Time Machine Mood
Introducing Ancient Egypt Costume
Time Machine Mood he ancient
Egypt's climate was very warm, as it is today, and Egyptians
were the
first
human
society
to have
an
Egyptian dress provided the perfect complement to this warm weather. Both men and women tended to dress very lightly. For nearly 1,500 years it was very rare for men to wear anything on their torso, or upper body. For the upper class and the pharaohs, the main form of dress was the schenti, a simple kilt that tied around the waist and hung about to the knees. Working men wore first a loincloth, a very small garment that covered just the private parts, and later the loin skirt, which was somewhat more modest and covered from the waist to the mid-thigh. In about 1500B.C.E.Egyptian men began to wear simple tunics on their upper bodies. They adopted the custom from the neighboring region of Syria, which Egypt had recently conquered. Women also dressed lightly, and they too often bared much of their upper body. The basic form of female clothing was a
T
identifiable
simple dress called a kalasiris. It was
sense of style in clothing. From Egypt's earliest
a tube of cloth,
beginnings around 3100B.C.E.to its eventual decline
sewn along one
around 332B.C.E., Egypt's kings and queens, called
side, with one or two shoulder straps. In many cases
pharaohs, and its many noble men and women placed
the straps extended to mid torso, leaving the breasts
great emphasis on the appearances of their clothes,
exposed. Less common were several other items of
jewelry, the wigs they wore in place of natural hair,
female clothing. Some women wore wide skirts that
and their skin. The Egyptians idolized the human
they combined with a close-fitting wrap with long
body, and the clothes they wore complimented the
sleeves. During the reign of King Akhenaten, from
lines of the slender bodies that were most appreciated
about 1379 to about 1362B.C.E, women like the
in Egyptian society.
king's wife, Nefertiti, adopted long, flowing, pleated linen dresses.
Dressing for a warm climate
example, stood for Amon, god of air; green represented life and youth; and yellow was the
Time Machine Mood
symbol of gold. Red, which symbolized violence, was seldom used, and black was reserved for the wigs worn by both men and women. By far the most
The importance of linen
revered color was white. White was a sacred color
The single most important fabric in Egypt was linen.
among the Egyptians, symbolizing purity. Luckily,
Linen was made from the fibers of a plant called flax.
white was the natural color of flax. Another quality of
Egypt had well-developed weaving techniques, and
linen that was particularly appealing was its thinness.
many Egyptian workers were involved in producing
Linen could be made so thin, or sheer, that it was
linen fabrics. It was a light fabric, which made it
transparent. Egyptians were not modest and enjoyed
comfortable in hot weather. It was also easy to starch,
showing off their bodies. Women and men are
or stiffen, into pleats and folds, which decorated the
frequently depicted in hieroglyphs, or picture stories,
clothing of both men and women, especially
wearing see-through garments.
beginning in the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000窶田. 1500B.C.E.). Egyptians used a variety of colors in their clothing, and these colors had symbolic meanings.
Blue, for