The Fasten-ating History of Clothes (Dressed Classic)

And I say many of us because it is by no means all of us.

With over eight billion people in the world, we do not all use fasteners to secure our clothing.

Nope.

And the fasteners that we will specifically discuss today were patented to use with clothing that was tailored to closely fit the body in a way that it required fasteners to secure it.

But as we know on Dressed, not all clothing is tailored and there are innumerable cultures around the world in which clothing is secured to the body by strategic draping mechanisms.

You can think of the Indian sari or the Japanese obi.

The examples are innumerable and come with an incredibly rich history.

Because for thousands of years, draped clothing was overwhelmingly the norm for both men and women in a myriad of cultures around the world from Ancient Rome and Greece to Egypt and to the Philippines.

Yes, and the history of fasteners actually dovetails quite nicely with this history because while draped cloth was often self-secured to the body, and when I say that I mean that you wrapped and tucked the cloth around itself to keep it in place, some of the earliest fasteners were clasps that would secure, say, something like a mantle to your shoulder.

There were also drawstrings such as those found sewn into the waist of the Turfan Man's trousers, which at 3,200 years old are the-

[laughs]

... oldest known surviving pants in the world.

They were actually discovered in China's Tarim Basin and are really representative of the advanced horse riding culture and sophisticated weaving and construction techniques of that area.

People also used ties made of various materials to secure their clothing to their bodies, as evidenced by the rest of Turfan Man's extant ensemble which experts have actually reconstructed and the ensemble included a poncho that came with a woven belt tied at the waist as well as braided leg fasteners which would have secured the bulk of the pants to the wearer's legs while riding and another to fasten his leather boots around the ankle.

Lacing was another early form of fastening as lacing could be used to mold swaths of fabric to the wearer's body and Cass, you know this, but laces were widely used in fashions of the Renaissance when things like sleeves for instance might be entirely separate pieces from the bodice of one's ensemble.

Um, and they were kind of laced on in lieu of having a permanently inset sleeve.

And if you want to come with me on one of my tours of the Met, I point out some examples of this in some of the paintings that we look at, so there's that.

Yes, and if you are a costumer or a sewist then you know that the, that sleeve insets continue to haunt us all to this very, very day.

[laughs]

So it is not something [laughs] I guess that ha- it has been mastered by the masters.

Balenciaga.

Yeah, exactly.

But that lacing was something that would've made something that was admittedly hard a little bit easier.

Mm-hmm.

So buttons actually are another form of fastenings that date back thousands of years and are found in cultures around the world like Ancient Egypt, Greece, and China where it appears that they were actually used first as decorations and signifiers of things like wealth and status.

And I say many of us because it is by no means all of us.

With over eight billion people in the world, we do not all use fasteners to secure our clothing.

Nope.

And the fasteners that we will specifically discuss today were patented to use with clothing that was tailored to closely fit the body in a way that it required fasteners to secure it.

But as we know on Dressed, not all clothing is tailored and there are innumerable cultures around the world in which clothing is secured to the body by strategic draping mechanisms.

You can think of the Indian sari or the Japanese obi.

The examples are innumerable and come with an incredibly rich history.

Because for thousands of years, draped clothing was overwhelmingly the norm for both men and women in a myriad of cultures around the world from Ancient Rome and Greece to Egypt and to the Philippines.

Yes, and the history of fasteners actually dovetails quite nicely with this history because while draped cloth was often self-secured to the body, and when I say that I mean that you wrapped and tucked the cloth around itself to keep it in place, some of the earliest fasteners were clasps that would secure, say, something like a mantle to your shoulder.

There were also drawstrings such as those found sewn into the waist of the Turfan Man's trousers, which at 3,200 years old are the-

[laughs]

... oldest known surviving pants in the world.

They were actually discovered in China's Tarim Basin and are really representative of the advanced horse riding culture and sophisticated weaving and construction techniques of that area.

People also used ties made of various materials to secure their clothing to their bodies, as evidenced by the rest of Turfan Man's extant ensemble which experts have actually reconstructed and the ensemble included a poncho that came with a woven belt tied at the waist as well as braided leg fasteners which would have secured the bulk of the pants to the wearer's legs while riding and another to fasten his leather boots around the ankle.

Lacing was another early form of fastening as lacing could be used to mold swaths of fabric to the wearer's body and Cass, you know this, but laces were widely used in fashions of the Renaissance when things like sleeves for instance might be entirely separate pieces from the bodice of one's ensemble.

Um, and they were kind of laced on in lieu of having a permanently inset sleeve.

And if you want to come with me on one of my tours of the Met, I point out some examples of this in some of the paintings that we look at, so there's that.

Yes, and if you are a costumer or a sewist then you know that the, that sleeve insets continue to haunt us all to this very, very day.

[laughs]

So it is not something [laughs] I guess that ha- it has been mastered by the masters.

Balenciaga.

Yeah, exactly.

But that lacing was something that would've made something that was admittedly hard a little bit easier.

Mm-hmm.

So buttons actually are another form of fastenings that date back thousands of years and are found in cultures around the world like Ancient Egypt, Greece, and China where it appears that they were actually used first as decorations and signifiers of things like wealth and status.