Costumes of Renaissance Times

Renaissance was the period in European Civilisation which means “rebirth”. It is a cultural movement in Europe that spanned from 14^th to 17^th centuries. They started in Italy and spread throughout Europe. Though this period included great leaps in educational, intellectual and socio-political pursuits, the period is best known for the artists and great thinkers of the time, which include Galileo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Michelangelo.

Clothing had an important role in the Renaissance Period. It was all about defining and showing off one’s social status. Europe was greatly influenced by French, Italian and Germanic fashions. It was the wealthy that set the trends and fashion which were to be followed. Through clothing, the wealthy displayed their wealth to everyone. There were several different fashions ranging from wealthiest to peasants because of the great difference in wealth and class  in Renaissance Europe. Fashion in this era changed more rapidly than in eras before it. Reason for this rapidly changing fashion was the ever-changing times of Renaissance.

                                                                                         

The wealthy wore expensive fabrics such as brocade, velvet, cotton and silk. Cotton during this time was hard to come by in and therefore was considered a ‘wealthy’ fabric. Furs were also popular among those who could afford them. Often, the wealthy also used the fur as lining on the inside of their garments. Darker colours were the fashion as elaborate embroidery and jewels were often sewn into the fabrics, and dark colors were able to show those features more. The wealthy considered style more important than the function.

The lower classes used to wear simpler garments than the wealthy people. Though, they often tried to imitate their style. Among the lower classes, wide sleeved chemises and tight bodices were common. One very popular and recognisable fashion, specially among the commoners, was a fashion and technique called ‘slashing’. It was created by the common class. Since clothing was a status symbol, the ruling class at one time made a rule that only the wealthy could wear multiple colours of clothes. Common people and peasants were only allowed to wear one colour. Style was important for everyone be it the wealthy or the peasants or the common people so, they did not like this law. To rebel against it the people took their shirts and slash long holes  in them and wore them on the top of another shirt, puffing it out through the holes of the first. This technique ended up becoming a popular fashion of the Renaissance period.

Women’s style was multi-layered and extravagant. Often there used to be at least 5 layers in a wealthy women’s attire. These layes were: skirt, underskirt, bodice, over-bodice/gown, by the mid 1500s the women's silhouette was stiff but puffed out and padded with layers. Layers was just a status symbol. More the clothes, wealthier the person was. ‘Spanish Farthingale’ was a popular fashion at that time. It was a long cone shaped skirt that were worn with a corset to complete the cone shape.  This era gave rise to the corset as fashion.

                       

Men’s clothing changed a few times with fashion. Their fashion centered around a square" silhouette that was achieved by widening the shoulders on vests and coats and padding them. They wore padded breeches on their legs and hosiery with square toed shoes. Often sleeves had long vertical slashes, down them with another layer of fabric puffing out through them to create the ‘slashing’ technique and style.

Outfits were incomplete without headwear in the Renaissance period. Women used variety of hairdresses like Pointed Cone style, lace trimmed veils, popular French Hood style, some headdresses had a woman’s usually long and braided hair completely concealed, while others allowed some or much of the hair to show along with the headwear. Men used wide brimmed hats to finish off their square look.

Costumes of the Medieval Period 

Dark Ages or the the early medieval period (476-800) of Western European history lasted from 5^th to 10^th century. There was a decline of the Western Roman Empire in the early middle ages. There was population decline, people starved for food, decline of trade etc. The powerful warrior Alaric captured Rome and filled the city with blood, dead bodies and fire. He was looking for powder, plunder and food. They were desperate to win because if they did not win, they starve to death. People were starving.

Small pox and Measles entered the European population for the first time during 2^nd or 3^rd century. Dark Ages was that time of Rome where there was no emperor, the next 7 centuries was a age of wide spread violence, illiteracy, disease and superstition. City life withered. Scale of life got smaller and it became even worse. People were in darkness in gloom.

People dressed differently. The people who invaded usually wore short tunics with belts and visible trousers, hose or leggings. The romanised population and the church used to wear longer tunics coming below the knee, often to the ankle. We have a little information about the clothing of the people at that time because the wealthy were buried with clothing.

Male Clothing:

The main garment used was the tunic. Mostly it was a long fabric folded over with a neck-hole cut into the fold, and sleeves attached. It was also belted with a leather or a strong fabric belt. The trousers depended on the climate, whether they should be stitched tight or loose or no trouser at all in hot weather. During the winter season “cappa” or chaperon, a one-piece hood and cape over the shoulders was worn and the roman straw hat for summer fieldwork. Shoes was a thing of the wealthy people. Generaly the poor did not wear shoes and used to remain bare foot.

Female Clothing:

Even for the females the main garment was the tunic. A simple sleeved tunic dress with a vertical slit. For the woman of an age to breast-feed, the slit was generaly laced at the bodice. For the wealthy upper class females the borders and hems might be decorated with embroidery. Leggings were worn underneath depending on the weather. Sometimes an under-tunic might be worn, and cloaks and mantles for outside wear. Married women had to cover their hair in public with a loose shoulder cape.

Both men and women could decorate or beautify their tunics by adding different bands. Then bands could be embroidered, or with colourful borders or woven, etc. Since most of the people during the Dark Ages in Rome had low living standards, their clothes were mostly home made, cloth made at a village level, and very simply cut. The wealthy people also used to have nice jewellery mostly brooches, buckles, purses, necklaces, bracelets,etc.

Impact of Design & Visual Culture on the Society

Design and Visual Culture have a strong impact on people. In our daily life we can see various designs around us but do not identify them. We do not realise it. Lets try to find some designs in our daily life. A basic tooth brush that we use every morning to clean our teeth, have we ever thought why the shape of the tooth brush is rectangle and why isn’t it circular or why aren’t our mobile phones that we use daily in the shape of a trapezium? There is always a reason behind it. Design is unique. There is design in everything.

Visual Culture is that aspect of culture that can be expressed visually. An image leaves a greater impact on the minds of people rather than a long essay full of textual information. The first impression of “someone” or “something” on the people is his/her/its looks; the way people carry themselves, the way they dress up. If it’s a product, the way its designed, packaged, its colours.

                    

We have seen various companies/brands have their own logos. Logos are a way of visual representation. For eg. When we see a tick sign we know its nike, when we see an apple with a bite we know its Apple.

When we go to have lunch in a Japenese restaurant we expect the ambience of it would be Japenese. Just by entering in the restaurant we know its Japanese as the ambience, the arrangement, the menu, the uniform of the waiters, the scripts displayed in the restaurant represent Japanese culture.

These days many cafes, restaurants have started opting particular themes to attract a customers of particular age (target audience). For eg. Rico’s and QD’s in Hudson Lane, Lights Camera Action in Hauz Khas Village and many more created an ambience for the youth. Youngsters, college going students like going to such cool and funky places as they love the ambience and the food as well.

These places are designed in a way that represent a particular culture. Such lively atmosphere, crazy songs, food with attractive and catchy names, the perfect posters, the perfect lighting is a place liked by the youngsters to hangout with their friends. Whereas when we think to go out for a family dinner, all such cafes will never come to our mind because our parents do not like that typical ambience. They would like to go to a simple and sober place with good food and peaceful environment to spend some quality time with the family.

We can see design and visual culture everywhere, be it our bed room, our house, the roads, our schools or colleges, offices, cities, monuments, restraunts, hotels, streets, airports, etc. Eg. Delhi Airport-T3 the mudras of the hands represent Indian culture. When a foreign tourist arrives India the first image that he thinks of India is those hands that depict our culture. As we all know First impression is the last impression.

Thus, we can see how design and visual culture impact the society in every little thing we do. Its present everywhere!

                                       

Impact of Visual Communication on the Viewers

"The Picture says it all" a very common quote used by youngsters these days under their pictures on various social networking sites. What do they mean by this? They dont want to put long captions describing their picture because the image explains itself. Long captions often get too boring for the viewer's to read all of it but visuals-just to the point, exactly explains itself.

I dont need to explain the above images using long descriptive texts. Everyone can easily understand the story of the old couple's life, their love and understanding. Visual Communication is not through images but also facial expressions, eye contact, signals, gestures, posters, maps, charts, symbols, illustration and animation, graphic design, magazines, prints, books, screen-based media, interactive web design, design for advertising, promotion, short films, etc.

These days Visual Communication is having an increasing impact on our day to day practical life. It is an effective and simple way of communication. It helps in saving precious time of people as they do not have to read several pages of theoretical information and helps them to take a quick decission. Also these days most of the business organisations us visual techniques for their presentations. For eg.:they show their company's growth rate or profit earned in comparison with their past records through pie charts, bar graphs,etc.

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When it comes to newspapers, its a true fact that people have lost interest in newspapers and have left reading it. Some of the reasons according to me for it are the same black and white newspaper everyday, with same font style, same font size everyday. There is no change. People are bored. In this rapidly changing time people need changes very often otherwise they get borred very soon and lose interest. Therefore designers have started designing newspapers these days so that people get some change and do not lose their interest in newspapers. Designers have started adding more of visuals so that the people see the image and at once know that what is the article all about. They do not need to read the whole of the article. People these days want everything to happen fast. They do not want to waste time reading long stories. 

                

                   



Also when it comes to brands, their first identity is their logo which is again a visual. Like a man is known byt its name, a brand is known by its logo. So, the moment we see a tick we know that's a Nike, the moment we see a half eaten apple we know its Apple. Visuals play a very important role in our life. The whole identity or existence of a brand can be depicted through a small visual/logo.