Looking back THREADS OF TIME

THEY’VE GENERATED WEALTH AND POWER, AND GIVEN RISE TO ENTIRE INDUSTRIES… THE FABRICS WE WEAR ARE MORE THAN JUST MATERIALS. THEY ARE SHAPERS OF HISTORIES

Words: KASSIA ST CLAIR

SILK Immodest apparel During the late first century AD, Roman society became infamous for its excess. Wealth was flowing into Rome from foreign conquests and interest rates fell from 12% to 4%, meaning that even ordinary citizens were able to indulge their tastes for exotic goods, such as silk. Silk came to the empire along the Silk Roads (from China) but we do not know when precisely it arrived. Murals at Herculaneum and Pompeii show elite women wearing translucent fabrics that look very much like fine, loosely woven silk. When Julius Caesar paid for silk awnings to be hung throughout Rome for all the spectators at his military triumph, it was seen as a statement of not just his wealth but his intention to seize power. Silk’s glamour gave ostentatious Romans ample opportunity for…

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The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 2019

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