History of Costume
History of Costume
Instructor: Melissa Clark
Claudia Montserrat Brunet
Egyptian Women’s Clothes
Most of the Egyptian ancient buildings have been either destroyed or brought down over the years, however, some of the ruins remain. The ruins that remain, have allowed the Egyptians to become the best out of all the ancient cultures, in recording every daily activity of their ordinary lives.In fact, by marking on the ruins’ stones and walls, they have been able to express their art and ways of living. In addition, we have been able to find out, through their art, how the slaves, the peasants, the servants, as well as the kings and queens, used to dress and behaved in their daily lives.
The hot and dry climate of Egypt has allowed the preservation of burial places and tombs. In fact, the weather has also allowed us to determine the type of fabrics that they used to wear. As an example, linen was the fiber most used by the Egyptians. This fabric, comes from the flax and grew along the Nile River. The Egyptians were one of the first ones to master the linen by softening the flax and then separating it into fibers. The fibers were beaten just before spun into thread, and then woven into cloth.
The Egyptian women attires were full length straight white dresses with one, and sometimes two, shoulders straps. In fact, Egyptians were unfamiliar with the dying techniques, therefore most of their dresses were either pure bleach to white, or creamy-white colors. This changed when the New Kingdom Period introduced the dye. Also, and during the New Kingdom, new elements were introduced, such as the tunic. The tunic was one of those elements that resulted from cross cultures, such as the Near East and the Egyptian empire expansion into the west.
In the Mesopotamia, the dresses were longer, compared to those of Egypt, where the dresses were shorter. As a result of this new crosses, dresses for the Egyptian, such as the tunic, appeared in the Egyptian walls in the area of the New Kingdom. As the paintings shown on the walls, the tunics were made with and without sleeves, and most of the time, the fabric was light sheer, almost translucent.
The ancient Egyptians walked barefoot, and only in special occasions, wore sandals that were made of woven papyrus or palm. On the other hand, leather sandals were worn by the rich people. In addition, the rich Egyptians wore a lot of jewelry made of gold, as well as semiprecious and precious stones such as carnelian, lapis lazuli, feldspar, and turquoise used to be worked into a large round collars and pectorals. Other items were also worn. Items such as earrings, bracelets, armlets, rings, hair, and or head ornaments, and often with religious symbols, were worn. The Egyptians believed that by wearing these jewelry and such, would make them more attractive to their gods. The poor on the other hand, made jewelry from colored pottery beads.
For my dress I used muslin fabric in natural color that is very closed to those used in the New Kingdom. I also chose some golden fabric to represent the gold that the kings and queens used to wear in Egypt to represent the pectoral or round collar. I made hand embroidery some crystal blue rocks on the pectoral to represent the precious turquoise rocks that the Egypt used to wear with their jewelry.
Eubank, P. G. (2011). SURVEY OF HISTORY OF COSTUME. New York: Fairchild Books. N/A. (2012, October 30). The Egyptians Clothing. Retrieved October 116, 2016, from The Egyptians Clothing: www.historyonthenet.com http://www.albanyinstitute.org/details/items/ancient-egyptian-tunic.htm
Instructor: Melissa Clark
Claudia Montserrat Brunet
Egyptian Women’s Clothes
Most of the Egyptian ancient buildings have been either destroyed or brought down over the years, however, some of the ruins remain. The ruins that remain, have allowed the Egyptians to become the best out of all the ancient cultures, in recording every daily activity of their ordinary lives.In fact, by marking on the ruins’ stones and walls, they have been able to express their art and ways of living. In addition, we have been able to find out, through their art, how the slaves, the peasants, the servants, as well as the kings and queens, used to dress and behaved in their daily lives.
The hot and dry climate of Egypt has allowed the preservation of burial places and tombs. In fact, the weather has also allowed us to determine the type of fabrics that they used to wear. As an example, linen was the fiber most used by the Egyptians. This fabric, comes from the flax and grew along the Nile River. The Egyptians were one of the first ones to master the linen by softening the flax and then separating it into fibers. The fibers were beaten just before spun into thread, and then woven into cloth.
The Egyptian women attires were full length straight white dresses with one, and sometimes two, shoulders straps. In fact, Egyptians were unfamiliar with the dying techniques, therefore most of their dresses were either pure bleach to white, or creamy-white colors. This changed when the New Kingdom Period introduced the dye. Also, and during the New Kingdom, new elements were introduced, such as the tunic. The tunic was one of those elements that resulted from cross cultures, such as the Near East and the Egyptian empire expansion into the west.
In the Mesopotamia, the dresses were longer, compared to those of Egypt, where the dresses were shorter. As a result of this new crosses, dresses for the Egyptian, such as the tunic, appeared in the Egyptian walls in the area of the New Kingdom. As the paintings shown on the walls, the tunics were made with and without sleeves, and most of the time, the fabric was light sheer, almost translucent.
The ancient Egyptians walked barefoot, and only in special occasions, wore sandals that were made of woven papyrus or palm. On the other hand, leather sandals were worn by the rich people. In addition, the rich Egyptians wore a lot of jewelry made of gold, as well as semiprecious and precious stones such as carnelian, lapis lazuli, feldspar, and turquoise used to be worked into a large round collars and pectorals. Other items were also worn. Items such as earrings, bracelets, armlets, rings, hair, and or head ornaments, and often with religious symbols, were worn. The Egyptians believed that by wearing these jewelry and such, would make them more attractive to their gods. The poor on the other hand, made jewelry from colored pottery beads.
For my dress I used muslin fabric in natural color that is very closed to those used in the New Kingdom. I also chose some golden fabric to represent the gold that the kings and queens used to wear in Egypt to represent the pectoral or round collar. I made hand embroidery some crystal blue rocks on the pectoral to represent the precious turquoise rocks that the Egypt used to wear with their jewelry.
Eubank, P. G. (2011). SURVEY OF HISTORY OF COSTUME. New York: Fairchild Books. N/A. (2012, October 30). The Egyptians Clothing. Retrieved October 116, 2016, from The Egyptians Clothing: www.historyonthenet.com http://www.albanyinstitute.org/details/items/ancient-egyptian-tunic.htm