History of Fashion - Indus Vally

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The passage discusses the textiles, clothing styles, and jewelry of the Indus Valley/Harappan civilization. Key textiles mentioned include cotton, flax, silk and wool. Clothing for men included dhotis, shawls and turbans while women wore skirts, blouses and jewelry. Ornaments included necklaces, bracelets, earrings and rings made of materials like gold and gems.

The main textiles used were cotton, flax, silk and wool. Cotton was the most common and was dyed in various colors using dyes like madder, indigo and turmeric.

Men typically wore a long cloth wrapped around the waist and sometimes a shawl. Women wore a short skirt and tight blouse, and sometimes trousers as well. Styles varied between classes. Jewelry was also commonly worn.

THE INDUS

CIVILIZATION
The Most Ancient Civilization in the Indian
Subcontinent originated around the river
Indus and was an incredibly advanced
civilization which had a defined social
hierarchy, water management and sewage
system.
HARRAPAN TEXTILES

• Textiles are rarely preserved and Harappan figurines are usually unclothed, so there is not
much evidence of Harappan clothing.

Remnants of cotton • Small fragments of cloth preserved in the corrosion products of metal objects show that the
Harappans wove a range of grades of cotton cloth.
• Flax was grown and may have been used for fibres.
• Native Indian species of silkworm- tussar was utilised for silk.

• It is not known whether the Harappans raised woolly sheep, but their trade with Mesopotamia
probably brought them abundant supplies of Mesopotamian woolen textiles.
• The Harappans also probably continued the earlier tradition of making clothing from leather.

• Dyeing facilities indicate that cotton cloth was probably dyed a range of colours, although
there is only one surviving fragment of coloured cloth, dyed red with madder; it is likely that
indigo and turmeric were also used as dyes.

Remnants of Tussar Silk


HARAPPAN CLOTHING
• Men wore a long cloth wrapped over their waist and fastened it at the back.
Evidence also shows that there was a tradition of wearing a long shawl draped over
the left shoulder in higher class society to show their opulence. The Shawl is
patterned, indicating that there was some knowledge of surface ornamentation,
possibly block printing. Some male figurines are shown wearing a turban.
• The normal attire of the women was a very scanty skirt up to knee length leaving
the waist bare. Cotton made headdresses were also worn by the women. Women
also wore long skirt, stitched tight tunic on their upper body and trousers as well.
• Inferences from mother goddess statue from Dehli national museum suggests
female fine upper garment which over a skirt, this garment may as well be linen.
• There also evidences of men wearing trousers, conical gown/tunic with an upper
waist band.

• women seem to be fond of jewellery- heavy earnings heavy necklaces with


overhanging medallion with holes in them for gemstones and bangles. Female
statues and terracotta arts and figurines like a dancing girl also depict long hairs
probably braided and draped in cloth.
• Fibre for clothing generally used were cotton, flax, silk, wool, linen, leather, etc.
One fragment of colored cloth is available in pieces of evidence which are dyed
with red madder show that people in Harappan civilisation dyed their cotton
clothes with a range of colors.
• One thing was common in both the sexes that both men and women were fond of
jewelry. The ornaments include necklaces, bracelets, earrings, anklet, rings,
bangles, pectorals, etc. which were generally made of gold, silver, copper, stones
like lapis lazuli, turquoise, amazonite, quartz, etc.
• Many of the male figurines also reveal the fact that men at that time were
interested in dressing their hair in various styles like the hair woven into a bun, hair
coiled in a ring on the top of the head, beards were usually trimmed. Indus Valley
Civilization men are frequently depicted wearing headbands especially to contain
hair bun at the back. People have been shown wearing elaborate headdresses like
turban, conical hats, pakol hats

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