From the very first textile production and crude written communication, to recent fashion trends and the latest in writing instrument technology, we take a look at the parallel development of clothing and pens.
Fashion | Writing Instruments |
30,000 BC
Evidence of flax fibres that were spun, knotted and dyed to produce colourful textiles, most likely for clothing. |
35,000 BC – 10,000 BC
Earliest evidence of communication by means of symbolic pictographs. |
5500 BC
Ancient Egyptians wore light clothing made from linen or cotton. Men wore a loincloth and a kilt and women wore shoulder strapped dresses. Egyptians shaved their hair, wore wigs and were fond of jewellery. |
5000 BC
Inscriptions discovered in what is now Sudan and Southern Egypt are thought to be the world’s oldest form of written language. |
4000-3500 BC
The Chinese started producing silk for use as paper and clothing. The colour of the wearable silk became an indication of social class during the Tang Dynasty. |
4000 BC
The surface of a moist clay was scratched with a stylus-like tool made from either bronze or bone. |
3300 BC
The remains of Ötzi, Tyrolean Iceman, suggest sophisticated clothing. He wore a cloak made of woven grass and had a coat, belt, leggings, loincloth, bearskin cap and waterproof shoes made from animal hide. |
3000 BC
Egyptians developed hieroglyphics. |
2697 BC
Chinese Philosopher Tien-Lcheu perfected ‘Indian Ink’ from a mixture of soot, pine smoke, musk, lamp oil and donkey gelatine. |
|
2000 – 1400 BC
The Minoans have the earliest example of sewn clothing. Men wore brightly coloured loincloths made from linen, leather and wool. Minoan Woman wore low-cut blouses and flared skirts to emphasise their figures, comparable with 19th century women’s fashion. |
2000 BC
Earliest evidence of Egyptians writing on papyrus. 2000-1580 BC Hieroglyphic script adopted by Minoans. 1450 BC Minoans develop Linear Script B, still legible today as it’s very close to ancient Greek. |
1700-1500 BC
Pictographs or hieroglyphics were replaced by the alphabet. |
|
1300 BC
The Romans used a metal stylus to mark thin sheets of wax on wooden tablets. The flat end of the stylus was used to erase mistakes. In Asia, scribes typically used a stylus made from bronze. |
|
1200 BC
The ink formula previously invented by Tien-Lcheu was now considered the norm. |
|
800 BC – 500 BC
Ancient Greek woman wore rectangular woollen clothes called peplos, which were folded, pinned and tied at the waist with holes for the arms and head. They would not cut their hair unless they were in mourning. |
400 BC
Egyptian scribes used the first reed pens. A reed pen is dipped into ink with a split in its point retaining the ink. 200 BC Quill pens were developed as a more flexible and durable alternative to reed pens. 105 BC Wood-fibre paper invented in China but not widely used in Europe until paper mills were built during the 1400s. |
196 BC
The Rosetta Stone was written in the three scripts used in Ancient Egypt at the time: Hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek. |
|
400 AD
Tunic and trousers with attached socks were found in the Thorsberg Moor in Germany. |
400 AD
A stable form of ink was developed using iron-salts, nutgalls and gum. It became the commonly used formula for centuries to follow. |
1000 AD
Fancy fabrics such as silk were becoming increasingly popular for those who could afford them. Women commonly wore ankle-length tunics. |
500 – 1500 AD
As well as writing on parchment, Anglo-Saxons used a metal or bone stylus on tablets filled with wax. |
1600 AD
High-heels were adopted by Western European aristocrats. Theses became a status symbol and are believed to be where the phrase ‘well heeled’ originates. |
600 – 1800 AD
Europeans wrote on parchment with a quill pen originating from Seville. |
1600 – 1750
The Consumer Revolution saw fashionable clothes made available at lower cost, no longer just for the elite. |
1790s
Pencil lead was invented independently in France and Australia. |
1800 – 1850
With the Romantic Era, clothing designs became more complex and featured padded hems, twills and other decorative additions. |
1800 – 1850
A metal pen point was patented in 1803 but was not commercially exploited. Steel nibs came into common use in the 1830s and replaced quill pens. The quality of steel nibs was improved by tipping them with Iridium, Rhodium and Osmium alloys. |
1850 – 1890s
Victorian fashion was characterised by the iconic bloomer dress, large structured petticoats and steam moulded corsets. |
1884
Insurance broker Lewis Edson Waterman invented the first commercially viable fountain pen. |
1914 – 1918
Wartime clothing was practical with subdued colours and without lavish decoration. Footwear was generally made from wool gaiters to save leather for military uses. |
1888 – 1916
The principle of the ballpoint pen was introduced in patents by John Loud and Van Vechten Riesberg but was not commercially exploited. |
1940s
WW2 saw a clothing ration in Britain. Clothing production was focused on efficiency and utility. |
1940s
The modern ballpoint pen was invented by Josef Lazlo Biro and his brother Georg. The first commercial models were made in 1943 and launched in the US in 1945 to immediate success. |
1954
Pierre Cardin opened his first womenswear boutique. 1959 Pierre Cardin was expelled from the Chambre Syndicale as his ready-to-wear clothing was seen as a threat to the traditional fashion world. |
1953
Bic developed an industrial process for manufacturing ballpoint pens, dramatically lowering the unit cost. By 1957, the ballpen had become the most widely used pen in the world. |
1964
Advances in fabric technology allowed Pierre Cardin to incorporate metallic fabrics and vinyl into his space-age designs. |
1960s
The Tokyo Stationery Company developed fibre-tipped pens or ‘felt-tips’. |
1965
Mary Quant invented the mini skirt. |
1980s – 1990s
Rollerball pens were developed, employing a mobile ball and using gel or water-based ink for smoother writing. |
2005
Bic sold their 100 billionth ballpoint pen. |
|
2011
Brightly coloured clothes and dip-dyed hair characterised European fashion trends. |
2010 – 2012
Fountain pen sales rose in a worldwide resurgence that continues to this day. |
2017 – 2018
Ripped clothes dominate fashion, including shredded jeans, jumpers and tops. |
2017 – 2018
The Pierre Cardin Writing Collection is launched in the UK offering an exclusive collection of premium pens and notebooks. |
The Pierre Cardin Writing Collection represents the pinnacle of fashion design and writing instrument development. Explore the range here.