Hurray, another anniversary! Grab a cuppa. This is a long one (as usual)!

2007 was a monumental year for innovations. It was the year the iPhone launched, changing smartphones and how we use them forever. Facebook went global. Twitter, Android, AirBnB with many others, appeared. All that was possible due to advances in cloud computing.

Somewhere in a little corner of Canada, a jewelry making designer and instructor was trying to start a website for her students. Someone suggested I consider a weblog - a website log or journal, later shortened to blog. Little did I know then that my venture into blogging on January 4, 2007, would change my life.

Here I am, still blogging 18 years later. No one is more surprised than me that I took to writing! My blog has changed over the years. It first started as a means to showcase the work of students. But soon I realised there was an unmet need - many people looking for instruction and inspiration - so I switched my focus.

This anniversary, I give thanks to all of you who continue to follow and support my blog. Some of you have been readers for several years which quite frankly, humbles me. I am also grateful for the wonderful instructors and designers who teach, motivate and influence us in the crafts, not just jewelry making. 

Have I run out of fabulous finds? The resounding answer is NO! I may have reduced the days to about 2-3 per week - depending on time constraints. This frees up my time for other endeavours but it has made curating the best for sharing much more difficult. There are so many talented artisans out there!

As many of you have already discovered, there are many facets in my blog which reflects my other interests, in science, music, art, other crafts, books and especially history.

Why history? It is far more fascinating than fiction. History also explains how we got where we are today.

Dan Snow, the British-Canadian historian, wrote in his book "History Miscellany" that :
History is everything that has ever happened to anyone who has ever lived. 

Yup, everyday we live is history in the making. The news can be hard to read about these days so I am tempted to get this made into a t-shirt!


So whenever possible, I integrate my interests in some posts so the blog remains engaging, informative and fun. Part of the reason why I try and share good information so readers are inspired and hopefully learn from my blog.

One thing I have learned from reading about history is that people, with all their faults and ideals, have not changed at all. Gossip, slander, deliberate misinformation and all that have always existed throughout history. What has changed are the significant technological advances to communication. Information used to take a long while to spread. Now, with the internet, the delivery is incredibly fast.

Social media can be useful. Facebook groups for specific topics for small communities with no local newspapers as well as Instagram for its pseudo websites and shares, come to mind.

But there is also a lot of harm and danger being inflicted on people these days. Social media today often shows up educational lapses, lack of critical thinking and plain ignorance. Social media is also fertile ground for radicalization. The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) recently asked for help handling the troubling numbers of children being radicalized online.
 
 These memes sums up my despair at times!




History does not really repeat itself but rather, echoes or rhymes again and again. 

Knowing about history also helps explain how we got where we are today.  

Of the chains of events in the past, none is probably more profound than World War I and its long, long series of consequences. The run up to this huge global conflict started with many nations in the 19th century and early 20th century vying to build empires. They wanted to become rich and powerful by seizing other countries in order to exploit their people and resources. Colonial powers began to militarize, form alliances, which fell like a house of cards with the slightest push. Thus began a chain of events which still continues today.

The shortest explanation I've ever come across of how WWI began, appeared on the hit BBC historical comedy Blackadder series. In Blackadder Goes Forth (set in WWI), the titular character, Captain Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson), a scheming, manipulative antihero explains it all to Baldrick (Tony Robinson), his dimwitted batman (servant), looked on by an equally dimwitted upper class twit, Lt George Colthurst St Barleigh (Hugh Laurie). Blackadder is trying to get out of the trenches by feigning insanity hence the pencils up his nose and the underwear on his head.


The end of WWI saw the collapse of 4 empires - the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman Empires. Borders were redrawn in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Disagreements, unrest and regional wars over this reordering of political maps have not stopped since then.



If there had been no WWI, there would have been no Stalin, no Hitler, no Mussolini, no Mao Zedong. There would have been no division of China into a mainland and an island bound Taiwan. 

The huge cost of WWI affected both the winners and losers. Germany was especially hard hit as it had to make enormous reparations. Humiliated, impoverished and starving, the Germans were much more susceptible to the wiles of Hitler who told them what they wanted to hear. He promised Germany will be great once again. The Nazis also scapegoated a minority - someone to blame. But instead of fixing and building up Germany, he aggressively went out to conquer other nations. WWII is the worst conflict in human history where 50-85 million people lost their lives. Nobody really wins in war.

Migration is a part of human history. Our species, Homo sapiens,  has slowly moved across the globe over hundreds of thousands of years as shown in this splendid video from Inside Science. People moved to find food to survive. Even migration due to climate change is not new. In the past, humans moved to warmer areas during the Ice ages. In our time, people will migrate to flee areas which are to hot to live in and grow crops. Wars, pandemics, persecutions, religious intolerance, natural disasters, repeated severe weather events and economic downturns resulted in people continually moving around the world. 


Small Business Shenanigans

Nothing new in bad business practices either.  This clay tablet in the British museum (shown below) is probably the oldest complaint letter ever found. It was written cuneiform (symbolic writing) in 1750 BC in Ancient Babylon (modern day Iraq) by a man called Nanni to the copper merchant, Ea-nāṣir. He complained he received the wrong and inferior grade of copper. He also had other issues with another shipment. Ea-nāṣir was also rude to Nanni's assistant who handled the actual transaction. Nanni wanted his money back! 

What's more, archaeologists also found other complaint tablets at this merchant's house, indicating he was indeed a shoddy businessman.

Image source

Historical Fashion Trends

One of my favorite science blogs, recently reported on the strange fashion trend spotted among orcas in the Pacific Northwest. This trend of wearing dead salmon on their heads was first spotted 37 years ago and again in recent months.  It likely started when one orca did it for fun and the others followed. Then as trends go, even in the animal world, it stopped being a trend when every orca copied the practice. Until another orca, years later, rediscovered it.


Humans are no different. We too have fashion trends beyond the functional need for clothing and other accessories. What is sometimes forgotten or not known is how many of our clothing trends really go back a long, long time. In some cases, thousands of years. 
 
Trends pop up here and there at different time periods and in different cultures across the world. Our attitudes to trends also change depending on the society and gender norms of the time. 

So grab yourself another mug or cup as we look at a few examples of how we style ourselves from head to too.  In no particular order. 

SHOES

Today we associate high heels with women and glamour. But high heels were first worn by men - the cavalry of Persian (modern day Iran) armies in the 10th century. The high heels kept the rider's feet in the stirrups especially when they had to fire arrows, swing swords or brace themselves in the saddle while holding lances. 
 
These are traditional galesh shoes shown below. Don't they look like modern clogs? Just think, modern cowboy boots are descended from these shoes. 

Persian Galesh Shoes Picture source 

Persian Riding Shoes 17th century Picture Source

The high heel trend spread far and wide. By the early 17th century, high heels became a status symbol among European kings and male nobles . 

France's Louis XIV (1638-1715), the Sun King, built the Palace of Versailles. He was very fond of red high heels but no one else was allowed to wear them unless he permitted it. The male fashion for high heels faded once women started wearing them. Today, we have highly gendered footwear where women wear higher heels and stilettos. 


Pointed toed shoes, some with elongated toes have been in fashion or out of it for thousands of years. A version of such unisex shoes, with very long stuffed toes called poulaines (or crakows) were very popular during the medieval period. Kings often taxed, restricted them for the upper classes or outright banned them. The Church of the time condemned them as demonic or vanity objects.

Burgundy, France c. 1470 Picture source

Pointed shoes have returned in the form of winklepicker shoes  - some called them nosepickers - which became popular from the 1950's onwards starting with the British rock and roll fans such as the Teddy Boys youth subculture.  

Goth winklepicker shoes, 2009.  Picture source

You can still buy winklepickers today!  Like their cousins, pointed women's shoes, especially from the 1950's onwards until today, and their ancestors, the poulaines, such extreme footwear raised the risk of bunions and falls. 

Platform shoes like wooden clogs have a long history of practical use in many countries. They kept the feet of both male and female working class wearers dry in wet, muddy conditions in the fields and clean from dirty urban streets. Women could also keep their dress hems from grime by wearing pattens. But the noise they made was a downside. Jane Austen wrote about the "ceaseless clink of pattens" when she lived in Bath, England. 


The humble patten morphed and became fashionable in different parts of the world. They were called chopines and were popular in Europe during the 15-17th centuries. 

Reconstruction of 16th Century Venetian chopine
Picture source

Platform shoes were also popular in other parts of the world :

18th Century Turkish women in pattens
Pastel by Jean Étionne-Liotard Picture source

19th Century "Flower pot" Manchu shoes (Ching Dynasty, China)

The Manchus (from Manchuria), who ruled China from 1636-1912,  never bound the feet of their young girls but their flower pot shoes were meant to mimic the gait of the Han (Chinese) women with "lotus" or bound feet. 

Platform shoes continue to be worn to this day. They were especially popular in the 1970's. British fashion designer, Vivienne Westwood, brought it back in the 1990's as did the Spice Girls. And now, we have retro 1970's fashion looks!

HEADGEAR

People living in colder climes in the past wore head coverings to stay warm. Homes were not centrally heated. Chimneys were not invented until the 17th century. So some sort of cloth or wool covering or scarf for both men and women also kept hair clean from the soot of indoor fireplaces. 

The wimple was a Medieval female head wear which comprised of four layers of cloth held together with pins. Many cultures of the time as well as some even in our time, expected women, especially married ones, to cover their heads and not reveal their hair for modesty and to denote high status.  Their use also demarcated "respectable" women from "loose women". The wimple is still part of a nun's attire in certain orders today. 

Portrait of a 15th century woman wearing a wimple
by Robert Campin Picture Source

One of the most stereotypical medieval headpieces is the hennin - a conical headdress with a veil on top. We tend to associate it with princesses but they were once worn by nobility, not just royalty. Another headdress popular at the same time was the two horned escoffion. No surprises where Disney got their inspirations from!

Medieval Hennin
Medieval Escoffion

Headscarves remained very common among women in the West until the 20th century. Headscarf and veil traditions still prevails in some religious groups today like the Muslims. Some, but not all, link wearing it as a sign of their faith. The Roman Catholic church no longer requires women to cover their heads but some women still do when they attend Mass.

Today Western and East Indian brides continue to wear veils. The practice of wedding veils also has a long history. The brightly colored flammeum was a sign of good luck for Ancient Roman brides but at the same time symbolized the bride's total subservience to their new husbands. 

Roman wedding party. Capodimonte Museum sarcohagus
 Picture source

PANTS AND DRESSES

Remember bell bottoms pants? They started to be popular in the 1960's and 1970's and returned in the 2000's and are still worn today. 

But their historical origins go way back. For centuries, European carpenters adopted the wide bottomed legs to their pansto keep sawdust out of their shoes. In the 19th century, British and US naval seamen uniforms adopted bell bottom pants. It was not for fashion but for practical reasons. Wide legs make it easier to roll up their pants in wet situations. (In the old days, they were also barefoot so as to climb the rigging safely.)


Were pants only worn by men and skirts by women?  No. It all depends on where and when. Cultural traditions vary with time periods and location. 

The Ancient Romans actually thought men wearing pants were effeminate or were sickly. They preferred short tunics and togas. Only "barbarian" men and women wore braccae (Latin for trousers). But when the Roman Empire spread to encompass colder northern areas, they too, had to change their tune about their Mediterranean adapted clothing in order to live more comfortably in those places. 

Roman dress

The Scottish Highland great kilt - a combination wrap around skirt and cloak - first emerged in the 16th century and is the forerunner of the modern kilt. The upper part of the kilt could be worn over the shoulder or around the head, making a versatile garment for all weathers.  The pleats at the back allowed to the wearer to sit down comfortably on rough terrain. Unwrap it and it turns into a blanket or a makeshift tent. 

Watch this demo on how the great kilt is put on and how the wearer can use it as an outdoor garment. The ultimate survival garment!


Scottish men wear kilts with just socks and their upper garments. Scottish women had their earasaid (female versions of great kilts) which were typically worn over their dresses and used like an outer garment as shown in this demo by a re-enactor.  Such ingenious ways to create pockets and hoods!


Vietnamese traditional dress, the ao dai,  is for both men and women. It consists of a long dress with split sides worn over pants. The differences between the genders typically lie in the choice of fabric, cut, length of the upper garment and embellishments. 

Vietnamese women in their ao dai
Picture source



Vietnamese Ao Dai for Men Etsy Shop : AoDaiChaang

Traditional Pakistani wear also include long upper garments and pants for both sexes. 

Pakistani Traditional Wear Etsy Shop :
UtsavFashion

Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes not assigned to one's gender for a particular culture, society and time period. People have practised cross-dressing in much of recorded history, in many cultures around the world. 

The reasons vary from entertainment, self- expression  as well as for disguise. For example, Bonnie Prince Charles, leader of the failed Jacobite rebellion in England and Scotland, dressed as a woman to escape to France in 1746.

Acceptance of cross-dressing depends a lot on individual societies. Some more conservative cultures do not welcome such practices. 

It took a long time before Western women could wear pants as part of their normal attire.  Who cross dresses also matters. During Hollywood's heyday, Marlene Dietrich and Katherine Hepburn shocked many by wearing suits and trousers. The effect was exotic yet seeing Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis wearing dresses in Some Like It Hot, was ridiculous and funny. Similarly, a girlfriend donning on her boyfriend's shirt is titillating but if he were to don her nightgown, that would be unacceptable.

Picture source

Entertainment is perhaps the single biggest reason for cross-dressing. The Ancient Greeks, actors during Shakespeare's time, early Beijing opera, Japanese Kabuki and Noh theatre employed men to portray female roles because women were banned from performing on stage. 

Cross-dressing is a long standing trope in British comedy from the pantomime era to Monty Python. The female roles were all conducted in a falsetto which only added to the comic effect. No one is sure how "dressing in drag" became a descriptive term. It likely arose during the 19th century when female attire including long gowns which "dragged" on the ground. 

Cross-dressing was part of comic productions during both World Wars. British prisoners of war were known to have put on drag productions in Nazi camps to boost morale. 

Irving Berlin's "This is the Army, Mr Jones" performed in 1942 by cross-dressed US army soldiers
 Picture Source
 
This astonishing historical photo (source) shows British soldiers in drag who were interrupted during a pantomime performance and had to rush to man the guns during the London Blitz. 


Many women have dressed in male clothes for a variety of reasons. Freedom from societal constraints on where they could go and work, escape from an abusive situation, earn higher wages or simply because male clothing was so much more practical. 

Poor families in the past would sometimes dress young girls as boys as they could earn more. Bacha Posh is an Afghani custom which allows girls to dress and behave as boys, at least until puberty.  The girls could then attend school, move freely in public and in families with a surfeit of girls, escort her sisters elsewhere as female movement is so restrictive. 

Several notable 19th century women chose to publicly dress in men's clothing. George Sand - the pen name for Amantine Dupin (1804-1876), was a renowned French novelist and feminist, who in her younger days, scandalously wore men's fashion. Women in her day had to apply for a permit to wear men's clothing citing reasons like riding or for occupational reasons. She justified her use of male clothes as being far more economical, sturdier than women's clothes and infinitely more comfortable. She could also go where women, even with her well-to-do status, were not permitted.

France finally repealed the 213-year old law banning women from wearing pants in 2013!!!!

George Sand Picture Source

Women also disguised themselves as male soldiers in war in the past. Historians estimate as many as 1000 women fought on both sides, at every major battle in the American Civil War. This was before physical exams were necessary at enlistment. They could pass as young boys and in situations where soldiers rarely bathed or changed and relieved themselves in the woods*. They were usually only discovered when injured or were killed. (*Historian Sarah Percy, author of Forgotten Warriors : The Long History of Women in Combat explains there were also women who used fake penises and concocted peeing devices like modern travel versions to allow them to urinate standing upright. They understood what it took to stay disguised).

Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919) was a remarkable and brave pioneering American doctor who championed many causes - she was an abolitionist, suffragist and prohibitionist.  She was the only woman in her medical school class (she married a classmate), worked as a surgeon during the American Civil War, was a prisoner of war for several months and remains the only woman to receive a Medal of Honour. The photographs below shows her wearing the medal. 
 
Since her teens, she opted for her signature gender fluid combination short dress with long pants - despite ridicule and attacks - as it was more fitting and healthier for work. But in later years,  she preferred to wear men's clothing. She was very clear that she dressed for herself and not for any societal norms.


More than 100 years later, Annie Lennox still shocked people in the 1980's with her gender bending style as you see from the Eurythmics hit, Sweet Dreams are Made of This. 


Today, androgynous Western fashion - neither feminine or masculine- has become normalized. I am currently writing this wearing a comfy pair of pants with a warm turtleneck top and a fleece zip up vest - attire that can be worn by either men or women. Summer dresses for me are just that - for the summer!

HAIRSTYLES

Bobs? Bowl cuts? Pony tails? Hair dyes? The man bun? Been there, done that. So much of hairstyle history also go back a long way, popping up again and again. Hairstyles just like attire and clothing accessories are subject to fashion trends of the day. 

Watch these short videos on historical hairstyles and marvel at peculiarities of fashion trends.




Nothing is really new!

I hope you enjoyed this little brief history of fashion trends.

References 

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Disclosure 

This blog may contain affiliate links. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. This goes towards the support of this blog and to provide resource information to readers. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation. 
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM