AJ SANDUCCI
African:
Gloves
January 19, 2014
Gloves have been found in the tombs of Royalty and Bishops, and are also pictured in early manuscripts dating back to the 10th century. Sack shaped coverings without fingers have been dated back to the 21st Dynasty where they were found in the Egyptian Pyramids. In 1922, archeologists discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamen remains of gloves decorated with a plaited, scale-motif design. Also a reference to Bzovius’ who described the gloves placed on the hands of Boniface the Eight at the time of his internment as being made of white silk, beautifully worked with the needle, and ornamented with a rich border studded with pearls. For many centuries fashion gloves had formed part of the costume worn by royalty, bishops, and higher-ranking men and women, and by the fourteenth century members of all classes wore them.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Henna
August 8, 2013
Henna is a naturally occurring plant was first used by Egyptian women for beautifying purposes. They would use it to paint their nails and hair. Henna art is said to have originated in Pakistan, India, North Africa, and the Middle East, and it has become more popular around Europe and The United States. Henna tattoos are widely used for occasions such as weddings, birthdays, holidays, and other occasions.
Written by:The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir
Let's highlight our faces..with oil
August 3, 2013
Nowadays oils are used for personal hygiene and beautifying purposes. Egyptians started using oils such as olive oil, castor oil, sesame oil, and Moroccans used argon oil in their daily skin regimen to fight wrinkles, and for personal hygiene purposes as well as cosmetic purposes. Additionally, Egyptians cleansed their skin with milk and honey, followed by an application of almond oil. In fact, the principal ingredients to most of their perfumes were olive oil, sesame and almond oil.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir
Easy, breezy, beautiful, covered skin
July 22, 2013
Animal skin is worn by many cultures all over the world. Animal skin can be made into clothing, accessories, handbags, etc. The most common types of animal skins that are used are goat skin, alligator skin, bear skin for fur, cow skin, and sheep skin. In African culture, animal skin denotes age, sex, status, and rank of an individual. They are used as clothing or other simple reasons. Today, animal skin is still used to denote wealth and status; many celebrities debate this look.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir
These cornrows
July 21, 2013
Cornrow braiding originates in Africa. They may be as old as 500 B.C. Cornrow hairstyles in Africa cover a wide social terrain: religion, status, age, ethnicity. The braid patterns were commonly based on a tradition and styles. Today, cornrow braiding is used among all cultures and ethnicities for many reasons: fashion, easy maintenance, etc.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir
Got holes?
July 14, 2013
Nowadays body piercings can be worn on almost any part of the body including the lips, nose, eyebrows. Piercings first originated in the Middle East and they made their way across the world. African piercings were mostly in their lips, nose, or ears, even though their are some who had other parts of their body pierced. In African culture, piercings denote the wealth, beauty, and pride of that individual. The lip piercing is especially popular in African culture, as it is popular in any other culture.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir
Let's take a journey to Africa!
July 13, 2013
Animal prints have never and probably will never go out of fashion. Animal prints including zebra, cheetah, leopard, or the big cat spots are fashionable yet simple at the same time. These animal prints were first used by the African people. The idea originated from the animal skins. This trend has spread throughout the world.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir
Hair extensions to the rescue!
July 9, 2013
More and more people over the years have been using hair extensions to lengthen and add volume to their hair. Hair extensions go back to the Egyptian days. Hair extensions were worn by both genders; usually Egyptian men shaved their head and wore wigs to protect them from the different elements. As years went by, many other cultures began to use hair extensions. Most of the young women living in an Asian province collected their hair for their family’s only source of income. Hair merchants went to Eastern Europe to purchase hair from hair collectors. Many of these merchants also traveled to Eastern Europe’s outlying provinces to convince the youthful women to shave off their hair. Buyers treasured Eastern European hair for its blonde and lighter shades compared to Asian’s striking dark and slick hair. India is also another area where we acquire hair extensions. But most of the hair taken from there is “temple” hair. As a tribute to their Hindu faith, men and women shave their hair off. After they sacrifice their hair it is then sorted, washed, and then dyed for advertising. The last type of extensions is Remi hair. This is the most valuable type of hair extensions because the cuticles of the hair are undamaged and going in the same way. Remi hair is also the only hair that is considered to naturally grown hair. Anticipate paying the most for this radiant, cascading, and natural looking extensions.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir
You're going to blush when you read this
July 9, 2013
Egyptians were known to use rouge for their cheeks. Rouge became popular in Egypt, where both men and women wore it. Rouge was made of thick paste, from strawberries, to red fruits and vegetable juices.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir
Image: makemestunningjade.blogspot.com
Pluck & darken your eyebrows like an Egyptian!
July 9, 2013
Both women and men in Egypt wore eye make-up. It was a way of scaring off evil spirits and diseases. While lining their eyes with Kohl, they also shaved or tweezed their eyebrows, and darkened their eyebrows with black powder. The powered used to darken their eyebrows was made of galena, which is a lead-based mineral. Also, when a cat died in a private home in Egypt, all inhabitants of the house would shave their eyebrows. Egyptians also dyed their eyebrows and hair using Henna.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir
Line your eyes around this!
July 9, 2013
Egyptians use kohl to create the line look in their eyes. The kohl gave their eyes that dark eye-liner look. Cleopatra used kohl to create a dark black line around her eyes, to protect herself from the evil eye. Make up was ritualized and played an important role in ones existence and afterlife. It was believed that it would bring the body closer to the gods after death. The eyeliner was a must-have for both men and women, not just for beauty but also to help detect light and for antibacterial purposes.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir
Image: www.maybelline.com
Smokey-eye!
July 9, 2013
The women of Egypt were known to apply kohl to their eyes, to give them a smokey look! To make kohl, they used antimony or soot. As time passed on, Romans began to use kohl as well to get that make-up eye effect! Eye-shadows were made from crushed beetle wings or natural minerals.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir
Image: fashionshint.com
Speak leather to me.
July 9, 2013
This is a type of clothing that is usually worn over a top and made out of the tanned hide of an animal. The most common hides used to make leather jackets are Antelope, buckskin, lambskin, sheepskin, and cowhide. It is usually dyed black, or a range of shades of brown, but colorful jackets are likely. When ancient Egyptians tombs were excavated, painting and artifacts were found showing that leather was heavily used through out the period. Most of the contemporary leather jackets are manufactured in Italy, Pakistan, India, Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Other fabrics such as polyurethane or PVC are used as a substitute to the genuine animal hide leather due to the fact that they are either vegan or for financial reasons. Artificial fiber is less expensive than the genuine leather. Leather jackets were used for many purposes: for aviators and men affiliated in the military, they were known as bomber jackets during World War II.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir
Grab your heels!
July 8, 2013
The first precursors of stiletto heels were discovered in a tomb of Tebas in Old Egypt, dating back to 1000 BC. It is thought that the heels provided a high social status to those who wore them.
The idea began to explode! In old Greece, Esquilo, the first Greek theatrical author had his actors wear shoes with different heights to indicate each of the character’s social status. The same idea started in the east. The Japanese emperor, Hirohito was crowned in 1926, and was wearing shoes 30cm in height. As years went by, European fashion of the high heel was created, chopine style, which was 15 to 42 cm high. Some even reached 75 cm and the ladies who wore them had to lean on sticks so they could walk.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir
Image from:
The ancient design that made it to the future!
July 7, 2013
Do you know the ancient design that made it to the future? It's the geometric tribal design!
This design originated in Mali, Africa, in the 1990's and it is called "mud cloth." It is a symbol of national identity and it conveys a message to the wearer. This design has become one of the best known African cloth traditions worldwide, and is worn by many people around the world. This type clothing is usually worn for ceremonial purposes, as well as funerals in African culture.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir
Waka Waka, this is African!
July 7, 2013
Africa is the birthplace of mankind and human civilization. Africa is also a place where jewelry was first made and worn. African jewelry can be dated back to 12,000 years, and it was worn to show personal style, wealth status, etc. The African jewelry was made from seashells, beads, feathers, bones, and teeth. Today, we see similar jewelry around, such as the horn necklaces, teeth ones, bones, a regular colorful beads necklace, or a beautiful necklace made from amazing seashells, and now we know where these fascinating pieces and jewelry originated in. Also, today jewelry is worn for similar reasons, to show personal style, beautification, or wealth and social statuses.
Cool fact: Long time ago, beads produced were traded and used as currency.
Written by: The Unified Fashion Team
Edited by: Saba Tauqir