Ancient Greek Costume

Greece is possibly one of the world’s richest countries when it comes to history and culture. A lot of our present existence be it the language or customs, have somehow or the other evolved from Greek civilization. In fact even the fashion industry has its roots in the ancient Greek costume. Greece was famous for not only its culture but also its mythology and of course the Greek Gods! Large figures of Apollo, Zeus and all of the Gods of Mt. Olympus draped in their impressive ancient Greek costumes still stand tall at Delphi and all over Greece. It is believed that there was a 40-foot statue of Zeus at Olympia!

Fashion of today has its roots in the Ancient Greek Costumes. The Ancient Greeks have inspired the facet of clothing. They were painstakingly fussy about their turn out. There are innumerable statues, carvings and pottery depicting their fashion statements. Such great Greek historians as Herodotus have given us very detailed written descriptions of developments in fashion and the societal significance of Ancient Greek Costume and their accessories. The period post 1200 BC started with a civilization of people who wore bell-shaped skirts and tightly fitted bodices and ended with a race dressed in draped clothes that we associate with the Greeks.

In comparison, the Ancient Greek Costumes were more voluminous then that of the Egyptian counterparts. More often than not these were made of fine wool or linen in spite of the fact that Greeks also had access to linen, hemp cloth and silk. Although there were a variety of styles, the dresses were basically the same – rectangular pieces of cloth draped in different ways. The outfits were unisex and hardly varied down the ages.