Herakles: Premiere Party

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Welcome - The Legend of Herakles - Characters - Costuming

Ancient Greek Costuming

Certain players may wish to make the effort of Costuming in the Ancient Greek style.

The Ancient Greeks did not wear the Toga, the tradional costume of the Romans.

Tradional Greek clothing was made up of four main pieces, worn in a variety of combinations:

The primary piece of clothing was the Chiton, a long robe-like outside made of two pieces of light drapery worn directly over the body. A belt was usually worn under the breast, around the waist or both.

The other major piece of clothing was the Exomis, a tunic made of a piece of drapery held in place with a belt and tied over the left shoulder. Though a different style than the Roman Toga, it was similar in appearance.

A Himation was worn as a cloak, typically over a Chiton or a Exomis. Again it was similar in appearance to a Toga, but with a lot less volume.

The Chlamys was sometimes worn over another piece of clothing as a cloak, but typically worn on it's own, and was nothing more than a rectangle of woolen material, pinned at the right shoulder and wrapped around the upper body over the left shoulder and back to the right shoulder again.

While not technically accurate, the Toga is close enough in appearance to be a reasonable substitute. Basic instructions on how to make (and wear) a toga can be found at: How To Make a Toga.

1930's Costuming

In the 1930's there was a general desire for elegant and sophisticated clothing, for 2 main reasons. Firstly as a reaction to the wild and daring fashions of the 1920's with its short dresses, and secondly due to the financial hardships of the decade people wanted to appear well dressed and respectable, especially when they weren't.

A hat or a cap was a must when going out, and men were very rarely seen without a jacket or suit. For women, clothes were close fitting and well cut, with hem lines below the knee.

For those wishing to view examples of the clothing of the ere, Fashion Era has a number of examples including:

Another resource is What to Wear to 1920's and 1930's Dance Events at Vintagedance.com.