What Did Women In The Ancient Times Wear?

In the modernity of the 21st century, we cannot even imagine wearing heavy tunics or jewellery-studded dresses instead of day wears and suits from any good women’s boutique store in London. However, what we probably frown upon were once the height of fashion among females belonging to the oldest of human civilisations. Although the style of women’s clothing varied from nation to nation during those times, uniqueness was constant in all of them.

In ancient Egypt, women of all classes wore light dresses made out of cotton & linen and having shoulder straps. Clothing essentials were very colourful and elaborate. Those from the upper class also accessorised themselves with jewellery of precious stones, silver and gold.

A special kind of garment called peplos was worn by the Greek women. It consisted of woolen clothes in rectangular shapes that were folded and then pinned together. It had holes for head & arms, and was tied around its waist part. At the end of 5th century, a long tunic called chiton came into fashion. Besides that, women wore cloaks too, which were known as himations. Popular jewelleries and accessories included bracelets, necklaces and anklets. The trend of styling hair in different ways existed as well.

Women in ancient Rome wore long dresses dyed with various colours and these dresses were colloquially described as stolas. They also draped a long shawl around themselves called palla. The clothing of the rich was made of silk and cotton, whereas the middle class and poor could afford linen or wool. Brooches and pins were used to hold the garments in place.

During the Middle Ages, women’s fashion trends underwent a significant change. While an outfit consisting of a linen garment, a long tunic and a mantel became popular among the Saxons, Viking females wore homemade clothes made of wool or linen. In winter, the Vikings used shawls and cloaks to protect themselves from the cold. They also put on a headscarf or plaited their hair. Throughout the Middle Ages, wool was available in two types - cheap & coarse and expensive & fine. They were, of course, reserved for the poor and rich classes respectively by means of laws. However, women wore whatever they liked and ignored the restrictions.

All of these can seem incredibly intriguing to the us women from today’s world, who are used to skirts, suits, day wears, crop tops, jeans, leggings, etc. But they were indeed priced as trends of fashion several centuries ago.