Beauty and fashion in Ancient Egypt.
A spectacular dress made of beads in a fishnet pattern. This dress, traditionally worn over a white sheath, is a masterpiece of Ancient Egyptian fashion design. One of twenty such dresses worldwide. One of the exhibition’s visitors stood there gazing at the dress for a long time, long enough for me to approach her and ask her whether it was the age or the beauty of the dress that captured her attention.
The lady, who told me her name is Elena Navarro (Toledo, Spain) replied: “Both. It sends shivers down my spine to think that people have always searched for beauty even thousands of years ago.” Elena is – not so coincidently – a fashion designer, and Egypt is on her bucket list; a dream voyage.
Like many visitors, Claudia Kahl (history student, Germany) likes the exhibition.
She has been to Cairo and visited the Egyptian Museum there, because she is “obsessed with Egyptology,” as she puts it.
Her question took me by surprise: “How come the modern Egyptians look nothing like their ancestors when it comes to their fashion? Why didn’t this legacy live on and inspire beauty in the streets of Cairo?”
I replied the only thing that popped into my mind: “Well, it has been thousands of years…many many things have happened ever since!”
Temporary exhibition includes pieces from museums in Bologna, Turin, Florence and Lyon.
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