Egyptomania: When Ancient Egypt Shaped Modern Style
The fascination with ancient Egypt is one of the most enduring threads in Western art and design. It surfaced in Napoleonic France, Victorian England, and the ornamental vocabularies of the nineteenth century — but nowhere did it burn brighter than in the 1920s, when Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 sent a wave of Egyptian imagery through fashion, architecture, jewellery, and the decorative arts.
What followed beyond archaeology was glamour. Designers reinterpreted the visual language of ancient Egypt—the scarab, lotus, cartouche, falcon, striped nemes headdress, and kohl-lined eye—through gold, lacquer, and geometric precision. The discovery reignited Egyptian Revival and inspired the wave of Egyptomania that became one of the defining visual expressions of the Art Deco era.
Gold, Geometry and the Art Deco Imagination
Jewellers set scarabs in gold and enamel. Poiret dressed women in column silhouettes with kohl-dark eyes. The cinema romanticised Cleopatra in draped fabrics, gold headdresses, and the iconic black bob. Egyptian motifs appeared on cinema facades, perfume bottles, furniture inlay, and printed textiles. The ancient visual language — geometric, symmetrical, richly symbolic — had found a natural home in the modernist design sensibility of the era.
The Visual Codes of Egyptomania
- Symmetry and order — Egyptian art is precise and frontal, commanding and still.
- Gold, black, and desert tone — the palette of sarcophagi, hieroglyphs, and desert stone.
- Symbolic motifs — the scarab, the lotus, the eye of Horus, the falcon, the sphinx.
- Column silhouettes — elongated, structured forms that echo temple architecture.
- Surface richness — lacquer, gilt, enamel, and printed pattern as ornament with meaning.
Antiquity Recast: The Pharaoh Collection
Our Pharaoh pieces draw on this dual legacy — the ancient gravitas of Egyptian imagery and the modernist glamour of its twentieth-century revival. Each piece is designed to carry that symbolic weight without losing the ease of contemporary dressing.
The Egyptian Pharaoh Midi Dress in Black and the Egyptian Pharaoh Midi Dress in Nude are the centrepieces of the collection — structured, elongated, and distinctly referential. Worn in either colourway, they carry the authority of the aesthetic.
For a more body-conscious silhouette, the Pharaoh UPF 50+ Bodycon Dress in Nude and the Pharaoh UPF 50+ Bodycon Dress in Black bring the Egyptian column form into a chic fitted cut — sun-protective and statement-making in equal measure.
To build the look in layers, the Pharaoh Crop Top in Nude and the Pharaoh Crop Top in Black offer a more versatile entry point — worn with wide-leg trousers, a skirt, or styled as part of a co-ordinated set.
From the Nile to the Modern Wardrobe
This aesthetic pays homage to an ancient civilisation of unparalleled opulence, a kingdom where sleek lines, mystical symbolism, and understated sensuality converge. A printed dress needs very little else, so keep accessories sculptural and minimal: a single gold cuff, an architectural earring, a clean sandal. The print itself carries the ceremony.
In a contemporary context, the black and desert colourways transform ancient-inspired motifs into alluring patterns. Unmistakable and regal, a visual language three thousand years old that still feels entirely of the moment. For those who understand that wearing history can be an expression of individuality, honouring the past while tapping into a storied realm, the appeal of these pieces transcends time.
Explore the Full Collection
Browse all ancient Egyptian art-inspired prints — midi dresses, bodycon dresses, and crop tops — in our Egyptian Revival Collection