Islamic and Byzantine Clothing by Class Structure

In todays world, people have the ability to be able to wear whatever they want without getting judged by it. When you see a man with a brief case and a tuxedo, you can assume that he is a wealthy man but you can't be sure. When you see a man with a raggedy shirt, dirty pants, and no shoes, you can assume that he is not very wealthy. Our life today revolves around what people wear. People have their own trends of clothes that they wear, but what they wear usually has a lot to do with how wealthy they are. This is similar to how people in the Islamic Empire and the Byzantine Empire incorporated their clothing with their wealth.

Emperor Justinian and his consequences. Emperor Justinian wore a long, tight, robe like clothing that was mostly worn over the tunic, this robe was held together by a belt.
http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/01181/Byzantine%20costume.pdf

The dress in the Islamic Empire is simple, a tunic. The women wore a hat-like type kilt on their head. The islamic dress could show if the person was a believer or a nonbeliever. The dress is meant to not reveal any curves or figures of the woman body. These dresses could show your role or social structure in society. Dresses showed cleanliness and it showed respect to the islamic dress code.
http://char.txa.cornell.edu/islamicclothes.htm










Clothing in the Islamic Empire and Byzantine Empire both showed class structure. In the Byzantine Empire, the most common type of clothing was the tunic. For the tunic, stripes and cuffs were sewed on for decoration. Having a belt on with your tunic back in the Byzantine Empire showed wealth, most belts were put on in the winter if people had them. The basic tunic was worn by a lot of mid-class people. The belt was cinched by a buckle, it really showed a courtly rank if you had a belt. In the Islamic Empire, everyone who wore either a tall hat, or a robe, or long sleeve button down showed peoples wealth. If you had any of those, you were ranked in the upper class. The nice, elegant clothes were imported from Iraq, and Baghdad. Sleeves showed your ranking in the classes, if you had long sleeves you were very wealthy. Having long sleeves kept you warm in the winter and could keep you away from the sun in the summer and getting sunburnt. Both the Islamic Empire and the Byzantium Empire had pride in their clothing, the people with the nicest, most elegant clothes were ranked highly in the social class.

• Jirousek, Charlotte. N.p.. Web. 19 Dec 2013. <http://char.txa.cornell.edu/islamicclothes.htm>.     
• Vukson, D.. N.p.. Web. 19 Dec 2013. <http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/01181/Byzantine costume.pdf>.