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Fashion
Introduction
Menswear
**Aprons
**Loincloths
**Long Wrapped Garments
**Shawls and Cloaks
**Straps
**Tunics
**Upper Body Cover
Women's Department
**Long Wrapped Garments
**Sashes
**Shawls and Cloaks
**Skirts
**Tunics
**V-Neck Dresses
**Wrapped or Sheath Dress
Children's Department
Work Clothes
Jewelry
**Introduction to Jewelry
**Armlets, Bracelets, and Anklets
**Belts_and_Decorated_Aprons
**Collars
**Diadems or Fillets
**Earrings
**Neck Ornaments
**Rings
Hairstyles
Cosmetics
Footwear
Bags
Introduction
Our knowledge of Ancient Egyptian fashion rests incomplete. However, thanks to some depictions on tomb and temple walls and to extensive research done by fashion historians and Egyptologists, the scholastic world has acquired quite a knowledge on the topic. Despite the beneficial qualities of this evidence, Egyptian art is reference only in that it is not like looking at a photograph. For one thing, nearly all of the depictions of Ancient Egyptian gowns are illustrated as tight fitting. It is apparent that the creation of tight fitting garments during ancient times was highly improbable because the ancients had not developed a knitting system that permitted this. In addition, since Egypt has a warm climate, wearing closely fitting attire is not appropriate. Thus, it is reasonable to say that the Egyptians most likely wore loose fitting garments instead.
Fabric
Archeologists have found pieces of Ancient Egyptian linen that was suitable for the Egyptian climate. The ancients definitely did not employ wool because they thought it was ritualistically impure: priests, visitors to sanctuaries, and the deceased did not dress in such fabric. In fact, if a mummy was found to have been buried wrapped in the folds of wool, then this indicated that this particular person was considered dishonored. In addition to linen, the Egyptians used silk and cotton as fabric for garments, but these materials did not come into prominent use until well after the decline of Egyptian rule. Even at this time, linen was still the fabric of choice in making clothes.
What follows will describe the usage of linen for clothing:
To start off, linen was a difficult fabric to dye for the Ancient Egyptians. Apparently, dyers were not familiar with mordant, the agent responsible in preventing colors dyed into linen from fading. For this reason, the ancients tended to leave the color of linen its original creamy-white or they bleached it to a pure white.
During the Old and Middle Kingdoms, the ancients developed spinning and weaving techniques to create fabrics of varying widths. After they weaved a piece of fabric of a certain length and width, remnants of warped yarn remained at the its ends. Ancient weavers either cut off or used this lingering warped yarn as ornamentation for clothing, typically as a fringe or a tasselor. There were other ways to create fabric in using this and other sorts of ornamentation. The earliest fabrics decorated with ornamental needlework designs date after about 1,500 B.C.E. and not only include ornamentation in the horizontal direction (originally used by the Egyptians) but also in the vertical direction (foreign captives supposedly taught the Egyptians how to weave this way).
From the excavation of burial places, archaeologists have discovered that fabrics could be decorated with any of the following: beads, woven and embroidered patterns, or appliqué.
During Ancient Egyptian history, one's social status was rather easily distinguished by the quality of dress one wore as well as by how many articles of clothing one owned. It would be false, however, to assume that a great indicator of social status was the kind of clothing worn, which was the ever popular linen. In truth, there was no real difference in dress between the king and his/her people. The only difference was the quality and quantity of this fabric. For example, a peasant owned less articles of clothing than did the king, but one's garments had the same relative shape and construction as did the King's. In addition, the cuts of clothing for all ages and classes were simplistic and were created with minimal sewing requirements. Few Egyptian garments had seams (seams occur when an article of clothing made of two or more pieces of fabric is sewn together).
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Menswear
Aprons
Menswear - Aprons | Left: reproduction papyrus illustrating the side view of a triangular apron or skirt. Middle: front view of a triangular apron, as worn by one of Tutankhamun's guardian statues. Right: side view of one of Tutankhamun's guardian statues.
Left: reproduction papyrus illustrating the side view of a triangular apron or skirt. Middle: front view of a triangular apron, as worn by one of Tutankhamun's guardian statues. Right: side view of one of Tutankhamun's guardian statues.
Garments for men that were worn to cover the private areas of the body, worn alone, over a skirt, or over a loincloth and under a skirt, were aprons. This article of clothing was usually made of one or more pieces of cloth that was attached to a belt or sash, which was fastened about the waist. During the Old and Middle Kingdoms, aprons were long and narrow and starting from the Middle Kingdom to the New Kingdom, aprons were triangular in form.
Evidence of this article of clothing has been found in Nubia (one of Ancient Egypt's influences), but not in Egypt herself. Despite this, during the Middle and New Kingdoms, depictions in Egyptian art often showed men wearing skirts with large triangular aprons. However, this is very weak evidence of their use in Egypt. It is difficult to distinguish if these depictions actually show people wearing an apron or, if not, some other type of clothing that was part of the construction of a skirt. The above picture may show men wearing separate aprons or a wrapped skirt that was fashion to look this way.
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Loincloths
Loincloths were made of linen, triangular in shape, and were meant to be worn under or over garments. Usually, Egyptian laborers worn them as separate garments, wrapping them around their waists like a diaper. To hold these garments in place, one attached strings or a sash to tie it around the waist. Loincloths that have been found were made of leather, in the style of the Middle and New Kingdoms. During the Old Kingdom and the first half of the Middle Kingdom, loincloths were made of cloth (linen).
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Long Wrapped Garments
From the earliest dynasties until the Middle Kingdom, men of all classes wore long wrapped garments. During the New Kingdom, men were depicted as wearing long, loose, and flowing garments of creased diaphanous linen. The following pictures are some ways to wrap a garment of this kind around the body (the figure shows a woman, but men folded their garments similarly).
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Shawls and Cloaks
Shawls for men were made from square or rectangular pieces of fabric that one wrapped around the upper part of the body, above the waist. Other cloaks, of the longer kind, were worn as well to ensure warmth. The way one wrapped a shawl or a cloak around one's body varied and was often made to have ends tied together, over the shoulder. During the Old Kingdom, long cloaks were popular; during the Middle Kingdom, short shawls and long cloaks were commonly worn; and during the New Kingdom, one tended to wear knotted and wrap-around cloaks of various styles.
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Straps
Depictions of men, especially of when they were working, show them wearing narrow straps that wrapped around the upper part of the body. The way to wrap straps around the body varied, which could include the following: wrapped diagonally over one shoulder, diagonally across both shoulders to make an "X", wrapped around the waist, or wrapped at various points around the chest. However bizarre the wearing of straps sounds, doubt not their function, for that ancients used them for a practical reason: to prevent perspiration from running down the body. In other words, straps served the same purpose as sweatbands do in modern times.
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Tunics
Just as aprons are rather hard to prove to have existed during ancient times, so it is for tunics. However, there is slightly more evidence for the latter than the former. Ancient Egyptian tunics were a mix between similar articles of clothing worn by the Hyksos and Mesopotamians. According to Herodotus, Egyptians called tunics calasiris or kalasiris. This term can also be applied to closely fitting dresses, better known as sheath dresses, which Egyptian women wore. The date of the introduction of tunics in Egyptian fashion is relatively clear: along with other new elements of dress, the tunic appeared in use during the New Kingdom and was probably due to cross-cultural contacts with other civilizations of the Near East or even due to the invasions of the Hyksos. According to tomb paintings, short and long tunics were made with or without sleeves and were often crafted of diaphanous linen. Furthermore, it is apparent that loincloths or short skirts were worn under tunics and that wrapped skirts could be worn over tunics.
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Upper Body Coverings
The following are some examples of what upper body coverings an Ancient Egyptian might have worn:
Animal Skins:
According to the ancients, if one wore a skin of a ferocious beast, then its powers would transfer to the wearer. In early representations of men's fashion, some men wore leopard or lion skin that they fastened across their shoulders. In later periods, skins were no longer used as much. Instead, fabric replaced animal skins. The substitution affected only general apparel. Ordinarily, kings and priests wore animal skins, in particular sem priests, whose most characteristic feature his leopard skin covering. Eventually, garments made to resemble animal skins replaced the real ones. These garm