11 Ancient Greek Clothing Facts For Young Fashion Enthusiasts

Art in the form of painting, architecture, and clothing has intrigued historians and fashionistas for ages.

The same can be said for the clothing and the fashion sense that prevailed in ancient Greece. There were three distinct parts of apparel for both men and women.

Apart from the normal garments made out of linen or wool, both men and women wore hats along with wearing shoes, leather boots, leather sandals, and slippers. Women wore more jewelry in comparison to men.

Color played a key role in depicting the economic and the nobility status of the population of that period. Dresses for the normal people, the commoners were all white in color.

However, the rich and noble folks wore colored clothing which displayed their social mark and separated them from the commoners. The noble folks also donned color jewelry with precious jewels in them.

As for the dressing it consisted of three parts, the peplos, the chiton, and the himation. Women usually made their own clothing as depicted in numerous paintings of women weaving from spinning wool or working in a wooden loom.

In order to soften the wool, it was dipped in olive oil and thus the hair-long fine threads became lighter and smoother.

If you find our article interesting, then for other cool and interesting facts do check out: ancient Greek art facts and ancient Greek culture facts.

Ancient Greek Clothing Male

Dress or attire is essential for the proper sustainability of modern humankind. The very livelihood of modern civilization is highly dependent on clothing or fashion. Here we will discuss the clothing of the ancient Greeks.

The garments that the ancient Greeks wore did not survive the onslaught of time and thus there are few physical remains of the same. However, we can get to know a lot about Greek garments from the numerous paintings and sculptures that were made during the age of the ancient Greeks.

As far as the clothing for men is concerned it usually consisted of two distinct parts made out of linen or wool. The first, a tunic and the second a cloak. The tunic was usually of two types: peplos and chiton.

Greek men wore peplos, which was a piece of cloth of large rectangle clothing made out of wool and heavy fabric that was folded along the edges. Most Greek men wore the peplos in the upper part of their bodies.

The ideal height of the peplos was around the waist and it was held together at the shoulders by pins or brooches.

On the other hand, the chiton was made out of a lighter material of the fabric, usually linen. The chiton was sewed on the edges and were often floor-length garments. The chiton worn by men was different from that worn by women.

The difference lay in the size of the length of the chiton. The chiton of men was usually of a knee-length. Different variations of chiton were used for sports and exercise that was called an exomis.

The last part of the garment, i.e. the cloak was a piece of heavy fabric. It was usually made out of wool or linen and was used during colder weather conditions.

This type of clothing was dropped from the left shoulder to another in a diagonal manner. Shorter cloaks were often worn by men for sports and exercise purposes. The garment worn by wealthy people were of higher quality than most Greeks.

Lastly, to complete the attire, they used to wear shoes, leather sandals, leather boots, and slippers for their entire lives.

Ancient Greek Clothing Female

Fashion among women has been evident since the early days and in the case of ancient Greeks, Greek women were no less in comparison to the men. Here we will take a look at the different types of garments worn by women in ancient Greece.

The types of garments that the ancient Greeks wore were more or less the same when compared to men and women. However, the colors and styles were different from one another.

Women preferred to wear a long tunic while the men preferred one shorter in size. The women wore peplos which was an item of rectangular clothing that covered the upper part of the body. During rituals, girls and women wore sacred peplos for the occasion.

Earlier the chiton was exclusively worn by men however post 550 BC, it became an integral part of women's clothing. Greek women preferred to wear lighter and loose clothing during the warm summer months and heavier garments during the winter.

Tunics worn by women in summer were made out of linen while that worn in winter was made out of wool. It has been understood that women used to make their own garments at home.

The chiton was primarily of two types, the Doric chiton, and the Ionic chiton. The Doric was made out of a large piece of woolen fabric while the latter was much more intricate in nature. It had sleeves made out of the size of the elbows.

Lastly, came the cloak or the Himation. It was essentially an outer wearable men's and women's clothing.

It was usually pinned from the right shoulder and went under the left shoulder. Different paintings have depicted that the himations were brightly colored.

Ancient Greek Clothing Colors

The Greek sculptures are white in color and thus the exact color of the dresses that were worn by the ancient Greeks are hard to determine. Here we will take a close look at the different colors on the clothes of the people from Ancient Greece.

Different varieties and styles of color in the wool fabric have been found. It is assumed that the wealthy people practiced their expression of nobility and wealthiness by wearing dyed clothing.

The different colors that were primarily used in the later periods of ancient Greece were usually bright colors. They are usually indigo, yellow, green, dark purple, and other similar bright colors. The dye for the colors was mined from the earth.

Apart from normal clothes, as the Greeks were highly fashionable they wore jewelry that contained precious metals in them. The more precious the jewelry the wealthier the person was. The ornamental clasps like the pins and brooches were also brightly colored. As for makeup, Greeks wore white lead to make their skin appear much whiter and brighter than before.

Modern Vs. Ancient Greek Clothing

It is always unique to compare the past with the present and thus the same can be said for the clothing of ancient Greece to that of the modern period. So let us find out how different or how similar items of clothing are of two entirely different eras.

Modern Greek clothing is very different from that of ancient Greece. The dresses in Greece's modern period were made out of silk or fine cotton, a contrast from the linen and wool of the past.

The dress usually consisted of a loose shirt with cuffed laces near the wrists. The vest was usually dark in color while the skirt was ankle-length.

Additionally, women often used a veil to cover their faces. In the modern period, Greeks were wearing shoes while in the past, ancient Greeks wore leather shoes and sandals.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for ancient Greek clothing facts then why not take a look at ancient Greek food facts, or ancient Greek temples facts.