Byzantium

Dress in Byzantium (400-1460ce)

Dress in the Eastern Empire, later to be called Byzantium by the West, (although properly called Romania at the time) was directly taken from the later Roman Empire. Strictly speaking Byzantium/Romania was the late Roman Empire, although it's capitol was Constantinople, and it's religion predominantly Christian. The Eastern Empire continued in the Roman tradition until it was shrunk into the space of little more than Constantinople and the southern tip of Greece by successive wars with the Ottoman Turks and Western Christian countries. In 1460 the last vestige of the Eastern Empire was swallowed up into the Ottoman Empire. For more on this topic see What, If Anything, Is A Byzantine? and THE ROMANS Ancient, Medieval and Modern

The Emperor Justinian and his court and clergy, c.510

Late Roman and "Byzantine" dress is more body covering than earlier Roman costume, usually including long sleeves and long hems. This is generally assumed to be a reaction to the growing Christian view that the body was not beautiful, but a pit of vice. When the tunica is shorter (only on men) the lower limbs are encased in trousers, a "barbarian" invention first adopted by the Roman army and lower classes, and eventually (after some aristocratic resistance) by all men. The toga remained for emperors and other high officials in this period, but in vestigial form as a long thin (about 6") strip wrapped round the torso in the traditional manner .

The Empress Theodora, wife of Justinian, and her suite, c. 510

Long half circle capes were part of male court dress, worn in place of the old toga over the new long sleeved tunica. The most notable feature of the Eastern Empire's dress is it's surface decoration. Unlike the earlier period which left fabric largely undecorated, the people of the Byzantine/Romanian Empire used all manner of woven, embroidered and beaded surface embellishment, particularly on Church vestments and court dress. This style of decoration, and many of the garment shapes, survive to this day in the priestly vestments of Orthodox churches in Greece, Eastern Europe and Russia.
Dress in Early Medieval Europe (400-1200ce)
Contemporary with the first part of the Eastern Empire's rule in the western Mediterranean, Western Europe was going through the period known as the "Dark Ages". One rather pithy scholar pretty well summed up the era (400-900ce) as "five hundred years of camping out". Warfare was pretty constant, commerce pretty nearly dead, and stable social and educational institutions almost non-existent.
Few records survive of dress in this period, although there is some rather spectacular jewelry in the style commonly called Celtic which has mainly been found in archeological sites in the British Isles and the Nordic countries. Like the Eastern Empire the dress of Western Europe seems to have consisted of the long sleeved tunic, half circle capes, & trousers. Western men are more often depicted in the short tunic and trouser combination than in long tunics. Shoes and boots were also worn in place of sandals.
It has been suggested that the reason that clothing became longer, heavier and more fitted in this era is that the world weather pattern shifted at that time to make Europe the much colder continent it is now. (In Roman times the weather was so warm in Northern Europe that they had successful vineyards in England, far north of where it is possible to grow them now).
Another clothing variation popular in Europe was the wearing of a short tunic over a longer fuller one. This was done by persons of both sexes. The over tunic was often heavily embroidered in a manner similar to the Byzantine style.
Women's dress was often similar to the style mentioned above, or simply consisted of a long tunic with a more tight fitting sleeved one beneath. Married women, with the exception of queens, generally veiled their hair, but this was not a hard and fast rule.
In 800ce Charles the Great (aka Charlemagne) was crowned "Holy Roman Emperor" by the Pope in Rome, thus setting up a smaller, rival empire in the West to Romania/Byzantium. In this period (known now as Carolinian) the shape of the old tunic changed by widening at the bottom. Eventually the lower part of the garment (now more often referred to as a gown) was cut like a full skirt.
By the 1000-1200 ce period known as "Early Gothic" (another name intended as a pejorative provided by people at a much later date) the usual cut of the gown (and shorter over tunics) was pretty usually with the wide or circular bottom. Sleeves on the over gowns and/or tunics get wider (especially on women's dress) and there is an overall fashion for conspicuous consumption of fabric.
There had been a pretty popular belief in Western Europe in the years leading up to the first Millennium, that the Christian Second Coming, End of the World, and Judgment Day would happen in the year 1000. This did not really encourage people to build earthly cities for the future or spend time or cash on worldly matters. So material culture, including dress, was pretty limited in it's ostentation before this date. When the world did not end, people in the centuries that followed became more sanguine that The End was not Near, and began displaying more interest in frivolous worldly matters such as dressing better than one's neighbors. This is partly why conspicuous consumption of fine fabric suddenly became popular.

Byzantine court and ecclesiastical dress from

Etruria

Cultural development came later to Italy than to the Aegean area. The Greeks colonized southern Italy and Sicily from the later 7th century BC, but it was the Etruscans who introduced a high standard of civilization, in the previous century, to the central region of the peninsula. They called themselves the Rasenna (though in Latin they were known as the Etrusci or Tusci). It is believed that they may have emigrated from Anatolia or possibly from farther east. They quickly developed their culture in their new land and, soon after 700 BC, they were living in an urban society capable of a high standard of building and visual arts. In dress, as in the other applied arts, they drew their inspiration and knowledge from a mixture of sources, chiefly Greek and Oriental.
Etruscan society appears to have had more in common with the Minoan culture than with that of Classical Greece. This was true, for example, of the position of women. Unlike the custom in Greece and Rome, where women were relegated to a submissive, domestic role, in Etruria women shared all the activities of life with men. The wealth of pictorial evidence that exists, chiefly the coloured frescoes and sculpture found in the great burial places such as the necropolis at Tarquinia, depicts women taking full part at banquets, dances, and concerts as well as attending racing, athletic, and other types of contests. These sources also indicate a close affinity of dress with the Minoan, illustrating sewn, fitted garments, bright colouring, rich decoration, and an abundance of beautiful jewelry—a craft at which the Etruscans excelled, especially in gold. Nevertheless, Etruscan dress, for both sexes, demonstrates a marriage between East and West, blending Eastern features from Egypt, Syria, and Crete with a later Ionian-style draped attire probably derived from the contemporary Greek colonists in southern Italy. Thus, Etruscans can be seen wearing both draped, pinned tunics and fitted, sewn ones, or such Greek styles as the chlamys, himation, or chiton in conjunction with footwear with Middle Eastern-style turned-up toes. Some Etruscan garments presaged later styles; for example, the tebenna, a semicircular mantle, was an early version of the Roman toga, and a decorative collar derived from Egypt anticipated a later Byzantine version.


Etruscan musicians wearing tunics, cloaks similar to the Greek chlamys, and sandals. Detail from a … Scala/Art Resource, New York City

The Aegean:Minoan and Mycenaean dress

The Aegean region and in particular the island of Crete, which was inhabited from about 6000 BC, can be considered the cradle of western European culture. Settlers came to Crete from areas farther east—from Anatolia, North Africa, Syria, and Palestine. By 2500 BC the Cretan civilization was becoming established and, as a maritime people with extensive trade in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, was influenced by many sources. The Cretans created a society and a dress style of their own, one dissimilar from the earlier one of Egypt and the later of Greece. The greatest and most prosperous years were from 1750 to 1400 BC; this was the time of the building of the great palaces, notably Knossos, from where the remains of coloured frescoes, painted vases, and sculpture in marble, terra-cotta, and coloured ceramics have been excavated and are on display in the museums of Iráklion and Athens. Even finer and more complete frescoes have been preserved from the more recent excavations of the Minoan city on the island of Thera (Thíra), an island largely destroyed in the cataclysmic volcanic eruption of about 1500 BC.
Cretan dress is characterized by its vivid colouring, elegance, and sophistication. It is also notable for the gaiety of feminine attire, typical of a society where women—unlike that of classical Greece—are depicted side-by-side with men, taking part in all the activities of life and not relegated to the domestic background.


Men's garments were few. Chief of these was a loincloth of wool, leather, or linen, tightly belted at the waist and arranged as a short, elaborately decorated skirt. The belt was drawn tight to contrast the slender waist (presuming that the man had one) with the masculine breadth of chest. By 1750 BC women were wearing a long bell-shaped skirt, often in a series of flounces, over a loincloth; with this, they wore a bolero-like jacket that had elbow-length sleeves but was open in front, leaving the breasts bare. In the later period a boned bodice was worn, constricting the upper torso but accentuating the full, bare breasts above. (This is the first recorded example in Europe of corseting constriction of the figure and remained an isolated instance for centuries.)
The Cretans liked bright colours, and their dress was vividly embroidered and decorated. The hair of both sexes was worn long, looped and braided and dressed with jewels, pearls, and ribbons. The Cretans bathed frequently, oiling their bodies afterward. Men were generally clean-shaven.
Outdoors both sexes wore sandals or shoes. In winter calf-length boots were adopted, and short woolen, fur-lined cloaks were fastened by pins around the shoulders.
With the collapse of the Minoan civilization in Crete about 1400 BC, a new culture arose on the mainland in the Peloponnese, notably in the maritime principalities of Mycenae, Tiryns, and Pylos. As the frescoes from the palace of Tiryns illustrate, the costume was similar but richer still.



Priest-king wearing elaborate loincloth attached to a tight, broad belt. Fresco from the palace at … Andre Held, Switzerland