Secrets of the Ancient Aztecs

Clothing & Jewelry

The Aztecs had a great variety of colorful clothing. The ones that made the clothing were the women. the clothing was generally made of cotton, or ayate fiber, which was made from the Maguey Cactus. This was accomplished by first twisting cotton and fibers onto a stick, which was weighted down with a clay spindle whorl, in order to make thread. Through their simple hand tools, they were able to use this thread to make cloth for use in capes and loincloths for the men. The females wore sleeveless blouses with a long wraparound skirt, and the men wore the capes generally over one shoulder. Slaves and the common people would wear only a simple loincloth. If the man had a higher social status it might be embroidered or have fringes on the two ends. The men would also wear a cloak made from a triangular cloth known as a tilmatli or tilma. They could use it like an apron to carry things or worn as a cloak. On the other hand, the upper class wore more brightly colored clothes and also wore symbols with their particular affiliation on the clothing, pendants, and feathers too. Jewelry was also a very important part in how they dressed. To the Aztecs, the amount of decoration on the clothing indicated the wealth of the wearer. The Aztecs favorite addition to the clothing was copper, gold, jade, silver, turquoise, and emerald. But, the upper class would wear bracelets, necklaces, and earrings.