The central role of white linen in ancient Egyptian women's dresses and fashion

الملخص EN

The examination of artistic representations of women's costume throughout the ancient Egyptian era reveals a notion of style, taste, and appealing expression.

In the ancient Near East, Egypt was well known for its weaving of linen cloth as it was valued at such a high level that labourers received lengths of textiles in return for their work and offerings of fine linen were given to temples.

This celebrated feature of ancient Egyptian society continues to carry significance as depictions of ancient Egyptian women in dresses remain prized pieces of museum collections.

As the garments themselves have mostly deteriorated with time, the modern researcher is mostly left with artistic representations of dresses from various periods of ancient Egyptian history, but not necessarily with the intention of creating chronological timeline of women's costume by dynasty.

Though styles are shared between periods, exemplary examples of the use of linen within different styles of dress have been chosen to represent the artistic character of the age and the evolution of the ancient woman's signature garment.