Early Iron Age (First Half of the 1st Millennium BCE)

Women of this time spun their own threads and wove fabrics for their garments using linen, hemp, and wool. To fasten parts of their clothing that weren't sewn together, they used a newly discovered item—the fibula. The fibula resembles a modern safety pin and proved so convenient that we still use it today. During the Early Iron Age, fibulae were large, suggesting that fabrics were denser and coarser than modern ones. They were made of bronze or, less commonly, iron. The ancient garment likely consisted of one or two pieces of cloth crossed at the back, with ends fastened by fibulae at the front of the body above the chest. A fibula may also have fastened the lower part of the skirt if it had no seam.

Beyond fibulae, Thracian women wore many ornaments on their heads, bodies, and clothing. They braided their hair into small plaits decorated with bronze spirals. They adorned their necks with necklaces made of bronze spirals or tubes, clay, or stone. The most prized necklaces featured amber beads, fossilized resin from coniferous trees, which were considered both medicinal and symbolic of the sun. On their arms, they wore large bracelets crafted from spirally wound metal bands or wire, also made of bronze. Their bronze rings were decorated with spirals, too.

Late Iron Age (Second Half of the 1st Millennium BCE)

Women continued to wear garments made from linen, hemp, wool, and animal hair, which they dyed and embroidered. Fashion evolved during this period. Ancient authors noted that Thracians preferred colorful fabrics and wore warm, thick clothing in winter. Noble ladies received fine fabrics and garments as gifts from near and distant lands. For example, a greave from Zlatinitsa depicts two women. The standing figure wears a long garment decorated with horizontal triangles, similar to the seated woman’s dress. Both have short hair, smoothed back and held with diadems or ribbons. Their footwear is striking: tall boots laced at the top with pointed, upward-curving tips. Jugs from Rogozen and a cup from Lukovit show a different style of dress: the garment’s upper section crosses at the chest, with one end covering the right shoulder and passing under the left armpit, while the other covers the left shoulder and hangs down. The hairstyles feature long hair parted down the middle and braided into two plaits. An appliqué from Letnitsa reveals a third style—an ankle-length dress with elbow-length sleeves.

Interestingly, Thracian women frequently bore tattoos. Greek artists painting on ceramic vessels often depicted them with tattoos on their arms, necks, legs, and sometimes parts of their faces.

Thracian women during this period, especially noble ladies, embraced Greek fashion while maintaining their local traditions.

Greek women wore three types of clothing: the peplos, the chiton, and the himation. The peplos was a rectangular piece of woolen fabric wrapped around the body, leaving the arms bare and fastened at the shoulders with pins. The chiton consisted of two rectangular pieces of fabric sewn together at the sides to form a cylinder, then fastened at the top with rows of buttons or a seam. It was cinched with a belt at the waist or across the chest and shoulders. The himation was a single piece of fabric draped around the body in various ways, leaving one arm free. The woman depicted in the Kazanlak Tomb—likely the wife of a noble Thracian—wears a chiton and himation.

Roman Period (1st–3rd Century CE)

As the Balkans became part of the vast Roman Empire, Roman fashion gradually spread among the Thracians. Most Roman garments were made from wool, though rarer materials were sometimes used, such as linen from Egypt, cotton from India, or silk from China.

The basic men's garment was the tunica, which typically reached the knees. It was made from two rectangular pieces of fabric sewn together, or from a single larger piece folded in half and sewn at the sides, with openings cut for the head and arms.

Roman women wore tunics that were longer than those worn by men. The women's version used wide fabric to form elbow-length sleeves. It typically consisted of two rectangular pieces sewn together, but instead of a shoulder seam like the men's tunic, the fabric was fastened at several points. The draping between these fastenings created the sleeves' distinctive appearance. While men wore white tunics, women chose fabric in various colors. Linen and silk came in pastel tones, while wool offered brighter shades. Women's tunics featured stripes in purple, sky blue, green, yellow, wax-yellow, amethyst, hazelnut, or almond.

The stola symbolized women's attire, just as the toga did for men. Only married women (matrons) wore it, always over a tunic with elbow-length sleeves. Rather than being fastened high under the chest, the stola was cinched at the waist or hips.

From the late 3rd century CE onward, a women's garment called the dalmatica gained popularity. It featured long, wide sleeves and wasn't cinched with a belt. Typically reaching the ankles, it was decorated with stripes and embroidery along its full length and around the wrists. A depiction in the Silistra tomb from the 4th century shows a noble lady wearing a brown tunic beneath a white, green, and gold dalmatica, her head covered by a veil. Her attendants wear dalmaticas in red and light brown.

Both men and women wore cloaks for protection in cold or bad weather. These were long pieces of fabric wrapped around the body and fastened at one shoulder with a fibula (safety pin).