Clothing in the ancient world

The clothing used in the ancient world strongly reflects the technologies that these peoples mastered. Archaeology plays a significant role in documenting this aspect of ancient life, for fabric fibers, and leathers sometimes are well-preserved through time. In many cultures the clothing worn was indicative of the social status achieved by various members of their society.

The attire fashion and clothing is exclusively human characteristic and is a feature of most human societies. In the most ancient days, humans started to implement clothing system to protect their body from heat, sun, rain, cold, etc. and animal skins and vegetation were mainly used as materials to cover their bodies. Clothing and textiles in different periods and ages reflect the development of civilization and technologies in different periods of time at different places. Sources available for the study of clothing and textiles include material remains discovered via archaeology; representation of textiles and their manufacture in art; and documents concerning the manufacture, acquisition, use, and trade of fabrics, tools, and finished garments.

The most common textile in ancient Egypt was flax. While being aware of other materials, the ancient Egyptians preferred to use linen, a product made from the flax plant. They used the flax plant because there was an abundance of it due to the good climate and a strong water source from the Nile River The fact that linen is a flax, a plant based material, is the reason for its ubiquity in ancient Egypt; as the ancient Egyptians believed that animal based fabrics such as wool were impure. Aside from this, other animal based products, such as animal pelts, were reserved for priests and eventually saw adoption by only the highest class of ancient Egyptian citizenry.Linen is also light, strong and flexible which made it ideal for life in the warm climate, wherein abrasion and heat would wear and tear at any fabric worn by its people. Thus, aside from this small minority, every ancient Egyptian used linen as their predominant textile.

The material quality of garments itself could distinguish the classes, where unlike the lower class, those of the upper class used finer linens, depicted in statues and paintings by their translucency. They also used more complex drapery, designs and patterns that included dyed threads and feathers. These materials were expensive and the wearer showed greater status by wearing them. On the other hand, cheaper thicker linen was used within the lower class, where shorter garments were worn by the working class for better mobility in the fields.

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