Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
A chlamys is an ancient Greek piece of clothing, namely a cloak. It was typically worn by Greek soldiers in the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, made from a rectangle of woollen material about the size of a blanket, typically bordered, and usually pinned at the right shoulder. It could be worn over another item of clothing, but was often worn as the sole garment by young soldiers. This page explains the chlamys's simple construction — one unshaped rectangle and a pin — and why that simplicity made it practical dress for soldiers, travellers and horsemen in the Greek world.
Bisht (Arabic Cloak)
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/chlamys). Definition Modified by Apparel Search 8/12/05 |
The chlamys worked because it did several jobs with one piece of cloth. By day it was a cloak; wrapped more tightly it served as a light covering, and at night the same blanket-sized rectangle could be slept in on campaign. Because it was unshaped — no cutting, no sewing beyond a border — any household that could weave a woollen rectangle could produce one, and a worn chlamys could be replaced without a tailor. The pinned right shoulder is the detail ancient art returns to again and again: vase paintings and sculpture show the cloth falling in folds from that single point, sometimes thrown back over both shoulders, sometimes wound around the left forearm as a makeshift shield in a fight.
As a garment type the chlamys belongs to the draped family of clothing, clothing formed on the body from flat cloth rather than cut and sewn to a pattern. That family, which includes the toga, the sari and the belted plaid, shaped dress across the ancient and traditional world long before fitted tailoring became common, and the chlamys is one of its clearest military examples.
A chlamys is an ancient Greek cloak made from a single rectangle of woollen material, about the size of a blanket and typically bordered. It was fastened with a pin, usually at the right shoulder, leaving the right arm free.
The chlamys was typically worn by Greek soldiers in the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, and especially by young soldiers, who often wore it as their sole item of clothing. Its single-pin fastening and blanket size also made it useful travel and riding dress.
The chlamys was usually pinned at the right shoulder with a brooch or fibula. Pinning at the right left the sword arm unencumbered, and the loose cloth could be wrapped around the left arm or drawn up against cold and rain.