Lets face it, when you hear about the Vikings, the first thing that comes to mind is a group of people who do not like to bath and whose cloths are dirty. Even though this is not entirely true, there is some truth in their mode of dressing. It has been said that the clothing that was initially worn by the Vikings is worn and is back in fashion. This document gives a history of the dressing code of the Vikings, this site.
The mode of dressing of the Vikings is dictated by their classes. The Vikings had three kinds of classes, including the Thralls, Karls and Jarls. The Thralls made up the lower class and it was mainly made up of slaves. The karls was made up of the middle class. This group also contains the people who used to farm and take care of cattle. Its true, the Karls owned pieces of land, but this did not make them rich. The Jarl was made up of people who had large pieces of land and has jewellery.
The mode of dressing of the Vikings was also controlled by the climate. 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. It is the cold weather that also forced the Vikings to find the mode of dressing that will keep them completely warm. With the introduction of layers, the Vikings are completely shielded from the cold weather.
Viking tunic was part of the clothes that the men wore. The Viking tunic was normally worn over an under-tunic. Men clothes were mainly made from linen. However, since not all the classes could afford linen, the lower and the middle classes wore clothes that were made from wool. A pair of trousers was used to cover the underwear worn by men. Leggings were also used in place of trousers. When it was very cold, the Vikings tuned to shows which were made from goat leather. The importance of goat leather is that it was very useful when it came to sailing, check it out!.
The women dressed similarly to what we see our women wearing today. Linen was the material that the tailors used to make underdresses for women. The dresses made were used to cover the women from the soldiers to the ankles, read more here. However, this was not done for any other reason than to keep the women away from cold. 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. Their hats were made of wool, see here!.