By Monisha Shivaraj
Every single time I scrutinized the minute chapter of ancient Egypt in my grade 6 history textbook, all I pondered on was my urge to go back in time and thrive in the life they did. Dwelling on this I've come so far, wondering how it would be to live in a dynasty full of great pyramids and board games.
When someone mentions ancient Egypt, I always think of royalty, gods and goddesses and of course the elite clothing, the dazzling jewellery, and the gratifying makeup and hairstyle. The Egyptians wore a variety of clothes with an exceptionally parallel look.
Women wore straight dresses of full length and were generally draped or pleated. The rich women of the new kingdom wore dresses made of fine transparent linen. The best way to the ancient Egyptians showed off all their wealth was by wearing the most attractive jewellery. The popular style of today, the one-shouldered clothes, were first worn by ancient Egypt.
Knee-length skirts, kilts and loincloths were worn by men. These clothes were always generally made linen. These skirts were always a wrap around and were accompanied with a belt around the waist. The rich wore the most royal looking linen and the poorer class wore linen of inferior quality. Until the age of 6, clothes were not worn by the ancient Egypt children but after that, they wore the same clothes as the men and women.
Neck collar necklaces, pendants, decorated buttons, rings and bracelets were the common jewellery worn by these people. The jewellery worn by the royals were usually made of precious metals like gold and other precious stones. Seals were put on finger on them and the earrings were also worn. Social position of an Egyptian was indicated by the amount of jewellery and the type of jewellery worn by them. The most common semi-precious stone was lapis lazuli. Coloured glass and coloured cement were also used to make jewellery.
The makeup of this age is the most remarkable one. The most appreciable element of fashion from this era that still exists today is the eyeliner. They wore kohl around the eyes in order to protect themselves from the harmful glares of the sun. some theories postulate that it was called protection against the evil eye. Its also known that both sexes used makeup, including children. Theories say that makeup was worn to protect themselves from the raspy desert sand and the cruel rays of the sun. red ochre was mixed with ointment to make lip balm and perfumes were used as deodorants.
They had the most delightful hairstyles too. Children and priest shaved their heads. The elite of the society hired hairdressers to do their hair. Hairpieces were worn by men and women but wigs were also very common.
Well, All these years and Egyptian fashion still run the modern runways. Many fashion labels now portray the fashion of ancient Egypt. And truth be told everything about Egyptian still engrosses me just like 6th grade.
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