Ancient Greek Costume

A cursory glance at ancient Greek costume helps people to reflect on the past so as to have a deeper understanding of the present and the future. Greek culture is a subject that is studied in depth as Greece is considered one of the greatest civilizations of ancient times. Hence, the subject of ancient Greek costume also becomes extremely important.

The remains of the city-states of Greece have been researched to know about the every day life of Greeks, from carvings, tombs and ruins. Greek costumes, by and large, were fairly simple and light. The reason behind this probably was the hot climate Greece.

Greeks mostly preferred loose and comfortable costumes. Ancient Greek costumes were mostly white. For colors, they dyed the fabrics in bright colors or bleached them. The most typical of costume consisted of different pieces of the ‘chiton’ - a long square costume, with pins attached around arms to make sleeves and also a belt. For summers, the costume was in linen, and for winter it was woolen. A chiton was a unisex costume, similar to the tunics of the present day. This ancient Greek costume was decorated with embroidery to indicate the wearer’s city-state.