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ANNA MERAZ
1950's Evening Wear Collection
Mesopotamia Inspired Collection
Mesopotamia is a region of southwest Asia in the Tigris and Euphrates river system that benefitted from the area's climate and geography to host the beginnings of human civilization.
MESOPOTAMIA
The civilizations that developed in Mesopotamia developed impressive skills for fashion clothing. The earliest civilizations used animal skins to protect themselves from the environment, but eventually the people learned how to pound wool and goat hair into felt or weave it into cloth. Wool was the most common fabric used to make clothing in Mesopotamia and was used for practically every type of garment from cloaks to shoes.
Early Sumerian men typically wore waist strings or small loincloths that provided barely any coverage. However, later the wraparound skirt was introduced, which hung to the knee or lower and was held up by a thick rounded belt that tied in the back. These skirts were typically decorated with fringe or pieces of fabric cut in a petal shape. All classes of men seem to have worn these skirts. Early Sumerian women seem to have worn only a shawl wrapped around their bodies. These shawls were often decorated with simple border patterns or allover patterns. Later Sumerian women typically wore sewn outfits covered with tiers of fringe. These included skirts much like those worn by men and shawls or tops that were also fringed.
THE COLLECTION
This collection was inspired by all the research that was done. My goal was to turn traditional Mesopotamian clothing into modern clothing that could be worn today.
The first, fourth and eighth garment is inspired by the Mesopotamia sheath dress. A sheath dress was often shown with elaborate patterns. The dress was a long length of fabric that wrapped around the body. It was not something worn closely to the body. According to the book Survey of Historic Costume, “While the climate in Egypt was relatively warm and uniform throughout the year, that of Mesopotamia was more variable, including both high-altitude areas where warm clothing was required at some times of the year and hot, desert areas” (Page 23). I took inspiration from both the sheath dress and the hot Mesopotamia weather. I wanted to create a modern version of the sheath dress while keeping in mind the hot weather. The first contemporary dress is much shorter and closer to the body. It includes an over-sized bomber jacket. Both pieces have elaborate patterns made from high quality jewels since the upper class was known for their addition of costly jewelry in garments. The fabric for the dress will be gold suede while the bomber jacket will be made from brown colored linen. The fourth contemporary dress will look more like the traditional sheath dress, except that it will be close to the body. Keeping in mind the hot weather, this dress will be made from a light brown linen fabric. It will have a dramatic shoulder drop sleeve to it. The eighth garment will also be more traditional. Although, this one will have a deep v-cut. It will be made from brown linen fabric to keep it cool on the body and will have gold embellished jewels all over it.
This second, third, seventh, and tenth garment is inspired by the Mesopotamian Kaunakes. A Kaunakes was a woolen mantle associated with ancient Mesopotamia. It was woven in a tufted pattern suggesting overlapping petals or feathers, either by sewing tufts onto the garment or by weaving loops into the fabric. According to the book Survey of Historic Costume, “The draping, the quality of the fabrics, and the addition of costly jewelry and belts distinguished the garments of the upper from those of the lower class” (page 32). Because of this information the tufted pattern for the second contemporary inspired garment will be a thick rich green fringe so as to give it a contemporary edge. The top will be a soft brown suede material since the upper class was known for using high quality fabrics. The colors are inspired by images of clothing during this time. There is a repetition of dark rich colors in their historical garments. The third and tenth contemporary inspired garment will be a thick rich brown fringe so as to also keep it modern. In addition, the seventh contemporary inspired garment has a brown suede top with a tunic inspired neckline. The bottoms are Kaunakes inspired pants made out of green fringe. Kaunakes was usually seen on dresses and skirts so I wanted to take a different approach to the pattern and incorporate it into a pair of contemporary pants.
The fifth, sixth and ninth garment is inspired by the Mesopotamia Tunic. The tunic had short sleeves and a round neckline. It was usually worn by both sexes! Wool was the most frequently used material, in bright or strong colors. I was inspired by the simpleness of this garment and wanted to keep it simple yet modern for this collection. The fifth contemporary inspired garment is a simple tunic dress. It is relatively shorter than the traditional one so as to keep it modern. The material used will be a gold suede fabric with brown stripped details. The ninth garment is also similar but it has trendy balloon sleeves. The sixth contemporary inspired garment is a draped tunic. This is accompanied by brown linen trousers. The tunic is made from a rich dark green colored suede material. It is a contemporary piece but still has the simpleness that the traditional tunics were known for.
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