By PAGE Editor

The Vikings set sail from Scandinavia between the eighth and 11th centuries, traveling all over Europe and even reaching as far as North America according to recent investigations. Their history has inspired and entertained us in many ways but you might be surprised to discover that their fashion is one of their most enduring legacies. 

Vikings in Popular Culture

To understand the far-reaching appeal of the Viking culture, we need to consider how these sailors and warriors have made a mark on popular culture. Vikings have long been popular characters in TV shows and movies, with 2022's The Northman among the most recent films in this genre. The Vikings series from the History Channel ran from 2013 to 2020 and was so well-received that it inspired the current Vikings: Valhalla sequel on Netflix.

We can also find Vikings and their culture when playing slots online. Vikings Unleased Megaways by Blueprint Gaming features a variety of characters and includes the chance to win a set of free spins. Other slots including Vikings of Fortune and Volatile Vikings show different aspects of their way of life as well as introduce us to interesting Norse characters and bonus features. 

What Was Viking Clothing Like?

The National Museum of Denmark reveals that it’s relatively unusual to find Viking garments that have survived to modern times. This means that our knowledge of what they wore has been cobbled together from a small number of scraps of materials together with what can be worked out from written information and tapestries or figures. 

Men would often wear a long-sleeved tunic with no buttons that reached their knees. A cloak would go over this and would be held in place by a brooch. They would gather their cloak over the arm used to draw their weapon. It's believed that trousers were widely used in this era, but we don´t know for sure what they looked like. Research has uncovered imported clothes made from silk and gold, but the majority of Vikings wore clothing made of wool and flax.   

How Does the Viking Fashion Influence Persist?

The use of natural, sustainable materials is one of the clearest links between modern fashion and what the Vikings wore. A comfortable, baggy look combined with a casual, functional style are other aspects that it’s easy to spot in many modern wardrobes.

Viking men loved to wear chunky pieces of jewelry and often tied up their hair and beards. We can see by this stage that many modern men dress more like Vikings than you might have originally thought. This research piece from Norway suggests that these people wore brighter colors than we typically associate with them. The color red was particularly important as a status symbol because it was difficult to obtain and, therefore, more expensive.  

Dressing like a Viking isn't as difficult or uncomfortable as you might have thought. Many men are already using a style that would have fit in reasonably easily in Viking times, while others would only need to make some minor changes to look the part.  

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT FASHION?

COMMENT OR TAKE OUR PAGE READER SURVEY

Featured