The present research investigates the interaction between Sri Lanka and its closest neighbouring region, South India, during the Early and Middle Historic periods. This connection has often been studied based on the textual evidence available on either side with little regard for the material evidence. Therefore, previous studies have fallen short of providing an objective understanding of the interactions. Furthermore, the focus of previous studies has been large-scale, state-mandated interaction. In contrast, this study has adopted a novel approach through the perspective of personal adornment and has been able to trace far closer contact between the two regions than official interaction suggests. To understand interpersonal interactions between the two regions, objects of personal adornment from seven different sites in Sri Lanka and South India were analysed. The patterns that emerge from assemblages of objects of adornment, including beads and other non-bead adornments were observed. The rationale behind this analysis was that body beautification expresses the individual and social identities of people across time and space. Consequently, it was anticipated that, by observing artefacts that are expressions of the identities and preferences of the general populace, this would shed light on interpersonal contact between the two regions. The patterns visible from the analysis of assemblages illustrate strong similarities between the two regions, during the Early and Middle Historic Periods. This is likely to have been the result of exchanging goods, ideas and technological knowledge. This study has also revealed that amidst shared cultural traits, each region developed preferences distinct from each other. The ethnographic study carried out provides further evidence of interactions between the two regions, which is missing in the texts and the archaeological record. These interactions probably reflect those which existed in the past. The integrated evidence used in this study clearly indicates longstanding, continuous personal-level interactions, between Sri Lanka and South India, which were hitherto unknown.

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Woven within fashion and dress is the innate ability to create atmosphere and transformative experiences. Architecturally, the façade of a building acts as its skin, having responsibilities that exceed the functions of shelter and materiality. The process of dressing buildings create and shape dynamic relationships with all the elements of its surroundings. Beyond the basic need for convenience and protection, both practices operate as part of a larger world of personified and tailored objects that create ambience and space. This thesis, entitled unDressing Spectacle, explores the parallels between the fashion and architecture within the context of their own industries as well as each other’s. Themes of dress and undress are juxtaposed onto both crafts - literally and metaphorically - at three different scales: the adornment of the individual; the design object within society and the urban fabric; and the discourse between branding and the economic condition. Creating the framework for fantastic events within the urban fabric, this thesis takes the form of a Fashion & Design Event Centre upon which the discourse between user and the design object unfolds. Placed in Toronto’s vibrant west end, the building is a symbol of permanence and an icon for fashion and design. The proposed design is the manifestation of the inherent conflict within the thesis, juxtaposing fashion’s ability to seduce and manufacture desires with the complex structuring of neutral spaces to allow for a multiplicity of users and events. At the city scale, the luminous and dynamic layers of building skin attracts and lures; as users approach and ultimately enter the building, the imagery is transformed into unique atmospheric experiences. This thesis harnesses the glamour of fashion as the medium to ignite the re-imagination of architecture’s value and the interpretation of beauty and style, providing the means for experiences to transcend into a world of spectacle.

A new focus in Palaeolithic archaeology is to look at the possibility of the individual as a unit of analysis in the prehistoric record. This involves looking at the Palaeolithic actor as more than just an invisible entity that had a minor role in the production of long term patterns. The Palaeolithic individual was a ‘lived life’, with all aspects of agency, identity, and decision-making abilities. One area that is potentially illuminating for the examination of the individual is personal adornment, as this can lead to an understanding of the body and identity and the role of material culture in social life and self-making. A catalogue of Upper Palaeolithic sites in Europe and Siberia with evidence of items of personal adornment was recorded. From this information, patterns and sites that potentially show the individual are discussed through the categories of body, identity, and material culture.

Woven within fashion and dress is the innate ability to create atmosphere and transformative experiences. Architecturally, the façade of a building acts as its skin, having responsibilities that exceed the functions of shelter and materiality. The process of dressing buildings create and shape dynamic relationships with all the elements of its surroundings. Beyond the basic need for convenience and protection, both practices operate as part of a larger world of personified and tailored objects that create ambience and space. This thesis, entitled unDressing Spectacle, explores the parallels between the fashion and architecture within the context of their own industries as well as each other’s. Themes of dress and undress are juxtaposed onto both crafts - literally and metaphorically - at three different scales: the adornment of the individual; the design object within society and the urban fabric; and the discourse between branding and the economic condition. Creating the framework for fantastic events within the urban fabric, this thesis takes the form of a Fashion & Design Event Centre upon which the discourse between user and the design object unfolds. Placed in Toronto’s vibrant west end, the building is a symbol of permanence and an icon for fashion and design. The proposed design is the manifestation of the inherent conflict within the thesis, juxtaposing fashion’s ability to seduce and manufacture desires with the complex structuring of neutral spaces to allow for a multiplicity of users and events. At the city scale, the luminous and dynamic layers of building skin attracts and lures; as users approach and ultimately enter the building, the imagery is transformed into unique atmospheric experiences. This thesis harnesses the glamour of fashion as the medium to ignite the re-imagination of architecture’s value and the interpretation of beauty and style, providing the means for experiences to transcend into a world of spectacle.

A new focus in Palaeolithic archaeology is to look at the possibility of the individual as a unit of analysis in the prehistoric record. This involves looking at the Palaeolithic actor as more than just an invisible entity that had a minor role in the production of long term patterns. The Palaeolithic individual was a ‘lived life’, with all aspects of agency, identity, and decision-making abilities. One area that is potentially illuminating for the examination of the individual is personal adornment, as this can lead to an understanding of the body and identity and the role of material culture in social life and self-making. A catalogue of Upper Palaeolithic sites in Europe and Siberia with evidence of items of personal adornment was recorded. From this information, patterns and sites that potentially show the individual are discussed through the categories of body, identity, and material culture.

Ce travail de thèse sur la parure dans la culture étrusque s’inscrit dans un domaine de recherche particulièrement fécond. En effet, les études récentes dans le domaine de l’Antiquité se sont volontiers portées sur ce champ qu’est le corps, qu’il fût vêtu ou dénudé, sous toutes ses modalités, les plus matérielles comme les plus abstraites, dans son intériorité comme dans son actualisation sous de multiples aspects. En cela, elles ont suivi la voie ouverte par les sciences sociales et historiques depuis au moins trois décennies.Compte tenu de l’état des sources, cette recherche se penche plus particulièrement sur les monuments figurés ou les artéfacts, dans une démarche comparatiste, en utilisant les outils des sciences sociales, de l’anthropologie notamment, pour définir notre objet d’étude. La volonté était, en effet, dès l’origine de ce projet, de ne se limiter ni à une période, ni à un territoire, ni à un genre, mais bel et bien d’étudier la parure en diachronie, de manière à en saisir les articulations et les traits saillants qui font le propre de la culture étrusque. Notre objectif est ainsi de déceler s’il existe un véritable système de la parure dans l’aire étrusque. Pour ce faire, notre enquête débute par une étude linguistique, pour retrouver, sous les pratiques, les mots de la parure, puis nous interrogeons les formes en relation avec la cosmologie étrusque, et les classons, enfin les fonctions, selon qu’on considère la parure comme un langage, ou comme un système d’action, dans une perspective d’anthropologie de la figuration. / This research work on adornment in Etruscan culture is part of a particularly fruitful domain. Recent studies in Antiquity have focused on the field of the body, in its interiority as well as in its actualization ,whether dressed or naked and in all its forms : from the most material ones to the most abstract ones. In this respect, these studies have followed the path opened by the social and historical sciences for at least three decades.Given the state of the sources, this research focuses more particularly on figurative monuments or artifacts in a comparative approach to define our subject of study, using tools from the social sciences, especially anthropology. From the very beginning of this project, our intention has not been to limit our work to a period, a territory or a genre but to study adornment diachronically in order to grasp its articulations and the salient features that are characteristic of Etruscan culture. Our objective is to detect whether a real system of adornment prevailed in the Etruscan area. To do this, our investigation begins with a linguistic study to find the words of adornment underneath practices and customs. Then we question the forms in relation to Etruscan cosmology, and classify them. Finally, we analyze the functions, according to whether we consider adornment as a language, or as a system of actions, in a perspective of an anthropology of figuration

This master's report addresses the conceptual and material investigations that were explored within my artistic research made at the University of Texas at Austin between 2011 and 2014. These works are a confluence of adornment, sculpture and installation art. These pieces incorporate ancient and contemporary metalworking techniques with raw, organic material. The notion of elegant ornamentation is expanded beyond the body into the adornment of architecture. The potential for transformation and reinvention within found elements is explored within this work. The natural resources I work with have gone through a cycle, which is interrupted when the objects are removed from the earth. I see my process in relationship to alchemical concepts of transmutation. Through manipulation, common matter evolves into precious material. The refined, meticulous craftsmanship conveys a sense of reverence and honor towards the common material. This intervention with the material is an act of preservation and veneration. This work explores my sense of intrigue about the extraordinary potential of mundane materials, and investigates conventional notions of material value. / text

Reconfigured found objects shape scenes of everyday life, questioning the structural histories that go into defining an identity. Engaging in a multidisciplinary approach of making, my work reimagines the function of ornamentation and its relationship to the body. I approach new materials and found objects with the eye of a jeweler, highlighting and exploiting the subtle, and often invisible, links between material histories and their connection to identity. Material debris patinated with age like skillets, baseballs, and furniture are used to penetrate normative structures around identity, gender, and sexual desire. Using adornment as a support in my installations I propose a new lens for viewing function through the use of ornamentation. In doing so I highlight the bodie’s impact on objects, and call into to question the role these objects play in shaping our understanding of identity—An identity that is never singular, constantly evolving, and more often than not contradictory and confusing.