Greek+Fashion


 * Ancient Greek Fashion**
 * By: Kiana**

Ancient Greek times were times of many great things, fashion being one of them. Having change in fashion showed change in a society, this was and still is important. Fashions, and styles, come and go throughout history. The Ancient Greek times of fashion, also did the same. The Greek clothing was very simple, but yet elegant. They often times would accessorize with jewelry and such.Concluding the fact that the clothing was very loose, flowing and simple, the garments were also hardly ever sewn together. The basic clothing pieces were all usually made of either linen or wool, these included articles like the Chiton, Peplos, Himation and Chlamys.

The Chiton was probably the most popular garment, and was worn by both men and women. Women usually wore it long and to the ground, where as men would wear it shorter, to their knees. This piece of clothing was usually sewed up the sides and either pined or sewed at the shoulders. The cloth could either drape over one (usually the left) or two shoulders, both were quite popular. It could also be worn with a Himation, when worn without, it was known as a Monochiton`. Even more in common, it was worn with a belt, called a Zoster. The Chiton was made from a lighter material, linen. Since it was made form such light material, the Chiton was usually worn outside for work, or exercise. The Chtion came in two different types. The first type, called a Doric Chiton, was made from two pieces of wool cloth; this type was also worn long, but could also be worn short, if requested. The second type was called an Ionic Chiton. The Ionic Chtion was made from either linen or silk and was most of the time shorter than the Doric Chiton, but could also be worn long too.

The Peplos was really common in women, as it was more like a “dress”. This was often worn in weddings when made of the finest cloth. The Peploswas made of woolen material, so it was a little heavier the other clothing articles. The Peplos was like a Chiton, but the Chiton was larger in the dimensions. The Peplos was cut as a rectangular shape, but was then folded, to create a tubular shape. When it was in the cylinder shape, whoever was going to wear it would just slip it on. Then, the cloth was pinned at the shoulders so that the rest of the fabric would drape underneath the arms, and to the waist. To finish it off, a rope, or ribbon, was tied at the wait. Many different patterns were used for the Peplos, such as checks, waves (or wavy lines), flowers, and sometimes stripes.

Another popular type of clothing was called the Himation. The Himation usually represented a type of “outdoor wear” or something similar to a coat, Panco, cloak, etc. It was made out of a simple rectangular piece of woven wool and it was also very loose and flowing. The Himation was first used as an article to be worn over the Chiton. Many times, people would wear it in colder weather for warmth. But later on, when the Himation started being made with lighter material, it started being worn at any time of the day.

The Chlamys was known as a popular traveling article, worn by young Greek male soldiers. It was one of the very few pieces of clothing that was worn by just men. The Chtion, made from a rectangular shape of woven wool, and was draped over the left shoulder, to be pinned (with a bronze pin) at the right shoulder. It could be worn with other garments, or just the cape itself, and in most cases, was worn with a hat (used for traveling) called a Petasos. The Chyamys was like a short cape that was used as a cloak for warmth and protection form weather. Used by soldiers, they would often travel long distances and usually overnight, so the Chlamys was a lot of the times, used as a blanket as well.

Colors also played a big part in Greek fashion. As the time past, colors became brighter and clothing became more detailed, extensive, and more complex. The Greeks didn’t always only wear natural colors, like we once thought so. They actually wore many colors such as yellow, red, purple, blue and green. Most of the time, men just wore white or beige, but the most common colors used were, violet, green and grey. These colors represented different things. For example, a dark veil (worn by women) was a sign of mourning.

Throughout the years, Greek fashion changed, just like every other society. They were known for their flowing, elaborate and detailed clothing. After researching about Greek clothing, all were very similar but the different ways in which they were displayed, probably made Greek fashion one of the most well known fashions throughout history.

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 * Works cited**