Ancient Greece Chiton

   There was no such thing as metallic camisole in the ancient past. But the Ancient Greeks wore something similar to the present-day camisole and called it a chiton. Chiton was a long rectangular-shape simple linen or wool shirt, fastened with fibula or brooch at shoulders and belt at the waist. Wool was originally used to make these ancient camisoles until lighter linen replaced it as the main fabric. In contrast to the synthetic nylon and spandex, wool and linen are natural materials with capabilities of water absorbency, warmness, and durability. The length of the ancient camisole determined people’s status and occupation in the society. For example, short chitons were worn by common people, soldiers, and teenagers, and long chitons were worn by women, elderly, and aristocrats. When weather got colder, an outer rectangular coat, himation, was worn over the chiton. While anybody can wear a metallic camisole in the modern society, that was not the case in the Ancient Greece. White chitons could only be allowed for clothing to rich people. Black as well as blue, dark-green, and grey chitons were primarily worn by common citizens and poor. No metallic color camisoles existed in the Ancient Greece, save only rare and expensive imported from Asia shiny grey silk. It is certain that gold and silver jewelry could have been the only accessible metallic color objects in Greece of that time. The Ancient Romans took much from Greek inventions, including its simple and elegant chiton. Romans decorated it with ornaments, brooches, precious stones, and other accessories and started to call it tunic. Roman legionnaires adopted tunic as an undergarment. Tunic protected their bodies and clothes form sweat, dirt, cold or hot weather. Simple camisole has been in the process of redesign until today. In the eighteenth’s century Europe, camisole was shortened to the waist level to satisfy the growing demand for more comfortable and stylish underwear for corsets and dresses.