the best and the worst: week 06

and so, we sailed to the end of the sixth week of blogging (the first week of writing was purely experimental). for the entire week, my focus was on the history of fashion: looking at different periods, eras and movements. i have learnt of many of the periods in school from the angle of the literature that was written hence putting the various posts together was somewhat a stroll down memory lane. the struggle, though, was trying to find a balance between keeping the posts reader-friendly whilst being informative. putting a hundred years of fashion history into a few paragraphs was no easy feat but i'm pleased that (after much reading, cutting, copying and pasting) i did it anyway. thus i hope that you enjoyed this little learning journey that i 'forced' everyone to participate in.

without further ado, let's reveal the best of the week!

best: the ancients: china

yay for china! in researching for this post, i was taken aback to learn that the qipao or cheongsam was not the first outfit of the chinese. there was even an earlier post devoted to it. i have always been brought up thinking that the traditional outfit for the chinese was the slim fitting dress with the mandarin collar and the cloth buttons. whilst putting together this post, it was truly a lesson in my own culture and heritage. i haven't gotten round to asking my chinese friends but i am certain that many of them will be as surprised as me that the hanfu is the true traditional outfit. 

and the post that is the worst of the week...

worst: the goths

i think the goths took the bottom of the pile this week for a couple of reasons. firstly, it was the last article to be released in the week so there is always a huge risk that there is insufficient lapse in time for it to climb the charts. it is evident from the numbers this week that time was against the post. next, here in singapore, it's a public holiday (and thus a long weekend) which naturally translates into people not at work or at home. i can't expect everyone to stay home just to read my blog. i'm certain that the post will gain readership in the days to come but as of the weekly tally, it's the worst post of the week.

i don't think it's a bland post. it's just the bad timing.

before i wrap up this post, i would also like to make special mention of the post that is currently dominating the readership charts.

special mention: mary-kate, ashley...

this was a post i did a few weeks back on the olsen twins and this entire week, it shot up to number one and has been gaining very strong daily readership. if you are one of those who first visited my blog because of this post, i sincerely thank you for your support and i hope that you will visit this blog regularly as i bring you more diverse features. 

but if you have yet to read the post, do click on the link because i added a liner of update on the sisters. they have been awarded with something pretty special so do hop over to the post to find out what it is.

finally, it's been a good week here on The Online Edition in terms of the new knowledge that i gained and the boost in readership.

fash'on... BAM!

the ancients: rome

know the popular saying, 'when in rome, do as the romans do'? then there is the idea that 'all roads lead to rome' or how about 'friends, romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!' we may not have noticed it but the roman empire has deeply affected our contemporary way of life hence it is only right that when we take a look at the past, we glance back how fashion was during the ancient roman empire.

clothing in ancient rome generally comprised the toga, the tunic, the stola, brooches and breeches. the dress code of the roman era was, at times, complex because it had to reflect one's position accurately in the social order, one's gender and one's language.

the toga

Megan Fox

Jennifer Love Hewitt

toga dresses

the toga was the dress clothing of the romans, a thick woolen cloak worn over a loincloth or apron. it was taken off indoors , or when hard at work in the fields, but it was considered the only decent attire out-of-doors. free citizens were required to wear togas because slaves would wear tunics. 

the tunic

image from crystallinks

the tunics worn by plebians (common people), herdsmen and slaves were made from a coarse dark material. the tunic worn by patricians was made from white wool or linen. magistrates worn the tunic augusticlavia and senators worn a tunic with broad strips, tunica leticlavia. military tunics were shorter than those worn by civilians.

the stola

picture from latigrec

although the stola was a roman garment, it was inspired by the clothing of ancient greece. it was a staple of fashion in ancient rome spanning from the early roman republic through the roman empire and byzantine empire into the first millennium. probably the most noted image of the stola resides on the fact that it is the garment that the statue of liberty in new york city wears.

the statue of liberty

originally, women wore togas as well but after the second century bc, the toga was worn exclusively by men and women were expected to wear the stola. at that point, it was considered disgraceful for a woman to wear a toga; wearing the male garment was associated with prostitution and adultery.

brooches

roman brooches

breeches

image from francisshaw

breeches are an item of clothing covering the body from the waist down, with separate covering for each leg, usually stopping just below the knee, though in some cases reaching to the ankles. the romans, who did not generally wear pants, referred to germanic tribes as braccati, 'wearers of breeches'. trousers - considered barbarous garments worn by germans and persians - achieved only limited popularity in the latter days of the empire and were regarded by conservatives as a sign of cultural decay. 

roman fashions underwent very gradual change from the late republic to the end of the western empire, 600 years later. in the later empire after diocletian's reforms, clothing worn by soldiers and non-military government bureaucrats became highly decorated, with woven or embellished strips, clavi, and circular roundels, orbiculi, added to the tunics and cloaks. these decorative elements usually comprised geometrical patterns and stylised plant motifs, but could include human or animal figures. now you know...

fash'on... BAM!

timeless fashion

this week, halloween kicks into high gear. you will hear more talk about events, costumes and parties but that's in the past here on The Online Edition. if you came to this blog looking for material about halloween, please click here!

moving forward this week, we are going back in time! (i love the irony...) i am serious. after a week of just celebration and festive cheer, i think it's time to get back into the mode of fashion and to get us all in tune again, we should get in touch with our fashion roots and heritage.

all week long, we will visit different time periods, different eras, different events and look at how fashion was like back then. you can say that we are going retro or vintage, call it what you want but get your bell bottoms ready as we zip back in time.

like always, well-toned bodies (this time from korea) and they have nothing to do with a word that i wrote about!

image from korea.com

picture from asianbite

fash'on... BAM!