Although Egyptian civilization is one of the oldest in the world, they manage to influence our modern society in many ways. One of those ways is fashion. Ever since the original Egyptian craze a century ago, Egyptian fashion has influenced modern designers on an off. The key to the timelessness of ancient Egyptian fashion is that they knew how to keep things simple and elegant. In the nearly 5,000 years of their empire’s existence the typical costume of Ancient Egypt didn’t change all that much.
Ancient statues and wall paintings also known as hieroglyphs have revealed a lot about the fashion history of ancient Egyptians. Furthermore, there are some pieces of clothing that have been found from ancient tombs and houses, in addition to perfume containers, make-up kits and jewelry. Clothes were created for comfort, but Egyptians didn’t only see them as convenient but also creatively expressed their culture, status and personality through fashion. They were the first human society, who had a sense of style.
Let’s journey through time to discover more. The first thing to know about clothing in ancient Egypt is that people wore as little as possible! This is because Egypt was extremely hot much of the year. Of course, when the weather was colder, children and adults wore more clothes.
Map of Ancient Egypt
Children's Clothing
In ancient Egypt, if you were a boy or girl, you would not have to worry about clothes because children did not wear clothes for most of the year. Children were usually naked until the age of six! Mostly children and adults went barefoot and did not wear shoes very often. The type of shoe worn by an ancient Egyptian was a sandal, sort of like the flip-flops you wear today.
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The ordinary person wore sandals made of straw. Wealthier people wore sandals made of leather, usually for special occasions. During the winter, Egyptians wore socks to keep their feet warm. Boys and girls wore their hair in a braid on the right side of their head, called the “sidelock of youth”. This was allowed to grow until they became an adult. When a boy or girl became older, children would shave off their sidelock of youth.
This was a sign to the rest of the world that they were growing up and becoming an adult. They also began to wear clothing that looked like the clothing worn by their parents.
Linen: The Fabric of Choice
Everyone in Egypt wore clothing made from a fabric called linen. Linen is made from spinning the fibers from the stems of a flax plant. Linen fabric is strong and doesn’t trap heat next to the body like heavy wool. For that reason, linen is comfortable and cool to wear.
Men's Fashion
The most common piece of clothing worn by men was called a kilt. A kilt is a skirt that wraps around the body and is tied with a belt. It is cool and easy to wear in a hot climate. Pharaohs and the upper class wore the schenti, a knee-length kilt which was tied around the waist.
Men in White Linen Kilts
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After Egypt conquered Syria, they got introduced with a new and better cloth; a tunic. It was a basic rectangular piece of clothing with a hole for the head in the middle. The sides were open and the length was past the waistline. The look was completed with a belt, which hold the tunic together. Tunic was usually worn with a schenti. Egyptians improved the tunic by sewing the sides together and adding sleeves. The garment was bleached white and decorated with pleats and folds. They later extended the tunic, so it looked like a robe with long and wide sleeves. Men wore knee-length kilts made from linen as well. The kilts had a pleaded or a stiffened front. During cool weather they wore cloaks. Lower class men only wore a loin cloth, which was a piece of garment that only covered the private parts. Later they had loin skirts, which slightly resemble the skirt in today’s world. In 1500 B.C men started covering their upper body by wearing tunics.
Women's Fashion
Women’s clothing was also made from linen. Wealthy women wore linen that was much lighter weight. It was much more expensive to make. Wealthy women also wore dresses made from beads. Sometimes the dresses had pieces on the hem that were like bells that made a sound when they walked. Women’s dresses were usually long and fitted to the body.
Women in ancient Egypt wore ankle length sheath dresses made from linen, which were light and cool for the hot climate. The dress was draped over the body and tied or sewn to keep it in place. The dresses were never tailored. Peasant women had plain linen dresses and servant girls wore dresses made from colored fabric sewn in a checkered pattern. Upper class women had pleaded dresses with fringes. Sometimes a transparent garment was worn over the dress. Formal clothes were more elaborate and detailed. Usually the clothes were white but red, blue and yellow was used on some occasions. Colors had a meaning for Egyptians.
Kalasiris was the most distinctive garment worn by Egyptian women during Old, Middle and New Kingdom. It was a long, ankle to calf length tube dress made from linen and sewn at the sides. It had two straps that went behind the neck and came together at the front, exposing the breasts. Women’s clothes didn’t change as much as men’s during the centuries. However, the top in Kalasiris dress changed over time. More fabric was used to cover the breasts. The dresses were mostly white, but some women dyed their dresses and embellished them with different patterns. Some Kalasirises were made from very thin, see-through materials, most likely linen that was very finely woven.
For over 1000 years it was common for men and women not to wear anything on their torsos. The upper body wasn’t covered.
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Wigs, Makeup, and Accessories
Ancient Egyptian Life: Make Up
Men’s wigs were usually shorter, while women’s wigs could get quite large. Everyone wore eye makeup! Eye makeup helped prevent infections. It also helped decrease the glare from the sun. Everyone wanted to look beautiful! They used beauty tools that look a lot like the tools we use today!
The ancient Egyptians made many unusual and beautiful containers to store makeup and perfume. The ancient Egyptians loved jewelry. Everyone wore it. The bigger, the better! They wore huge necklaces, bracelets, pendants, and anklets. The ordinary person would wear jewelry made with clay beads. Wealthier people wore gold and gems.
Egyptian Makeup Tools
If we’ve learned anything from our little foray into the study of ancient Egyptian fashion, it’s keep your clothes simple and understated but don’t be afraid to accessorize. Indeed that seems to be a common link between renown fashionistas of all eras, with a few notable exceptions.
The Significance of Jewelry
Ancient Egypt is often described as a relatively stratified society. However, one element available to every Egyptian - from the youngest child to oldest priest, from the poorest farmer to pharaoh - was jewelry. From the predynastic through Roman times, jewelry was made, worn, offered, gifted, buried, stolen, appreciated and lost across genders, generations and classes.
Because jewelry was so universal and pervasive we can learn a vast amount from studying even a single bead. Yet much of the ancient jewelry pieces in modern collections, especially those gathered in the 19th and early 20th centuries, have little to no recorded archaeological context - meaning they lack critical information for full understanding. These pieces also have often been trivialized as purely aesthetic rather than informative, marginalizing the potential and importance of studying jewelry.
Instead of being dismissed, jewelry should be used as scholarly objects to better understand ancient Egypt. Burial trends, ritual practices, manufacturing skills and resource and material availability are just a few avenues to explore through jewelry. For Egyptian jewelry, styles, material choices, fabrication techniques and even object type and decorative meaning changed over time.
Gemstones such as lapis and turquoise were imported and thus often less available during unstable political periods. Most Egyptians wore some type of jewelry during their lifetimes, and almost every Egyptian was buried with some form of adornment. The materials chosen and the quality of workmanship often marked the status of the owner or wearer. Jewelry was both decorative and purposeful.
String of Beads, Middle Kingdom, Dahshur
Jewelry often held apotropaic powers for its wearer - both living and dead. Color and material were significant, protecting the living from disease and danger and, wrapped within a mummy’s bandages, guarding the deceased for eternity. The Book of the Dead, the famed New Kingdom funerary document, prescribes specific materials for certain amulets and often detailed where on the body to include them.
Cleopatra: A Fashion Icon
Cleopatra was born in 69 B.C. and died 30 B.C. Although there are many contradictory opinions about her beauty and appearance, she was regarded as a beauty icon. Yet it is said that she was highly intellectual woman and what compelled people the most was her charm, wit and friendly appearance. She spoke several languages, as well as excelled in math, philosophy, oratory and astronomy.
Cleopatra is recognized as a fashion icon of her time. Ancient Egyptians created several beauty products. They made mirrors from bronze and copper and created make-up kits with applicators. Both men and women wore make-up to protect their skin from the desert climate but also for cosmetic purposes.
Cleopatra was able to adjust to any kind of occasion and always dressed accordingly. Her style was similar to other wealthy people in Egypt but she styled her look to be more unique with jewelry and make-up. She wore Roman and Egyptian fashion based on ancient wall pictures. Cleopatra was a phenomenal ruler and probably the most famous one in Egypt’s history.
Her life story has inspired many books and movies. Her name is heavily associated when talking about ancient Egypt. Her signature style has been copied by several designers and make-up artists, as well as people who are inspired by her in one way or another. Today Cleopatra is a major inspiration for Halloween costumes. People want to copy everything from the clothes and make-up to a wig and the jewelry.
Queen Tiye
Tiye (c. 1398 BC - 1338 BC, also spelled Tye, Taia, Tiy and Tiyi) was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III, mother of pharaoh Akhenaten and grandmother of pharaoh Tutankhamun; her parents were Yuya and Thuya. Tiye also had a brother, Anen, who was Second Prophet of Amun. Ay, a successor of Tutankhamun as pharaoh after the latter's death, is believed to be yet another brother of Tiye, despite no clear date or monument confirming a link between the two.
Tiye was married to Amenhotep III by the second year of his reign. He had been born of a secondary wife of his father and needed a stronger tie to the royal lineage. Their marriage was celebrated by the issue of commemorative scarabs, announcing Tiye as Great Royal Wife and giving the names of her parents. He appears to have been crowned while still a child, perhaps between the ages of six and twelve.
Her husband devoted a number of shrines to her and constructed a temple dedicated to her in Sedeinga in Nubia where she was worshipped as a form of the goddess Hathor-Tefnut. He also had an artificial lake built for her in his Year 12. On the colossal statue now in the Egyptian Museum she is of equal height with her husband.
Relief of Queen Tiye, wearing the vulture headdress and uraeus.
Tiye wielded a great deal of power during both her husband's and son's reigns. Amenhotep III became a fine sportsman, a lover of outdoor life, and a great statesman. He often had to consider claims for Egypt's gold and requests for his royal daughters in marriage from foreign kings such as Tushratta of Mitanni and Kadashman-Enlil I of Babylon. The royal lineage was carried by the women of Ancient Egypt and marriage to one would have been a path to the throne for their progeny.
Tiye became her husband's trusted adviser and confidant. Known for her intelligence and strong personality, she was able to gain the respect of foreign dignitaries. Foreign leaders were willing to deal directly with her. Tiye may have continued to advise her son, Akhenaten, when he took the throne. Her son’s correspondence with Tushratta, the king of Mitanni, speaks highly of the political influence she wielded at court.
Amenhotep III died in Year 38 or Year 39 of his reign (1353 BC/1350 BC) and was buried in the Valley of the Kings in WV22; however, Tiye is known to have outlived him by as many as twelve years. Tiye continued to be mentioned in the Amarna letters and in inscriptions as queen and beloved of the king.
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