Does anyone know what kind of fabric is used to make a chiton and the himation?
This is a very wild guess based on no research whatsoever! Silk was of course very much a luxury product, so I guess that leaves linen (which is what the Egytians used (I think?) or wool. I know the Romans made their togas from woven wool cloth so I would imagine the Greeks used much the same. I have some clothes made of very fine woollen material, it’s almost like t-shirt material, so it didn’t have to be thick and bulky. It also drapes very well (and doesn’t crease) and looking at the clothes depicted in statues they must also have used a material that drapes well, not the thicker material we associate with suits or overcoats.
This is just an observation based on some practical experience, are there any clothing experts out there?
I think I can help with your question, although my knowledge of Greek costume is strictly incidental. I did some experimenting last winter with making a Greek-style dress, which was based at the time on insufficient research but turned out to be very educational from a practical standpoint. I’ve since read a bit more about how the clothing was made and worn, and would have responded to you sooner except that I wanted to double-check at the library about the type of fabric used.
Linen, wool, or (possibly) cotton was what was available at the time, in a variety of coarseness and thickness. Wool tended to be used for outer garments; the chiton might more likely have been linen–it seems there was some association of linen as being more appropriate for sacred occasions than wool.
The texture and body of a fabric, regardless of the material it’s made of, can vary enormously. If you’re trying to find a modern equivalent, the most important thing is that it drape well, which means the fabric shouldn’t have any stiffness to it – a loose weave is best. Cotton prints don’t work well for this reason, since they tend to hold their shape (as I discovered…). Muslin is a slightly better possibility, although it you would probably want to dye it, linen, of course, or a crepe-type fabric of rayon or silk.
You didn’t indicate what your interest is in this, so if it’s purely historical, you can ignore this last part of my post. But I’m hoping someone here may find some of the practical aspects for recreating their clothing useful (or at least interesting).
thanks for the replies, i just want to wear it around like i would with a modern t-shirt, though i do hope to be as historically accurate as possible
well the chitons as far as I know where either wool or linen (I am talking about the Classical period. Himation was of any available material really.
Both were of varying quality with himation, being the outer garment, being the one with more variations from a simple stout as Socrates wore to extremely expensive ones of fine weaving and materials.