Reconstructions of Bulgarian Medieval garment

(13th and 14th centuries)

Executive Summary

The purpose of this monograph is to provide a picture of what clothes

used to look like at the time of the Second Bulgarian Empire in the most
comprehensive way possible. In order to do this, it uses 18 full-colour
illustrations, 55 coloured drawings of clothing reproductions and 20 photos of
recreated medieval Bulgarian clothes in about 189 pages. The text comprises
about 130 standard typewritten pages. All of the above-mentioned illustrations
and reproductions are products of the author’s attempts to recreate medieval
Bulgarian clothing. They are based on over 90 scientific papers, 15 online forums
and websites, the Serbian Wall Paintings Dated to the 13th and 14th Centuries
paper at the end of this book, and 81 photographs and reproductions of medieval
wall paintings and archeological findings. The text is split into introduction, five
parts and conclusion. This paper also contains 184 footnotes and several lists of
abbreviations, cited works and illustrations.

The book is styled as a full-colour album depicting civil clothes dated to

the Second Bulgarian Empire (excluding military and priestly clothing). It
contains descriptions of men’s, women’s and children’s clothes belonging to
tsars, boyars and common people. It offers analysis of all surviving portraits of
medieval Bulgarian nobles and of findings from 17 medieval necropoleis in
different parts of the country. The text takes into consideration previous research
on medieval Bulgarian costumes, however it presents the most comprehensive
research on this topic carried out so far. Kalina Atanasova’s reconstruction work
is based on her experiments in which she strives to emulate the appearance of
the clothing, as portrayed in the various sources, the design and sewing patterns
and the manner in which the clothes were worn, while paying special attention to
the wearer’s movements and to the combination of insignias and decorations
and their construction.

Kalina Atanasova has been working on Medieval Bulgarian Clothing

since 2005.

Her book is addressed to any reader who is interested in history and in

clothing reconstruction. At the same time, it has a scientific value which would be
of use to various experts and humanitarian students, such as archeologists, art
specialists, cultural anthropologists and historians.