Normally, when someone thinks about the Vikings, the image that comes to mind is someone who is unwashed and wears ugly cloths. There are various reasons that explain why the Vikings wear the clothes they do and look the way they do. It has been said that the clothing that was initially worn by the Vikings is worn and is back in fashion. The dressing code of the Vikings has been explained in this article.
The classes that exist in Vikings dictates the modes of dressing of people found in the community. Thralls, Karls and Jarls are the three classes that existed in their community. The slaves made up the lower class known as Thrall. The karls was made up of the middle class. In this group, we find the farmers and the herders. Its true, the Karls owned pieces of land, but this did not make them rich. They hand large pieces of land and had enough money to live luxuriously.
The weather also controlled the mode of dressing of the Vikings. The history of the Vikings show that Scandinavia was colder in the past than it is today. Initially, the temperature was one percent lower than it is today. Therefore, it is the cold weather that also facilitated their mode of dressing. They had to include layers which would prevent them from falling sick.
The clothes that the men worn consisted of a Viking tunic. The Viking tunic was mainly used to cover the under tunic. The material that was used to make them was linen. Since the middle and the lower class were not able to afford linen, they used wool, read more now. The linen underwear worn by men was covered with a pair of trousers, read more. For those who did not want to wear the trousers, their covered the underwear with leggings. Their shoes were made of goat leather. They used it mainly because it is waterproof, and since the Vikings were fond of sailing, it came in handy.
Women did not wear clothes that are very different from what they wear today. Linen was the material that the tailors used to make underdresses for women. The clothes made for women were used to cover their entire body. This was done to protect the women from the cold weather. Wool was used to make the shorter dress that was worn on top of the long one. Both the men and the women also wore a belt. Wool hats were worn on the head as shown here.