Speaker 1: Welcome. This is Marsha for RADIOI, and today I will
Speaker 1: be reading National Geographic magazine dated June twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: which is donated by the publisher as a reminder. Radio
Speaker 1: Eye is a reading service intended for people who are
Speaker 1: blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
Speaker 1: read printed material. Please join me now for the first
Speaker 1: article titled the Future of Fashion is Farm to Closet
Speaker 1: by Claudia Cawb. For her part, Riadini Flesh admires the
Speaker 1: French brand Visa, which makes sneakers out of organic cotton
Speaker 1: and Amazonian rubber like Visa, which rebranded the shopping frenzy
Speaker 1: of Black Friday to Repair Friday. Suka Chita encourages customers
Speaker 1: to return their clothing for mending or re dyeing, and
Speaker 1: the brand offers a lifetime repair guarantee. As Riadini Flesh
Speaker 1: sees it, these kinds of ventures offer new ways for
Speaker 1: people to understand that there's an alternative to extractive faction.
Speaker 1: I never consider ourselves to have competitors, she says, it's
Speaker 1: about changing the paradigm. One of her latest efforts transpired
Speaker 1: in November twenty twenty four, when Suka Sita opened a
Speaker 1: pop up boutique at an upscale mall, its second location
Speaker 1: in Jakarta. While the garments for sale range from an
Speaker 1: indigo shirt decorated with geometric stars to a yellow dress
Speaker 1: whose color is derived from Java's golden gilawe plant, one
Speaker 1: of the store's primary purposes is to showcase a traveling
Speaker 1: exhibition about Sukasita's supply chain. Glass containers hold soil from
Speaker 1: the villager's farms. The life cycle of a cotton plant
Speaker 1: is on display, and a video features interviews with the
Speaker 1: ibis showing the invisible love and labor behind each product.
Speaker 1: One of the most striking presentations explains how the brand's
Speaker 1: garments are specifically made to return to the earth rather
Speaker 1: than wind up in landfills. A display case lined with
Speaker 1: soil shows a single cut of Sukasita cotton as it
Speaker 1: degrades progressively over the course of six weeks, ultimately returning
Speaker 1: into tiny fragments that can be used in compost. Riadini
Speaker 1: Flesh hopes to take the exhibition international, sharing it at
Speaker 1: more pop up stores in part to inspire other brands.
Speaker 1: She's also tracking how well her practices are working by
Speaker 1: earning fair labor and environmental impact certifications from watchdog groups
Speaker 1: like NEST, a nonprofit that verifies ethical work standards, and
Speaker 1: the Science Based Targets Initiative, a climate action organization that
Speaker 1: measures greenhouse gas emissions. Recently, Sukasita became the first fashion
Speaker 1: company in Indonesia to secure b Corp certification as a
Speaker 1: business that is committed to transparency and account of BBILIT.
Speaker 1: The brand's approach signals a remarkable mix of business acumen
Speaker 1: and social purpose. By not just scaling for profit, but
Speaker 1: also scaling impact, says Sarah Schwimmer, who runs b lab Global,
Speaker 1: the nonprofit behind the certification, she is demonstrating a new
Speaker 1: way forward. Shwimmer says, over the past four years, the
Speaker 1: brand has opened four additional craft schools, launched a spin
Speaker 1: off materials platform so that others can source Sukasita's regenerative materials,
Speaker 1: and established partnerships with eleven villages. The company plans to
Speaker 1: cap rather than grow that number so it can boost
Speaker 1: the resources it provides to each location. So far, Sukasita
Speaker 1: has helped communities transform roughly one hundred eighteen acres of
Speaker 1: previously commercial farm land, which has had a direct impact
Speaker 1: on more than fifteen hundred lives. There By twenty thirty,
Speaker 1: it expects to ramp up to more than twenty four
Speaker 1: hundred acres in reach up to ten thousand people. One
Speaker 1: thing Sukusita will do will not do is follow traditional
Speaker 1: seasonal fashion calendars or over exert the artisans or the
Speaker 1: land it manages. If demand for our product's sky rockets
Speaker 1: and the elements won't allow it, the company will simply
Speaker 1: be sold out. You cannot have infinite growth on a
Speaker 1: finite planet. Riadini Flesh says it is wisdom shared by
Speaker 1: the Ibis, who also taught Randini Flesh a philosophy that
Speaker 1: inspires her every day. Urip Iku urup. We live to
Speaker 1: bring light next expeditions on safari, there's no telling what
Speaker 1: might crush your path, and in South Africa's Greater Kruger Area,
Speaker 1: rhinos have right of way. But there's a lot more
Speaker 1: than walk wildlife watching to the newest land itinerary from
Speaker 1: Northern Geographic Expeditions. The Nine Days Southern Africa Living History
Speaker 1: and Legendary Species Journey begins with a visit to a
Speaker 1: vibrant neighborhood of Cape Town and a walk in Table
Speaker 1: Mountain National Park. After taking in turbulent seascapes at the
Speaker 1: Cape of Good Hope and a colony of endangered African penguins.
Speaker 1: Guests head to Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve ordering Kruger
Speaker 1: National Park and home to some four hundred species of wildlife.
Speaker 1: A bush lodge is base camp for three days of
Speaker 1: safaris and talks with trackers, rangers and national geographic experts.
Speaker 1: The trip ends in Zombia at the foot of Victoria Falls,
Speaker 1: near where elders of the Lea people share their traditions
Speaker 1: during a village tour. That rhino encounter might not even
Speaker 1: make your top five list. Next Explorers of the Year
Speaker 1: Pablo Poppy Garcia Borboroglu and Bertie Gregory. As a boy
Speaker 1: growing up in Argentina's Buenos Aires Province, Pablo Poppy Garcia
Speaker 1: Borboroglu was enchanted by his grandmother's tales of her youthful
Speaker 1: visits to the teeming penguin colonies of Argentine Patagonia. He
Speaker 1: was a nineteen year old tour guide when he first
Speaker 1: glimpsed one, and it dawned on him then how important
Speaker 1: it was to share with others his sense of awe,
Speaker 1: inspiring them to protect penguins and their habitats a hemisphere away.
Speaker 1: Bertie Gregory came to a similar realization as a teenage
Speaker 1: wildlife photographer roaming the English countryside. Today, at thirty one,
Speaker 1: he's an accomplished wildlife filmmaker and leads storyteller behind the
Speaker 1: new National Geographic series Secrets of the Penguins, on which
Speaker 1: he worked with Warboroglu, now a marine biologist and founder
Speaker 1: and President of the Global Penguin Society. For their efforts,
Speaker 1: Warbaro Blue and Gregory have been named the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five Rolex National Geographic Explorers of the Year. Pope Garcia,
Speaker 1: Barbaro Blue and Bertie Gregory exemplify the power of collaboration
Speaker 1: in exploration, says National Geographic Society CEO Jill Tiefenthaler. By
Speaker 1: uniting crown breaking conservation science with me master storytelling, they
Speaker 1: not only deepen our understanding of penguins, but galvanize global
Speaker 1: action to protect them. Barbaro Blue's initiatives to create protected
Speaker 1: areas for penguins have helped conserve some thirty two million
Speaker 1: acres of habitat on land at sea. Now fifty five,
Speaker 1: he takes inspiration from the bird's resilience the way they
Speaker 1: swim hundreds or even thousands of miles for food, avoid
Speaker 1: predators and pollution, and survive in environments increasingly affected by
Speaker 1: climate change. When you see penguins making that big effort,
Speaker 1: he reflects, you say, how can I give up? Warbaro
Speaker 1: Glue and Gregory shared a spotlight in last month's Secret
Speaker 1: of the Penguins cover story, and there's more on their
Speaker 1: adventures with penguins at Nationalgeographic dot com. Being recognized as
Speaker 1: an Explorer of the Year alongside his filmmaker friend Boubaroglue
Speaker 1: says is fantastic, a great combination of different kinds of
Speaker 1: explorers and expertise. When you see penguins making that big
Speaker 1: effort for Baro Glue reflects, you say, how can I
Speaker 1: give up? At first, Gregory says he was hesitant to
Speaker 1: make a documentary about penguins. The Emmy winning host of
Speaker 1: the Disney Plus series Animals Up Close, who was shot
Speaker 1: for iconic series like Planet Earth and Frozen Planet, knew
Speaker 1: that filming in penguins harsh habitats would be tough, and
Speaker 1: worried the species was already plenty documented. If you're going
Speaker 1: to make a series called Secrets of the penguins. He says,
Speaker 1: you've got to show people something they've never seen before.
Speaker 1: But Gregory embraced the challenge to film one of the
Speaker 1: series three episodes. He camped for more than two months
Speaker 1: near an Emperor penguin colony in Antarctica's at Kabay. He
Speaker 1: was documenting a critical phase in a penguin's life cycle,
Speaker 1: when juveniles abandoned by their parents are left to figure
Speaker 1: out how to become a proper adult penguin, getting themselves
Speaker 1: to the ocean to swim and hunt. He succeeded spectacularly
Speaker 1: in capturing behaviors never before filmed, including footage of hundreds
Speaker 1: of young Emperor penguins entering the sea by base jumping
Speaker 1: off a fifty foot cliff. I really think it's going
Speaker 1: to blow people's minds, he says. I thought I knew
Speaker 1: what penguin's limits were. I was wrong. This article by
Speaker 1: Renee Ebersol next the candy colored beauty of sea urchins.
Speaker 1: These tiny animals protect coral reefs, but they need protection too.
Speaker 1: Beneath sea urchins, exterior spines, rounded skeletons called tests are
Speaker 1: jewels of color, texture, and symmetry. There are hundreds of
Speaker 1: urchin species, and they're found in every ocean on Earth,
Speaker 1: from the intertidal zone to more than four miles below
Speaker 1: the surface. In twenty eighteen, Anders Holland, a research associate
Speaker 1: at the Australian Museum in Sydney, began photographing urchin skeletons
Speaker 1: that had washed up on beaches or been collected by
Speaker 1: divers and tho on fishing or research vessels. He created
Speaker 1: the composite image over a course of a week in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, using seventy six individual photographs. The project
Speaker 1: comes at a perilous moment for these creatures. Since twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, sea urchins have been plagued by a scuticlotiniate,
Speaker 1: a single celled pathogen that eats away at the animal's
Speaker 1: soft tissue and makes their spines fall off. A mass
Speaker 1: die off that started in the Caribbean that year has
Speaker 1: since spread east, likely through the Mediterranean, into the Red
Speaker 1: Sea and Indian Ocean. In some survey locations, researchers found
Speaker 1: thousands of dead urchins. The animal's survival is vital to
Speaker 1: the health of reefs, where they eat algae that can
Speaker 1: smother coral. It's one of the many reasons Halan is
Speaker 1: committed to capturing their beauty. They are really quite ingeniously evolved.
Speaker 1: This by Hicks Wogan. The next articles from March April
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four National Geographic History Magazine. Three thousand year
Speaker 1: old tombs surprises scholars in Peru. A high priest's grave
Speaker 1: dates to an earlier era than expected, yielding a new
Speaker 1: understanding of the history of the ancient Andes. Archaeologists in
Speaker 1: northern Peru have discovered a three thousand year old burial.
Speaker 1: Inside it lay one of the first priests in ancient
Speaker 1: Andean history, a man who lived well before the time
Speaker 1: of the Inca. The discovery was made in the Paco
Speaker 1: Pampa Archaeological Complex, a forty acre site of monumental and
Speaker 1: ceremonial structures that was active between twelve hundred and seven
Speaker 1: hundred BC. Over nearly twenty years, the project of archaeological
Speaker 1: Investigation has discovered numerous fines at Paco Pampa. The latest one,
Speaker 1: a skeleton of an ancient religious leader interred there around
Speaker 1: one thousand BC, has been named the Priests of Pacopampa
Speaker 1: because of his tomb's contents. Buried with him were three
Speaker 1: stamps or seals The first seal resembles a jaguar, indicating
Speaker 1: the priest's status as a leader who could harness the
Speaker 1: animal's spiritual power. The second one depicts a human face,
Speaker 1: and the third is in the shape of a hand.
Speaker 1: Scholars believe people dipped the seals in paint and then
Speaker 1: stamped the images on the priest's skin. The find is
Speaker 1: extremely important, says Yuji Seiki, who leads researchers from Japan's
Speaker 1: National Museum of Ethnology and Peru's National University of San
Speaker 1: Marcos Deep Connections. The discovery of the priest is helping
Speaker 1: archaeologists at Pacopampa pinpoint when a powerful priestly class first
Speaker 1: appeared in the region. Seiki explains that Pacopampa was at
Speaker 1: one time a pilgrimage center where people from near and
Speaker 1: far came together to participate in religious rights. These group
Speaker 1: rituals are credited with creating the social conditions that allowed
Speaker 1: the earliest Andian civilizations to rise, says Siki. Similar burials
Speaker 1: such as the tomb of the Lady of Pacopampa found
Speaker 1: in two thousand and nine and the Tomb of the
Speaker 1: Serpent Jaguar Priests found in twenty fifteen, have important connections
Speaker 1: to the priest of Pacopampa, whose tomb may be as
Speaker 1: many as three hundred years older. Saiki believes that these
Speaker 1: later spiritual leaders made their relationship with ancestral elites visible
Speaker 1: through their burials. I consider this to be evidence of
Speaker 1: the incorporation of ancestor worship into the succession of power.
Speaker 1: Worshiping ancestors was of central importance to later Andian cultures
Speaker 1: in the region, such as the Wari ad five hundred
Speaker 1: two one thousand, the Tiawanaku circa a d. Six hundred
Speaker 1: to one thousand, and ultimately the Inca circa a d.
Speaker 1: Twelve hundred to fifteen thirty three. Excavations continue at the
Speaker 1: Pacopampa complex, with new discoveries on the horizon. In twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, a priestly tomb the site was uncovered. Some
Speaker 1: believe it could be even older than the priest of Pacopampa,
Speaker 1: but analysis of the tomb and its contents is still
Speaker 1: under way. This article by Braden Phillips next Portsia, loyal
Speaker 1: Heroine of the Republic, a woman of firm political convictions.
Speaker 1: Porsia was the steadfast wife and staunch ally of Brutus
Speaker 1: and a key supporter of his murderous plot against Julius Caesar.
Speaker 1: When Julius Caesar seemed increasingly likely to embrace authoritarian rule,
Speaker 1: two men emerged as the Roman Republic's fiercest defenders, Cato
Speaker 1: the younger, who led resistance to Caesar in the Senate,
Speaker 1: and his nephew Marcus Junius Brutus, who led the conspiracy
Speaker 1: to assassinate Caesar. But there was another key player in
Speaker 1: the tumultus events surrounding Caesar's end, a woman who would
Speaker 1: come to embody strength under pressure an unwavering loyalty. Her
Speaker 1: name was Porsia, daughter of Cato and wife of Brutus.
Speaker 1: Porscha Catonis circa seventy three to forty three BC was
Speaker 1: the only woman who was privy to the plot. As
Speaker 1: the Roman historian Cassius Dio described her. PUSH's courage, logical mind,
Speaker 1: and willingness to sacrifice were celebrated by Roman historians and
Speaker 1: centuries later immortalized in William Shakespeare's fifteen ninety nine Tragedy
Speaker 1: Julius Caesar. Many factors shaped to this extraordinary person, but
Speaker 1: two stand out. The volatile political climate and the teachings
Speaker 1: of her father. Growing up Stoic. Much of what is
Speaker 1: known about Portia comes largely from Greek historian Plutarch in
Speaker 1: his books about Brutus and Cato, and from Cassius Dio's
Speaker 1: Roman History, along with mentions and other works. In all
Speaker 1: ancient references, she is remembered as the member of younger
Speaker 1: Cato's family who is most committed to her father's cause.
Speaker 1: According to Judith P. Hallett, Professor Emerita of Classics at
Speaker 1: the University of Maryland, an author of Fathers and Daughters
Speaker 1: in Roman Society, Women and the Elite Family, Porsia's father,
Speaker 1: Cato the Younger, so named to distinguish him from his
Speaker 1: great grandfather Cato the Elder, was an old Guard aristocrat
Speaker 1: and Republican. A devotee of Stoic philosophy, Kato put virtue
Speaker 1: and civic responsibility above all else, an uncompromising idealism that
Speaker 1: deeply influenced his daughter. Early in the second century i d.
Speaker 1: Plutarch wrote that Portia was addicted to philosophy and praised
Speaker 1: her sober living and greatness of spirit in keeping with
Speaker 1: the Stoic rejection of luxury and commitment to justice. Based
Speaker 1: on his depiction, Porsia is often regarded as the first
Speaker 1: female Stoic marriages and divorces. As a very young woman,
Speaker 1: Portio was wed to a political ally of her father.
Speaker 1: She and Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus would have due children together
Speaker 1: before their relationship became complicated by a distinctive Roman practice.
Speaker 1: In addition to arranged marriages, elite Romans also practiced arranged divorces,
Speaker 1: ending one match in favor of another that was more advantageous.
Speaker 1: Portia was about twenty when one such proposal came her way.
Speaker 1: Another of her father's allies, Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, asked to
Speaker 1: marry her. The aging childless widower wanted Portia as his
Speaker 1: wife in order to have an heir with her. After
Speaker 1: she gave birth, you promised to return her to Bibulus.
Speaker 1: Bibulus was not a fan of this proposal and refused it.
Speaker 1: Cato also disliked the idea of breaking his contract with Bibulus.
Speaker 1: To avoid alienating Hortensius, Cato agreed to divorce his own wife,
Speaker 1: Marcia and offered her instead. Hortensius agreed, and the plan
Speaker 1: went ahead. After Hortensia's death, Cato would remarry Marcia. Portia's
Speaker 1: high profile family was deeply involved with the Roman Civil
Speaker 1: War that began in forty nine BC. When Caesar refused
Speaker 1: to yield his armies and territories to the Republic. Rome
Speaker 1: split into two factions, one led by Caesar and the
Speaker 1: other led by Pompei. The conservative Cato and Bibelius both
Speaker 1: aligned with pompe and found themselves on the losing side
Speaker 1: of the war. Bibelius, leader of Pompey's fleet on the Adriatic,
Speaker 1: died of illness around forty eight BC. Cato took his
Speaker 1: own life in Utica modern day Tunisia when Caesar's troops
Speaker 1: won the nearby Battle of Thopsus in forty six BC.
Speaker 1: In Rome, Portia watched as Caesar amassed power. Rather than
Speaker 1: resign herself to a dictatorship, she continued to believe in
Speaker 1: the Old Republic. In forty five BC, she married Marcus
Speaker 1: Junius Brutus, a one time alli of Caesar who would
Speaker 1: famously turn against him during the war. Brutus sided with Pompey,
Speaker 1: but in the after meepa the war, Caesar pardoned him
Speaker 1: and even made him governor of Cisilpine Gaul northern Italy.
Speaker 1: Brutus's sympathies for the Old Republic, however, had not waned.
Speaker 1: Marrying Cato's daughter and divorcing his wife Claudia. To do
Speaker 1: so was a way to reaffirm his commitment plans and plots.
Speaker 1: In the months that followed, Brutus, along with other senators,
Speaker 1: alarmed by Caesar's ambition, embarked on a plot to assassinate him.
Speaker 1: Although politics was primarily a male domain in Roman culture,
Speaker 1: Pusia pledged to aid her husband because of her family's beliefs.
Speaker 1: According to Plutarch, she noticed a change in her husband
Speaker 1: and questioned him. When Brutus wouldn't answer, she wounded her
Speaker 1: own thigh with a knife. The act was a plead
Speaker 1: that her husband show her trust and respect. Brudus, I
Speaker 1: am Cato's daughter, and I was brought into thy house,
Speaker 1: not like a mere concubine to share thy bed and
Speaker 1: board merely, but to be a partner in thy joys
Speaker 1: and a partner in thy troubles. Her resolve prompted Brudus
Speaker 1: to reveal his plan to assassinate Caesar. Moreover, wrote Plutarch,
Speaker 1: she inspired him to see his plot to the end.
Speaker 1: When he he saw the wound. Brutus amazed and lifted
Speaker 1: his hands to heaven, prayed that he might succeed in
Speaker 1: his undertaking and thus show himself a worthy husband of Portia.
Speaker 1: After Caesar's death on March fifteenth, forty four BC, Brudus
Speaker 1: fled Rome to avoid the wrath of caesar loyalists, while
Speaker 1: Porsia remained in the capital. She followed her husband's fortunes
Speaker 1: as he fought to defend the republic against Octavian, Caesar's
Speaker 1: heir in alliance with Mark Antony. Finally, Porsia received the
Speaker 1: news that Brutus had been defeated in the Battle of
Speaker 1: Philippi forty two BC, and, like her father, Cato, had
Speaker 1: taken his own life. What happened next is not known
Speaker 1: for certain. The more dramatic ending has a devastated Porsia
Speaker 1: killing herself, either by swallowing hot coals or inhaling carbon monoxide.
Speaker 1: In one version, the poet Marshal Route that Porsia, seeking
Speaker 1: a weapon to enter life they had hidden by attendants, exclaimed,
Speaker 1: you know not yet that death cannot be denied. I
Speaker 1: had supposed that my father had taught you this lesson
Speaker 1: by his fate. She spoke, and with eager mouth swallowed
Speaker 1: the blazing coals. Plutarch tells a similar story symbol of strength.
Speaker 1: One key piece of evidence, however, puts Porsche's suicide in doubt.
Speaker 1: The Roman statesman and orator Cicero wrote a letter to
Speaker 1: Brudus in forty three BC lamenting Porsche's death, which means
Speaker 1: that Porsia died before her husband. Cicero's words implied that
Speaker 1: she died of natural causes. The legend of a violent
Speaker 1: suicide appeared later, but took root in the popular imagination.
Speaker 1: Plutarch has Brutus say of his wife, though she lacks
Speaker 1: the strength of men, she is as valiant and as
Speaker 1: active for the good of her country as the best
Speaker 1: of us. William Shakespeare in particular, found great inspiration in
Speaker 1: the character of Porsia through his reading of Plutarch. In
Speaker 1: addition to the historical character of Porsche in Julius Caesar,
Speaker 1: her name also appears in The Merchant of Venice fifteen
Speaker 1: ninety six to ninety eight, in which it is given
Speaker 1: to the brilliant woman determined to assert her herself in
Speaker 1: a male world by impersonating a lawyer. As a symbol
Speaker 1: of bravery and devotion. Portia has resonated through history. Abigail Adam's,
Speaker 1: wife of John Adams, the second U S President and
Speaker 1: first US Vice President, signed letters to him as Portia
Speaker 1: in recognition of the patriotic sacrifice of Brutus's stoic wife.
Speaker 1: This by Juan Louis Posadas. Next medieval times gave birth
Speaker 1: to modern fashion. Draped, shapeless garments were replaced by taller, pointier,
Speaker 1: and tighter clothes in fourteenth century Europe, when newly rich
Speaker 1: merchants vied with nobles to be in vogue. Plague, famine
Speaker 1: in war blighted the fourteenth century, but the period was
Speaker 1: also marked by an exciting revolution in fashion. Out went
Speaker 1: the beggy, amorphous robes that had been swathing people for centuries,
Speaker 1: and in came startlingly lean bodykindus styles that revealed the
Speaker 1: silhouette silhouette, at least for men. The sweeping transformation in
Speaker 1: European elite clothing is regarded by many historians as the
Speaker 1: birth of modern Western fashion. Aristocratic men and wealthy merchants
Speaker 1: started downing short, tight doublets, brightly colored woolen tights, and
Speaker 1: elaborate hoods with date dangling tails. Footwear that had long
Speaker 1: been hidden under robes was now revealed to the public gaze.
Speaker 1: These pointed leather shoes were known for their extremely long toes.
Speaker 1: Although the change was less marked for women, a shift
Speaker 1: in feminine style was also notable. They still wore dresses
Speaker 1: that concealed their legs, but the garments came in more
Speaker 1: colors and fabrics. The greatest change for women sat atop
Speaker 1: their heads, known as henyans. These head dresses could be
Speaker 1: a short, flat cap or a tall, pointy cone, veils
Speaker 1: often draped off the back, while the hat itself added
Speaker 1: height and accentuated the wearer's forehead. Tailored for individuals. Advanced
Speaker 1: as in garment construction played an essential part in changing
Speaker 1: the fashions. Earlier, textile manufacturer was shaped by rectangular looms,
Speaker 1: producing large, square, angular material that did not conform to
Speaker 1: the contours of the body. But in the fourteenth century,
Speaker 1: wealthy men's clothing started to be made from smaller, separate
Speaker 1: pieces of fabric, which allowed greater construction and more variety
Speaker 1: in design. Designers began to shift from draping fabric to cutting, sewing,
Speaker 1: and tailoring it. The idea of clothing, which for the
Speaker 1: first time was truly custom made to fit an individual's body.
Speaker 1: Implies a new relationship between the clothing and the wearer,
Speaker 1: said Laurel A. Wilson, a researcher in the history of
Speaker 1: fashion at the Center for Medieval Studies at Fordham University.
Speaker 1: Wilson points to the thirteen thirties as the pivotal decade
Speaker 1: of change. That's when various social and economic factors helped
Speaker 1: redefine fashion. An emerging merchant class was seeking social recognition,
Speaker 1: while above them aristocrats were evolving gradations of status, both
Speaker 1: to distinguish themselves from other aristocrats and from the ever
Speaker 1: wealthier merchant class beneath them. These status wars were expressed
Speaker 1: through their clothes. Tailors were in demand, and soon they
Speaker 1: grew too expensive for people in the lower social orders.
Speaker 1: This sea change in fashion quickly conquered Western Europe, likely
Speaker 1: because of a sheared court culture. Expanding choice gave rise
Speaker 1: to markets and industries in specialized fabrics, ornaments, and garments.
Speaker 1: Along with Europe's well established woolen's industry, Exotic fabrics like silk,
Speaker 1: damask and velvet, previously imported, were now manufactured in Italy
Speaker 1: and Northern Belgium, with access to greater choice and growing commercialization,
Speaker 1: came another mainstay of modern fashion, rapid change. During the
Speaker 1: fourteenth century, men's fashion change as rapidly as decade by decade,
Speaker 1: when before it was over the course of century. Wilson
Speaker 1: explained that system is still with us, only to a
Speaker 1: greater extreme. Constance's artorial change was not to everyone's liking,
Speaker 1: especially those with more conservative outlooks. In the thirteen forties,
Speaker 1: the anonymous English author of the Westminster Chronicle took offense
Speaker 1: at changing various deformities of clothing yearly and abandoning the
Speaker 1: ancient honesty of long loose garments. The deformities was a
Speaker 1: reference to the variety of tailoring short, tight, dagged, cut,
Speaker 1: laced and tied with unbuttoned everywhere, with sleeves and tippets
Speaker 1: of surcoats and hoods too long in their clothes and shoes.
Speaker 1: Such work, he concluded, belonged more to torturers and demons
Speaker 1: than men. In the thirteen forties, the French chronicler Jean
Speaker 1: de Vinet added his voice to a chorus of indignation
Speaker 1: at the shortness and tightness of men's clothing, noting that
Speaker 1: men cannot bend or kneel without showing their underwear and
Speaker 1: while was inside it. Later in the fifteenth century, medieval
Speaker 1: fashion was centered on the courts of the Dukes of Burgundy,
Speaker 1: based mainly in the wealthy cities of Flanders modern day Belgium.
Speaker 1: As the biggest cloth making area in Western Europe, Flanders
Speaker 1: drove fashion trends. Philip the Good thirteen ninety six to
Speaker 1: fourteen sixty seven, the most important of the Burgundian dukes,
Speaker 1: made sumptuous black his signature color. In wearing it, he
Speaker 1: combined style and spectacle with an expression of mourning for
Speaker 1: his father, killed in France in fourteen nineteen. His sister
Speaker 1: Anne was also a fashion icon, regularly depicted wearing the
Speaker 1: day's latest passions. Printed in fourteen thirty, the Bedford Book
Speaker 1: of Ours shows Anne at prayer while wearing a long
Speaker 1: gown known as a hupeland, made of a richly colored
Speaker 1: fabric covered with intertwined red branches, green leaves, and blue
Speaker 1: fruit against a yellow background. This conclude's readings from National
Speaker 1: Geographic Magazine and National Geographic History for today. Your reader
Speaker 1: has been Marsha. Thank you for listening, Keep on listening
Speaker 1: and have a great day,