Any technical or historical terms used in the case studies and videos are explained and defined here.
Anglomania: a passion for all things English.
Balaclava: a close fitting knitted hood which covered the head and neck and surrounded the face. A version with holes at the side for ears was knitted for radio operators.
Baleen: a flexible material from the filter-feeding system of Baleen whales.
Banyan: a men’s loose-fitting gown popular during the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries.
Bed gown: a women’s loose-fitting short jacket.
Bergère: a wide, flat-brimmed, straw hat with a shallow crown, often decorated with flowers, ribbons or feathers. The name is thought to have been derived from the French shepherdesses who wore that hat. Bergère is French for shepherdess.
Bias: to cut on the grain at a 45-degree angle to the straight line of the weave.
Billiments: the jewelled border of a French or gabled hood.
Boutiques: a small shop selling fashionable clothes, shoes, jewellery etc.
Braies: medieval underpants.
Busk: a stiffener for the front of stays, being a narrow flat length of wood, horn, or whalebone.
Bust bodice: a short camisole worn above the corset.
Bustle: an undergarment designed to created lift and fullness at the back of a garment.
Byrrus/birrus: a form of hooded cape.
Calico: a cotton fabric, often unbleached.
Callimanco: a worsted fabric with a satin weave, often of wool and silk.
Cambrick: a fine white linen fabric.
Cartridge pleating: a hand-sewing method that involves tightly stacking layers of gathered fabric and attaching them to a garment.
Challis: light weight woven fabric often made of wool or a wool blend.
Chamlet: ribbed wool fabric originally containing the silky wool of the chamois goat.
Chemise à la Reine, or chemise dress: a fine muslin dress gathered into shape with drawer strings. It resembled the undergarment known as a chemise.
Chemisette: a side-opening, sleeveless, half blouse worn to fill in the neckline. Usually worn in the morning.
Chintz: a printed, glazed cotton from India.
Chiton: the Greek term for a tunic. A garment of light linen worn by both men and women, consisting of two rectangular pieces of fabric sewn at the sides and pinned at the shoulder.
Cockade: a rosette of ribbons worn as a badge.
Combinations: a women’s undergarment which was a combination of an upper bodice and drawers with divided legs and were worn under a corset.
Cote or Tunic: a medieval outer garment.
Crinoline: a stiffened or hooped fabric.
Damask: a silk fabric with woven floral pattern of the same colour. Damasks also occur in linen, wool or cotton.
Doublet: a close-fitting, front-fastening jacket with sleeves attached at the shoulder with points (ties).
Ell: an obsolete unit of length of approximately 45 inches. Linen textiles were usually measured in ells.
Fascea/fascia: puttees worn by both men and women as lower leg protection.
Fibulae: a simple brooch which fastened much like the modern safety pin.
Fichu: a small scarf or shawl worn about the shoulders.
Flannel: a soft lightweight woollen fabric.
Forepart: a detachable apron-like piece of expensive fabric covering the kirtle at the front of an open gown.
Foresleeve: a short detachable sleeve covering the forearm.
French hood: a small hood set on the back of the head revealing the front of the hair with a jewelled border framing the face and a veil at the back.
Frogging: a decorative braid fastening which loops over a braid buttons, originating in military uniforms.
Fustian: a fabric with a silky finished made of cotton and linen.
Gigot sleeves: a sleeve that is full at the shoulder and upper arm, tapering to a close fit at the wrist.
Gore: a flared panel of fabric fitted into skirt to increase the width at the hem.
Grotesques: bizarre characters and creatures, a mixture of the sacred and the profane, which decorate the margins of medieval manuscripts and the external architecture of religious buildings.
Himation: a large rectangular cloak, or mantle probably made from wool, usually worn over the chiton.
Hip pad: a padded roll used to widen the skirts at the hips which served to emphasise the smallness of the waist.
Hippy: a long-haired, unconventionally dressed young person, advocating a peaceful ethic.
Holland: a fine linen from the Low Countries.
Hose: leg coverings.
Hussar: mounted soldiers, cavalrymen.
Jerkin: a short coat with collar, sometimes worn over a doublet – with or without sleeves.
Kerchief or rail: a square of linen used to cover the head or shoulders.
Kirtle: a fitted bodice with a loose skirt attached at the waist.
Kore (plural Korai): a term for sculptures of draped female figures from the Archaic Period. A Greek word meaning maiden.
Kuros (plural Kuroi): general term for sculptures from the Archaic period that depicts a naked young man. A Greek word meaning youth.
Liripipe: the tail of a hood.
Lute strings: a lustrous, crisp, lightweight silk, often striped.
Mantua: mid-seventeenth to mid-eighteenth century loose gown which fastened at the front over an underskirt called a petticoat and a stomacher.
Mods: a short for ‘Modernists’, a youth subculture of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s.
Munitionettes: the name by which female munitions workers were known.
Muslin: a plain-woven cotton fabric that could be so sheer as to be almost transparent.
Neckerchief: a square of fabric, folded crosswise, and worn around the neck.
Neoclassical: a western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, including fashion.
Op Art: short for ‘optical art’ featuring three-dimensional designs and optical illusions.
Palla: a long mantle or wrap.
Pantalettes: drawers comprising two separate legs connected with a waistband.
Paste: paste is a special type of cut glass which emulates precious gems, including diamonds, which came into use after 1724.
Pelisse: a long-sleeved, full-length women’s coat which could be buttoned right down to the hem.
Peplos: a long garment worn by women, pinned at the shoulders, usually open at one side and frequently belted.
Periwig: a long, usually men’s, elaborately styled wig.
Pop Art: art which features popular and commercial objects.
Princess line gown: a fitted gown cut without a waist seam, comprising shaped vertical panels.
Psychedelia: a term originating in a sixties subculture associated with states of altered consciousness.
Redingote: from the English ‘riding coat’, a long-sleeved gown with a wide turned down collar.
Rococo (c. 1730-1770/80): a style which was extravagant, elegant, frivolous, and featured decorative details such as flowers, bows and lace.
Roman matron: a Roman married woman.
Selvedge: the edge of a woven fabric created during manufacturing.
Shirt-waist: a blouse in the style of a shirt.
Smock: a woman’s sleeved, loose-fitting, linen undergarment.
Spencer: a short, usually long sleeved, jacket which fitted just below the bust.
Stays: the eighteenth-century form of a corset.
Stola: a female over-tunic which became symbolic of the Roman matron.
Stomacher: a panel forming the front of a low-necked bodice.
Surcoat or jupon: an overgarment worn to identify and warrior in battle.
Tawney: a light brownish-orange colour.
The Dutch Golden Age: a period in Dutch history which spanned the dates 1609 to 1713 (approximately).
Toga: an elaborate form of mantle which became the national dress of the Roman citizen.
Toile: a pattern made of unbleached calico, or an early version of a finished garment made of cheap calico so that the design can be perfected.
Tronie: a painting featuring exaggerated facial expressions common to art of the Dutch Golden Age.
Tunic: the main garment of both genders, with or without sleeves.
Turquerie: is a term used to describe the eighteenth-century European fascination with Ottoman Turkish culture, and its reinterpretation in dress, textiles and art and design.
V.A.D: Voluntary Aid Detachment.
Weft: the fibres of a length of woven fabric that run horizontally across the fabric.
Yards and Nails (as in the measurement): Yard = 36 inches (91.5cm), Nail = 2 ¼ inches (5.8cm).
