Greek dress

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Ancient Greeks depicted in variety of different costumes.
Detail of a Kore's dress
14th-century military martyr wears four layers, all patterned and richly trimmed: a tunic and a mantle decorated with a tablion

Greek dress refers to the clothing of the

Greek people and citizens of Greece
from the antiquity to the modern times.

Ancient period

Main article: Clothing in ancient Greece

Clothing in ancient Greece primarily consisted of the

chiton, peplos, himation, and chlamys. While no clothes have survived from this period, descriptions exist in contemporary accounts and artistic depictions. Clothes were mainly homemade, and often served many purposes (such as bedding). Despite popular imagination and media depictions of all-white clothing, elaborate design and bright colors were favored.[1]

Ancient Greek clothing consisted of lengths of linen or wool fabric, which generally was rectangular. Clothes were secured with ornamental clasps or pins (περόνη, perónē; cf. fibula), and a belt, sash, or girdle (zone) might secure the waist.

Men's robes went down to their knees, whereas women's went down to their ankles.

Byzantine period

Main article: Byzantine dress

The Byzantine dress changed considerably over the thousand years of

fashions
at the Imperial Court.

As for the colour, purple and tyrian purple (porphyra) was reserved for the imperial dynasties; other colours in various contexts conveyed information as to class and clerical or government rank. Lower-class people wore simple tunics but still had the preference for bright colours found in all Byzantine fashions. The Byzantine love for colour had its sinister side. The races in the Hippodrome used four teams: red, white, blue and green; and the supporters of these became political factions, taking sides on the great theological issues.

Ottoman period

Main articles: Ottoman Greece and Ottoman clothing
Greek merchant (16th century) by Cesare Vecellio

Inside the

sumptuary laws
). The clothing of Muslims, Christians, Jewish communities, clergy, tradesmen state and military officials were strictly regulated during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. Political crises of the 17th century were reflected as chaos in clothes.

During the period, each area had its own different clothing style. The islanders, from the westernmost

Ionian islands to the easternmost Cyprus, used to wear the Vraka, a type of traditional breeches
.

At the rural areas, a popular clothing was the

armatoloi.[2] and predominantly by the Arvanites
of Greece as described by foreign travelers.

Apart from them, the wealthy Greeks of the urban centres adopted the Western European-style dress.

Modern period

Spyros Louis
wearing a fustanella

In the independent Greece, Otto and Amalia were the first to be interested in fashion matters. Amalia created a romantic folksy court dress, which became a national Greek costume still known as the Amalía dress.[3] It follows the Biedermeier style, with a loose-fitting, white cotton or silk shirt, often decorated with lace at the neck and handcuffs, over which a richly embroidered jacket or vest is worn, usually of dark blue or claret velvet. The skirt was ankle-length, unpressed-pleated silk, the color usually azure. It was completed with a soft cap or fez with a single, long, golden silk tassel, traditionally worn by married women, or with the kalpaki (a toque) of the unmarried woman, and sometimes with a black veil for church. This dress became the usual attire of all Christian townswomen in both Ottoman Empire-occupied and liberated Balkan lands as far north as Belgrade.

Otto adopted the fustanella for his personal guard, still in use by the Evzones, members of the Presidential Guard.

Since then, the Greek fashion follows the European standards. However completely black clothing is worn for one year in mourning.

A cliché depicts also the mountainous Cretans wearing black trousers, shirts, black stivania (Cretan type of boot), black sariki (Cretan type of woven headscarf), and gold neck chain.

Gallery

Men

  • Byzantine-era working class man from Beroea wearing a distinctive red cap and light bracca (Vraka) trousers tucked into knee-high boots
    Byzantine-era working class man from Beroea wearing a distinctive red cap and light bracca (Vraka) trousers tucked into knee-high boots
  • Otto of Greece wearing fustanella in Evzonas uniform
    Otto of Greece wearing fustanella in Evzonas uniform
  • Traditional Cretan costume
    Traditional Cretan costume
  • Vraka from the Aegean islands and coastal mainland
    Vraka from the Aegean islands and coastal mainland
  • Traditional costume from Macedonia (Greece)
    Traditional costume from Macedonia (Greece)

Women

  • Queen Amalia wearing the national Greek costume
    Queen Amalia wearing the national Greek costume
  • Type of Amalia dress
    Type of Amalia dress
  • Costume from Ioannina (19th century)
    Costume from Ioannina (19th century)
  • Costume from Crete (late 19th century)
    Costume from Crete (late 19th century)
  • Princess Marie Bonaparte in traditional Greek costume
    Princess Marie Bonaparte
    in traditional Greek costume
  • Costume from Samos
    Costume from Samos

References

  1. ^ Ancient Greek Dress Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  2. ^ Maria Lada-Minōtou; I. K. Mazarakēs Ainian; Diana Gangadē (1993). Greek Costumes: Collection of the National Historical Museum. Athens: Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece. p. xxx.
  3. ^ "National Costume of Greece". Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2014. National Costume of Greece
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Traditional clothing of Greece.
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