The Ancient Egyptian people loved colour, beauty and precious metals and stones. This showed in their art, paintings and most of all in their Egyptian Fashion sense. However, Egypt is a warm place, the clothes had to be designed in such a way and made of those materials and fabrics which provided maximum comfort.
They had to repel the heat and keep the wearer cool and prevent sunburns and heat strokes at the same time. This did not deter them from beautifying and placing Egyptian Fashion over comfort. Their clothes were as beautiful as they were comfortable.
The cloth used by the Ancient Egyptians was made of linen and wool. Cotton came to be used much later, during the Christian era. This linen was extracted from a plant called flax. A kilt or a skirt was usually a part of their ensemble. The kilt signifies various aspects of the wearer like his age, societal status, etc.
About Egyptian Fashion
The Ancient Egyptian used dyes to colour the thread before the cloth was woven. Yellow, red and blue were the most common ones. However, they appreciated the beauty of white which was brought about by bleaching the linen in the sun. White clothing was particularly liked by the elite and wealthy people.
The women of Ancient Egypt were conservative and were known for their modesty. In fact the women’s fashion was a lot more subdued than that of the men in Ancient Egypt. Women wore a long straight shirt like garment known as a Kaftan. It was lose and provided a lot of comfort in the heated climate of Egypt.
This Egyptian Fashion remained constant all through the times; even now you may find women wearing this. The sleeves were long, short and even strappy. This depended upon the era, position in society and the woman’s age. The skirt’s length also varied according to the same.
With regard to footwear, there were no hard and fast rules or a prominent practice to wear them. The extreme climes dictated the fashion for most part in Ancient Egypt; hence, footwear was not that common. However, the rich people and the Pharaoh would make sandals made of leather for themselves. These were often decorated with a lot of coloured beans and stones.
Ancient Egyptians loved their treasure, especially in the form of jewellery. This came to be known to modern historians through the explorers who dug up tombs and coffins. They found hoards of jewellery buried along with the mummies of pharaohs and their queens which would aid them in their afterlives.
Jewellery, again, was a mark of personal wealth ad station in society. Headbands, necklaces, bangles, bracelets, anklets, rings, etc were worn by men and women alike. The poor also wore jewellery, albeit, more colourful and of cheap materials like pottery and such.