Ancient Greek Costume

In Ancient Greece, lead male characters in the Greek theater also had to accentuate their overall costume to make a statement with their audience. They often had to wear shoes with ‘platform’ heels to give themselves extra height. In fact, these kinds of shoes were a part of the costume of ancient Greek men, who wanted to avoid the dirt of the streets. Another reason Greek men preferred platform shoes to be an important part of their costume was that young men in particular wanted to attract attention.

The knowledge about ancient Greek costumes for men would not be complete without a mention of their war ‘helmets’, the most recognizable part of a Greek warrior’s attire. However, ‘Greek helmets’ is not an easy accessory to be described. Unlike the costumes, traditionally, there is no specific helmet to signify the Greek culture. These helmets were of different kinds, namely – Trojan, Spartan and Corinthian. Out of these, one of the most admired helmets by collectors is the ‘Trojan war’ helmets.

Though the helmets of these ancient Greek men were of different designs, there was an underlying similarity too. The chief difference, however, which differentiated one helmet from the others was – the color of the helmet and the plume. Most of the Trojan helmets of Greeks were in colors like – silver, black, and bronze. Some of them also had a war paint camouflage color. Orange, red, and black were the popular colors of the plumes.

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.