Today you will have the opportunity to learn through this interesting post all about the culture of the attire of egypt and much more. Don't stop reading it! and you will find out as well as other details of fashion from the time of ancient Egypt.
Egyptian clothing: Its characteristics, classification and evolution
As a consequence of a warm climate and diverse work activities in the sun, the clothing of Egypt was generally light and comfortable. Being white linen, the most used to make outfits with different qualities, ranging from the most elaborate to completely plain.
Despite having wool, it is widely used, it was used to make coats and hunting clothes. As for silk and cotton, they began to be used during the Hellenic period of Egyptian culture.
It was also customary to shave the head, especially to avoid lice, with the use of wigs being a common feature.
Egyptian clothing according to gender
In the Old Kingdom, as Egypt's clothing, men wore skirts called shenti, tied with a belt at the hips and pleated in the front. During the so-called Middle Period, these skirts lengthened slightly below the knees, and by the end of the Hellenic dynasties long, light-sleeved tunics were worn.
As for women's clothing, at first it was long dresses with a high waist that, with two straps on the shoulders, left the breasts exposed.
Later, the wardrobe became long, close to the body and covering the breasts, presenting a low neckline. In Hellenic times, dresses became just as long, but looser.
The social organization of Egypt was closely related to the clothing that the people wore. According to the position he held within the community, the following styles of Egyptian dress were distinguished:
Popular
Usually humble and hard-working Egyptians wore shenti as it was very convenient for heavy work and resistant to heat, in special cases like religious ceremonies they wore woolen wigs. As for the royal servants, they were always naked.
Nobility
The men of the nobility wore a somewhat more elaborate shenti, a cape over the shoulders to cover the torso and the distinctive images of power such as the sceptre, leopard skins, the Egyptian crown, the nemes or pharaonic cap, which he was made in blue and yellow striped fabrics, fitted at the front and draped at the sides.
As for the women of the monarchy, it was essential to show off their beauty with tight dresses, accompanied by human hair wigs, Egyptian jewelry, leather sandals and facial makeup.
Obviously, it can be concluded that clothing in Egyptian culture was another factor in their level of successful organization.
Details of the clothing of Egypt in the antiquity
Egypt's clothing was a direct result of the climate: hot and dry, the outdoor way of life. Clothes made only from flax were used, although initially cane and cane fibers were collected, flax was incorporated due to its reputation for being purer and cultivated exclusively for textile purposes. The preferred color was white, although there could be some designs on the edges.
Wool was used, but it was considered impure, like all animal fibers. It was not until after the triumph of Alexander the Great that wool began to be used in everyday clothing, but it continued to be prohibited in temples and sanctuaries, where priests were required to wear white linen clothing.
folk costume
Peasants, workers, and people of modest means wore loincloths, and if they did dress, they only wore the shenti, worn by men of all social classes for three millennia, which consisted of a kind of skirt wrapped around the waist and surrounded by a belt. leather. Throughout the New Empire, around 1425 B.C. C., a light tunic or sleeveless shirt began to be used, as well as a kind of pleated doublet among the wealthiest.
attire of the nobility
In people of high rank, the piece was embellished with stitching and worn over trousers or a tunic. Over the shenti, distinguished people wore a kind of short skirt, forming small pleats, which when leaving the house became a tunic with or without sleeves, both of fine texture. To cover their heads, both sexes wore a false wig, and in the case of the pharaoh, a particular headdress, the nemes, which was made of a square canvas made of striped cloth.
Whose most common colors were blue and yellow equipped on the front and with drops on the sides. The royal costume is well documented, they dress just like the rest of the city. The pharaoh used a royal pun that was sometimes made up of blue, yellow, and green horizontal stripes; which were separated by white stripes, also distinguished by distinctive symbols, such as the Egyptian scepter and crown.
female wardrobe
The dress of Egypt in women remained almost the same for a period of three thousand years, modified only in certain details. The women wore a long, high-waisted skirt, like a long, one-piece, tight-fitting dress, held up by two straps, sometimes wide, that covered their breasts. During the New Kingdom, the more affluent also wore a kind of short, thin cape that covered the shoulders. The way of putting on the tunics was very varied, giving the impression of constituting different garments.
Sometimes they used a very fine muslin, other times they were part of the dyed and painted fabrics of the upper class, decorated with various patterns that, for example, imitated a plumage such as the wings of Isis. The workers wore looser clothing, some were even naked.
During the time of Roman rule, in the tombs of the Copts, tunics of Roman form and with ornaments similar to those used by the Christians of the catacombs (the clavi and calliculae) were found, while others among them are devoid of seams (seamless dresses).
Footwear
The shoes could be for home use or ceremonial, which were also used at various times and by certain people.
They used sandals made of reeds or vegetable fibers, which for kings and magnates could be made of other materials, such as braided leather, and used all kinds of decorations, ending in an upward curved tip. The religious class used them as papyrus.
The "sandal rack" was an administrative function of primary importance. The owner was in charge of preparing the files, organizing what was necessary before a real trip, collecting the applications at the hearing, etc. (In our time, this role is similar to that of the private secretary of a minister or the president of a party).
The one who had the name of wearer of Pharaoh's sandals was one of the most prestigious men in the country. (This role is illustrated by the novel Ramses, written by Christian Jacq. Ameni, one of the main characters, is the sandal-bearer of Ramses II.)
In everyday life, the common man walked barefoot and only in an exclusive event did he wear sandals: when he had to go somewhere, he would wear his sandals in his hand or tie them to the end of a cane to put on his shoes when he reached his destination.
Makeup
The use of makeup has always been well thought out, they even had a myth that explained this custom: when Horus fought with his uncle Seth he lost an eye, that's why he invented makeup to restore perfection to his beauty.
The use of cosmetic products to repair the damage caused by time or the accidents of the useful life are therefore legitimate. This explains the wide variety of products such as oils, kohl, eye drops, lipsticks and cheeks.
Designed by the early Egyptians and used very early: remains from the 160th century BC have been discovered, and more than XNUMX recipes describing their preparation, which sometimes took several months.
Graves often contain everything needed for beauty in one basket: jars of ointments, paints, oils, kohl in reed tubes, and polished bronze mirrors.
The powders were used by women to whiten facial skin. Two different types of mascara were used for the eyes: a black one to emphasize and accentuate their almond shape, and a green one for the lashes and brows.
Eye makeup was used by both men and women. By grinding galena, the Egyptians obtained a black dye, in which the dye varied according to the fineness of the powder: when reduced to a very fine powder, the dye was a very dark black; if it was crushed less precisely, it had metallic reflections.
With this powder, they made kohl. Eye makeup was made of malachite and ocher was used to achieve the red color with which women also painted their lips and cheeks.
All these products have been mixed with animal fats to compact them and obtain a longer shelf life. The Egyptians were the people of ancient times who practiced the art of makeup the most, nobody used it that much. Cosmetics began to be used to protect against the effects of Egypt's hot and dry climate.
Thus, kohl protects and cures conjunctivitis, and scented oils serve, and still serve, to moisten the skin and restore suppleness. Fingernails and hands were also painted with henna. Only low-status people wore tattoos.
They did not know about distillation and therefore, they did not make any perfume with alcohol. However, they grew flowers to flavor other products.
The Fayoum (region around a desert lake, fed by an arm of the Nile) was the main production area, especially in the New Kingdom, when flooding was regulated by dikes.
The different elements of the flowers were classified, passed through a sieve and transformed into aromatic pastes. The ointments that the Egyptians used for their hair and that were applied by means of placed white cones are represented in the tomb paintings.
Hairstyle
Head shaving was common among men, to cover themselves they used false wigs, and women a peculiar headdress (craft) that was formed with a square canvas, made with a striped fabric, tight to the forehead and with falls on the sides.
The nobles wore a wig, common to both sexes, it was the most common hairstyle. It was made with natural hair and horsehair, with other decorative components incorporated. In addition to this, the elegant sometimes used small glasses filled with perfume.
Heads were shaved; The Egyptians are the first to systematically remove hair. For them, it represented humanity in relation to the animality symbolized by hair, to the point that priests even plucked their eyebrows and eyelashes before rituals.
Jewelry
The main reason for wearing jewelry is its aesthetic function. The Egyptians wore white linen very soberly and the jewels offer the possibility of contrasting.
Egypt's preference was for the use of bright colors, shiny stones and precious metals. Gold was made in large quantities in the eastern desert of Egypt, but it also came from Nubia, which for centuries was an Egyptian colony.
In contrast, silver was scarce and was imported from Asia. Therefore, silver was often considered more valuable than gold. The Eastern Desert was also an important source of colored semi-precious stones such as carnelian, amethyst, and jasper.
In Sinai, they had turquoise mines since the first dynasties, the blue lapis lazuli must have come from far away, Afghanistan. Glass and earthenware (enamel on stone or sand core) were favored to replace rocks as they could be produced in many colors.
It was a city that loved jewelry, used by all social classes, although those of the peasants were simpler and cheaper, in earthenware, bone or colored stones. The jewelry was large and heavy, which seems to denote an Asian influence.
The bracelets were great too. The most used stones were lapis lazuli, carnelian, turquoise and the much more abundant metals copper, silver and gold. It was considered the meat of the gods.
A special Egyptian creation was a kind of frill, made from a set of metal disks and worn directly on the skin, or over a short-sleeved shirt, and tied in the back. Rulers also wore elaborate crowns, and they and nobles wore pectorals.
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