Fashion History

A newly published archaeological study has identified a blue-dyed textile fragment from Beycesultan Höyük in western Türkiye as the oldest known blue fabric discovered in a Bronze Age context in Anatolia and its periphery. The research analyses the fragment, identifies it as early evidence of nålbinding, an early single-needle knitting technique, and confirms the use of indigo in the region.

After a riotous welcome from an audience of fashion students in 1947, Christian Dior remarked: “For those who lived through the chaos of war, creation was survival.” This is the theme of the new Apple TV series, revealed in flashback: how the destruction and horror of war affected the world-renowned Parisian fashion market.

The 'mantua', a gown worn over a corset and an often contrasting petticoat, besides altering the look of western fashions, radically changed women’s involvement in the fashion industry, representing also a ticket to financial freedom.

Ichnological evidence from three palaeosurfaces on South Africa’s Cape coast, in conjunction with neoichnological study, suggests that humans may indeed have worn footwear while traversing dune surfaces during the Middle Stone Age.