Ancient Greek Costumes

A detailed Summary of Ancient Greek Costumes

Looking into the past, the Ancient Greek people have inspired the aspect of clothing. Greeks were among the finest to portray fashion and costume with such meticulous care and precision. There are untold numbers of statues and carvings in pottery, which are revealing to us what they participated in and also their fashions.

There are also great writers such as Herodotus who was a Greek historian and has given us explicit detail and descriptions and the developments in fashion and the social significance of costume. Ancient Greek dress was more voluminous then that of the Egyptians, and was most often made of fine woollens, although it is thought that the Greeks also had regular access to linen, hemp cloth and silk. Although the Greek costumes had read no form, they managed to stay the same for many generations. They were mostly made up of rectangles of cloth of various shapes and sizes but basically all stayed the same shape for men and women.

Like Egyptian dress, Greek clothing was centred in an aesthetic that idealized the human body, rather then attempting to conceal its natural shape. The Greeks made many clothing decisions based on this aesthetic that were less then practical choices. Pinning garments closed inste

Spinning also was in style. It is an ancient art. Evidence of textiles has been found as far back as the Early Stone Age. Spinning appears to have developed independently in different regions, and different fibers were favored. The first spinning was probably done by rubbing the fibers between the fingers or between the palm and thigh. Hand spindles and whorls closely resembling those used today have been found in Neolithic sites.

The Greek fabric was much more elaborate then the Egyptians and included complex border designs both woven in and embroidered. The fabric made for chitons were generally wool and the latter of linen. With this fabric, it made the material more flexible which was easier to make folds. Olive oil was added to the cloth so that it would be more comfortable and fir the body. Silk was available from China and cotton or muslin from Egypt, but they were expensive. The Greek women wove the cloth by a vertical loom with the wrap strings stretched with weights. The cloth was rolled up at the top and all the weaving was done by hand. The women made the clothing by raising sheep, shearing the sheep for wool, carded the wool, spun it into yarn, then wove the yearn into rectangles of cloth.

A much-reverted dye was a purple dye, which was obtained from the mollusk. This dye was very expensive because of its rarity. It was necessary to capture thousands of shellfish just for a little of the dye. Purple, therefore became a royal color. It was declared by both Julius and Augustus Caesar that only the Emperor and his household were allowed to wear the color.

The primary garment of Ancient Greek clothing was the Chiton, an all over body garment made from a large rectangle of cloth wrapped once around the body from right side to right side. This garment was worn by both sexes and was pinned at the shoulders and tied at

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Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History