IN THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC ERA, some 30,000 to 40,000 years ago, prehistoric man discovered that by manipulating plant stems, he was able to make long, sturdy string. Those cords were used to create crude aprons and hats, the earliest recognizable forms of fiber-based clothing.Since that time, people in all corners of the world, from the Middle East to Eastern Europe, from North America to North Africa, have been using plant fibers and animal materials-bark, cotton, silk, flax, raffia, wool, fur,hide, feathers--to create remarkable garments and body decorations. This book tells the story of the ethnographic clothing that indigenous peoples have been pounding, curing, felting, weaving, sewing, embroidering,appliqueing, beading and dyeing for millennia--and in many areas of our globe those vibrant clothing traditions continue to this day.

...

From Upper Paleolithic plant-fibre skirts, Ancient Egyptiari linen shifts and Roman togas, through Mongolian shamanic robes, Japanese kimonos and Indian saris, to nineteenth-century Tyrolean dirndls,African ceremonial attire and Middle Eastern burgas,this remarkable book covers every notable geographical region, historical period and style of costume worldwide All aspects of dress and accessories are discussed:basic men's and women's clothing, footwear, headgear,outerwear, jewelry, armour, special costumes, garment decoration, and face and body modification. More than one thousand illustrations reveal the sheer range of global clothing traditions, using an astonishing variety of sources: vintage and modern-day photographs of people in local apparel, colour plates of museum-quality artifacts on display or posed on mannequins, historical paintings, miniatures, woodblock prints, statues,stone plaques, monumental carvings, friezes, murals,mosaics and pottery. There are diagrams that explain how garments are worn, line drawings that illustrate traditional motifs and designs, and over fifty specially commissioned maps.

Brilliantly tracing influences from culture to culture,this tour-de-force journey across the globe includes descriptions of each region's population, geography and climate, allowing the reader to understand the development of an area's clothing customs. Complete with an extensive reference section, this treasure trove of information is a glorious celebration ofethnographc clothing and is destined to be the standard reference work on the subject.

Preface  7

Introduction 8

1 THE MIDDLE EAST 12

The Ancient Near East 14 The Arabian Peninsula 42

The Eastern Mediterranean 54 The Iranian Plateau 66

2 EUROPE 78

Prehistoric Europe 80 Classical Europe 86

The European Folk Tradition 100

3 CENTRAL ASIA 124

Mongolia 126 The Silk Road 138

4 EAST ASIA 152

China 154 Korea 180 Japan 194

5 SOUTH ASIA 214

India 216 The Himalayan Kingdoms 248

6 SOUTHEAST ASIA 262

Mainland 264 Island 284

7 OCEANIA 306

Australia 310 Melanesia 312

Micronesia 318 Polynesia 321

8 NORTH AMERICA 332

The Arctic 334 The Northwest Coast 346 The Woodlands 366

The Plains 382 The Southwest 402 Mesoamerica 422

9 SOUTH AMERICA 440

The Ancient Andes 442 The Present Andes 464

Amazonia 482 Patagonia 498

10 AFRICA 5o8

East Africa 510 South Africa 526 Central Africa 540

West Africa 550 North Africa 566

Notes 580 Bibliography 589 Glossary 595 Picture Credits 601 Acknowledgments 604 Index 605