Coco Chanel and Biblical fashion

Have you ever woken up in the morning and wondered what you were going to wear? The average woman in biblical times would not have had that problem. Her wardrobe was simply too limited. She might have a change of clothes or two. But that was about it. Coco Chanel and Prada would have wept daily.

Design by Coco Chanel

Because fabric is destroyed easily through the ravages of time, we don’t have a lot of archaeological evidence that would give us exact fashion descriptions from this period. As it so happens, all the copies of Vogue from the Biblical era have also been eradicated (probably by angry husbands with high credit card bills), which leaves us with basic information and a few educated guesses.

If you were not rich, you wore a tunic, usually wool and long, if you could afford the extra fabric. (Men also wore tunics, but theirs would be shorter.) This was a simple, shapeless garment without darts or tucks, cut straight on the sides, or sometimes woven as a whole, like Jesus’s garment for which the Roman soldiers gambled.

Some women would have had embroidery on their garments, and the wealthier people would have been able to dress up their clothes with accessories such as earrings, armbands, and necklaces. In my visits to different museums around the world, I’ve seen a number of gems and precious metals favored by the people of biblical times, among them carnelian, gold, lapis lazuli, and turquoise. Many other gemstones are named in the Bible, as well.

At the height of summer, the temperature in parts of Israel can rise to well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Imagine wearing a big wool garment all the way to the floor, without even the comfort of deodorant. On the other hand, you were never expected to wear pantyhose, which must have been an act of grace from God, because as far as I am concerned, those things are an instrument of the devil.

When the weather turned colder, over the tunic you would wear a mantle, though not everyone could afford one. With a bigger budget, you could afford linen for the summer. And for the very rich, there was silk. Both men and women would wear a sash or belt—leather for the financially challenged, and linen or wool for everyone else. The sash worked like pockets, and you could tuck things inside.

Women generally wore a light veil that covered their hair, although they could remove it inside the house, and sometimes outdoors as well. The weather in the Middle East can be rough on the skin, and the veil helped protect your face.

We are a bit fuzzy when it comes to undergarments. They might have worn simple loincloths, or something along the lines of a short slip. The truth is that the Israelites weren’t in the habit of drawing pictures of women in their skivvies. We find our concepts from Egyptian drawings and Assyrian art. One thing for certain, Victoria’s Secret would have gone bust in the times of the Bible, which is not so tragic.