What was the dress in ancient Egyptian times?
Men of all social classes wore a wrap-round skirt called a kilt which was tied at the waist using a belt. The length of the kilt varied depending on the fashion of the time and how rich you were. In the Old Kingdom they were short while in the Middle Kingdom they were calf length. For ordinary men the kilt remained short and plain. From about 1500BC (the beginning of the New Kingdom) it was fashionable for wealthy men to have the garment pleated. Egyptian women wore full length tubular dresses with shoulder straps. This remained the basic type of garment worn by ordinary women for thousands of years. Like the men the clothing of wealthy women became more elaborate during the New Kingdom. It became fashionable for rich women have their dresses pleated or draped. Rich Egyptian men and women decorated their clothes, wore jewellery and elaborate wigs. Ancient Egyptian children, irrespective of their social status, did not wear clothes until they were about six years old when they would wear the same clothes as adults. Household slaves, found in most well-to-do homes, wore the clothes provided to them by their owners. Slaves working on the land, building the monuments or working in the quarries usually went naked. Most Ancient Egyptians went barefoot most of the time but wore sandals for special occasions or if their feet were likely to get hurt. The sandals worn by the poor were made of woven papyrus or palm while those worn by the rich were made of leather.