How Have Costumes and Textiles Changed Over the

Years

How has older fashion affected the way we dress today?

Where did Clothing begin?

Most of us wonder where costumes and textiles first ever started of.

Some researchers say that clothing began 100,000 and 500,000

thousand years ago. As we know early humans never had the textiles

or equipment to walk around in suits or jeans so they wore what ever

they could find whether it was from leaves, animal skin or from

bones such as what cavemen used to wear. These clothes were tied

together using vines or was draped. Clothing started progressing

when needles were found and then the art of sewing began for more

complex clothing. Most people used to sew using their hands up until

the mid 1770’s where the first sewing machine was invented making

clothing better and easier to make. After this better and easier to use

sewing machines were invented and clothing became a lot more

complex and more fashionable.

Fashion

Fashion never used to exist. Most people only made

clothing in order for protection and warmth rather then

what they look like. The more civilized human beings began

to get the better and wider range of clothing started

existing. During the 1770’s the sewing machine was

invented for people to start wearing better clothing. When

people saw these designs they wanted to create their own

designs and so more clothing was produced. When more

materials such as leather and fur were found clothes

started looking a lot better and people started wearing

clothes because of what they looked like rather then what

they were for.

How Costumes have Changed Over Time

During the times of Roman’s and Greek’s in 40AD – 420AD, clothing worn was very weak

and thin because of the lack of technology and equipment. Most people during these times

wore something called a Togas which were basically cloth made of wool or linen wrapped

around a person. Another piece of clothing during this time was the tunics which were worn

by men and women, during winter 3 layers of tunics would be worn and the richer people of

these times would wear tunics embroidered with leaves. Both men and women wore

jewellery and make up to honour God so they wore fashion for a cause.

During the 1200’s men started wearing shirts that often had small designs, also hats and

headdresses were worn around the neck as a fashion. Women wore fitted gowns with long

sleeves.

In the 1600’s is where fashion started to progress a lot more and become more fashionable.

A lot of new clothing was created such as leather boots so now people had footwear,

cowboy hats, flat shoes, dresses, capes, cloaks, gowns and now people had facial hair as a

fashion.

In the 1800’s clothing grew a lot more because now people had many outfits e.g. women

had to wear 4 different outfits in a day depending on time. Ribbons, netting and lace were

found during these times. Also breeches, trousers, and shirts became more complex.

1900’sIn the 1900’s women and men wore a lot more fashion and were more freer to wear

things. Fashion such as big wigs, long cloaks, long scarves, big pants, black vests,

more hats, stuffed trousers, casual shoes, sweaters, frocks, cardigans, sandals and

more coloured clothing began. During the 1930’s a lot of men started wearing

business suits and women started wearing party dresses for fashion, suits and

dresses have improved since this era. For formal occasions men started wearing

stylish hats and shoes, masculine pants and casual suits. In the 1940’s skirts and

uniform were introduced. During the 1950’s to 1960’s clothing was much more

relaxed. Teenagers after the war could travel around to buy clothes which were

most commonly made of leather and some girls would wear black party dresses and

skirts casually. Also a theme called ‘”space fashion” was introduced. The 1970’s was

a very colourful time because of the hippies. Hippies introduced ripped jeans, dyed

shirts, headbands and other crazy things. Men wore white suits, jeans, bellbottoms

and t-shirts. Also punks and gothic people were around who usually wore black

leather boots, shirts, trousers and jackets. Sometimes they would paint their face or

wear dark make up. Since the 1970’s many factors such as music have changed the

way people have been dressing and the fashion that they wear and most people have

become more individual with their fashion.

How Clothing has Changed

If we think about it the clothing from the 1200’s hasn’t really affected the way in

which we dress, most people used to wear shirts, trousers and shoes which is

more or less what we wear today. The design of clothing has changed a lot from

the olden days because of other influences such as war, sports, music, television,

magazines and people around us. Many new things since the 1200’s have been

introduced such as jackets, new hats, coats, wider ranges of trousers and shirts

and also the way in which people wear clothes. People are now more free to

wear what they want where as during the Elizabethan era if you wore the wrong

thing or wore something you were not supposed to you could find yourself going

to prison or being killed. A lot of people are now able to wear what they want

around most of the world and clothing is now much more stronger and better

designed then in the older days.