[Ancient Egypt - Characteristics of Dress] - Egypt, being a desert climate, did not require clothing to be worn for warmth. Their sewing styles required very few seams, perhaps a little hemming and folded edges. To make their garments, they usually took rectangular pieces of cloth and wrapped them in different ways around their bodies. One could easily tell Egyptian social class by their means of dress, mostly by quality of material and jewelry items, and quantity. All levels of society used the same styles and techniques in dressing. Linen (from the flax plant) was the chief material used for clothing (as well as bandages for wrapping their dead). Linen is difficult to dye without a fixant, so the cloth was either a natural cream color, or bleached white by the sun. They incorporated very fine, sheer linens into their wardrobes as overgarments, and sometimes as the garment itself. The following table shows the various different garments worn throughout different periods in history.

Period	Men	Women
Old Kingdom	Cloth Loincloths Short, wraparound skirts Long, narrow aprons Long cloaks Sashes and straps Sandals	Cloth loincloths Wraparound skirts (various) Wraparound sheath dresses Bead-net dresses V-necked dresses Shawls and long cloaks Sashes and straps Sandals
Middle Kindgom	Cloth & leather loincloths Wraparound skirts (various) Long, narrow & triangular aprons Short shawls & long cloaks Sashes and straps Sandals	Cloth loincloths Wraparound skirts (various) Wraparound sheath dresses Bead-net dresses V-necked dresses Shawls and long cloaks Sashes and straps Sandals
New Kingdom	Cloth & leather loincloths Wraparound skirts (various    lengths, sometimes layered) Sashed, wraparound skirts Triangular aprons Bag tunics Knotted, wraparound cloaks Sashes and straps Sandals	Cloth loincloths Wraparound skirts (various) Wraparound sheath dresses Wraparound dresses(more    complex construction) Bag tunics Sashes and straps Sandals

Egyptian Costume Terms:

Loincloth: - Undergarment which was much like a linen diaper. All classes and genders wore them, the upperclass as part of the undergarment, and for the lower class, would often only wear the loincloth.

Schenti: - Another name for the wrapped skirt garment that men wore throughout Egypt's history. Also called a shent, skent, or schent.

Diadem: - Crowns.

[OLD KINGDOM]

[MIDDLE KINGDOM]

[NEW KINGDOM]