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. However, you may wonder what the Vikings wear today, learn more. This document gives a history of the dressing code of the Vikings, this site.
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 Thralls made up the lower class and it was mainly made up of slaves. The Karls made the middle class. In this group, we find the farmers and the herders. Even though they had their own land, it was not enough to make them wealthy. The Jarls was made up by the nobles.
The weather also played a very huge role when it comes to what the Vikings wear. Even though Scandinavia is still cold today, it was colder in the past. The average temperature that is recorded is one percent higher than what was experienced before. It is the cold weather that also forced the Vikings to find the mode of dressing that will keep them completely warm. This is the reason as to why wearing of layers was essential to them as it prevented 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 have trousers, they used leggings instead. Their shoes were made of goat leather. The importance of goat leather is that it was very useful when it came to sailing, check it out!.
The women wore similarly to what we see our women wearing today, now. Just like in men, their underdresses were also made of linen. The entire body was covered by their dresses. However, this was not done for any other reason than to keep the women away from cold. A shorter dress was then used to cover the long dress, and the dress was mainly made from wool. A belt was also worn by both genders as shown in this website. Their hats were made of wool, see here!.