The study of ancient Egyptian fashion and clothing has primarily been possible from the studies of sculptures, reliefs and wall paintings. It is quite natural that the sunny and hot climate of Egypt meant that ancient Egyptians wore light linen clothing as their preferred attire. The men and women were alive to the need of being fashionable in view of the advanced civilization and hence followed latest fashion trends of the time in regard to make-up and hairstyle. The Egyptians were known to be having well documented features with kohl rimmed eyes as a very distinctive feature in their personality. Use of cosmetics was quite common amongst all classes of people and was not considered a luxury and the differentiation in this regard between the different classes was evident only from the quality of the product used. Ancient Egyptians were very fond of ornaments and wore different forms of jewelry items that included rings, bracelets, anklets and necklaces amongst the most popular fashion accessories. Jewelry was given immense importance in view of the status it entailed by way of the precious nature of the metals as also the beauty and spiritual and magical protection that was taken as a blessing for the person wearing the same. Poor people also wore some form of jewelry though of a more simpler nature such as protective amulets. Men folk wore kilt dresses made of linen with a cloth band spread over the shoulders while women were seen in fitted dresses of linen that were long flowing in keeping with the fashion trends of the time. However during the time of the New Kingdom fashion had become more popular and complex with the introduction of pleats being placed on dresses and tunics. While common people wore dresses made of course linen, the wealthier and rich class dressed themselves in finer and lighter clothing material. The extreme rich wore finer semi-transparent linen which was the finest available at that time and conveyed the fashion statements of people. The royalty wore elaborate head dressing and clothing during ceremonial functions while priests were known to wear clothing made of leopard skin.
It is noteworthy that dressmaking and textile manufacture in ancient Egypt were entirely in the hands of female management for a very long time. Mostly women used to work in the cloth making process in weaving and spinning workshops, which were primarily owned by the nobility and aristocratic families. The flax plant was used as raw material in making linen. The flax underwent a process of beating and combing after which fiber was produced in long flat strips, which were then spun into threads to be used for weaving into the fabrics. The weaving in this regard was done by using horizontal looms with the help of certain dressmaking implements such as knives that were made from iron, bronze and copper, and needles that were made of metal and bone.
There is very little change observed in the basic nature of the attire worn by the ancient Egyptians throughout the history of ancient Egypt. The length of the kilt worn by men folk remained almost the same with a distinction being made of longer ones being worn by the upper class. Gradually the size of the sleeves which were initially short, were increased in length with the coming of the Middle Kingdom. There was very little stitching done on the clothes, which were often bearing lot of pleats and were worn by wrapping around the waist and held in place with a belt. The tunic for women was made of a longish rectangular cloth piece that had a cut in its center to form the opening so as to fit above the head. Quite elaborately the cloth was folded into two halves with the lower parts of each side being stitched together to provide opening for the arms. This way the tunic was to be used either above one or both shoulders and could also be worn using straps for the shoulders. The tunic was normally of ankle length and was so made that it could be made to reach any place between the neck and breasts, with the option of the dress being used as tight fitting or loose as required. There was provision of a belt that was to hold the dress together. A noteworthy feature of the fashion trends in ancient Egypt was the popularity gained by the diaphanous cloaks, which had short and wide sleeves made of superfine linen obtained from Syria and which became very successful and fashionable in the New Kingdom.
A noteworthy characteristic of children clothing is the fact that they are portrayed as staying naked until they reached puberty. They are particularly shown with the presence of “sidelocks” which represented their youth status but at the same time differentiating them from the adults. There is some evidence of children wearing linen clothing in the cooler months just as adults during the time of the Middle Kingdom. Children are particularly portrayed as adorning jewelry such as bracelets, earrings, anklets, armlets and collars. Girls are shown to be wearing hair ornaments also. A typical feature as evident in the New Kingdom was the sidelocks in children being shown in different styles. Servants however were not allowed to indulge in any fashion or adornment of any kind and were to go about their jobs either naked or wearing little clothing by way of simple aprons, skirts or small loin clothes.
Noteworthy about ancient Egyptian fashion is the full costume of Cleopatra while she was dressed as Venus and which has become an icon in the fashion world. It is quite evident from this tale that ancient Egyptian women were fashion conscious and were alive to the need of using fashion to its full benefit and advantage. It is for this reason that the costumes that Cleopatra wore always elicited the desired response and have come to enjoy immense popularity. The headdress in ancient Egypt was indeed in fashion with the popularity observed especially with the Pharoah type of head gear as evident from the depictions of Egyptian royalty in the paintings and sculptures. There were different headdresses depicted in the images of the various Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. Women in particular were known to design their own hairstyles as per prevailing trends in fashion and were quite different from those depicted amongst the royalty. Although the fashion trends in ancient Egyptian culture may have been several years old, but modern fashion in the world of today still gets inspiration from ancient Egyptian clothing and accessories. It can be seen that today’s modern culture has imbibed the Egyptian fashion trends in featuring fabrics, jeweled sandals and jewelry items amongst the most sought after fashionable attires and accessories.
The role of makeup amongst females was quite significant in being considered an important part of expressing the female beauty and had a particular style in society. For doing makeup foundation was initially used to cover the face after which a yellowish and red paste was spread upwards towards the temple in order to highlight the cheekbones. Lips were required to look very attractive and were elaborately taken care of while doing makeup. They were first outlined with a small brush and the same paste that was used on the cheeks was applied to give them a gorgeous look. The maximum emphasis in makeup was given to the eyes by putting a greenish tinge above and below the eye lids after which a greyish powder was spread across the eye brows and finally black mascara was used as an outline to make the eyes look longer and larger. The same mascara or black kohl is now immensely popular as a fashion accessory.
Ancient Egyptians were aware of the potent powers of colors and dyed their clothes with a mixture of colors that signified symbolic meaning for each color. Blue and white was related to being a symbol of Ammon, the God of Air and signified happiness, yellow represented the skin of the God and green signified a symbol of youth and life. In private life at home the ancient Egyptians never wore much clothes and preferred to keep their bodies very clean and without hair. They did not have the habit of wearing much of footwear except the kings, nobility and priests. They kept their hair very clean and well maintained by wearing wigs, braids or curls. It was a fashionable practice to have perfumed rubs and massage with rich oils to prevent sunburn and insect bites.
Ancient Egyptian fashion has indeed had lot of influence in setting the fashion trends to this day, and the jewelry, makeup and fashion of those days continue to be as popular as they were during the days of the Pharaohs. Sure, people still appear to be mesmerized by the high sense of fashion amongst the people of ancient Egypt.
References
- Barbara Watterson, Women in Ancient Egypt, 1991, St Martin’s Press
- Bronwyn Cosgrave, The Complete History of Costume and Fashion: From Ancient Egypt to the Present Day, 2001, Checkmark Books
- J C Pinkerton, Ancient Egyptian Fashion. Web.