Often we have to look to our past to understand our future. Considered one of the first great civilizations, Greek culture is studied in depth. This brings us to the subject of the practical attire of the people.

Attire Worn By the People of the City-States of Greece

The culture of the city-states of the early Greek civilizations has been easily researched from carvings, tombs, ruins, sculptures and art depicting scenes of their every day life. Greek clothing was very simple and light, even for the mythical religious figures. A comprehensible fact to keep in mind is the hot climate of Hellas, the historical name of Greece.

Greeks wore loose clothing generally white or otherwise dyed in bright color or bleached. Typical attire consisted of several pieces with the chiton confectioned in linen for summer and wool during winter. The chiton was a long square garment attached along the arms with pins to make sleeves and a belt round the waist. It is quite similar to the tunics we wear today. Chitons were unisex pieces made by mothers, daughters, and female slaves using long pieces of fabric. Chitons generally were decorated with embroidery on the bottom representing the city-state in which the individual lived.

Historians and archaeologists have found that the clothing, like art, was influenced by the different Greek periods. They found particular Doric clothing existed from the beginning of the archaic period, and other versions from the Ionic that was a later adoption of the original. Research found that women wore peplos, a sort of shorter embroidered tunic, placed over chitons.

Depending on the weather, some Greeks wore cloaks or loincloths, sometimes used as a blanket if needed. Greeks used to walk barefoot, particularly in the house. Outdoors they sometimes wore light leather sandals or boots in rocky terrain. Babies usually wore nothing, except linen diapers, while children’s clothing consisted of cloth wrapped around their middles. Older men wore draped mantles either alone or over their chitons. An item typically only worn by travelers was the Chalmys, a smaller rectangle placed over one of their shoulder.

Chitons and peplos were the basic garments worn by Greeks for centuries. When it came to attire, the people of the city-states of Greece were definitely interested in simplicity and comfort.

The fact that Indonesia is comprised of thousands of islands has greatly influenced the diverse styles and established clothing worn in Indonesia. Every regional area represents their own customs with their own traditional clothing. Generally however, the country has been modernized and most people wear clothes similar to that of the Western style of dressing.

In a lot of the country’s rural areas and on special occasions, Indonesians wear their customary dresses. Batik is considered formal clothing in Indonesia, and usually comes in magnificent colors and fabrics, some even elaborated with trimmed gold threads, depending on which part of the country it comes from.

Clothing worn in Indonesia for professionally working men, is generally suits and ties, however most men don’t wear ties and just go with regular shirts and pants, particularly jeans for informal events. For women, dress is generally the clothing worn in Indonesia, even in severe hot weathers; on festivities and special events, women wear colorful and brilliant traditional dresses complete with headscarves, as well as on particular occasions women even cover their faces with only the eyes seen through the fabric in some regions of the country.

Indonesia’s climate is normally hot, so the majority of clothing worn in Indonesia are loose, like the wrap-around sarong-style skirts matched with light-fabric shirts; the fabric is sometimes decorated with embroidery. On casual settings like Friday prayers and relaxing at home, tubular sarongs of soft cotton fabric are a favorite choice of Indonesians; soft floral patterns are often the preference of women, while men like them in plaid patterns.

Tubular sarong clothing in Indonesia is usually worn by older women, while the younger ones fancy the more gratifying fit of tightly-wrapped kain panjang (a long cloth about two to two-and-a-half meter). Central Javanese such as Yogyakarta and Solo are famous for their elaborate kain panjang in exquisite fabric, worn by women and men swathed tightly around hips and waist, with little pleats made with loose front end of the cloth that falls straight in front.

Another type of clothing worn in Indonesia that is often seen on particular events is the short jacket that frequently has gold trims and buttons worn by men; the women on the other hand, wear kebaya or a cotton blouse that varies in style, some are gauze-fine with remarkable embroidery, and some are the heavier ones with its lacy cutouts.

Clothing worn in Indonesia is as historic as its country; Indonesians have represented their customs and the self-importance of its tribes through the preservation of their traditional clothing. Indonesia may have taken a grasp of the modern world in recent years, but its customary clothing has been a part of every family’s asset and pride.