Egyptian Fashion

People who are interested in ancient Egyptian fashion and clothing are quite lucky. Because one can get a lot of information on ancient Egyptian clothing from the many statues and wall paintings which have survived to the present day.

One interesting thing about ancient Egyptian clothing is that for nearly 3,000 years there was almost no change in what people used to wear. This is quite different from modern fashion, which changes quite often.

Two important factors affected the clothing of ancient Egypt: climate and social status. The Nile river valley had a pleasant climate. It wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t too cold. So clothing used to be a luxury item. Slaves and poor people didn’t use to have much clothing on. At higher social classes, people used to dress up with more clothing and jewelry; bracelets, necklaces, earrings and so on. The pharaohs and their queens used to have the most glamorous life and of course used to wear the most elaborate Egyptian clothing.

Here are some interesting facts about ancient Egyptian clothing and fashion:

• The ancient Egyptians were very concerned with hygiene. Therefore, they often wore linen, which is made from plants. They did not wear wool or other animal-based textiles. Ancient Egyptians used to think these were dirty.

• The ancient Egyptians shaved (removed all the hair from) their heads. Even the women used to shave their heads. Therefore they used to wear wigs made of human hair.

• Both men and women used to have eye make-up.

As you can see, ancient Egyptian ideas of style and fashion were very different from modern ideas about these things.