The Greek Myths of Fashion: From Antiquity to the Present

Cassidy Percoco

Ancient Greek costume has also been an inspiration for fashion since the Renaissance.  Most of the information that we have on the costume of the Ancient Greeks is derived from stylized renderings on painted pottery or statues, or from translated texts in which dress is incidental to the topic.  Many academic texts that deal with the fashions of antiquity refer back to earlier works on the subject, meaning that some “facts” can be traced back to scholarly papers from the late Victorian era, which have been accepted as truth without the evidence being given a fresh look.

Many of the design elements traditionally considered Greek – or rather “Grecian,” as the fashion press tends to say – derive from a misunderstanding of Greek art, taking the functional for the decorative or the particular for the general.  In a sense, we have created our own “Greek style” which bears little relation to historical tradition.

“The Greek Myths of Fashion” addresses the myths created by nineteenth-century archaeologists and art historians and those created by twentieth-century fashion designers: both arising from misconceptions, but spreading in different ways and filtering into the mainstream consciousness of history.

Is this what the Greeks really wore? Alix (Madame Grès) Evening dress of ivory silk jersey, 1938. Collection of Hamish Bowles

Undressing the Fashionable Myth Symposium. Saturday May 7th, Robert Lagary Board Room, Marvin Feldman Center 9th Floor, Seventh Ave at 27th street.

This event is free and open to the public. To register please call 212-217-4319 or email gradrsvp@fitnyc.edu