Greek Clothing

Greek clothing was made out of three types of materials. The first mostly used was wool which was woven from very coarse to very soft. They used linen grades from fine to very soft. Drapery in Greek culture did not fold crisply like Egyptian folds fell and the linen was not as stiff as the linen used in Egypt.

Greek garments were essentially the same for men and women and were not shaped or fitted to the body but draped on the body in soft folds. There were four types, which were all rectangles: the chiton (dress), Doric and Ionic over draperies, the himation and the chlamys.

Doric Chiton—A garment worn to the sixth century. It was of wool dyed indigo, madder or saffron, frequently patterned, especially at the turn of the fifth century. Its upper edge was folded over to hang down on the breast; it was folded around the body, caught together on each shoulder by bins, leaving the arms uncovered, and though open down the right side, was held in place by the girdle, over which it bloused. In Corinth and Attica, it was sewn together down the side below the waistline. With time, the garment grew wider and was known as the Doric chiton, and over-fold deepened so that it was included in the girdling or hung over and concealed the girdle. When not girded, the over-fold could be raised over the head in back as a shawl. 

Peplos—Refers to the fabric folded over and hanging down across the top of the Doric chiton.

Ionic Chiton—Of Phoenician origin. Most often seen in sources as a female garment. It was made of thin woolens, probably crepe-like, similar to materials still woven in Greece; also of linen, or the gauzy materials from Cos in Asia Minor, patterned in murex (Tyrian) purple. It was cut with ample width from two pieces, then sewn together along the top of the extended arm, frequently pleated, and long, sometimes trailing. It was often sewn or caught together all the way down the right side with the left side open. It was worn in many way by both men and women, and particularly by musicians and charioteers. The chiton was often worn with a short wrap the chalmydon.

Himation—A rectangle of wool with weighted corners, slung over the left shoulder, leaving the right arm free; or worn , by married women, with the corner over the head like a shawl. Dorian older men wore it as their only garment (as did the Athenians in their return to an earlier simplicity, in the third to second centuries, B.C.) A man wearing the himation alone was alas adequately dressed. It served also as a blanket. The colors were natural wool colors: white, natural, browns, and black; or died scarlet, crimson or purple. The garment sometimes had woven patterns, selvages, and embroidery.

Chlamys—A smaller woolen rectangle than the himation, of Macedonian or Italian origin; sometimes bordered, pinned at right shoulder or front; worn with short chiton or alone by younger, more active men.

Rustic dress was a more relaxed shorter version like these Grecian folk shown left. The loose, relaxed, short Greek chiton was better suited to working in the fields and tendering to the livestock.

Colors of this period were bright-hued like yellow, indigo, green, violet, dark red, dark purple and colors that were from the earth. Motifs ranged from geometric like the dentil and arrangements of circles and squares to vegetable forms like the laurel, ivy and waterleaf.

Greek Soldiers didn't wear much clothing either. The basic parts of their attire was a tunic, belt, a cape and sandals. The tunic was light weight and worn under their armour or down the market streets. Their belts were used to tie the tunics closer to the body when armour was not worn, and to hang their swords from. They wore light armour, making them fast and fierce during battle. The basic components of Greek armour were the front breastplate, back plate, bracers and greaves. Most of the armour was made of bronze or of brass.

The Greek Corinthian helmet was made of bronze and covered the entire head and neck of the soldiers. It had only small slits for the eyes and mouth, making it very hard for soldiers to see and breath in the helmet.

Men wore their hair long at the beginning of Greek culture but it soon became fashionable to have shorter hair with little facial hair. Older men would wear mustaches with a shortly-trimmed beard and if a man had a mustache and no beard they were not Greek. In the archaic period women wore their hair hanging in snaky curls held by a fillet but as time passed women would wear their hair up and confined in bag, kerchiefs or nets.

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