Virtual Historic Costume across Cultures and Disciplines

Material culture is the conventional name for the tangible yield of human conduct. We have things to study, and we must record them dutifully and examine them lovingly if the abstraction called culture is to be compassed.rdquo... ldquoThe design is a record of the process of design and ... of the designer's mind and provides a resource for the historian and scholar created in time and shaped to cultural pattern.rdquo Historic costume collections offer an opportunity for sociologists, anthropologists, historians and designers to study fashion design from concept to realization; the social milieu in which the garments were produced and worn; and the evolution of body type and posture. This paper discusses a project to enhance these investigations through advanced technology in virtual humans and a multicultural, multilingual development team.