Clothes do not make a man
The phrase “clothes do not make a man” suggests that a person’s character, values, and abilities are more important than their outward appearance or attire. While this idea emphasizes the importance of inner qualities, there are several arguments against it, asserting that clothes can, in fact, have a significant impact on how a person is perceived and treated, and even on their own behavior and self-perception. It is worth seeing what contemporary research can tell about it.
Clothing is a significant part of cultural and social identity. It can signal belonging to a particular group, convey status, and express individual or collective identity. In many cultures, specific attire is associated with particular roles, rites of passage, or social status, and wearing these clothes can affirm and reinforce a person’s identity within that culture. Throughout history, clothing has played a crucial role in signaling social status, occupation, and even political allegiance. In many cultures, what one wears can have deep symbolic meaning, influencing how individuals are perceived and treated within society. If clothing was to indicate power, it had to be obviously different in form, color or richness of decorations from the clothing of the rest of society. This specificity has been used since the earliest civilizations and cultures.
Project Costumes of Authority, the image of Royalty and Clergy in Christian Nubia led by Karel Innemee under POLONEZ BIS program analyzes the costumes depicted in medieval wall paintings as an expression of the power and authority of their wearers, but the main goal is to say more about the relation between state and Church when it came to who had power and it what sense. Not only depictions of costumes, but also texts that mention kings, royal mothers, and clergy are important sources of information, and sometimes relatively small details can reveal interesting information. For this reason the research team consists of not only art historians and archaeologists, but also philologists with knowledge about the languages that were spoken and written in Medieval Nubia: Old Nubian, Coptic, and Greek. In the last 18 months the team has made important progress, and not in the least by consulting and exchanging points of view with colleagues from various disciplines. On 12 and 13 April 2024 Dr. Innemee invited seven internationally renowned scholars from various disciplines to Warsaw for a two day workshop about power and authority of state and Church. In this way the research team could discuss and compare how religious and worldly power interacted in pre-Christian Nubia, pharaonic Egypt, and Byzantium. The results of the workshop will be of importance in the text of the final publication that is now being prepared. Of great importance for elaborating and interpreting the material of the project a database of painting was composed, especially designed for all the elements that are part of the royal and ecclesiastical outfits.
The second part of the program concerns the reconstruction of a number of costumes in life size. The purpose is to see and feel how a person’s movements are influenced by being dressed in such a ceremonial way and what impression it must have made on the viewers. For this task a cooperation with the School of Form in Warsaw (part of the SWPS University) was started and the results are exciting. First an analysis was made of the dyes that were used in archaeological textiles from Nubia, and on the basis of this a large number of test samples in various fabrics were made. From these a selection was made and in the next phase the complete costumes of a bishop, two kings from different periods and two royal mothers are being made. All this takes place under the coordination of dr Agnieszka Jacobson, dean of the School of Form, while Dorothée Roqueplo, an internationally renowned designer of theatrical costumes, is responsible for the sartorial process. The costumes will soon be completed and on 17 October 2024 they will be presented in the Great Auditorium of the Louvre in Paris. (see https://www.louvre.fr/expositions-et-evenements/evenements-activites/archeologie-du-textile-restituer-les-costumes-du-pouvoir-de-la-nubie-chretienne-6e-14e-siecles ).
After that they will be part of an exhibition in the Bode Museum in Berlin and then in the National Museum in Warsaw.
This is not only relevant for specialists, but also a way of confronting a wider (international) audience with the research results of the project. Apart from that, a popularized version of the results will be presented to the visitors of the National Museum in Warsaw, by two specially designed guided tours that will be conducted by a professional guide. The purpose is to show how authority, not only in Nubia, but in other periods and regions as well, was expressed through costumes and attributes. For the principal investigator this project so far was a way of getting into closer contact with the academic world of Warsaw and a reason to investigate the possibilities for further research in the Christian culture of the Nile valley.
In summary, while the idea that “clothes do not make a man” emphasizes the importance of character over appearance, clothing undeniably influences how others perceive and treat individuals, and can even affect self-perception. Therefore, as it is shown above, in many contexts, clothes do play a significant role in shaping a person’s rank and respectability.
Principal Investigator: dr Karel Christiaan Innemée
Project Title: Costumes of Authority. The Image of Royalty and Clergy in Christian Nubia
Project’s website: www.nubianauthorities.archeologia.uw.edu.pl
