Clothing

by

Alicia Batten, Antonios Finitsis

• LAST REVIEWED: 22 November 2023
• LAST MODIFIED: 22 August 2023
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195393361-0154

Introduction

Clothing refers to skins or garments made from the manipulation of fibers or threads (i.e., woven, knitted, sprang, etc.), which cover the body in some manner. Adornment is another relevant term and refers to the temporary ornamentation of the body for a given occasion or event. It thus calls attention primarily to aesthetic qualities. The terms clothing and adornment almost inevitably introduce personal or social values. Hence, recently, scholars have opted for the broader term dress. Clothing is more specific than dress, which includes not only bodily coverings, but also jewelry, cosmetics, hairstyles, tattoos, or other manipulations of the bodily surface such as scarification. Dress is both noun and verb, or, put differently, both product and process. Dress as a noun is what is done to the body, and dress as a verb is how it is done. This article includes studies that address all three areas. The study of clothing has developed considerably in a number of disciplines. For historians, it began as a history of costume but has since evolved to include insights from social scientific fields such as anthropology and sociology. The latter two areas as well as other disciplines now boast a significant number of theoretical approaches to clothing and dress, examining them in light of identity (gender, religious, ethnic, cultural, political), power, embodiment, and how it functions as a communicator of subjective and social values, including notions of the self. Beyond its importance as a material artifact, dress has also been recognized as a reflection of mentifacts (values and beliefs that shape culture) and sociofacts (institutions and norms that direct human behavior). Moreover, the study of fashion and its significance for the study of contemporary culture, especially in light of Western commoditization, has emerged as a major area of interdisciplinary research. In Classics, analysis of dress has also witnessed a considerable upsurge in the last decade and deems it important for the study of societies, such as ancient Rome, in which “the gaze” is so important. Given the highly ideological nature of much of the ancient writing about clothing, archaeological studies and examinations of artistic remains are requisite. Such work must also remember, however, that art can be rhetorical, just as texts are. Of fundamental importance is the observation that items of clothing and ornamentation held tremendous material value in the ancient world, whether it is the Ancient Near East or the Greco-Roman context, and thus their economic, technological, trade, and social dimensions must be highlighted. The study of clothing in the Bible, ancient Judaism, and early Christianity is in its early stages. In biblical literature, symbolic and literal references to clothing, and dress in general, abound. Items of clothing take on legal, ritual, technical, and theological meanings in some biblical texts, while in others they serve as literary markers or motifs that underscore larger shifts within various narratives. In the New Testament and other early Christian literature, clothing imagery continues to convey theological and political meanings; it can function as a means of vilifying characters by associating them with luxurious dress, and it can assist in creating and maintaining identity.

Encyclopedia and General Resources

The analysis of clothing and dress has a long history such that encyclopedias, websites, and databases are increasingly available. Fashion studies in contemporary society have also burgeoned as they bear significance for all sorts of issues, such as identity, economics, gender, ethnicity, notions of the self, and so on. The Berg Fashion Library is a goldmine of images and resources on many dimensions of fashion, both historically and today. McNeil 2009 is an overview of critical and primary sources writing about fashion from the late medieval period—when many think that fashion was “born”—to today. Steele 2010 is a good source for finding out about a term or name quickly and can point researchers to a broader list of references. Arthur 1999 provides a collection of essays on contemporary dress in a variety of religious contexts, as does Hume 2013, although the latter includes particular attention to the significance of the feeling of clothes on the body in various religious traditions. Also included is Harlow 2019, a collection of essays on hair, as the presence or absence of hair, and its arrangement, is another key component of dress. Articles directly relevant to the study of the Bible and early Christianity are King and Stager 2001, which focuses on the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East; Maier 2004, which covers a wide range of texts in Antiquity, biblical and otherwise; and Batten 2010, which offers a survey for the general reader. Similarly Batten and Olson 2021 is a volume that brings together different types of scholarship over a wide range of geographic areas. The author of De Hemmer Gudme 2022 has curated a series of online lectures on ancient attire by different speakers.

• Arthur, Linda B., ed. Religion, Dress, and the Body. Oxford: Berg, 1999.

  This edited collection focuses upon dress and social control, especially of women. The essays address a broad range of contemporary religious contexts, including Anabaptists, Mormons, Hasidic Jews, Afghan women, and African American churches.

• Batten, Alicia J. “Clothing and Adornment.” Biblical Theology Bulletin 40.3 (2010): 148–159.

  DOI: 10.1177/0146107910375547

  This article is an accessible bibliographic survey. It covers some primary and secondary sources for the Hebrew Bible, Judean contexts, Greco-Roman sources, and early Christianity. Available online for purchase or by subscription.

• Batten, Alicia J., and Kelly Olson, eds. Dress in Mediterranean Antiquity: Greeks, Romans, Jews, Christians. London: Bloomsbury/T & T Clark, 2021.

  This edited volume spans ancient Greece, Rome, Rabbinic Judaism, New Testament and Christian Apocrypha, and even Persia and Egypt. It has three sections: Methods (Religious Studies, Classical Studies, Anthropology, Sociology), Materials (Textiles, Jewelry, Art and Mosaics, Sculpture, Mummy Portraits, Color), and Meanings (examines a variety of texts and ideas from Greece, Rome, Persia, Rabbinic Judaism, and New Testament and Christian Apocrypha).

• Berg Fashion Library.

  This new online searchable resource features access to images and resources, including e-books and referencing system, museum directory, the Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion (edited by Joanne B. Eicher, 10 vols. [Oxford: Berg, 2010–]), which is updated annually, as well as other resources and tools.

• De Hemmer Gudme, Anne Katrine. Ancient Attire. Oslo, Norway: University of Oslo, 2022.

  This is a digital lecture series Dress, Adornment and Vestimentary Codes in the ancient Mediterranean World hosted on the website of the University of Oslo, the Faculty of Theology. There is a total of six lectures available. The aim is to investigate vestimentary codes in ancient cultures and to explore how these concepts relate to gender, hierarchy, and power.

• Harlow, Mary, ed. A Cultural History of Hair in Antiquity. Vol. 1, A Cultural History of Hair. London: Bloomsbury, 2019.

  Harlow arranges these essays thematically, including studies of hair and religion/ritual, hair and society, hair and adornment, hair and class/social status, hair and gender, hair and race/ethnicity, among other topics. Hair, or the lack of it, is an important aspect of dress, for just as clothing can signal a specific identity, so does hair.

• Hume, Lynne. The Religious Life of Dress: Global Fashion and Faith. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.

  DOI: 10.2752/9781474290326

  Hume divides the book between Western monotheistic religions, Eastern religions, and what she calls the “mystical and magical.” The book thus provides a very good overview of dress in a range of traditions, and it pays particular attention to the physical experience of wearing particular items of dress.

• King, Philip J., and Lawrence E. Stager. “Culture and the Expressive Life.” In Life in Biblical Israel. By Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, 259–318. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001.

  This chapter offers a thorough discussion of terms for clothing throughout the Hebrew Bible, discussions of jewelry as well as of perfume and aromatics. Helpful illustrations of archaeological evidence are included. In particular, see subchapter “Dress and Adornments” (pp. 259–284).

• Maier, Harry O. “Kleidung II (Bedeutung).” Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum 21 (2004): 1–59.

  This article works through a variety of ancient Greek and Roman sources on clothing and surveys references to clothing throughout the Hebrew Bible, Hellenistic Judaism, Qumran, Philo, Josephus, Rabbinic Judaism, the New Testament, Gnostic texts, and the early Church Fathers.

• McNeil, Peter, ed. Fashion: Critical and Primary Sources. 4 vols. Oxford: Berg, 2009.

  These edited volumes contain writings on fashion—some primary, some critical—from the late medieval period up to today. Most of the selections are excerpts from longer sources, and, as to be expected, each volume is highly interdisciplinary.

• Steele, Valerie, ed. The Berg Companion to Fashion. Oxford: Berg, 2010.

  This one-volume encyclopedia-like book contains references to terms, names, and concepts in fashion written by experts from a variety of disciplines. Each entry contains a brief bibliography. An excellent quick reference source.