<P> Royal clothing is particularly well documented, as well as the clothing and crowns of the Pharaohs. The pharaohs would often wear animal skins, usually leopard or lion, as a sign of their station . </P> <P> From about 2130 BC during the Old Kingdom, garments were simple . The men wore wrap around skirts known as the shendyt, which were belted at the waist, sometimes pleated or gathered in the front . During this time, men's skirts were short . As the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, 1600 B.C., came, the skirt was worn longer . Then, around 1420 BC, there was a light tunic or blouse with sleeves, as well as a pleated petticoat . </P> <P> During the Old, Middle and New Kingdom, ancient Egyptian women often wore simple sheath dresses called kalasiris . Women's clothing in ancient Egypt was more conservative than men's clothing . The dresses were held up by one or two straps and were worn down to the ankle, while the upper edge could be worn above or below the breasts . The length of the dress denoted the social class of the wearer . Beading or feathers were also used as an embellishment on the dress . Over the dress, women had a choice of wearing shawls, capes, or robes . The shawl was a piece of cloth around 4 feet wide by 13 or 14 feet long . This was mostly worn pleated as well . Female clothes only changed slightly through the millennia . Draped clothing (with many varieties of drapery) sometimes gave the impression of completely different clothing . It was made of haïk, a very fine muslin . </P> <P> Until the mid-Eighteenth Dynasty women wore a tight - fitting sheath dress, a simple garment that falls from just below the breasts to just above the ankles, being held up by two shoulder straps . On statues the straps cover the breasts, but in painting and relief the single breast depicted in profile is exposed . The dress hugs the body with no slack . Also when women are shown in movement, sitting or kneeling, the dress still clings to the outline of the body as if elasticated . However Egyptian clothes were mostly made from linen, which tends to sag . Surviving dresses consist of a body made from a tube of material sewn up one side, supported not by straps but by a bodice with sleeves . In contrast to dresses shown in art, such linen garments tend to be baggy, and would conceal rather than reveal the body . </P>

How did they make clothes in ancient egypt