Vestis Virum Fecit: Everyday Clothes for Princes and Paupers

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Expressions of Social Space and Identity: Interior Furnishings and Clothing from the Swedish Warship Vasa of 1628." , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Clothing is the most common possession available for the expression of identity, but well contextualized material from the broader strata of society is rare for the early modern period. What we largely know is how elites dressed on special occasions, as this is how they were shown in portraits and these are the clothes which survive. The clothing from Vasa, over 5600 fragments, provides an opportunity to look at everyday clothes, especially those of ordinary people. They represent all of the common garments in a wide variety of textiles and qualities. They provide insights not only into tailoring methods and fashion, but the economic background to the production and use of cloth, the role of imports versus home production, and the relationship between the forms of self-expression available to those of higher and lower status. This paper presents the overarching context for the study of the Vasa collection.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Expressions of Social Space and Identity: Interior Furnishings and Clothing from the Swedish Warship Vasa of 1628.   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 778