Dress Like an Ancient Egyptian

Ancient Egyptians are remembered not only for their rich history, but for their beautiful and ornate fashion. Egyptian style represents both practicality and indulgence, so to properly dress as an ancient Egyptian, one needs to combine a bit simplicity, symbolism, history and amazing jewelry to make it work.

Steps

Wearing Egyptian-Style Clothing and Headpieces

1. Wear a tunic. Solid white linen tunics were a very common garment worn by both Egyptian men and Egyptian women for everyday wear.
   • Men: your tunic should fall right below the knee, lengthwise as was customary in ancient Egypt.The sleeves were normally somewhat loose and usually ranged from at least ¼ to ¾ length for men as well. Currently, tunics for men that extend to the knee can be found at costume shops, medieval collectible shops, Amazon and eBay.
   • Women: your tunic should extend down to your ankle. Sleeves are optional. Be sure to wear a fitted or tailored tunic. Egyptian women wore very tightly fitted garments which were often hemmed to display their shapely curves and also to prevent the garment from becoming frayed.When searching for a tunic, be sure to search specifically for an Egyptian-style tunic dress as the majority of tunics available now are only shirt-length. The correct tunics for women can also be found at costume shops, as well as on Amazon and eBay.
   • Keep it simple. Many of today’s tunic’s come in a variety of colors and styles. However, in ancient Egypt, tunics were almost exclusively white.
2. Wear a loincloth. Male Egyptian laborers mainly wore linen loincloths or skirts that were tied at the waist while the rest of the material was draw between the legs to cover the groin area and buttocks.
   • Men who wear loincloths should ideally be shirtless. The only other items typically worn with loincloths are jewelry, adorned collars, headpieces and sandals.
3. Buy Egyptian headpieces. Egyptians wore headpieces made of fabrics, gems, jewelry and gold for both class status and practical reasons. Egyptian headpieces are often the most extravagant and recognizable part of the ensemble. Without them, it can be difficult to distinguish Egyptian clothing from that of Rome or Greece. Egyptian headpieces are available for purchase at costume shops and online retailers.
   • Choose an appropriate headdress based on your gender and its historical representation. There were hundreds of crown varieties worn by the ancient Egyptians which represented status, divinity and many other characteristics, so be sure to perform research on any crown you may buy.The Names (striped head cloth) headdress for example, is a blue and gold stripped cloth with an asp in the center which was worn by pharaohs such as King Tutankhamen. The tall, tight-fitting cap crown is most attributed to Queen Nefertiti.
4. Wear strappy brown or tan sandals. Ancient Egyptian footwear was created using leather hide and papyrus as straps to secure the hide to the soles of the feet. To replicate the look, sandals should be made from leather with flat soles and the majority of the foot should be exposed.
   • Gladiator-style, t-strap or goddess sandals will complement the look well.
5. Go barefoot. Many ancient Egyptians who were of the lower classes went barefoot throughout their entire lives. Depending on the environment, you can pull off an even more authentic look by not wearing shoes at all.

Adorning the Body with Jewelry

1. Wear an abundance of jewelry. This should include, earrings, wrist cuffs, bracelets, armbands, anklets and rings.
   • Be sure to wear plenty of gold and/or copper pieces. Gold was in abundance in ancient Egypt.
   • Don’t forget to add gems or stones. Pendants or rings such as turquoise, emeralds, obsidian, onyx and rock crystal. Pearls were also extremely common as they were native to Egypt.
   • Avoid wearing silver, as it was not available in ancient Egypt.
2. Wear amulets and charms. Ancient Egyptians often wore these items for either protection or power. Amulets contained carved images of animals, gods, solar deities, other humans and a variety of other figures.
3. Wear a wide collar necklace. One of the most recognizable aspects of ancient Egyptian wear is the adornment of sewn together beads, stones and metals which draped over the shoulders, collarbone and upper back.
   • Keep in mind when searching for or making collars that those made of precious metals and stones were often made for the upper classes and royalty, whereas collars made from shells, wood and bone were often made by the lower or working classes. Be sure to find the appropriate-style collar for your ensemble.
   • Authentic Egyptian collars can be found at many artifact and antique stores or can be handmade with customized amulets and charms.

Applying Egyptian-Style Makeup

1. Bronze up your face and neck. Use bronzer or apply a gold, shimmery foundation to the skin. Try using shades of copper and brown blushes to highlight the cheekbones.
   • Use a foundation brush to start applying foundation to the center of the face and blend outward.
   • Apply brown, deep red, nude or gold tinted lipstick.
2. Contour the eye using eyeliner. Using jet black liquid eyeliner or eyeliner pencil start in the corner of the upper eyelids (near the bridge of the nose) and apply eyeliner right along the edge of each eyelid.
   • At the outer corner of the eyelid, wing the eyeliner horizontally, bringing it out to about ½ inch past the eyelid. Wing the eyeliner slightly upward toward the very end of the pencil stroke.
   • Apply eyeliner to the bottom eyelid. Starting at the bottom corner, directly above the eyelashes and draw to the outer corner of the eye.
3. Fill in eyelids with eyeshadow. Use shimmery blue, emerald green or gold eyeshadow to dab the upper and lower eyelids.
   • Use a small makeup brush and apply a liberal amount of eye shadow on the entire upper eyelid, brushing from the inner corner of the eyelid to the outer corner. Extend the eyeshadow to cover the top of the wingtip you’ve created.
   • Add a smaller amount of eyeshadow directly underneath the bottom eyelashes and extend to cover the bottom of the wingtip you’ve created.
   • Add a lighter shade of eyeshadow right underneath the brow line for a more dramatic effect.
4. Apply jet black, ultra-lash mascara. Liberally apply mascara to the upper and lower eyelashes to lengthen them and darken the eyes. Use the brush to pull and extend the eyelashes
5. Darken the eyebrows with eyebrow pencil. Start from the inner corner of the eyebrow and fill in the eyebrows with black or dark brown eyebrow pencil all the way to the outer corner. Try to ensure that the eyebrows appear smooth and even all the way across.

Tips

• Accessorize with costume or real jewelry: gold earrings, rings and wrist cuffs and beaded necklaces only add to the beauty of Egyptian costumes.
• You can also use false eyelashes instead of mascara to add more depth to the eyes.
• Gold/silver or green self-adhesive jewels are a dazzling complement to the look. They can be placed near the outer corners of the eyes and on the hands and feet as well.
• You can create an even more authentic look by braiding three pieces of gold fabric together to use as the belt.
• If you’ve applied bronzer to your face and neck, applying it to your arms and hands may be useful also.

Warnings

• Invest in some waterproof eye makeup to prevent smudging.

Things You'll Need

• A white, knee-length tunic for men
• A white, ankle-length tunic for women
• Gold or bronze shimmery foundation
• Brown, deep red, nude or gold-tinted lipstick
• Black eyeliner
• Shimmery blue, turquoise, emerald green or gold eye shadow
• Black mascara
• Black or brown eyebrow pencil

*Clothes, shoes, and accessories listed above

Sources and Citations

See also

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