I interviewed with Disney for an internship, with the Huntington Theatre for an internship and with the North Shore Music Theatre for a wardrobe position. I got the wardrobe job for two shows: Disney's Tarzan the Musical and Footloose the musical. Because of graduation my schedule conflicted for My Fair Lady. In late may I got a call from them however and spent 3 days working the show subbing for one of their dressers. I worked with Charles Shaunessy (the boss from The Nanny) as his dresser and absolutely loved everyone I worked with despite only knowing them for a short amount of time. I really forgot how much I enjoy doing wardrobe.

On top of that--instead of the internship with the Huntington Theatre I got a job for their production of Candide. I'll be working September and October there. The hope is that after the show I'll be able to pick up the rest of the season at the North Shore Music Theatre, but we'll see. I'm so excited. Last week I got my first paycheck. Right now I'm saving up for a car. Graduation money and paychecks are going straight into that. I'm scared out of my mind that I'm going to get a lemon though.

Completely slipped my mind

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/486423812/the-lion-and-the-unicorn-thesis-film

Assistant Costume Designer on this student film in the fall (on top of everything else!) and we need funding.

The Lion and the Unicorn. Honestly it looks like it'll be a ton of fun and even more work. Wish me luck for actually surviving! my second to last quarter in college.

End of Summer

Got an internship with Boston Ballet for their production of The Nutcracker in December as well as a continued internship from March to May. I'm looking into jobs for after that point and am very excited with the places I'm applying for. I'm also looking into grad school but that's another thing entirely. SOOOO much work to do!

13 days left of summer. I've started working on a pattern (cutting mostly) for a new dress. My sewing machine is still in Georgia, a big mistake on my part.

I'm looking forward to moving back in with my awesome roommates and can't wait for summer to end!

I've spent the past two days re-doing the cabinets in the kitchen and I have the feeling it's going to take the rest of break to finish! How many coats of paint did the first owner put on!!??

What play I'm working on come fall is still up in the air as far as i can tell. There are actually...I think 4 productions going up in the fall...and the crew information hasn't been planned out very well. I think they're waiting until they decide who the costume crew heads are before they assign people to shows. Meeting's the second week of the quarter (So....third week of September I guess?) so I'll find out then.

The production design department (and performing arts) seem to be blossoming at Savannah College of Art and Design now. At least they're trying new things to get the students working. Evidently there's a show going up that's completely student-run, my friend was made costume designer for it. So student set designer, costume designer, director and obviously actors. Sounds pretty sweet. Zombie Prom. Crazy!