Dress played a central role in constructing social identities in ancient Greece. In her keynote, Dr. Lee will present evidence from visual, archaeological, literary, and epigraphic sources that shows how clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, hairstyles, and body modifications reflected gender, age, status, occupation, and ethnicity. Although often considered a mundane aspect of culture, dress provides important insight into ancient Greek social identities and ideologies.​

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This talk explores the dress of the male elite at the Achaemenid Persian court (559–330 BCE) through a garment reconstruction project developed for the British Museum’s 2022 exhibition Luxury and Power: Persia to Greece. Drawing on Achaemenid art and traditional Iranian dress styles, the project recreated Persian garments despite the absence of surviving textiles. The presentation examines the design, symbolism, and reconstruction methods used to bring Achaemenid court dress to life.

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In this keynote, Dr. McFerrin invites us to rethink the language we use when discussing ancient fashion. By interrogating the terminologies that shape scholarly interpretation, she reveals how modern assumptions can obscure the deeper meanings embedded in ancient dress practices.

What happens when we move beyond surface-level descriptions of style?

How can terminology reshape the way we understand material culture?

And what new insights emerge when we consider dress as an embodied, experiential phenomenon?

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This talk examines the relationship between textile production, myth, and women’s mobility in the ancient Mediterranean through the figure of Helen in the Iliad. Drawing on archaeological evidence such as spindle whorls and loom weights, alongside representations of textiles in Archaic and Classical art, it explores how weaving practices may have incorporated mnemonic songs connected to mythological narratives. The paper argues that textile production may have served as a medium through which myths, techniques, and cultural traditions spread across linguistic and ethnic boundaries through the movement of women.