Refashioning Medieval and Early Modern Dress

Essays on costume, fabric and clothing in the Middle Ages and beyond.All those who work with historical dress and textiles must in some way re-fashion them. This fundamental concept is developed and addressed by the articles collected here, ranging over issues of gender, status and power. Topics include: the repurposing and transformation of material items for purposes of religion, memorialisation, restoration and display; attempts to regulate dress, both ecclesiastical and secular, the reasons for it and the refashioning which was both a result and a reaction; conventional ways in which dress was used to characterise children, and their transition into young men; how symbolism-laded dress items could indicate political/religious affiliations; waysin which allegorical, biblical and historical figures were depicted in art in dress familiar to the viewers of their own era, and the emotive and intellectual responses to these costumes the artists sought to elicit; and the use of clothing in medieval literature (often rich, exotic or unique) as narrative, structuring and rhetorical devices. Taken together, they honour the costume historian and editor Robin Netherton, who has been hugely influentialin the development of medieval and Renaissance dress and textile studies. GALE R. OWEN-CROCKER is Professor Emerita at the University of Manchester; MAREN CLEGG HYER is Professor of English at Valdosta State University. Contributors: Melanie Schuessler Bond, Elizabeth Coatsworth, Lisa Evans, Gina Frasson-Hudson, Charney Goldman, Sarah-Grace Heller, Maren Clegg Hyer, John Friedman, Thomas Izbicki, Drea Leed, Christine Meek, M.A. Nordtorp-Madson, Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Lucia Sinisi, Monica L. Wright.

This beautifully affectionate tribute to Robin Netherton, co-founding editor (with Gale R. Owen-Crocker) of Medieval Clothing and Textiles (2006-), sets a new standard for such volumes and demonstrates how those who do the under appreciated work of organizing, editing, and mentoring make significant contributions to medieval studies. [...] This volume was clearly a labor of love and is a fitting tribute to a remarkable scholar.

Gale R. Owen-Crocker is Professor Emerita of The University of Manchester, UK. She has published extensively on early medieval culture, especially dress and textiles. Maren Clegg Hyer is Assistant Professor of English, Snow College. Gale R. Owen-Crocker is Professor Emerita of The University of Manchester, UK. She has published extensively on early medieval culture, especially dress and textiles. Maren Clegg Hyer is Assistant Professor of English, Snow College. Monica L. Wright is the Granger and Debaillon Professor of French and Medieval Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA. Her research focuses on the use of clothing in medieval French literature.