Minoan ladies, Scythian warriors, Roman and Sarmatian merchants, prehistoric weavers, gold sheet figures, Vikings, Medieval saints and sinners, Renaissance noblemen, Danish peasants, dressmakers and Hollywood stars appear in the pages of this anthology. This is not necessarily how they dressed in the past, but how the authors of this book think they dressed in the past, and why they think so. No reader of this book will ever look at a reconstructed costume in a museum or at a historical festival, or watch a film with a historic theme again without a heightened awareness of how, why, and from what sources, the costumes were reconstructed. The seventeen contributors come from a variety of disciplines: archaeologists, historians, curators with ethnological and anthropological backgrounds, designers, a weaver, a conservator and a scholar of fashion in cinema, are all specialists interested in ancient or historical dress who wish to share their knowledge and expertise with students, hobby enthusiasts and the general reader. The anthology is also recommended for use in teaching students at design schools.

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Table of Figures
• LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• Chapter 1 - Haute Couture in the Bronze Age: A History of Minoan Female Costumes from Thera
  • FEMALE COSTUMES
  • COLOURS AND DYES
  • TECHNOLOGY AND THE ORGANISATION OF PRODUCTION
  • INTERPRETING MINOAN DRESS
  • MINOAN COSTUME IN THE 21ST CENTURY
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Chapter 2 - You Are What You Wear: Scythian Costume as Identity
  • SCYTHIAN COSTUME IN GREEK ICONOGRAPHY
  • SCYTHIAN COSTUME IN PERSIAN ICONOGRAPHY
  • SCYTHIAN ICONOGRAPHY
  • FEMALE SCYTHIAN COSTUME
  • ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
  • CONCLUSIONS
  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Chapter 3 - “On the Borders of East and West”: A Reconstruction of Roman Provincial and Barbarian Dress in the Hungarian National Museum
  • THE ROMAN MERCHANT’S COSTUME (FIG. 3.1)
  • THE SARMATIAN COSTUMES
  • THE COSTUME OF A GERMANIC MAN
  • THE COSTUME OF A BARBARIAN WOMAN
  • CONCLUSIONS
  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Chapter 4 - A Weaver’s Voice: Making Reconstructions of Danish Iron Age Textiles
  • MAKING A RECONSTRUCTION–THE WHAT, WHY AND HOW
  • RECONSTRUCTION OF A COSTUME FROM HULDREMOSE
  • CONCLUSIONS
  • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Chapter 5 - Iconography and Costume from the Late Iron Age in Scandinavia
  • ICONOGRAPHY AND COSTUME IN THE LATE IRON AGE
  • CONCLUSIONS
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Chapter 6 - Tools, Textile Production and Society in Viking Age Birka
  • THE TEXTILES FROM BIRKA
  • RAW MATERIAL, TEXTILE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES IN BIRKA
  • DYEING
  • TEXTILE TOOLS AND TOOL MANUFACTURE
  • SPINNING TOOLS
  • LOOMS AND WEAVING
  • OTHER TECHNIQUES AND TOOLS
  • FINISHING AND DECORATION OF TEXTILES
  • TEXTILE PRODUCTION AND ITS IMPACT ON SOCIETY
  • CONCLUSIONS
  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Chapter 7 - Spotlight on Medieval Scandinavian Dress: Sources and Interpretations
  • RECONSTRUCTING MEDIEVAL TAILORING TODAY
  • THE SOURCES
  • AN EXAMPLE OF A RECONSTRUCTION OF A MEDIEVAL DRESS
  • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Chapter 8 - Tailored Criticism: The Use of Renaissance and Baroque Garments as Sources of Information
  • EXTANT GARMENTS IN STUDIES OF HISTORICAL DRESS
  • THE REMAINS OF AN ERA–WHAT SURVIVED AND WHY
  • ALTERATIONS TO THE GARMENTS IN ORIGINAL AND LATER CONTEXTS
  • USE OF EXPERIENCE IN STUDIES OF HISTORICAL GARMENTS
  • CONCLUSIONS
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Chapter 9 - Costume in a Museological Context: Dealing with Costume and Dress from Modern Danish History
  • SO MANY SOURCES….
  • BE CRITICAL!
  • DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES–DIFFERENT APPROACHES
  • DIFFERENT TYPES OF MUSEUMS–DIFFERENT TYPES OF DRESS COLLECTIONS
  • BEHIND THE MUSEUM’S SCENES: TWO CASES OF WORKING WITH 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY HISTORICAL DRESS
  • CONCLUSIONS
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Chapter 10 - Cut, Stitch and Fabrics: Female Dress in the Past 200 Years
  • DRESS: DESIGN AND MATERIALS
  • BONING
  • CUT
  • STITCHING
  • LINING
  • CONCLUSIONS
  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Chapter 11 - Ancient Female Costume: From Silent Cinema to Hollywood Glamour
  • THE COSTUME DRAMA AND THE COSTUME DESIGNER
  • FEMALE COSTUMES IN THE FILM NERO–OR THE FALL OF ROME
  • FEMALE COSTUMES IN THE FILM INTOLERANCE
  • THE ANCIENT WORLD AND FILM STAR GLAMOUR–FROM CLEOPATRA TO GLADIATOR
  • CONCLUSIONS
  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  • BIBLIOGRAPHY
  • FILMS
  • WEBSITE