---
node: fashion_minoan
type: fashion
slug: minoan_civilization_fashion
title: "Fashion in the Minoan civilization"
lead: "Minoan Crete's dress, unlike later Greece, was fitted and sewn: women wore tiered flounced skirts with open, tight bodices and men a loincloth, vividly recorded in the frescoes of Knossos."
published: 2026-07-28
updated: 2026-07-28
image_file: minoan_civilization_fashion.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Knossos_women_fresco.jpg"
image_author: "Minoan fresco, Knossos (‘Ladies in Blue’)"
image_license: "Public domain"
change: "Created as a fashion sub-page under the history section, with a period image (greece region)"
requester: internal
reason: "Per the owner's decision, fashion lives under each history era"
---

## Overview

The dress of the Aegean maritime civilisation of Minoan Crete, known from frescoes and figurines, was colourful and refined.

## Key garments and style

Women wore tiered, flounced skirts with a fitted bodice open at the breast, emphasising a narrow waist; men wore a loincloth. Both were rich in woven pattern and dye.

## Transition

Bronze Age Mycenaean Greece carried on this Minoan-derived style.