STUDENT SPOTLIGHT- Reliving SUMERIAN era

The spotlight of this week at the Whistling Woods - NeetaLulla School of Fashion was on the ‘Sumerian Costume Design’ by our freshman students. Under the guidance of Belinda Bawa, art design & illustration professional and one of our faculty, our students created prototypes of garments from the Sumerian era, as a part of their practical training on History of World Costumes and Clothing. 

The best part of this assignment was that the students had to use only discarded materials available on campus. The idea was to assess the creativity and ingenuity of the fashion aspirants and find innovation amidst regular yet limited resources.

The Sumerian Civilization has always been an interesting era of history, much talked about, especially for their rich art and culture. The innovative concepts in clothing and jewelry and their styling, made Sumerian fashion the most distinctive of their time. Even till today, designers get highly inspired by ancient civilizations and their sense of style.

The Sumerians had the most unique sense of clothing style of their era- the men were mostly bare-chested and wore skirt-like garments tied at the waist. Women usually wore gowns that covered them from shoulders to the ankles with the right arm and shoulder left uncovered. Headdresses were common among both men and women.

Garments and accessories made from naturally available resources made the Sumerians pioneers of ancient clothing. They used what was easily sourceable- like grains that they could harvest, wool, fur and skin from animals they reared, metals that were found in natural ores, and so on. They mostly used the fibers of the flax plant, leaves, sheep wool and cotton. Keeping this in mind, the freshman students of fashion used brown paper, cotton and similar materials to create Sumerian costumes. 

The students were divided in 2 groups of five people in each, where one was to design a male costume and the other designed a woman’s attire. They found this exercise very engaging and fun and it helped them get acquainted with the ‘History of World Costumes’ along with hands-on experience.