Through the Eras

FashionMEN’SWardrobes: Continuity andChangeThe following chart demonstrates continuity andchange in men’s wardrobes in the Old, Middle, and NewKingdoms. Many innovations occurred in the Middle Kingdomand continued into the New Kingdom. New Kingdomdress was the most various and elaborate.SOURCE: Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, Pharaonic Egyptian Clothing(Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1993).Garment Old Kingdom Middle Kingdom New KingdomCloth loincloth X X XLeather loincloth X XShort wraparound kilt X X XLong wraparound kilt X XSash kiltXBag tunicXLong, narrow apron X X XTriangular apron X XSashes and straps X X XLong cloak X X XShort cloakXShawl X X XSOURCE: Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, Pharaonic Egyptian Clothing (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1993).CREATED BY GGS INFORMATION SERVICES. GALE.were worn in combination with bag tunics and triangularaprons. Scalloped-edge kilts, as their name implies,were characterized by a cloth with vertically gatheredlarge folds that resemble a scallop when worn. Womendid not wear kilts, but could be depicted in art wearingskirts. The length of skirts seems to depend on social statusand access to cloth. Poorer women wore shorter skirtsout of economic necessity. In general, however, womenwore dresses more commonly than skirts in ancientEgypt.ARCHAIC WRAPAROUND. Both men and womencould wear the archaic wraparound. The wearer couldtie together two corners of a rectangular piece of cloth,placing the knot on the chest just below one shoulderand the opposite arm passed through the circle nowformed by the top edge of the cloth. Kings, laborers, andfishermen could wear this garment with a sash. KingNarmer (thirty-first century B.C.E.) wears it on theNarmer Palette with additional aprons and a bull’s tail.But workmen depicted in Old Kingdom tombs also worea simpler but similar garment. Men continued to wearthe archaic wraparound through the Old Kingdom untilabout the twenty-first century B.C.E. In the MiddleKingdom (2003–1630 B.C.E.) and New Kingdom(1539–1075 B.C.E.) only gods wore the archaic wraparound.Gods’ fashions were inherently more conservativethan the clothing of the living. Women wore a longversion of the archaic wraparound. Surprisingly, only femaleservants wore it, and it continued into the MiddleKingdom.DRESSES. Dresses were women’s clothing consistingof a section fit close to the upper body and a skirtthat was either flowing or tight. Women of all socialclasses wore dresses as their most common garment. Theclothing scholar Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood recognizedthree basic ancient Egyptian dresses: the wraparounddress, the v-necked dress, and the bead-net dress.A wraparound dress consisted of one large piece of fabricthat was wrapped around a woman’s body in variousways. The fabric was not cut to shape. Thewraparound dress could include or omit shoulder straps.In the archaeological record, it is easy to confuse a wraparounddress with bed linen. They are both rectangularin shape. But careful examination of both folds and wearmarks on certain cloth rectangles reveals that they wereindeed dresses rather than bed sheets. In the archaeologicalexamples of these dresses, the rectangle of clothmeasures about two meters by one meter (six feet bythree feet). The cloth is finished on four sides with hems.The cloth was wrapped two to three times around thebody depending on both the length of the cloth and thewearer’s body. The top line of this dress could be wornArts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.) 93