When did fashion start?
New York City, London, Milan and Paris are the undisputed fashion capitals of the world, and have been for quite some time. But once upon a time, the mecca of fashion was none other than Siberia. Not exactly the fashion hot spot you’d imagine!
Ancient haute couture
By compiling and reviewing data preserved in the fossil record, a team of archaeologists led by Dr Ian Gilligan from The University of Sydney in Australia claim that a tiny Stone Age tool found in Siberia about 40 000 years ago ushered in a new era for clothing. Called the eyed needle, this new tool made from bone made sewing more efficient. The findings were published in the journal ‘Science Advances’. “Eyed needle tools are an important development in prehistory because they document a transition in the function of clothing from utilitarian to social purposes,” commented lead author Dr Gilligan in a news release. “Why do we wear clothes? We assume that it’s part of being human, but once you look at different cultures, you realise that people existed and functioned perfectly adequately in society without clothes,” he explained. “What intrigues me is the transition of clothing from being a physical necessity in certain environments, to a social necessity in all environments.”
The threads of our past
As humans migrated from Africa to colder areas of Eurasia, they needed to wear clothes to survive. Traditional body decoration methods weren’t practical. The discovery of eyed needles showed that clothes weren’t just about warmth and protection anymore. They helped to create more intricate and layered clothing. This made it easier to adorn clothing for social and cultural reasons. People dressed to express – and impress. “We take it for granted we feel comfortable wearing clothes and uncomfortable if we’re not wearing clothes in public,” concluded Dr Gilligan. “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?”
Keywords
fashion, needle, clothes, Siberia, Stone Age, clothing, eyed needle, sewing