Aztec clothing

Although today it is increasingly common for different regions to wear similar clothing, centuries ago clothing was a key element to differentiate towns, these being representations of the lifestyle of each one of them. To talk about the clothes of one of the most interesting peoples of Mesoamerica in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to talk about the Aztec clothing.

Before talking about the clothing of the Aztecs as such, we must briefly comment who they were, to better understand their chronology and culture and, thus, better understand their clothing.

The Aztecs or Mexicathey were a great empire whose domain extended throughout the area of ​​influence known as Mesoamerica, being a cultural zone of the central American zone. Its period of splendor marks from the postclassic stage of the pre-Columbian peoples until the arrival of the European colonizers.

The area of ​​greatest expansion of the Aztec people was that of Mexico's valley, the stage being especially relevant

between 1300 and 1521. It was at this stage that the Aztecs conquered towns and increased their influence throughout the area.

The first thing to keep in mind about the Aztec clothing is that there were different types of clothing depending on the gender or social class, not being the same the clothes that the men and the women, or the peasants of the warriors wore.

Women's clothing

Aztec women are thought to wore mainly two types of clothing, the lower part being a long skirt that received the namecueitl and at the top a wide shirt that received the name huepili. We must bear in mind that this could vary depending on the area, existing areas of Aztec culture where women only wore the bottom.

For the winter seasons, women's clothing did not vary much, since they only wore one thick fabric jacket to wear on top of the clothes they already wore.

Men's clothing

Aztec men's clothing was much more complex, as it relied heavily on the social status of this. The basic clothing that everyone wore was the maxtlatl, being a cloth loincloth that was passed around the waist in a way similar to that used by sumo wrestlers today. After that they wore a rectangular-shaped clothing called tilmatliwhich was used which cap and that, depending on the social class to which they belonged, they were placed in one way or another.

But it wasn't just the way to place the tilmatli what marked the social class of the man, but that the manufacturing materialn of the garment also served to see the economic and social level of the person who wore it.

Military clothing

The clothing of the military is what we all have in mind when we think of the clothing of the Aztecs, being the one with the greatest number of decorative elements. The main clothing was that of the men, but in addition to that they wore ornate overalls, hats are animal shapes, a cotton vest and more decoration than marked the range that each had in the army.

Priests

The priests' clothing changed a lot depending on the main deity whom he worshiped, since they had to dress in the same way as the gods. His clothes were generally very rich in details, being of the same great quality as that of the noble classes. A curious detail is that they carried marks of blood and viscera resulting from the sacrifices, as a way of honoring the gods.

Kids

The children's clothing was similar to that of adults, girls dressing exactly the same as women, and boys being able to go naked or just with him maxtlatl and not wearing anything on the upper part of the body. We are not aware that at the time children were considered adults and their clothing changed.

We have talked about the elements that we most have in mind when talking about Aztec clothing, but we must also talk about other elements such as footwear, or ornaments.

Footwear

The Aztecs they didn't use to wear shoesThe few examples that we have of his footwear being a type of sandal made of reeds and that were used in a special way. On the other hand, some upper social classes used leather footwear, but they were so rudimentary that they broke with exaggerated ease.

Hats

The hats were highly respected in Aztec culture, being especially relevant to show the importance of the social class to which they belonged. Some types of headdresses were only frowned upon by the military or religious classes, being an offense that they were worn by other people. The type of hat could cause differentiation depending on its use, since they could represent deities or military ranks.

Ornaments

The women used makeup and adorned with items such as earrings or necklacesWhile the men did not decorate themselves except in exceptional cases such as the priests who even put on makeup. The makeup of the gods and warriors was considered a tribute to the gods, depending on the type of makeup to the god they worshiped.