Saturday, December 13, 2008

Overview: Egyptian Fashion

Ancient Egyptians had many components to their fashion and clothing. (LINEN!) For example accessories, dresses, shoes, jewelry, and yes even man skirts! (kilts) For some it was about comfort and for others it was just about lookin' good!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Cosmetics

In Egypt both men and women wore make-up. They used scented oils to rub on their skin to make themselves smell good. They used black Kohl and green malachite for their eyes. Women wore red powdered lipstick, and blush. Like we do today, women died their hair and painted their nails. Seriously do they have enough eye make-up??? I wonder how long it took to put on and take off that make-up???

Cerimonial clothes


For ceremonies Pharaohs wore a ceremonial beard as a sign of leadership. Princesses, for special occasions wore their wigs in ringlets or braids. Jewelry would have to be worn by all royalty. DA!! It's fashionable! And they had money to buy whatever they wanted. For an official ceremonie, a princess put on a grand pendant of gold and semi- precious stones.

Rich or poor




The rich wore finely woven clothes of course made of none other than LINEN! Wow, what a surprise. Women would wear long flowing dresses and men would wear pleaded kilts. Their clothes were always cleaned and bleached white with colorful jeweled collars. They wore a lot of jewelry usually worn as necklaces, bracelets and armbands. Now, the poor wore coarse, homespun linen. Linen was made from the flax plant and was used for almost anything and everything in Egypt! (AHHHHH... too much linen!) it was cut into simple cloths for men and dresses for women. For poor they obviously couldn't afford to buy expensive jewels, so for their jewelry, they used shells and beads.

Women and their clothes

Well let's think about this for a minute... fashion. Just like the women of today the women of Egypt loved clothes. But seriously what would they say when they got up to get dressed? They'd be like well what should I wear today... linen? Linen? Or Linen?! What would a princess wear? Of course the Pharaoh's daughter could and would have whatever they wanted. A princess would wear a lotus bud tucked in her headband, but worn mostly for parties. Every princess would always wear a wig, straight or braided. They would wear wide beaded collars with gold and turquoise (maybe to make their linen dresses more interesting) and sprinkle their dresses with perfume, made from crushed flowers. They would carry their sandals with them and when they needed them they would put them on. Why they didn't just keep them on, I don't know.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Daily Basis


The Egyptians generally wore linen clothes. (they used linen for like everything!!) Women either wore robes or tight dresses. Men wore robes too, and kilts, A.K.A. a man skirt! Men and women both wore colored headdresses for protection from the sun. The wealthy also had headdresses, but with jewels and gold on them. Most of the rich wore wigs. Common people most of the time went barefoot, but the rich could afford shoes which were made from papyrus or palm leaves. Wow their shoes must have been uncomfortable, I mean come on how comfortable are shoes made from leaves? Oh yeah and the young children of Egypt, just didn't wear any clothes at all! Well at least they didn't have to worry about laundry!

Do you think the women were more fashionable than men in ancient Egypt? Explain.

What is a difference between Egyptian fashion and modern day fashion?

What are areas of strength for this blog?

What are areas of improvement for this blog?