Viking Dress Code Book By Kamil Rabiega

A Book of Textile and Leather Clothing in Scandinavia – Triglav 2019.

Another new book from Triglav, this delves into the history and archaeological finds of various fabrics, fragments and clothing from Viking age Scandinavia. It starts with the chronology and scope of the sources and the history behind the techniques of how such fabrics and clothing were constructed and then goes on to chapters on each Scandinavian country and the typical costume associated with them. Lots of photographs of actual finds and sketches of how such finds would be constructed into an actual outfit, focusing on men and women from each region. It also covers how the fabrics were dyed and what tools were used in the process. A brilliant comprehensive book for anyone interesting in Viking clothing and techniques.

Publish date: June / July 2019
Publishers: Triglav
Format: Softback 
Pages: 235
Size: 240 x 168 x 14mm (9.45 x 6.6 x 0.55 inch)
Weight: 732g (1.65 lb)

Kamil Rabiega has collected information concerning virtually all artifacts which can be linked to Scandinavians living In the Viking period, i.e. from the 9th to 11th century. The interpretation of such, usually fragmentary survivals of clothing, was facilitated by his own experience with the experimental reproduction of historical techniques of spinning, dyeing, weaving, cutting, sewing and embroidering clothes supplemented by an overview of iconographic sources. Translating those usually heavily stylized images on information about specific types of clothing requires a lot of imagination and knowledge, backed by historical, archaeological and ethnographic well-roundedness. The author of this book has such knowledge, which resulted in an unexpected wealth of implications.

Kamil Rabiega is right, writing in the preface that his book is a ‘handbook of knowledge on Viking clothing’.

Prof. Przemyslaw Urba6czyk

The author has done a good job getting acquainted with most of the literature, which is evident in his understanding of the details regarding the quite complicated subject matter and in the way he presents the archaeological sources and iconography. We see a very accurate picture of the state of research, thanks to systematic descriptions accompanied by illustrations of the various parts of the garments make up a comprehensive idea of not only how the elites dressed…

Prof. Madyslaw Duczko, AH

Kamil Rabiega Archaeologist, PhD student at the Institute of Archaeology of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyfiski University in Warsaw. He graduated in archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw and from postgraduate studies in forensic archaeology at the Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics of the University of Wroclaw. Field researcher, involved in many scientific projects in Central and Southern Europe. Author of a number of articles published in scientific monographs and periodicals. An active participant in international conferences. Particularly interested in the material and spiritual culture of the early medieval inhabitants of Scandinavia and the area of today’s Poland.