The costume of the High Gothic Period demonstrated a new sense of
sophistication in draping as well as a new appreciation for the human body
under draped fabric, although there was little study of the anatomy of the
body in art or medicine. Just as the art of the period stressed structure,
simplicity, and a graceful spirituality, so the clothing stressed
proportion, graceful draping, simplicity, and a lack of the tensions and
zigzag edges that had been so much admired in Romanesque clothing.
There were also changes brought about by refinements in weaving and
fabric. Fine-woven woolens, domestically manufactured, allowed for a new
softness of line, and the greater use of silk also created softer, more
elegant effects. Since ornament in dress was kept to a minimum, the line
of the costume now attracted attention, not pattern or decorative detail.
The Crusades did, however, introduce a symbolic decorative scheme in
military wear to distinguish a person's family through certain emblems;
this eventually led to the complex decorative development of heraldry that
influenced decoration in many kinds of clothing. But during the High
Gothic Period, the simple crosses, lions, eagles, and dragons used to
emboss the surcotes worn over armor were kept for strictly military
purposes and were not allowed to dominate civil dress, as in later
medieval times. Even the use of family colors to achieve a particolored
effect behind the family crest was not allowed to dominate the beauties of
the almost classically draped lines of civil dress garments. Such
particoloring remained primarily an aspect of military wear until well
into the fourteenth century.
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Summary
This exciting period saw the foundations of modern western Europe
established through the rise of cities, national states, and capitalism.
It also marked the high point of development in the Catholic faith with
spiritual values that spread from architecture to clothing. The beauty,
balance, and simplicity found in High Gothic art and fashion caused it to
be labeled classic. In clothing the soft, draped lines marked the first
time since the Greek that so much attention was placed on the ideal
beauties of the draped body. It was a period that released on the medieval
world by late Gothic art and fashion. |