Clothing the Past: Surviving Garments from Early Medieval to Early Modern Western Europe

by Elizabeth Coatsworth and Gale Owen-Crocker

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Book cover for Clothing the Past: Surviving Garments from Early Medieval to Early Modern Western Europe

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An astonishing number of medieval garments survive, more-or-less complete. Here the authors present 100 items, ranging from homely to princely. The book's wide-ranging introduction discusses the circumstances in which garments have survived to the present; sets and collections; constructional and decorative techniques; iconography; inscriptions on garments; style and fashion. Detailed descriptions and discussions explain technique and ornament, investigate alleged associations with famous people (many of them spurious) and demonstrate, even when there are no known associations, how a garment may reveal its own biography: a story that can include repair, remaking, recycling; burial, resurrection and veneration; accidental loss or deliberate deposition.

The authors both have many publications in the field of medieval studies, including previous collaborations on medieval textiles such as Medieval Textiles of the British Isles AD 450-1100: an Annotated Bibliography (2007), the Encyclopedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles of the British Isles (2012) and online bibliographies.
  • ISBN10 9004288708
  • ISBN13 9789004288706
  • Publish Date 13 March 2018 (first published 12 February 2018)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country NL
  • Imprint Brill