Dress in Anglo-Saxon England

Book excerpt: Splendid . . . the major overview of Anglo-Saxon clothing and textile from the 5th to 11th centuries. . . . Owen-Crocker has become the authority reconstructors call upon. . . . A wise and scholarly book. TOEBI Newsletter Based on the revised and expanded edition of 2004, this paperback is an encyclopaedic study of English dress from the fifth to the eleventh centuries, drawing evidence from archaeology, text and art (manuscripts, ivories, metalwork, stone sculpture, mosaics), and also from re-enactors' experience. It examines archaeological textiles, cloth production and the significance of imported cloth and foreign fashions. Dress is discussed as a marker of gender, ethnicity, status and social role - in the context of a pagan burial, dress for holy orders, bequests of clothing, commissioning a kingly wardrobe, and much else - and surviving dress fasteners and accessories are examined with regardto type and to geographical/chronological distribution. There are colour reconstructions of early Anglo-Saxon dress and a cutting pattern for a gown from the Bayeux tapestry; Old English garment names are discussed, and there isa glossary of costume and other relevant terms. GALE OWEN-CROCKER is Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture at the University of Manchester. She has a special interest in dress throughout the medieval period - she advises ondress entries to the Toronto Old English Dictionary and has consulted for many museums and television companies. She is co-editor of the journal Medieval Clothing and Textiles.