Viking dresses by Savelyeva Ekaterina
Another visual demonstration that historical clothing wasn’t dingy and monochrome.
All of these colours can be obtained from vegetable dyes, producing different shades depending on what mordant (colour fixative - alum, different metal filings, different vinegars) was used. See here and here for examples.
BRING THIS FASHION BACK.
Not clothes, but this was a palette developed by the National Museum of Denmark based on paint residue from archaeological finds for the purpose of painting a reconstructed hall.
Apparently, they can tell from the chemical composition that the colours wouldn’t be mixed with black or white to mute them, but be used in their brightest form. Bright yellow and red was achieved with expensive dyes (orpiment and cinnabar) and was thus fashionable. (Source in Danish)
@athingofvikings
What is a man? An ecstatic little pile of pigments.
^reblogging for that comment
it’s important to note that pigments used in dyeing clothing and pigments used for paint are not the same though. mineral pigments like orpiment and cinnabar were used to achieve those colours in paint but not in textile dyeing - within the viking context, yellow and red would have been achieved mainly through the use of weld and madder root dyes respectively. the idea of yellow and red being expensive and thus fashionable applies to painted contexts but not fashion, at least not inherently, as weld and madder are not particularly expensive compared to any other dye plant and grow easily across europe
goddamn, no wonder viking men took such pains to dress up and groom themselves! their women would have looked stunning
