Byzantine Fashion

The people who we know today as the Byzantines called themselves Romans, spoke Greek, and lived in modern-day Turkey. (The name Byzantine came from the founder of the empire's capital, a Greek man named Byzas, who may have existed only in legend.) While the areas that were once ruled by the Roman Empire fell into disorder as conflicting tribes fought for control of their territory, the Byzantines maintained a legacy of learning and a civilization inherited from the Greeks and Romans for more than a thousand years. In the meantime they developed extensive trading relationships with the Middle East and the Orient, including India and China. From 476 C.E. until the collapse of the empire in 1453 C.E. , the Byzantine Empire was the most powerful and developed civilization in the Western world.
Byzantines were great traders. They opened trade routes throughout the Middle East and into Asia and soon were exposed to Eastern styles of clothing, jewels, and decoration. Byzantine costume thus became a mix of Roman garments, such as the tunic (shirt) and the stola (a type of long dress), mixed with Eastern ornament and pattern. It was this mix that made Byzantine culture distinct.
The mixture of Eastern and Western influences also could be seen in the many churches and monasteries built during the years of the Byzantine Empire. Such religious structures were built throughout the empire, but none was greater than the Church of Hagia Sophia (also known as Saint Sophia), built in Constantinople by the emperor Justinian (483–565) in the sixth century C.E. The massive church, with its huge central dome and many spires, took ten thousand workers five years to build. It still stands in the modern Turkish city of Istanbul, the new name for the old capital. This and other churches have led scholars to claim that the Byzantine Empire's greatest achievements were in architecture.

The most important method the Byzantines used for decorating their clothing was embroidery. Embroidery is the decoration of fabric with patterns of stitching or needlework, in which thread is pushed through the fabric to make a raised pattern and tied off in back. Forms of embroidery have been found in ancient Egypt and ancient China and were developed several thousand years ago. The art of embroidery was fully realized during the time of the Byzantine Empire (476–1453 B.C.E. ), when embroidered fabric, trim pieces, and decorative patches became essential to Byzantine costume.
The Byzantines generally wore plain fabric garments that were heavily decorated. Some might have elaborate patterns of embroidery sewn directly on, while others used strips or panels of embroidered fabric sewn at the hem, the waist, or on the sleeves. They were especially fond of geometric patterns, such as repeating squares, circles, or diamonds, and they also used flowers and leaves for ornament. Often birds or mythological creatures were embroidered within the patterns as well. One form of ornament favored by the very wealthy was the tablion, a square piece of heavily embroidered fabric, six to twelve inches wide, attached to the front of a dalmatica (a type of overgarment) or a cloak. Embroiderers used many rich and colorful types of thread to make their work stand out. They might use silk or gold thread, and they favored bright colors, especially purples, golds, reds, blues, and yellows. The rich and beautiful nature of so much Byzantine clothing owes much to the art of the embroiderer. Byzantine embroidery was a great influence on the embroidery of clothing throughout the Middle Ages (c. 500–c. 1500 C.E. ) and beyond in Europe and Russia in particular.

 http://www.costumes.org/history/100pages/timelinepages/byzantium1.htm

 

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