Mummy's Wrap

Clothing in ancient Egypt is a subject that, while fascinating, is often overlooked or simply mentioned in passing.  While not as modifiable as modern fashion, the fashion enjoyed by the ancient Egyptians was no less important.  This subject will be covered in the next few blog posts.  Each post will focus on one element of ancient Egyptian clothing, from men’s and women’s couture, to the wigs they often wore and the cosmetics they used on a daily basis.

Ancient Egyptian clothing was simple and breathable.  As desert temperatures fluctuate from extreme heat to extreme cold in the passage of a single day, the clothing worn had to be alterable.  The simplest form of clothing is that of the kilt.  Far from the Scottish plaid one usually considers upon hearing the word kilt, the Egyptian kilt was a simple, plain strip of linen tightly bound at the waist with a plain belt or girdle.  The most common form of this kilt fell to just above the knees.  In the early part of the Old Kingdom, the kilts were very stark, consisting of a simple strip of cloth wrapped around the waist held up by a simple belt.  Within a few years, the kilt evolved in small steps.  By the Third Dynasty, the kilt was worn longer, to the top of the shins, and wider.  This form of the kilt, in its simplicity, was the costume not only for the pharaoh and high lords, but also for scribes, servants and peasants (Erman, Life In Ancient Egypt, pg. 203).

There were variations to the simple short kilt of the Old Kingdom depending on certain times of the day, different stages in a person’s life, and what class from which a person hailed.  For cooler temperatures, or even when a man was older, the kilt was longer, reaching from the waist to mid-calf or to the ankles.  Another form of the kilt began mid-chest and fell nearly floor length (Erman, Life In Ancient Egypt, pg. 204).

The pharaoh’s costume became more elaborate for official business and festivals.  The pharaoh’s kilt was different from anyone else’s by sporting a loincloth that was worn either under or over the standard short kilt of the time.  The loincloth was cut in a fashionable way so it tapered in with curved cuts towards the lowest edge.  This particular kilt was known as the schendyt (Strudwick, The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, pg. 374).  The standard pharaonic kilt began to evolve.  First, a rounded cut was added to the strip of cloth that made up the kilt.  The end of this rounded cut would be tucked into the belt to add delicate folds to the kilt.  An intricate clasp held the kilt closed in the front, just below the navel, but it is unclear, despite many representations of the clasp, just how it would have worked (Erman, Life In Ancient Egypt, pg. 203-204).  A further addition to the kilt was a starched triangular apron that was attached to the front.  These aprons were not without decoration as colorful adornments appear in many murals, though just as often the apron appears plain.  By the end of the Fifth Dynasty, the starched triangular apron, once considered very fashionable, appears to have fallen out of favor, but remained a part of the pharaoh’s costume regalia for certain festivals and appearances throughout the Middle and New Kingdoms (Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt, pg. 204-205).

The kilt was the base garment for the men of ancient Egypt.  From that piece of cloth, the royal men of ancient Egypt would add decoration to the costume to distinguish themselves from the common classes.  The pharaoh, of course, had the most elaborate costume.  Much of the pharaoh’s costume came from the pre-dynastic period.  At a time when fine linen was unheard of, the pharaoh would have worn animal hides to show his power over his subjects who would have worn simple, rough loincloths.  By the Old Kingdom, the animal hides were still a symbol of power.  For official business or for festivals, the pharaoh would wear a leopard skin over his shoulders and a lion’s tail from his belt.  The leopard skin was traditionally worn with the head and forepaws hanging down the pharaoh’s back while the rear paws were tied around the pharaoh’s neck (Erman, Life In Ancient Egypt, pg. 59).

As the Old Kingdom drew to a close, it can be noted that the costume of the lower classes began to mimic the styles of the upper classes.  Lower nobles modeled their own kilts after the pharaonic kilt as the lowest classes took up the styles of the lower nobles.  This usurpation of royal clothing forced the nobles to modify their clothing so as to differ themselves from the commoners, which, in turn, forced the pharaoh to modify his own costume to stand out from the nobles (Erman, Life In Ancient Egypt, pg. 201).

The kilt continued to grow longer in the Middle Kingdom, stretching to the middle of the calf.  The wrapping of this kilt changed, as well.  It became fashionable to wear the two lower points of the rectangular kilt cloth lower than the edge of the kilt.  Decorating the kilt became easier at this point in time, as well, and the kilt soon sported designs stitched or stained on the hems.  The technology of this time period allowed cloth to be woven finer than it had been before.  It was woven so fine for the nobles and royals it became sheer.  It was the fashion of the Middle Kingdom to wear the short kilt beneath the sheer long kilt.  The schendyt was no longer a kilt reserved for the pharaoh alone, but had become the cloth of the nobles in general.  It was popular in the Middle Kingdom to wear the schendyt below the sheer long kilt (Erman, Life In Ancient Egypt, pg. 206).

There were some odd additions to men’s couture during the Middle Kingdom.  There were full-length dresses, of sorts, completely pleated, with long sleeves.  It has been hypothesized that this dress was worn by the aged, though that has not been confirmed.  While it has been documented that pleats were worn in the Old Kingdom, they were not popularized until the New Kingdom (http://www.reshafim.org).  The pleats seem to be a status symbol, as the pleats require more fabric, which was expensive.  Another change to the clothing style of the Middle Kingdom was a short, pleated cloak.  These two pieces of apparel may have been precursors to the New Kingdom styles (Erman, Life In Ancient Egypt, pg. 206.  Strudwick, The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, pg. 377).

The New Kingdom was the Renaissance of ancient Egypt.  The clothing of this time period took an almost radical turn from the styles previously discussed.  The clothing of the upper body, which was hardly worn, even at the end of the Middle Kingdom, became the norm, especially after the reign of Hatshepsut.  A simple tunic without sleeves or side seams was tucked into the belt of the kilt.  This tunic had variations.  For the wealthy, the tunics, as well as the over kilts, were pleated.  Many times, the tunic appears longer on the left side, shrouding the left arm while leaving the right arm free (Erman, Life In Ancient Egypt, pg. 207).

Kilts were fairly unchanged from the Middle Kingdom to the early New Kingdom, the most significant change being that the kilts were shorter in the front than in the back.  As the New Kingdom progressed, however, the kilts became more and more elaborate.  By the reign of Akhenaten, the heretic king, both the outer kilt and the schendyt were pleated.  The outer kilt was hiked up in the front to expose either the legs or another long outer kilt.  The belt’s ends were allowed to flow freely in front of the wearer instead of cut short as it was in the Middle Kingdom.  The front hem of the outer kilt was tucked into the belt, creating a parody of the starched triangular apron of the Old Kingdom.  Like the Old Kingdom apron, the tucked outer kilt became bigger and more bulbous.  Soon more layers were added to the kilts making them more elaborate.  Only a few generations after Akhenaten, the kilt style changed yet again, but not to the same extent as before.  The outer kilt, which had become merely a showpiece, was abandoned.  An apron was attached to the front of the bottom kilt, making the style look quite like the distended folds of the late Eighteenth Dynasty, but was subsequently lighter.  This style allowed men to wear different designs cut into or dyed onto the apron.  The short, tight kilt of old was no longer the costume of pharaohs, but was a common item of clothing for hunting and other athletic sports, among both the nobles and the higher classed commoners (Erman, Life In Ancient Egypt, pg. 210).

The styles of peasant population of ancient Egypt was somewhat different.  They are often shown in art to wear simple kilts.  It is assumed these kilts were made of rough linen, though it is not known for sure what fabric was used.  Some speculate that many workers wore nothing at all, though it is difficult to say what was worn by the common classes of ancient Egyptians (Erman, Life In Ancient Egypt, pg. 212).  They themselves are rarely represented by their peers, and usually only by their superiors in their masters’ tombs.  The art in these tombs represented the ideal life the tomb owner would experience in the afterlife, so it would be logical that there would be clothing for everyone in that idyllic life (http://oi.uchicago.edu/).

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This entry was posted by Page Strong on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 09:49 and is filed under Ancient Egypt, Everyday Life, life, Pharaoh. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.