Bowling for Columbine

The ancient Egyptians were very picky about their cleanliness and personal appearance. The weather conditions in Egypt were fervid which caused the Egyptians to wear lightweight and comfortable clothing. The material the loincloth was made from determined their status in society. The ancient Egyptians loved ornamentation, and all forms of jewelry, including anklets, earrings, rings and necklaces. Hairstyles were also very important due to them helping identify a persons role in society or political significance and very similar to our hairstyles today.

The Egyptians chose to wear lightweight clothing made from plant fibers because of the intense heat. Women were mostly in charge of textile manufacturing and garment making. The primary fashion was a short kilt for men and a simple shift dress for women which were woven from white linen. “The modern waist belt or girdle comes straight down from antiquity. It is not surprising that man everywhere early discovered the great convenience of the girdle and immediately appropriated it to his use” (Lester, 237) The wealthy people both men and women wore long see-through robes that were pleated. Noblemen would sometimes wear a long robe over his kilt, while the women wore long pleated dresses with a shawl. When doing hard work, men wore a loin cloth, and women wore a short skirt. The children usually ran around naked during the summer time. Women usually wouldn’t get dressed without washing and afterwards they rubbed themselves with scented oil and then placed a fairly large patch of linen over their heads, gathered the loose corners up and tied them in a knot just below the chest. Most people walked barefoot, but wore sandals on special occasions. “Among the higher class, both men and women gave much attention to the beauty of their sandals, which were usually pointed and turned up at the toe. Others had a sharp, flat point, and still others were simply rounded” (Lester, 251) The king wore very elaborately decorated sandals, and sometimes decorative gloves on his hands. The sandals were sometimes made of palm fiber or braided papyrus together with leather sandals.

Everyone in Egypt wore some type of jewelry. The importance of jewelry to the Egyptians contributed greatly to their culture. “Primitive man made use of all these centers for adornment, using headbands, necklaces, girdles, bracelets, and ankle rings. Then to keep evil forces from entering the body, he hung pendant ornaments at the ears, the lips, and the nose” (Lester, Preface v) Egyptians made their jewelry from natural materials, like beads, shells, plant branches, stones, and even bones. Flax or cow hair were used to thread the jewelry together. To spices up these stones they would paint them with glass substances. Pairs of bracelets were worn around the wrist or high on the arm just above the elbow. Rings and anklets were also worn. Women wore large round earrings and put bands around their heads or held their hair in place with ivory and metal hair pins. Ordinary people wore necklaces made of colored pottery beads. Jewelry was also placed on the deceased. Excavations of tombs have shown that queens of Egypt were almost always buried with a variety of jewelry to be used in the afterlife. An odd type of jewelry that never appeared in other cultures was the vest, which was worn around the chest area and was normally made of gold.

Our hairstyles today and Egyptian hairstyles have many things in common, both vary with age, social status, and gender.