Ancient Greek Costume

With the Greek civilization counted as one of the oldest civilizations, it is no surprise that ancient Greek male costume has always been intriguing both for the researchers as well as those who are fascinated by everything Greek’. Though the generally worn costume by most Greek men was a comfortable, tunic-like garment, it was mostly given a shape with a kind of belt. This kind of an ancient Greek male costume was called a chiton. A similar type of this dress was worn by women too, though with an additional covering.

To beat the cold, older men wore draped a blanket like costume, either by itself or over their chitons. Travelers had an added variation to the regular costume worn by ancient Greek males – the Chalmys, which was essentially a small rectangular piece of cloth placed over one of their shoulders.

Greeks were very conscious of the human body and displayed it to the best advantage. Rather than conceal, these Ancient Greek Costumes, artistically showed-off the human form.

These may seem rather vulgar in the present day and rather impractical too but they were in vogue at that time. Some of the outfits are the chiton (unisex), exomis (males), tunic (males), himation (males), Doric (females) and ionic (females).

Though most of the dresses were drapes cloths, it is known that the Greeks definitely knew how to make sleeves. However, since normal straight sleeves were considered less aesthetic, bare arms were preferred.

Different periods of Greek history left their mark on the costumes worn by the Greeks. The weather too had its affect as some Greeks wore cloaks during cold. Light leather sandals or boots were a part of the ancient Greek costume to be worn for going outdoors. Costumes for babies were generally linen diapers, though older children wore a cloth wrapped around their waist.

Along with the regular chitons, the ‘peplos’ was a part of the costume of women. It was a shorter tunic worn over the chitons, and was mostly embroidered. These basic costumes were worn by Greeks for centuries. In fact, when studying about Greek costumes it becomes quite clear that the people of Greece were definitely concerned about simplicity and comfort of their attire.