Greek Clothing
By: Jia and Gopika
Clothing of Greece
Ancient Greek traditional clothing was all very simple, and usually made at home out of a single piece of wool or linen cloth. These articles of clothing were called chitons, and were worn by both men and women. Since the chitons were sleeveless, women would usually wear cloaks over their chitons, since proper Greek women never revealed bare skin.
However, now due to globalization of normal clothing, the Greeks have taken to the pop culture of jeans and t-shirts for everyday wear. The folk cultural aspect of the chiton is now gone. But the Greeks still have their traditional costumes that they wear during festivals and national holidays, as they did before.
Diffusion
The rapid spread of the chiton is a form of contagious diffusion, from Athens to Sparta. The diffusion of this clothing stayed in Greece, because only the Greeks wore this simple clothing at the time. The spread of the Greek costumes however, is a form of hierarchical diffusion. Only the people who could afford the materials to make this simple, yet colorful costumes would be able to wear them. The poor could not make these costumes since they could not afford to pay for them. However, as these materials became more readily available and cheaper, the poor could now afford to buy them and wear these costumes to celebrations.
Origin
One of the most popular Greek clothing pieces that existed in the olden days.
These pieces of clothing were called chitons. It consisted of a piece
of cloth that was wrapped around ones body. This originated manly as
women's fashion, it was designed to show something similar as the
clothes that Aphrodite wore, she is the Greek goddess of love and
beauty. But it also evolved into men's clothing because the Greek
Dionysius the god of wine, was also believed to wear them.
Some of the characteristics of Greek folk costumes can be traced back to characteristics in ancient Hellenic and Byzantine costumes. The costumes originated all the way from the ancient times of Greece.