Dr. Mireille M. Lee, Vanderbilt University
Title: The Archaeology of Ancient Greek Dress

Description

Archaeology provides important evidence for ancient Greek dress, which was essential to the construction of social identities. Although no complete garments survive, preserved fragments of silk and embroideries indicate the elite status of the wearer. Jewelry, dress fasteners, toilet implements, perfume vessels, cosmetics, and mirrors are also important indicators of status and gender. The visual sources, including sculpture and vase-painting, depict men and women performing various dress practices. Although some practices, such as bathing and the use of perfumes, are common to both genders, others are specific to either men or women. The visual sources demonstrate other aspects of identity: age and social role are often indicated by hairstyle, whereas ethnicity is also conveyed by means of garments and body-modifications. Although dress is often considered a mundane aspect of culture, I argue that dress provides unique insight into ancient Greek ideologies.

Dr. Mireille Lee is Assistant Professor with the Departments of History of Art and Classical Studies at Vanderbilt University, and holds her degrees from Bryn Mawr (Ph.D.) and Occidental College. Her research interests are Greek art and archaeology, in particular the construction of gender in ancient visual and material culture. She has published widely on the social functions of dress in ancient Greece, including her volume Body, Dress, and Identity in Ancient Greece (2015).