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Adornment
September 2, 2024
"
Form follows function" is a
maxim first used in
architecture, but applied to
product design in general, that an object's
shape and
appearance should be
defined only by its
purpose or function. For example, a
chair should be simply
constructed for
seating, and such
aesthetic adornments as
wood carving and
fabric design are
wasted effort. While that maxim might be appropriate for
furnishing the
International Space Station and future
Moon habitats, a quick
perusal of any
antique shop will show that this maxim is generally ignored.
Form and function. Left, Face of an 18th century clock in the Herschel Museum of Astronomy, Bath, United Kingdom, the former home of William Herschel (1738-1822) and Caroline Herschel (1750-1848). Although "IV" is the proper way to represent four in Roman numerals, many clocks use "IIII" instead. Right, a clock in the main railway station in Zürich, Switzerland. This iconic clock face was designed in 1944 by Hans Hilfiker (1901-1993). (Left, a Wikimedia Commons image by Bernd Schwabe; and, right, a Wikimedia Commons image by Jürgen Götzke . Click for larger image.)
Humans (Homo sapiens) have been called "
naked apes," but we and our close
species cousins quickly adopted the concept of wearing the
fur skins of
animals for
protection. The so-called
cavemen of
popular culture, such as the
Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis), were likely much more interested in how they would obtain their next
meal than how
stylish they appeared in
hyena fur.
Origin of furry fandom? Cavemen from Buster Keaton's 1923 silent film, "Three Ages," now in the public domain.[1] Keaton is on the right in the group of three.
Every time I read "Neanderthal," I'm reminded of the 1970 song, "Neanderthal Man," by the English musical group, Hotlegs.[2]
(Screenshot of a YouTube video by Classic Streamer.)
As
human culture progressed, people desired to distinguish themselves from others; and, what could be an easier way to do that than through
dress.
Technology has assisted this desire by the simple technique of
dyeing drab natural fibers.
Tyrian purple, also known as royal purple, is a
natural dye known from
antiquity. This
extract from the
sea snail,
Bolinus brandaris, was
expensive to
produce; thus, the "royal"
appellation and an early example of
conspicuous consumption.
The simple
sewing needle is a technical
innovation that's lead to a means of
producing more
ornate dress. A recent
open access article in
Science Advances by
archaeologists from the
University of Sydney (Sydney, Australia), the
Université de Bordeaux (Pessac, France), the
University of Bergen (Bergen, Norway),
Shandong University (Shandong, China), and the
Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk, Russia), investigates the use of delicate eyed needles in the
Paleolithic as the means for producing refined, ornamented dress.
Examples of Paleolithic eyed sewing needle.
The scale bar is one centimeter.
(Adapted from fig. 5 of ref. 3, released under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0. Click for larger image.)
As
clothing co-evolved with humans, it became both a protection from the
environment and a means of
cultural expression and
individual identity.[3]
Archaeological evidence for Paleolithic clothing is
scant, but
stone tools, such as
animal hide scrapers for preparation of animal skins for
thermally insulating clothing, have been found in
Eurasia from the Early and Middle
Pleistocene.[3] One argument for clothing's becoming a means of decoration is that
traditional body decoration. such as
body painting with
ochre, weren't effective, since clothing was needed all the time for
survival.[4] Clothing the human body regardless of
climate is a
social practice that's persisted to this day.[4]
An eyed needle is a
variant of the
bone awl, a prior
tool used to create clothing from animal skins.[3] As the study
authors note, the refined clothing enabled by eyed needles marked the transition to the use of clothing as an expression of identity.[4] With a bone awl, it was tedious to insert
thread through small
holes; so, larger holes and crude clothing were the result. The eyed needle combined the processes of hole
puncture and threading to allow finer and more efficient
sewing.[3] Homo sapiens arrived in
Europe at around 45,000
BC, and the earliest known eyed needles appeared in
Siberia around 40,000 BC, in the
Caucasus around 38,000 BC, in
West Asia around 30,000 BC, and in Europe around 26,000 BC.[3]
Says lead author of the study, Ian Gilligan of the University of Sydney,
"Eyed needle tools are an important development in prehistory because they document a transition in the function of clothing from utilitarian to social purposes... We take it for granted we feel comfortable wearing clothes and uncomfortable if we're not wearing clothes in public. But how does wearing clothes impact the way we look at ourselves, the way we see ourselves as humans, and perhaps how we look at the environment around us?"[4]
( Women's modern outfit, West Greenland Inuit, Wikimedia Commons image by Roberto Fortuna.)
References:
- Three Ages (1923, Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, Directors) on the Internet Movie Database.
- Hotlegs, "Neanderthal Man," 1970, YouTube Video by Uwe T..
- Ian Gilligan, Francesco d'Errico, Luc Doyon, Wei Wang, and Yaroslav V. Kuzmin, "Paleolithic eyed needles and the evolution of dress," Science Advances, vol. 10, no. 26 (June 28 2024), DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp288. This is an open access publication with a PDF file here.
- The beginnings of fashion, University of Sydney Press Release, June 28, 2024.
- Video interview with lead author, Ian Gilligan, explaining the research.
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