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Greek dress is the clothing of theGreek people and citizens ofGreece from antiquity to modern times.
Clothing in ancient Greece primarily consisted of thechiton,peplos,himation, andchlamys. 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.
The Byzantine dress changed considerably over the thousand years ofthe Empire, but was essentially conservative. The Byzantines liked colour and pattern, and made and exported very richly patterned cloth, especiallyByzantine silk, woven and embroidered for the upper classes, andresist-dyed andprinted for the lower. A different border or trimming round the edges was very common, and many single stripes down the body or around the upper arm are seen, often denotingclass or rank. Taste for the middle and upper classes followed the latestfashions at the Imperial Court.
As for the colour,purple andtyrian 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 becamepolitical factions, taking sides on the great theological issues.
Inside theOttoman Empire, Greeks were part of theRum Millet. The administrators occasionally brought about legal regulations on clothes (seesumptuary 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 westernmostIonian islands to the easternmostCyprus, used to wear theVraka, a type of traditionalbreeches.
At the rural areas, a popular clothing was thefustanella, a traditional skirt-like garment. Fustanella was worn also by theklephts and thearmatoloi.[2] and predominantly by theArvanites of Greece as described by foreign travelers.
Apart from them, the wealthyGreeks of the urban centres adopted the Western European-style dress.
In the independent Greece,Otto andAmalia were the first to be interested infashion matters. Amalia created a romantic folksy court dress, which became a national Greek costume still known as theAmalía dress.[3] It follows theBiedermeier 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 claretvelvet. The skirt was ankle-length, unpressed-pleatedsilk, 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 thekalpaki (atoque) of the unmarried woman, and sometimes with a blackveil for church. This dress became the usual attire of allChristian townswomen in bothOttoman Empire-occupied and liberatedBalkan lands as far north asBelgrade. Nineteenth-century Greek painterThéodore Jacques Ralli created countless paintings featuring subjects wearing traditional Greek attire between 1873 and 1909. The woman typically wore the Greek mandili headscarf.[4]
Otto adopted thefustanella for his personal guard, still in use by theEvzones, members of the Presidential Guard.
Since then, the Greek fashion follows theEuropean standards. However completely black clothing is worn for one year in mourning.
A cliché depicts also the mountainousCretans wearing black trousers, shirts, black stivania (Cretan type of boot), black sariki (Cretan type of woven headscarf), and gold neck chain.
Media related toTraditional clothing of Greece at Wikimedia Commons
