Encyclopedia of National Dress - Traditional Clothing Around The World (PDFDrive)

Encyclopedia of
National Dress
This page intentionally left blank
Encyclopedia of
National Dress
Traditional Clothing
around the World
Volume 1
Jill Condra, Editor

Copyright 2013 by Jill Condra
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without
prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Encyclopedia of national dress : traditional clothing around the world / Jill Condra, editor.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-313-37636-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-37637-5 (ebook)
1. Clothing and dress—Encyclopedias. I. Condra, Jill, 1968–
GT507.E535 2013
391.003—dc23 2012040568
ISBN: 978-0-313-37636-8 (set)

978-0-313-37638-2 (v 1)
978-0-313-37640-5 (v 2)
EISBN: 978-0-313-37637-5
17 16 15 14 13 1 2 3 4 5
This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook.

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This book is printed on acid-free paper

Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents
Entry Guide vii

Introduction ix
The Encyclopedia 1
Museums with National Dress and Textile Collections 773

Selected Bibliography 777
About the Editor and Contributors 783
Index 793
v
Entry Guide
Afghanistan, 1 Croatia, 167

Albania, 11 Cuba. See Caribbean Islands
Algeria, 19 Denmark, 177
Angola. See Southern Africa Dominican Republic. See Haiti and the
Armenia, 29 Dominican Republic
Australia, Aboriginal, 44 Egypt, 183
Australia, Settlers, 53 El Salvador. See Belize, Honduras, El
Austria. See Germany and Austria Salvador, and Nicaragua
Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the England. See Great Britain and Ireland
United Arab Emirates, 62 Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, 191
Belgium. See The Netherlands and Ethiopia, 204
Belgium Finland, 212
Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, and France, 220
Nicaragua, 71 Germany and Austria, 231
Bolivia. See Chile and Bolivia Ghana, 237
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 81 Great Britain and Ireland, 252
Botswana. See Southern Africa Greece, 269
Brazil, 93 Greenland, 280
Bulgaria, 100 Guatemala, 289
Burkina Faso. See Niger and Burkina Haiti and the Dominican Republic, 294
Faso Honduras. See Belize, Honduras, El
Canada, 111 Salvador, and Nicaragua
Caribbean Islands: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Herzegovina. See Bosnia and
Jamaica, and Lesser Antilles Herzegovina
Islands, 121 Hungary, 303
Chile and Bolivia, 131 India, 312
China, 140 India: Nagaland Tribes, 326
Costa Rica and Panama, 150 Indonesia, 336
Crete, 160 Iran, 343
vii
viii | Entry Guide
Iraq, 357 Poland, 594

Ireland. See Great Britain and Ireland Portugal, 602
Israel, 367 Puerto Rico. See Caribbean Islands
Italy, 372 Qatar. See Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Ara-
Jamaica. See Caribbean Islands bia, and the United Arab Emirates
Japan, 385 Romania, 612
Jordan. See The Palestine Region and Russia, 621
Jordan Russian Federation Republics, 633
Kenya, 395 Rwanda and Uganda, 640
Korea, 406 Saudi Arabia. See Bahrain, Qatar,
Laos (Hmong), 416 Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab
Latvia. See Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania Emirates
Lebanon and Syria, 426 Scotland. See Great Britain and Ireland
Lesser Antilles Islands. See Caribbean Slovenia, 649
Islands Somalia, 656
Libya, 440 South Pacific Islands, 663
Lithuania. See Estonia, Latvia, and South Africa. See Southern Africa
Lithuania Southern Africa: South Africa,
Madagascar, 448 Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, 672
Malaysia, 461 Spain, 682
Mauritania, 471 Sweden, 690
Mexico, 478 Switzerland, 700
Mongolia, 488 Syria. See Lebanon and Syria
Morocco, 499 Thailand, 708
Namibia. See Southern Africa Tibet, 717
Native North American Dress (United Turkey, 726
States and Canada), 510 Uganda. See Rwanda and Uganda
The Netherlands and Belgium, 519 United Arab Emirates. See Bahrain,
New Zealand, 527 Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United
Nicaragua. See Belize, Honduras, El Arab Emirates
Salvador, and Nicaragua United States: Hawaii, 740
Niger and Burkina Faso, 536 United States: Hispanic West, 746
Nigeria, 545 United States: New England, 752
Norway, 557 United States: Puerto Rico. See Carib-
Pakistan, 567 bean Islands
The Palestine Region and Jordan, 574 Vietnam, 758
Panama. See Costa Rica and Panama Wales. See Great Britain and Ireland
The Philippines, 585 Yemen and Oman, 764
Introduction
M odern dress exists in an age when a global culture is in the process of devel-
oping thanks to rapid exchanges of information, but there are still distinc-
tions to be made between peoples of different countries and different cultures.
Most of the world does indeed wear American-style jeans and T-shirts, but many
people around the world still identify themselves, even if only for special occa-
sions or festivals, with a style of dress that is unique to their own way of living
and reflective of their history. Recording information on national dress is perhaps
growing even more important in order to preserve the history of the clothing that
people identify as culturally specific and that they use to identify themselves in
some distinct way.
Those who study material culture understand that clothing, as an artifact, is the
most intimate of objects and reflects details about the people who wore it. Individ-
ual garments tell a story about the wearer. Sometimes it is possible to know what
the person’s occupation was, certainly it is possible to know his or her physical
dimensions such as height and weight, and it is usually possible to tell how wealthy
the person was, based on the type of materials and techniques used to produce the
garment. It is also possible, in some cases, to know the religious affiliation, ethnic
background, and age of the person.
General Scope and Purpose

The Encyclopedia of National Dress explores the following types of clothing in
more than 130 nations and autonomous regions: national dress, folk costume, and
ethnic dress, all terms that could be used to describe the clothing or combina-
tions of clothing (outfits) that have traditionally been worn by a distinct number
of people within a certain country or culture. Dress can be used to distinguish a
people just as much as it is used for the people to identify themselves as not being
from another group, perhaps a rival tribe or people from a different country or cul-
ture close by. National boundaries do sometimes move, leaving people of similar
cultures and dress traditions living in separate nations. Sometimes, similar types of
ix
| Introduction
x
dress with common cultural symbols have been grouped together in this publica-
tion to show that certain styles of dress are cross cultural in nature and adopted by
many different people at the same time.
In this encyclopedia, we aim to celebrate dress worn all over the world by
different types of people in dozens of countries. Though not all countries, tribes,
and cultures are covered in these volumes, we attempt to give the reader a glimpse
into the culture and history of dress, and in some cases how dress is used today to
celebrate the uniqueness that exists in the world, even in this increasingly homog-
enous global culture. In some cases, we have not been successful in identifying a
specific dress associated with a nation. For example, Israel is a relatively young
country with a large population of people of the Jewish religion, but who also
share the territory with Muslims and Christians, all of whom have diverse identi-
ties closely related to their religions. Young nations with melting-pot populations,
such as Canada, the United States, or Australia, also have a hard time defining their
“national” dress. Each of these countries has a long history of aboriginal or First
Nations dress, but after the countries were settled by Europeans, the dress worn by
the old and new inhabitants varied and changed dramatically depending on where
they lived in the vast landscapes. In the case of Canada, dress changed if the set-
tlers were French or English, or farmers as opposed to traders. Defining national
dress in these cases has been challenging.
Identity and Dress

Scholars agree that clothing has meaning and is a means of communication of
socially acceptable confines of behavior in a certain place and within a certain
period of time. Dress, clothing, fashion, costume are all terms used to talk about
the items used to cover or decorate the body and tell about the self. They all hold
slightly different significance, with fashion being clothing that is of a type or style
acceptable to a large number of people over a period of time. Dress is the term for
the actual garments and how they are put together into ensembles and is often the
term seen in discussions of the history of clothing and textiles. Costume, often used
in referring to clothing of the past, is also used to discuss the clothing people wear in
the performing arts: in films, in television, and on stage. (I therefore prefer to avoid
this term unless actually talking about theatrical costumes.) Adornment can include
all the items used to dress or decorate the body including jewelry and other acces-
sories and is an important part of expressing identity along with the actual garments.
People express their place within society and the power they may hold within
that system. Their identity is clearly defined by their clothing choices. Expression
of a sense of self and the identity of a culture is held in how people in a society
dress themselves, whether it is wearing leather aprons, or using yards of fabric in
Introduction | xi
many layers to cover the whole body from view. The values of a society become
clear when analyzing the types of choices that are made and what elements of
traditional clothing are sustained over time to help people project the image they
feel as a culture.
Clothing also is often considered to be art, and art reflects the society and
time in which the artist lives. Great beauty can be seen in the designs of particular
garments, their material, and how they drape the human form. Applied color and
applied design such as that which adorns the Japanese kimono or a Russian head-
dress is truly spectacular art. Clothing production is also intensely technical and
methods of applying color, constructing garments, and fitting them onto a three-
dimensional figure is a structural art as well.
The Study of National Dress, Ethnic Dress, Folk Costume

The types of dress worn by large groups of people are typically not the dress of
the elite within a given society. This is not to say that the elite do not wear elements
of this type of clothing, but the main thrust of the designs come from the people
and are worn by the majority. While studying the history of dress of the wealthiest
individuals is exciting and sometimes allows great art to be evaluated and mean-
ings dissected, it only reflects a certain, usually small, cross-section of any given
society. Researchers may find it more fun to look at the details of ornate dresses of
the 18th century, and not as interesting to closely study the clothing worn by the
peasants of the day. Nor is it easy to do. In many cases extant examples of dress
of the more ordinary people have not been saved and stored in climate-controlled
museums for us to study. Museums are filled with the beautiful dresses and suits of
royalty and aristocracy, though, and this becomes the examples of dress of a par-
ticular time period. To study the dress of the people requires more crafty research.
The art of the time, accounts of people who kept journals, and rare discoveries of
evidence help define the dress of the masses. Especially as cultures were exposed
to one another as explorers and traders visited new lands and brought back the
clothing and textiles of the indigenous people, the world was made aware of what
other people wore. Likewise, more remote parts of the world were then introduced
to clothing of drastically different manufacturing techniques as well as the values
that helped to create the culture around that clothing. The politics surrounding
dress and identity are intensely debated in a number of disciplines, and the study
of ethnic dress can spark debate about a multitude of meanings associated with
it. While we look at a number of different countries (as their boundaries are now
defined), we have tried to stay away as much as possible from judging the ways
in which ethnic expression changed and mutated with events such as colonialism.
Instead, we have tried to present the historical context for each chapter, allowing
xii | Introduction
readers to make decisions for themselves about whether the changes were good or
bad, and for whom.
The clothing worn by people from all parts of the world speak volumes about
them, what their climate is like, perhaps their moral values, and their relative eco-
nomic prosperity. The tradition of adopting folk dress depended on a variety of
factors. Certain silhouettes or details in clothing may have been shared among
less prosperous people, but the amount of decoration varied greatly, related to the
wealth of the wearer. Often the style of dress depended on climate, working con-
ditions, and geographic location. The garments represent much about the culture
the people represent. While historically, traditional dress showed local materials,
such as textiles manufactured close by, once global trade began in earnest, new
kinds of fabrics, lace, style specifics would work their way into the dress of a
culture. As industrialization and trade increased over the past 200 years, certain
types of garments and modern “Western dress” were adopted by many, and tradi-
tional ethnic or folk dress was either abandoned or altered to incorporate the new
styles and technologies as they emerged. The traditionally accepted styles of dress
were usually put aside and jeans and T-shirts are now worn for many occasions.
The national costumes are brought out to celebrate certain special occasions or
for cultural or religious festivals and ceremonies. The folk dress is then worn with
national pride to celebrate the traditions of a culture.
About the Book

Forty-six writers from all over the world have contributed to this set of books.
Many live in the countries about which they write, and others are specialists writ-
ing about dress at universities and museums around the world. The authors were
asked to narrow their definition of national or ethnic dress to the assemblage
of supplements worn on and/or modifications made to the body accepted by a
group of people as being “theirs,” distinguishing them from neighboring or dis-
tant groups. Supplements include garments, jewelry, and accessories as well as
makeup, body paint, and temporary alterations to the body’s surface. Modifications
are permanent changes made to the shape or surface of the body and include such
practices as tattooing, scarification, and piercing. The development of forms of
specific dress worn by specific ethnic groups and changes through time are covered
in many entries. Cosmopolitan dress or world fashion plays a part in the history
of ethnic dress, especially when considering the many factors at play when people
stop wearing it, but it is not a major focus of these volumes. Contemporary use of
ethnic dress is sometimes considered in the entries, and some entries discuss the
use of ethnic elements in contemporary fashions of particular countries.
Introduction | xiii
Our Raison d’Etre

Modern dress exists in an age when there is a developing global culture, but
there are still distinctions to be made between peoples of different countries and
different cultures. Most of the world does indeed wear American-style jeans and
T-shirts, but people still identify themselves, even if only for special occasions or
festivals, with a style of dress that is unique to their own way of living and reflec-
tive of their history. Recording information on national dress is perhaps growing
even more important in order to preserve the history of the clothing that people
identify as culturally specific and to identify themselves in some distinct way. This
book has set out to cover the clothing of people from all over the world by finding
writers who are intimately acquainted with dress from certain cultures and coun-
tries. Much of the time, it is difficult to cover the whole of a country, especially one
with distinct regional differences. Efforts have been made to bring the reader as
much information about a country’s dress as possible while at the same time offer-
ing short geographical and historical backgrounds to be able to place the country
in some kind of context and understand how the people developed their unique
styles of dress.
The Audience
This set is a reference work primarily designed for public libraries, high
school libraries, and college and university libraries serving advanced high school
students and undergraduates with an interest, but little background in culture and
history, or dress. Students needing information on specific countries for research
projects, individuals interested in textiles and clothing, those needing a refer-
ence for re-creation of dress for folk dance troupes and costuming, and young
people wanting to know more about other parts of the world will all find this
set useful.
Content
The Encyclopedia of National Dress comprises two volumes covering more
than 130 countries or regions, arranged in A to Z order by country or region. In
some cases countries have been grouped together when enough similarities exist.
Each essay, or entry, covers some basic information, with some entries longer
than others due to size of country or region and diversity of population. Essays
range in size from 1,500 to 7,000 words and feature three major sections: His-
torical and Geographical (Environmental) Background; People and Dress; and
xiv | Introduction
Further Reading and Resources. In each historical background section the writ-
ers have covered in more or less detail such information as indigenous popula-
tions, exploration, trade routes, global migration patterns, internal factors such
as industry and economy, and population (usually as of mid-2012 and supplied
by the Central Intelligence Agency’s online World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/
library/publications/the-world-factbook/). Also featured are contemporary fac-
tors including immigration, ethnic diversity, revival of ethnic dress in festivals,
and other aspects. Each entry is placed within a geographical and environmental
context so the reader understands how climate and naturally occurring species of
plants and animals affect the dress of the culture/country. By far the longest por-
tion of each entry is devoted to the people and dress of the region. This section
includes ethnic and religious diversity, the history of dress, usually in chronologi-
cal order, and devotes a significant portion to the actual components that make up
the dress. This section can reach back into antiquity or in some cases only two or
three hundred years. This section also may look at rural versus urban populations.
Most chapters also include information on the materials and techniques used to
make the national dress, and how these materials form the basis for the styles of
clothing worn in the regions. The clothing worn for everyday is studied, but also
discussed is how that clothing was adapted to be used in ceremonial uses or for
special occasions. Often the dress of the people has come to symbolize the identity
of the nations, and sometimes the wealthy or royal have adopted the clothing for
special national holidays over time. Writers were encouraged to include as much
about body modification such as scarring and tattooing as they could, when appro-
priate. The meaning attached to such permanent body modification is intense and
in some cases caused great danger to those who did it. Jewelry, of course, is an
indication of wealth for many. The precious metals and stones that adorn a body
have always indicated a certain stature within a given society. At the end of the
essays, the authors have written about how the dress of the people is being adapted
or forgotten in contemporary society. While many countries continue to use the
traditional dress in national holidays, festivals, and for impressing tourists, some
styles are slowly being forgotten (or have been forgotten). It is for this reason that
such books are important as permanent records of the dress that was and is impor-
tant to a nation. Finally, each essay closes with a list of selected resources, includ-
ing books, articles, and online sources. For additional research, the end of volume
two of the Encyclopedia of National Dress features a selected bibliography of
recommended books and articles on national dress as well as a list of prominent
museums around the world that feature clothing and textile exhibits. Some of the
websites of these museums also provide online glimpses of beautiful and distinc-
tive dress from around the globe.
Introduction | xv
The contributors to this book and I hope that the Encyclopedia of National
Dress enlightens you, and leads you to a greater understanding of the important
differences that still exist in the world today when it comes to our cultures and
to our dress. As the world becomes even more interconnected with technological
developments, differences are important for greater understanding and apprecia-
tion for everyone.
Afghanistan
Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood
A fghanistan lies at the crossroads between Asia, the Iranian world, and the
Indian subcontinent. Objects from what is now Afghanistan were valued in
many civilizations in the Middle East as well as the Mediterranean world. The dark
blue stone lapis lazuli, for example, was so valued in the ancient world that it was
transported from Afghanistan along various trade routes that later became known
as the Silk Road. The importance of Afghanistan to the stability of the region and
surrounding countries is reflected in the attention paid to it by various Western and
Arab countries at the beginning of the 21st century.
Historical and Geographical Background

Afghanistan includes a wide variety of geographical features, but it is dominated
in the main by the mountains in the center of the country and the plains and deserts
around them. The country of Afghanistan as we know it emerged in the 18th cen-
tury when a local leader collected various tribes from southern Afghanistan around
him. His capital was Kandahar, and from there he led his troops deep into Iran to
the west, and to Delhi in modern India in the east. His successor moved the capital
to Kabul. Over the years the Afghan kingdom became more and more unstable,
however, and it would probably have disappeared altogether were it not that by the
end of the 19th century it was transformed into a buffer state between czarist Rus-
sia to the north and British India to the east. Afghanistan also maintained its neutral
position during much of the cold war, until by the late 1970s the country exploded
and a civil war ensued that has lasted to the present day.
The Pashtuns remain the majority ethnic group in the Islamic Republic of
Afghanistan. In addition, however, there are over 50 other ethnic groups, many of
them with their own language and cultural characteristics, including a wide variety
of dress traditions. At the beginning of the 21st century, the main ethnic groups are
(in alphabetical order) the Baluchis, Hazaras, Nuristanis, Pashtuns, Tajiks, Turkmen,
and Uzbeks. Each of these groups has its own language, culture, and way of dress.
The population of Afghanistan in 2012 was estimated at more than 30,419,000.
1
| Encyclopedia of National Dress
2
Although many Afghans, especially in the country’s capital, Kabul, tend to

wear Western-style garments, there is a basic outfit for men, women, and children,
which consists of trousers gathered at the waist, a loose-fitting shirt or dress, and
some form of head covering. This combination of clothing dates back to the early
medieval period and the introduction of Islam, and over the centuries numerous
variations on this theme have developed in Afghanistan.
Certain garments have social significance within various groups. The turban,
for example, is an important male item of attire. Among the Pashtuns and Baluchis,
for instance, a boy may mark his passage into manhood by being allowed to wear a
turban. Similarly, a girl will move from wearing a simple head covering, such as a
scarf, to a more complex and larger form once she is of marriageable age or married.
Head coverings are prescribed for all women in Islam, and therefore most
women in traditional and rural Afghan communities wear variations of a large or
small rectangular headscarf/body covering, commonly called a chador. They are
usually made out of fine cotton or a synthetic material. A variation of the chador
is the chadari, in the West commonly known as the Afghan burqa, which is com-
posed of a close-fitting cap attached to a veil made from a finely pleated, colored
silk, cotton, or rayon material, which envelops the body. There is an openwork
embroidered grid over the eyes so that the wearer can see where she is going.
Contrary to popular Western ideas, chadaris are not worn by all Afghan women;
instead this garment is specifically related to urban life.
Baluchi Dress
The Baluchis live in southern Afghanistan near the borders with Iran and Pakistan.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the basic Baluchi outfit for a man consisted
of white or indigo cotton trousers (shalwar) worn under a long shirt (jama), which
normally reached to just below the knees. Over this was worn a cotton robe (kurti)
that was densely pleated at the waist. The kurti is Indian in origin. By the end of the
century this form had been totally replaced by the shalwar kameez from Pakistan,
which consists of simple drawstring (tikke) trousers (shalwar) and a long shirt or
tunic (kameez) with a central front opening. The headgear consists of a snugly fitting
cap (topi) and turban (pag, sometimes called a lungi). Baluchi caps for men are often
made of cotton with fine silk or cotton embroidery in floral or geometric patterns. In
addition, they sometimes incorporate minute mirrors called shisha. Baluchi turbans
are made of white cotton and are normally wrapped in numerous large rolls around
the head. Other male accessories include a long scarf or shoulder cloth (pushti) and,
in colder weather, woolen socks. Sometimes an overcoat (kaba) and a waistcoat
(sadri) are worn with a woolen shawl (sal). Leather sandals (shabav) in dark red or
brown are also often worn. These may be decorated with chain-stitch embroidery.
Afghanistan | 3
The women’s outfit consists of ankle-length trousers (shalwar), which are gath-
ered at the waist; an ankle-length, loose-fitting dress (paskh), and a large shawl or
outer cover (chadar). A feature of Baluchi women’s clothing is the embroidery that
once was largely hand worked, but which is increasingly being made by machine. A
Baluchi woman’s dress (paskh) traditionally has four panels of embroidery (doch),
namely, a large yoke covering the chest, two panels on the sleeve cuffs, and a long,
narrow, rectangular pocket, which runs from just above the waistline to the hem of the
skirt. The style and quality of embroidery depends on whether the garment is going
to be used on a daily basis or is intended for a festive occasion, such as a wedding.
Hazara Dress
The Hazaras are a special ethnic group in Afghanistan. They claim to descend from
the Mongol army that occupied the lands of what is now Afghanistan in the 13th
century. Nowadays the Hazara occupy perhaps the poorest lands of the country,
high in the valleys of the central Afghan mountains.
Hazara dress for men in the late 19th and early 20th centuries consisted of
loose-fitting barrak fabric trousers, a cotton shirt (qamis; pirahan), long and short
caftans in barrak, waistcoats (waskat), coats (macew), and a solid Hazara cap
(kapi). A belt (kamari) or cloth sash was often wrapped around the waist. Wealthier
men wore a turban (lungota) over the cap and a shoulder blanket or shawl of cotton
(sal), or a soft fulled woolen material (sal-i hazaragi) depending on the season. In
winter, a turban was added and woolen scarves were wrapped around the necks
and faces as protection against the cold. Hazara chiefs sometimes wore the choga,
a long cloak with sleeves, a form of Central Asian caftan. By the end of the 20th
century many Hazara men wore Western-style garments.
The traditional Hazara women’s outfit consists of trousers; a calf-length dress
with long, full sleeves, very wide at the waist; plus a head covering. Sometimes a
waistcoat is worn, which is decorated with buttons, beads, silver coins, and sea-
shells. The headcloth is sometimes folded into a thick, flat pad on top of the head,
with the ends forming a sort of veil at the back of the neck. By the end of the
20th century, most Hazara dresses were made with sleeves with narrow cuffs; the
dresses end at the knee or halfway along the calves. Modern Hazara dresses for
festivals tend to be made out of purple velvet, following the fashion of using red or
purple dating from the 1950s.
The embroidery on Hazara dresses is concentrated in several parts, notably
the bodice and neck, the sleeves, the skirt front, and along the hem of the dress.
There are two types of embroidery used for dresses. The term zamin-dozi refers
to embroidery that is densely stitched on the fabric of the dress, usually the front
chest panel. This type of embroidery is often used for clothing worn for festive
4
occasions, such as weddings. When the embroidered motifs are scattered around
the fabric of the dress, it is called gul-dozi.
Nuristani Dress
Nuristan (“The Land of Light”) is located in the eastern part of Afghanistan. Until
the mid-20th century, Nuristani dress was the most distinctive in Afghanistan. Men
wore warm white woolen trousers (vit) reaching to just below the knee, over which
were wrapped long black leggings (pataw), which looked like puttees. Over this
was worn a long tunic, which was kept in place with a silver studded belt (malaa
niste), which was used to support a dagger (katra). A distinctive feature of modern
Nuristani dress is the pakol, which is usually made of fulled woolen cloth and con-
sists of a flat crown with a rolled brim. This form of headwear is often called the
Nuristani cap, but it is better known as the Chitrali cap after the neighboring town
and district of Chitral in modern Pakistan.
Nuristani women used to wear trousers and a shirt with a front neck opening.
These shirts were often made out of dark-colored silk or cotton decorated around the
neck opening with metal thread embroidery. The older versions of Nuristani metal
thread embroidery often incorporated beadwork as well. The outfit also included full
skirts or dresses (bazu), which were gathered at the waist and worn with a woven
belt (niste). Some of these dresses were embellished across the back of the shoulders
and down the sleeves with a combination of red and black embroidered appliqués.
By the 1930s this form of dress had all but vanished as a result of increased access to
the region from outside, which brought with it other forms of textiles and garments.
Modern Nuristani outfits for women tend to consist of a waisted dress with col-
lar (this is unusual for an Afghan dress), with similarly colored trousers and a large
chador. The tradition of using metal thread in Nuristani embroidery continues in
the use of plasticized metallic yarns. Nuristani women tend to wear bead strands
and beaded jewelry in bright colors. The beads are used to create complex geo-
metric designs.
Pashtun Dress
The Pashtuns constitute an ethnic group that lives along both sides of the modern
Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Traditionally, many Pashtuns used to call themselves
Afghans, hence the name of the modern country of Afghanistan.
The basic outfit for Pashtun men normally includes trousers (shalwar) with a
drawstring waist and drawstring (tikke), a knee-length shirt (kameez), and a waist-
coat. The basic outfit is usually available in a wide range of colors and shades, but
the same color and material is always used for the trousers and shirt. The Pashtun
headdress is normally a small cap of some kind, often with a turban wrapped around
Afghanistan | 5
it. The outfit is completed with a large,

rectangular blanket (patu) worn draped
over one or both shoulders.
Pashtun women tend to wear a
“standard” Afghan outfit made up of
trousers with a drawstring, a dress
with long sleeves and full skirt, and
some form of head covering. The trou-
sers are usually a contrasting color to
the dress, and in the late 20th century
the most common color for trousers
was “Pashtun green,” which is a deep
mid-green. They are often decorated
along the ankle cuffs with some form
of embroidery or applied lace.
Festive dresses are usually made
out of silk or velvet in rich colors,
especially a deep red. During the hot
summer months, many women prefer
to wear printed cotton and rayon fab-
rics in bright colors. The most elabo-
rate embroidery is carried out on the Afghan man of the Pashtun ethnic minority
bodice and sleeve cuffs of the dresses. in shalwar and a knee-length kameez, 2010.
(Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
The embroidery for the bodice, for
example, can either be done on the actual fabric of the dress or on a coarser mate-
rial, which is then stitched onto the dress. The hem of the dress is often decorated
with gold-colored laces or thick gimp threads that are twisted and shaped to form
various designs.
A feature of Pashtun dresses for women, both urban and nomadic, is the trian-
gular beaded panels at the heads of the shoulders. They are used to cover the seam
line between the front bodice and the skirt of the dress. They are usually made
using multicolored glass beads to create tight geometric designs. It is also normal
to have a beaded roundel or gul-i pirahan on the shoulders, chest panel, and waist.
The outfit is completed by a large, rectangular head covering (shal, chador) in cot-
ton, silk, or a synthetic material.
Kuchi Dress
Kuchi is the popular name for the mainly Pashtun nomads and seminomads that
originally, and sometimes to the present day, annually migrated from their winter
camps in the valleys to their summer pastures high in the mountains.
6
Kuchi men normally wear trousers with a drawstring waist (shalwar) and a
knee-length shirt (kameez). These are usually in white. The Kuchi headdress for
men is normally a cap covered with a large white turban. The outfit is completed
with a large white shawl or blanket that is worn over one or both shoulders. Like
many other Afghan men, Kuchi men use this blanket for warmth, to sit upon, and
as a prayer mat.
Kuchi outfits for women are similar to those worn by (settled) Pashtun women,
but in general the colors tend to be darker. A Kuchi outfit consists of trousers with
tightly fitting ankle cuffs, a dress, and a head covering of some kind. Kuchi dresses
normally have long, very wide sleeves and very full skirts. The front of the bodice,
skirt, and sleeve hems are often decorated with metallic laces that are couched
down. Such dresses are also adorned with amulets, pendants, tassels, button bands,
motifs, and trinkets.
Tajik Dress
The Tajik make up about one-quarter of the Afghan population and live in many
parts of the country, but most of them can be found in the main cities and in the
northeast and west of the country.
At the end of the 20th century, the basic outfit for Tajik men consisted of trou-
sers with a drawstring waist (shalwar) with drawstring (tikke) and a knee-length
shirt (kameez). These are usually in a wide range of colors and shades, but the
same colors and material are always used for the trousers and shirt. The Tajik male
headwear normally consists of an embroidered cap of some kind.
The outfit worn by Tajik women is very similar to that of other groups, namely
trousers, dress, and head covering. Tajik trousers for women are usually of satin,
cotton, or a synthetic material with straight legs. They are normally white or in a
solid pastel color. The ankle cuffs of these trousers may be embroidered with a
white border or embellished with couched white laces. Tajik dresses tend to have
long sleeves and longish skirts. In general, Tajik dresses are not decorated with
embroidery or metallic lace. Instead emphasis is placed on the use of different
types of fabrics, often woven or printed with geometric and floral designs. Expen-
sive fabrics such as brocades or printed silks are used for special occasions, while
cottons and synthetic materials are for daily use.
Tajik head coverings (chador) are normally about two yards in size and made
from georgette, gauze, or cotton with lace, crochet, or needlepoint borders. Some
of the cheaper examples have printed borders.
In some areas of northern Afghanistan where the Tajik live closely with the
Uzbeks, Tajik women tend to wear an outfit that is similar to modern Uzbekistan
forms. This outfit consists of narrow ikat trousers worn with a shiny ikat dress. The
Afghanistan | 7
Tajik woman in Afghanistan wearing the ikat-printed dress and traditional jewelry, c. 1910.
(Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Prokudin-Gorskii Collection)
hair of women from this region is usually braided into numerous long strands. In
public it is normal for a large head covering of some form to be worn.
Turkmen Dress
The Turkmen are a Turkic group who speak a form of Western Ghuz (Oghuz)
Turkic. Most of the Turkmen nowadays live in Turkmenistan, while there are sub-
stantial communities of Turkmen living in northeastern Iran and northern Afghani-
stan. The two main Turkmen groups in Afghanistan are the Yomut and Teke.
From the beginning of the 19th century until the mid-1920s, the basic cos-
tume for a Turkmen man consisted of a pair of loose cotton trousers (balaq) and
a shirt (koynek). Over these was worn a tight-sleeved robe (don) of striped silk.
These garments were held together at the waist with a sash (qusaq). A man’s head-
gear consisted of a small skullcap (bork), sometimes with a turban or a cylindrical
black sheepskin hat (telpek). This is still the dominant type of dress of the Afghan
Turkmen.
During the early 20th century the basic dress of a Turkmen woman consisted
of undertrousers (balaq), a dress (koynek), and a headdress of some kind. In addi-
tion, some groups also wore a face veil (yasmak), a sash (sal qusaq, bil qusak),
8
an indoor coat of some kind (cabit or kurte), and for outdoor wear, a second coat
(chrypy). The range and cut of the garments worn by Turkmen women in Afghani-
stan at the end of the 20th century has remained much the same, although the type
of material used has changed. During the early 20th century, for instance, it was
common for women’s dresses to be made out of silk or semisilk fabrics, which
were woven either locally or imported from Turkmenistan.
As a generalization Turkmen clothing for women today would seem to be
much simpler than it was even 25 years ago. At the same time, however, it is also
becoming much more colorful.
An important feature of Turkmen dress for women is the quantity of silver and
later gold jewelry that is worn. Most jewelry is worn on the head, down the front
and back of the upper torso, and on the lower arms and hands, where it is very
visible and people can see the social and economic status of the wearer. Little is
worn on the lower body or feet. The variety of Turkmen jewelry is considerable
and each group has its own particular forms and favorites, although it is noticeable
that many groups are willing to wear Teke-made jewelry.
Uzbek Dress
The Uzbek are a Turkic people of Central Asia. They live primarily in modern
Uzbekistan and neighboring lands, but there are large populations in northern
Afghanistan. A feature of both male and female Uzbek clothing is the use of ikats
and embroidery.
During the 19th century in Afghanistan, Uzbek dress for men consisted of a
long shirt (kujlak) of cotton; undertrousers (ischton, balak), also of cotton, which
were sometimes embroidered down the sides and along the ankle cuffs; an under-
caftan (chapan); and then one or more outer caftans (chapan) depending on the sta-
tus and wealth of the wearer. Both the under- and outer caftans reached to mid-calf
height, so that embroidered trousers and boots would be visible. The outer caftan
was kept in place with a belt (kamar), which was often decorated with silver or
gold plaques. These caftans, especially the ones worn as the last layer, were often
in boldly patterned ikat materials. Sometimes Chinese brocades were also used. In
the past, the linings of these garments were sometimes made from imported Rus-
sian cottons that had been decorated with a bright printed design. These materials
(cotton or silk) and the complexity of design used for the caftans is again an indica-
tion of social and economic status.
Headgear consisted of a small cap (duppi) over which was wound a turban.
There were many different types of caps depending on the social status of the
wearer, his religion (Jewish or Muslim), occupation, and the occasion. Most were
Afghanistan | 9
embroidered or quilted into intricate designs. Sometimes a giant furry hat was
worn called a telpek, which was similar to those worn by some Turkmen.
Footwear consisted of high leather boots suitable for horse riding. These were
often embroidered with intricate designs similar to those found on the caftans.
By the end of the 20th century Uzbek dress for men is basically a Westernized
outfit consisting of a shirt with trousers. However, on special occasions, an Uzbek
festival outfit is worn consisting of shirt and trousers, over which is worn an ikat or
embroidered coat and an imposing telpek.
There is a considerable difference between the dress worn by women at the
beginning of the 20th century and that by the end. In the early 20th century, Uzbek
women’s dress basically consisted of a pair of wide trousers, often with the upper
half in cotton while the lower, visible section was of an ikat material. Over this was
worn a tunic (mursak), which usually had a long slit down the front so that breast
feeding an infant was easy. Over the trousers and top was worn a caftan. Like the
male version it is based on a long central panel, but unlike the caftans worn by men,
the female form tends to be short and have wider sleeves. Some forms of caftans
worn by women also had a prominent waist; this type is sometimes called a rumcha.
Like the men, the women wore several caftans, one on top of the other.
At home it was normal for a girl or woman to wear a cap, with a panel down
the back of the cap that was used to cover the hair. Both the cap and the hair panel
were often made out of velvet and elaborately embroidered.
In public a woman was expected to be totally covered, including her face.
A special outfit consisting of a coat (faranje, paranja) and a horsehair face veil
(chasmband) was worn, which together was called a faranje (the same word used
for the coat). Most Uzbek women, including those living in Afghanistan, had
stopped wearing this outfit by the mid-20th century.
By the end of the 20th century, there were two main types of dress worn by
women in Afghanistan. The first consists of an Uzbekistan outfit made up of a pair
of ikat trousers with an ikat dress. The head covering for girls usually consists of
a small cap, often in velvet. The headdress of a married woman is slightly more
complicated and consists of a headscarf or a cap covered with a large shawl, often
of white or a pale color. On special occasions a coat is worn over the dress, which
is made from either ikat cloth or a plain material decorated with embroidery.
The second, more conservative outfit consists of baggy trousers with a wide
dress, which is embroidered with large, colorful floral motifs. This is worn with
an open-fronted coat, which has a defined waist. The main outer garment is a long
coat with false sleeves that is draped over the shoulders. The outer coat is often
embroidered, but not quite as vividly as the dress. A large shawl or chador is used
to cover the head and upper body.
10 | Encyclopedia of National Dress
Further Reading and Resources

Dupree, Louis. Afghanistan. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1873.
Harlan, Josiah. A Memoir of India and Avghanistaun [sic], with Observations on
the Present Exciting and Critical State and Future Prospects of those Countries.
Philadelphia: J. Dobson Printers, 1842.
Harvey, Janet. Traditional Textiles of Central Asia. London: Thames and Hudson,
1996.
Kalter, Johannes and Pavaloi, Margareta. Usbekistan. Stuttgart: Edition Hansjörg
Mayer, 1995.
Paine, Sheila. Embroidery from Afghanistan. London: The British Museum Press,
2006.
Paiva, Roland and Dupaigne, Bernard. Afghan Embroidery. Lahore: Ferozsons
Ltd., 1993.
Vogelsang-Eastwood, Gillian and Vogelsang, Willem. Covering the Moon: An
Introduction to Middle Eastern Face Veils. Leuven: Peeters, 2008.
Vogelsang, Willem. The Afghans. Oxford: Blackwell/Wiley, 2008.
Vogelsang, Willem. “Dressing for the Future in Ancient Garb: The Use of Clothing
in Afghan Politics,” Khil‘a: Journal for Dress and Textiles of the Islamic World
1 (2005): 123–138.
Vogelsang, Willem. “The Pakul: A Distinctive, but Apparently Not So Very Old
Headgear from the Indo-Iranian Borderlands,” Khil‘a: Journal for Dress and
Textiles of the Islamic World 2 (2006): 149–156.
Albania
Leyla Belkaïd

Albania stands at the crossroads between the Balkans and the Mediterranean Sea.
Its coast follows the Adriatic Sea to the west and the Ionian Sea to the southwest.
The country is bordered by Montenegro and Serbia to the north, the Republic of
Macedonia to the east, and Greece to the south and southeast. The capital, Tirana,
is situated in the center of the territory. The other important cities are Durrës,
Elbasan, and Shkodër, while the main maritime cities are Durazzo and Valona, on
the Italian coast.
Albania, called Shqipëri in Albanian, covers 28,748 square miles (46,200
square km) and is a mountainous land.
People and Dress
Ethnic and Religious Diversity

Most of the 3 million people living in the country are Albanians, but there
are also minorities of Greeks, Bulgarians, Macedonians, Serbs, Vlachs, and Gyp-
sies. Today, more than 2 million Albanians live abroad in the neighboring Bal-
kan countries, Turkey, Italy, and other Western countries. Almost three-quarters of
the population are Muslim, one-quarter is Christian Orthodox, and 10 percent are
Roman Catholics. Nevertheless, the variety of the Albanian dress is due less to the
expression of religious and ethnic differences than to the dissimilarities between
the customs and the material culture of mountain dwellers and townspeople since
antiquity.
History of Dress
Albanians are the descendants of the Illyrians, one of the most ancient popula-
tions of the Balkan area. In the fifth century BCE, the Illyrians were organized in
11
federations of tribes neighboring the Macedonians, the Greeks, and the Thracians.
The Illyrian men used to wear knee-length kilts, which persisted for millennia and
remain central in the contemporary Albanian folk dress. Among the other compo-
nents of the Illyrian costume were the wool mantles, the paenula cloak, and many
elements of the traditional male costumes still worn nowadays by the older moun-
tain villagers, like the undyed felt hats and the opinga (primitive leather shoes).
The present traditional female dress of Albania also keeps the ancient garments
and jewels of the first and second millennia BCE. The felt xhoka (jackets deco-
rated with thick red wool fringes), worn in the remotest villages of the northern
mountains, probably date back to Illyrian times, while the xhubletë (skirt), which
recalls the Cretan Minoan skirt, seems to be a very ancient heritage of the Balkan
and Mediterranean civilizations of the Bronze Age.
In the second century BCE, the Romans, who were the rivals of the Illyrians
in the Adriatic Sea, occupied the territory of Albania. Many local tribes escaped
the invaders by leaving the coasts and the plains to settle in the most inaccessible
mountains. At the end of the fourth century, when the Byzantine Empire ruled the
whole Balkan area, the eastern Mediterranean culture had a deep influence on the
evolution of Albanian urban clothing. The longevity of the Byzantine impact is
illustrated by the striking golden embroidery that enhances the whole surface of
the ceremonial xhybe (coats) worn by urban women till the early 20th century.
In 1468, Albania was annexed to the Ottoman Empire. For more than four
centuries, the velvet and brocaded caftans, the luxurious waistcoats, the shalwar
(baggy trousers), and the Oriental-like headgear of the elite in Shkodër or Elbasan
shared few characteristics with the archaic felt coats, tight trousers, and hats of the
villagers living in rural areas. During the centuries of Ottoman rule, distinction
through dress was based on social class rather than on religion. In the mountains,
neither Catholic nor Muslim women wore veils, while the elite city dwellers of
both religions were entirely veiled in the streets. Before the 18th century, only the
Ottoman officials and the Orthodox Church dignitaries were allowed to put on
Byzantine-like caftans and jackets embroidered with gold thread. By the end of
the 18th century, embroidery manufacturers started working for the merchants and
other upper-class people as well.
The Albanian townspeople followed Ottoman cultural practices, though they did
not limit themselves to copying the Istanbul fashion. The bourgeois women used to
wear a fine white silk shirt and a sleeveless xhybe. The xhybe is a typical Albanian
coat fitted to the bust and worn open. Its shape is enlarged from the hips to the knees.
Shkodër and Elbasan women exhibited luxurious variations of velvet xhybe entirely
decorated with golden braids and vegetal-patterned embroideries. Gold filigree but-
tons and removable sleeves, enriched with densely embroidered golden volutes,
could be fixed on the garment to make it more imposing. A striped or flowery cloth
Albania | 13
cummerbund and a tight, short waist-

coat were usually worn on the shirt.
The lower parts of the long, baggy
shalwar (trousers) underneath were
also richly embroidered in gold thread.
The Catholic women of Shkodër wore
voluminous trousers, precious toques,
and white lace mantillas to indicate
their family wealth and social status.
The dress of Shkodër was one of the
most elaborate urban female costumes
of the whole Balkan area.
The Albanian dignitaries, offi-
cials, merchants, and craftsmen who
used to dress in the Turkish man-
ner started following Western fash-
ion before the Ottoman Empire was
dismantled in the early 20th century.
Traditional Albanian clothing worn by a
On the contrary, the mountain people married Christian woman and man, c. 1873.
preserved their strongly original tradi- (Library of Congress)
tional costumes in both Christian and
Muslim communities. At the end of the 19th century, they were often displayed as
symbols of Albanianness by the leaders of the Albanian Renaissance, who fought
for the independence of their country from the Turks. When Albania was liberated
in 1912, it became a protectorate of the Western Great Powers. The modern suit
rapidly spread across the territory and transformed the men’s wardrobe. In the
main cities, Albanian women left their voluminous silk trousers and velvet coats
with golden embroidery and trimmings to adopt Paris-like fitted dresses, skirts,
and jackets. Fashionable hairstyles and hats replaced the fezzes with golden tas-
sels, the silk headbands decorated with gold coins, and the veils. Albania gained its
full independence in 1920. It was invaded in 1939 by Italy and reached indepen-
dence again after World War II to become an Eastern bloc country ruled by a com-
munist regime till 1991. Since the middle of the 20th century, the Albanian folk
dress has been worn only for weddings and national or regional festivities, except
in the mountain areas where older people still wear their traditional costumes.
Materials and Techniques

The Albanian traditional textiles are made of wool, linen, and hemp. The use
of cotton fabrics is more recent and dates back to the late 19th century. Silk was
mainly imported from abroad by city dwellers, but rarely diffused in the moun-
tains and rural regions where women and men wore garments sewn from domestic
textiles woven on horizontal looms. Today, the Albanian traditional textiles are
still embroidered in very elaborate ancient patterns. The folk costumes exhibited
for local or national ceremonies in the cities are embroidered with couched gold
thread by craftsmen working in professional workshops. Following totally differ-
ent techniques, mountain women embroider the traditional bridal and ceremonial
dresses in woolen thread. They use linen, silk, or cotton thread for the symbolic
embroidery on chemises.
Before the 20th century, Albanian textiles were dyed with vegetable substances
to produce several shades of black, violet, brown, dark red, dark blue, green, and
yellow. Rural men preferred wearing undyed wool felt fabric with white cream
hues. The warm light-colored wools were shared by the main clothing compo-
nents, from trousers to waistcoats and hats. Following different chromatic rules,
the village women principally used black, red, and white wool fabrics decorated
with brightly colored embroideries. Chemical dyes were introduced in Albania in
the second half of the 19th century. They impoverished the chromatic variety of the
vernacular dress. Today, the folk dress is usually cut from imported cottons, thin
wools, and synthetic textiles, which are less heavy and thick than the handwoven
woolen textiles.
Men’s Dress
Albania still has many variations of male costumes. The main types of tradi-
tional garments used in most provinces are white chemises, braided creamy waist-
coats and jackets, wide fustanellë (kilts), straight felt trousers, and large wool or
silk cummerbunds tied around the waist. In the winter, an overcoat or flokatë was
worn by the male population of all the regions, but it is no longer used today.
The fustanellë is a knee-length pleated skirt made of white cotton or linen. In
the 19th century, the komitët (warriors for national freedom) wore a black fustanellë.
The other most common folk element used by the Albanians to cover the lower part
of their bodies are the felt trousers called tirqi. The tirqi (pants) are sewn and deco-
rated along the sides and around the pocket openings with a black gajtan (stripe).
The black decorative stripes also follow irregular geometric lines on the front of the
trousers under the belt to indicate group affiliation. Albanian men can superimpose
the fustanellë (skirt) and the tirqi (trousers) for folk parades and dances.
The woolen tirqi are associated with a white chemise and a felt jelek (waistcoat)
with black thread ornament on the hem. A brightly colored xhamadani (long-sleeved
jacket) can be added over the waistcoat. The xhamadani is richly embroidered with
black and golden patterns, which indicate social rank. This dress originated in
Albania | 15
northeastern Albania before spreading

to the western and southern areas of the
country. Another style of male dress is
the dollamë, an undyed felt coat worn
over a long white shirt. In the winter,
the xhurdia (black wool short-sleeved
jacket) is added over the dress. It is
representative of the Shkodër prov-
ince, Mirdita, Mat, and Dibra costume
in the northern area of central Albania.
Wide overcoats are also quite pop-
ular in Albania. A white or dark blue
overcoat called cibun is characteristic
of the male dress in some towns and
villages of southeastern regions.
In southern Albania, the fusta-
nellë (kilt) is replaced by wide knee-
length breeches called poture, worn
with a xhamadani (jacket). The mod-
est poture are made of creamy or dark
blue felt. Another type of Oriental-like
voluminous trousers worn by both
men and women all over Albania is the Albanian man from Malissor wearing
brekusha. Most of the men’s costumes traditional clothing, c. 1873. (Library of
are completed by an undyed wool hat, Congress)
rounded or cylindrical in shape, which
has diverse names from region to region, like pligi, qeleshe, or paft. Red Turkish-
like fezzes with long tassels were also common to all Albanian city dwellers till
the middle of the 20th century. Today, many ritual and ceremonial accessories
are still used for festivities. The brez is a large belt or cummerbund in a striped or
quilted cloth ornamented with golden jewels, tobacco boxes, yataghans, and a pair
of pistols. The opinga are shoes made of one leather skin, formed to the feet with
leather or wool strips. The typical turned-up leather shoes with red and black wool
pompoms on the ends are also popular and often used for folk dances.
Women’s Dress
The most original and iconic Albanian women’s dress is the xhubletë. The
xhubletë is a heavy, thick skirt made of felt stripes, decorated with gajtan trimmings.
It has a very specific bell shape and its dark color is lightened with red and silver
horizontal stripes. This skirt only sur-

vives in some remote northern areas
like Dukagjin and the Gjakivë moun-
tains. It is traditionally worn with a
felt xhoka (waistcoat) with many fitted
pleats on the back and triangular short
sleeves bordered with thick red wool
fringes. The xhoka has approximately
20 variations across the country. The
xhoka worn with the xhubletë in the
northern mountains is black and dec-
orated with gold trimming. A woven
apron, a large belt, hand-knitted wool
socks, an undulating wig, and a flow-
ery headscarf complete the ceremonial
outfit. Today, a lighter red skirt often
takes the place of the antique woolen
xhubletë.
The Albanian folk dress is often
decorated with symbolic elements of
antique pagan origin, like suns, eagles,
Girl wearing xhubletë at the Logu i Bjesh- moons, stars, or snakes. Most of the
keve Festival, Lepushe, Albania, August 13,
2010. (D&B Smith/Getty Images)
ornaments follow geometric designs
that illustrate the archaic character of
the mountain costumes. The decorative patterns also mix the cross of the Catholic
and Orthodox churches, Islamic motifs, and Jewish symbols all together. The sil-
ver jewelry, such as long chains and medallions fixed to the belt, follows the same
symbolism. Also very popular are amulets and silver coins, still exhibited today
in many folk ceremonies. People credited them with having the power of catch-
ing evil spirits. Archaic tattoos were also supposed to protect children and women
from magic spirits, but this antique tradition has totally disappeared today.
The Albanian mountain costumes combine a wide number of homemade gar-
ments and accessories, often woven or knitted with woolen white, black, or red
thread. The three colors respectively symbolize the life steps from birth to mar-
riage, then death. In Kelmend, for example, the teenager’s bodice is white, the
bride’s and the married women’s is red, and the older women’s is black. The female
dress is usually brightened by complementary touches of yellow, violet, blue, and
green. In some of the remotest mountains, the color and decoration of the dress
still indicate social data. For burials, women sometimes turn their bodices inside
out to conceal their decoration. In addition to the color symbolism, the patterns of
Albania | 17
the hand-knitted socks or çorapat used to signify distinctiveness between villages.

In present times, the rituals and the meanings of the archaic textile and embroidery
patterns are almost forgotten.
The bell-shaped xhubletë is not the unique female dress of northern Albania.
In Pukë and in Labëria, for example, it is replaced by a long chemise, simply made
out of white cotton, which is worn with two wool aprons called futa. A back apron
and a larger front apron with long black fringes cover the shirt. Both are decorated
with symbolic silver motifs. Today, the heritage of the mountain clothing culture is
more vivid than the urban one. In the cities, local customs and festivals have been
affected by modernization. The variations of violet or deep red velvet coats and
waistcoats decorated with gold thread embroidered patterns all waned when Alba-
nian women fully adopted Western dress. The amazing diversity and magnificence
of xhybe from one century ago vanished before the middle of the 20th century.
However, a red felt ceremonial xhybe embroidered with black cotton thread can
still be seen in the Shkodër mountains. This cheaper variation persisted longer, as
did most of the clothing traditions of the rural and mountain areas.
Contemporary Use of Ethnic Dress

After an agitated 20th century with its succession of wars and migrations,
many traditional costumes are still alive either in the country or abroad thanks to
the festivities regularly organized by the Albanian diaspora. The folk costumes
are jealously preserved by the local groups who perform traditional dances for
commemorations, weddings, and folkloric manifestations, like the Logu dance or
the dance of Kukës in the north. These costumes are exhibited by amateur danc-
ers and by everyday people as well. Albanian women wear a modernized varia-
tion of urban ceremonial dress with a loose, baggy, fluid wrap-around skirt and
Oriental-like trousers, usually made of white silk, worn with a fine white chemise
and a short jelek (waistcoat). In central Albania and in the city of Elbasan, the
velvet waistcoat is embroidered with flower and leaf motifs worked in couched
gold thread. Today, the gold motifs are sometimes filled with pale synthetic beads.
An apron and a headscarf can be added to the dress to evoke the ancient Albanian
traditions and aesthetics.
The range of customs, rituals, and festivals to be found throughout Albania
decreased in the past 50 years because of the modernization of society. Except
in the remotest villages where older people never stopped wearing their typical
costumes, traditional clothing is not considered suitable for everyday life. Women
do not spin, weave, cut, sew, or embroider every item of their dress any more, but
simpler and less decorated folk costumes are still appreciated and proudly exhib-
ited at popular ceremonies and national festivities.

Andromaqi, Gjergji. Albanian Costumes Through the Centuries. Origin, Types,
Evolution. Tirana: Mësonjëtorja, 2004.
Blumi, Isa. “Undressing the Albanian: Finding Social History in Ottoman Material
Cultures.” In Soraya Faroqhi and Christoph K. Neumann, ed. Ottoman Cos-
tumes. From Textile to Identity. Istanbul: Eren Press, 2004, pp. 157–180.
Elsie, Robert. Historical Dictionary of Albania. Lanham, Toronto, and Plymouth:
Scarecrow Press, 2010.
Elsie, Robert. A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology, and Folk Culture.
London: Hurst & Company, 2001.
Waller, Diane. Textiles from the Balkans. London: The British Museum Press,
2010.
Algeria
John A. Shoup
Historical Background
Berbers or Imazighin peoples have inhabited North Africa since at least 9000 BCE,
and they are the first people to leave a lasting cultural mark on the country. Berbers
formed into states due to the influence of Carthage, founded in the ninth century
BCE by Phoenician traders from Tyre, who brought with them urban life and an
alphabet.
The ancient Berber kingdom of Numidia, which occupies modern-day Algeria,
remained governed by local princes until the civil war between Pompey and Caesar
(45–49 BCE). The Pompians were defeated and Caesar annexed most of Numidia
to the new province of Africa Nova. Caesar’s successor, Octavian Augustus Cae-
sar, returned parts of Numidia to his friend Juba II after his victory over Cleopatra
and Anthony at Actium in 31 BCE.
When the Edict of Milan ended the persecution of Christians in 313 CE, many
of those who had repudiated their Christianity tried to reenter the church, but the
Donatists refused to allow them even after the Bishop of Rome agreed that they
could again worship in churches. The Donatist movement remained and did not die
out until the Arab Islamic conquests in the seventh and eighth centuries.
In the Christian era, most of the former Roman provinces were ruled by Byz-
antium until the arrival in the seventh century of the Arabs. The Arabs arrived
in Tunisia, led by ‘Uqbah bin Nafi’, and established a base at Qayruwan in 670.
Qayruwan is located on the edge of a plain and close to the desert. The Arabs were
opposed by both the Berbers and the Byzantines, but by 701 both were defeated
and Arab/Muslim victory was no longer challenged. The Berbers, once defeated,
converted en masse to Islam. Christianity died out quickly and the Berbers were
attracted to proto-Shi‘ism and to Kharaji forms of Islam.
In 1070, the Almoravids, a Berber dynasty, founded the city of Marrakech as
their capital and pushed on across Algeria to Tunisia. Spain and Portugal pursued
the conquests of Mediterranean and Atlantic port cities, taking power in Morocco,
as did the Hafsids and Ziyyanids in Tunisia and Algeria.
19
The Ottoman Turks arrived in North Africa after their conquest of Egypt in
1517. The Ottomans were the main Muslim rivals for the power of Hapsburg Spain,
and in 1574 the Ottomans took Tunisia. In 1529, the Turkish Sultan Sulayman
(ruled 1520–1566) officially annexed Tunisia to the Ottoman Empire. Algiers, like
other North African ports, was allowed to harbor privateers who menaced Euro-
pean shipping until the 19th century. The Turks were concerned with the richer
parts of the country and concentrated their rule in the north. Much of the Saharan
areas were technically under the Moroccan Sultan until they were brought under
French control in the first decades of the 20th century.
The French invasion of Algeria has its origins during the Napoleonic period
when, in 1799, France bought food from the Dey, the rulers of Algiers, for the
French army, but deferred payment to a later date. The French had not paid the debt
and in 1827, Hussein Dey demanded that the French pay and in anger hit the French
consul with his feather fan. In response, France blockaded Algiers. In 1829, French
attempts to negotiate were met with cannon fire against one of the French military
ships blockading the port. The French king, Charles X, decided stronger action was
needed and ordered the invasion. In 1830, French forces landed west of Algiers and
in a land-and-sea battle that lasted for several weeks, Algiers was taken.
As early as 1848 the Mediterranean coastal region was administered as a part
of France. The Algerians were led in their resistance to the French by Amir ‘Abd
al-Qadir and by other local leaders. The French opened up Algeria to European emi-
grants from France, Italy, and Spain. Many of Europe’s poor came to Algeria with
the dream of becoming rich. Arabs and Berbers were expelled and lands given to
the Europeans. In 1845, the French government issued an order that divided Algeria
into different types of communes, those where the Europeans were a majority with
full rights as French citizens, those with mixed populations where a French military
officer or a local notable was the representative, and those where Arabs or Berbers
were the majority populations and where a French military commander had full
charge because the local population was not deemed sufficiently subdued. In 1848,
changes in the government in France brought changes to Algeria as well. The Sec-
ond Republic replaced the Bourbon dynasty and the communes of Oran, Algiers,
and Constantine were reorganized into French departments, granting French citi-
zens the right to elect their own civil authorities. The rest of Algeria was outside of
this and was governed by local Muslim authorities and/or the French military.
During World War I and in the postwar period, little seemed to challenge
French rule in Algeria. In World War II the French colonial areas sided with the
pro-German Vichy government, but the Free French forces were greatly aided by
Moroccan, Senegalese, and Algerian troops. De Gaulle, commander of the Free
French, promised full equality following the war if the colonies would rally to the
Free French. This did not pass in Algeria because the Europeans saw it as giving
Algeria | 21
away too much while the Arabs and Berbers saw it as too little and too late. In 1954
the Algerian War of Independence began.
The Algerian War of Independence lasted from 1954 to 1962 and both sides
suffered great losses. The ruling party of Algeria, the Front de Libération Natio-
nale (FLN), was established and quickly took over the leadership of the fight. By
the time the fighting ended in 1962, the Fourth Republic of France had lost all of
North Africa. The French were defeated. Charles de Gaulle agreed to give Algeria
its independence. Once it was agreed that Algeria would become independent, the
European colonists, most of Algeria’s Jewish population, and Algerians loyal to
France (Harkis) fled the country. Many Algerians moved to France and have been
an important part of the French population since then. As of 2012, the population
of Algeria is estimated at 35,406,300.
Geographical Background
Algeria is a massive country stretching from the Mediterranean to deep into the
Sahara and is one of the largest countries in Africa. The Mediterranean coast is
narrow and tall mountains quickly rise up behind. The mountains are part of the
Atlas range that starts in Morocco and end in Tunisia. They are high and rough.
Like other Mediterranean countries, Algeria has cold, wet winters and hot, dry
summers. During the winter it is possible to have snow in the mountains.
While much of the Sahara is rock, Algeria includes several large sand seas,
the Grand Erg Oriental, the Grand Erg Occidental, as well as Erg Chech and Erg
Iguidi, both of which start in Mauritania and spill across the border into Algeria.
The Sahara also has important oases such as the Mzab valley, just to the north of
the Grand Erg Oriental; Tuwat near the Tademalt Plateau in the middle of Saharan
Algeria; and others such as Ghat and Djanet in the Tassili n’ Ajjer. While some of
these oases are inhabited by Berber-speaking Tuareg, others are Arabic speaking,
and in the northern parts (near the border with Tunisia) the Sha‘ambah Bedouin
dominate. Close to the border with Mauritania and Morocco live the Arabic-
speaking Awald Hassan Bedouin.
People and Dress

The French conquest greatly influenced the clothing traditions, with indigenous
clothing associated with the disenfranchised natives and Western styles associ-
ated with progressive-thinking assimilationists. Traditional clothing and textiles
used to make traditional dress declined. Following independence, the ruling FLN
party saw traditional clothing as something that belonged to local folklore, and
Western dress was seen as progressive and modern. Those who wore traditional
clothes were considered to be reactionary and not part of the new, modern, social-
ist, and independent Algeria. Traditional clothes were worn by folklore groups
when performing on stage, but not encouraged for daily dress. Only the more rural
populations continued to wear folk dress, and the Berber Kabylis and Tuaregs used
traditional clothes as a means of self-identification.
Traditional dress in Algeria is divided between that of the Mediterranean urban
areas and the more rural hinterlands. The Sahara forms its own region, sharing
customs, traditions, and material culture between the Berber-speaking Tuareg, the
Teda (also called Tubu), and the pastoral Arab peoples who live in the same region.
In addition, they have historically been in close contact with African peoples such
as the Fulani (also called the Fulbe, Puel, and Pulaar, among other names), Mande,
and Wolof. The Mediterranean areas were influenced by the Ottoman Turks as well
as Andalusian Arabic-speakers expelled from Spain who have influenced local dia-
lects of Arabic, food, architecture, and clothing.
Women
Women’s clothing in Algeria, as in Tunisia and Morocco, is divided between
urban and rural dress. More than men’s clothing, women’s clothing was subject to
changes in fashion and was influenced by European and Ottoman styles. By the
start of the 20th century, particularly
in the urban areas, women began to
abandon traditional clothes for every-
day wear and wore them only during
holidays and special events. European
fashion and textiles took over the mar-
ket. France was a major producer of
cloth such as silk, which flooded the
Mediterranean area in the late 19th
century, destroying local cloth indus-
tries. In Algeria, the cloth industry
in the town of Biskra in Algeria and
Jerba and Sfax in Tunisia were able
to resist for some time due to both
the fine quality of the cloth woven
and to the designs they used, some
of which had been introduced by
Andalusian refugees centuries earlier
Algerian Muslim woman wearing a haik, (Bouttiaux et al. 56–63; Bouilloc et
print from c. 1899. (Library of Congress) al. 137–169). Where there was strong
Algeria | 23
Andalusian influence, such as in the

city of Constantine in northeastern
Algeria, women wore long dresses in
velvet or velveteen heavily embroi-
dered in gold and silver thread in flo-
ral and arabesque patterns or in bright
yellow, blue, green, and orange silk
thread in floral patterns. Women wore
a short, tight bolero jacket or vest, also
of velvet and heavily embroidered in
gold or silver thread. The use of metal
thread was an indicator of wealth;
the richer the family, the more use of
metal thread. When leaving the house,
women wore a large cloth outer robe
usually called a haik in Arabic. The
haik, made of white or natural off-
white cotton or a cotton and wool
blend, covered the woman from the top
of her head to her toes. It was wrapped
around her so that her face was hid- Velvet kaftan heavily embroidered with
den, and in some cases she had only gold thread, Algeria. (Art Directors.co.uk/
a single small opening for one eye to StockphotoPro)
see out. If she was less conservative,
a woman wore a separate face veil, sometimes heavily embroidered with cotton
floss, but the haik still wrapped her entire body like a protective cocoon. The haik
made a comeback in the 1950s and early 1960s as women were recruited by the
FLN in their struggle for independence from France. Women dressed in haiks were
difficult for the French soldiers to stop and search for weapons or documents and
initially were less suspected. Traditionally women wore leather slippers generally
called balghah in North Africa. Women’s shoes were frequently embroidered in
metal thread to match the dress and were made with no backs for ease in putting
them on and taking them off.
Rural women in Algeria tended to wear clothes similar to those worn by
women in Tunisia and Morocco. A usually heavy dark cotton or cotton and wool
blend cloth was tied or pinned at the shoulders with large silver brooches called
khilalat in Arabic and tizerzai in Berber. In most cases the cloth was relatively
plain, although cloth with large checkerboard designs was also worn. The dresses
were belted with a number of different wide sashes; unmarried women wore belts in
blue or white, red being reserved for married women. Some of the more decorative
sashes were made from cloth strips woven in Biskra, Sfax, or Jerbah while more
common ones were long pieces of cloth the woman could use for a number of uses
and then stick back inside the belt fold.
Men
Men in northern Algeria, where most of the population lived prior to French
invasion, wore clothes similar to clothing in other urban regions of North Africa.
In general men wore white cotton shirts with somewhat puffy or full sleeves and
an open collar. They wore embroidered waistcoats over which they wore a bolero-
type jacket. The jacket was also embroidered and the type of cloth and amount of
embroidery marked social class. Men wore “Turkish” trousers or sirwal that were
tied at the waist by a pull string. The trousers were full, with ample amounts of cloth,
to the knee. Under the knee the legs were tight in a cuff that was heavily embroi-
dered. Some men wore long stockings that reached to the cuffs and wore a slipper
shoe made of leather common to many Arab countries. The trousers and shirt were
belted at the waist with a wide sash made of silk, silk and cotton, or some other silk
blend cloth made of a number of col-
ors. The sash was wrapped around and
around the waist and tied by sticking
the loose end into the top of the belt.
Wealthy men stashed an expensive
dagger into the belt and in later time
periods, a pistol. Urban men usually
wore a red felt hat with a long black
silk tassel usually called shashiyah
or more often chechia using a French
spelling. Status was marked by the
quality of the hat with simple, rough
hats for everyday work and smooth
ones with long black silk tassels for
higher status men. Men could wrap a
cloth around the bottom of the cap and
again, the more expensive the cloth
used, the higher their social status.
Some men, such as religious scholars,
continued wearing large turbans of
Algerian imam wearing a turban of imported expensive imported cloth well into the
Syrian cloth and a jallabah. (Courtesy John French period. Religious scholars also
A. Shoup) wore more “Arab” clothes: a long shirt
Algeria | 25
and a long overcoat made of cotton, linen, or wool. In the winter, men wore a large
cloak with a hood called a burnous (also spelled burnoose) or salham. Some urban
men had shorter varieties of burnous made for them to wear in all seasons, which
were adopted by French military officers, though never part of official dress except
for the Sipahi (native) cavalry regiments.
Rural men, both Berber and Arab, tended to wear clothes similar to those of
other rural men in North Africa, and their dress was determined by whether they
lived in the mountains, on the Mediterranean coast, or on the arid plains and des-
erts of the interior. Most of their clothes were similar to those of the urban men, but
instead of being finely tailored by professionals, their clothes tended to be home-
made and of rougher, homespun woolen cloth. In addition, rural men wore, and
some still wear, a cotton or woolen jallabah or long, ankle-length overrobe, sewn
closed in front with a hood. Rural men wear the same red cap as urban men, but
often bind a cloth around their heads as a turban, called a shaysh, more frequently
spelled cheich in French. The shaysh is not nearly as large as that worn by Tuareg
men, but it is long enough to be brought around the nose and mouth to protect the
wearer from cold, dust, or sand. In part of Algeria, men used to wear a white or off-
white cloth much like the kuffiyah of Jordan or Palestine and bind it with a black
cloth or a cord made of black goat hair. As an outer cloak, men throughout North
Africa used to wear a ksa, a toga-like garment made of a large cotton or cotton and
wool blend cloth with one end brought over the left shoulder and tied into the belt,
then folded over the head and around the waist. The excess cloth was brought up
over the left shoulder and then folded into the belt, leaving an opening for the arm
to be free. The remainder of the other end of the cloth (the part originally placed
over the head) was brought across the front of the wearer and over the left shoulder
where it could be fixed into place with a cord. Typically rural men wore leather
sandals or slippers made by local craftsmen, but men also wore leather boots for
riding horses. Boots had thick, firm leather soles and a bit of heel, though poorer
men rode in their slippers or sandals with a type of short yellow leather chaps worn
from ankle to mid-calf.
Dress in the Kabyli Region

Women in the Kabyli region in the Aures Mountains (part of the Tell Atlas
range) wear colorful dresses made of bright yellow, green, pink, blue, or white cot-
ton cloth. The dress is full body and reaches to just above the ankles. The shoulders
and chest are decorated with a series of cloth ruffles made of the same cloth as the
dress and further decorated with rickrack, often in black, red, and green. The skirt
is also decorated with cloth ruffles and rickrack designs starting near the knees
and continuing to the bottom hem. The wrists are decorated with rows of rickrack
appliqué. Women cover their hair with a cloth that is tied neatly around the head.
This headpiece is not very large and is put on like a scarf with the two ends brought
underneath the hair and the tail of the scarf and tied together in front or to the
side of the head. This is a common feature of the costumes of many rural women
in much of the Maghrib region. When leaving the house, women put on another
larger cloth that serves as a cover that can be brought up over the nose and mouth
when meeting men other than those in the same family. Today women of the region
wear local fashion as a statement of Berber identity, and some popular Algerian
singers, such as Shabbah Zahwaniyah, have adopted it for stage performances.
Dress in the Tuareg Region

The Tuareg are a Berber-speaking people who live in the southern parts of
Algeria and into the southwestern parts of Libya, the Saharan parts of Mali and
Niger, and south into parts of Burkina Faso. They have distinctive forms of cloth-
ing that mark them as separate from most of their neighbors in addition to marking
class within the Tuareg peoples. The Tuareg have been greatly romanticized by
European travelers who compared them to European medieval knights and popu-
larized them with tourists. Tuareg or Tuwariq is the Arabic name for them, being a
plural of the name Tariq, while their own name for themselves is Kell Tamasheq or
Kell Tamajek, meaning those who speak Tamasheq, their form of Berber.
Tuareg men wear a large turban called a tagelmust made of cotton cloth called
aleshu (dyed in deep indigo) some 16 feet (five meters) long. The turban is wrapped
around the head in such a way as to cover the lower face in a fold that can be lifted
up and down. The tagulmust can be made of any piece of long cloth and can be any
color, but the dark indigo rubs off onto the skin, making it a dark blue color. Indigo
is expensive, so this is sometimes seen as a status symbol.
Women also wear a headscarf called an erkerkey or adalil that usually falls
over the shoulders and that they can bring up to cover the face when necessary. The
erkerkey is not nearly as long as the tagulmust but is usually made out of the same
cotton cloth, which is purchased from Hausa traders from northern Nigeria where
the cotton is grown and the cloth woven and dyed. For both men and women, wear-
ing the head cover denotes status as adults.
For holidays and special celebrations Tuareg women, especially in Niger, wear
short bolero shirts that are flared out around the waist in white, black, or indigo
blue cloth, often with lace sleeves, and embroidered in red, black, and yellow cot-
ton thread. The costume is completed with a wrap-around skirt that fits tightly at
the hips. The skirt may also be embroidered, and she wears a matching piece of
cloth as a turban, often made from the same cloth as the shirt and skirt, similar to
the pagne of West African women. For more ordinary wear, Tuareg women usually
Algeria | 27
wear a long dress made from a single piece of cloth that is tied at both shoulders to
make the dress called a tesoghelnet, which is similar to the milhifa’ of the Hassani
Arabs in Mauritania. The cloth is long enough to be folded around over the head
and used to cover the face when necessary. Women also wore, and some still wear,
a dress called a tbertine or tebetik made of goat leather decorated with long fringes.
This had been the dress of the poor and slave groups and was abandoned by Tuareg
women by the 1950s.
Tuareg men wear a long poncho-type robe with long, wide, open sleeves that
are usually worn folded back up over the shoulders of the tilbi. The front has some
embroidery, and a piece of crocheted material is attached from the neck along an
opening to the pocket, which allows the pocket to carry something heavy in it and
not tear or stretch the cloth of the robe. The robe is made from a variety of differ-
ent types of cloth, from something fairly inexpensive for everyday wear to costly
starch-stiffened cloth from Mali. The use of more ornate embroidery with metal
threads implies greater wealth and status. Most of the robes are made by tailors
in cities, towns, and villages who use non-Tuareg designs in addition to more tra-
ditional ones. In the winter months men wear a woolen cloak, often with a hood,
called a burnous or salham. These are made and worn by Arab and Berber men
throughout North Africa. For festivals, Tuareg men wear several layers of cloths
in contrasting white and dark indigo. They wear cloth or leather cross belts and
decorate their turbans with a number of silver charms called a techort or a tereout.
Under their layers of outer dress, men wear “Turkish” trousers called akerbay.
These trousers have a pull string around the waist to belt them and immediately
flare out with ample amounts of cloth around the upper legs and buttocks but come
to a tight cuff above the ankle. They are frequently embroidered around the two
front pockets and down the leg to the cuffs. The cuffs may also be embroidered
since they may be exposed when riding a camel. Today some Tuareg men wear the
longer, straight trousers preferred by Zerma (Songhay), Pulaar, and Bamana men
in complete sets (long shirt and trousers of the same cloth and lightly embroidered)
called forokiya in Bambara (the national language of Mali). These can be made
from expensive textiles locally called Khomeini (due to the star and crescent moon
designs woven into the cloth) or from bazin or wakkas (Dutch wax) cloth.
Both men and women wear sandals called iragazan or tadakat, made of sev-
eral layers of leather sewn together to make the sole. The soles are cut into several
different shapes, but generally the front is rounded while the heel ends in a sharp
angle on each side. The sandals are usually painted in red and outlined in black.
The strap between the big toe and the one next to it is attached to the bottom of
the sandal to be secure and the larger strap that goes over the instep of the foot is
sewn to the sole at the sides. The toe piece is also sewn to it, though today tourists
need to be sure the sandal is fully sewn and not glued together. The larger strap is
also dyed red and the other decoration is in green-colored leather. In addition to
sandals, Tuareg men also wear leather shoes or boots, generally called ibuzagan.
The boots come up to the mid-calf and are often tan in color with leather appliqué
decorations in red and green or with painted designs, also mainly in red and green.

Bouilloc, Christine, Arnoud Maurières, and Marie-Bénédicte Seynhaeve. Tapis et
Textiles du Maroc è la Syrie. Paris: Hachette Livre/le Chêne, 2009.
Bouttiaux, Anne-Marie, Frieda Sorber, and Ann van Cutsem. Costumes et Textiles
d’Afrique: des Berbers aux Zulu. Milan: 5 Continents Press, 2008.
Gardi, Bernhard. Le Boubou—c’est chic: Les boubous du Mali et d’autres pays
de l’Afrique de l’Ouest. Basel: Musée national des arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie,
2000.
Seligman, Thomas and Kristyne Loughran, eds. Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara
Nomads in a Modern World. Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural
History, 2005.
Wiess, Walter and Kurt-Michael Westermann. The Bazaar: Markets and Mer-
chants in the Islamic World. London: Thames and Hudson, 2000.
Armenia
Susan Lind-Sinanian
The Armenians are one of the most ancient and distinctive ethnic groups of western
Asia or Eurasia. The ancient Armenians were principally occupied with cattle rear-
ing, stock breeding, and agriculture, and by the Middle Ages, they developed arti-
san, merchant, and trader classes. Armenian kingdoms and principalities became
part of the famed Silk Road, a trade route that connected China, India, and the
Middle East to Europe. Items traded included silk, tea, spices, and jewels, leading
to ever-wider ranges of cultural exchange. The kingdom of Armenia was estab-
lished around 600 BCE, becoming most powerful around 80 BCE.
In the early fourth century, Armenia became an early adopter of Christian-
ity. Its strategic position made it a desirable destination for invaders, first Greeks,
Romans, and Assyrians, and later Persians, Ottoman Turks, and Russians. In the
13th century Mongol invaders conquered Armenia and were then followed by
destructive invaders from Central Asia throughout the next two centuries. Contin-
ued invasions led to great destruction of the country and a weak leadership. Under
Ottoman rule and until the 19th century, forced re-settlement occurred, leading
many Armenians to leave their homeland. Eastern Armenia was incorporated into
the Russian Empire in the early part of the 19th century.
It was difficult for Christian Armenians to live under strict Muslim social
structures as they were continually discriminated against. Resistance resulted in
massacres of Armenians in the hundreds of thousands. With the Ottoman Empire
collapsing in the early 20th century and the outbreak of World War I, there was
great distrust of Armenian intellectuals in particular, and a large number (around
600,000–1,000,000) of Armenians living in Anatolia were massacred in the Arme-
nian genocide of 1915–1916.
In Armenia, the desire to tie Armenian history more closely to that of the
West has led to an overemphasis on Western contacts Armenians had with either
ancient Greeks or European Crusaders. In fact, the historic record demonstrates
29
that Armenians were no more influenced by Hellenism in Asia than Egypt, Syria,
or Iran, and in some sense less so.
The destruction of the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire and the
absorption of the remaining portion of Armenia into the Soviet Union in 1921
effectively shattered the national costume of historic/western Armenia.
Today, Armenia is an independent republic, established in 1991 after the
breakup of the Soviet Union, but it continues to struggle with Turkey and Azer-
baijan over border issues and has suffered from lack of economic growth. Many
Armenians have emigrated from the country to the United States and to other
places. In 2012, the population of Armenia was approximately 2,970,500.
Geographic and Environmental Background

The present-day Republic of Armenia is located in the Transcaucasus, the north-
ernmost extension of the greater Middle East. It is bordered by Georgia to the
north, Azerbaijan on the east, Iran to the south, and Turkey to the west. However,
historic Armenia encompasses a much larger area of 100,000 square miles and
includes the Great Plateau in eastern Turkey, which extends into the southern Cau-
casus. Its easternmost extension includes Armenian-populated Karabakh, whose
status is disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Rugged extinct volcanoes characterize the region. The most famous of these
is the nearly 17,000-ft. Mount Ararat, the national symbol, which fills the sky-
line of the Armenian capital of Yerevan from Turkish territory. Also notable are
Mount Sipan, north of Lake Van (also in Turkey), and Mount Aragats, north of
Yerevan, at over 13,000 ft. the tallest mountain in the Republic of Armenia. At
most points, the Tigris, Euphrates, and Arax rivers and their tributaries are unnavi-
gable. The geographers of classical times considered the Euphrates River to be
the border between Anatolia and Armenia proper and also roughly formed the
boundary between Greater Armenia to the east and Lesser Armenia to the west.
Hundreds of years after Armenia lost its independence, the Arax River, together
with the Zagros Mountains to the south, formed the border between the Turk-
ish and Persian empires and likewise between the cultural zones of eastern and
western Armenia. The Armenian republic of today is a fraction of historic eastern
Armenia, the western part being entirely swallowed up by Turkey since 1920. The
Arax now delineates the border between Turkey and Armenia, Armenia and Iran,
and Azerbaijan and Iran before terminating in the Caspian Sea.
Although the Armenian highland towers over other neighboring Middle East
regions, its numerous microclimates, with tremendous variation in flora and fauna,
required ingenuity and persistence for the Armenian people to wrest a living from
Armenia | 31
the largely arid terrain. With effective irrigation, however, pambak (cotton) and
jute (hemp) have been cultivated since ancient times.
People and Dress

Armenian textiles, especially carpets, kilims, cushions, and other woven goods,
became highly prized trade and tribute items attested to in both Byzantine and
Islamic sources. Armenian red, an organic dye known as kirmiz (kermes) or ordan
garmir, based on the processed shells of native insects, is the color most associated
with Armenian costumes and textiles.
It is not surprising, given the extreme and varied climatic conditions, that
Armenian dress evolved in a layered pattern, with shalvar (generally wide or
baggy trousers) and shabig (shirts) forming the base upon which jackets, caftans,
coats, dresses, aprons, cloaks, sashes, belts, moccasins, boots, stockings, headgear,
and jewelry were added to serve practical, social, or aesthetic purposes. Although
a romantic notion of Armenians as an island of Christianity in a sea of Islam was
purveyed by Europeans who had rediscovered Armenians in the 18th and 19th
centuries, Armenian culture (including its Christianity) is firmly rooted in western
Asia. The elements of traditional Armenian dress therefore have shared much in
common with that of neighboring and ethnically related peoples (especially Kurds
and Iranians).

Because of Armenia’s complex history of being part of different empires,
Armenian costume has played a strong role in maintaining the Armenian identity.
One can talk about the ethnic and religious diversity in Armenia’s past history;
however, today the Republic of Armenia is one of the most homogenous states
that have emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Armenians now
constitute nine-tenths of the population.
Sumptuary laws during the 16th century dictated that non-Muslim people
dress differently than their Muslim rulers. Armenians and Jews had to wear black
and purple shoes, Greeks wore red, and Muslims could wear yellow. Sumptuary
laws changed throughout the years. In the 19th century, Armenians could wear red
shoes, Muslims wore green.
In some urban centers with an overwhelming majority of Muslims, Arme-
nian women covered their heads and arms by wearing a chador when they went
outdoors. The Armenian and Turkish chador was a colorful garment constructed
with two rectangular fabrics sewn together with a casing and drawstring down the
Child’s shoes, Bitlis, late 19th century. Ottoman sumptuary laws required that Armenians
wear red shoes. (1986.273 Donated by Mt. Holyoke College/Armenian Library and
Museum of America)
center. The garment was worn as a double skirt indoors, and when the wearer was
traveling outside the home, the top layer could be pulled over the head, covering
the arms and shoulders.
History of Dress
Armenian history can be divided into four major periods: ancient, classical,
medieval, and modern.
Ancient Period: Urartu Kingdom, 900–600 BCE

The ancient kingdom of Urartu, which extended between Asia Minor and the
Caucasus Mountains, later became Greater Armenia. The Urartians were the for-
midable enemies of the Assyrians and builders of complex fortresses. They were
skilled architects and masons, who developed metalwork into an art form with a
tradition focusing on animals, mythical and real. Two examples of belts from the
collection at the Armenian Library and Museum, made from a single bronze sheet
hammered to a very thin metal piece, display the skill of these artisans. Magical
scenes and animal designs were inscribed on the belts to help protect the wearer.
Armenia | 33
This rare intact bronze Urartian’s archer’s belt is inscribed with magical symbols to
ward away harm, c. 700 BCE. (1992.096 Donated by Karl Sogoian/Armenian Library and
Museum of America)
Archaeological expeditions to this area have been ongoing and other wonder-
ful discoveries of artifacts have been unearthed. Urartians enjoyed wearing metal
ornaments and many examples exist of bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and pins. In
museums in the Republic of Armenia, one can find bracelets decorated with lions’
heads, necklaces made with stone beads, and long metal pins used to hold together
clothing, which was draped around the body.
The dress of Armenians during this period was similar to that of their rivals, the
Assyrians, who wore short-sleeved tunics alone or together with shawls wrapped
in various ways.
Classical Period, 600 BCE to 600 CE

With the emergence of the Armenians as a political entity in 600 BCE, cloth-
ing transformed. During this period, Armenian men wore fitted trousers and
a very distinctive hat known as the Phrygian cap. Later this type of headgear
evolved into the bashlik, a very flexible accessory worn by both shepherds and
religious leaders.
Very little iconographic evidence survives of Armenians during this period.
The images that do exist depict Armenian supplicants; they were subjects or
enemies found in Roman and Persian sculptures and political iconography. There
were no images of women.
Medieval Period, 600 CE to 1600 CE

New sources of documentation arise during this period emerging from manu-
scripts with illuminations. Most of the artists were monks who often illustrated
other religious figures. The upper class wore clothing similar to other Byzantine
and Arab elites, for example, turbans. The clothing depicted was not elaborately
decorated and does not display details showing regional variations that one sees
later. Other sources of images can be found on churches, coins, and khatchkars.
These rectangular ornamental stone crosses, usually made of tuff (basalt), were
devotional or memorial monuments and carvings.
Modern Period, 1600 CE to 20th Century

Unlike the paucity of information about earlier times, abundant information
exists regarding dress of the 17th through the early 20th centuries. Many travel
accounts discuss the clothing of the non-Muslim and minority populations living
in the Ottoman Empire. In the Caucasus and eastern regions it is more difficult to
find references. The Armenian interior was impoverished and mountainous. There
was also less interest in this area; it was thought to be less exotic to travel to these
more remote areas.

The materials used in clothing were primarily of local manufacture. The human
domestication of sheep and goats first occurred in the Armenian highlands ca. 3000
BCE, and wool was always the most important textile used in a wide variety of
forms. Felted goat hair was commonly used in the shepherd’s burka, a cape-like
coat. Native silk also had a long tradition in Asia Minor, going back to the Emperor
Justinian, and in the Ottoman Empire silk manufacturing was dominated by Arme-
nians on the Armenian Plateau.
In Village of Parchanj, Manoog Dzeron has written extensive accounts of
the cotton and silk industries in the village of Kharpert (Harpoot). Mr. Dzeron
describes each step of the production of cotton, which was one of the main crops
of the village. He describes the workers and some of their clothing.
In the 1860s sericulture was introduced into the village of Parchanj where
it flourished and became a very important industry and source of income. Tor-
gants Gimish Arout traveled to Dikrangerd and brought back silk textiles to sell
and during his travels he learned sericulture and instructed several villagers in
Armenia | 35
the techniques. Another resident learned silkworm culture in a Bursa school and
started his own business.
In the mid-19th century several Armenian entrepreneurs in the city of Kharpert
started silk manufacturing industries. The Fabrikatorian Brothers and the Kurkjian
family were two of the most well known in the area. The owners of these factories
sent their sons to Paris to learn the latest technology in silk weaving and designs.
The most common textile these factories produced was silk brocade with small to
large single flowers and fabrics with floral designs and alternating stripe patterns.
Examples of wedding dresses and bolts of these fabrics dating from 1861 to 1915
can be found at the Armenian Library and Museum of America. These industries
were involved in the entire process of silk production, from raising the silkworms
to manufacturing the final product.
Armenian silks were introduced to the West at the Ottoman Empire booths at
international trade expositions beginning with the London Exhibition of 1851. In
the Armenian Library and Museum’s collection is a fabric stamped with Armenian
and Ottoman Turkish script that was exhibited at the Philadelphia World’s Fair in
1876. The fabric is blue and plum faille silk, 19 inches wide and stamped with the
names Harpoot, Mezireh, and Krikor, 1861. The fabric was most likely manufac-
tured in the Fabrikatorian Brothers factory.
In western Armenia, as Christians living in a Muslim country, men and women
did not want to call attention to themselves by wearing ethnic decorations. There-
fore, embellishments on Armenian costumes were minimal. Instead many of the
regional embroideries, including Marash interlacing and Marash satin stitch, were
stitched on household items such as bed coverings and pillows. At the end of the
19th century, Dr. Frances Shepard developed the Aintab Cottage Industries. She
gathered Armenian women from Aintab to produce the local pulled-thread and
drawnwork embroidery and added needle lace to make collars, cuffs, and jabots for
export to Europe and America. Other cottage industries developed to help sustain
the Armenians living in Cilicia and Anatolia. During the beginning of the 20th
century Armenian knotted needle lace trim could be seen on collars and cuffs of
wedding dresses in the Kharpert and Erzeroum region.
Urban Armenian women preferred European embroidery, such as satin and
chain stitch. In Istanbul, tambour work, a chain stitch worked on top of the fab-
ric by using a fine hook similar to a crochet hook, was very popular during the
late 19th to early 20th centuries. This type of embroidery can be seen on many
examples of robes. Beautiful floral patterns covered the entire robe, which was
often made of silk with embroidery in gold and silver metallic threads. Examples
of these garments were made and worn by Armenian women in Aleppo, Istanbul,
Jerusalem, and Beirut.
Satin stitch was popular in the 19th and 20th centuries and can be found on
many accessories in both villages and towns. Women’s pillbox hats and slipper
tops were embroidered in floral patterns. Fruits and vegetables were also com-
mon designs for these embroideries, stitched on fabrics that were later cut out and
placed on shoes.
Since the early 19th century, a large Armenian population lived in the Akhaltz-
kha region of Georgia. In this region, women adorned their aprons with gold
threaded couching in a paisley motif. The initials of the maker were also couched
into the paisley motif in each corner at the bottom of the long apron, which was
often made of red velvet.
At a very early age girls learned the technique of knotted needle lace that
usually adorned household items, such as edgings of bed linens, tablecloths, and
underwear. In the late 19th to early 20th centuries, Armenians, like Europeans,
stitched lace on the collars and cuffs of dresses. Armenian needle lace remains to
this day a revered art in the Republic of Armenia. Young girls throughout Armenia
continue to learn knotted needle lace that is stitched with a sewing needle. Needle
lace also adorns the headscarves called lachik (Armenian) or yazma (Turkish).
Often three-dimensional flowers and vegetables of needle lace in different colors
were stitched onto the edges of the headscarves. Block printing in large floral pat-
terns is a common technique for these textiles.
Card weaving was a popular technique in the eastern regions of Armenia. Long
narrow belts for men and women were woven in cotton, silk, and wool threads. In
Akhaltzkha wedding belts for brides were commonly woven with red and yellow
silk threads and inscribed with the name and date.
Armenians used animals, vegetables, and minerals to dye their threads. One of
the most popular and oldest dyes, kirmiz, produced from scale insects, was known
locally as vordan karmir. The process of making this brilliant red dye was difficult
and time-consuming. Women would scrape the “worms” from grasses and then dry
and crush them to obtain the dye.
Dress of the East and West

Traditional Armenian costume for both men and women can be divided into two
major categories, eastern (Caucasus) and western (historic Armenia). In both areas,
layering component pieces were characteristic features since the climate fluctuated
considerably.
In eastern Armenia, women wore long dresses with coatdresses, both short and
long. The men wore cotton shirts, three-quarter-length fitted jackets similar to the
Caucasian cherkeska, and loose trousers made of wool, not as baggy as trousers in
western Armenia.
Armenia | 37
The western Armenian costume for women consisted of a long dress, coat-
dress, bib, and sash or metal belt. In many areas an apron and a short bolero-style
jacket was popular. A man’s costume consisted of baggy shalvar (pants), shabig
(shirt), and a jacket matching the pants. The whole ensemble was wrapped with a
long sash around the waist and sometimes a wool vest was added. In Bitlis and Van,
the vest was often made of felted goat’s hair. A pillbox hat with a scarf wrapped
around the bottom edge completed the costume. Unlike the women’s costumes of
historic Armenia, which had slight variations from those of other peoples in the
region, the men’s costume was more adaptive and similar to that of non-Muslims.
Everyday and Special-Occasion Dress

In both eastern and historic Armenia, the richness of materials used distin-
guished the everyday garment from special-occasion dress. For example, in the
Zangezour region in eastern Armenia, the bride or a wealthier woman would wear
a velvet coat trimmed and lined with fur. The everyday coat would be the same
style except with a different fabric and without fur. In Zangezour the colors of the
women’s costume were the same for a wedding and for everyday, usually a red
dress and green coatdress. In Akhaltzkha and Kars, women wore a blue coatdress
and a red apron with a pillbox hat and short- to medium-length veil. Wedding gar-
ments would feature velvet for the aprons and coatdresses. The bride’s long apron
would be embroidered around the edges with metallic threads in a couching stitch
and would have a paisley motif in each corner, which included the bride’s initials.
Examples of extant costumes often are special-occasion garments. Many
period photographs depict men, women, and children in their finest dress or bor-
rowed clothing for the picture.
The everyday woman’s garment in Sepastia was a dress and coatdress.
In the collection of the Armenian Library and Museum, there is a coatdress
from the Govdun region of Sepastia that according to the donor’s information
belonged to her aunt and dates from about 1890. This garment is made of hand-
quilted cotton in an indigo print and is lined with red wool. In contrast, the coat-
dress of a bride or wealthier woman from this region would most likely be made of
a brocaded silk in the same style.
During the last quarter of the 19th century and the early 20th century, brides
from the Kharpert and Sepastia regions adopted wedding dresses with fitted bodices
and full skirts in the European fashion. It was not unusual to find traditional set-in
sleeves on these garments. Fabrics for these dresses were often silk brocade with
striped or floral patterns made in local factories using a palette of deep, rich colors
including gold, blue, plum, and purple. In Kharpert, a black velvet band approxi-
mately two inches wide trimmed the hemline or just above. The edges of sleeves
and the center front might also be

trimmed with velvet. On this new style
of wedding attire, Armenian needle
lace made its first appearance as a vis-
ible decorative element. Typical places
it was used were at the neck, bodice,
and on the cuffs. Previously needle
lace was restricted to household linens
and girls’ and women’s underwear.
In many regions of eastern and
western Armenia, the bridegroom
wore two wide bands of ribbon across
his chest. These red and green ribbons
crossed over the groom’s outer gar-
ments. An example of a bridegroom
from the Caucasus region is on view at
the Sardarabad Museum in Armenia.
Costumes for a bride and groom from

Khapert, 1894. The bride’s two-piece dress Component Parts of Dress
and matching jacket is a printed wool
challis fabric typical of garments from this Dressing the bride and groom was
period. The European influence is evi- a very important part of the wedding
dent in the style and design. The groom’s ritual. Songs were written mention-
garment is more traditional. His long coat, ing each article of clothing. In Village
or zubun, is made of silk faille. During the of Parchanj, Dzeron describes how
latter part of the 19th century, the bride
and groom would both wear traditional or
the godfather picks up each piece of
European wedding garments or one would clothing, gives it to the “dresser of the
wear traditional and the other European- king,” and everyone sings.
influenced attire. (1990.014 A & B (left) The following is a description of the
1990.016 (right) Donated by Queenie various components of costumes, male
Boyajian/Armenian Library and Museum of and female, eastern and western, from
America)
the late 19th to early 20th centuries.
Hats,Veils, and Mouth Coverings

The pillbox style or fez hat was the most common type worn by both men
and women, and each region had its own distinctive headgear. For example, in
western Armenia, women in some regions wore a hat alone, and in other regions
they wore combinations of hats and veils. The height of the hat varied from a very
small disc-shaped hat in the Trabizon region to the tall, cylindrical-shaped ones
in the Van area. Typical headgear in the Moush region consisted of several layers.
Armenia | 39
A base component, which was similar in shape to a Jewish yarmulke (skullcap)

was often edged with pendant jewelry resting on the forehead. Over this piece
a low pillbox hat was placed, and a braided cloth was wrapped around the edge
of the hat. Sometimes additional jewelry would be added, which hung near each
ear. In Kharpert and Erzeroum, the layered hat was sometimes worn as well as
veils of varying fabrics and lengths over the hats without the wrapped braided
cloth. In some regions including Van and Trabizon a metal hat called a tossak was
worn. This headgear was shaped like a disc, had metal tassels, and was worn alone
or over a hat. In eastern Armenia women wore hats and veils similar to those of
women in western Armenia. Older women covered their mouths up to their noses
with a cloth, and in some areas of Karabagh this custom still exists. A unique type
of headgear was worn in Yerevan and eastern Armenia, a velvet headband embel-
lished with three-dimensional flowers, fruits, and vegetables made of needle lace
and worn with a veil.
Men also wore various pillbox-shaped hats. All male citizens in the latter part
of the Ottoman Empire were required to wear the fez, a deep red, felted wool
cylindrical-shaped hat with a black tassel. However, this law was only enforced
in the city. It is very common to see family portraits taken around 1900 showing
men and boys in their European-style black wool frock coats wearing a fez. In
many areas the fez or pillbox hat was worn with a braided sash around the bottom.
Another form of headgear especially suited for bad weather was a hooded scarf
called a bashlik. The shepherd’s bashlik was made of sheep’s wool, which was usu-
ally undyed. Eastern Armenian men wore headgear similar to that of men from the
Caucasus, Transcaucasus, and parts of Russia. Very large wool hats (papakh) made
in different shapes, sizes, and types of wool were very common in eastern Arme-
nia and Karabagh. A man’s hat was a very important part of his identity. Svetlana
Poghosyan, textile curator at the Sardarabad Museum in Yerevan, gives an example
that illustrates this point.
Srtanots (bibs) were worn by women of both eastern and western Armenia and
were both plain and lavishly embroidered. This garment functions as a dickey and
covers the front part of the bodice. It is secured with ties around the neck and at the
waist. It is worn under a dress with a low-cut neckline.
Gognots (aprons) were decorative as well as functional. They were long rect-
angular pieces of wool, silk, or cotton usually worn with a card-woven or metal
belt. A red apron made of silk velvet or wool decorated with gold metallic embroi-
dery around the edges was worn over a blue coatdress in Akhaltzkha, Erzeroum
and Kars. Several examples of these aprons are extant in both Armenia and the
diaspora. In the Van, Sassoun, and Moush regions aprons were made of wool using
a flat-woven technique known as kilim. Very fine cross-stitch embroidery in geo-
metric patterns that resemble rug designs, stitched on hand-loomed indigo-color
cotton, were typical of aprons from Van and Sepastia. In some regions examples
of aprons can be found with shells stitched in a floral pattern near the top edge of
the apron and sequins in various places in the embroidery, most likely placed there
to ward off evil. Embroidered figures can also be found on the top edges of aprons
from the Van region. Illustrations of women from Kharpert and Van show that a
full or long cotton apron was worn. The top part looks like a bib and is fastened
around the neck. The skirt wraps around the sides and is tied in back at chest level.
Belts and Sashes

Silver belts and long sashes were worn by women from both western and eastern
Armenia. Belts were generally worn over the entire ensemble. Silver belts consisted
of several rectangular plates linked together with a large buckle, often filigreed with
hanging silver tassels. In historic or western Armenia, the maker might engrave his
initials, the place of origin, and the tugra (stamp of the reigning sultan). The links of
the belts commonly featured floral patterns as well as buildings in niello work. The
sashes were made of wool or cotton and wrapped several times around the waist.
An interesting custom occurred during the dressing of the bride, an important event
before the wedding ceremony. The groom’s godfather would put the belt on the
bride, symbolizing his responsibility for what developed under the belt.
Men also wore silver belts and sashes. In the eastern regions wide silver belts
were worn over the common chukha, which is similar to the Caucasian cherkeska.
An example of a belt found in the Nikol Duman Memorial Museum in Karabagh
features a round buckle with engraved nodules. Men’s sashes sometimes were
large, square hand-loomed fabrics often made of wool. During the mid to end of
the 19th century, belts were made from fabrics imported from Kashmir and Kir-
man. This wool, which was made into shawls, was also used for men and women’s
sashes and for belts to tie around a cradle to secure the baby. For men’s belts
the square fabric was folded into a triangular shape and then wrapped around the
waist. Because men did not have pockets in their trousers, they used their sashes to
store some of their belongings by stuffing them into the top edges.
Men’s Dress
The men of western Armenia wore hand-loomed wool pants and matching
jackets. There were variations in the choice of shirts worn under the jacket: a Euro-
pean white shirt or a shirt cut in the same manner as the jacket. The pants were
wide legged with a casing for a drawstring. The jacket was cut from rectangular
pieces wrapped slightly across the front. Two examples of this type can be found at
the Armenian Library and Museum of America. A Shadakh boy’s pants and jacket
are natural-color silk and wool with green wool embroidery. The man’s costume
Armenia | 41
from Bitlis is also natural-color silk and wool with black stripes and has a black
goat-fur short-sleeved jacket, a common article of clothing from this area. Because
Armenian men were involved with activities outside the home, their costumes
resembled that of their neighbors, Kurds and Turks.
Men’s and Boys’ Zubun (Robe)

The men and boys of Sepastia (Sivas), Erzeroum, Kharpert, and the Cilician
region wore the zubun, a robe. It was usually made of a striped heavyweight silk
brocade fabric for special occasions and cotton or lighter-weight silk for everyday.
An example of a wedding garment from Mezireh at the Armenian Library and
Museum is maroon and black striped silk brocade with a mandarin collar. This
garment overlaps and is worn with a long sash wrapped around the waist. In some
regions, the garment is buttoned down the center front.
Women’s Dress
The basic ensemble worn by all Armenian women was a dress and coatdress
cut similarly. The front panels were rectangular or triangular in shape; sometimes
there were side panels, rectangular sleeves, and gussets under the arms. The coat
was often long; however, in Drabizon, Sepasdia, Kharpert, and Amassia, women
wore a bolero-type jacket often embroidered in couching stitch with gold metallic
embroidery. In eastern Armenia sometimes the jacket was three-quarter length.
Shoes and Stockings

Armenian men and women wore colorful knitted socks and in some regions,
such as Kharpert and Arapkir, undyed socks. These socks were often embroidered
with small red floral or geometric patterns. They were made of wool or silk, were
both short and long, and had an inserted heel.
Both men and women wore drekh, a shoe made of leather, which looks like
the shape of a boat. It is similar to the Balkan opanci, with a soft leather sole. An
example at the Shushi Museum in Shushi, Karabagh, has cotton woven ties that
lace as far as the instep. Men, women, and children also wore leather backless slip-
per types of shoes. Many examples existing today from the last quarter of the 19th
century and early 20th century are red in color and have a slightly turned-up toe.
Jewelry, Body Paint, and Body Modifications

Armenians excelled in jewelry making, and wherever they traveled through-
out the world they set up shops for making and repairing jewelry with all types
of metals and precious and semiprecious stones. Niello work was often found on
silver jewelry in eastern and western Armenia. Niello, a black metallic alloy of
copper, silver, or lead mixed with sulfur, was used to fill in decorative engravings.
Belts decorated with niello work with large filigree buckles were prevalent from
the 19th to early 20th centuries. These belts, made for both men and women, were
often worn by brides. Oval and rectangular links joined together were decorated
with buildings, including Armenian churches. The designs of buildings often alter-
nated with floral motifs. Small children wore anklets with bells and bracelets also
with bells and a chain attached to a ring and teething bar.
It was common for a bride to wear all her jewelry on her wedding day; it was
what we might call her bank account. Brides frequently wore gold coins as neck-
laces, and in the Akhaltzkha region, chains of pearls with coins at the ends were
attached to her hat and draped along the sides of her face. Coins were sewn across
the front edge of her hat resting on her forehead, and in some regions a large coin
was placed in the middle.
Armenian girls would insert ornaments into their hair by weaving them into their
braids. In the Vaspouragan region, silver chains with hanging silver and blue beads as
well as ribbons were woven into the braids. Women from the villages of Dospy and
Hayots Tsor wore nose ornaments in a 0.7-inch (2 cm) diameter circle with a large
precious stone in the center. They also wore many silver bracelets with colorful beads
and rings made of silver with cornelian stones worn on the right thumb.
In Armenia today and in other parts of the diaspora, Armenian jewelers con-
tinue to make traditional jewelry as well as modern interpretations using different
types of media.
Henna painting was used for the bride-to-be in both eastern and western Arme-
nia. Henna is an Arabic word for a particular bush, the leaves of which are har-
vested, dried, and powdered. A paste temporarily dyes the skin. The customs of
applying henna varied from region to region. In Kesaria, a henna party was held the
Friday before the wedding at the home of the bride-to-be, given by female friends
and the bride’s family. Although henna was usually placed on fingernails, young
women were allowed to put designs on the backs of their hands. In Nirzeh, henna
was applied by old women and put on the fingers of young girls and boys.

For girls a short fitted jacket with long or short sleeves can be worn over a long
skirt or dress to emulate the costume from present-day Armenia and the Caucasus
region. The traditional jackets were often made of velvet or wool.
In eastern Armenia, boys wear dark-colored loose pants in grey, brown, or
black. A three-quarter-length fitted coat with a metal belt was originally wool.
An acrylic fabric works well in brown and different shades of blue and grey. A
Armenia | 43
reproduction of a costume from historic Armenia is similar to a karate uniform.

Like the girls’ costumes, striped patterns were popular for both the outer jacket
and loose pants.
In Yerevan and some villages of the Republic of Armenia and Karabagh,
elderly women still wear a short headscarf: a square cloth folded and tied at the
back of the neck. In recent times, some women still wear their traditional costume.
A photograph by Sam Sweezy depicts Shami Gziryan in her clothing from Tegh,
a village of Zangezur.

Abrahamian, Levon, and Sweezy, Nancy, ed. Armenian Folk Arts, Culture and
Identity. Bloomington, IL: Indiana University Press, 2001.
Chopoorian, Greg. “Continuity and Adaption: The Changing Tale of Armenian
Clothing.” Medieval History Magazine, 13 (September 2004): 29–35.
Dzeron, Manoog. Village of Parchanj General History (1600–1937). Boston: Bai-
kar Press, 1938.
Hai Guin Society of Tehran. The Costumes of Armenian Women. Tehran: Interna-
tional Communicators, 1976.
Lind-Sinanian, Gary. Armenian Folk Costumes, A Coloring Book for Children.
Watertown, MA: Armenian Library and Museum, 2004.
Micklewright, Nancy. “Late-Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Wedding Costumes as
Indicators of Social Change.” Muqarnas, 6 (1989): 161–174.
Scarce, Jennifer. Women’s Costume of the Near and Middle East. London: St.
Edmundsbury Press, 2003.
Australia, Aboriginal
Louise Hamby and Lindy Allen

Australia is the world’s smallest continent and has diverse and extreme climatic
conditions with temperature lows generally ranging from the 30ºs to the 100ºs
Fahrenheit (but in some areas going to 0ºF and above 120ºF). There is huge envi-
ronmental diversity with savannahs in the tropical north; rainforests along the east-
ern seaboard; alpine country in the southerly reaches of the Great Dividing Range;
saltbush, spinifex, and grevillea across expansive tracts of the desert and semiarid
zones; and sclerophyll forests that cover much of the country. The population of
Aboriginal or indigenous people of Australia is estimated at 517,000 people out
of a total population of more than 22,328,000 for Australia (Australian Bureau
of Statistics, 2008). See Australia, Settlers for more historical and geographical
background.
People and Dress
History of Dress
Diversity in the dress worn by Aboriginal people in Australia can be seen as
a consequence of the enormous cultural and environmental differences of a conti-
nent as large as the United States. The clothing from before contact with European
settlers ranged from items worn for protection from the elements to those worn as
cultural markers. Clothing was worn for reasons of modesty, to express individual-
ity, or for aesthetic reasons. However, it remains clear that clothing can be seen as
an indicator or consequence of factors such as age, gender, status, clan (or other
group affiliation), and ritual practice, such as the use of clay and ochre. These were
integral elements of ceremonial body painting everywhere, and the use of colors
and combinations in designs can be clan specific.
The archaeological record in Australia attests to cultural practices with dress
and ornamentation that extend back thousands of years. Rock art in the sandstone
44
Australia, Aboriginal | 45
escarpments of western Arnhem Land on the northern coast portrays a rich visual
record of ancestors and creator beings wearing various items on their bodies. Fig-
ures wearing elaborate headdresses and belts appear in sequences from 20,000
years ago. Similarly, stencils of baler shell pendants are found on the rock faces of
galleries located inland from the northeast coast.
In the southern regions a number of excavations reveal long-enduring burial
traditions associated with ornamentation, such as at Roonka on the lower Murray
River where bone pins were uncovered from 4,000 years ago that could have been
used to fasten cloaks. One burial included a double-stranded headband of marsu-
pial incisors still in place on the brow. A similar necklace located at Kow Swamp
that dated to around 13,000 years ago still had evidence of resin on the teeth.
The “Nitchie Man” was adorned with a most remarkable necklace when he was
put in his grave 6,000 years ago inland on the central east coast. This piece com-
prised 178 pierced teeth taken from at least 47 Tasmanian devils. The wear pattern
on beads cut from kangaroo fibulas located at the 12,000-year level at Devil’s
Lair in the southwest of the continent indicates they likely had been threaded onto
sinews; while from a rock shelter at Mandu Mandu, also in Western Australia, a
34,000-year-old necklace of cone shell beads was found.

Distinctions in dress can be identified across the vastness of the Australian con-
tinent. The rain and cold of the southern temperate regions dictated a need for pro-
tection and cloaks of animal skins were worn. Kangaroo hides, stitched together,
were typically made in the southwest; while in southeastern Australia, where it
is cooler and where it snows, cloaks were made of opossum skin pelts stitched
together with sinew. The underside was usually scored, stitched, and painted with
clan designs associated with its wearer and fastened with bone or wooden pins.
The cultural import of such cloaks is borne out by 19th-century records that docu-
ment them having been placed into the grave of a Kulin man in Melbourne. How-
ever, by the late 1800s the cloaks were replaced by woolen blankets distributed by
the government to Aboriginal people.
At the time of contact, natural materials were the primary sources for the con-
struction of clothing. Bark, strips of wood, and cane were sometimes used as cloth-
ing with minimal manipulation such as the small shaved sticks of wood inserted
into the hair or tucked into armbands in the Kimberley region of northwest Austra-
lia. On Cape York, hollowed-out wood was used to make ear pendants.
For men, women, and children, everyday clothing in Arnhem Land included
very complicated interlaced armbands made from lawyer cane or sedge grass. Also
in this region belts were made from strips of stringybark (Eucalyptus tetrodonta)
Two Tiwi women dressed for a mourning ceremony, Melville Island, Northern Territory,
Australia, c. 1911. (Source: Museum Victoria)
painted with ochred designs. Other stringybark constructions emerge in relation to

ritual items such as the stitched sheets folded to form the distinctive armbands worn
by Tiwi women on Bathurst and Melville Islands off the coast of Darwin. These
pamijini are painted with totemic designs and elaborately adorned with appendages
decorated with feathers, which move as the women dance at burial ceremonies.
Many materials, whether sourced from plants or animals, were universally
applied to dress and ornamentation, such as sheets of paperbark (Melaleuca sp.)
simply folded over belts to form pubic covers. String in many forms was an essen-
tial component of clothing but has also been worn simply as a single strand tied
around a wrist, arm, waist, or head. These strings had a healing purpose while
others were purely utilitarian; for example, holding an axe, knife, or boomerang.
While plant fibers were the dominant material for string making, opossum fur,
kangaroo fur, human hair, and composite materials including feathers were also
used across the country to make string. Headbands consisting of lengths of netted
string to which kangaroo teeth embedded in resin were sometimes attached were
common in the southeast.
Component Parts of Dress

Along the tropical northern coastline, dress was markedly different from that
in the rest of Australia. On Groote Eylandt, for example, women covered them-
selves when in the presence of outsiders by using large single sheets of paperbark
or several pieces of bark stitched together. At other times these would be carried
over their shoulder. Further west on the Arnhem Land mainland, pandanus (Panda-
nus spiralis) was used to create distinctive triangular skirts and conical mats, both
of which had important ceremonial associations. The conical mats were used to
cover young boys for circumcision ceremonies and in their flattened form resemble
triangular skirts.
Aprons and genital covers were universally worn by adults and children but
varied in size, form, and construction according to the age, gender, and status of
the wearer. Materials used might indicate the circumstances in which they were to
be worn; for example, in eastern Arnhem Land opossum-fur string pubic covers
were worn by people of the Yirritja moiety, or kinship group. Men wore long nar-
row covers while those for women were shorter and wider. Human hair string was
often incorporated into ceremonial items worn by men. This was used as a base for
creating feathered pendants in armbands or complete belts made of rows of plied
hair string twined together in a few places.
The application of certain elements to clothing made from string, most often
feathers, was regionally specific and could signify particular cultural practices.
The feathers of the emu were used on the southeast coast around Melbourne where
feather bundles were fastened with sinews and attached to string waistbands. The
layered forms created magnificent dance garments worn by women of the Kulin
clans. Men in this part of the continent used a single feather bundle for dance,
fixing it behind by attaching it to a string worn around the waist. Hairpins made
of emu feathers were worn by men in the back of their distinctive coiled bun hair-
styles in the Kimberley. Footwear was made from felted emu feathers only in the
tropical regions of northern Australia.
Feathers appeared variously in items worn on the body. Small feathers or down
were usually incorporated into everyday wear and typically spun into plant fiber
string. The embellished string could be made into a variety of items like the matjka
from Arnhem Land, a breast harness or girdle worn crossed over the front with
the two string parts bound together at the back. Wrapped armbands and loops of
feathered string bound at one point were also worn as headdresses or necklaces.
Also in Arnhem Land, large feathers were bound together by the end of the quills
to make pubic coverings worn suspended from men’s string belts. The feathers
of Australia’s unique parrots were commonly applied to hair decoration or head
ornamentation. Those of the sulphur-crested cockatoo featured prominently in
Apron made of emu feathers (front). (Museum Victoria/Photographer Rodney Start)
ornamentation made on the northeast coast, while in Arnhem Land they comprised
the distinctive element of hairpins called kut kut worn by men for ritual purposes.
The shimmering breast feathers of the red-collared lorikeet are central to the cer-
emonial ornamentation created by clans of the Dhuwa moiety in eastern Arnhem
Land. Pendants with these feathers bound tightly together form a ropelike structure
attached to armbands and headdresses alike. Feathered flowers and seed necklaces
made by women at the early missions have their roots in traditional ornamentation
that was often made for ceremony. Feathers could simply be added to the hair with
beeswax as protection against illness, particularly in relation to babies, or added
to a headdress or other ceremonial paraphernalia. By contrast, in the arid regions
knobs of beeswax or seeds were also added to the hair.
In the 19th century a remarkable skirt made from strips of pelican skin to which
the feathers were still attached was collected from the inland lakes of Australia’s
semiarid interior. In eastern Arnhem Land unique armbands were made from strips
of skin by Dhuwa moiety clans. Circular segments were cut from the upper tail por-
tion of the red kangaroo to make armbands for Marrakulu men. The neighbouring
Djapu clan similarly used strips of skin taken from the upper leg of the emu. These
were secured around the upper arm by placing one end of the skin through a slit
cut in the opposite end and then tying a knot. The claws of the emu were also fixed
with resin to strings suspended from a headdress and worn by women in this same
region. The beaks of birds like the jabiru and spoonbill were used as pendants, and
bird heads were sometimes included as part of long strings. The ulna of large birds
like eagles and the fibulas of kangaroo were worn through the pierced nose septum.
Other parts of animals were incorporated to create distinctive decorative
adornments. In the arid region, tails of the bilby, a small marsupial, were added
to headwear. Rabbits introduced by Europeans in the early 20th century displaced
the bilby, and consequently rabbit tails became the central component of impres-
sive headdresses worn by women in welcoming ceremonies. Those made for Tiwi
girls when they reached puberty included the tail tips of the native dog, the dingo.
Alawa women in southeast Arnhem Land wore necklaces decorated with tufts of
hair from a small indigenous rodent.
People also commonly wore items made from shells, seeds, cut grass stems,
bone, or teeth or any combination of these. Shark and snake vertebrae were threaded
onto single strands of fiber string for necklaces and incorporated into headbands.
The teeth of kangaroos and wallabies are used across the continent as these ani-
mals survive across all environmental zones in many forms. Crocodile teeth were
used in the north, usually embedded into wax or resin. A single tooth was threaded
onto string to make a pendant; while in Arnhem Land teeth and bones of various
animals, such as kangaroos, crocodiles, or fish were similarly embedded in wax to
form headbands worn by women.
Shells, not surprisingly, are associated with ornamentation made across the
entire northern coastline from the Kimberley in the west to the coast of Queensland
in the east. Dentalium or tusk shells were threaded onto long lengths of string to
make necklaces, which were looped around the neck. Engraved pearl shells usually
attached to a belt were iconic men’s objects in the Kimberley, while on Cape York
Peninsula on the east coast nautilus shell was cut into regular rectangular pieces
and threaded on bark fiber string in a single strand and worn as a necklace. Shells
are singularly one of the most important components of necklaces made in Tasma-
nia, a small island at the other end of the continent in the southeast. Hundreds of
the lustrous mariner shells and others were prepared for use in very long necklaces
that were looped around a woman’s neck many times.
Other significant and elaborate combinations of clothing or accessories were
associated with death. These were often created and worn by close female relatives
of the deceased. A rare example is a mourning headdress called tyemurrelye worn
by Arrernte women in central Australia. It was made up of numerous small animal
bones and human hair string fixed to a head pad of grasses and resin to which par-
rot feathers were added. Covering a woman’s body in white pipe clay or gypsum
was a common funeral practice. While white clay is used in many contexts, it is
particularly important for funerals and mourning rituals when it is smeared over
the body and in the hair. Large amounts of clay applied directly onto the hair could
signify the close relationship of women to the deceased; on the Murray River wid-
ows created elaborate caps from white gypsum, which were worn for many months
after their husbands’ death.
Items associated with mortuary rituals were often combined with body paint-
ing. On the west coast of Cape York Peninsula mortuary rituals involved women of
the Wik clans painting themselves with distinctive designs and donning ornaments
and weapons associated with men. At Princess Charlotte Bay on the east coast of
the Cape similarly important items belonging to men became part of the spectacle
of women’s costumes during the burial of an important dugong hunter. The women
wore his fishing nets draped over their shoulders.

Aboriginal people in some parts of the country still recall times when they were
“nicketty” or the “naked time,” when as children they lived a relatively free life in
the bush. They only donned European clothes when they were likely to encounter
whites or when government welfare officers came to check on living conditions.
Today when people see images of past generations of their families they express dif-
fering sentiments: Some identify with the “richness” of past life ways when people
made everything, while others feel a sense of shame at seeing them naked or sorrow
because they were not as “rich” as people today who have clothes to wear.
Contemporary works reflect all these intricacies and while ensuring the con-
tinuity of some practices, new interpretations emerge on old forms. They are a
product of the creativity of individuals working within a template of strong cul-
tural traditions expressed in new ways. This has always been a part of the creation
of bodywear from the early days of European contact. Glass bead chokers were
collected from Darwin, Adelaide River, and Rum Jungle (now Batchelor) in the
Northern Territory from Aboriginal people in the early 20th century. Artists work-
ing in jewelry, like Rose Mamuniny and Mavis Ganambarr from Elcho Island, are
combining traditional materials of feathers and shark vertebrae with new threading
cables and specially designed jewelry catches. Lola Greeno and Dulcie Greeno
create exquisite, highly coveted contemporary shell necklaces of varying lengths
that draw on past practices and ensure the continuity of a unique form associated
with Tasmanian Aboriginal women.
Others are continuing to make items based on older forms that include intro-
duced materials, plants, or animals. The making of opossum skin cloaks has been
Necklace made by Lola Greeno. (Courtesy Lola Greeno)
revived by Aboriginal artists such as Vicki Couzens, Trehna Hamm, and Lee Dar-
roch in Victoria. The new cloaks are made with pelts from New Zealand and are
worn by elders as an iconic cultural symbol for major events. Women from Gapu-
wiyak like Anna Malibirr use the seeds from the introduced plant Crotalaria gore-
ensis to make necklaces.
The sense of expressing identity continues as a strong element of bodywear
today. The colors of red, black, and yellow from the Aboriginal flag is a predomi-
nant theme seen on T-shirts, bracelets, earrings, beanies, and so on. This sends a
clear message to others about who they are. At the same time looking good or what
is commonly said to be looking “flash” or “deadly” can be the sole motivation for
what people wear.
See also Australia, Settlers; New Zealand

Australian Bureau of Statistics. Year Book Australia, 2008. http://www.abs.gov
.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/68AE74ED632E17A6CA2573D200110075?open
document, 2012.
Hamby, Louise. “Aboriginal Dress in Arnhem Land.” In N. Maynard, ed. Berg
Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion. Volume 7: Australia, New Zealand
and the Pacific Islands. Oxford: Berg, 2010, pp. 42–48.
Hamby, Louise. “‘Outsiders’ and Arnhem Landers’ Material Exchanges.” In

J. Anderson, ed. Crossing Cultures: Conflict, Migration and Convergence. Carl-
ton, Victoria: The Miegunyah Press, 2009, pp. 493–497.
Hamby, Louise. “Wrapt with String.” Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture.
Volume 5, Issue 2 (2007): 206–229.
Hamby, Louise, and Diana Young. Art on a String: Aboriginal Threaded Objects
from the Central Desert and Arnhem Land. Sydney: Object-Australian Centre
for Craft and Design, 2001.
Keeler, Christine, and Vicki Couzens. “Wrap Culture Around You—Cloaks, Cloth-
ing and Jewellery.” In Keeler, Christine, and Vicki Couzens, eds. Meerreeng-An:
The Story of Aboriginal Victoria Told Through Art. Melbourne: Koorie Heritage
Trust, 2010, pp. 67–100.
Lakic, Mira. “Dress and Ornamentation.” In Museum Victoria, Women’s Work,
Aboriginal Women’s Artefacts in the Museum of Victoria. Melbourne: Museum
Victoria, 1995, pp. 19–30.
Australia, Settlers
Damayanthie Eluwawalage
Aboriginals who migrated from Southeast Asia have occupied Australia for at least
40,000 years. Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish sailors discovered the continent dur-
ing the 17th century and the Dutch landed in 1616. The British initially arrived in
1688 under William Dampier, and in 1770 Captain James Cook disembarked on
the east coast. European settlement of Australia began when the First Fleet under
Captain Arthur Phillip arrived at Botany Bay (later Sydney) in 1799 to establish
a penal colony of convicted British prisoners, which included men and women.
Transportation of convicts to Australia began in the colony of New South Wales
in 1788 and ceased in 1840. Van Diemen’s Land (later Tasmania), established in
1804, terminated the import of convicts in 1849. The convict establishment in
Moreton Bay (present-day Brisbane) operated between 1824 and 1839, while in
the Port Phillip District (later Victoria) convict settlement operated between 1803–
1839 and 1844–1849. Transportation of convicts to Western Australia began in
1850, but South Australia was never a penal colony, although it had some convicts
transferred from other parts of Australia, which reflected the settlement pattern of
colonial Australia. The inland exploration of Australia occurred in the 19th cen-
tury, and in the 1880s many adventurers, prospectors, and surveyors crossed the
continent in all directions. Various gold rushes attracted immigrants, as did mining.
The discovery of gold in the 1850s transformed the social, economic, and cultural
fabric of Australia. The arrival of migrants throughout the 19th century lifted the
economy and changed the country’s social structure. The six colonies—New South
Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania—
became states and in 1901 federated into the Commonwealth of Australia.

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, the world’s smallest conti-
nent, lies between the Pacific and Indian oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. The
53
capital is Canberra. On the east coast, mountain ranges run from north to south,
reaching their highest point at Mount Kosciusko. The Great Barrier Reef lies along
the northeast coast, while the island of Tasmania is off the southeast coast. The
western half of the continent is occupied by a desert plateau that rises into barren,
rolling hills near the coast in the north. The south is mainly agricultural but is sepa-
rated from the eastern states by the extensive barren lands of the Nullabor Plain
and inland deserts. Australia has a democratic government and is an independent
nation within the Commonwealth. Under the Australian Constitution, Queen Eliz-
abeth II is the head of state and is represented throughout Australia by a governor
general and by a governor in each state. Until the mid-20th century, the population
was notably homogeneous. Christianity is the principal religion and English is the
official language. The country’s economy is basically free enterprise in structure.
The climate varies widely throughout Australia. For example, the tropical north
experiences high temperatures and high humidity, and distinct wet and dry sea-
sons. Central Australia has dry desert regions with high daytime temperatures and
minimal rainfall. In the south are the temperate regions with moderate rainfall and
temperatures ranging from hot to cold. Because of these wide variations, the dress
of Australia’s inhabitants also varies depending on the region. Today, suburban
Melbourne and Sydney are widely regarded as the most fashionable of the Aus-
tralian cities. The population of Australia is estimated at 22,328,000, according to
the World Bank.
People and Dress

The governance and exertion of British influence was a cardinal leverage for
colonial Australia in every facet due to its mostly British inherited inhabitants.
At first, fashion information arrived mainly from England, though later also from
other European countries such as France. The difference in climatic seasons—the
Australian winter occurring during Europe’s summer—and the shipping duration
of six to eight months suggests the possibility of European seasonal fashions being
shipped to arrive in Australia for the respective season half a year later. Most colo-
nial urban dress closely imitated European styles and much fashionable dress was
imported or made up in accordance with European patterns. The British influence
in the colony is verified by such fashions as crinolines, bustles, and tea gowns, and
a significant variety of furs and silks. Adorning the wearer with life-sized imitation
animals was one of the most extravagant fashion trends in the late 19th century both
in Europe and the Australian colonies. The popularity of black fabrics, especially
for the clothing of professionals such as doctors, suggests the implementation of
Australia, Settlers | 55
customs as practiced in Britain. The etiquette of mourning and the importance of

special mourning attire played a significant part in the lives of the settlers. The
influence of royalty on mourning attire was significant from the mid 19th century,
and much of this can be attributed to Queen Victoria and her personal grieving for
her consort, Prince Albert. Traces of Indian and French fashion features associated
with British fashion at the time were also visible. French cloths, fabrics, jewelry,
and accessories were available in Hobart and Sydney from the early 1820s. Though
colonists wore European fashion, it was often altered to appeal to Australian senses
of style. As Indian shawls and textiles became fashionable in Victorian society
in Britain, their acceptance and popularity in the colony was significant. A great
variety of Indian fabrics, accessories, embellishments, footwear, and clothing were
imported from India, and Asian Indian clothing, hats, and shoes were commonly
available from the earliest days of settlement.
There was, however, scarcely any evidence to verify that the subcultural eth-
nic groups such as Chinese and Afghans influenced the mainstream Australian
clothing culture. Initially, these ethnic workers were adorned with their traditional
clothing. As the century progressed, their dress was influenced by Western styles.
The influence of colonial literature in relation to attire and finery was monumental.
Local newspapers published fashion statements and material availability, while
“Ladies’ Columns” in magazines and newspapers reported on the latest fashions in
Europe. Comments on the attire worn at public events in Britain, Europe, and the
Australian colonies were included, as well as dressmaking suggestions. Victorian
Australian newspaper and magazine advertisements reveal an important cultural
pattern. There are many differences between the advertising culture in the colony
and that in Britain. Colonial Australian advertisements scarcely portrayed class or
leisure, while British advertisements were generally directed toward the opulence
and indulgence of the affluent class.
In the colony of New South Wales, initially there was no capitalist class, few
free settlers, and no free laborers. There was scarcely any commerce in the new
settlement; imports were limited and prices fluctuating, while exports were non-
existent, though fashionable finery remained a central feature of the dominant
classes. Early Australian working classes were not like the British working classes.
Contrary to English practice, they transformed themselves into possessors and pro-
prietors, and they often ascended the social hierarchy. In early colonial society,
fashionable clothing in the European mode was a triumphant sign of the wear-
er’s ability to transcend the stain of convict association. Fashion became a moral
and social exemplar that could be effectively used by those in political control to
demonstrate their power over the lower classes. Nevertheless, the self-reliant set-
tlers of the early investing classes performed menial tasks to a degree they would
have perceived as inconceivable in England. Their way of life transformed from
the comfortable English house and drawing room to a hut or cottage in the harsh
Australian bush. At the other end of the spectrum, the serving class endured even
greater hardship than the gentry.
Because of poverty, irregularity of shipments, speculative trading, scarcity of
supplies, the lack of local industries, and the vast distances between settlements,
the settlers were often obliged to rely on alternative clothing resources. The scar-
city of clothing in the colony has been well documented. For example, John Bus-
sell, an Oxford-educated Western Australian landowner, in 1831 recorded sewing
for himself a canvas frock and trousers with tarred twine. There are accounts of
kangaroo skins and guts being used for footwear and clothing. Western Australian
Benedictine bishop Rosendo Salvado recorded the deficiency of clothing, describ-
ing unrecognizable monastic habits patched with kangaroo skins and belted with
dried kangaroo intestines. Due to privation, isolation, and inadequate transporta-
tion, most settlers were forced to depend on their own initiative for their everyday
needs, including clothing. In the first half of the 19th century, supplies such as
wheat, flour, sugar, oats, and bran arrived in bags called “produce bags.” These
were a great resource for rural settlers. People used them for fabric walls, make-
shift curtains, meat safes, and even clothes. Finer, tightly woven jute bags were
made into aprons, towels, peg bags, and potholders. The finest bags were made into
children’s clothing: trousers for boys and dresses for girls. Children’s clothing was
also made from remnants of adult clothing, and the recycling of worn-out clothing
and footwear was standard practice. Dyeing was another resource used throughout
the 19th century; mourning dresses, especially, were constantly dyed.
As the colonies developed and manpower and resources increased, distinc-
tive clothing became the fashion for special occasions. The British sporting tradi-
tion was well established in Victorian Australia; sports appeared as a deliberate
attempt by the colonial upper classes to replicate English social custom. Australian
women’s sporting costumes were similar to European, especially British styles
and corseted, bustled, hatted, and sometimes gloved costumes were often the fash-
ion. By the 1870s, occupational and recreational clothing for working-class and
middle-class men was clearly established. After 1870, in line with European prac-
tice, women’s sporting and recreational attire for such sports as tennis, gymnastics,
swimming, cycling, golf, cricket, and fencing were developed.
Men’s and Women’s Dress

Like Canada, the United States, and other relatively young countries that have
been settled by colonists where indigenous groups already lived, Australia does
not have much in the way of a countrywide national or folk dress. Australian soci-
ety has been established along gender lines in all facets, as gender consciousness
was significant from the beginning of the pioneering era. Fashion in 19th-century
Australia expressed male hegemonic values, and the distinct attire of the primar-
ily male colonial governors, judges, clergy, and officials portrayed the conformity
of public power. As the masculine ideal became supreme, their attire expressed
this with conservative styles and discreet, somber colours. At the other end of the
spectrum, a woman’s dress demonstrated her dependence and decorative accesso-
ries displayed the collective wealth of her family. Colonial clothes performed the
dual function of designating social position and gender, while fashionable clothes
acted as a mechanism of social control, directing social distinctions. Urban dress
for men resembled that worn in Europe. However, a dearth of uniformity is visible.
Although male clothing designs conformed in simplicity, a variety of modes flour-
ished. In particular, variations in men’s coats, jackets, and neckwear increased, and
men’s coats varied in length, lapel size, and function. Despite the varied nature of
city dress in Australia, men’s clothing was virtually free of class differences.
In comparison with British social practice, colonial distinctiveness was evi-
dent in many aspects. The colonial upper classes, which scarcely had an affili-
ation with British aristocracy, formulated their own version of social structure.
Societal changes caused changes in the way of life, and the adaptations in colonial
society gradually affected the behavior of colonists, especially in their appear-
ance. Although the clothing practice of the initial colonists was somewhat compa-
rable with existing British practice, as colonial society diverged in later years, the
attitudes of the colonists were transformed so that climate-friendly and lifestyle-
friendly clothing emerged. The comparison of surviving Australian and English
clothing of the period shows that colonial clothing was simpler than British cloth-
ing in terms of decoration.
The bushman’s clothing that evolved in the latter part of the century was
unique to Australian colonies as scarcely any similarity to the attire was evident
in Britain. The inhospitable colonial environment caused the development of bush
attire that was suitable for such harsh conditions, and the working classes’ practi-
cal clothing acquired a unique Australian style. Men’s clothing, especially that
of bushmen, squatters, and diggers, was subject to a visible transformation with
distinctive features long before the noticeable mutation of female costume. By the
mid-19th century, dress in the eastern colonies had unique Australian characteris-
tics, while western Australian dress illustrated a British flavor. The western colony
is not comparable with eastern Australian colonies because of the different stages
of development, different social and demographic patterns, different conditions of
settlement, and differences in climatic conditions. Nevertheless, local conditions
and circumstances gradually created the uniqueness that was distinct from Euro-
pean attire. Dress of the “larrikins,” which began as a Victorian subculture with a
peculiar dress sense (Larrikins continues today as a term that describes Australians
who are “antiestablishment” and irrev-

erent), was recognized in the 1870s.
By the late 1880s, larrikins were com-
monly described as appearing villain-
ous in their way of dressing.
In Edwardian Australia (after
1900), fashion continued to be an indi-
cator of social and economic status.
Women’s yard-wide hats embellished
with plumes or artificial flowers, bell-
shaped skirts, tailor-made dresses, and
S-shaped dresses with frills, embroi-
dery, jewels, and beads were promi-
nent styles. Also, the Edwardian blouse
based on the man’s shirt, complete
with stiff collar and tie, was popular.
Within the Australian continent
Australia’s upper-class sporting life is depicted there are differences in clothing choices
in “A Kangaroo Hunt,” by Max F rancis people make. For example, the dress of
Klepper, c. 1896. (Library of Congress) many Queenslanders is quite different
from that of people who live and work
in Sydney. Such distinctions are specific to local climatic conditions, demographic
patterns, and economic and social structures. Sarongs, influenced by Indonesian
styles from 1900, and saris and skirts influenced by traditional Indian styles were
popular for women during the 1960s and 1970s, particularly with subcultural groups
such as hippies. By the 1980s, the sarong was a norm in Australian beach and leisure
wear. A desire for Australian native motifs and unique indigenous colors in dresses
was noticeable from the 1940s.
Contemporary Clothing in Australia

From the 1790s, almost everything had to be imported into the Australian
settlements from Britain and other British colonies, including ready-made cloth-
ing, fabric, and sewing accessories. The ways of bringing clothing materials into
the colony included direct trade carried out by importers, the personal requests
of emigrants or gifts from emigrants’ relatives and friends, trade carried out by
whalers, and the personal effects of emigrants. Clothing was obtained by pur-
chasing from stores and shops, by making one’s own or using a dressmaker or
tailor, from local manufacturers, buying secondhand, or recycling. Towards the
Customers select fabrics at a textile store in Australia, c. 1900. (Cannon Collection/

Australian Picture Library/Corbis)
end of the century, it was possible to buy made-to-measure clothes from depart-
ment stores or by mail order.
There were no shops or suppliers, except the stores operated by the government,
for a short time after the arrival in New South Wales of the First Fleet in 1788. Very
early after settlement, fabrics for the upper classes would have been imported and
advertisements in newspapers show that tailors and dressmakers were at work. In
1791 there was a shop in Parramatta, and around 1803 there was a regular produce
market in Sydney. From 1803—the earliest year from which commercial advertis-
ing has survived—until about 1806, a subtle but significant change can be discerned
in methods of buying and selling articles in Sydney. Most of the early commer-
cial advertising was for auction sales. Simeon Lord advertised goods for sale as
early as 1803. Despite the improved range and variety of goods available through
retail establishments in Sydney by 1810, wealthy colonists continued the practice
of sending to England for all but their immediate requirements. The Female Factory
that opened in Parramatta in 1821 increased local cloth production in New South
Wales. By 1831 there were three kinds of shops in Sydney: a general boot and shoe
warehouse, a good stationer’s shop, and a ready-made clothes shop that sold men’s
and boys’ clothing in hard-wearing woolen cloth, fustian, corduroy, and twilled
nankeen. The Industrial Revolution in England created a heavy demand for raw
materials, and nearly all wool produced in the colony was exported to England for
manufacture until a woolen mill was established near Newcastle in 1843.
Traveling merchants such as peddlers and hawkers, especially Afghan and
Indian hawkers, and commercial travelers provided goods in remote areas. They
also acted as both salesmen and agents, taking orders from country shopkeepers
and individual customers. The range of products the hawkers sold might include
suits and work clothes for men; silks, scissors, cottons, and various sewing acces-
sories including needles and pins; though fabrics for clothes, bedding, and curtains
were their main line of merchandise. From about the mid-19th century, in addition
to the peddlers and the general store, the requirements of country people were
often filled by mail order.
David Jones, one of Sydney’s earliest drapery and haberdashery stores, was
established in 1838. Caroline Farmer’s dressmaking and millinery shop began
in 1839. Ann Hordern founded the Hordern stores in 1825, selling dressmaking
materials, haberdashery, and stays. Belmore Markets in Melbourne operated from
1869 selling goods including clothing, and in 1878 the Queen Victoria Market was
opened. From about the 1870s, dressmakers’ labels began to be stitched inside
colonial women’s clothing, shoes, and hats. Methods of transaction in clothing
shops varied and bartering was a standard method for purchase. As the century pro-
gressed, personal bartering extended to commercial bartering. However, during the
1900s the colonies gradually transformed into moneyed societies and commercial
transactions began to be limited to currency. Paper patterns for dressmaking had
been available in the colonies from the beginning and were widely used.
In the 20th century, fashion became a mass phenomenon and styles were estab-
lished only when adopted by millions. Since the 1990s, department stores such as
Myer and David Jones, fashion designers, specialty shops, boutiques, and chain
stores like Katies or Sportsgirl continue to be the main suppliers for Australian
consumers. Australian fashion weeks in Sydney (from 1996) and Melbourne (from
1997) annually showcase the Australian fashion industry, displaying existing and
emerging designers’ work.
In the early pioneering era, the upper classes aspired toward preserving a gen-
tility that resembled Britain, regardless of the harsh climate and scarcity of sup-
plies. But during the latter part of the century, although colonists dressed according
to British styles and fashions, their clothing was hardly identical to British styles in
terms of decoration, embellishment, and presentation. Instead, it reflected a subtle
mutation. Now, in the early 21st century, dress remains of significant socioeco-
nomic and cultural importance. As it did in the early years, clothing demeanor
continues to be one of the significant cultural practices in contemporary Australia.
See also Australia, Aboriginal

Australian Dress Register. http://www.australiandressregister.org/, 2012. (A col-
laborative online project to show the dress of New South Wales before 1945.)
Eluwawalage, Damayanthie. History of Costume: The Consumption, Governance,
Potency and Patronage of Attire in Colonial Western Australia. PhD disserta-
tion. Western Australia: Edith Cowan University, 2004.
Kingston, Beverley. Basket, Bag and Trolley: A History of Shopping in Australia.
London: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Maynard, Margaret. Fashioned from Penury: Dress as Cultural Practice in Colo-
nial Australia. Cambridge: The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge,
1994.
Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
and the United Arab Emirates
Christina Lindholm
Geographical and Historical Background

Countless researchers and historians have tried to untangle the history of the Ara-
bian Peninsula. Largely isolated from the West until well into the 20th century,
Arabia was portrayed through the lens of adventurous 18th- and 19th-century trav-
elers. Unfortunately, much of what was published was romanticized tales of great
wealth, harems, intrigue, and pure fiction. Very little actual fact found its way into
Western hands because few Westerners ventured deeply into the region. Travel was
limited and difficult, the landscape barren and forbidding, and the climate inhos-
pitable. It was not until the 1930s that Arabia was fully explored by other than the
Bedouin nomads.
The Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world, covering 1,250,000
square miles, and contains the countries of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Qatar,
the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Israel, Palestine, northeastern Syria,
southeastern Jordan, and western Iraq. Bahrain is a small island located off the
east coast of the peninsula. Geologically, the region includes the Nejd, a fertile
central plateau; several deserts, including Rub’ Al Khali, also known as the Empty
Quarter; both dry and marshy coastland; and several mountain ranges on both the
western edge as well as the southeast border. As most of the peninsula is not suited
to agriculture, early residents were either wandering Bedouins or settled in the few
areas that would support crops and animal husbandry. The sea provided important
trade routes from Asia to North Africa.
The earliest residents of the peninsula were either wandering Semite tribes
or settled folk who congregated in small market towns. Many of these groups
were composed of extended families led by a chief. In the seventh century CE, the
Prophet Mohammed founded Islam in Mecca, now in Saudi Arabia. The shared
beliefs of Islam created alliances among tribal chiefs, which led to the expulsion of
foreign powers from the Arabian Peninsula. As Arab military strength grew, they
were able to take control of Syria, Egypt, and Palestine from Byzantine rule, and
the Sassanian dynasty collapsed, leaving them control of Iraq and Iran. The Arab
62
Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates | 63
conquerors spread their armies into North Africa and across Spain, all the way to
the Atlantic Ocean.
By the 16th century, Ottoman rule, headquartered in Istanbul, had absorbed
almost all Arab-speaking countries. Rule in Arabia was accomplished by appointing
indigenous families as leaders who were allowed to follow local customs and prac-
tices as long as they did not conflict with the interests of the Ottoman Empire. Under
these conditions, much of the peninsula attracted little attention from the Empire.
The Ottoman Empire dissolved during the first World War and modern politi-
cal lines began to form. The tribally dominated towns of central Arabia became
Saudi Arabia under Ibn Saud in 1931, Bahrain gained independence from Iranian
and British claims in 1970, Qatar declared independence in 1971, and the United
Arab Emirates was established in 1971 from seven city states. According to the
Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook, the current approximate population
in 2012 for each country is Saudi Arabia, 26,534,500; Bahrain, 1,248,350; Qatar,
1,951,600; and United Arab Emirates, 5,314,300.
The 20th-century discovery of oil and natural gas has provided enormous
wealth to the region. It has also captured the financial attention of the Western
world. Where the region was previously isolated and living in traditional ways,
Western intrusion has introduced modern education, communications, transporta-
tion, travel, and other material aspects and practices of the Western world.
People and Dress

Dress worn in public is remarkably consistent throughout the Arabian Peninsula.
The silhouettes for men’s clothing are nearly identical among the countries and
women’s dress shares several components. Two defining characteristics however,
are that men’s and women’s dress are distinctly different from each other and never
worn by the opposite gender, despite a few of the garments having the same name.
Unisex clothing simply does not exist and neither gender would ever consider
wearing the garments of the opposite sex. The second characteristic of Arabian
dress is that current outer dress is gender-based by color. Men usually wear white
garments and women always wear black. This has not always been the case, but in
the early 21st century, this is true for all four countries.
Traditional Arab dress is loosely based on styles that date back hundreds of
years. The origins are not precisely known, but most scholars agree that what is now
identified as Arab dress was normal daily dress as worn in the region prior to the rise
of Islam. This clothing was characterized by its loose fit, flowing fabrics, and the
fact that it was not very tailored. Influences have most likely come from surrounding
countries and were adopted into the culture as the conquering armies expanded into
the Hellenistic Mediterranean and Iran. In addition to visibly declaring gender, Arab
dress reflects religious and political practices. Since Islam is the predominant reli-
gion in the peninsula, most Arabs adhere to the Qur’an’s directive to dress modestly.
This pertains to men as well as women and states clearly that observant Muslims
should dress in such a way as to not draw unwanted attention to themselves. The
most often quoted passage regarding dress is Sura XXlV:31:
And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to
display of their ornament only that which is apparent, and to draw their
veils over their bosoms, and not to reveal their adornment save to their
own husbands or fathers or husbands’ fathers, or their sons or their hus-
bands’ sons, or their brothers or their brothers’ sons or sisters’ sons, or
their women, or their slaves, or their male attendants who lack vigor, or
children who know naught of women’s nakedness. And let them not stamp
their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment.
Therefore, the typical dress worn in Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the
United Arab Emirates by Muslims from those countries is modest and concealing.
Women are expected to cover themselves in front of all male strangers to preserve
the family’s good name.
Men’s Dress
Men generally wear a pure white, long-sleeved gown called a thob, or more
informally, a dishdash, which resembles an ankle-length Western dress shirt. Cur-
rently, the dishdash is machine stitched and made from either cotton or a cotton/
polyester blend for ease of care. Most of the garments have side pockets and button
to the mid-chest. Only minor differences exist among the dishdashes of the vari-
ous countries, but these differences can identify the wearer’s country. The Bahrain
dishdash features a banded or Mandarin-style collar and is often worn unbuttoned,
while the Qatar and Saudi dishdashes have a dress shirt–type collar, a pocket at
the left breast, and almost always have buttoned cuffs. Most Qatari and Saudi men
wear elaborate cufflinks and often carry a pen with an expensive clip. UAE dish-
dashes have a banded collar, cloth-covered ball buttons, a small folded-over tab,
and a tassel that hangs down the front.
Other colors are used for dishdashes, such as pastels or off-white in the sum-
mer and darker colors in the winter. If the dishdash is white, it must be spotless
and unwrinkled.
Under their robes, men wear loose drawers called sirwal, which resemble
baggy trousers. They may instead use a hip wrap, which is a length of cloth called
an izar or wizar. This is simply wrapped around their hips and fastened either with
an elastic band or a belt.
Traditional footwear is a leather

sandal that covers the instep and the big
toe. Shoes are never worn in the home,
so slippers are donned at the doorway.
Headgear is extremely important
and an observant Muslim man seldom
is seen bareheaded. The usual cover is
a skullcap called a gahfiyya or keffi-
yeh. This may be knitted or crocheted,
or sometimes made from cloth and
embroidered. Over this, a man will
wear a large, square scarf, the ghutra,
folded into a triangle. It is draped over
the head with the point of the triangle
hanging down the back and the ends
along each side of the face. The ghutra
may be plain white, red and white, or
black and white checked. These styles
are generally cotton and sometimes
starched. The ghutra is anchored to Man in Manama, Bahrain wears a thob with
the head with a single or double thick mandarin collar typical of Bahrain, 2011.
(Dr. Ajay Kumar Singh/Dreamstime.com )
black cord ring called an agal. The
agal may also have thinner cords extending down the back ending in tassels. Previ-
ously, the agal in Saudi Arabia was often several gold thread–covered cords held
together to form a wide band.
Arab men often express their individual style in the way they wear their ghutra.
The agal may sit evenly on the head or be tipped forward, backward, or off to one
side. The ghutra may have the ends cascading in front over the shoulders, with a
small peak over the forehead, or have one or both ends tossed up and crossing over
the top of the head. The front peak may be small or very large. Occasionally, the
ghutra will be twisted into a turban. It is a common sight to see Arabian Gulf men
frequently adjusting their ghutra.
The bisht is an outer robe, usually of black, brown, or tan wool. It is cut nearly
square with only side slits for the hands and is worn over the thob. The bisht is
nearly identical to the aba, but an aba has a horizontal seam running around the
hip to join two pieces of cloth together, while the bisht is cut from a single piece
of cloth. It is usually embroidered with gold zari thread across the shoulder seams,
around the neck, and in wide panels down the front to the waist. The bisht is gen-
erally reserved for special occasions such as formal gatherings and holidays. The
Qatari, in particular, are known to wear the bisht with the right arm through the
hand opening and with the left front tucked under the left arm.
Most Arab men discard the thob when departing the region and traveling in
other parts of the world. When away from the Gulf they wear Euro-American–
style suits or casual clothing, such as blue jeans.
Early Muslim men adhered to the Prophet’s aversion to costly and luxurious
garments. Silk and brocade were forbidden as was gold jewelry. They believed that
this type of self-denial would be rewarded in the afterlife (Stillman and Stillman,
p. 31). This self-denial was largely abandoned after the Prophet’s death in the sev-
enth century, although many Muslim men today will not wear silk or brocade. If
they wear jewelry at all, it is likely to be of silver, white gold, or platinum and often
takes the form of an elaborate wristwatch or decorative cufflinks.
Women’s Dress
One of the difficult issues in discussing Arab clothing is that there are many
names for what is basically the same garment, often with only small regional dis-
tinctions. Since most garments were made to order by hand, virtually no two are
alike, adding to the challenge of deciding whether a garment reflects a widespread
trend, or whether it is the reflection of a particularly creative individual. The trans-
lation from Arabic to English further confuses the understanding that a jallibiyyah
and a galabiyeh are basically the same caftan-like dress. Women’s dress in the
Arabian region had and continues to have many similarities.
Historically, women stayed in the home or out of sight. When a woman did
need to be out in public, she covered her head, face, and body. Early on, layers of
clothing protected against the brutal sun and helped retained moisture. Face veils
also protected against blowing sand. Women wore all-covering black cloaks to
provide anonymity and privacy while away from their home, but nowhere does the
Qur’an dictate that the covering must be black. However, photographs of women
in black cloaks date back to the earliest days of Arab photography, and surviving
cloaks from the 19th and early 20th centuries are black.
Even though modern clothing is available everywhere in the Gulf, many
women wear a combination of traditional, modern, and Bedouin-style clothing.
A normal conservative outfit consists of underdrawers (sirwal), an undershirt or
chemise (qamis), an overdress (jallibiyyah, galabiyeh, caftan, or fustan) and some
type of head cover. A woman will also don an outer cover when outside her home.
Traditional outer cloaks are called abaya or bisht.
Starting at the innermost layer, a woman wears underdrawers. The sirwal that
women wear differs from the male version. Women’s have loosely cut leg panels
with a wide gusset at the crotch and are usually made from cotton. They also have
ankle cuffs, which may be of a contrasting expensive cloth like silk or brocade
and may be highly decorated with embroidery and fancy buttons. The qamis is
a lightweight cotton shift, also usually

cotton. It extends to at least the waist,
but may be as long as mid-thigh or
even ankle length.
The traditional dress or fustan is
worn over the qamis and the sirwal. It
has a round neckline, is ankle length,
has long sleeves and is pulled on over
the head. It will usually have some type
of short slit at the center front which is
closed with a button and a loop. It has
no darts or zippers, and falls nearly to
the ground. In some areas, it is worn
slightly shorter to show off the deco-
rative ankle cuffs of the sirwal, while
some Saudi regional dress is mid-calf
length to expose and emphasize long,
elaborate sirwal cuffs. It has a straight
front panel and is gently shaped to the Woman wearing traditional dress in Doha,
body by means of A-shaped side pan- Qatar. (Matilde Gattoni/arabianEye/Corbis)
els. These panels may leave a small
opening in the seam in order to breast-feed easily. A small triangular gusset, often
of a contrasting cloth or color, is used at the underarm area for ease of movement.
The fustan is often brightly colored and heavily decorated with elaborate embroi-
dery. Sleeves may be slim fitting, very wide, or extremely long, reaching to the
floor. Styles differ greatly in various regions.
Conservative women also wear some type of face cover. This cover may com-
pletely veil the face, such as the niqab, a double-layer veil attached to a band that
goes around the forehead. When both layers are down, the face is completely con-
cealed behind a sheer drape, although the wearer can see out. The top layer can
be flipped back, exposing a smaller second layer, which is supported by a short
narrow cord over the bridge of the nose. This smaller layer conceals the nose and
mouth and leaves the eyes uncovered. The lithma, another variation of a facial
veil, is a square with strings that covers the nose, mouth, and chin and is tied at
the back of the head. Very few women still wear the batula, an indigo-dyed mask
that is beaten to achieve a shiny, metallic appearance. The batula covers the face
from the forehead to the lips with eye openings. Other masks include the burqa,
which is similar to the batula. Older styles of burqa and batula have wooden pegs
stitched along the bridge of the nose. Masks may cover the entire face, or merely
from the eyebrow to the chin.
Vintage masks from Saudi Arabia are especially decorative. They often have
heavy embroidery, shells, coins, and brightly colored cords. Masks from Asir fea-
ture beadwork. Eye openings may be rectangular or almond in shape.
There was a period after World War II when many, if not most women in the
cities abandoned their traditional clothing and dressed in Euro-American fashion.
This was partially because of the oil wealth that was coming into the region, and
partially because of the expanded contact with the more “modern” and therefore
desirable West. Euro-American fashion was encouraged in Saudi Arabia, because
Western fashion eliminated visual regional affiliations and diluted residual tribal
power (Yamani, p. 59). The tribes had only been united under Ibn Saud for a few
decades, and Saudi Arabia as a united country was not yet entirely unified. Tribal
loyalties remain strong to this day, and allowing women to adopt Euro-American
fashion is a means of replacing tribal identity dress and visually diluting those
localized loyalties by replacing them with status-giving international haute couture
dress that is politically neutral and Euro-American.
A modern Muslim woman in Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, or the United Arab
Emirates today is instantly identifiable by her black abaya and shayla. The modern
abaya is a loose robe worn over another complete set of garments. It is a light-
weight, silky fabric, usually of a synthetic fiber, and covers her from her neck to
her wrists and to the floor. She often has long hair, which she wears pulled up and
fastened at the back of her head with a clip. Over this she will wind a shayla, a two-
foot-long rectangular scarf that will cover her hair and her neck.
Children’s Dress
Children traditionally wore smaller versions of what the same-sex parent wore.
One of the main age differences for girls was a head cover called a buqnuq. This
garment was a hoodlike covering worn by girls from a young age until they were
old enough to don full covering, which often included a face mask of some descrip-
tion. The buqnuq was usually black and often embroidered with gold thread.
Current practice in most Arab Gulf countries is for children to wear Western-
style clothing consisting of jeans and T-shirts for boys and dresses for girls. Minia-
ture abayas and dishdashes are worn by many children for the holy day, holidays,
and other special occasions.
Modern Uses of Ethnic Dress

The Persian Gulf has become a retailer’s mecca. The wealthy and sophisti-
cated population provides incentive for European and American luxury and fash-
ion brands to establish shops there and extravagant modern Western malls exist
in all four countries. Merchandise from both designer brands as well as haute
couture is available, such as Hermes, Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren Purple
Label, Cartier, Christian Dior, and Chanel. Dubai in the United Arab Emirates
hosts a month-long shopping festival, which attracts eager shoppers from all over
the region. Special events, hotel packages, and all manner of entertainment draw
thousands. Thus, although women wear abayas, it must be noticed that under the
abaya they are likely to wear the same latest designer fashion as any modern,
wealthy, sophisticated woman would wear, previously only available in Europe
or America. Retailers realize that the Gulf States provide a healthy stream of
income.
Selected Bibliography
Abu Saud, Abeer. Qatari Women, Past and Present. Essex: Longman Group, 1984.
Ahmed, Leila. Women, Gender and Islam. New Haven: Yale University Press,
1992.
Al-Wahabi, Najla Ismail al-Izzi. Qatari Costume. London: The Islamic Art Soci-
ety, 2003.
Chatty, Dawn. “The Burqa Face Cover: An Aspect of Dress in Southeastern Ara-
bia.” Languages of Dress in the Middle East, ed. Nancy Lindisfarne-Tapper and
Bruce Ingham. Richmond, UK: Curzon, 1997.
El Guindi, Fadwa, and Wesam al-Othman. “Dress from the Gulf States: Bahrain,
Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates.” Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and
Fashion, Vol. 5. Oxford: Berg, 2010.
Garner, Ann. “Comments on the Jewelry of the Middle East.” http://www.mschon
.com/articles.html.
The Glorious Koran, trans. Marmaduke Pickthall. Albany: State University of New
York, 1976.
Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. New York: MFJ Books, 1991.
Ingham, Bruce. “Men’s Dress in the Arabian Peninsula.” Languages of Dress in the
Middle East, ed. Nancy Lindesfarne-Tapper and Bruce Ingham. Richmond, UK:
Curzon, 1997, 40–54.
Lindholm, Christina. “Snapshot: The Abayeh in Qatar.” Berg Encyclopedia of
World Dress and Fashion, Vol. 5. Oxford: Berg, 2010.
Lindisfarne-Tapper, Nancy, and Bruce Ingham, eds. Languages of Dress in the
Middle East. Richmond, UK: Curzon, 1997.
Ross, Heather Colyer. The Art of the Arabian Costume: A Saudi Arabian Profile.
Studio City, CA: Players Press, 1981.
Scarce, Jennifer. Women’s Costume of the Near and Middle East. London: Unwin
Hyman, 1987.
Shirazi, Faegheh. The Veil Unveiled: The Hijab in Modern Culture. Tallahassee,
FL: University of Florida Press, 2001.
Stillman, Yedida Kalfon, and Norman A. Stillman. Arab Dress: A Short History.
Leiden: Brill, 2000.
Vogelsang-Eastwood, Gillian. “Saudi Arabian Dress.” Berg Encyclopedia of World
Dress and Fashion, Vol. 5. Oxford: Berg, 2010.
Winstone, H. V. F. Gertrude Bell. London: Barzan Publishing, 2004.
Yamani, Mai. “Changing the Habits of a Lifetime: The Adaptation of Hejazi Dress
to the New Social Order.” Languages of Dress in the Middle East, ed. Nancy
Lindisfarne-Tapper and Bruce Ingham. Richmond, UK: Curzon, 1997.
Belize, Honduras, El Salvador,
and Nicaragua
José Blanco F.

Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua are four of the seven nations that
comprise Central America. The other countries—Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Pan-
ama—are dealt with in other essays in this volume. The Central American isthmus
is bordered by Mexico in the north and Colombia in the south. Panama is not always
considered part of Central America and is often grouped with South America. The
area is also bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea on the
east. Spanish is the most widely spoken language in the area; native tongues, how-
ever, survive in every country. The official language of Belize is English. Diverse
geographic features—from mountains to coastal areas—account for climate varia-
tions that translate into a variety of dress styles. This climate diversity also has
resulted in a wealth of sources for natural fibers and dyes. A variety of textile
construction techniques, including blackstrap weaving and brocade, have existed
in the area since pre-Columbian times.
People and Dress
History of Dress
Most of the Central American countries share common characteristics of
national dress. The four nations discussed here also share strong influences from
pre-Columbian cultures, particularly the Mayas. The Mayas lived primarily in
areas of present-day Guatemala but also occupied parts of Honduras, El Salva-
dor, and most of Belize. Textiles used by pre-Columbian groups in the area range
from coarse cottons dyed with basic plant and earth pigments to finely woven
and brightly dyed cotton items. Adornment for Mayan royalty and the priest class
included elaborate jewelry and feathered headwear.
Dress practices in the area changed drastically after the Spanish conquest as
a result of the forced adoption of European styles. Settlers from Spain and other
71
parts of Europe also brought with them traditions associated with carnivals and
festivals in their native lands. Equally influential were the traditions of people from
Africa forced to work as slaves in the area, particularly along the Caribbean coast.
Costumes used in carnival celebrations in Central America show evidence of the
merging of European, African, and native traditions. When the Captaincy Gen-
eral of Guatemala was established in 1540 as the administrative body for Central
America, the Spanish implemented the same well-defined social caste system they
used in the rest of the Americas. The peninsulares or recent arrivals from the Span-
ish upper class were at the top of the hierarchy, followed by people of Spanish
descent born in the Americas, known as criollos, and then the mixed-raced mesti-
zos, offspring of European and native couples. Lowest in rank were the mulattoes,
descendants of European and African parents. Traditional dress in Central America
is often referred to as mestizo dress, indicating in part the amalgam of European
and local clothing practices.
Formal clothing is used for special occasions, particularly those associated
with Catholic rituals such as baptism, first communion, and weddings. Quincea-
ñera celebrations—marking the occasion when a young woman turns 15—also
present an opportunity for a level of formality in dress incorporated into the reli-
gious and social occasion. During the days before Christmas children participate
in posadas (caroling around the town accompanied by the images of Saint Joseph
and the Virgin Mary) wearing versions of Spanish shepherd and shepherdess out-
fits with elements of Biblical Hebrew clothing and traditional national costumes.
During Semana Santa (Holy Week) Catholic parishioners take part in a number of
procesiones (processions) to celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ. They
dress in costumes loosely inspired by Biblical times in order to perform characters
such as the apostles and Roman soldiers not only during the processions but also in
realistic Crucifixion dramas. Elaborate Semana Santa processions are particularly
well known in areas such as San Simon in El Salvador and León in Nicaragua.
Traditional national or folkloric dress, probably defined at some point during
the 19th century, shows a combination of European elements (full flounced skirts,
blouses with lace trimmings) and elements of pre-Columbian dress (sandals, straw
hats). Variations in silhouette, color, and adornment result in clear differences
among the traditional dress of each nation and also among clothing worn in dif-
ferent provinces or regions within each country. During the 19th century everyday
clothes in Central America were influenced mainly by European fashion. Upper
classes dressed in styles identical to those seen in Spain while high fashion fol-
lowed French haute couture. European dress remained the norm in the area during
the 20th and 21st centuries, but influences from the United States became more
evident due to the availability of products sold by multinational enterprises. Cen-
tral Americans closely follow music, television, and movies produced in the United
Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua | 73
States and readily avail themselves of fashion styles presented in these popular
culture outlets. Urban clothing, inspired by that of African American musicians
and athletes, is as popular among Central American urban youth as it is among
the youth in any large city in the United States. Influences on fashion, however,
also come from other areas by way of Mexican, Peruvian, and Brazilian television
shows and celebrities that enjoy wide popularity in the area. A sense of formality
in clothing remains the norm among middle and upper class Central Americans
who usually dress up and groom themselves carefully even for informal occasions.
Belize
Belize shares a border with Mexico in the north, Guatemala in the west, and
the Caribbean Sea in the east. English is the official language of Belize, a country
distinctively different from the rest of the Central American nations due to the fact
that it was colonized by the British and shaped by a large influx of African slaves.
Until 1973 the country was known as British Honduras, though in 1954 the colony
obtained limited autonomy from the British crown. Belize became fully indepen-
dent in 1981 but its neighbor, Guatemala, refused to acknowledge its independence
and for years claimed the entire territory as part of Guatemala. The Guatemalan
government did not officially recognize Belize’s independence until 1991.
Dress practices in Belize are influenced by a great variety of cultures ranging
from those of the Garifuna (also known as Gariguna) people in the coastal areas
to Mayan descendants in the region bordering Guatemala. The Garifuna compose
about 6 percent of the total population in Belize, which is approximately 344,700
people. Garifuna people are descendants of Caribe native tribes and people of Afri-
can descent brought to the area by the British, who forcibly removed the group
from the nearby island of Saint Vincent around 1796. The African heritage is evi-
dent in all aspects of Garifuna life and culture including dress. Garifunas are ada-
mant about keeping their traditions alive; recognition for this effort came in 2001
when UNESCO declared Garifuna language, music, and dance as a masterpiece of
the intangible heritage of humanity. Garifuna populations also are found in Guate-
mala and Honduras.
Garifuna women wear African-influenced garments and headdresses. Ensem-
bles are usually in solid-color cotton or printed calicos and consist of either a one-
piece dress or a combination of a top and a skirt. Skirts are short and full. Blouses
have short puffed sleeves and a peplum that extends below a cinched waist. Hair
is covered by headscarves in matching colors. Men usually wear tailored short or
long pants and button-front shirts. Headgear ranges from straw hats to baseball
caps. Black mourning clothes are worn for an entire year and taken off during the
Lemesi, an official church ceremony.
Music and dance are integral to life in Garifuna communities. Punta, a tradi-
tional dance representing a sexual dialogue through stylized movements, is char-
acterized by fast hip movements enhanced by the women’s colorful short skirts.
The Wanaragua is a Christmas-time masquerade similar to those performed dur-
ing other Caribbean Junkanoo (John Canoe) carnivals. During the celebration the
mostly male participants venture around their neighborhood asking for food and
drinks from different households. The traditional costume for men involved in the
event consists of a white shirt with green, black, or pink ribbons and white or black
pants with yawei, knee bands decorated with shells. Headdresses or wababan are
made from cardboard and decorated with feathers, crepe paper, and mirrors. They
wear white or skin-color masks with red lips, a moustache, and small eyes. As in
similar carnivals in the Caribbean, men often wear women’s dresses, accessories,
and makeup for comic effect.
About 10 percent of the total population in Belize are descendants of native
Mayan groups and dress in attire similar to Maya populations in Guatemala.
Women wear a huipil—a cotton blouse made from fabric woven on a backstrap
loom and embellished with brocade or embroidery—and refajos, skirts made from
cotton fabrics woven on treadle looms. The fabrics are adorned with embroidery
seen on aprons and woven headbands that also have decorative tassels. Men wear
long pants and shirts, often with small embroidered details. Leather sandals, belt-
sashes, and shoulder bags complete the ensemble.
Maya and Garifuna dress elements are apparent in the clothing of the rest of
the population but Westernized or world clothing is predominant among those liv-
ing in urban areas as well as younger generations who follow fashionable styles
from the United States, Europe, and the rest of Central America. Influences from
Caribbean countries are present, for instance, in the popularity of guayabera shirts,
associated with the semiformal wear of sugar plantation owners in Cuba and other
islands in the Caribbean. Mennonite communities in northern Belize favor mod-
esty and simplicity. The women wear one-piece, solid-color, ankle-length dresses
while men limit their attire to white shirts and dark pants.
Honduras
The Republic of Honduras shares borders with Guatemala, El Salvador, and
Nicaragua. The geography varies from mountainous regions to coastal areas on the
Caribbean Sea where banana plantations abound. Like its neighboring countries,
Honduras’s history was marked during most of the 20th century by military dic-
tatorships that left the nation struggling with poverty. In Tegucigalpa, the capital
city, and other urban areas a modern society in touch with the clothing styles and
Group of Honduran Garifuna women dance to the rhythm of punta music near
egucigalpa, c. 2007. (Elmer Martinez/AFP/Getty Images)
T
cultural tastes of the rest of the world marks the lifestyle of the middle and upper
classes. The population of Honduras is estimated at 7,600,000 people.
Garifuna communities are dispersed around Honduras’s Caribbean coast,
mainly around the areas of Tela and La Ceiba. These communities share culture,
lifestyle, and dress elements with the Belizean Garifuna communities. Influences
of Mayan dress are found in certain places, particularly around the Copán region.
Descendants of the Mayas like the Chortí wear brightly colored clothes but rarely
wear items like the Guatemalan woven huipil.
An important ethnic group in Honduras is the Miskitos, whose population also
spreads to the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua and some areas of El Salvador. The
Miskitos are a racially mixed group of descendants of escaped African slaves and
the Sumu Indians, who were originally from South America. Through the centuries
they have led a life marked by their work in banana and other types of plantations.
Their clothes thus emphasize practicality and simplicity. The name Miskito derives
from the Spanish word mosquete and refers to the weapons the British army pro-
vided to the group in order to get their assistance fighting the Spanish.
The Pech or Paya are a small ethnic group living in some regions of south-
ern Honduras. Their language is nearly extinct as are some of their traditions. In
an effort to integrate into Honduran society the Pech—like other small surviving
native groups—have fully adopted world clothing styles.
The national costume of Honduras—as is the case in most Central American
countries—is a romanticized representation of peasant life with strong European
influences. Even when these costumes were first established as a national tradition
(probably in the 19th century), it was clear that peasants could not wear them to
work in the fields. In the 21st century, this traditional costume is worn for special
events, national holidays, and school programs but not as part of everyday life. The
traditional dress from the Intibucá region is probably the best-known example.
Men wear white linen or cotton pants paired with a long-sleeved shirt in the same
material. The shirt reaches just below the waistline and includes side vents and
small embellishments—usually rickrack—along the cuffs and sometimes over the
chest. The women’s outfit is also a two-piece white ensemble of linen or cotton.
The skirt is full with two flounces accented by rickrack. The long sleeved blouse
is loose over a cinched waist with rickrack on the cuffs. Men wear sandals and a
straw hat while women wear sandals and wear their hair in a ponytail with brightly
colored ribbons and other hair accessories. Sashes around the waistline and neck
kerchiefs are incorporated in some variations of the men’s costume.
In the Copán region the costume for both men and women is created with
bright-colored fabrics and rickrack. Floral patterns are incorporated into women’s
skirts in Jocomico and other areas or for specific dances. The female costume for
the Opatoro region features bright fabrics and large ribbon adornments that create
geometric patterns in the skirt. The men perform simpler steps and use their hat
and occasionally other props such as machete knives and handkerchiefs while fol-
lowing the leading steps of their performing partner.
El Salvador
El Salvador shares borders with Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The
population is estimated at more than 6,000,000. The coastal area runs along the
Pacific Ocean. Like the other Central American countries its geography is diverse
with high mountain ranges, navigable rivers, active volcanoes, and expansive beach
areas. The country’s economy depends on crops such as bananas, coffee, corn, and
tobacco. Tourism has become an increasingly important source of income for El
Salvador and the other countries in the area.
Traditional dress in some areas shows remnants of Mayan dress. This is par-
ticularly the case in towns such as Nahuizalco and Santo Domingo de Guzmán
and other areas in the eastern part of El Salvador inhabited by descendants of
Nahua or Pipil groups, also known as Lenca. The Pipil are direct descendants
of the Mayas and speak a Nahuatl dialect. Women in the area occasionally wear
huipiles (blouses) and refajos or nahuas (skirts) similar to those worn by Guate-
malan women of Mayan descent. Embroidered or brocaded motifs on the huipiles
often indicate the wearer’s place of origin.
Costumes associated with regional and religious festivals abound in El Salva-
dor. In the mountain town of Cacaopera, for instance, an effort has been made to
keep alive certain traditions associated with native groups such as the Lenca, Pipil,
and Ulua. Colorful outfits are used in the Cacaopera Festival where men perform
a number of dances wearing white pants and shirts. The most important element
of their costume is elaborate multicolor headdresses in the shape of a basket full
of feathers. The men are known as emplumados or “the feathered ones.” For the
Dance of the Tiger and the Deer in the town of San Juan Nonualco dancers wear
costumes representing the hunters and animals involved in the hunting story repre-
sented. During Semana Santa (Holy Week) parishioners all around Central Amer-
ica participate in procesiones (processions) around city streets from Good Friday
to Easter Sunday. In El Salvador the areas of Sonsonate and Izalco are known for
elaborate processions including a range of costumed biblical characters.
As in Honduras, there are several variations of national dress in El Salva-
dor. The costumes are used in festivities or folkloric performances and often dis-
play local motifs. Women’s dress normally consists of a cotton blouse with short
Nahuatl indigenous women celebrate winter solstice in San Andres, El Salvador, 2006.
(Reuters/Corbis)
sleeves and simple decorations while the skirt is long and flounced. Accessories
include shawls or religious elements such as rosary beads and scapularies (badges
created with two cloth pieces joined by bands and worn over the shoulders and on
the chest). As in other Central American countries the dress is complemented by
sandals or flat shoes. Men’s dress consists of either a pair of white cotton pants
or a pair of jeans usually matched with a white linen or cotton button-front shirt.
Men wear a straw hat and sandals or work boots. Several variations exist for this
main costume. For instance, a whole outfit may be created with only two base
colors—blue and white—to replicate the pattern of the Salvadoran flag. Other
versions include a full dress whose top and bottom are made in one piece from
printed cotton fabric. Colorful aprons are another common addition, and some-
times a scarf is draped over the right shoulder. Other versions are created by mix-
ing and matching bottoms and tops in blue and white, the colors of the Salvadoran
national flag.
Nicaragua
Nicaragua shares borders with Honduras in the north and Costa Rica in the
south with coasts on both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The population is
approximately 5,727,000 people. Mayan influence in clothing is less apparent in
Nicaragua than in other countries in the region, but it is somewhat visible in the
descendants of the Chorotega, a group related to the Mayans who lived in Nicara-
gua and Costa Rica during pre-Columbian times. Another important native group
was Los Concheros, located in the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua and named after
their most important activity, collecting shells for a variety of purposes includ-
ing the production of textile dyes. Miskito communities are dispersed around
the Caribbean coast in Nicaragua with large concentrations in the Miskitu Keys,
Awastara, and Bluefields. As in the case of the Honduran Miskito groups discussed
above, Nicaraguan Miskitos emphasize practicality and simplicity in their work
wardrobe but dress similar to the rest of the Nicaraguan population when traveling
to urban areas. In the past, however, Miskitos created clothing items out of tree
bark and wove cotton garments, including the pulpera, a type of loin-cloth worn in
the 18th and 19th centuries by both males and females.
Traditional Nicaraguan costumes—just like those of other Central American
countries—show a mixture of Spanish and native elements. Men wear white shirts
and pants with dark capes and straw hats. Women wear huipiles with embroidered
or brocaded details and a wide skirt with several flounces and embroidered motifs.
Flowers normally decorate the head and accessories include fans and embroidered
shawls. This is in stark contrast to folkloric costumes used in the northern part of
the country where women wear less-flounced skirts accessorized with a kerchief
People dressed in Gueguenses Toro-Huaco wear masks and dance during the San Sebastian
festival in Diriamba, Nicaragua, 2002. (Miguel Alvarez/AFP/Getty Images)
around the waist and a headwrap while men wear knee-length white pants with a
straw hat and a handkerchief around the neck.
Costumes worn in regional festivals represent characters from local tales and
legends such as in the Baile del Zopilote (Dance of the Vulture) in the areas of
Masaya, Diriá, and Diriomo where the vulture is represented by a masked rev-
eler dressed in black while female dancers wear bright orange skirts and black
shawls. In the same region, for the dance of Las Inditas (The Little Indian Girls),
female performers wear white dresses with red shawls. In the popular Baile de Los
Agüizotes (Dance of the Evil Spells) characters from folklore and legends are rep-
resented by revelers dressed in loose, long-sleeved black gowns. They wear papier-
mâché masks with faces of figures such as the red and black demons, the Cadejos
(a large, angry dog with red eyes), the Cegua (a woman with a horse’s head), and
the cursed Padre sin Cabeza (headless priest). One of the most important surviving
plays from colonial times is El Güegüense (The Honored Elder). Performed every
year in Nicaragua, the comedy about misunderstandings and political corruption
dates from the 17th century. It is staged by local actors wearing colonial clothing
and masks with European faces.
Red and black were widely used in Nicaragua during the period of the Revo-
lución Sandinista, when the nation had been ruled by the bloody dictatorship of
the Somoza family for decades. The Sandinistas were the largest group fighting
against the dictatorship and selected red and black as the colors to identify their
movement. The dictatorship was defeated in 1979 and at the time the Junta Nacio-
nal de Reconstrucción (National Reconstruction Organization) proposed uniform
clothing for Nicaraguans as a means of symbolizing socialist equality. However,
their effort to establish the cotona—a loose, long-sleeved white dress shirt worn
with white pants—as the new form of national dress was unsuccessful. As in other
Central American countries, blue and white—the colors of the Nicaraguan flag—
are often used in folkloric and other representative national costumes.
See also Guatemala; Costa Rica and Panama

Bolland, Nigel O. Belize: A New Nation in Central America. Boulder, CO: West-
view, 1986.
Borland, Katherine. Unmasking Class, Gender, and Sexuality in Nicaraguan Fes-
tivals. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2006.
Dennis, Philip A. The Miskitu People of Awastara. Austin: University of Texas
Press, 2004.
Foster, Lynn V. A Brief History of Central America. New York: Facts on File, 2000.
Roessingh, Carel. The Belizean Garifuna: Organization of Identity in an Ethnic
Community in Central America. Amsterdam: Rozenberg, 2002.
Schevill, Margot Blum. The Maya Textile Tradition. New York: Harry N. Abrams,
1997.
Tilley, Virginia Q. Seeing Indians: A Study of Race, Nation, and Power in El Sal-
vador. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Marilyn Cvitanic
Over the centuries Bosnia has been subjected to a myriad of political and cul-
tural influences. The Bosnian population survived invasions, economic hardship,
constant migration, and the political uncertainties that came with living along the
vacillating border between the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires. In spite of
challenging conditions, Bosniak Muslims, Croatian Catholics, and Orthodox Serbs
often lived side by side and as such, differences in dress throughout the region do
not limit themselves to strict geographic or political boundaries. Hence, there is no
single style that easily summarizes the folk traditions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In this text Bosnia is used as a shortened name for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Muslim presence in Bosnia dates to the 14th century when Ottoman armies
brought the region under Turkish control. For the next 400 years Bosnia was part of
the Ottoman Empire, and much of its population converted from Roman Catholi-
cism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity to Islam. During the mid-19th century
a wave of nationalistic consciousness swept through Europe inspiring the Slavic
population to rebel against Ottoman control. This period of unrest did not lead
to independence; rather, the weakened Ottoman leadership was overthrown by
Austria-Hungary, which took control of the region.
Frustration with imperialism came to a head in 1914 when Austrian archduke
Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in Sara-
jevo by a Bosnian Serb nationalist. Austria declared war on Serbia, igniting the
First World War, which ended four bloody years later with the defeat of Austria-
Hungary and Germany. Bosnia was then annexed by the kingdom of Serbs, Croats,
and Slovenes, which later became Yugoslavia. After the Second World War Josip
Broz Tito declared himself president of Yugoslavia and installed a communist
regime. At this time Bosnia-Herzegovina became one of six republics that con-
stituted Yugoslavia, which remained a united sovereign state until 1991, when the
republics’ demand for greater autonomy led to the Yugoslav Wars and the dissolu-
tion of Yugoslavia.
81
Bosnia declared independence in 1992, foiling plans by Serb leaders to cre-

ate “Greater Serbia.” With support from the indigenous Bosnian Serb population,
Serbia retaliated with military force including brutal attacks on civilians and mass
executions. Croatia also attempted to annex those parts of Herzegovina that had a
large Croat population. In 1995, the Dayton Peace Agreement was reached, allow-
ing Bosnia to retain the borders that existed before the war. However, the Republic
of Bosnia and Herzegovina now encompassed two political entities. The Federa-
tion of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a primarily Bosniak and Croat area in the center
of the country bordered on two sides by the largely Serbian Republika Srpska.
Today, the region is peaceful but some ethnic tensions linger in the wake of the
most recent in a long legacy of military and political conflicts.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a mountainous country located in the western Balkans
bordering Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro. The country’s most distinctive geo-
graphic feature is the Dinaric Alps, which provide stunning landscapes and excel-
lent terrain for skiing. With only about 12 miles of coastline, the seaside town of
Neum is the country’s only port and a significant Adriatic tourist destination. The
southeastern part of the country near the coast has a Mediterranean climate while
the northern and central regions have typically Alpine temperatures and precipita-
tion. Approximately 39 percent of Bosnia is forested, only 14 percent of land is
arable, and approximately 5 percent is actually cultivated.
Since the climate and terrain lends itself to farming sheep, wool was always a
primary textile. Leather goods were also domestically produced and even exported.
The soil and temperatures were not conducive to growing cotton, but flax was eas-
ier to grow, and therefore linen was commonly used in the production of clothing.
People and Dress

Folk customs invariably differ across ethnic and religious lines. The term Bos-
nian refers to the members of a population that comprises Bosniaks, Croatians,
and Serbians, none of which is presently considered a minority or majority group
in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosniaks are of Muslim faith who
self-identify as ethnic Bosnians and are mostly descendants of Christian Slavs who
converted to Islam during the Ottoman era. The Croatians living in Bosnia and
Herzegovina are primarily Catholic and the Serbian population is Orthodox.
Especially in the countryside, clothing signaled ethnicity and socioeconomic
and marital status. However, it is difficult to categorize these distinctions broadly
Woman from Sarajevo wearing dimije, c. 1900. (Library of Congress)
as details and accessories varied from place to place. In cities trends were easier
to identify, although they did not always conform to religious conventions. For
example, before the days of Austro-Hungarian rule, certain features of women’s
dress consistent with Muslim traditions were commonplace in large cities. Most
women, regardless of religion, covered their heads and veiled their faces. This was
not prescribed by Ottoman authorities; rather, veiling was voluntarily adopted and
became a norm until the mid-19th century. In public, women and girls of marriage-
able age would cover their upper torso, head, and face with a large shawl called a
bosca. Most of these shawls were woven at home, however wealthier women wore
a finer imported cashmere equivalent called a lahurli-šal.
Dimije, the wide Turkish pants worn underneath a woman’s tunic, were an
obligatory part of Muslim women’s dress, particularly in the rural Dinaric region.
As in cities, some Christian women also adopted the style, thereby diluting religious
or cultural connotations. Ideally, dimije were made from wide swaths of fabric that
gathered in rich pleats below the knee and could almost be mistaken for a skirt.

Costume details varied across Bosnia as did the means of production. In rural
areas, textiles were often woven by women at home. In larger cities such as Mostar
and Sarajevo production occurred in workshops and a Turkish aesthetic was more
pronounced, especially in the clothing of wealthier classes who could afford opu-
lent detailing such as gold or silver embroidery. Colors varied regionally with
brighter colors used in villages while city folk wore more subtle tones.
Prior to the late 19th century, most traditional clothing was made of homespun
linen textiles. In rural areas women prepared flax by soaking the reeds in water
and beating them so that fibers could be removed and spun into yarn, woven, and
dyed. Vegetable-based dyes were used and colors were subtle by modern stan-
dards. Clothing was not tailored and the proper silhouette was achieved by gather-
ing and pleating. Outerwear such as vests, jackets, and coats were made primarily
of wool, though some leather and fur was also worn. These specialized items were
often purchased from local craftsmen. The introduction of industrially produced
cloth in the late 19th century led to the decline of domestic textile production and
is further discussed below.
History of Ethnic Dress

The rich traditions of Bosnian ethnic dress found in rural villages are diffi-
cult to summarize in broad generalizations. Therefore it is helpful to divide the
subject along cultural-geographic lines. The following paragraphs focus on the
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 85
Bosnian peasants dancing, c. 1900. (Library of Congress)
Dinaric region (western Bosnia and Herzegovina), central Bosnia, and Pannonia
(the Posavina region along the Sava River), noting the variation in dress between
ethnic groups.
An essential of women’s dress in the Dinaric region was a simple long-sleeved
linen tunic, which was often heavily embroidered and belted with a colorful
woolen or knitted sash. For holidays these sashes were accessorized with silver or
gilded clasps. In Herzegovina an okovanik, a necklace featuring a coin pendant,
might also be worn. Christian women also wore a woolen pregaca, an apron that
looks like a small rug. These varied in color, motif, and size according to locale.
In some parts of western Bosnia married women wore a large pregaca in front
and a smaller version in the back. A layered look was created by adding a zubun
or a cerma, both sleeveless outer garments made of wool. The cerma was basi-
cally a short vest while the zubun varied in length and was totally open in the
front. While of Turkish origin, these items also resembled the sleeveless sheep-
skin coat worn for generations by the inhabitants of the mountainous region of
western Bosnia. Serbian women were known to create particularly colorful zubun,
which they would decorate with cloth appliqués. In colder weather a long-sleeved
coat called a haljina was worn. Throughout much of the Dinaric region both men
and women also appeared in linen anterija, long-sleeved garments decorated with
white embroidery and beads that went over the tunic but under the zubun. Unmar-
ried girls appeared in naturally white woolen outer garments while married women
commonly wore black or dark blue.
Male attire in the Dinaric region featured a knee-length tunic with wide sleeves
much like that worn by women. A sleeveless woolen waistcoat such as the zubun
or a similar type of vest or coat covered the bodice of the tunic. The koporan was
a distinctive military-style short shirt with sleeves made of heavy-duty linen that
might also cover the tunic. Men typically wore a pair of linen pants underneath
an external pair of wider woolen pants. As an alternative, wealthier gentlemen
wore woolen breeches in black, white, or blue, which varied in style according to
locale. Woolen sashes in red or green were ubiquitous, although some men in west-
ern Herzegovina also wore a bensilah, a leather belt with pouches for necessities
including tobacco, coins, and a pocketknife. The degree to which these garments
were embroidered also varied from region to region
Dress in the central region of Bosnia was similar to that in the Dinaric region,
but with a more pronounced Ottoman influence. There was less variation among
Muslim women than among the Christian population. A wide tunic featuring puck-
ered vertical stripes made of a homespun blend of cotton, silk, and linen was essen-
tial and worn over wide ankle-length pants. Over the tunic, Christian women wore
a curdije, a black hip-length dress, decorated with embroidery or ribbons accord-
ing to local customs. The zubun, in either black or white, was also worn over this
combination with decoration that varied from one village to the next. As in the
Dinaric region, sashes of various colors were part of the ensemble. In Sarajevo
wealthy girls distinguished themselves by wearing metal belts with large buckles.
Headgear was diverse, but the fesic, a small fez-like hat, was commonly worn by
girls. In urban areas affluent girls would decorate the fesic with gold ducats. Mar-
ried women appeared in taller hats that were decorated with coins and usually
wrapped with a scarf.
Men’s costume in central Bosnia was also similar to that of the Dinaric region.
They wore tunics made of a blend of cotton, linen, and silk, and two pairs of pants,
the exterior pair being either black or white and made of homespun wool. A color-
ful sash and bensilah completed the ensemble. Outer garments included various
types of waistcoats, usually made of black wool. A tasseled fez was a common
element in men’s wardrobes regardless of their ethnicity.
Women from the Posavina region often wore tunics constructed from home-
spun cloth that were distinguished by pleating around the neck and waist. Pants
were not commonly worn, and Croatian and Serbian women rarely appeared in
dimije. Hems and sleeves were embroidered in motifs based on local plants and
vegetables and accented with beads and lace. Woolen outerwear consisted of the
pregaca, zubun, and winter haljina. Married women typically wore two pregaca,
one in front, one in back, and these aprons were often trimmed with long woolen
fringe. The zubun, in either black or white, was knee-length and remained unem-
broidered. In some areas short leather waistcoats were decorated with small mir-
rors and appliqué. As elsewhere, a long woolen sash was tied around a woman’s
waist. Headgear was based on the krpa, a length of cloth that Croatian and Serbian
girls and women wore over their heads in a multitude of ways. The look was acces-
sorized with flowers, necklaces made of multicolored beads, and pins.
Men of the Posavina region also wore knee-length tunics, often pleated at the
back of the waist. Pants were usually narrow and decorated with lace trim at the
hems. Men also wore an embroidered sleeveless woolen waistcoat, a sash, and
often a leather bensilah. The fez was popular with Croatian and Serbian men who
wrapped the hat with a red shawl while Bosnian Muslims preferred green.
Throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina opanke, a traditional type of leather
moccasin-like peasant shoe, was commonly worn by both men and women. Shoes
were designed to fit either foot so one would typically alternate shoes from foot to
foot to reduce damage on a given spot. The town of Visoko, a historic trading city
with a large leather and textile industry, was the primary source for saddles, bags,
and shoes for domestic use and export. According to some sources, up to a million
pairs of shoes per year were made in Visoko including many pairs of opanke. The
details of this shoe varied across the ethnic groups. For example, Orthodox Serbs
wore them with pointed tips, while Muslims wore rounded flat tips and Croatian
Catholics typically wore black opanke. Western-style shoes were introduced by the
Austrians and became commonplace in the 20th century. As a result, few craftsmen
still know how to make opanke. However, according to UNESCO, a renewed inter-
est in ethnic culture has led to a resurgence in the form of contemporary styles that
are inspired by this traditional shoe.
As political and economic conditions changed during the 19th century, so did
clothing styles. In her detailed article on the subject, Svetlana Bajić discusses the
changes in urban dress that occurred under Austro-Hungarian rule, which began
in 1878. Technological change coupled with improvements in transportation has-
tened the shift away from traditional clothing styles. Better roads and new rail
lines brought large quantities of industrially produced textiles to rural as well as
urban areas. The development of the sewing machine as well as the production of
machine-spun yarn, bright synthetic dyes, and mechanized (as opposed to hand-
blocked) printing were just a few of the advances that made fashionable European
clothing accessible and affordable. Heightened exposure led local craftspeople
to copy the latest styles and the population gladly followed new trends. For the
wealthy urban elite, updating one’s wardrobe with the latest styles became the
norm. Bajić mentions that in addition to tailors who worked in the Turkish style
with familiar heavyweight fabrics, new shops were opening to meet the demand
for lighter-weight clothing à la Franca, in the French manner. During the late 19th
and early 20th centuries both men and women combined traditional items with
newly introduced European accessories, signaling a departure from the styles of
ethnic dress that had been worn for generations. Among other changes, women
adopted the kat-haljina, an outfit featuring a European-style blouse with dimije
made of the same fabric. Men began to wear suits with jackets and matching trou-
sers, shirts with collars, ties, and derby-style hats.
The movement away from traditional clothing was also evident in rural areas,
although women’s dress, which carried more symbolism than men’s, tended to
change more slowly. Marital status, in particular, was signaled by the clothing and
accessories worn by women and girls. Men’s dress, on the other hand, did not have
the same connection to personal identity. Since men often traveled beyond their
immediate village for business, they were exposed to mainstream trends and, in some
instances, may have felt pressured to adopt European styles before women did.
By the mid-20th century, even remote areas were flooded with factory-made
textiles. Cotton, multicolored chintz, and glot, a plain black, shiny satin, began to
replace homespun fabric. Bajić indicates that, more than ever, Turkish styles per-
vaded rural Bosnia regardless of the ethnicity of the wearer. For example, dimije,
the aforementioned skirtlike Turkish style of trousers, became popular with Chris-
tians as well as Muslim women in the Dinaric region. As in urban areas, women
also began to embrace the coordinated look of the kat-haljina.
Between the wars, when Bosnia became part of the kingdom of Yugoslavia,
modern trends continued to impact dress, along with cross-cultural influences
from within Yugoslavia. For example, during the years following the First World
War, the carza, a dress from neighboring Dalmatia, originally made from wool
but later from glot, was adopted in the western region of Bosnia. In Herzegovina
it eventually evolved into a plain black or dark blue pleated skirt called a kotula.
At this time skirts were also being introduced in central Bosnia. White was worn
in summer and heavy black glot was common in winter. This change alone is not
dramatic, but it is part of a growing sartorial shift. As communication and transpor-
tation improved, even rural areas were influenced by modern trends that originated
as far away as France, England, and eventually even the United States.

Prior to the 20th century most peasants had only one or two changes of cloth-
ing with the finer, more elaborate items reserved for holidays, church services,
and weddings. Urban residents might have a slightly larger wardrobe, but only the
wealthiest individuals owned a wide selection of clothing.
For her wedding day, a bride usually wore her finest garments, which were
accessorized especially for the occasion. As with other aspects of Bosnian dress,
wedding traditions varied from place to place. In the Dinaric region brides typi-
cally wore elaborate headdresses, and Bajić mentions several variations includ-
ing the vindelj, a cap and scarf combination, and the tiara-like ovrljina, which
was decorated with silver jewelry and embroidered lengths of cloth. Transparent
veils, usually red, the color associated with fertility, covered the bride’s face and
head. In cities where Turkish dress was popular, a bride might wear a hip-length
velvet džube, an outer garment that was open in the front, decorated with gold
embroidery, and featured wide, luxurious sleeves. Men’s clothing for formal occa-
sions was often heavily decorated with silver filigree buttons and long cylindri-
cal beads. Swords or large knives also accessorized holiday dress. The entirety of
these details gave an indication of the wearer’s wealth.

Embroidery was an important element in Bosnian ethnic dress as it often sig-
naled an individual’s place of origin and religion. Patterns had symbolic significance
ranging from clan membership to spiritual beliefs, which were based in folklore
rather than conventional religion. Women’s clothing, in particular, was decorated
with geometric designs of archaic origin relating to fertility, childbearing, and men-
struation. Not surprisingly, red was the most common color for such motifs. While
it is difficult to specify the origins and meaning of ancient Eastern European folk-
loric designs, scholars have theorized that patterns representing birds, frogs, snakes,
and female figures may be traced back to pre-Christian fertility goddesses.
Needlework using thick woolen black or red thread to create rosettes and
spirals appears in traditional folk dress throughout the Balkans and Greece, and
often indicated a married woman’s social position. Though traditional patterns are
slowly being lost today, the needlework appears on such garments as the zubun in
Bosnia. The women of the Posavina region were particularly skilled embroider-
ers who produced their own silk thread from locally raised silkworms. Their best
work appeared on a type of hat called the poculica and the scarf that was wrapped
around it.

Urban women and girls wore jewelry varying widely in quality and materials.
Silver and gold were ideal, with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, which were occa-
sionally used for embellishment, while less expensive turquoise, coral, and amber
were more common. Glass beads and faux gems were also used to create more
affordable pieces. Earrings, bracelets, rings, and brooches were common, along
with jeweled clasps used to fasten sashes and belts.
Rural women also tended to accessorize their dress with silver, most often
in the form of coins or charms that were sewn directly on to garments. Usually a
bodice or hat, rather than the pregaca, would be adorned with coins. Silver jewelry
included bracelets, earrings, and rings as well as the okovanik or derdani, a series
of coins that are sewn to a strip of fabric and worn as a necklace. Women also wore
a variety of headpieces including hats that were decorated with pins or coins or
covered with scarves.
Folk costume often extends beyond clothing and jewelry. In certain Catholic
communities girls were tattooed, usually on their hands and arms, but sometimes
on their chests and foreheads with geometric patterns that included crosses. In the
Balkans, the tradition of tattooing is extensive, dating back to pre-Christian times.
However, in Bosnia its practice was limited to the Catholic population. According
to an account by Croatian historian Ciro Truhelka (1865–1942), during the years of
Ottoman rule, young Catholic girls were tattooed with Christian symbols in order
to prevent their forced conversion to Islam. Certain holidays such as the Feast of
the Annunciation (March 23), Palm Sunday, and St. Stephen’s Day were especially
auspicious for tattooing. This tradition continued beyond the Ottoman era and well
into the 20th century, and such tattoos are still seen on older women. The practice
was frowned upon by the communist regime of the former Yugoslavia and gradu-
ally fell out of favor until recently. The current global fascination with tattoos in
Western culture, coupled with the previously mentioned interest in ethnic culture
has led to the reappearance of traditional tattoos, particularly among young people.

In recent decades, ethnic dress traditions have been maintained primarily by
folklore groups, usually amateur organizations, which also perform traditional
music and dance. Particularly in the United States, the Bosnian diaspora founded
and maintains a number of performing folk troupes. Dancers, musicians, and sing-
ers often wear clothing that was passed down from one generation to the next, and
when such items are not available, new garments are made to resemble traditional
clothing as much as possible.
Since the war, nonprofit organizations have been founded in Bosnia to revive
traditional handicrafts including weaving and embroidery. These groups serve a
dual function. Satisfying a renewed interest in ethnic culture, they also provide
employment to women, many of whom were still suffering from the psychological
trauma of war. According to UNESCO, Duga (Rainbow) founded in Banja Luka
Bosnian folk group at the International Festival of Hazelnuts in Sicily, Italy, 2012.
(Gandolfo Cannatella/Dreamstime.com)
and Zene za Zene (Women for Women) in Sarajevo have created a supportive envi-
ronment for women to learn traditional crafts and, among other things, re-create
traditional costumes. One of the biggest technical challenges was matching the
muted colors found in authentic 19th-century vintage costumes. By the Second
World War plant-based dyes were replaced by aniline colors that produce much
brighter hues. As a solution, Duga began to hand dye their own yarn and actually
built looms to weave textiles in an authentic manner.
Beyond maintaining tradition, both Duga and Zene za Zene want to help
women become financially independent. To that end, Duga invited fashion design-
ers to integrate traditional motifs into clothing and accessories that could be mar-
keted to an international audience. While this is yet to be achieved on a large scale,
Duga has created a collection of folk-inspired clothing and “ethno-souvenirs” that
have received international recognition by UNESCO. Zene za Zene has focused
on helping women start their own small businesses, often based on traditional arts
and crafts.
References and Further Reading

Bajić, Svetlana. “Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ethnic Dress.” Berg Encyclopedia of
World Dress and Fashion, Vol. 9. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Bajić, Svetlana. “Bosnia and Herzegovina: Urban Dress.” Berg Encyclopedia of
World Dress and Fashion, Vol. 9. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Bartlett, Djurdja. Fashioneast: The Spectre That Haunted Socialism. Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press, 2010.
Durham, M. High Albania. London: Edward Arnold, 1909.
Heyl, Norbert, and Cristina Gregorin. Traditional Arts and Crafts in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Venice: UNESCO, 2005.
Kennett, Francis. Ethnic Dress: A Comprehensive Guide to the Folk Costume of the
World. New York: Facts On File, 1995.
Munro, Robert. Rambles and Studies in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia, 2nd
ed. London: Blackwood and Sons, 1900.
Samsonova, Evgenia. “Tattooing of Croatian Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina.”
http://folklored.blogspot.com/2012/04/tattooing-of-croatian-women-in-bosnia
.html.
Welters, Linda. Folk Dress in Europe and Anatolia: Beliefs about Protection and
Fertility. Oxford: Berg, 1999.
Brazil
Aleasha McCallion

The fifth largest country in the world and approximately half of the South Amer-
ican continent, Brazil is diverse in landscape, people, and dress. The coastline of
4,600 miles of tropical beaches includes the famous Copacabana in the heart of
Rio de Janeiro as well as the secluded surf beaches in Bahia. The current popula-
tion of Brazil is estimated at 205,716,890, making it the fifth largest country in
the world, both in population and in geographic size. The interior of Brazil ranges
from the northern Amazon rain forest to rolling hills of vast forests, palm trees,
and plantations, and plateau plains in the southeastern state of Rio Grande do
Sul. The national language is Portuguese due to colonial roots, but the people of
Brazil have a heritage from indigenous, European, and African descent, as well
as the largest population of Japanese, Italian, and Arabic immigrant commun-
ities in the world. The national dress of Brazil has to be discovered by looking
into the history and diversity of the country. Indigenous dress, whether in the
Amazonian jungle, the coastal forest, or the central plateaus is dominated by
feather headdresses, body art, and ornamentation with limited garments, while
the African and European multigarment dress ranges from Afro-Brazilian adap-
tation of European garments to the pure integration of the traditional African
headdress.
Modern-day Brazil was shaped through colonization by Portugal, a southern
European nation bordering the Atlantic, which in the 15th century had a population
of 2 million and an aggressive exploration effort. Portugal set up trade networks
with strongholds on the west coast of Africa, and expeditions traveled the world
for resources, trade goods, and the ocean passage to India, which they secured in
1498. Pedro Alvares Cabral, in 1500, was heading west on currents that round the
southern tip of Africa toward India and his ship came upon land. The indigenous
people of coastal Brazil thrived in the forested areas rich with small game, fish,
and plant foods. The estimated population, inclusive of all the different indigenous
tribes at the time of European contact, was approximately 7 million. At the initial
93
point of contact, articles of dress were exchanged such as cloth caps for feathered
headdresses and bead strands for rosaries (Sommer, 2008, 203).
The extensive forests kept settlers concentrated in the coastal regions except
in the northern territories where the Amazon River offered access for ships. Ships
became important vessels for transferring the riches of the colonies to Europe
(Fausto, 1999). The largest export initially was an efficiently burning wood known
as Brazil wood, and thus the area was soon referred to as Brazil; later sugarcane,
gold, tobacco, and coffee were the predominant exports.
Portuguese settlers, noble and common, including those wanted out of the coun-
try were encouraged to establish and work plantations. Men arrived single or without
their wives and children and stayed for many years; often their families never joined
them. Indigenous peoples were captured and forced into labor on plantations but suc-
cumbed to disease easily, and the mortality rate made them an inefficient source of the
manual labor required for sugar production. African slaves were brought to Brazil to
replace the local slave labor and eventually became the main source of labor. An esti-
mated 4–5 million people were brought between 1550 and 1850, the largest and long-
est lasting importation of African people to the Americas. The European consumption
of the highly labor-intensive sugar sustained the economic structure of slave labor,
and the lack of consistent family structure in the new colonial society coincided with
an unparalleled level of brutality, repression, and abuse for three centuries.
In the year 1889, slavery was abolished and Brazil became a new republic with
a range of territories and peoples of mixed ethnicity, social status, and economic
well-being. The class structure formed from a culture of slavery would not adjust
as quickly as the country’s new political state. Race relations in postslavery Brazil
were very poor as black people attempted to be free peoples and many whites felt
threatened by this (Pinho, 2010).
People and Dress

Brazilian ethnic dress is as diverse as the range of peoples that were forced through
the colonial model; there are streams of dress that are distinctly influenced by
dominant populations in different areas. As in many cultures, dress was the visual
clue to categorizing people by gender, class, slave or free, or religious affiliation
(Sommer, 2008).
Indigenous Dress
A Portuguese explorer described the indigenous appearance as naked except
for the body paint of blue/black and the jewelry and headwear of feathers over a
shaved head, and eyes with plucked eyelashes and no eyebrows.
Brazil | 95
The dress of the Yanomami people of the Roraima state of northern Brazil still
exemplifies that of the indigenous tribes of precolonial Brazil with minimal use of
cloth in dress and more ornamentation: fluffy buzzard down placed on the head over
a paste made of plant matter; wood, bone, or stone plugs and piercings through the
earlobes, cheeks, at the sides of the mouth, or below the lower lip. Piercings through
the middle of the nose are optionally adorned with bright feathers or plant matter for
men, women, and children. Armbands, beaded necklaces, and cuffs accent the body
art that is red, black, or blue and geometrically painted on the body.
Initially, acquiring and wearing Portuguese articles of dress and weapons
became popular among the indigenous. The Portuguese saw it as loyal and greatly
encouraged it for both political and religious reasons. The Amazon was partic-
ularly targeted to counter the Spanish Jesuits spreading control southward. The
covering up of the human body, and especially the female body, was an integral
mission for the European religious representatives over the centuries that they con-
trolled Brazil.
Portuguese-Brazilian Dress
The fashion in Portugal was influenced heavily by the European dominant
French and Spanish styles. Jean-Baptiste Debret (1768–1848), a French painter,
created scenes based on his travels in Brazil from 1816 to 1831 and captured the
daily life, social structure, racial diversity, and range of dress in Brazilian society.
The paintings Interior de uma casa de cignanos and Un employe du government
sortant de chez lui avec sa famille demonstrate the diverse economic and class
structure that dress and undress illustrated as well as the transition of European
costume in the new colony.
Women’s dress between 1600 and 1800 when baroque and rococo were the
prominent styles featured over-the-top, playful, soft curves and generous trim-
mings. Attire for women included short- or long-sleeve top dresses with lace trim
details up to the neck and down to the ankles with dainty slipper-style shoes and
white stockings visible at the hem. Spanish-influenced capes of black and white
and black lace flounces were worn over the dresses. Skirts were short enough to
show off the feet and had no panniers.
Portuguese men dressed in a jacket when out in public, a waistcoat over long
generous sleeve shirts with the rococo/baroque influence of ruffle collars, breeches
to the knee, and stockings. Styles varied with colonial or court influences of for-
mality depending on rank in society. Debret’s Family Dining, showing a private
setting, demonstrates the contrast between master and servant dress as well as chil-
dren’s attire in the household. Slaves do not have shoes on, a key article of dress
that separated the free and the not free in society.
Interior de uma casa de cignanos (1835) by Jean-Baptiste Debret. (Biblioteca Nacional, Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil / De Agostini Picture Library / A. Dagli Orti / The Bridgeman Art Library)
The slaves working within merchant, metropolitan households as servants

were clothed in European garments that reflected the general wealth of the house-
hold, whereas field and laboring slaves were dressed in simple cloth and often the
most basic covering. Children’s clothing reflected the class structure, and they are
seen in various situations of ornate adultlike dress or scarcely covered with castoffs
and no shoes, depending on their status.
Afro-Brazilian Dress
Among the culture of slavery, African traditions that remain, however eroded,
do so in tribal ceremony and dance. The capoiera and bahiana dress are two
examples of Afro-Brazilian culture that now represent the nation on a world scale.
In the 1930s Carmen Miranda, a Portuguese-born but Brazilian-raised performer,
became an American film star and singer wearing a turban bursting with fruit and
brightly colored, off the shoulder tops and dresses; a costume that was based on the
bahiana costume of the Afro-Brazilian women who dance the samba and enchant
other people to dance.
Brazil | 97
Capoeira is an African dance-based martial art that flourished due to allowing

dance and celebration among the plantation slave communities, coupled with the
repression of male warring practice. In the 19th century, the government associ-
ated capoeira practice with criminal gangs in Rio de Janeiro, and it was risky to be
involved, but deadly to be caught by the authorities (Kraay, 1998). The costume,
geared for men, is a wide, straight-leg white pant, with a belt or sash, and possibly
a headband or necklace depending on the style or purpose. Through its evolu-
tion, capoeira is recognized as folklore, traditional dance, martial art, gymnastics,
a national sport, as well as a social movement.
The bahiana ladies of Salvador’s famous Pelourinho area are seen as protectors
or advisors and garner great respect in the community. They sell wares, promote
restaurants, and assist visitors while sauntering through the rolling cobblestone
streets. The bahiana style is an intriguing combination of European and African
dress elements into a truly Brazilian look. The dress has a wide, hooped cotton
skirt, which sways with the hips when the women move and dance; the top is a
fitted bodice with no sleeves, optionally accompanied by a sash belt, or a generous
long-sleeve tunic style that drapes over the waist to meet the skirt midway down
the lower body. Generally, African slave women did not wear tops, only simple
skirts and slings for their nursing babies; however, traditional African costume was
lost to European religious influence. The fabrics are predominantly white cotton
lace, cut-out lace, or embroidered white fabric with bright colors layered under-
neath to show through the lace cut-out and correspond with the sashes or head-
wrap. The women also wear several bangles, armbands, and beaded necklaces,
which are especially visible during carnival, a community street dance party with
roots in Afro-Brazilian traditional dance and celebration.
The headdress is often a headwrap that resembles a turban or kerchief and can
be plain or extremely ornate with bright woven fabric and beading. The headwrap
is one of the longest wearing items of foreign dress worn in the Americas while
other styles of headgear have been lost. Women’s headwraps are cylindrical in
shape and can be decorated on the face front with designs and beads. Addition-
ally, fine brightly colored beaded strands hang down in front of the face, several
straight to the cheek line or draped down in loops over the face and back up to
the headwrap. The beaded strings react to each beat, sway, and movement during
the dance.
Debret’s painting A Canto of Porters Transporting a Hogshead (1820) exhibits
the diversity of headdresses worn by men: a straw hat, feather-topped bowler hat,
top hat, cowboy hat, feather headdress, as well as tribal interpretations of European
garments among laboring male slaves (Kraay, 1998). Different tribes or ethnic
groups within the African slave population contributed to the further range of Afro-
Brazilian cultures.
A Canto of Porters Transporting a Hogshead (1834), engraving by Jean Baptiste Debret.

(Biblioteca Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Gianni Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art
Resource, NY)
Gaucho Dress
Gaucho refers to a cowhand of the southern interior plateau, especially in the
state of Rio Grande Do Sul. It also refers to a specific garment, the wide-leg horse-
riding pant worn by the cowhands. Bombachas is another name for the gaucho
pant that is part of the pilchas or outfit of the Brazilian cowboy, which was heavily
influenced by the state territory initially being occupied by the Spanish rather than
the Portuguese. A large wide hat, a white long-sleeve shirt, bandana and poncho,
gauchos, and some boots make up the basic pilchas. Also included in the outfit are
the unique chiripa, which is a simple strip of fabric that is attached at the waist
in the front, goes between the legs, and is then attached at the back with a leather
belt. The guaiaca, a wide belt, was used to carry small items like money and weap-
ons. The culture of hard-working lower-level cowhands has sustained itself through
colonial times and still survives in the large cattle ranch areas of the southwestern
areas of Brazil.
In Brazil, a pattern exists of historically repressed or criminally associated
dress and customs becoming the country’s celebrated and proud costumes. The
indigenous range of dress and undress, the gauchos, Afro-Brazilian bahiana,
Brazil | 99
capoeira, and even carnival, which became popular in the favales or slums of Rio
de Janeiro, are now government-sponsored tourist attractions. Although they are a
diverse people with severe economic and social differences, Brazilians share in the
culture and support the identity of their unique nation.

Boucher, Francois. 20,000 Years of Fashion: The History of Costume and Personal
Adornment. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1987.
Bradley Griebel, Helen. “The West African Origin of the African-American Head-
wrap.” In Joanne B. Eicher, ed. Dress and Ethnicity: Change Across Space and
Time. Oxford and Washington, D.C.: Berg, 1995, pp. 207–226.
Brazil—An Inconvenient History. [Video.] Available at http://topdocumentary
films.com/brazil-inconvenient-history. 2008.
Fausto, Boris. A Concise History of Brazil. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1999.
Hutchinson, Harry. Village and Plantation Life in Northeastern Brazil. Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 1957.
Kraay, Hendrik, ed. Afro-Brazilian Culture and Politics: Bahia, 1790s to 1990s.
Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1998.
Levine, Robert M. The History of Brazil. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.
MacLauchlan, Colin M. A History of Modern Brazil: The Past against the Future.
Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2003.
McCann, Bryan. “Geraldo Pereira: Samba Composer and Grifter.” In Peter M.
Beattie, ed. The Human Tradition in Modern Brazil. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly
Resources, 2004, pp. 127–146.
Oliven, Ruben. Tradition Matters: Modern Gaucho Identity in Brazil. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1996.
Pinho, Patricia de Santana. Mama Africa: Reinventing Blackness in Bahia. Dur-
ham and London: Duke University Press, 2010.
Sommer, Barbara. “Wigs, Weapons, Tattoos and Shoes: Getting Dressed in Colo-
nial Amazonia and Brazil.” In Mina Roces and Louise Edwards, eds. The Poli-
tics of Dress in Asia and the Americas. Portland, OR: Sussex Academic Press,
2008, pp. 200–214.
Tierney, Patrick. Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientists and Journalists Devas-
tated the Amazon. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000.
Bulgaria
Carolyn Scholz
T hroughout a long and turbulent history, Bulgarian folk costume has persisted
as a recognizable element of the country’s culture with strong links to the past.
In the midst of numerous foreign influences, the Bulgarians developed an ethnic
costume that is recognizable among those of Europe. Though now seen mostly on
special occasions, the design, construction, and decoration of this folk dress reveal
much about different aspects of Bulgarian culture.

The modern nation of Bulgaria is located in Eastern Europe in the Balkan Peninsula.
With a population of 7.6 million, this country of 68,972 square miles (111,000 km2)
is a nation of diversity. Geographically, although 70 percent of the country is moun-
tainous, the Thracian plain and Danubian tableland are located inland. The country
is bordered on the east by the Black Sea, on the west by the Balkan mountain range,
on the north by the Danube River, and on the south by Greece and the Rhodope
Mountains. Bulgaria’s political borders have shifted significantly throughout its his-
tory. It is currently surrounded by Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, and Tur-
key. Historically, Bulgaria has been ethnically diverse, with different groups such
as the Greeks, Serbs, and Ottomans (Turkish) comprising parts of the population.
Conflict has been prominent throughout Bulgaria’s history. Multiple influences
have shaped its culture, including those of the Greco-Roman and Turkish cultures,
the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, and the Roman Catholic Church. Although
there is archaeological evidence of people living there that dates back over 1 mil-
lion years, the official Bulgarian state dates back to 681 CE, the beginning of the
First Bulgarian Empire (681–1018). Prior to 681, the region had been subject to a
number of different rulers, including the Roman Empire, the Turks, and the Otto-
man Empire. The first Bulgarian state was established in the seventh century CE
when nomadic Bulgar tribes settled in the area.
The Bulgars were the first ethnic group to establish an official cohesive state
in the Balkans, defeating the forces of the Byzantine Empire, which had controlled
100
Bulgaria | 101
the area. The new nation’s borders expanded greatly during this time. The con-
version of the pagan state to a common Christian faith and the development of
a common Cyrillic alphabet increased the cohesion and sense of identity for the
Bulgarian people. From 1018 to 1185, the Byzantine Empire again controlled the
area, but did not integrate the Bulgarian Empire into its own.
The Second Bulgarian Empire lasted from 1185, when Czar Peter IV over-
threw the Byzantines, until 1396. During this time a unique Bulgarian culture con-
tinued to develop, with the newly established Bulgarian Orthodox Church being a
main proponent of this culture. The population during both of these empires was
primarily agrarian, with few large urban centers. By the end of the 12th century,
an overly taxed peasant population, conflicting Bulgarian nobility, and debt due to
constant funding of military conflicts had weakened the empire, which facilitated
the Ottoman conquest of Bulgaria.
The Ottoman rule lasted from 1393 until 1877. One marked impact of the
Ottoman rule was its fracturing of Bulgarian cultural unity. Both voluntary and
state-mandated conversions to the Muslim faith and an influx of Muslim colonists
weakened the unifying force of the Christian church, and with it the cultural his-
tory contained in its churches, monasteries, and religious art. The structure of the
Bulgarian monarchy and nobility was also dissolved, with the new political and
spiritual leader, or sultan, owning all land, which could be rented and worked by
the peasant population. Cultural touchstones like language, costume, and religious
customs did persevere in remote villages, which were removed from the foreign
influences prominent in larger urban centers. It was in these villages that unique
decorative aspects of design were developed with little influence from urban cen-
ters or indeed from other villages.
By the end of the 18th century, the might of the Ottoman Empire started to
decline. Its borders had not significantly expanded since the late 17th century.
Economic trade was reestablished with other European nations, and cultural ideas
began to be exchanged as well. As Bulgaria consistently lost its conflicts, the
power of the central government began to destabilize. The peasant population was
discontent with the irregularities of land acquisition and began to emigrate in large
numbers. Free from the Ottoman influence, emigrants strengthened their Bulgarian
identity in other countries. Monasteries started to produce works in the Bulgarian
language, which recalled the history and accomplishments of the Bulgarian peo-
ple, and encouraged the populace not to be culturally submissive under the Turks.
The cumulative effect of social changes in Bulgaria was the National Renais-
sance, also called the National Revival, which began in 1877 after the Russo-
Turkish war, whereupon geographic borders were imposed upon the country,
making it an autonomous state. The Revival reignited an interest in Bulgarian folk
culture, including folk costume. As Bulgarians began to revolt against Turkish rule,
traditional ethnic costume became a means through which they could establish
themselves as Bulgarians, rather than Bulgar-Turks. Traditional folk arts such as
embroidery, weaving, and jewelry-making became highly esteemed as a means
of expressing this cultural identity, and these trades began to flourish in the cities,
which were increasingly industrialized, and not just in more remote locales.
The 20th century in Bulgaria was characterized by conflict, militarization,
and political upheaval. Victorious against Serbia in 1908 and against the Ottoman
Empire during the First Balkan War (1912–1913), Bulgaria was weakened by its
loss of the Second Balkan War against Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, and the Otto-
mans. These conflicts had a disastrous effect on Bulgaria’s economy, an effect that
was compounded by Bulgaria’s alliance with the Central Powers (Germany, the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire) during World War I. Initially
allied with the Axis Powers in World War II, Bulgaria joined the Allies in 1943. The
communist uprising of 1944 abolished Bulgaria’s monarchy (under the rule of Czar
Boris III) and established the People’s Republic of Bulgaria as a communist country
in 1944. Against this tumultuous backdrop, folk costume not only survived but was
promoted as a way of reinforcing cultural identity and resisting Western influence.
Communist rule prevailed until 1989, whereupon the communist regime was
dismissed and the parliamentary democracy that exists today was established. The
effect of the democracy has had different effects on the Bulgarian economy, qual-
ity of life, and standard of living. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries there
has been a gradual disappearance of the traditional peasant agrarian culture and a
dilution of the cultural diversity that had characterized the country for over 1,000
years. With regard to dress, certain aspects of Western fashion have been widely
adopted. But although traditional folk costume is worn mostly to festivals and on
special occasions, it is still evident and preserved.
The overall diversity of Bulgarian culture with regard to its geography, ethnic
groups, and political regimes has helped to shape a folk costume that, while it can
be categorized by generalities, has an abundant variety of decorative techniques,
design details, and use of color and accessories. What might be called “Bulgarian”
dress reflects the influences of the many cultures that coexisted in the region.
People and Dress
Bulgarian Folk Costume

Prior to the late 19th century, traditional folk costume was virtually the
only type of dress worn by the Bulgarian peasant and lower classes. Garments
were hand-made with materials that were available locally. Garment styles had
changed very slowly through the country’s history and were generally resistant
Bulgaria | 103
to the influence of European fashion,

especially in geographically remote
regions. During the 20th century, the
development, production, and wearing
of folk costume began to decline, due
in large part to the influence of Western
culture. Today, folk costume is worn
primarily on festive or national holi-
days as a way to celebrate ethnicity.

Before the implementation of
modern technology in Bulgaria, folk
costume was almost exclusively hand-
made and of simple construction, due
to time and financial constraints. Gar-
ments were designed to be durable
and withstand the manual labor of the
peasant classes. Clothing-related tasks Numerous costume components typical of
were usually completed by women, Bulgarian women’s costume can be noted in
who were responsible for flax pro- this photograph: the chemise with lace cuffs,
duction and sheep shearing to obtain woven aprons, circular silver belt buckles,
and headscarves with coin decoration, c.
fibers, spinning yarn, and the weaving,
1930. (Wilhelm Tobien/National Geographic
dyeing, and decorating of fabric. Society/Corbis)
Fabrics were homespun and could
include linen, hemp, and wool. White linen was widely used in particular. The use
of color in fabrics varied throughout Bulgaria, though several colors like black,
dark blue, gray, and especially red were prominent in garments and their decorative
elements. Materials used for dyeing thread and fabrics included marjoram, berries,
indigo, St. John’s wort, walnut meat, plums, and soot. Wool was used for outer
garments and socks, while linen was used for shirts and chemises. Cotton became
more widely used upon its import starting in the 18th century, as were imported
silk and other luxury fabrics by the upper classes. Silk tended to be used for deco-
rative aspects of dress.
Decorative Techniques
Bulgarian folk dress was extensively decorated for purposes of adornment and
to display wealth. Though designed to be practical, even everyday garments could
have intricate decorative detail. Embroidery was a popular form of decoration, with
certain designs often being unique to a particular village or geographic region. Silk
or cotton thread was applied to the hems, cuffs, and borders of garments, and red,
black, and white were the principal colors. Embroidered motifs were generally
geometric, nonrepresentational shapes, although some designs of stylized animals,
people, or plants were used, and this could vary greatly according to region. Weav-
ing was also used for structural designs in fabric, the best examples of which are
the wide woven belts worn by both sexes. Belts could be of a simple striped design,
although geometric designs were sometimes seen.
Women’s Dress
Bulgarian women’s costume can be categorized according to the style of the
outer garments. There are three main types: first the apron costume, marked by the
presence of one or two aprons; the soukman costume, distinguished by a tunic-like
garment; and the saya costume, marked by a coatlike overdress. All of these gar-
ments were worn with the basic chemise.
Chemise
The chemise could also be described as a shift, smock, or gown, rather than
simply a shirt as the name implies. Typically, the chemise was made of homespun
white linen, although imported cotton could be used starting in the 18th century.
Chemises were long, resembling a nightgown, and could be of knee to mid-calf
length. There were some design variations; sleeves were long and could be gath-
ered at the wrist or bell-shaped. The neckline could be gathered with a yoke, or
there could simply be a slit at the neck to allow the wearer to put it on. Although
most of the chemise was covered by overgarments, visible areas like the cuffs and
neckline were extensively decorated with embroidery of homespun thread. Colors
and designs varied according to region.
One- and Two-Apron Costumes

The apron costume was the oldest and most widely adopted of Bulgarian
women’s folk costume. The one-apron costume consisted of a chemise worn with
one apron tied at the waist at the front, while the two-apron costume had an addi-
tional apron tied at the back. Aprons were woven and tended to be narrow in width,
and were constructed of a single rectangular width of cloth, or two narrower widths
joined by a vertical seam, and tied with simple narrow straps. Aprons often had
patterns of broad horizontal stripes in colors like red, blue, or yellow, although
stylized and geometric motifs are visible in certain areas. Regional variations also
included a back apron with a fuller cut and pleats, and longer, wider woven ties that
were decorative as well as functional.
Bulgaria | 105
These Bulgarian folk dancers’ costumes illustrate the variation in color and design detail
that could be shown in the chemise, aprons, head decoration, and jewellery. The dancer
at the left foreground wears a soukman with a typical palmette-design belt buckle. Note
the male dancers on left in a variation of black dress (chernodreshnik) with dark trousers,
wide woven sashes, and sleeveless vests. (Boykov/Dreamstime.com)
Soukman
Worn over the chemise, the soukman was a sleeveless overdress made of
darker wool for winter wear and lighter colored linen or cotton for summer wear.
The cut of the soukman’s skirt was fuller than that of the chemise and was slightly
flared. Skirt lengths can vary from knee to ankle length. The bodice typically has
a lower scoop U- or V-shaped neckline, above which the decorated chemise is vis-
ible. The soukman itself can be decorated in a variety of ways, including braid or
embroidery, particularly along the neckline, seams, and hemline.
Saya
The saya is an open coatlike gown, again worn over the chemise and aprons.
Its design details can vary with regard to sleeve length, color, and fabric designs,
but generally it would have been made of white or light-colored linen or cotton.
The saya was open down the front with no closures and could reach knee length.
It could be heavily decorated at the neckline, hem, and wrist, generally with
embroidery.
Headwear
Bulgarian women’s headdresses could denote social status in addition to being
functional or decorative. Unmarried women traditionally wore no head cover-
ings, but rather had their hair braided into elaborate styles. Married women typi-
cally covered their heads with a headscarf called a shamiya, which was tied at the
back of the head. Longer scarves were also worn wrapped around the entire head.
Headscarves could vary in shape (square, triangular, or rectangular) and color, and
could have embroidered or crocheted borders. Thin white cotton headscarves were
most typical, although black scarves denoted widowhood.
Elaborate headdresses were worn to mark ceremonial occasions like weddings
and religious festivals. Wedding headdresses could be of substantial size and be
heavily decorated with coins, jewelry, feathers, wreaths of flowers, and small tree
branches. Headdresses could include a longer colored headscarf worn down the
back or over the face, which was embroidered with fringed edges.
Men’s Dress
Bulgarian men’s folk costume consists of a tailored jacket, trousers, a loose-
fitting shirt, and a woven belt. It can be further categorized into two styles: white
dress (belodreshnik) or black dress (chernodreshnik).
White Dress
White dress is the older of the two types of dress. The shirt, trousers, and outer
garments were all made of white linen or cotton fabric. Shirts had long sleeves and
could reach knee or calf length, and were worn over the trousers. Trousers could be
either narrowly cut and tightly fitted in the lower legs, or of a simple wide, straight
cut. A variety of outer garments could be worn, such as knee-length or waist-length
sleeveless, flared waistcoats (vests); short-sleeved or long-sleeved jackets; or long-
sleeved, full-length overcoats. As with women’s dress, visible parts of garments
like the collar or cuffs were decorated with embroidery in geometric motifs or with
braid. Belts or waistbands could be up to 8 inches (20 cm) wide, were most com-
monly made of red woven fabric, and were wound around the waist several times.
Bulgaria | 107
Black Dress
Black dress rose in popularity dur-
ing the National Revival. It is distin-
guished by the influence of Ottoman
culture, rather than by more rural folk
elements, and was more commonly
worn by the upper classes in urban
areas. The rural and peasant classes
started to adopt black dress during the
19th century in an effort to emulate
their urban countrymen. Distinguish-
ing black dress garments were made of
dark brown, dark blue, or black fabric
(often wool), which was produced by
factories in urban centers. Shirts worn
with black dress were similar to those
worn with white dress but could be
shorter in length and of a narrower cut,
so they could be tucked into trousers at
the waist. The trousers, called potouri,
were loosely fitted at the waist and
secured tightly with a woven belt, but
fitted tightly below the knee. Trousers
could also be widely cut and baggy, and
both types could be decorated along the
seams and pockets with braid.
Outer garments were typically of
the same fabric and color as the trou-
sers and could include waistcoats of
varying lengths (gyusslyuk), or short Bulgarian from Sofia, c. 1873. An example
of men’s white dress (belodreshnik) show-
waist-length bolero-type jackets called
ing main costume elements of bolero-type
anteria. Embroidery or braid could be jacket (anteria), trousers tightly fitted at the
applied to the cuffs, hem, and seams bottom, and wide waistband. (Library of
of the garments. Sleeveless vests were Congress)
also evident, allowing elaborate sleeve
decoration to be visible.
Headwear
Throughout Bulgaria men most commonly wore hats (called kalpak) made
from black or white sheepskin or fur. These could be cone-shaped, cylindrical, or
square with a flat top. During festive occasions, men could wear red woven skull-
caps decorated with embroidery or flowers.
Men’s and Women’s Outerwear

Both men’s and women’s outer garments tended to be made of felted wool
and had embroidered decoration. With white dress, men could wear long or waist-
length sleeveless flared waistcoats (vests) or long-sleeved waist- or hip-length
jackets. The latter of these was similar in design to outer garments worn by women
with the apron, soukman, or saya costumes. Factory-produced black hooded cloaks
became popular with white dress during the late 18th century. With black dress,
men wore long- or short-sleeved coats or sleeveless vests made of dark woolen
fabric, which were generally factory-made. These were decorated with woolen
braid, embroidery, or appliqués.
Shoes, Stockings and Legwear

Generally, shoes and legwear were similar for men and women. An early form
of footwear was leather sandals called tsarvouli, which consisted of a single piece
of pointed leather covering the foot, which was secured with leather cords wrapped
around the calf. Tsarvouli could be worn over a woolen foot wrap called navoi,
which was a single piece of rectangular fabric wrapped around the feet and calves,
fastened with its own leather cords. Navoi were eventually replaced by brightly col-
ored knee-high woolen socks with intricate patterns of geometric or floral shapes.
As Bulgaria became more urbanized and industrialized during the 19th cen-
tury, these forms of foot- and legwear were replaced by factory-made leather shoes
for men and women. Popular colors were black, brown and red. They were worn
over knitted socks or stockings, which could also be factory made.
Jewelry
Jewelry manufacturing has been prominent throughout Bulgaria’s history. Arche-
ological evidence of jewelry can be traced back to the fifth century CE, using the same
materials that were used until modern times: gold, silver, and copper. The metalwork-
ing techniques used to make jewelry have also persisted over time. These include
filigree, which uses gold and silver threads to form intricate designs; casting, where
liquid metal is poured into a mold to create an artifact; and using an anvil and hammer
to create jewelry, similar to the technique used to make wrought iron artifacts.
The decorative motifs in jewelry are similar to those that appear in folk cos-
tume. Prior to the fifth century CE, people of the Thracian plains used realistic
Bulgaria | 109
images of animals in designs worked in gold. After this, due to an increasing expo-
sure to foreign cultures, the Slavs began to incorporate stylized nature and geo-
metric motifs in their jewelry. They also used new materials such as decorative
stones, shells, and painted enamel. The social upheaval of the Ottoman conquest
limited jewelry production in Bulgaria. During the onset of the National Revival
in the early 18th century, this increased again as the populace had new economic
strength, and also in an effort to revive the Bulgarian culture.
Bulgarians used jewelry to denote their age and marital or social status. A
bride’s dowry could include items of jewelry not worn for everyday wear, but only
on special occasions such as weddings, baptisms, or religious holidays. There are
numerous types of jewelry artifacts, mostly worn by women. These include hair-
pins, which secured headscarves to hair; hinged chain bracelets and bangle brace-
lets; and diadems, which were similar to crowns and consisted of hinged metal
pieces that formed a circle to be worn atop the head. These could be decorated
with stones, enamel, or attached items like flowers or feathers. Coins joined by
links were often fashioned into a scarflike head covering called kosichnitsi, which
was worn by unmarried women. Multiple strings of coins or beads were also used
as necklaces.
Two of the larger and more prominent items of Bulgarian jewelry were ear
covers and belt buckles. Women wore ear coverings, which did not in fact cover
the ear but were attached to the hair above the ears. These were two circular
plates, often made of hammered or engraved silver, which could be joined by long
strings of coins or beads that hung under the chin. Belt buckles were worn by both
men and women. They were quite often purely decorative and did not actually
secure any garment. These were worn over woven fabric belts and were large,
often bigger than the wearer’s hand. Buckles were often made of silver and could
be worked in filigree, wrought metal, or cast metal. They were often composed
of two identical or mirror-image pieces joined by a hinge. There were three basic
designs of buckles: oblong (oval-shaped), round, or the palmette design, which
resembled stylized leaves. Additional decoration could include engraved motifs,
jewels, or painted enamel.

Although Western fashions are now the most evident in Bulgaria, traditional
folk costume continues to be seen in that country, though mostly during ethnic
celebrations or displayed in museum cases. This form of dress can tell the observer
much about Bulgarian culture and how various influences shaped its design devel-
opment. The political strife within the country, a rural/urban dichotomy, and geo-
graphical variety are only some of the factors that affected aspects of folk dress.
Further Readings and Resources

Crampton, R. J. Bulgaria. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Komitska, Anita. Bulgarian Folk Costumes. Sofia: National Museum of Ethnog-
raphy, 2005.
Kovacheva-Kostadinova and others. Traditional Bulgarian Costumes and Folk
Arts. Sofia: National Museum of Ethnography, 1994.
Lecacque, Patrick. “Bulgarian Folk Arts and Traditions.” Journal of Popular Cul-
ture 19, no. 1 (1985): 157–170.
Mellish, Liz, and Green, Nick. “Bulgarian Costume.” Eliznik Web pages, http://
www.eliznik.org.uk/Bulgaria/costume/index.htm.
Pountev, Penko, and others. Bulgarian Folk Art. Sofia: Septemvri, 1980.
Canada
Jill Condra
Canada is a highly developed nation, geographically located to the north of the
United States. Since Confederation in 1867, Canadians have been searching for
what makes them uniquely Canadian, and perhaps particularly what makes them
not like their powerful southerly neighbor. With a common popular culture, immi-
gration patterns, and growing pains, the two relatively young countries do share
many similarities. Is it even possible to define a people in such a geographically
large nation? Is it possible for a bilingual, multicultural country such as Canada to
identify one type of Canadian cuisine, for example? Is there a dominant style of
dress that can be characterized as Canadian ethnic dress? Is there a uniform culture
in Canada?
Unlike the United States, with its melting pot of immigrants from nations
around the globe, expected to adjust to the culture of their new nation, Canada
welcomed people from around the world to come and settle in the country, but
they were encouraged to maintain their own unique identities born to them in their
native lands. This is probably one of the more significant differences between
Canada and United States. Every summer, for example, in Winnipeg, the capital
city of the prairie province of Manitoba, there is a popular multicultural festival
that encourages people from dozens of different cultures to open up the doors to a
pavilion celebrating all things to do with their native cultures; ethnic dress, dance,
cuisine, arts and crafts are all shared with the city for a two-week period. The urban
centers are ethnically diverse, adding great texture and interest, but also making it
more difficult to identify one cohesive Canadian identity.
Canada is a parliamentary democracy with a prime minister, elected members
of parliament, and an appointed senate, but the head of the Canadian government
is the reigning monarch of Great Britain, who is the official head of state, repre-
sented in Canada by an appointed Governor General. When explorers arrived on
the east coast of Canada in the 15th century they found many sophisticated groups
of aboriginal people, who had occupied the land from coast to coast to coast for
111
thousands of years. Each of these First Nations groups had its own distinct charac-
teristics, its own culture. The French and English realized the potential of exploit-
ing the natural resources that were abundant in this vast region and soon settled,
beginning serious trade with the native peoples and home nations of Europe. One
of the most important commodities in the early trading days of Canada was the
beaver pelt. There was a fashion in Europe for men’s felted hats, and the beaver
pelt became fashionable to the point that trappers and traders, coureurs de bois,
forged deep relationships with the aboriginal peoples to exploit this species. This
is why the beaver is Canada’s national animal. Its importance to the settlement of
Canada cannot be underplayed.
New France (now Quebec) was first held by the French while the British
claimed Upper Canada (now mostly Ontario). The two fought for control of trade
and land and after the Seven Years’ War in 1756, which led to the fall of New
France, France ceded most of its territory in North America. On July 1, 1867,
Canadian Confederation was signed in Prince Edward Island, forming the Domin-
ion of Canada. Four provinces were created that day: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Sco-
tia, and New Brunswick. Over the next 100 years, Canada became a self-governing
country equal to the United Kingdom (UK), but it was not until 1982 that the
Canada Act was passed, leaving Canada free of all dependence on the Parliament
of Great Britain. Canada remains a constitutional monarchy with the queen as
symbolic head of state, but is autonomous and independent, while still respecting
its roots as a British colony (the queen still appears on all Canadian currency, for
example). This is probably one of the main differences between the formation of
Canada’s cultural landscape in comparison with the United States, where the Brit-
ish monarchy was soundly defeated.
Immigration policy in Canada has meant that great numbers of people from
Europe, Asia, India, Pakistan, and South America are part of the national makeup.
Each group is represented in their day-to-day lives, often continuing to wear cloth-
ing from their home countries, eating foods from their original cultures, and so
forth. With every passing generation, though, there is a dilution of the strong ties
to the homelands. Perhaps, when asked, each Canadian would have his or her own
list of things that are unique about Canadian culture, and it certainly depends on
where these people were born, where they live, and from what country their fam-
ily emigrated. A child from a family of German Mennonites in southern Mani-
toba might have very little exposure to anything British, while a child of the same
generation in Toronto may have family who observes many of the customs of the
original founders of the country. Certainly when a person from one of Canada’s
First Nations communities is asked what is Canadian identity, they will have yet a
different view.
Canada | 113
Natural resources are abundant, and the vastness of the nation and relatively small
population (roughly 35 million) make it one of the cleanest countries on earth.
Canada has a high standard of living, and it is often listed as one the of the world’s
best places to live. Although it is known for its cold climate, in fact, there are many
different types of climates depending on the region of the country. The west coast
is warm and rainy, rarely seeing any snow, while the prairie and eastern provinces
have hot summers and cold snowy winters. Generally climate has done a lot to
determine the kinds of dress Canadians adopt and adapt to their own.
Canada is a nation that occupies a huge area (almost 4 million square miles)
from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and north to
the Arctic Ocean. It is the second largest country in the world (with Russia the big-
gest, China third, and the United States fourth). The border shared with the United
States is the longest in the world. The topography of the nation is perhaps one thing
that is unique about Canada. With 10 provinces and three territories, the country
is diverse in many ways. The Maritimes (Atlantic Canada) were settled before any
other part of the country and have a long history. The dominant industry has long
been in the fisheries sector, and until recently meant comfortable lives for many.
Fish stocks are suffering due to overfishing. Moving westward from the Atlantic
is the largely French-speaking province of Quebec. Central Canada, the province
of Ontario, is the industrial power basin of the country and has the most populated
city, Toronto, and the national capital, Ottawa. The prairie provinces, flat, with
giant grain farms and relatively few people, are the grain belt of the country. The
Rocky Mountains cut north to south and across provincial borders with British
Columbia occupying the remaining land to the Pacific Ocean. With a population
hovering around 35 million, Canada is a large geographic area with relatively few
people when compared to the slightly smaller United States (which had approxi-
mately 314 million in mid-2012) or Europe, and the ethnic diversity of the popula-
tion is great.
People and Dress

When thinking about the kinds of clothing represented in Canadian culture, it is
impossible to point to just one style or mode of dress. Any article or book written
on Canadian ethnic dress merely outlines all the clothing worn by the huge num-
bers of immigrant people. When asked, people may list items of clothing such as
Mountie uniforms (of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police), tuques (knitted caps),
mittens, the “Canadian Tuxedo” (denim jeans and denim jacket paired together),
large snow boots, parkas, and many other cold weather garments. The diversity of
the country makes it nearly impossible, in fact, to identify one ethnic dress com-
mon to all Canadians. Reflecting the diversity of population that has been inherent
since the beginning of Canadian history, when there were French, English, and
aboriginal people all sharing the land, diversity in clothing has also been apparent.
Religious and Ethnic Diversity

The racial diversity and religious makeup of Canada is important when looking
for a unique type of ethnic dress. Although originally the Church of England was
the dominant denomination in English Canada and the Roman Catholic Church pre-
dominant in French Canada, there has always been a mix of religions, especially as
20th-century immigration patterns brought so many people from all over the world.
In certain parts of the country there are very large ethnic communities practicing
various religions including Judaism, Buddhism, Islamism, Christian Orthodox,
Hinduism, Sikh, and other Eastern religions. As diverse as the religious mix is in
this country, so are the ethnicities represented. The majority is still by far white, at
around 80 percent, followed by those of Asian descent, then African descent.
Immigrant settler dress was largely the same as fashion dictates at the time
people started settling on the Canadian shores. Because it was so late in European
history, there was already a large and booming fashion industry in France and Eng-
land (from which the first settlers came). Men and women all attempted to mimic
these fashions, but often had to add a Canadian twist, especially in the brutal,
freezing cold winters. The First Nations people helped the settlers in this respect
to adapt and adopt clothing that would save their lives in the extreme cold. Trade
with the European traders also changed the style of dress worn by the aboriginals.
History of Dress
The original inhabitants of Canada were the indigenous First Nations popula-
tions, and each of the groups had diverse types of dress and adornment unique to
their group. The Cree, the Mohawk, the Inuit, and the Haida of the west coast, for
example, all wore different clothing. Often it was made of the naturally occurring
resources available to them in their geographic location. Different hides from vari-
ous animals were used for all kinds of different body coverings from aprons and
moccasins to vast buffalo cloaks and feather headdresses. The Inuit used and con-
tinue to use seal pelts for a type of trousers, footwear, and parka that keep the cold
out. Clothing was decorated with the teeth of different animals and dyed with the
juices of berries and flowers. (For greater detail on the North American aboriginal
dress see the entry for Native North American Dress.) The indigenous people of
Canada | 115
Canada were instrumental in helping early settlers survive in this harsh climate,
and they provided advice on dress to help settlers keep warm in the winter. First
Nations people also taught Europeans much about farming and hunting, which was
key to survival for early immigrants.
Setting aside First Nations dress, it is possible to trace certain elements of
settler dress from their arrival on Canadian shores to now, and to see how diverse
populations have affected what people wear and how they identify as Canadian.
When European trappers first came to Canada to hunt and trade beaver pelts, they
abandoned all finery and adopted many elements of clothing worn by the indig-
enous people. The clothing choices were practical and meant that the fur trappers
could avoid freezing in the winter and also avoid being burned by the sun or bitten
badly by the flies in the wilderness. Men wore leather leggings and hide jackets
early, and then as trade between Europe and Canada grew, wool and cotton textile
products were adopted by both aboriginals and traders. In the early trading days,
there were very few European women.
Coureurs de Bois
One of the first and perhaps most important trading companies settled in
Northern Canada was the Hudson’s Bay Company (established in 1670). Trading
posts and forts were set up in the northern parts of what is now Hudson’s Bay in
Manitoba, and beaver pelts and other goods were traded from these forts through
complex river networks by the endlessly entrepreneurial and adventure-seeking
French called the voyageurs or coureurs de bois (woodland runners). These men
wandered the vast Canadian landscape, traded European goods for fur pelts,
and then sold them for profit to be used back in Europe for fashionable hats and
the like.
This group of traders adopted a utilitarian style of dress meant to protect them
from the elements (cold, heat, insects, rain, and so on). A typical voyageur wore
leather moccasins, the design taken from the aboriginal people they met, and a
blanket coat, tied at the waist with a ceinture fléchée (the arrow sash or belt). The
blanket coat is a simple design meant to keep the body warm in cold weather. It
was made of warm wool fabric (originally blanket fabric) and arms were fashioned
of the same fabric. A large hood was added and the whole thing was tied tightly at
the waist. This style of coat was worn not only by voyageurs, but also by aboriginal
peoples as well as the highly stylish settlers of Montreal for outdoor sports such as
skating and snowshoeing.
Once women and families began to arrive to either join their men in the out-
posts of the fur trade, or to take advantage of the land being granted by the British
government, urban centers sprang up along trade routes, and colonies of people
established themselves in all parts of the country. Settlers came primarily from
Coureur de bois wears a ceinture fléchée, in a painting by Cornelius Kreighoff, c.1860.
(Brooklyn Museum of Art Collection/The Bridgeman Art Library)
Canada | 117
England, Scotland, and France. With them they brought all sorts of clothing and
furniture to set up their new lives in the hinterland. They had no idea what adven-
ture they were about to embark on when they left the Old Country and many found
the journey rough. The climate was harsher than many had bargained for, and they
quickly found that the high-fashion European clothing (and large furniture) they
had brought was wholly unsuitable for survival in the colony. Many of the early
women still tried to wear the most fashionable dress from their homelands, but
they soon found that they had to adapt the styles to their new homes. Large skirts,
for example, would not do on a farm in the middle of winter. Legs had to be cov-
ered for protection, not fashion. Footwear, in 18th-century England, perhaps light-
weight slippers for girls and women, could not keep the feet warm and protected
in Canada. Adaptations had to be made and often technologies from the aboriginal
people, including such footwear as moccasins, were adapted by new settlers on the
prairie. Headwear became much more practical and warm, rather than the highly
decorated fashionable hats women had been used to in their prior lives. Fashion-
able garments were still admired and European dress was important, but mainly
used for special days and on Sundays for church going.
In the 19th century, as the country became more populated, fashionable dress
was adopted as quickly as possible from France and England. There is little to dif-
ferentiate between high-fashion women on either side of the Atlantic. As Canada
became more industrialized and wealthier, they began to manufacture more of their
own goods. Textile and garment industries sprang up in Montreal, Toronto, and
Winnipeg, producing clothing for the Canadian consumer. Throughout the 20th
century, world events affected dress in Canada as it did in Britain and elsewhere.
The two world wars affected how people dressed, with men wearing uniforms and
women forced to go out and work. Often women worked traditionally male jobs
and were forced to abandon the skirt and don trousers, which followed the same
trends in the United Kingdom and the United States. It is perhaps near the end of
the 20th century that certain brands of clothing began to dictate the quintessential
Canadian dress.
Component Parts
Choosing what to include as essentially Canadian dress is difficult. The
Mountie is a particularly identifiable character for most of the world, but this is an
officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and therefore beyond the scope of
this book. By no means have the majority of people in Canada ever dressed in this
manner, nor will they.
The blanket coat was a simple tied coat made of thick wool fabric with a hood
and long wide sleeves. It originally came from the capote, which were hooded
Young women wearing Hudson’s Bay blanket coats, c. 1950. (Transcendental Graphics/
Getty Images)
coats used by French sailors in the 1600s. It was adopted by English Canadians;
first by the traders, then by fashionable (but cold) men and women in the cities
such as Montreal in the 1800s. Traditionally, the blanket coat was tied at the waist
with another uniquely Canadian piece called the ceinture fléchée (the arrow belt).
This long sash, initially worn in the 1700s, is usually woven in red, blue, white,
black, and yellow yarn and is usually between 6 to 10 inches (15–25 cm) long, with
fringes on either end. This sash was used by the voyageurs and the Métis (a racial
mix of people from French Canadian and aboriginal people) and was once seen as
a symbol of rebellion against the British. By the 1800s this was no longer the case,
and woven sashes were simply a useful method of keeping the coat closed and the
cold out. This is still worn by a select few, and not only for festivals. The belts are
produced in factories now, but they have the same kind of arrow design and fringe.
The tuque may be seen as a Canadian item, but this simple, knitted headgear is
worn by people all over the world as a way of keeping the head warm (and recently
as a fashion trend for young people, even in warm climates). This is a knitted hat
pulled down over the ears to protect against the cold. It seems to have acquired
some status as a piece of clothing rooted in Canadian culture. The article of cloth-
ing is not unique; however, perhaps it is only in Canada that it is named a tuque.
Canada | 119
Mittens, 2010. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Moccasins and mukluks are footwear designs that were once exclusively worn
by aboriginals and Inuit, but have been adopted by white Canadians as well, though
they tend to come and go in fashion trends. People still wear this type of footwear
for everyday wear as they are warm and comfortable. The boots decorated with
native designs in colorful beads are beautiful as well as practical.
A more contemporary piece of Canadian dress might include a particular
design of mittens that was mass produced over the past several years in red wool
with a large white maple leaf (the same leaf as on the Canadian flag) prominently
displayed on the palm. These mitts were originally made by the iconic Hudson’s
Bay Company as souvenirs from the Winter Olympics held in Vancouver in 2010,
but they have become so popular that they threaten to take their place as a piece of
Canadian ethnic dress. In winter, it is hard to find anyone who does not own a pair
of these mitts.
The parka can also perhaps be rooted in Canadian culture. Certainly it is worn
throughout the country as the climate demands warm winter wear. Is it different
from the coats worn by Americans in the northern states? Possibly not, but when
asked what they picture as Canadian dress, people always mention the parka. This
is a long jacket, usually made of windproof fabric and filled with some kind of
insulative material such as down or polyester filler. It may or may not have a hood
with fur trim.
Because Canada is such a young country and one with so many different ethnic
groups, so closely located to the United States, it is difficult to find good examples
of clothing that is uniquely Canadian, worn by no one else in the world. As the
country continues to define itself, it is likely certain things will become iconic Cana-
dian items, but for the moment, it continues to be true that the original ethnic dress
of the country belongs to Canada’s original inhabitants, the First Nations people.
See also Native North American Dress

“Hudson’s Bay Company Archive.” 2012. Manitoba (government website). http://
www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/.
The McCord Museum. 2012. http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/. (The mu-
seum, in Montreal, has an excellent Canadian dress collection, with some
images online.)
Moodie, Susannah. Roughing It in the Bush. Toronto: New Canadian Library, 2007.
Palmer, Alexandra, ed. Fashion: A Canadian Perspective. Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 2004.
The Royal Ontario Museum. 2012. www.rom.on.ca. (This museum in Toronto fea-
tures the Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles & Costume, which includes early
Canadian textiles.)
Tyrchneiwicz, Peggy, and Bill Hicks. Ethnic Folk Costumes in Canada. Winnipeg:
Hyperion Press, 1979.
Caribbean Islands: Cuba, Puerto Rico,
Jamaica, and Lesser Antilles Islands
José Blanco F.

The Caribbean is named after its main pre-Columbian inhabitants, the Caribs.
Other native groups in the area include the Taínos and Arawak. The archipelago
extends as a crescent from the Gulf of Mexico to the South American coast. The
Greater Antilles islands are Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola (Haiti
and the Dominican Republic). The Lesser Antilles include Anguilla, Barbuda,
Antigua, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique and Saint Lucia, among
several other smaller islands. The area is also known as the West Indies when the
Lucayan Archipelago (the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands) is included.
These islands are in the Atlantic Ocean but technically not in the Caribbean Sea.
Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the South American coastal islands are dis-
cussed in other entries of this volume. The Caribbean area is considered either part
of North America or part of Central America although Caribbean islanders claim
an identity separate from that of those subcontinents. Cuba, the Dominican Repub-
lic, and Puerto Rico are widely considered part of Latin America, as are sometimes
Jamaica and Haiti.
Several European countries including Spain, France, the Netherlands, and the
United Kingdom colonized the region in the 16th and 17th centuries; as a result, a
number of languages are spoken, including Spanish, English, French, and Dutch.
The culture of the region is also strongly influenced by black Africans brought as
slaves during the colonial period. Their traditions, music, clothing, and religious
practices remain closely associated with those of the African continent and sig-
nificantly shape Caribbean culture. Christianity—forcefully spread in the region
by Catholic missionaries—remains essential in everyday life and rituals such as
baptism, first communion, and weddings. New religious practices, however, arose
out of the syncretism of Catholic and African traditions. Santería is a term used
to describe a number of religious and cultural traditions derived from the com-
bination of African and European practices; for instance, attributing characteris-
tics of Yoruba Orishas (manifestations of God) to Catholic Church saints. Cuba is
121
possibly the most secular country in the region, due in part to the anticlerical views
of Fidel Castro’s regime.
Clothing in the area—particularly traditional attire and costumes used in car-
nivals and festivals—shows African influences. Headscarves and headdresses, for
example, are made with patterns and colors similar to those worn in Africa both his-
torically and today. West African prints are widely available. Caftans or robes—also
known as boubou in Francophone islands—are part of the traditional female attire
in many places. Daily clothing exhibits some of the color and accessories seen in
traditional costumes but is mostly defined by American and European styles.
Cuban Dress
Cuba is the largest of the Antilles islands. The country was colonized by Spain in
the early 16th century and a large percentage of the population is descended directly
from Spanish families. About 10 percent of the population is of African descent,
the descendants of enslaved people brought there primarily by the Spanish. Cuba
obtained its independence from Spain in 1898 as a result of the Spanish-American
War, during which Spain also lost the Philippines and Puerto Rico. Recent Cuban
history is marked by the revolution to overthrow Fulgencio Batista in the 1950s.
Fidel Castro led the revolution to victory in 1959 and has since functioned as the
country’s leader. The United States has maintained economic sanctions and a trade
embargo for over 40 years, hoping to overthrow Castro’s government. More than a
million Cubans, unhappy with Castro’s regime, have moved to the United States,
particularly south Florida and the city of Miami, where Cuban music, art, and pop-
ular culture flourishes. Cuba’s population is approximately 11,075,000. Elements
of traditional Cuban clothing, particularly the guayabera and clothing associated
with some of the classic Cuban dances, have been instrumental for Cuban expatri-
ates trying to maintain ties to their country.
The guayabera is a de facto Cuban national symbol, and although its origins
are tied to older upper-class men, namely Cuban hacendados (landowners), the
garment has been embraced by Cubans of all ages and social groups. The guaya-
bera is a lightweight, white or pastel-colored cotton dress shirt decorated with rows
of vertical tucks on both the front and back. These vertical stripes represent the
Cuban national flag. Usually four symmetrical pockets adorn the front of the shirt,
which has a straight hem and is worn untucked. A version of the shirt has been in
existence since the early 19th century. President Carlos Mendieta declared it the
national costume during the period 1934–1935. The guayabera is associated with
Cuba around the world, although it is used in other Caribbean and Latin American
countries, including Mexico, where it is also popular. It is the garment of choice for
Caribbean Islands: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Lesser Antilles Islands | 123
special occasions, including weddings, and it is commonly seen on Cuban staff at

hotels and other tourist establishments in and outside the country. Female versions
of the garment have appeared as have cotton or polyester variations. Guayaberas
are also used at events ranging from beauty pageants to political meetings. Colom-
bian writer Gabriel García Márquez famously wore one in 1982 while accepting
the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Like the guayabera, other items considered traditional Cuban dress originated
from clothing practices of the upper classes and have little to do with clothing of
pre-Columbian groups or peasants from rural areas. These pieces, however, have
been embraced over time as symbols of the entire country. Among these items is
the guarachera, another type of man’s shirt, which features wide sleeves decorated
with flounces worn with handkerchiefs around the neck and waist. The shirt can be
matched with a variety of pants and it is worn in performances of rumba dancing.
The name rumba derives from a Spanish expression meaning “to party.” Costumes
used by performers of rumba music and dance are colorful and vibrant, conveying
the spirit of celebration implied in the music.
Cuban traditional clothing for men usually consists of white pants, a guayabera
or guarachera, a red handkerchief around the neck, and a straw hat with another
colorful handkerchief. As opposed to many other traditional costumes in Latin
America that include sandals, traditional Cuban dress for both men and women
is normally complemented by elegant leather shoes. A machete hanging from the
waist is a common accessory.
The term guarachera also refers to a female rumba singer. Celia Cruz was
probably the most famous Cuban guarachera. She was known for wearing another
staple of Cuban traditional dress during performances, the bata cubana. The bata
cubana is the type of dress most associated with female Rumba singers or danc-
ers. It is created with colorful fabrics, both natural cotton and synthetic textiles. It
fits the body closely, has a deep plunging neckline, and is embellished with lace
and embroidery. The dress probably originated in the 19th century. Besides the
elements associated with Spanish flamenco dress—namely the flounces in the full
bottom of the skirt and around the sleeves—it is also related to fashionable bustle
dresses popular in Europe in the second half of the 19th century. The European
influences are linked to the alterations created by lower-class women on hand-
me-down dresses received from their employers. Fabrics used in these dresses
originally included expensive modifications such as silk embroidery and elaborate
lace. In the second half of the 20th century the dress was modified to partially or
fully show the front of the woman’s legs, in some cases revealing a colorful bikini
underneath. This more daring variation is not usually defined as a bata cubana but
more often as a traje de rumbera or rumba singer’s costume.
Cuban woman wearing traditional dress, Havana, Cuba, 2011. (Hakki Ceylan/Dreamstime
.com)
Dress in Puerto Rico

The smallest of the Greater Antilles is actually a commonwealth of the United
States of America. Puerto Rico became an American territory after the Spanish-
American War of 1898 and was given the official name of Estado Libre Asociado
de Puerto Rico (Freely Associated State of Puerto Rico) in 1952. The political
status of the island is still a source of intense disagreement among Puerto Ricans
since some oppose the commonwealth and propose either full independence or
full statehood. Puerto Ricans were granted American citizenship in 1917 and large
numbers have since moved to the mainland, particularly New York City where a
“Nuyorican” culture has resulted from the amalgam of Puerto Rican and American
ways of life. The population was nearly 4,000,000 in 2012.
The island’s original inhabitants were the Taínos. Little is known about their cloth-
ing, but surviving Taíno design patterns and symbols are used on T-shirts, handbags,
and jewelry, particularly for items targeted to the tourist market. The Taíno Nation,
a group trying to develop awareness of

native groups in Puerto Rico, dresses in
loincloths and body painting for some
of their public events.
Like that of other islands in the
Caribbean, Puerto Rican culture is
heavily influenced by African tradi-
tions. Two of the national dances, the
bomba and the plena, are examples
where costumes with both African
and European elements are used. The
beats of the bomba drums respond
to the movements of a lead female
dancer who originally wore under-
skirts or enaguas that were—just like
those associated with the origin of the
bata cubana—given to them by their
wealthy bosses. The outfits were dec-
orated with beads and glass shards in A young couple dance bomba, a traditional
Puerto Rican rhythm, in the coastal town
order to invest the garment with magi-
of Dorado, Puerto Rico, 2006. (AP Photo/
cal powers of protection against mal Andres Leighton)
de ojo (evil eye). Tops were fitted and
had long sleeves. Men wore linen suits made from rice or flour sacks and used rib-
bons or ropes as closures for both pants and shirts. The male look was completed
by straw hats known as pavas. Current versions of bomba dress preserve some of
these elements, but elaborate underskirt embellishments have been replaced by
colorful fabrics and men’s suits use buttons as closures. The plena, another type of
folkloric dance, appeared around 1916 in the southern part of the island. Dresses
for the plena are usually made with vibrant fabrics and constructed as one-piece
with full tops, lowered waistlines, and knee-length A-line skirts. Men wear cotton
or linen pants and bright-colored vests along with bow ties and straw hats.
The Puerto Rican government, in an effort to regulate traditional dress, created
Law No. 21 in 1983 defining parameters for representative dress of Puerto Rico.
The law provides guidelines for materials, silhouette, construction, color, embellish-
ments, and accessories of female dress. There are no penalties for not constructing a
garment accurately except that it shall not be considered representative. The stipula-
tions indicate that the fiber must be white cotton as a tribute to the most popular mate-
rial among natives to the island. The blouse has a round deep neckline embellished
with ruffles and crochet. The sleeves are full but fitted at the elbow and adorned with
ribbons and lace. The full skirt is cinched at the waist, has three layers of underskirts,
and is embellished with ribbons, lace, and embroidered lines. The full look also incor-
porates pantalets—a popular piece of women’s underwear in the 19th century—tied
at the knees and ending in an embroidered ruffle. Fine embellishment in the costume
as well as in other pieces of Puerto Rican clothing is sometimes achieved through the
use of mundillo, a traditional type of eyelet lace. Law No. 21 suggests using pink as
the color for the dress’s sash as a reference to the maga (Thespesia grandiflora), the
national flower, which is also worn on the woman’s head. The law also calls for the
use of white shoes as well as simple and modest jewelry.
A number of Puerto Rican festivals incorporate costumes and masks that have
become part of the country’s cultural heritage. The Fiestas de Santiago Apóstol
(Feast of Saint James the Apostle) in the northeastern town of Loíza is held during
the month of July. The celebration combines elements of Spanish theater and car-
nival with African traditions and music. During the week-long festival townspeo-
ple dress in costumes representing characters such as Spanish knights, vejigantes
(clown-like demons), and old men. Cross-dressing is also common as men dress as
locas, crazy women sweeping the streets asking for money. The Festival de Veji-
gantes in the southern town of Ponce happens before the start of the Lent season.
Vejigante characters wear loose, colorful one-piece costumes in colors including
yellow, red, white, and black. The costume also incorporates batlike wings and
flounced trimmings. The most colorful element of the celebration is masks made
from papier-mâché with several pointed horns coming out from different angles.
The Máscaras de Hatillo (masks of Hatillo) festival is celebrated every year on
December 28th in Hatillo, Puerto Rico. Costumes consist of pants and shirts with
an attached cape. The pieces are decorated in complex patterns created with rizos
(flounces) sewn to the garments. Participants wear wire-mesh masks decorated
with flounces matching those of the costumes.
Dress in Jamaica
Jamaica, the third largest of the Greater Antilles, has a geographic landscape defined
by mountain chains in over two-thirds of the country. The island nation obtained its
independence from Great Britain in 1962. Over 90 percent of the population is of
African descent, and Jamaican culture evidences strong links to African traditions.
The population was nearly 2,900,000 in 2012.
The national Jamaican costume for women—the quadrille dress—consists of
a full-flared skirt made of red and white plaid cotton worn with a white blouse
with ruffled sleeves and neck in matching plaid fabric. The same accent material
is used as a headwrap or to decorate a straw hat. The plaid bandana material may
include variations of maroon shades and madras patterns. The outfit is occasionally
embroidered with Jamaican imagery. The costume is worn for special occasions
and holidays such as Independence Day and National Heroes Day. The quadrille
dress is also a symbol of Jamaican identity worn by those who have migrated
to other countries. The name quadrille derives from the dance of the same name
practiced in Europe in the 19th century. Men wear a shirt made of the same fabric
paired with white pants and a piece of the same plaid fabric tied around the head.
On formal occasions, particularly at weddings, men may wear a variation of this
costume incorporating an item similar to the Cuban guayabera. In the 1970s the
kariba suit—a two-piece men’s suit—was introduced in Jamaica. The suit offered
an alternative to the European business suit. The design is similar to that of Afri-
can safari or bush jackets. The suit is worn without a shirt and tie, making it more
appropriate for tropical weather.
The Junkanoo (John Canoe) celebration is a carnival tradition found in several
Caribbean countries. The dance parade—where participants dance either as part of
a group or individually—incorporates European and African elements. The essential
features are costumes, masks, and mime. In Jamaica the tradition survives particu-
larly in rural areas and at cultural events. Carnival costumes in Jamaica are made of
colorful fabrics and are body revealing in the case of females. As in other Caribbean
countries men carry on the tradition of cross-dressing for comic purposes during the
carnival. Recurrent carnival costumes include characters such as Horse Head, Cow
Head, Belly Woman, and Pitchy Patchy, a character dressed with shredded strips of
cloth resembling a vegetable. There are also demons, policemen, and Indians among
the masqueraders. Set Girls accompany the parade dancing in groups of color-
coordinated outfits heavily embellished with beads, sequins, and feathers.
Clothing associated with the Rastafarian movement—a religion preaching the
redemption of blacks in Jamaica and their return to Africa—has been successfully
exported from Jamaica to the rest of the world, particularly with reggae music
functioning as an ambassador for Rastafarian style. Rastafarians favor natural-fiber
garments and are known for their dreadlocks, a practice based on a biblical passage
discouraging hair trimming. Threads of locks are sometimes sewn to hats and wigs.
Rastafarian clothing and accessories, such as beaded necklaces and headbands,
bear the colors associated with the movement (green, yellow, and red), which differ
from the colors of the Jamaican national flag (black, green, and yellow). Both color
schemes appear on items for the tourist market such as T-shirts and headbands.
Dancehall, also known as ragga, was the most popular musical and dance style
in Jamaica at the start of the 21st century. It relies heavily on the work of a deejay
who raps over the soundtrack, sometimes employing digital technology. Influen-
tial performers include Shaggy, Bounty Killa, Sizzla, and Sean Paul. The lyrics,
particularly the earlier ones from the 1970s, can be political in nature. Dancehall
fashion, in turn, is also a form of resistance to norms of dress and sexuality and is
often censored by the government due to its risqué nature. The revealing clothes
are made of inexpensive materials resembling lingerie and include slashed gar-
ments, bondage straps, mesh tops, spaghetti straps, and animal prints. The fashion-
able look for dancehall also includes brightly dyed hair.
The Lesser Antilles

Carnival costumes provide for one of the most significant elements of national dress
in the Lesser Antilles. Carnival is celebrated in several islands including Jamaica,
Barbados, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago. Caribbean immigrants often orga-
nize carnival parades and events in countries to which they emigrate, such as the
United States. Carnival costumes are elaborate. Women wear colorful bikini-style
attire embellished with feathers, sequins, beads, metallic or glass pieces, ribbons,
shells, glitter, and bright paper. Some costumes, usually created by designers, are
shaped with wire frames, foam, and large amounts of fabric. Many participants
take pride in manufacturing their own costumes.
Costumed participants promenade
or dance through the streets accompa-
nied by a steel or soca band and occa-
sionally by a deejay. Most bands are
composed by men who “play mas”
(“mas” being short for “mask”), mean-
ing playing instruments while wearing
carnival costumes and/or perform-
ing in carnival celebrations (Afrique
Online, 2004). It can also mean simply
participating in the carnival or parade.
In Grenada each parish has a repre-
sentative style of music and costume.
Some costumes incorporate baggy
trousers and batwing sleeves while
others feature more elaborate outfits
with large collars, Middle Eastern–
inspired garb, and elements associated
with natives from the islands. Revel-
ers also use body paint and feathered
headdresses.
A king and queen wearing the
A costumed reveler parades on the final day most elaborate costumes lead each
of carnival in Port of Spain, Trinidad, 2005. band. Large outfits require extensions
(AP Photo/Andres Leighton) to hold some pieces and even wheeled
contraptions to facilitate the reveler’s march through the streets. In Trinidad and
Tobago, results of competitions to determine the best king and queen costumes
are usually announced on the Sunday night (called Dimanche Gras) before Lent
begins on Ash Wednesday. Children participate in “Kiddies Carnivals,” which are
sponsored by regional authorities and schools. In Grenada the early hours of car-
nival Monday see the arrival of Devil Mas (mask) or Jab-Jab bands. Revelers in
these bands wear horned helmets and darken their skin with mud, tar, molasses, or
other types of grease. Blue, yellow, and green devils also appear in the parade and
are more playful than the grotesque Devil Mas.
Some of the islands in the area have indefinable types of traditional or national
costume. The silhouette in these outfits derives from 19th-century—or earlier—
European fashion, but the fabrics currently used, as well as headdresses and other
accessories that complete the look, reflect African influences. In the island of Gua-
deloupe traditional costume derives from le costume de l’affranchie (the costume
of the freed), outfits handed down to slaves from their owners. As in other Carib-
bean countries, the costumes were modified with lace or embroidery. Currently,
the traditional costume consists of dresses created with printed cotton fabrics in a
range of vivid colors. Headdresses, the most important accessory to the costume,
are elaborately wrapped to create tall, sculptural pieces.
Headdresses are also an important accessory to the traditional Grand Robe
of Martinique. The robe, made with a full skirt in patterned cotton or satin, has
three-quarter-length sleeves. The skirt is gathered to reveal a full cotton underskirt
with decorative flounces or Chantilly lace. The Wob Dwiye dress of Saint Lucia,
also worn over a similar petticoat, has full-length sleeves and a train. Accessories
include a scarf and a headdress known as Tete Casé. Madras fabric is the textile
of choice for dresses in several of the Lesser Antilles, and variations of the look
described above appear in countries such as Antigua, Anguilla, Barbuda, Montser-
rat, and Dominica. Men usually wear long cotton pants—white and black are com-
mon colors—and white long-sleeve shirts with handkerchiefs around the neck and
the waistline. Both men and women wear sandals or go barefoot.

Afrique Online. “Trini Dictionary.” http://www.afriqueonline.com/pages/trini/
trini20.html. 2004.
Bakare-Yusuf, Bibi. 2006. “Fabricating Identities: Survival and the Imagination in
Jamaican Dancehall Culture.” Fashion Theory 10 (4): 461–84, 2006.
Buckridge, Steve O. The Language of Dress: Resistance and Accommodation in
Jamaica, 1760–1890. Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press,
2004.
Galvan, Javier A. Culture and Customs of Puerto Rico. Wesport, CT: Greenwood
Press, 2009.
Henken, Ted A. Cuba: A Global Studies Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-
CLIO, 2008.
Miller, Marilyn. “Guayaberismo and the Essence of Cool.” In The Latin American
Fashion Reader, ed. R. A. Root, 213–31. Oxford: Berg, 2005.
Mordecai, Martin, and Pamela Mordecai. Culture and Customs of Jamaica. West-
port, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001.
Negrón-Muntaner, Frances. Boricua Pop: Puerto Ricans and the Latinization of
American Culture. New York: New York University Press, 2004.
Scher, Philip W. Carnival and the Formation of a Caribbean Transnation. Gaines-
ville: University Press of Florida, 2003.
Vazquez-Lopez, Raul. “Dress and Dance in Puerto Rico.” Vol. 2, Berg Encyclope-
dia of World Dress and Fashion, ed. M. B. Schevill, 2010.
Chile and Bolivia
Jill Condra
Chile and Bolivia, along with the rest of South America, were populated by indig-
enous peoples dating back thousands of years, long before European conquerors
arrived on the shores in the 16th century. Once the Europeans arrived, Roman
Catholicism became the predominant religion and Spanish, the national language
for both. The racial mix of people included Europeans, Africans, and native South
Americans, along with mixed races of all kinds.
Indigenous groups such as the Atacameño, Aymara, Diaguita, and Araucanian
Indians had thrived in the area until powerful Inca invaders arrived in the mid-15th
century from Peru to extend their empire farther south. The Aymara, from Chile,
invaded Bolivia before the Incas in the 15th century. When the Spanish arrived,
they called Bolivia “Alto Peru,” having come from the Pacific Ocean through Peru.
Both Chile and Bolivia were settled simultaneously by Spanish conquerors who
left an indelible mark on the culture through intermarriage and the imposition of
Roman Catholicism and the Spanish language.
The first European to record seeing Chile was Portuguese explorer Fernando de
Magallanes (Ferdinand Magellan), who sailed around the southern tip of Chile, but
a Spanish presence was firmly felt when Pedro de Valdivia established a Spanish
settlement in Santiago in 1541, linking Spain and Chile for centuries. In Bolivia,
Francisco Pizarro was a key figure in settlements. La Plata in Bolivia was founded
in 1538 and La Paz (present-day capital of Bolivia) was founded in 1548.
At the beginning of the 19th century (1810) Chileans started fighting for their
independence. Argentinian José de San Martín joined forces with future Chilean
hero Bernardo O’Higgins and successfully led an army over the Andes Mountains
to defeat the Spanish in 1817, liberating Chile. O’Higgins, the son of Ambrosio
O’Higgins, born in County Sligo, Ireland, became the first leader of an indepen-
dent Chilean republic in 1818. Antonio José de Sucre and Simón Bolívar fought
together to help bring Bolivian independence from Spain in 1825. The country is
named in homage to its liberator, Bolívar. Chile and Bolivia both experienced a
131
period of political unrest with various military dictatorships until the 1830s, when
Chile became a more stable country and made considerable social, political, and
economic progress. The War of the Pacific (1879–1884) pitted Chile against its
neighbors Peru and Bolivia, and when Chile won the war, it claimed the former
Bolivian province of Antofagasta as its own and left Bolivia with no access to the
Pacific, land locked, and unable to trade with the world, to its great disadvantage.
In Chile, most of the 20th century was devoted to development and economic
growth under constitutional rule, and social issues were addressed with varying
degrees of success. Bolivian silver mining provided great riches early in Boliv-
ian history, and these mines were also responsible for providing tin to the world
market. Political unrest in Bolivia was in large part due to terrible conditions for
miners in the country, and in the mid-20th century the National Revolutionary
Movement came to power with President Victor Paz Estenssoro nationalizing
mines and providing a basis for reform in agriculture and industrial sectors, as
well as social reform to the largely Quechua and Aymara indigenous population.
By the 1970s socialism was seen by many as the solution to Chile’s problems, and
Salvadore Allende became the first Marxist president in South America. In three
short years the country faced economic devastation, and a military coup, led by
General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, who was supported by the United States, ended
Allende’s leadership with his death. Pinochet was a dictator who acted ruthlessly
against those who disagreed with his policies, and he is known to have commit-
ted human-rights abuses, persecuting dissenters and causing the disappearance or
murder of more than 3,100 people. He is also credited with helping to establish a
more stable and productive economy, although unemployment was high. Follow-
ing Pinochet, Patricio Aylwin Azocar was freely elected in 1990 and built upon a
solid economic foundation, promoting antipoverty measures and the development
of successful agricultural reforms, allowing a booming export of such things as
wine and fruits. In landlocked Bolivia, with a suffering mining industry, illegal
production of the coca leaf into the paste used for cocaine has been a major prob-
lem with drug barons holding power over the people. The government continues to
try to lure farmers into crop substitution programs to persuade them to plant more
diverse crops. The population of Chile in 2012 was more than 17,000,000, and the
population of Bolivia was approximately 10,290,000.
Chile and Bolivia are neighbors along the northern tip of Chile in western South
America and both border Argentina and Peru, with Bolivia also sharing the border
on its east with Brazil and Paraguay. Chile is a naturally beautiful, long, and nar-
row country on the Pacific coast in the Southern Hemisphere. It has over 2,700
Chile and Bolivia | 133
miles (4,300 km) of Pacific coastline with the Andes Mountains running north and
south along the length of the country and has an average width of only 112 miles
(180 km). Bolivia is partially mountainous, with the Andean Cordillera to the west,
the Amazon rain forest to the east, and fertile valleys in between. Chile also has
several islands in the Pacific Ocean including the famous Easter Island (Isla de
Pascua), Sala and Gomez Island (Isla Sala y Gomez), and Juan Fernando Islands
(Islas Juan Fernando). Climatically, Chile is very diverse with the driest desert in
the world (the Atacama Desert); the cold and very high mountains of the Andes;
subtropical Easter Island, and a temperate central climate inland from the Pacific.
Earthquakes are not uncommon in this part of the world.
People and Dress

After a tumultuous 20th century, Chile has become one of the most stable and
wealthy nations in Latin America, while Bolivia has issues of poverty and concerns
stemming from the drug trade. Many of the people are of European descent, mainly
Spanish and Portuguese, and many are mixed European/Amerindian Mestizos with
European and Mapuche, Aymara, or Quechua ancestry. While most of the people
in both countries identify as Roman Catholic, other religions are practiced includ-
ing Protestantism and Judaism, and some indigenous beliefs are still practiced.
There is evidence of textile development and woven fabrics in Andean cultures
such as those in Bolivia and Chile that far predates the arrival of Spanish explor-
ers and other Europeans. Stick looms and backstrap looms were used to produce
fabrics made from animal hairs such as llama.
Ancient cultures grew cellulose plant fibers (such as cotton), spun the yarn,
and dyed it, using naturally occurring materials to create color, and then wove the
yarns to create simple square or rectangle fabrics in various weave techniques.
Patterns were created in the weave and suggest a sophisticated sense of aesthetics.
Protein fibers that occurred naturally were from camelid animals such as llamas,
alpacas, and vicuña (and called camelid fibers), and leaves such as the Furcraea
Andina. Camelid fibers provided much-needed warmth in the higher altitudes of
the Andes Mountains and were used in trading networks for food products and
other fibers such as cotton. Coloring the fibers was done with dyes occurring natu-
rally such as plants and insects or fibers were used in their naturally occurring col-
ors. Cotton and animal fibers, for example, can grow in a range of cream to brown
shades. Fabrics were also decorated with embroidery precontact with Europeans.
The old Inca Empire was made up of present-day Colombia, Peru, Ecuador,
Bolivia, and Chile. Throughout these areas trade was common and people were
Inca poncho made of wool, Bolivia, c. 1500. (American Museum of Natural History, New
York/The Bridgeman Art Library)
easily identified by details of their dress, making it clear where they came from.
The Inca had strict sumptuary laws that dictated what people wore depending on
their station within society. Gold and silver, for example, would have been worn
only by nobility. The Inca allowed certain details of dress to be maintained by
each group of conquered people in order to assert control and identify whom they
were dealing with. Precolonial dress of South America has many common ele-
ments, with details such as the fold of the headgear distinguishing one group from
another. Similarity in dress between all regions were in terms of the types of fibers
they used and the styles of dress they adopted, even before the arrival of Europe-
ans. Precontact Inca men wore basic garments made from fibers such as cotton or
animal hair including a loincloth known as a wara, an unku (tunic), and a yakulla
(mantle), and accessorized by a headwrap, ear plugs, and leather sandals. Inca
women wore a simple belted wrap called an ak’su with a mantle and a headwrap.
These regions shared many of the same types of vegetation, so the raw materials
for making textiles were the same, and because there was a certain amount of travel
and communication between these areas, styles of dress had similar features.
After the Spanish arrived in the area, the indigenous people continued to wear
the clothing they wore in the pre-Hispanic times, gradually incorporating Euro-
pean styles. Spanish fashionable dress of the 17th century became very popular
with locals. The introduction of sheep by the European conquerors meant a decline
in the use of traditional llama, vicuña, and alpaca, and cotton or wool became
the most popular fibers for making fabrics. New European technology was also
introduced, including new types of looms and cutting utensils (scissors) to make
tailoring more popular. The process of felting (heating wet wool to create a hard,
nonwoven fabric) made hat making popular, and new styles of headwear were
made available. World trade increased, and so did the availability of nonindigenous
fibers such as silk that was used for finer garments of higher style. It was only after
the Aymara rebelled in Bolivia (and Peru) that the Spanish determined Inca dress
should be banned from use. Women continued to wear belted wrap dresses, but
men adopted short trousers like knee breeches and shirts in more tailored styles
over which a poncho would have been acceptable outerwear.
Many people in urban areas of Chile and Bolivia no longer wear clothing that
has come to be known as the national dress. The Mapuche people of central Chile
and those in the mountains in northern Chile and the highlands of Bolivia continue
to wear traditional dress for day-to-day use. Mapuche women wear a voluminous
gathered pollera (skirt) made of a long piece of colored fabric (sometimes origi-
nally 26 feet long) that is then gathered at the waist and is worn with numerous dec-
orated underskirts. Women also wear either a blouse with ruffles or a form-fitting
blouse and many large pieces of silver jewelry and pendants on their chest. Women
wear a colorful headwrap often decorated with a bright fabric flower. Many men
in the highlands of Chile and Bolivia

wear the mantle and woven belts of the
past, and many mantles are still held in
place with a metal stick pin.
The integration of Spanish dress
into the indigenous dress of Bolivia
was seen to help elevate social class
and make people less distinctive. When
we think of a Bolivian woman now or
see tourist images of women from the
area, it is usually a woman dressed in
a full, gathered skirt (pollera or pul-
lira) with multiple layers of underskirts
that fall to mid-calf, a fringed shawl,
and a telltale small black felted (often
lacquered) bowler or derby-style hat
perched on the top of her head, with
long braided hair hanging down her
Bolivian woman sells bread at a market in La back. Dressed like this, the woman is
Paz, Bolivia. (Edwardje/Dreamstime.com) probably identified as one of Aymara
descent. It is known as chola urbano
dress now, and the women who are most often dressed this way are working in the
markets in towns such as La Paz. This is the iconic dress of the country despite the
long history of discrimination against these people.
The women of the Sacaca people in Bolivia also wear a version of this type
of dress with a full pleated skirt, usually in black fabric to mid-calf length, and a
shawl of woven wool with geometric patterns or in solid color wool. The hats worn
by women in this part of Bolivia can be either plain straw or decorated with woven
hatbands.
Component Parts
The Huasos and Huasas of Chile
In southern Chile the huasos and huasas are Chilean cowboys and cowgirls.
They ride horses, participate in rodeos, and have a distinctive style of dress. The
Chilean huaso is similar to the Argentinian gaucho, but they wrangle cattle and
participate in farming activities as well.
The chamanto is a type of poncho worn in Chile by the huasos and is an impor-
tant component of the outfit. This reversible poncho is made of woven silk or wool
and has ribbon finishing and edging. One side of the chamanto is in lighter colors
Huasos in southern Chile, c. 1955. Huasos are similar to the Argentinian gaucho and the
American cowboy. (Three Lions/Getty Images)
and the other is in darker colors with the darker side being worn in the day and the
lighter color at night. Intricate motifs are woven into the poncho with fruit, flowers,
and birds being most popular.
The traditional outfit consists of knee-high leather boots decorated with sil-
ver spurs, riding pants, a tailored shirt tied at the waist with a woven sash that is
tied and hanging down the left leg, a tailored waist jacket that is quite short to
show off the sash around the waist, and the whole outfit topped off with a colorful
poncho (chamanto) and a large-brimmed, flat-topped hat, often in black to block
the sun.
The more elegant huasa urbana wears a longer, more fitted black skirt with a
long slit to the hip where the white underskirt peaks out, and a red (or red, white,
and blue) sash or waistband that is tied and hangs down the leg. Women also wear
a white blouse with ruffled (sometimes lace) collar and cuffs that peek over the
black waist-length jacket, with silver buttons on the cuffs. A white handkerchief
is also tucked into the waistband of the skirt for the dance. She also wears a flat,
black, wide-brimmed hat. The less elegant China (a female dancer as well) wears
a colorful, often floral print dress with a very full knee-length skirt and apron. The
fitted bodice usually has short puffed sleeves and she rarely wears a hat.
Cueca Dance and Chilean National Dress

The cueca dance is considered the national dance of Chile and is also performed
in Bolivia and Peru. The clothing worn is also meant to represent the typical dress
associated with the country and can be described as the national dress of Chile.
Although there are many other types of traditional dress worn by members of differ-
ent indigenous peoples, this type of clothing is identifiably Chilean. Men (dressed
as huasos) wear a tailored shirt, trousers with a white handkerchief tucked into the
waist, a poncho, horseback-riding boots, and a short Spanish-inspired jacket. For
women (known as the China), the clothing is simply a floral dress with very full
gathered skirt, underskirts with a fitted bodice, and an apron with a white handker-
chief tucked in the front. The handkerchief is used as part of the dance. The huasa
urbana is also a woman dancer, but she wears different, more elegant clothing.
Bolivian Textiles
Bolivian textile production is very old and the designs are distinctive in their
use of vibrant colors and geometric design motifs. The fabrics are made in much
the same way as they were thousands of years ago, with rudimentary looms and in
basic rectangular shapes. One of the more commonly used fabrics, called a manta,
is a shawl seen on the shoulders of many men and women in Bolivia. It is of bright
woolen fabric in vibrant colors such as blue, pink, and white. The shawl is actually
two pieces of fabric that are sewn together. It is not only a garment for keeping
warm; it also is used as a sort of carrier or backpack for toting anything from gro-
ceries to babies. Other Bolivian garments made from handwoven fabrics are tunics
(called unku), woven headbands and belts or sashes, and skirts (called faldas).
People also carry small pouches made from coca plants called chupas.
Knitting is another technique used in Bolivia and other South American coun-
tries to produce fabrics for warm clothing such as hats with colorful yarns that
cover the ears (called chullo). This technique was introduced by the Spanish in the
17th century, and with the availability of warm animal fibers worked well in the
high-altitude Andes Mountains.

As in most of the countries presented in this series, there are people in both
Chile and Bolivia who only wear the most recent fashions from Europe and Amer-
ica, and in each country fashion designers are making their own mark on what
people in these countries wear. In each country, there is also a strong sense of what
traditional national dress is. In Chile, the festivals and cueca dance competitions
show off the dress of the huasa and huaso, while in La Paz it is possible to spot
traditionally dressed women in the markets wearing the full gathered skirts and
small black bowler hats. They are not participating in any kind of festival, but are
working in the markets in traditional dress every day. The more removed from
urban life the people are, such as groups of indigenous people who live high in
the Andes, the more likely they are to wear traditional dress. Some iconic items
permeate all parts of South America. Ponchos, for example, are commonly worn,
especially in rural areas.

Castillo-Feliu, Guillermo. Culture and Customs of Chile. Westport, CT: Green-
wood Press, 2000.
Eicher, Joanna B. Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Latin America and
the Caribbean, vol. 2. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Galvan, Javier. Culture and Customs of Bolivia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
2011.
Richards, Keith. Bolivia—Culture Smart! The Essential Guide to Customs and
Culture. London: Kuperard, 2009.
Roraff, Susan, and Laura Camacho. Cultureshock! Chile: A Survival Guide to Cus-
toms and Etiquette. Oregon City, OR: Marshall Cavendish, 2007.
China
Jennifer Moore
Historical and Geographic Background

China is the most populated country in the world. Now known as the People’s
Republic of China, it is the second largest country in the world, with Russia hav-
ing more landmass. There are 22 different provinces with the government being
housed in Beijing (formerly Peking). Though the government is now a communist
regime, the history of China is long. Until the 20th century China had 2,000 years
of emperors and dynasties, the last of whom was overthrown in 1912. Until the
19th century China had long been a leader in arts and sciences, but it was hurt by
wars, foreign occupation, and not being able to feed its people. After the rule of
Chairman Mao Zedong ended in 1976, Chinese political leaders, including the
head of the Chinese Communist Party, Deng Xiaoping, began to focus on eco-
nomic development, and by the early 21st century, economic output had expanded
greatly. Although there has been some loosening of communist government con-
trol over personal lives, and living standards have certainly improved, the govern-
ment continues to control political events.
Being such a large country, China has many different topographical land-
scapes, from desert to large plains to rough mountains, and tropical islands in the
South China Sea. It is bordered by the South China Sea to the south, and bor-
ders 14 different countries: Vietnam, Burma, Laos, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Nepal,
Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Russia, Mongolia, and North
Korea. China boasts one of the longest rivers in the world, the Yantze River, which
runs in the central-east region.
People and Dress

China is the most populous country in the world. Of the approximately 1.3 bil-
lion people who live in China, there are 56 officially recognized ethnic groups, 55
minority groups and the Han Chinese majority. In addition to the official minority
groups, however, there are subgroups of each clan that have developed regionally.
140
China | 141
The ethnic minority groups of China make up approximately 7 percent of the pop-
ulation and are largely concentrated in southwestern China in the provinces of
Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, and Guangdong. The most populous groups there are
the Zhuang and the Hmong (whom some scholars believe are also known as Miao
or Meo). Among the other groups are the Buyi, Dai, Dong, Jingpo, Li, Yao, and Yi.
It is essential to note that the minority groups of China are not designated based on
racial difference; rather they are subdivided on the basis of linguistic difference.
This fact underscores the importance that dress serves in the marking of groups
and subgroups. For example, the minority group known as the Lahu is subdivided
into several subgroups including the Lahu Shi and the Lahu Na, otherwise known
as the Yellow Lahu and the Black Lahu, respectively. Traditional dress is an essen-
tial, public communication of cultural divisions.
Our shared knowledge of historical Chinese dress is incomplete. Sources of
information about traditional dress include oral traditions (many of the ethnolin-
guistic groups under discussion do not have written languages), sketches, pictorial
ethnographies commissioned by emperors, museum and private collections of tra-
ditional garments, and photographs. A collection of imperial documents detailing
traditions of the Hmong was commissioned during the reign of Hong Zhi (1488–
1505); however, a source with such a pedigree must be regarded with caution as it
assuredly is informed by cultural biases and reflects an etic point of view. Minority
groups from regions at a distance from the imperial capital or lands under impe-
rial control were less likely to have been documented in the historical past. Since
the 1970s there has been increased interest in the customary practices of ethnic
minorities, including those in China. However, documentation and interpretation
is done almost exclusively by individuals from outside of the cultural tradition.
Additionally, in the past 40 years, with increased exposure to mass culture, the
rate of change in traditional dress has accelerated, making documentation of con-
temporary dress customs quickly outdated while the possibility of capturing some
long-standing traditions is fleeting.
Textile arts have a long tradition of serving as a surrogate for written language.
Textile arts symbolically document the history, myths, and legends of peoples.
They record and transmit cultural property. Ethnic cultural codes are written in
dress. Group affiliation, marital status, wishes of health, wealth, and offspring can
be encoded. An expression that is commonly ascribed to the Hmong of mainland
China is, “You wear where you live.” The complexity of clothing style (especially
in terms of material choice and color), technique, and motifs used in decoration
can be read by informed observers as declarations of the wearer’s homeland. Sym-
bols on clothes may be decorative, magical, or apotropaic. The iconography of this
symbolic language is complex. While some motifs may be traced to Tibetan, Ira-
nian (Persian), or Han Chinese origins, other iconographic elements are regionally
specific and serve as a tie sign that

both binds together minority clusters
or clans and differentiates them from
surrounding groups.
These Chinese minority groups
have migrated and commingled through
force, out of necessity, and by choice.
Minority groups have migrated over
time and made settlements based on the
availability of natural resources such as
watersheds, and have immigrated as a
result of political pressure stemming
from the formation of the Communist
state after 1937 and persecution in the
aftermath of the Vietnam War. The
diaspora of Chinese minority peoples,
their dispersal throughout the Golden
Triangle, Europe, North America, and
Australia has led to change. Availabil-
ity of materials, climatic differences,
intercultural interchange, changing pri-
orities, higher levels of education, and
changed structures of the home and
Lahu woman in traditional dress at a Dai industry have all led to modifications
festival in Megnlian in southern Yunnan in design and use of traditional dress.
Province, China, 2011. (Erin Packard Given that traditional dress is custom-
Photography/Dreamstime.com) arily used to establish identity and mark
boundaries, while also functioning as a
form of transportable wealth, daily use of dress largely has been abandoned by Chi-
nese minority groups living outside China. The abandonment of traditional dress
customs is also seen in China where customarily it is abandoned first by men seek-
ing employment or having other commercial interactions with the mainstream. As
a result of these fundamental changes, traditional dress in the modern era is largely
relegated to festivals, ceremonies, births, deaths, and other rituals or rites of passage.

Fiber collection, spinning, weaving, garment making, and garment decoration
have traditionally been the work of women. In the villages of China many young
girls continue to be introduced to these labors commencing around the age of five;
China | 143
however, Chinese minorities living in urban settings and throughout the diaspora are
less likely to continue developing these skills. Traditionally the most common fiber
used in the production of cloth was hemp. The hemp plant was readily obtainable
by most minority groups. Originally the plants were processed within the village,
the fibers spun into threads, and fabric woven on rudimentary looms and then dyed
with natural pigments. Improved trade and increased industrialization in China has
impacted the reliance on homespun cloth for many minorities, even those who con-
tinue to dwell in isolated villages. Wool, cotton, linen, synthetics, and silk (especially
silk embroidery floss) have become increasingly available over time. Additionally,
for Chinese minority groups living throughout the industrialized world, fabrics such
as metallic polyester and trims such as sequins are selected from the vast supply of
mass-produced textiles. Selection is based on cost, taste, and intended use. Over time
mass-produced and synthetic goods have been culturally authenticated and are now
considered traditional by modern Chinese minority group members.
Garment construction is generally quite simple. Upper-body garments for both
men and women rely on the manipulation of rectangular panels to create tunics
of varying lengths with sleeves that are either loose or tight. Jackets are varied
based on similar principles. Pants and aprons are largely based on rectangles, as
are skirts with a tubular shape. While the construction of most garments relies on
simple, efficient, and economic use of fabric, garment decoration is ostentations
and elaborate.
Decorative technique preferences vary across minority groups, whereas sym-
bols and motifs vary at both the ethnic group and subgroup or clan level. Multiple
techniques are frequently employed on a single garment, resulting in clothes of
great complexity and diversity in terms of both color and texture. The Hmong refer
to cloth that has been elaborately decorated as paj ntaub, meaning flower cloth.
Multiple forms of complex appliqué techniques are traditionally used. Reverse
appliqué involves the layering of cloth, which is then cut through so that interior
layers may be revealed by meticulously folding, tucking, and stitching the exposed
edges. A second method, known as the fold and tuck technique, is executed by
manipulating slender strips of cloth that are applied in series, with approximately
1/8 of an inch of each layer permitted to show. Padded appliqué is also a traditional
technique. Herein cotton or fabric is inserted beneath the appliqué area to create
three-dimensionality.
Embroidery is a technique that is celebrated and revered in many Chinese
minority groups. Embroidery may be free style or counted stitch. It may be exe-
cuted with one or two needles. It may be virtually flat or three-dimensional in its
effect. The complexity and quantity of embroidery on Chinese minority garments
was traditionally a source of pride for both the maker and the wearer. It reflected
the skill of the maker and the wealth of the family.
Some Chinese minority groups practice resist dyeing. To produce a textile pat-
tern wax, resin made of ash and wax or soybean paste is applied to the fabric with
a stylus. Once the pattern is executed, it is traditionally dyed in an indigo bath. The
fabric is repeatedly dyed until the desired hue is achieved. The coloration produced
by the indigo dye ranges from bright blue to a hue that is virtually black.
Traditionally Chinese minority groups, including the Hmong, glazed their fab-
ric using natural substances in order to make it shiny. Glazed fabric is achieved by
treating finished cloth with egg white, pig blood, or proteins derived from cooking
water buffalo hide. These substances are applied with a brush, and then the fabric is
calendared (beaten against stone with a wooden mallet). Modern Hmong, especially
those living in the diaspora or in areas with strong trade links to mass-produced
goods, often favor industrially produced fabric with metallic or glossy finishes.
Garments made and decorated at home for the use of family members are
almost always of higher quality than those made for sale. Cultural tourism, a rela-
tively new concept in China, has created demand for handmade garments. Some
villages regularly host busloads of both Chinese and international tourists who
journey to remote locations to witness firsthand what is regarded as an antiquated
way of life. It is these tourists who purchase “traditional” garments as a souvenir.
The demands created by cultural tourism will no doubt, over time, impact the qual-
ity and quantity of traditional garments being made for private consumption and
use. Additionally, the encroachment of mass culture upon these isolated outposts
of minority cultures has impacted the younger generations of Hmong, Yao, Hani,
and Lahu (to name but a few minority groups). The lure of industrialized culture
means that young women, the keepers of this tradition, are being dispersed and in
some cases abandon the age-old traditions of garment production and decoration.
Component Parts
The importance of traditional garments, rich with the symbolism embedded
through decoration, is inestimable for Chinese minority groups. In addition to pre-
senting the cultural archetype for a group, clothes also perform social functions
related to identification. Traditional garment types vary among Chinese minor-
ity groups living within China. The difference is related in part to geographical
location (highland, plain, or valley) and the climatic characteristics of the biome.
Garments also vary based on preferences that emerge among subgroups. Accord-
ing to Xi Keding, the curator of the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Guizhou,
the Hmong alone have more than 180 varied styles of clothing. However, some
garments remain in use that have existed for more than 1,000 years, and some gar-
ments have been adopted cross-culturally among groups. Tunic tops, skirts with
pleats, wide-legged pants, and cloud collars (the last of which originated in Han
China | 145
culture) can be found in historical and contemporary garments worn by Chinese

ethnic minorities.
A comprehensive survey of garments is untenable for all minority groups,
though many garments are based on the same essential construction principles.
Differentiation and tribal identification is achieved largely though diversification
of decoration. A few examples of widely used forms are presented below. Termi-
nology and specific variations on forms have been selected primarily from the most
populous group, the Hmong, and may serve as descriptive, if not comprehensive
examples. A few additional examples drawn from several other ethnic minority
groups illustrate some of the diversity that exists.
Both men and women clothe their upper body with a tunic. These upper body
coverings are based on a rectangular construction that efficiently uses cloth, though
the length may vary from being cut just below the waistline to well below the
buttocks. The closure of the tunic varies depending upon whether or not it draws
influence from Han dress traditions (i.e., necklines vary, as does the use of an
overlapping panel that ties or closes with a toggle or frog). The tunic is generally
adorned with embroidery or appliqué at the neck, cuff, and hem. Decoration on
the sleeve or on a panel may indicate things such as marital status or community
membership. Decorative panels are worn over the shoulder blades by the Hmong,
whereas the Yao affix a panel at the front of the tunic. Some scholars have argued
that the use of a decorative panel reflects a custom that can be traced to official
mandarin dress.
Traditional women’s dress consists of an upper body covering that is pulled
over the head, coupled with a skirt worn with or without leggings or pants. Pants
with a wide leg, cut above the ankle, are typical among the minority groups, which
favor them. Pant legs are generally decorated in a band above the hem. Pants are
not a facet of the minority dress of all groups but are common in the dress of the
Hmong and the Yao.
Numerous Chinese minority groups wear pleated skirts. Hmong skirts are var-
ied in terms of use, decoration, and meaning, but are generally full and pleated.
The dai hao or “migration skirt” is constructed of 81 strips of cloth divided into
nine sets of nine. The construction symbolizes the story of the nine original sons
whose nine sons were the progenitors of the Hmong. The diansa is a pleated white
skirt, while the diandai is a tie-dyed skirt of similar construction. The dianlao is a
wax-resist dyed skirt that is generally used for formal occasions. The Li commonly
wear tubular skirts, whereas a sarong-style skirt is traditional among the Jingpo,
Karen, and Lahu. Skirts are traditionally worn with an apron.
Men’s traditional dress consists of a tunic that may vary in length and a pair
of pants. Most minority groups favor long, wide-legged pants cut to the ankle;
however, some groups favor pants that are characterized by a low-slung crotch
and tapered ankle-length leg. Men

often abandon cultural dress traditions
long before women, and it has been
documented that many men wear the
simple dark-colored pants and jacket
of the Chinese peasantry that have
enjoyed longstanding use.
Jackets of varying lengths are part
of the traditional dress of both men
and women in virtually all minority
groups. Jackets vary in length from
being cut at the waist to just above the
ankles. Many jackets may have been
inspired by Han dress customs. Jack-
ets may be constructed so that the front
panels do not close or the panels may
overlap the chest and be fixed with a
closure. Minority groups, especially
Woman’s dress and basketry hat, Ch’uan those who are native to the highlands,
Miao, Chinese, 19th century. (Boltin Picture
also wear capes. An example of a tradi-
Library/American Museum of Natural
History, New York) tional piece of Hmong outerwear is the
chuosu, an embroidered wool cape that
is meant to look like a warrior’s armor. The chuosu references the Hmong capital
that was taken by the Han about 1,000 years ago. Patterns on the cape represent the
city walls, gates, and streets.
Vests that vary in terms of the length of the hem and the width of the bodice are
worn by both men and women in numerous ethnic groups. Both men and women
wear vests. The lusheng is a vest that is a part of traditional Dong dress, and it is
characterized by long straps of decorated fabric that hang more than seven inches
below the hem of the vest.
The possession of quantities of fine clothing is traditionally of major cultural
importance among Chinese minorities. For example, a Hmong bride and groom
traditionally exchange clothes as part of the betrothal process. These fine clothes
would be displayed before the groom’s house and traditionally would be worn in
layers on the day of the wedding. The fineness of the workmanship wrought on the
clothes and the correctness of the marriage communities symbolically written in
the decoration serve to communicate important social values.
Clothing may also be ascribed apotropaic powers. This is especially true of
clothes that are made for and given to babies by family members. Both the Hmong
and the Hani have a longstanding tradition of using old fabrics and clothes for the
China | 147
creation of baby clothes and baby carriers. The use of fabrics that were part of the
garments belonging to family members is thought to pass positive energies on to
the baby. Symbols, both naturalistic and geometric, are also typically applied to
infant apparel. Jagged edges appear sharp and are applied in order to ward off evil,
whereas the widespread belief in animism that prevails among Chinese minority
groups makes the use of empowering or protective animals such as lions or drag-
ons quite common, especially on hats made for infants and small children.
Traditional clothes are especially important for Chinese minority groups today,
though their use and meaning is in flux. They are increasingly relegated to festive
and ceremonial occasions such as the celebration of marriage or the New Year.
Additionally, many aspects of specificity in dress are being abandoned. A Hmong
woman may choose to adorn herself in clothes that were traditionally symbolic
of a clan that is not her own. Elements of dress that are traditional to mainstream
Thai or Laotian culture may be incorporated into ethnic dress. The assemblages
that constitute contemporary minority dress are in flux, though they continue to be
sources of ethnic pride and serve as identity markers for Chinese minorities both
within and beyond China.
Jewelry and Accessories

Metalworking and the production of jewelry has traditionally been the work
of men. Traditionally jewelry was made of silver, which became available across
mainland China during the Ming dynasty (1368–1643). Serving as both an essen-
tial element of dress and as a form of portable wealth, jewelry had the ability to
communicate personal identity and status. Patterns and motifs found in jewelry are
typically based on those executed in embroidery. Jewelry is traditionally worn in
layers, and quantity and size is valued. Coins may be used as decorative elements
and reflect the original emphasis on portable wealth.
There are six categories of jewelry. The first is head ornaments, which may
take the form of horns, hats, crowns or hairpins. Chest and neck ornaments are
also fundamental ornaments that may take the form of neck rings, pendants, or
chest plaques. The back may also be adorned with pendants or plaques, whereas
the waist may be belted with a silver ornament. Hands are adorned with a variety
of bracelets and rings. Additionally, clothing may have silver ornaments attached.
These ornaments typically take the form of bells or buttons.
Contemporary jewelry strongly reflects the pieces that have traditionally been
handmade by local silversmiths. Pendants, plaques, rings, and bracelets are avail-
able for purchase at New Year’s festivals and on the Internet. Reproductions of
coins (often French francs) can be purchased predrilled and used to embellish gar-
ments that are either homemade or store bought. Jewelry is typically made of a
Metalwork detail on a Dong ethnic minority girl’s clothes, Guizhou Province, southern
China. (Zubin Li/iStockphoto.com)
China | 149
silver and brass alloy or may be made of an alloy that resembles the appearance of
silver. Jewelry may be handmade by men or women residing in rural China or it
may be factory made in locations throughout the Golden Triangle.
Traditionally headdresses were clear markers of ethnic identity and subgroup
membership. Hats, turbans, and elaborate headdresses were made of materials
such as woven textiles or horsehair and could be decorated with metal plaques or
coins, as well as shells, beads, or bones. In the contemporary marketplace, some
headdresses that resemble traditional forms may be purchased. Turbans may be
prewrapped over a foam core, synthetics may be used in place of natural fibers, and
alloys may be used in place of silver. Additionally, headdresses may be adopted
by individuals who are not members of the minority tradition from which the form
developed. Rather than being worn as a sign of membership in a specific minority
group, they are worn as a sign of a broader form of cultural identification.
The footwear of Chinese minority groups shows influences from abroad. Some
minority groups wear shoes with a padded platform. Shoes of this nature likely
reflect Manchu influence. Some minority groups wear unlasted shoes with an
upturned toe. Shoes of this nature indicate the influence of Central Asia. There is
no evidence that indicated minority groups adopted the Han Chinese tradition of
foot binding. Chinese minorities in the diaspora generally adopt mass-produced
footwear that is typical of the region in which they are living.
The dress traditions of China’s minority peoples are rich, diverse, and chang-
ing. The complexity of the decorative techniques, the sophistication of the sym-
bolic communication, and the promises of its evolving forms all provide for a
field of study that is great in breadth and depth. The living traditions of these
people illustrate the importance of dress as a means of creating and expressing eth-
nic identity. Additionally, these dress traditions illustrate the powerful interaction
between traditional and contemporary culture. They demonstrate how consumer
products and diverse cultural ideals can be successfully incorporated into cultural
traditions through the process of cultural authentication.

Corrigan, Gina. Miao Textiles from China. Seattle: University of Washington Press,
2001.
Mackerass, Colin. China’s Minority Cultures. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995.
Writing with Thread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities. Hono-
lulu: University of Hawaii Art Gallery, 2009.
Costa Rica and Panama
José Blanco F.

Costa Rica and Panama are the two southernmost countries of the seven nations
comprising Central America and both have mainly Spanish-speaking populations.
Panama—which shares its southern border with Colombia—is often considered
part of South America. It is also the only country in the Central American isthmus
that did not belong to the Capitanía General de Guatemala (the General Captaincy
of Guatemala) during Spanish colonial times. Both Costa Rica and Panama have
coasts on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans with Panama featuring a canal built in
1914 by the U.S. government to facilitate the transportation of goods between the
two oceans. The east coast of both countries is heavily influenced by Caribbean
culture, which in turn owes part of its richness to the impact of African people
brought to the area as slaves.
The climate in the area is fairly temperate with one rainy season from April
to November and a dry season from December to March. Geographic variations
from the colder mountain ranges to the warmer coastal regions account for a great
assortment of dress styles.
Pre-Columbian groups in Panama and Costa Rica did not produce elaborate
crafts and objects like those appearing in the northern area of the isthmus. Area
natives, however, were skilled in gold and copper metallurgy, stonework, basketry,
and jade carving. Mayan influences reached to the area of present-day Guanacaste
in Costa Rica while the Muisca—also known as Chibcha in reference to their lan-
guage—expanded from central Colombia to Panama and the south of Costa Rica.
Pre-Hispanic (before contact with Europeans) people wore cotton loincloths, bark
skirts, and other simple pieces accessorized with feather headdresses, jeweled belts
or collars, and jade or metallic pendants.
Costa Rica and Panama were colonized by the Spanish crown in the early
16th century. Both countries share cultural influences with other Latin American
nations that were under Spanish rule for hundreds of years. The Spanish forced
the adoption of European dress styles and modesty practices on all citizens and
150
Costa Rica and Panama | 151
used clothing as a visual symbol to impose a strict social caste system. During
the 19th century white intellectual elites defined the characteristics of national
costume in the area by paying tribute to their Spanish background and virtu-
ally ignoring the impact and traditions of native and African communities. Folk-
loric or national dress in both countries is an example of mestizo dress; in other
words, a mix of European and local clothing practices. Mestizos were mixed-
race descendants of Spanish nationals and indigenous people. Also part of the
strict social hierarchy or caste system established in all Spanish colonies were the
upper-class peninsulares—recent arrivals from Spain—and the criollos—those
born in the Americas but of Spanish descent. The mulattoes—descendants of
European and African parents—were deprived of access to any sort of non-work-
related apparel as were the enslaved Africans brought to the area for hard labor.
Sumptuary laws were established during colonial times to protect the peninsula-
res’ right to exclusively wear certain garments, colors, and embellishments. The
Spanish crown established a strict tax system limiting the opportunities for pri-
vate business enterprises and the manufacturing of textiles and clothing. Colonies
were forced to obtain finished products from Spain. These and other oppressive
practices motivated the struggle for independence all over the colonies. The dec-
laration of independence for all Central American nations was signed on Septem-
ber 15, 1821, in Guatemala. At this time, Panama joined the already independent
nation of Colombia. A number of unsuccessful attempts to secede from Colombia
followed until 1903 when Panama finally became independent, in part as a result
of Colombia’s decision to decline a proposal from the United States to build a
canal in Panamanian territory.
Costa Rica and Panama experienced an important transformation at the end
of the 19th century when they changed from mainly agricultural societies ruled
by oligarchies to developing industrial democracies with expanding urban areas.
Nineteenth-century attire, in general, was modeled after European styles with
the exception of native communities that kept elements of pre-European dress.
Influences from European dress and culture remained important during the 20th
and 21st centuries. The daily life of Panamanians and Costa Ricans, however,
is strongly influenced by music, television, and other cultural products from the
United States, Mexico, and South American countries such as Colombia and
Argentina. The approximate population in 2012 for Costa Rica was 4,636,350,
and for Panama, 3,510,050. The Costa Rican capital city of San Jose (population
1,416,000) is a vibrant modern city while Panama City, the Panamanian capital,
population 1,346,000, is a hub for international business and finance. Both cities
are magnets for younger generations due to an active cultural and entertainment
scene. Dress practices among the middle and upper classes are similar to interna-
tionalized global styles that can be easily obtained from local commercial centers
and shopping malls. Cleanliness, grooming, and care of personal appearance are
highly valued among all social classes.
National costumes or attire considered traditional is used for special perfor-
mances, folkloric dances, and patriotic events by Costa Rican and Panamanian
citizens alike in and outside of their countries. Panama’s national dress—the poll-
era—is one of the most distinctive and elaborate national costumes in Latin Amer-
ica. There are several variations of the ensemble based either on use or regional
origin. In Costa Rica, a distinctive national costume exists for each of the seven
provinces with variations in color and adornment.
Dress in Costa Rica

Ethnic groups with links to pre-European cultures survive in Costa Rica, living on
reservations distant from urban areas. Several of these groups maintain versions
of their traditional or historic clothing. Dress traditions—like many others—were
influenced by hundreds of years of contact with other cultures. Women from Bribri
groups living in the southern mountains of Costa Rica wear loose blouses with
decorated necklines and sheath-like skirts. Boruca women, also from the south
of the country, wear short-sleeved white blouses and striped calf-length skirts.
The Costa Rican government supports efforts to keep dress and other native tradi-
tions alive; however, imagery and actual dress pieces from these groups are rarely
adopted as a national symbol. Native women maintain some of the traditions asso-
ciated with clothing construction by means of knotting, netting, or weaving on
backstrap looms. They use natural fibers and dyes and create textiles featuring
geometric designs and color bands.
Descendants of some native groups wear special costumes for performances
of traditional dances or rituals such as the Baile de la yegüita (Dance of the Little
Mare) performed in the northern province of Guanacaste to honor the Virgin of
Guadalupe. Costume pieces include a wooden hood structure covered with burlap
and carried around the waist by the dancer representing the little mare. The Boruca
perform the dance of Los diablitos or Cagrú-rojc at the end of each year. Dancers
interpreting the diablitos (little devils) wear bright-colored wood masks adorned
with animal skins, horns, and feathers. Their dance tunics are made of burlap and
embellished with plantain leafs. The Boruca celebrate the Festival de la sarocla
or Festival de la mulita (small mule) to honor the Virgin of the Pure Conception.
Participants paint their faces with mud or soot and wear animal-skin costumes.
The performer interpreting the mule wears a hood, a headdress in the shape of an
animal, and a burlap covering.
Elaborate costumes are an important element of carnival celebrations in Costa
Rica. The best-known carnivals are held in the Caribbean province of Limon
Costa Rican Boruca men “fight” during the Feast of the Devils celebration in Rey Curre,
Costa Rica, 2012. (Rodrigo Arangua/AFP/Getty Images)
around Fat Tuesday and in the capital of San Jose in the weeks after Christmas.
As in other Latin American countries, carnival traditions showcase a combina-
tion of European and African elements. Music and dance groups or comparsas
dress in costumes coordinated based on a color or theme. Outfits usually incorpo-
rate bright-colored fabrics and adornments such as sequins, feathers, and ribbons.
Comparsas occasionally participate in parades at fairs in small towns. The most
elaborate costumes during town fairs, however, are used by masqueraders or revel-
ers disguised as clowns, devils, animals, or figures from local folklore. The parades
or mascaradas feature a giant and giantess couple and a few characters that chase
after onlookers. Costumes for masquerades include loose, colorful gowns, exag-
gerated shoes and accessories, as well as elaborate oversized masks made from
papier-mâché or plaster. Masqueraders are accompanied by a small brass band
or cimarrona. The mostly male members dress either in traditional attire or wear
white dress shirts and dark pants.
The national dance of Costa Rica is the Punto Guanacasteco, a variation of
quadrille dances involving short steps to indicate courtship between a man and
a woman. Like most traditional dances and elements of Costa Rican folklore,
the dance originates in the northern province of Guanacaste. Male performers in

national folkloric dances wear work jeans or white cotton pants, long-sleeved white
shirts, cotton or straw hats, and handkerchiefs or bandannas. The hat is an impor-
tant prop for dance steps involving courtship of the female. Other elements may
include a machete and a red waist-sash or a cummerbund. Female dancers wear
taffeta or satin ruffled and tiered long skirts with rickrack or ribbon adornments
in each tier. Blue, red, and white—the colors of the Costa Rican flag—are domi-
nant in any Costa Rican national symbol including folkloric costumes. Blouses are
loose and worn off the shoulder. They have round necks and short sleeves. Embel-
lishments include lace, white work, and embroidered or printed flowers. Hair is
braided or gathered in one or two buns and complemented with a large flower
above the ear—usually a guaria morada (Cattleya skinneri), the national flower.
Each of the seven Costa Rican provinces has selected a traditional costume
as representative. Variations are more prominent in women’s dress than in men’s
attire. In Heredia dark colors are dominant for blouses that are often paired with a
colorful print on the skirt. In the province of Alajuela the mainly white outfit has
few embellishments but is accentuated with a bright-colored shawl and a velvet
neck ribbon. The province of Cartago was colonized early by the Spanish, and
traditional dress in the area reflects a number of Spanish colonial elements, includ-
ing embroidered blouses and shawls, flounced blouses, and delicate hats. African
elements are incorporated in the traditional dress of the Caribbean province of
Limon where a colorful printed skirt is used and a turban is the choice for head-
dress. In Puntarenas, on the Pacific coast, women wear a large Spanish-style shawl
with embroidered flowers and sequins. Occasionally other Costa Rican national
symbols are incorporated as embellishments; these may include designs from pre-
Columbian petroglyphs or colorful geometric figures similar to those appearing on
traditional painted oxcarts.
Dress in Panama
The Kuna people of Panama are famous worldwide for their mola textiles. The
group lives primarily in the San Blas Archipelago and other reservations or comar-
cas around Panama and parts of Colombia. Mola is the Kuna language word for
shirt but, in general, the term refers to a textile created by using a reverse appliqué
technique where layers of solid-color fabrics are sewn together and shapes cut from
different layers. Kuna women developed the method for mola blouses in the late
19th century while trying to create a product to barter in exchange for food and
other basic needs. By the 1960s molas were a popular item with tourists in Panama,
and Kuna communities created cooperatives in order to sell them to a global mar-
ket. Molas with geometric patterns similar to Kuna body painting are considered
traditional, but designs may also incor-

porate images of nature, global popular
culture, and current events. Great atten-
tion to detail goes into every aspect of
the mola, from planning the different
layers of cutouts to selecting stitches
that hold the piece together. Mola pat-
terns often appear on mainstream fash-
ion and household products, not just
in Panama but also in Europe and the
United States. Kuna women are also
known for their body jewelry, includ-
ing necklaces, anklets, and bangles,
but also elaborate nose rings.
The Guaimí or Guaymí group lives
in the south of Costa Rica and the north
of Panama. Guaimí women wear high-
waist, ankle-length tunic dresses known
Kuna woman in traditional mola blouse, in
as dgoá in a variety of colors and fea-
Panama city, Panama, 2010. (Kobby Dagan/
turing decorative bands and collars Dreamstime.com)
with geometric appliqué. They adorn
themselves with long bead necklaces
that circle their neckline several times and pectoral collars known as muñon kuá.
Women also practice body modification; polishing their incisor teeth to a V-shape,
painting their cheeks and foreheads with plants or minerals, and gathering their hair
in ponytails adorned with ribbons and flowers. Nudity was common among men
even in the early part of the 20th century, but later men adopted cotton pants, shirts,
and straw hats as daily attire. Men decorate their hats with feathers and squirrel fur
and carry animal pelts or full stuffed animals strapped on their backs while partici-
pating in the balsería, a fighting team competition.
Several other native groups survive in Panama, including the Buglere, Cueva,
Dorasque, Huetar, and Waunana. Survivors from these groups reside mostly in
comarcas or native reservations. Women maintain traditional techniques for the
creation of textiles, using materials such as bark, reeds, and plants as well as natu-
ral dyes made from trees, plants, and roots. The Ngobe-Bugle group, for instance,
are known for their chacara bags, which are woven from pineapple or similar
natural fibers.
As in the rest of Central America, masquerades are popular in town fairs
around Panama and are often part of long-standing traditions. The dances of the
Grandiablo (Great Devil), Diablicos limpios (Clean Little Devils) and Diablicos
sucios (Dirty Little Devils) performed at Los Santos province derive from colonial
celebrations of the religious feast of Corpus Christi. The most distinctive costume
is that of the Diablicos sucios. They wear a two-piece ensemble of black and red
stripes sewn together and a large elaborate animal or devil mask with colorful
feathers attached to the back. Originally the costume was created from old pieces
of coarse cotton or linen painted with coal and achiote (annatto) for alternating
stripes of black and white. The natural dyes would run and get mixed on the fabric
after a day of dancing, hence the name dirty devils. Their dance is characterized by
heavy stamping and the use of a whip to scare onlookers. In order to scare away
evil spirits they produce noise with castanets, cow bladders, and bells attached to
their belt. The Diablicos limpios wear a costume made from finer fabrics, but also
use masks representing animals and devils.
Carnival festivities are widespread in Panama and are held during the week-
end leading up to Fat Tuesday. Celebrations differ slightly from town to town.
Los Santos and Las Tablas are the provinces with the best-known carnivals while
festivities in Panama City attract large crowds. Parades last for several nights and
often include competitions among different comparsas dressed in coordinated,
elaborate costumes. The most expensive outfits are usually worn by a group of
“queens” crowned during the opening days of the carnival. A highlight of the fes-
tival is the mojadera or the tradition of showering onlookers with water from large
trucks resulting in after-parties where entire crowds are soaked. Carnival days are
themed; for instance, Saturday features a large number of international costumes
while Sunday showcases the Panamanian traditional dress or pollera.
The Panamanian pollera—which literally means skirt—is the most recognized
and admired folkloric or national costume in Central America. Panamanians proudly
wear this highly embellished dress in events worldwide. The costume is inspired by
both Spanish colonial attire and the clothing of enslaved women and servants who
used their skirts to herd chickens and carry produce. The Spanish Andalusian influ-
ence is evident in the ruffles, which are a variation of those in the more voluminous
flamenco skirts. The pollera is used for folkloric dances, carnival parades, holiday
processions, tourist attractions, and, occasionally, as a wedding dress.
The full skirt or enagua has several layers of ruffles and is usually handmade
with fine white cotton and embellished with mundillo (handmade bobbin lace),
crochet, or appliquéd floral designs. Polleras may also be decorated using a variety
of embroidery techniques, including marcado (cross-stitch), zurcido (satin stiches),
and encajonada (embroidered geometric motifs). The drop-shoulder blouse or
camisola is also adorned with ruffles on the neckline and sleeves. Embellishments
usually match those of the skirt. Both pieces are heavily starched to maintain the
distinctive pleats on the fabric. The hair is divided into two braids and adorned with
clusters of flowers or elaborate pieces such as the peinetas (small comb-shaped
Women wear pollera at carnival in Santa Domingo, Panama. (Dixon Hamby/

StockphotoPro)
ornaments worn on the sides of the head), the tembleques (hairpins made with
pearls and placed on both sides of the head), and the peinetón (a large comb made
of tortoise shell or gold and edged with pieces of gold and pearls). Hair is also
adorned with a variety of beads, fish scales, wire pieces, and small daggers made
of gold or pearl. Additional jewelry pieces are made from gold filigree while gold
chains and black ribbons may decorate the neck. Flat satin and velveteen shoes
also feature lace, satin ribbons, and gold buckles.
There are two main types of pollera: the pollera de gala (the fancy pollera)
and the pollera montuna (the mountain pollera). The pollera de gala is made from
more luxurious materials since it is used for special occasions. The pollerón, or
very large skirt worn in this variation, features elaborate detailing with lace and
openwork embroidery or calado. The dominant colors for these details are blue,
red, black, purple, and orange. The most traditional polleras are usually embel-
lished with thread in just one color or with shade variations of one color. Two
special techniques are used to decorate these polleras; talco al sol is a technique
combining complex openwork embroidery and appliqué while talco en sombra
uses appliqué on the reverse of the fabric to create a shadow effect enhancing the
designs on the skirt. Women wear two or more petticoats to augment the skirt’s
fullness and a large embellished rebozo (shawl) on the shoulders.
The pollera montuna is simpler and related to everyday clothing styles, thus
carrying fewer embellishments. The skirt, although voluminous, has no lace or
embroidered details and is made from printed floral calico fabric. A wide ruffle or
picarona is added at the bottom to create fullness. The blouse may be similar to the
camisole worn with the pollera de gala or simply feature mundillo lace detailing.
The underblouse or tapablazo—visible under the camisola—can be finished with
needlework. Hair adornments are similar to those of the pollera de gala but reduced
in amount and luxury. Women may wear a sombrero pintado, a straw hat featuring
strands painted in black using local plant dyes. Women may also wear a shawl and
fresh flowers tucked behind their ears. A number of regional variations exist. In
Chriquí, for instance, the pollerín is a narrower skirt with only one tier and is worn
with a mandarin-collar button-front shirt with several ruffles. In the Ocú prov-
ince the blouse is made from synthetic fabric, and it does not feature any type of
embroidered detailing while the skirt is shorter than the usual pollera. In the Darién
area, the pollera features large flower prints. In the Colón area, the Congo pollera
showcases the influence of African slaves in the choice of prints and the construc-
tion method of using recycled calico fabrics patched together to create the tiers.
The attire worn by men for the national costume is much simpler in compari-
son. They wear black cotton pants, a long-sleeved white shirt with gold-colored
buttons, a handwoven pintado straw hat, and black and white soft shoes. The pants
can be substituted for brown mid-calf trousers similar to the fundas worn by field
workers while the shirt can be made from a calico printed fabric or feature embroi-
dered details. The costume may also include coletos or shirts made from heavy
fabric and worn with the tails out, as well as homemade sandals and a chácara or
woven fiber bag. In the Ocú area men may wear the montuno suit, which includes
fringed knee pants and a long hand-embroidered shirt. This outfit is worn to match
the pollera montuna worn by women in the area.

Biesanz, John, and Mavis Biesanz. The People of Panamá. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1995.
Cheville, Richard A., and Lila R. Cheville. Festivals and Dance of Panama. Pan-
ama City: Legacy Books, 1977.
Foster, Lynn V. A Brief History of Central America. New York: Facts On File, 2000.
Helms, Mary W. Cuna Molas and Cocle Art Forms: Reflections on Panamanian
Design Styles and Symbols. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human
Issues, 1981.
Helmuth, Chalene. “Culture and Customs of Costa Rica.” Culture and Customs of
Latin America and the Caribbean. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000.
Madariaga, León. La Pollera, Traje Nacional de Panama. Leon, Spain: Publica-
ciones Lewis, 1992.
Perrin, Michel. Magnificent Molas: The Art of the Kuna Indians. Paris: Flamma-
rion Groupe, 1999.
Reverte Coma, José Manuel. El Indio Guaimí de Cricamola. Panamá: Editora
Panamá América, 1963.
Solano-Laclé, Vania, Johny Cartín Quesada, and Alejandro Tossatti. Rostros, Dia-
blos y Animales: Máscaras en las Fiestas Centroamericanas. San José, Costa
Rica: Fundación Museos del Banco Central, 2005.
Tice, Karin E. Kuna Crafts, Gender, and the Global Economy. Austin: University
of Texas Press, 1995.
Crete
Leyla Belkaïd

Crete is the second largest island in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean. It is
surrounded by the Aegean Sea and the Libyan Sea. Because of its privileged situ-
ation between mainland Greece and Europe to the north, Egypt and the African
coast to the south, Syria and the Asian coast to the east, the first human settle-
ments on the island are very ancient. Crete was already inhabited in the middle of
the seventh millennium BCE. Nowadays, with 650,000 people living on a land of
3,200 square miles (8,339 km2), Crete is the largest and most populated island in
Greece. Its landscape is mainly mountainous, but it is also characterized by pla-
teaus, gorges, ravines, and fertile plains.
The shape of the island is elongated from west to east and very narrow from
north to south. The first sedentary Cretan people of the Neolithic period lived in
Knossos in the north, Phaistos and Gortyne in the south, and Katsambas, close to
Heraklion, the actual capital of Crete. The ancient Cretans, named Minoans after
the legendary king Minos, had the opportunity to establish intense trade and cul-
tural exchanges with the two major civilizations of early antiquity: Egypt on one
side, Syria and Mesopotamia on the other side. The strategic position of the island
in the Mediterranean world played a considerable role in the early development of
elaborate textile and jewelry techniques, which generated a wide range of fabrics,
sewn garments, and accessories. Today all the Cretans wear Western-like standard-
ized outfits for everyday life, and it is hard to imagine how original the Minoan
dress was more than four millennia ago.
History of Dress
Ancient Minoan Costume

In the second millennium BCE, dress reached a high level of diversification
in Minoan cities. It expressed the sophisticated culture of a flourishing civiliza-
tion. Egyptian iconography shows the Kefti or Cretans dressed with colorful striped
skirts and belts around the hips. While the Egyptians avoided wearing wool cloths
160
Crete | 161
for religious reasons, the Cretans seem

to have produced all kinds of wools,
either woven at home or in weaving
workshops, like the ones found in the
Knossos Palace where the Minoan
kings and their court lived. The long-
haired Cretan men used to wear a
woolen or a leather loincloth and left
the torso bare. A very tight cloth belt
decorated with gold or silver appli-
cations straightened the waist. Their
shoes covered the lower part of the legs
like mid-calf boots, with an Oriental-
like upturned toe form. Richly deco-
rated headgear distinguished the social
functions and status of the princes, the
officials, the warriors, and the other
categories of citizens.
In the eighteenth century BCE,
Cretan women wore conical skirts Central figure in the “Lily Prince” fresco at
Knossos, shows traditional adornment in
reaching to the ground, corsets, and
ancient Crete. (Panagiotis Karapanagiotis/
fitted bodices, sometimes laced below Dreamstime.com)
the breasts. Several types of belts or
double belts narrowed their waists. The skirt was fitted over the hips and often pre-
sented successive ruffles to enlarge its volume, which was probably supported by
hoops. Several multicolored flounces were sewn onto the surface of the skirt. On
many figurines and statuettes, the bodice seems opened on the breast. Cretan dress
was completed with round-shaped aprons, boleros, collars, capes, hats, turbans,
and varied headgear, all decorated with trimmings, embroideries, and other forms
of colorful ornaments. Cretan women used to wear all kinds of shoes, from sandals
to slippers. The elegant jewelry and the complex hairstyles with long curls falling
along the neck, adorned with beads and ribbons, are also specific to the Minoan
period. The variations of the ritual clothing, which included animal skins and ele-
vated headdresses, recall ancient Middle Eastern costumes. Although the influence
of Mesopotamian and Assyrian dress on the Creto-Aegean one seems undeniable,
the fitted sewn clothing of the Minoan era constitutes the most elaborate Mediter-
ranean costume of the second millennium BCE.
In the 15th century BCE, Crete was hit by a natural disaster. Tsunamis provoked
by the enormous eruption of the Thira (now Santorini) volcano in the Aegean Sea
nearly caused the devastation of the island. The destruction of Knossos brought the
decline of the Minoan culture and the materialization of a greater Greek influence
on Cretan dress. Though Mycenae increased its control over Crete, the passion of
the city dwellers in Knossos, Arkades, or Drero for sophisticated textiles, garments,
and Oriental-like jewelry was still sustained by trade with Cyprus, Syria, and Egypt.
Crete became a Roman province in 69 BCE and stayed under Roman rule for
300 years. It was then attached to the Byzantine Empire in 395. The four centuries
of Byzantine rule rooted the Greek language and the Christian Orthodox religion
in Crete. The Byzantine silk tunics and draped mantles spread through the island
cities. In the capital, Gortyn, the aristocracy exhibited layers of multicolored cloth-
ing made of silk textiles with abstract and figurative motifs woven into medallions.
The profusion of pendants, diadems, and necklaces, made of imposing ranges of
pearls and gems, was also a characteristic of the Byzantine elite’s dress. When the
Arab Saracens occupied Crete in 824 and set up the new capital, Heraklion, the
Cretan costumes kept the same shape and ornaments. In the Near Eastern countries
from which the Arab conquerors came, the urban dress was quite similar to the
Byzantine one. The concept of long, multilayered tunics cut in richly ornamented
and colorful silks was shared by both cultures. When Crete was liberated from the
Arabs in 961 to turn back under the rule of Constantinople, the clothing landscape
of the island was not much different from that of the other Greek Aegean cities.
Cretan National Dress

In 1204, as Constantinople was conquered by the Crusaders, the Byzantine
Empire was dismantled and Crete became a property of the Venetians. From the
early 13th century to the beginning of Ottoman rule in 1669, Crete was the Vene-
tian colony of Candia. The Latins who dominated the colony and the Cretan Greeks
set up dress codes, which were a miscellaneous ensemble of Byzantine and Italian
tunics, draped mantles, and cloaks. The dress of the Latin elite was initially distinct
from the Greek one, but after a century, the ethnic differences between the two
costumes blurred. The urban women’s costume was more fitted to the bust than the
earlier Byzantine one. The low-cut neckline, an innovation of the Lusignan court
on the neighboring island of Cyprus, spread into the female dress of high society.
When the island was annexed to the Ottoman Empire in 1648, the Byzantine and
Venetian heritages were still tangible in the hybridized style of the Oriental yet
European clothing culture of the Cretans.
The acculturation and the miscegenation of the urban way of life increased dur-
ing the centuries of Ottoman rule on Crete. In the 18th century, the local elite wore
caftans, waistcoats, and upper garments richly ornamented with golden embroider-
ies and trimmings. Men inherited the loose, baggy Oriental-like breeches, worn
with leather boots. The long decorative sleeves and the low-cut neckline of the silk
Crete | 163
coat worn by female city dwellers over

a silk shirt and long baggy silk trou-
sers were similar to the Turk-like dress
of the other Greek and Ottoman elites
in the whole east Mediterranean area.
The tasseled fez used by both men and
women was the most popular type of
headdress.
The Cretans contributed to the
Greek War of Independence against
the Ottoman Empire, but when Greece
became an independent state in 1832,
the island was not included in its ter-
ritory. It passed to Egypt before the
European Powers intervened to expel
the Turkish forces. It became an inde-
pendent republic in 1898. In 1913, the
island was finally annexed to Greece.
During the early 20th century, the elite People wearing traditional clothing from the
of the Cretan capital, Heraklion or province of Krid (Crete), Ottoman Empire,
Iraklion, and the other two major cit- c. 1873. (Library of Congress)
ies, Chania or Hania, and Rethymnon,
progressively adopted a western European style of dress. However, in the rural
and mountainous areas of the island, the regional and ethnic costumes kept their
material and symbolic specificities. Today only half of the Cretans live in the rural
agglomerations. In the remote villages, old men still wear an everyday traditional
dress. But in most of the other areas of the island, the folk costumes are only exhib-
ited for festive occasions.
The male Cretan dress is composed of a black shirt, a dark blue or black sleeve-
less yileki (waistcoat) richly ornamented with silk trimmings, a felt long-sleeved
jacket called mindani, and an 8.75 yards (8 m) long sash cummerbund wrapped
around the waist, called zounari. On special occasions, the cummerbund is used to
hold crafted silver guns and scimitars. The dark blue vraka (loose breeches tucked
into the boots) are the most distinctive element of the costume. Today, the vraka
can be beige and not necessarily dark colored. The knee-high black boots of the
Cretans are called stivania. The festive stivania are always white. The sariki is a
black crocheted kerchief wrapped around the head. Contemporary young Cretans
prefer reducing the sariki to a black headband with a few short fringes falling on
the forehead. A short hooded mantle is worn by Cretan men during the winter. It
is often decorated with woven motifs on the shoulders, on the back, and on other
parts of the garment. The inner lining of the mantle is usually red and decorated
with colorful red, orange, and yellow patterns on the corners.
Few details distinguish the male dress of a specific region from another. The
volume and the length of the vraka (baggy trousers), the cut of the waistcoat, the
color of the jacket, and the type of headdress, which can be wrapped or replaced by
a fez, are the most common elements of difference. The only traditional accessory
shared by all Cretan men is the ornamental watch chain called kiousteki. The watch
is hidden in the jacket’s pocket, but the chain remains visible and constitutes the
unique Cretan male jewel. Female costumes and jewelry are much more diversified
across the island. Today, Cretan women wear modern international clothing like
elsewhere in Europe, but folk dancers and old women in the isolated mountains
still wear the traditional dress, which has remained almost unchanged since the
early 20th century. The two principal variations of women’s dress are the Sfakiani
costume from the region of Sfakia in western Crete and the Anoghiani costume
from the area of Mylopotamos in central Crete. The Sfakiani dress is composed of
a white silk or cotton shirt with woven motifs, a dark red or brown skirt decorated
on the lower border with two wide golden ribbons, and a white traditional apron
with woven symbolic patterns. A velvet black or dark-colored ziponi (waistcoat)
and a headscarf complete the outfit. The ziponi is decorated with golden trim and
voluptuous embroidered motifs. Its wide décolletage down to the breast shows the
silk or cotton shirt underneath.
The Anoghiani dress originated in Anogia, a village close to Heraklion, the
largest city of the island. It is the most representative female traditional costume of
Crete. The main difference with the Sfakia dress is the long vraka (trousers) worn
under a white poukamisa (shirt). The lower part of the trousers used to fall over
a pair of short traditional boots, but today, women wear modern high-heel black
shoes to complete their folk dress. The woven apron called brostopodia and the red
half-skirt or sartza tied around the waist are two fundamental components of the
costume. In the Cretan tradition, a silver knife, called argirobounialaki, was held
to the waist by a sash belt to indicate if the woman was married or betrothed. The
upper part of the costume is a dark felt jacket decorated with golden embroidery,
quite similar to the ziponi of Sfakian women. A red fringed headscarf, the skou-
foma, covers the hair. The fringes of the headscarf can be golden or yellow.
Nowadays, the white trousers exhibited by Cretan women for Independence
Day parades and other festivals are less voluminous than one century ago. The
folk dress uses lighter and less expensive fabrics. The shirt, the trousers, the white
fringed apron with red woven motifs, the red sartza (half-skirt), and the head
scarf are more often made of thin cottons or synthetic textiles, rather than hand-
woven silks and felts. Handweaving traditions have almost disappeared from
Crete. Modern imported textiles are omnipresent even in the remotest villages.
Crete | 165
Traditional dancers start the first dance at a wedding in Heraklion, Crete, 2010. (Bastian
Parschau/Getty Images)
Few workshops are still active in Chania and in smaller agglomerations, like Ano-
gia, where villagers still use their grandmothers’ old looms to produce traditional
cloths. In the 21st century, weaving, domestic activities, and the ritual functions of
the traditional clothing assume less significance. Nevertheless, Cretan female and
male traditional dress still expresses cohesiveness in a land where people are proud
of their insular identity.
Folk dress survives in Crete thanks to the persistence of a wide variety of
traditional dances performed at festivities, either the national ones or the religious
ones like the Christian Orthodox Easter, Christmas, and saints’ days. The Cretan
dancers’ performances are also appreciated by the 3 million tourists who visit the
island every year. Crete has preserved many traditional dances: the Maleviziotis
and the Sousta of Rethymno dance, known as the lovers’ dances; the Pentozalis, a
fast male dance that originated in the city of Rethymnon before spreading to the
whole island; the Syganos, a slow group dance that exalts the spirit of freedom and
unity of the Cretans; the Chaniotikos Syrtos dance from the city of Chania; and the
Kastrinos dance, the most impressive and popular masculine dance in Crete. The
local authorities and the artists performing those folk dances are keen on preserv-
ing the Cretan dress tradition.
In the contemporary folk costumes, jewelry has been drastically reduced.
Female dancers often put on the red traditional headscarf without fixing any head
jewelry over it. A few decades ago, the head jewelry was essential to signify the
wealth and social status of each individual. As in many other areas of the Ori-
ental Mediterranean, golden coins were sewn on the headscarves and hung over
the women’s foreheads. Jewelry played an important role in all the rituals and
festivities because of the protective attributes given to the precious metals and
stones, which were supposed to have the ability to chase away evil spirits. Today,
gold chains with ranges of coins still cover the women’s belts and the visible part
of their shirts. After four millennia, the particular attention given by the Minoan
women to the adornment of their bosoms, as a symbol of fertility, still persists in
the folk costumes of Crete.

Detorakis, Theocaris. History of Crete. Iraklion: Detoraki Editions, 1994.
Hatzimichali, Angelike. The Greek Folk Costume. Athens: Benaki Museum and
Melissa Publishing House, 1977.
Papantoniou, Ioanna. Greek Dress. Athens: Commercial Bank of Greece, 2000.
Raftis, Alkis. The World of Greek Dance. London: Finedawn, 1987.
Zora, Popi. Embroideries and Jewellery of Greek National Costume. Athens:
Museum of Greek Folk Art, 1981.
Croatia
Vishna Collins
C roatian national costume (narodan nosnja), the traditional folk dress worn
by ethnic minority groups, is the heart and soul of the nation. It speaks of the
history and values of the nation and reinforces strong social ties, community tradi-
tions, national pride, and cultural identity. Croatian people expressed their hopes,
dreams, and hardships through the art of dress and needle and thread.
For the purpose of this study, folk dress and peasant dress refer to traditional
ethnic clothing associated with agrarian subsistence rural communities who lived
on the land, raised crops, harvested wheat and corn, ploughed the fields, and main-
tained orchards and vineyards. Their lives centered on working in the fields, pre-
paring food, and participating in traditional folkloric (kolo) circle dance and song
festivals. Folk dress was an integral part of daily life and culture, and reinforced
identity and a traditional way of life.
Tradition refers to repeated and inherent patterns of thought and behavior
passed down orally from generation to generation without alteration. Croatian
traditions, customs, and beliefs are steeped in history. For example, it was the
village custom (obicaji) for the local citizens to pay their respects to a new-
born baby by offering a gift of gold coins, placed under the baby’s embroidered
pillow.

Croatia is a small Slavic country situated in southern central Europe on the Adri-
atic Sea along the banks of the Danube and Sava Rivers. Croatian traditions, cus-
toms, and beliefs date back to the seventh century when the Croats migrated to the
Balkan peninsula.
During its long history, Croatia was part of the Roman province of Pannonia.
The country developed under the influence of Greek, Roman, Celtic, Illyrian, Aus-
trian, Hungarian, Venetian, Byzantine, Islamic, and Balkan cultures and the Ottoman
Empire. The cross-fertilization of these cultures influenced the style of Croatian folk
167
dress, such as the Ottoman-inspired women’s embroidered purple silk bodice. Croa-
tia is renowned for its richly embellished folk dress, idyllic countryside, rolling hills,
fertile plains, and rugged mountains.
Croatia consists of three major ethnographic zones. The Pannonian (plains)
zone lies between the eastern and northern areas, comprising lowlands and fertile
soil, known for its agricultural development and livestock breeding. The Dinaric
(mountainous) zone consists of a vast mountainous hinterland extending from
south of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and parts of
Serbia. The region is known for the rugged mountains and sheep breeding. Wool
was the primary fiber, regarded as more practical for the rugged mountainous ter-
rain and the shepherds’ roaming way of life. The Adriatic (coastland and islands)
zone lies close to the Dinaric region on the northeastern part of the Mediterranean
belt. The population of Croatia in 2012 was approximately 4,480,000.
People and Dress

Croatian folk dress is a highly developed and sophisticated art form of stunning
diversity and great aesthetic appeal. While Western society may have marvelled at
the striking folk dress, the rural community who made and wore the clothing had
no real concept that their clothing could be considered art.
The style of folk dress was simple and elegant, consisting of dark and som-
bre colors. Clothing resembled basic hemp tunics dating back to pre-Roman times.
Men wore simple wide trousers, knee-
length robes with a girdle, and cone-
shaped black felt hats (subara). Upper
body clothing consisted of a sleeveless
cloak made from coarse wool. Women
wore two-layered robes, a long-sleeved
under robe, a short-sleeved outer robe,
and a girdle or belt.
Village people wore plain and
simple folk dress for everyday work-
ing and living. Festive folk dress,
richly embellished with multicol-
ored embroidery threads, was worn
for celebrating special events such as
weddings, Easter Sunday mass, and
the Feast of Pentecost (duhove), a cel-
ebration that traditionally takes place
Croatian man, c. 1855. (Library of Congress) seven weeks after Easter.
Croatia | 169
Croatian folk dress is a striking visual language of clothes encoded with multi-
colored embroidered motifs, which communicate messages and meanings; record
life’s events; evoke magic; secure fertility, happiness, and good fortune; and cel-
ebrate life, lives, and the human experience.
Dakovo, in Slavonia, is renowned for its ornate festive folk dress, richly embel-
lished with baroque-inspired gold thread embroidery. Dakovo Embroidery (Dako-
vaski Vezovi) is an annual folkloric festival of the combined regions of Slavonia
and Banja Luka, a city of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The festival is a visual splendor of traditional folkloric dancing, singing, and
folk dress of stunning diversity. The spectacular pageant of regions is a celebration
of the long-standing rich tradition of different aspects of Slovenian culture. The
festival is of great historical significance and forms part of the Croatian cultural
heritage.
The style of Croatian folk dress is diverse, varying from region to region and
from village to village. Croatia is renowned for the distinctive multicolored tradi-
tional embroidery (konavoski vez) or national embroidery (naroden vezove) fea-
tured on folk dress and decorative household textiles.
Distinguishing style characteristics include diversity, color, and quality. Folk
dress features striking multicolored cotton, silk, silver, and gold thread embroi-
dery, counter thread, drawn thread, cross-stitch (krstacki), cutwork, appliqué,
broderie anglaise (slinganje) embroidery, and needlepoint (bobbin) lace. Clothing
style identifies the region and the village rather than individual citizens of the vil-
lage community.

Style was dictated by the topography and economy of the region. Wool was the
primary fiber in the rugged mountains. In the fertile plains, flax and hemp were the
main fibers used for folk dress and household linen.
Clothing was homespun from heavyweight linen cloth, designed to withstand
the wear and tear of everyday living, working long hours in the fields, and constant
washing and scrubbing. Lightweight homespun linen cloth (platno) was reserved
for festive folk dress and articles of dress.
Croatian textile manufacturing has a long-standing, continuous tradition, dat-
ing back to old Slavic history. The inhabitants of the Croatian rural communities
sowed seeds in their fields for clothing and household linen and decorative textiles.
Working in the fields was a daily routine for the village community.
Primary activities included shearing the sheep for wool, plucking, soaking,
drying, cracking, and combing natural fibers such as flax and hemp. Linen cloth
was washed, beaten, and spread on the meadows to whiten and dry in the sun. Men
were responsible for ploughing the fields and soaking and beating the fibers. The
sowing and processing of fibers and the manufacture of clothing and household
linen were women’s work.
Wool and flax were the main natural fibers. Hemp and broom (zuka) were also
used. Cloaks and sacks were made from goat’s hair. Silkworm (pubice) farming
was a cottage industry, managed exclusively by women. Silk was dyed with natural
vegetables dyes and was reserved for decorating special articles of dress, such as
festive caps.
Women’s and Men’s Dress

The main purpose of clothing was functional, designed and manufactured for
everyday working and living. Decorative elements evoked magical power. The style
of clothing varied from the everyday to festive dress, worn for special events and
holidays. Construction of the clothing consisted of basic square and rectangular
shapes, requiring minimal designing and sewing. Folk dress that was well-worn and
no longer suitable for festive events was then used for everyday working and living.
Women’s and men’s folk dress styles varied from region to region. The vil-
lage community recognized their neighbors by their distinctive style of dress. The
fertile land of the Pannonian zone is ideal for growing flax and hemp fiber for
textiles. Pannonian folk dress and articles of dress included a red cap (crvenkapa),
headscarf (jugluk), woolen-fringed apron (pregaca), and floral shoulder-fringed
shawl (safirka). Winter clothing consisted of fur coat (kozun) made from lambskin,
and sleeveless fleece lined lambskin fur waistcoats (kozu prsnjak), embellished
with small mirrors, ribbons, berries, leather buttons and loops. Men wore a dome-
shaped fur cap (subara) made from lambskin and kid fur, and fleece-lined lamb-
skin fringed cloaks.
In the Dinaric zone, folk dress featured elements of dress from the Italian
Renaissance, or Venetian and Baroque elements. Articles of dress included festive
caps, woven aprons and fringed girdles that reflected multicolored handicrafts of
the Mediterranean world.
Women
Women’s folk dress was multi layered and consisted of underskirt (donja kril-
ica), upper skirt (gornja krilica), blouse (oplecak) fringed girdle (tkanica), wool-
len fringed apron (pregaca), upper headscarf (jugluk), under scarf (samija), and
floral fringed shoulder shawl (safirka). Decorative articles of dress included gold
coin necklace jewelry (dukati) and hand-knitted bracelets interwoven with white
beads (narokvice).
Croatia | 171
Women from Gornji Bogicevci wore the traditional plain-edged, cherry-red

chequered upper headscarf (jugluk). The scarf was folded in the traditional manner
and fastened to the under scarf (samija) with pins and a decorative metal three-
pronged comb.
Women from Slavonski Brod in Slavonia wore the headscarf (jugluk) edged
with multicolored woolen pom-poms. It was common for women to wear it on
a daily basis with ordinary clothes when working in the fields and attending to
domestic chores. This essential article of dress continues to be worn today by older
women living in Croatian villages.
Men
Men’s basic folk dress consisted of heavy homespun fabric trousers (gatce)
that were wide, paired with a loose-fitting long-sleeved shirt (kosulja), a black
woolen waistcoat (persnjak or lajbec), a black felt hat (kapa), and a fringed girdle
or belt (tkanica). The center front of the shirt featured white cotton thread embroi-
dery. Crochet filet lace edging featured on the hems of the wide linen trousers.
Tiny gathered accordion-style pleats
featured on the back of the shirt near
the neckline and the top and bottom of
the finely gathered sleeves with scal-
loped edging.
Festive Clothing
and the Ritual of Dress
Both women and men wore festive
dress (svecnja roba) for special cer-
emonies such as weddings, feast days,
and Sunday mass. The style of folk
dress was ornate and richly embel-
lished with striking multicolored
threads. Silk and gold thread embroi-
dery was reserved for special articles
of dress such as women’s deeply
fringed shoulder shawls (safirka) and
festive cap (peculica).
For women, dressing the part with
a multilayered folk dress ensemble Women from Sestine wearing their Sunday
was a complex and time-consuming dress, c. 1950. (Three Lions/Getty Images)
process, requiring the assistance of many hands. Multilayered clothing weighed

several pounds and could consist of up to three heavyweight underskirts (donja
krilica). The order of dressing adhered to tradition and stringent rules applied.
Typical features of Slavic women’s folk dress ensembles consisted of tra-
ditional vertical back pleats and high-relief embroidery (stikanji), created with
a small device and a needle on the reverse side of the linen cloth. High-relief
embroidery varied in colors and patterns, from traditional cherry-red stylized flo-
ral motifs, cluster of grapes, vine leaves, tendrils, and star motifs, to red and black
geometric motifs.
Additional decorative features included crochet filet lace on the back of the
square-neckline blouse (oplecak), the bottom of the wide sleeves, the upper skirt
(gornja krilica), and the underskirt (donja krilica). Crochet filet lace also featured
as insertions on upper and underskirts.
Headwear, Footwear, and Accessories

Women’s folk dress and articles of dress such as the festive cap (peculica)
from the Sava Valley were highly decorative objects embroidered with densely
laid satin stiches. Great effort and attention went into embellishing festive caps
with silk embroidery, cutwork, lace, ribbons, sequins, and beads. Croatian women
were skilled artisans. In their hands they turned silk embroidery into an art form,
referred to as painting with a needle and thread.
Festive caps were objects of great charm and aesthetic appeal, featuring ornate
baroque-inspired floral motifs such as rosettes, delicate meandering branches, nee-
dle lace, crochet lace medallions, and open cutwork.
Women’s headscarfs and headdresses were essential articles of folk dress. The
style varied from region to region. Headdresses were elaborate and ornate tower-
ing structures, richly embellished with artificial flowers (smilje), wheat, feathers,
brocade ribbons, beads, and silver sequins.
Young women from Bratine wore dome-shaped, red-beaded, snug-fitting head-
dresses, with long beaded panels folded over at the back of the headdress that hung
elegantly down the back to the waist. Young women from Bilogore wore large,
shoulder-length, red cross-stitch embroidered white headscarfs, folded to the front
of the head and pinned under the chin.
Women from the island of Pag wore winged, white, ethereally fine linen head-
dresses, embellished with needlepoint (bobbin) lace. Plain white homespun ker-
chiefs were worn by young women from Sibenika, simply tied on the head and
knotted at the nape of the neck at the back.
Young girls went bareheaded. When they reached puberty, they were consid-
ered eligible for marriage and wore the red cap (crvenkacapa). Unmarried women
Croatia | 173
(stare cure) wore darker and more somber shades of headdress and clothing. Any
woman over the age of 40 or 50 years old wore a plain scarf in a shade of brown.
Slavs were deeply superstitious people who believed that the color red had
magical powers for warding off evil spirits. They went to great lengths to protect
their families and possessions. Village people decorated their domestic interiors
with multicolored red-embroidered textile objects. Red (zivocrveni) was the pri-
mary color; other colors were of secondary value. Red was reserved for young girls
and young marriageable women. The color denoted life-sustaining powers, good
fortune, health and happiness, and served as protection from the evil eye. Married
and older women wore plainer and more somber colors.
Footwear
The style of footwear varied from region to region. Traditional footwear
(opnaci) was handmade from soft ox hide and laced up with leather straps (zner-
abci). For festive events, young women wore plain white (bjecve) cotton knitted
stockings and red leather slippers (crvene papuce), flat small-heeled embroidered
and beaded slip-on shoes, and light-colored, leather-soled sandals with front straps.
Men’s footwear included black leather knee-high boots (cizme) and flat black
leather slip-on shoes. Young women and girls wore light brown leather laced-up
boots. In place of knitted socks, people wore foot rags (objiki) made from recycled
Croatian women’s traditional footwear. (Jerko Grubisic/iStockphoto.com)

homespun linen, wrapped around the feet and ankles. Knitted footwear included
both ankle-length and knee-high multicolored woolen socks (cicanje carape), and
women’s knitted knee-high stockings (klicanice).
Women’s Hairstyles and Hairdressing

Women and girls’ hairstyles consisted of traditional braided plaits (pletenice).
Small girls and women always had long hair. They never cut their hair; even in old
age, women had long hair down to their waists, braided into one plait and wound
into a bun at the back. For everyday, young girls wore two long plaits with red rib-
bons. Married and older women wore kerchiefs over the braided plaits.
The number of plaits and the complexity of braiding depended on the festive
event and the age of the wearer. Young girls’ hair was parted in the middle and
divided into two or four plaits (kikice) at the back of the head. The front part of
the hairstyle consisted of plaits arranged into a shape resembling a woven basket
(kosarica).
Young women’s hairstyles consisted of nine, 15, or 25 plaits. Braided plaits
were crossed over at the back of the head, lifted up, and secured with hairpins and
decorative brooches. False braided plaits made of human hair, arranged at the back
of the head, were an additional decorative feature for women’s festive hairstyles.
Young girls wore wire-framed hair insertions (lutka) wrapped with small tufts
of hair and homespun threads. Young married women (snase) wore a triangular-
shaped piece of wire (zica) wrapped with narrow strips of linen cloth and threads.
Hairstyles were embellished with rosemary, artificial fruit and flowers, feathers,
wheat, and gold coins. Multiple braided plaits were a village tradition that required
time and assistance from other hands.
Fringed Belts and Tasselled Girdles

Both women and men wore fringed skirts or girdles, but they were more
associated with women’s clothing. The girdles were woven on looms, leaving a
long unwoven end to form a fringe. These could be of various colors and designs
depending on the region, and the fringes could be simply twisted, braided, or have
a series of decorative knots. Fringed girdles (pas) were imbued with symbolic
significance and had magical powers to ward off evil or promote fertility. Fringed
girdles were also highly valued art objects and were collected in large numbers for
the girl’s dowry and given by the bride as gifts.
Aprons
Homespun linen embroidered and woolen-fringed aprons (fertun) were essen-
tial articles of dress. Plain and simple aprons were worn for everyday living and
working; decorative aprons were reserved for special occasions such as Sunday
Croatia | 175
mass and weddings. Decorative features included lozenge patterns, squares, rect-
angles, triangles, and diamonds, and closely aligned parallel lines woven in differ-
ent colored woolen threads.
Styles varied from region to region. Women from Gornji Bogicevci wore a
rectangular-shaped densely woven apron (pergaca), which was as thick as a carpet.
Young women from Bebrine wore cross-stitched white embroidered linen aprons,
embellished with strawberries (jagode) and floral motifs.
Young women (mlade zene) from Draza wore heavyweight and densely woven
red multicolored striped front and back aprons, wrapped around the waist like a
blanket, red and black striped knee-high knitted socks, and a multicolored, snug-
fitting red cap. The fringed apron was decorated in woven patterns of fertility and
was worn with thick decorative homespun red knitted knee-high socks.
The Chemise
The linen chemise was a basic undergarment worn by women next to the skin
to absorb moisture, before putting on the upper garments. The visible parts of the
chemise featured decorative multicolored thread embroidery and lace trim. The
hidden parts of the chemise were left plain. Women gave special attention and
care to embroidering the bridal chemise, and they took great pride in creating this
special article of dress.
Bridal Attire and Headdresses

Marriage Dowry
The dowry (ruva) was essential for all young girls in the village. The size and
content of the dowry depended on the family’s social and economic status within
the community.
Young girls learned sewing skills from their mothers and grandmothers, who
passed their skills down from generation to generation. It was a village custom for
young girls to learn the arts of spinning, knitting weaving, embroidery, and lace
making. From an early age, they were encouraged to practice their sewing skills
and prepare their marriage dowry.
The bride and groom’s wedding attire paralleled traditional Croatian folk
dress. It was customary, after the wedding, for the newlyweds to wear their bridal
attire for special events, such as Sunday mass, for many years. The most prized
folk dress and articles of dress such as the bride’s elaborate bridal crown (vijenac)
and gold coin necklace jewellery (dukati) were cherished processions, traditionally
bequeathed to families from generation to generation.
The village bride (mlada cura) wore ornate, multicolored bridal attire, such
as the highly ornamented headdress crown or wreath (vijenac), richly embellished
with brocade ribbons, feathers, artificial flowers, fruit, and beads. The bride and
her bridesmaids, attired in festive folk dress ensembles, drove to the village church
wedding in an open horse-drawn carriage, accompanied by two horsemen (koci-
jasi) attired in traditional folk dress and red, white, and blue sashes.
It was the village tradition for the groom, best man (kum), and groomsman
(djeveri) to wear long white ceremonial linen towels draped over their shoulders.
The ceremonial towels were a gift from the bride to mark the official welcome to
the family, and to encourage good relations between the newlywed couple and the
two families.
To mark the official bridal party, the groom and groomsmen (djeveri) wore the
customary rosemary with white flowers and ribbon on their lapels. Wedding guests
(savatovi) wore rosemary tied with thin red, white, and blue ribbon. The tradition
of wearing rosemary and the gift of ceremonial towels continues in modern-day
Croatian communities. Rosemary was a symbol of fertility and good health.
This study provides a glimpse into a world of people living in a vast terrain that
shaped a nation, from Illyrian tribes dating back to the seventh century to the pres-
ent day. Folk dress illuminates the rich cultural heritage of Croatian people, their
traditions, customs, and beliefs, exemplified by their striking folk dress unsur-
passed in artistry and their exquisite mastery of skills and techniques.
The style of Croatian folk dress is diverse and varies from region to region,
but the traditions, customs, and beliefs fundamentally remain the same. Traditions
are steadfastly followed by people who did not adhere to Westernized dress norms,
and who faithfully continue to practice and maintain their traditions, customs, and
beliefs in the modern world.

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Early Times. New York: W. W. Norton, 1994.
Harris, J. (ed.). 5000 Years of Textiles. London: British Museum Press, 1993.
Kennett, F. Ethnic Dress. London: Octopus, 1994.
Riffe Gallery, Ohio Arts Council, http://www.oac.state.oh.us/riffe/exhibitions/
1997/patterns/patterns.asp, accessed March 19, 2012.
Waller, D. Textiles from the Balkans. London: British Museum Press, 2010.
Welters, L. (ed). Folk Dress in Europe and Anatolia. Beliefs about Protection and
Denmark
Claire Townsend
The Danes, a Gothic-Germanic people, have inhabited Denmark since prehis-
toric times. The Danes were known for being a ruthless seafaring nation in the
Viking period, the ninth to 11th centuries, and the Danish kingdom consisted of the
northern part of the island of Jutland, Zealand, and the southern part of Sweden.
Under the rule of King Canute in the 11th century, England and parts of Finland
were added. In the 14th century, although England was lost, the Danish kingdom
swelled to include Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland,
and Greenland. Sweden and Finland left the union in the 16th century, and Norway
was forfeited in 1814, as a punishment for siding with Napoleonic France. Iceland
became independent in 1944. Despite territorial losses, Denmark flourished in the
19th century, and in 1849, King Frederick authorized a new constitution allowing
for a representative-style government. Denmark was neutral during WWII, dur-
ing which period general suffrage was introduced and the southern border with
Germany was established. Denmark joined the European Community in 1973,
and after a referendum in 1993, joined the EU. The modern Kingdom of Den-
mark includes Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which both have varying degrees
of autonomy: The Faroe Islands have their own government and Greenland was
given increased autonomy in 2009, adding to the Self-Rule act established in 1979,
although both receive Danish subsidiaries. The population of Demark in 2012 was
estimated at 5,543,450.

The modern Kingdom of Denmark consists of the three large islands of Jutland,
Fyn, and Zealand, as well as around 400 minor islands known as the Danish Archi-
pelago, and includes the Faroe Islands and Greenland. It is 16,639 square miles in
size and very flat in terrain, with its highest elevation being 568 feet. Its weather
177
can be quite changeable, due to its location and westerly winds. The temperature
varies from around freezing in winter to the low 80 degrees in summer.
People and Dress

Ethnic groups within Denmark include Scandinavian, Inuit, Faroese, Turk-
ish, German, Polish, Iraqi, Lebanese, Bosnian, Pakistani, Yugoslav (former),
Somali, Iranian, Vietnamese, British, and Afghan. The Danish National Evangeli-
cal Lutheran Church makes up about 80 percent of the religions practiced within
Denmark, with Islam being the second largest religion group at 4 percent.
Women’s Dress
Due to the large area of the islands, folk costume within Denmark itself is
rather varied. With its strategic position within Europe, Denmark was the first of
the Scandinavian countries to flourish in the modern world, and thus also one of
the first to lose its historic dress, which stopped being used over 100 years ago,
except within a few of the more remote localities.
What is considered traditional dress in Denmark today was developed between
the 18th and early 19th centuries. Danish folk costume was largely recorded during
the Danish civil war of 1848–1850 by the painter F. C. Lund.
Women’s traditional dress consisted of a chemise, of which the sleeves would
show, a sleeveless bodice, a full gathered or accordion-pleated skirt, a full-length
apron that covered most of the skirt, and a bonnet and scarf combination.
The chemise was made of knitted linen or linen with knitted sleeves sewn
into it, often of a bright and contrasting color to the bodice. It was common for
the knitting to be in a diamond pattern all of one color. The sleeveless bodice that
was worn over the top normally laced in front and has kept close to the style of the
high-waisted bodices of the early 19th century. Flat or patterned silk tape was used
down the front of the bodices as decoration. Often shawls or kerchiefs were worn
over the bodices and tucked into them at the front, which could be check or pat-
terned. Color was significant. Red check on a navy background was a sign of joy,
but blue or green checks on navy were a recognized sign of mourning.
The costume was practical and allowed for jackets, often of Spencer style
(a high-waisted style that was popular during the Regency period), and capes or
cloaks to be added as outerwear. The skirts worn were pleated or gathered, and the
color often reflected the women’s marital status: red for married and older women
and green for young girls. It was common for red skirts to have a black border
En Hedebopige (A Young Girl from Hedebo), lithograph by Danish artist Frederik
Christian Lund, 1864. (Lund, Frederik Christian. Danske Nationaldragter, 1864)
toward the hem. They were made of somewhat heavy fabrics, normally woven
from wool, although affluent farmers’ wives and townspeople would have skirts of
silk, often with accordion pleats, for special occasions.
The pleats were generally larger than in neighboring Sweden, and often used
a method called “cooked” pleating, where the women would form pleats by hand:
First the skirt was damped and the pleats were pressed in, and then the skirt was
wrapped in a muslin cloth and put in the oven as it was cooling from baking to
allow the pleats to dry.
The aprons worn were very large, some resembling an extra skirt in their full-
ness. Check patterns were popular and allowed for variation in the size of their
patterns, although white aprons were also worn, which were embroidered in white
or colored thread. The aprons were made of cotton, although silk ones were used
for special occasions. They were used even for best, for reasons that may have
originated in old wives’ tales saying that they would protect the wearer from
werewolves.
In terms of color, the garments were bright in nature, often reds, greens, and yel-
lows with stripes or checks as decorative patterns. Underneath the women’s skirts
petticoats were worn, and under these a simple shift rather than bloomers or knick-
ers. Traditional shoes were black leather with silver or amber buckles, or clogs.
Headdresses were worn by the women for practical reasons against sand and
wind, and it is the style of these that varied the most by location. At the most
basic the headdress consisted of a simple form of bonnet, with a combination of
under- or overscarf. Married women wore dark colors and young girls wore white,
often with a colored overbonnet. On Zealand the women wore trailing bonnets
with embroidery in gold and silver thread. In Odense they were red with a white
lace underbonnet and a blue silk bow at the back. In the northern part of the island
of Falster the women wore a headdress like a deep bonnet composed of a small silk
cap attached to a large band edged with lace that shielded the face. In Salling, the
cap was also small but worn at the back of head with large fans of stiff lace fram-
ing the face. In Arhus, the cape had side wings and a starched white, lace-trimmed
triangular cloth, the point tucked down the back. At Thisted, the cap was either a
large pleated halo or, as in Ringkobing, the frilled cap was dominated by a large
felt top hat. In the Medego region, a colored scarf was tied over the bonnet. On
Laeso Island, the headdress consisted of a swathed cloth or scarf. On the island
of Fano, where there were huge winds, the headdress consisted of a undercap that
covered over the eyebrows and two headscarves that tied over the bridge of the
nose to the back and then tied in a knot at the crown of the head, so that all the hair
was covered, leaving only the eyes exposed to the elements. The headscarf and
neckerchief would match and were often red or brown in color, with blue or purple
for mourning.
Denmark | 181
Men’s Dress
The men’s costume was less
differentiated by district. Until the
1920s they continued to wear a long-
sleeved white shirt with a high col-
lar, a waistcoat, a long or short coat
and breeches, and a neckerchief and
hat, a style that came into fashion at
the end of the 17th century. This has
continued to be the base of the tradi-
tional costume, although a sleeveless
waistcoat over a white shirt has also
been adopted. Waistcoats were often
striped, although yellow ones were
worn to signify that a man had crossed
the equator. The jackets and waistcoats
had silver buttons for more formal
occasions and plain ones for everyday
and the working class. The breeches Couple in traditional Danish dress, near
were gathered or cuffed at the knee, Copenhagen. (Hideo Haga/HAGA/The
with bands or tassels, and were often Image Works)
yellow, black, or white in color. They
were worn with thigh stockings so that no part of the leg showed and worn with
black leather shoes with silver buckles or clogs.
For headwear, a red or brown woolen stocking cap was worn, which was long
and folded over on top of the head, and sometimes tasseled.

Women’s skirts and bodices were made from wool frieze, a coarse woolen plain
weave cloth with a nap on one side, or linsey-woolsey, a coarse twill or plain woven
fabric woven with a linen warp and a woolen weft, with linen chemises. The wool
was collected from the family’s sheep and woven by the women themselves or by
professional weavers, and was dyed using vegetables dyes that were common to
most of the country. Aprons were often made of silk for best, gauze, or embroidered.
There were professional weavers and dyers in each village, and the dyers
would also hand print linen using wooden blocks. Embroidery was also used as
decoration on aprons, headscarves, neck scarves, and chemise cuffs, although not
traditionally on main clothing pieces, such as bodies and skirts.
Men’s garments were made of wool or flax, with some breeches made of
leather. The buttons were made of silver, tin, or horn.

Everyday and special-occasion dress mostly varied in the quality of fabrics
worn, with silk replacing linen or gauze aprons and headscarves. Gold headscarves
or headscarves with silver or gold embroidery were also worn for best and special
occasions. Purple or blue headscarves were worn for mourning, as were green or
blue check scarves on navy backgrounds. Ribbons were often incorporated into the
best dress, particularly on the bonnet.

Women would sometimes wear chatelaines, a pouch or sheath suspended by
cords from a girdle, which contained her sewing, knitting, or embroidery tools. Kid
gloves or knitted mittens were also worn in winter.

In the beginning of the 20th century there was a renewed interest in national
heritage, and a number of groups sprang up to preserve Danish folk music, dances,
and costume. In 1901, the Society for the Promotion of Danish Folk Dancing
(Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme) was founded in Copenhagen. Today there
are over 12,000 folk dancers belonging to 219 local clubs, which provide courses
in music, dancing, and dressmaking. Dancers often have costumes specially made
for them, using period techniques and materials.
See also Greenland

Haire, Frances H. The Folk Costume Book. New York: A. S. Barnes, 1934.
Harrold, Robert. Folk Costumes of the World. New York: Sterling, 1999.
Lund, F. C. Danish National Costumes, Third Issue 1915. Web edition by Frits Lil-
baek. http://vofl3450.homeunix.net/danishfolk/Costumes/FC-Lund/home.html.
National Dress and Folk Dancing, Embassy of Denmark, India, http://www.amb
newdelhi.um.dk/en/menu/InfoDenmark/DanishNationalSymbols/National
DressAndFolkDancing/
Snowden, James. The Folk Dress of Europe. New York: Mayflower Books, 1979.
Egypt
Lucy Collins
Ancient Egypt commonly refers to the reign of the pharaohs, which lasted from
approximately 3100 BCE to 31 CE. During this era, Egypt saw the establishment
of a series of several kingdoms and the increase of extraordinary wealth and sophis-
tication throughout the entire nation. Part of the success of the ancient Egyptian
people is due to the country’s fertile location in the Nile River Valley.
The tombs of the great pharaohs of Egypt have been an enormous resource for
uncovering the earliest styles of Egyptian dress. The sophisticated depictions of fash-
ioned figures on various earthenware vases and other objects have afforded historians
a tremendous amount of insight into Egyptian clothing and bodily presentation.
People and Dress

Although ancient Egyptian style is quite unique, a common difficulty in tracing
historic ethnic dress of this area is sifting through the variety of influences arising
from different conquering nations. Egypt is especially susceptible to this sort of
confusion due to its proximity (and cultural connection) to neighboring Mesopo-
tamia and Babylon (Greece). It remains particularly important, then, to look for
aspects of dress that indicate a uniquely Egyptian character.
The distinctive image of Cleopatra, the fabled queen of Egypt, has become
synonymous with Egyptian dress. The classic dark wig, darkened eyes, and crisp
white wrap are surely symbols easily associated with Egyptian style. These char-
acteristic clothing and hygiene choices of Egyptians are most affiliated with the
ancient Egyptian empire.
Materials and Techniques in Ancient Egypt

The clothing of both men and women of all classes was composed primarily
of linen robes, drapes, wraps, and tunics. White, sometimes even transparent, linen
183
helped ancient Egyptians remain cool

in the dry hot climate of the country.
The flax plant, which is the primary
source of linen, grows well in Egypt
along the Nile, making it a likely
source for fabric and textiles. The
linen garments were most often white,
as Egyptians are known for their fas-
tidious behavior regarding cleanliness.
The white hue of the linen was
often achieved through bleaching the
fabric in the sun. The nature of linen
also allowed garments to be extremely
thin in nature, often even transparent.
This transparency seems to draw spe-
cial attention to the Egyptian concern
with the body.
The use of colored dyes typically
marked one as a foreigner, but when col-
ors were used in Egyptian clothing they
were highly symbolic. Many different
colors appear in traditional Egyptian
clothing. These colors all had sym-
bolic value with white being the most
sacred. The purity symbolized by white
garments was also associated with the
natural color of the flax plant. Blue, the
color of the sky, represented Amon, god
of air; life and youth was symbolized
by green; and the precious metal gold
Amenhotep I, the son of Ahmose I, was the
was represented by yellow. The violent
second king of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty. (Corel)
color of red was rarely used in Egypt,
and black was strictly for wigs.
The primary form of decoration or style noticeable in ancient Egyptian cloth-
ing was the tiny pleats and folds that characterized the draped form of dress. It
seems that the variety of pleats were used as a subtle form of distinguishing style
and possibly class. Pleats could be characterized according to three different styles:
one style has very small pleats spaced a quarter-inch (1 cm) apart, another has very
narrow pleats, and the third style is chevron-patterned, with horizontal and vertical
Egypt | 185
pleats crossing each other. All these pleats were understood to have been very
tedious and difficult to achieve.
Egyptians were exceptionally advanced in their understanding of self-presen-
tation and bodily maintenance. In Tutankhamen’s tomb, for instance, many pieces
of clothing were discovered including tunics, shirts, kilts, aprons and sashes,
socks, headdresses, caps, scarves, gauntlets and gloves, some even including linen
linings. Triangular loincloths or underwear were also discovered in the tombs.
This tangible evidence of the Egyptian attention to wardrobe reveals that despite a
seeming simplicity in the style of Egyptian dress, their perspective and mentality
toward clothing was actually quite advanced.
Women’s Dress in Ancient Egypt

The wrapped tunic worn by women in Egypt was especially straight and
closely fitted to the body. It extended the entire length of the body from breasts to
ankles. Made of white linen, the tunic either had draped sleeves, in the case of the
upper classes, or straps that served to hold the dress in place. The linen wrapped
garment usually began just below the breasts and the straps would vary between
concealing the breasts or not.
The shawl, or sari, consisting of a piece of cloth approximately 4 feet wide by
13 or 14 feet long, was very common among upper-class women in Egypt. One
corner was tied to a cord around the waist on the left side. Then the material was
carried lengthwise around the back and waist, gathered into pleats, and then tucked
back into the cord around the waist in front. The material was draped additionally
around the body to present a fully covered body.

in Ancient Egypt
Ornamentation and decoration was reserved for jewelry, wigs and headdresses,
makeup around the eyes, and pendants worn as belts. The deep jeweled or beaded
collar is the most characteristic ornament in all of Egyptian costume. Ornamental
beaded collars were worn by both men and women. These beaded collars were
always an indication of high status. In fact, gods were almost always depicted in a
collar, corselet, and kilt.
In the “middle kingdom” era, jewelry became more and more refined and
delicate. Often crafted from turquoise, carnelian, feldspar, lapis lazuli, and gold,
items of jewelry are some of the most sophisticated objects from the Egyptian
empire. Because gold was especially plentiful in Nubia, most Egyptian jewelry
and adornments were crafted from

gold. Even the poor wore as much
jewelry as possible. If they could not
afford more precious stones and mate-
rials, they would wear necklaces made
of bright, multicolored clay beads and
pieces of pottery.
The symbolism of a protective
aegis may have had an influence on the
large collars that were worn over the
tunics and wraps of the Egyptians. The
gorgerin, or large-scale collar, was a
unique ornament that the Egyptians fre-
quently wore. It was a kind of collar or
shield-like necklace, which was worn
across the chest and tied at the back.
Feathers were also a frequent
adornment, but one primarily reserved
for the upper classes and special
occasions.
Nefertiti, Egypt’s “Sun Queen,” was the wife Egyptian women were very adept
of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaton. (Robert in the art of creating and applying
Michael/AFP/Getty Images)
makeup. They frequently applied dark
kohl under and around the eye with the
intention of reducing the glare of the sun. The kohl was kept in a pot and applied
with a brush made of a reed. Malachite and ochre were used as eye shadow and
lipstick. Henna was also used for painting the hands and arms.
The perfumed head cone was an important aspect of ancient Egyptian self-
presentation. Composed of either animal fat or butter, the cone contained myrrh
or another scented element and released a pleasing fragrance as the tallow melted.
Wigs were worn by both men and women. As Egyptians often shaved their heads,
presumably for cleanliness reasons, wigs became another accessory of adornment.
The shaved heads offered the opportunity to wear the dark-colored ornate wigs often
associated with Egyptian style. Wigs were often perfumed and frequently parted in
the middle, although this was not mandatory. Sometimes women would wear wigs
with many braids and plaits varying in length. Wigs were often straight with curlier
versions reserved for the upper classes and special occasions.
Wigs were either long or short. The tripartite wig was typical of the long wigs:
It was divided into three parts with two parts going down the body on either side of
the face and a third section hanging down the back to the shoulder blades.
Egypt | 187
Men in ancient Egypt typically shaved with the aid of bronze razors. As with
the customary wigs, they replaced their missing facial hair with artificial beards.
Young boys also shaved their heads but usually maintained a “Horus lock,” a
lock of hair that fell over a boy’s left ear to indicate youth. The Horus lock became
a kind of badge of youth.
Priests often had shaved heads and wore no wigs. Their dress was a very basic
linen garment worn in a variety of simple ways. On occasion they would drape a
leopard skin, known as a pardalide, over the robes when offering sacrifices. Images
in the tomb of Tutankhamen revealed priests dressed in this manner. Interestingly,
despite this custom of priests using leopard skins, other animal fibers were consid-
ered impure and not allowed in temples. This is part of the reason that wool was
seldom used for clothing in general in ancient Egypt.
Men’s Dress in Ancient Egypt

A short kilt was the common dress for men in ancient Egypt. Made of white,
semitransparent linen, these kilts were often pleated and/or stiffened to offer the
garment some structure. Kings and gods are shown in the basic kilt, yet they always
have the added accessory of an often extravagant ornamental pendant in front and
an animal tail in back.
The kilt worn by men was usually a linen rectangle wrapped around the hips,
overlapping and slightly open in the front.
The addition of the animal tail accessory is very significant in Egyptian culture.
In fact, the Sed Festival, also known as the Feast of the Tail, celebrated the continued
reign of a pharaoh. The name of the festival comes from the characteristic animal tail
that pharaohs always wore. Some historians believe the tail to be a remnant gesture
toward the ceremonial robe made of an entire animal skin, which pharaohs once wore.
A male musician’s tunic was more freely flowing than the tightly fitting garments
of other citizens. Musicians were also known for wearing the traditional scented fat
and lotus blossom on their heads. The scented fat on the head was intended to melt
slowly, thereby releasing a pleasant fragrance around the individual.
It was certainly the accepted tradition for ancient Egyptians to go barefoot,
unless the person was of a high social standing. For a high-status individual, foot-
wear would consist of sandals woven from palm leaves or other kinds of reeds and
stalks such as papyrus. On occasion leather might be used.
Contemporary Egyptian Dress

In 2012, nearly 84,000,000 people lived in Egypt. Some 90 percent were Mus-
lim and nearly 10 percent were Christian, with 9 percent of those Coptic Christian
(Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook, 2012). In early 2011, the people of
Egypt held huge demonstrations, strikes, and marches, which eventually led to the
resignation and arrest of President Hosni Mubarak and a new government run by
the armed forces. In late 2011 and early 2012 parliamentary elections were held,
as well as a presidential election.
The traditional sensitivity to dress and appearance of ancient Egypt has trans-
ferred to contemporary times. Modern-day Egyptian women are highly attuned to
the subtleties of style and self-presentation. They are particularly aware of social
cues transmitted through details of dress, manners, speech, and gesture.
Current styles of folk dress in Egypt are characterized by three primary pieces:
the baladi (or fellaha, meaning farm woman) dress, an outer modesty garment, and
a head covering known as a futa. Basic dress is conservative, but not boring, demon-
strating great skill in the tucks and draping techniques used to shape the figure. Two
major distinctions appear in the style of the typical folk dress—one is typically loose
and flowing while the second style has a distinct waistline. This distinction seems to
parallel differences in geographical area. But almost all of the folk-style dresses have
long sleeves, a very modest neckline (complete with many tucks and/or embroidery),
and a high waist as well as a large ruffle along the bottom, which ends right at the feet.
The average woman who is neither wealthy nor poor does not have a large
wardrobe, typically acquiring only one or two new dresses a year. Women are very
conscious of their “best dress,” second best, and work dresses, with all the clothes
made in the same style, simply receiving different designations based on age and
wear and tear. Cotton is the most popular material and dresses are usually made by
the wearer herself.
The modesty coverings are usually the same style as the dress underneath or
they can be a simple cloak or shawl. The modesty garments are usually black
in color and made of a silky or shiny material in contrast to the typically cotton
underdress. These black modesty coverings are seemingly dysfunctional, given the
extreme heat of Egypt, yet the voluminous fabric serves to make easy such activi-
ties as squatting and even carrying market purchases (as purchases are literally
carried in the garment itself, making the modesty coverings exceptionally func-
tional). Modesty garments of all sorts are deeply connected to a kind of religious,
particularly Islamic, piety that pervades the culture of Egypt.
It is significant to note the shugga (modesty garment) of the villages toward
the south. This garment, ancient in origin, almost completely conceals the indi-
vidual and garments worn underneath. It has been said that a shugga has almost
a balloon-like quality as it completely envelops the wearer’s head and body in a
shimmery, silky cocoon. The woman wearing a shugga uses her hands to hold the
fabric closed over her face, so her features are truly invisible.
Egypt | 189
However, when noted Egyptian

feminist Hoda Shaarawi removed
her veil in the 1920s, veils as a strict
social requirement ceased to hold
much power. Yet women’s specifically
defined roles within Egyptian society
still exist, and modesty garments and
head coverings still serve to maintain
those distinctions. Head coverings are
also black and are worn by women
from childhood. Head coverings can
be either a simple shawl or veil or a
casually draped piece of fabric.
Despite the extreme modesty
that characterizes much of the folk
dress in Egypt, the wrappings and
modesty garments can still prove to
be seductive. One particular kind of
wrap, referred to as a melaya liff, is a
slinky rectangle of nylon, silk, or other
clingy material. While it is black and Man wearing galabiya and a turban at the
conceals the figure, the clingy nature Karnak Temple complex in Luxor, Egypt.
of the wrap and the way it is typically (Bartosz Hadyniak/iStockphoto.com)
worn while walking, with material
gathered tightly across the body and slung over one arm, accentuates the move-
ment of the women’s body, especially the hips.
Men in contemporary Egypt typically wear a basic robe known as a galabiya.
The galabiya is a long, flowing gown with wide sleeves. The galabiya has a low,
scooped neck with a deep slit. Decoration and embellishment depends on the
wealth of the wearer, as does the length of the sleeves—sleeves are cut to cover the
hands when one is in the presence of a person of higher rank.
Most men wear a head covering of some sort—a tarboosh (turban) or the fez
of Turkish origin. While servants wear the most formal turbans, the color of the
turban may also be used to designate class and religious affiliations.
There is an enormous foreign influence in Egypt presently, as the result of an
increasing global economy, especially in the realm of fashion. Egyptians have histor-
ically viewed dressing “foreign” as a sophisticated move, one that indicates middle-
class status. In fact, the very term “foreign” has itself come to connote quality for
many Egyptians.
There remains an effort to combine traditional Egyptian styles with newer and
more international/Western improvements in dress. Despite the adoption of vari-
ous fashionable articles of contemporary international clothing, Egyptian women
typically dress in a more feminine manner than Western women. Even when wear-
ing jeans, the universal symbol of equality in dress, Egyptian women may be seen
wearing heels and a silky, feminine blouse. It should be remembered, however,
that it is often only the upper elite classes who have the privilege of adopting more
universally fashionable styles.

Central Intelligence Agency. World Factbook: Egypt. https://www.cia.gov/library/
publications/the-world-factbook/geos/eg.html. 2012.
Houston, Mary. Ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Persian Costume. London:
Adam and Charles Black, 1972.
An Introduction to the History and Culture of Pharaonic Egypt. Garments. http://
www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/clothing.htm.
Lane, E. W. Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. London: J. M. Dent
and Sons, 1954.
Rugh, Andrea. Reveal and Conceal: Dress in Contemporary Egypt. Syracuse: Syr-
acuse University Press, 1986.
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
Pamela Smith
O ften collectively referred to as the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
are three independent countries in northeast Europe with similarities in terms
of geography and a shared fate during much of the 19th and 20th centuries, when
they were part of the Russian Empire and subsequently the Soviet Union. Common
factors in their geographical situation, economic development, and cultural tradi-
tions led to many similarities in the types of garments found over the whole region,
but there are also distinguishing factors between the individual countries in terms
of history and ethnicity, which influenced their own styles of dress. Their popula-
tions in 2012 were as follows: Estonia, 1,275,000 people; Latvia, 2,191,600; and
Lithuania, 3,525,800.
Historical Background and Geographical Background

Over the centuries the Baltic states fell under the rule of various neighboring coun-
tries—Germany, Sweden, Russia, and, in the case of Lithuania, Poland. In the 18th
century they became part of the Russian Empire, only becoming sovereign nations
in their own right in 1920. They were again forced to accept Russian rule after
1939, when the Soviet Union occupied the territory and installed pro-Soviet gov-
ernments, leading to their complete annexation in 1940. After 40 years of oppres-
sion, there was a campaign of civil resistance against Soviet rule in the late 1980s,
and by 1991 Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania each achieved independent status.
The three countries lie along the eastern edge of the Baltic Sea and on the great
plain that stretches across northern Europe. They were exposed at various stages
of their history to influences from neighboring peoples who came by sea and land
to invade, to trade, or to settle. In the ninth century CE the Varangians (or Vikings)
traveled from their homeland of Scandinavia across the Baltic in search of trade
and new lands to colonize. The large metal clasps used to fasten cloaks in Latvia
and the chains and breastpieces of the Setu people of southeast Estonia show strong
Scandinavian traits. Later contact with other peoples can be seen in some traditional
garments, such as the käised, a short embroidered blouse with puffed sleeves found
191
in Estonia (often described as a “midriff blouse”), believed to have been influenced

by Swedish dress. (The Estonian islands and northwestern coast were settled by
Swedes from the early 13th century.) The women’s outfit in both Estonia and Lat-
via, which consisted of a vertically striped skirt, bodice, and jacket, occurred partly
due to the influence of the German townspeople who settled in the area.
Russian traits can be seen in the dress of the Setu people, as well as in women’s
kerchiefs with ends hanging down the back, and embroideries in red thread. Outer
garments tended to be receptive to foreign influences and fashion trends, while the
basic shirt preserved its ethnic origin more persistently.
Until the 20th century the majority of the Baltic peoples made their living by
agriculture or fishing. In Lithuania, for example, about 85 percent lived in villages
and hamlets. Here the countryside was densely forested. Rural dwellers had lim-
ited contact with the towns, staying within their own communities. This led to the
development of many local features, including dialects of the language and styles
of dress.
The region’s climate and flat terrain enable the growing of flax, from which
linen is made. The other most common material is wool, used either in woven or
felted form for outer garments or as yarn for the knitting of mittens, socks, and
stockings, indispensable in the cold winters of the region.
People and Dress

Common features of the traditional dress were that nearly everywhere men wore
an ensemble of a shirt, trousers, belt, vest, neckerchief, and wide-brimmed hat. The
female outfit comprised a shirt, skirt, belt, cloak or large shawl, and a bodice or short
blouse. Young girls wore decorative headbands or garlands, and married women
more substantial head coverings that hid their hair. A metal brooch by which the
shirt collar was fastened was an obligatory ornament throughout the Baltic region.
Knitted woolen patterned stockings, socks, gloves, and mittens were considered to
be powerful guards for the body against evil spirits, enemies, and diseases.
Mittens were common gifts, especially at weddings when a bride would pre
sent them to all the relatives of the groom, and also at funerals, to those who dug
the grave. Patterned mittens were such an integral part of men’s festive clothing
that they would be carried tucked behind the belt even in summer.
Estonia
Dress in Estonia began to develop along class and ethnic lines when the coun-
try (together with Latvia) became a German province in the 13th century. From
that time the ruling elite and wealthy merchants were predominantly Germans,
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania | 193
whereas peasants and common townspeople were Estonians. The higher classes
wore fashionable dress made of expensive imported materials in styles that spread
throughout Europe from the west, while the rural-dwelling lower classes retained
their traditional ethnic dress based on linen and wool.
These types of cloth were woven in the home. The finest linen was used for
the most prized garments, reserved for festive wear, whereas work clothes were
made from the heavier, coarser type of linen, or from tow. (Tow came from the
short waste fibers left over from the flax plant after longer fibers had been extracted
for linen weaving.) Outer garments were made of wool. Topcoats for the coldest
weather were of sheepskin, often trimmed with fur, which was also used for head-
wear. Early linen clothes were bleached white, while woolen overcoats were usu-
ally brown, black, or gray—the color of undyed sheep fleece. In the 18th century
ethnic dress became more colorful as striped woolen skirts and blouses embroi-
dered with flowers began to be popular, and these were worn all over Estonia by
the early 19th century. Only the wealthier peasants could afford leather boots or
shoes. Others wore pastlad—soft heelless shoes made from single pieces of cow-
hide. On the coast and the islands these might also be made from sealskin. Shoes
woven from strips of lime or willow bast, made from the bark of lime or willow
trees, were worn in summer.
In traditional Estonian life, a married woman’s head had to be covered. At the
wedding ceremony occurred the “coifing,” when the married woman’s headdress
was put on the bride. This head-covering practice persisted until the beginning of
the 20th century. As a mark of moral censure, unmarried pregnant girls were also
required by their community to wear a married woman’s headdress. In most parts
of Estonia they also had to wear an apron, another sign of changed status, which
was usually reserved for respectable married women. The apron is considered to be
connected with pre-Christian fertility beliefs, providing magical protection for the
child-bearing area. (In some regions of the country, however, the apron was part
of a maiden’s dress.) Pagan beliefs also governed the wearing of belts, believed to
strengthen the body, and the finest white linen shirts put on at crucial times of the
farming year, such as the sowing and harvesting of grain.
Festive clothing was made from the best materials and abundantly decorated.
Its quality indicated the wearer’s wealth and social standing. When it wore out,
decorations were removed and it was used for everyday wear. A long woolen coat
was an essential garment for men and women when attending church or visiting
their neighbors. The finest outfits were made for weddings.
According to ancient beliefs, women’s transition from one stage of life to
another could easily be damaged by various evil or impure forces. The bride’s
dress was required to provide magical protection. In some parts of Estonia, such as
Mulgimaa, it retained its archaic form of a wrap skirt decorated with bronze spirals
and an embroidered kerchief (“hip apron”) hanging from the belt on the side. To
protect the bride from evil forces, her face and head were covered with a wrap on
her way to the bridegroom’s home.
In the 19th century economic ties between town and country increased and
more and more urban elements were adopted into ethnic dress. This process was
more marked in the north of the country than the south. Many ornaments and
accessories, such as silk ribbons, kerchiefs, buttons, and sequins were bought from
peddlers as well as in shops. Rapid changes occurred up to the mid-century with
the spread of the previous century’s innovations—the vertically striped skirt and
distinctive women’s hats—the pot-shaped pottmüts and the hoof-shaped kabimüts.
Women’s jackets and bodices became tight-fitting, with a pleated edge below the
waistline. New types of overcoats were dyed with store-bought indigo. New fash-
ions also reached peasant women through the craftspeople and servants attached to
wealthy households. It is thought that the first vertically striped skirts were given
by ladies of the manor as presents to their maidservants or woven by their house-
hold weavers. After this peasant women started to weave striped cloth themselves.
Regional differences in clothing can be seen by roughly dividing the country
into northern, southern, and western Estonia and the four islands, which lie off-
shore to the west (Hiiumaa, Saaremaa, Muhu, and Kihnu). In the north the most
characteristic features of women’s clothing were the midriff blouse, worn on top
of a sleeveless shirt, and the colorful striped skirts. Men wore breeches and a short
woolen or linen coat (vatt), influenced by the general European fashion.
In south Estonia ancient forms of dress persisted. Women wore rectangu-
lar woolen or linen shoulder wraps at least as late as the mid-19th century. In
Mulgimaa, in the western part, women wore shirts of an antique cut, wrap skirts,
tied kerchiefs arranged in folds over the head and shoulders, and hip aprons with
medieval-style plant decoration. Traditional dress was worn longer, especially in
wealthier Mulgimaa households.
In the southeast of Estonia lived the Setu, members of a separate ethnic group
who spoke Estonian, but who had close ties with Russian culture. Setu women wore
the typical Russian pinafore-style garment, the sarafan. The most striking feature of
their dress was the abundance of metal ornaments worn as part of their festive dress.
West Estonian dress had common features with both the north and south. In
the northern part men wore the same kind of outfit as in north Estonia, with the
more modern dark blue woolen breeches and vatt, whereas in the south a few more
ancient elements persisted, such as old-style trousers.
Traditional dress survived on the islands until the mid-20th century. Its char-
acteristics were geometric and floral motifs in embroidery, an abundance of metal
ornaments and details, buckles on the bodice and belt, chains, and some archaic
elements such as pockets attached to the belt.
Estonian Girl, 1852 (oil on canvas), Gustav Adolf Hippius (1792–1856). The bodice
suggests southern Estonian dress. Her loose hair indicates her unmarried status.
(Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn, Estonia/The Bridgeman Art Library)
On Kihnu women wore midriff blouses typical of north Estonia. Their head-
dresses varied according to locality, with close-fitting embroidered coifs being
worn in the south, and the pottmüts or kabimüts in the north.
On Saaremaa, Hiiumaa, and Muhu Scandinavian influences can be seen most
strongly. On Muhu women wore accordion-pleated skirts. Hot loaves of bread
were used to press down the pleats. The Muhu bride’s headdress was a distinctive
high white trapezium-shaped cardboard cap covered with linen and decorated with
white-thread embroidery. She also wore a sash wound several times around the
waist, holding a red embroidered apron with little bells in place.
Latvia
Regional variation in ethnic dress across the territory of Latvia can be
accounted for to some extent by the fact that five different tribes established them-
selves here in the late Iron Age (ninth to 13th centuries CE) and developed their
own practices. One group—the Livonians (or Livs)—were of Finno-Ugric ethnic-
ity, like the Estonians and Finns, whereas the others—the Zemgaļi (Semigallians),
Latgaļi (Latgallians), Kurši (Couronians), and Sēļi (Selonians)—were Balts, like
the Lithuanians to the south. Over the centuries there was assimilation and cul-
tural exchange between the groups, but certain elements of their origins can be
discerned. The modern administrative regions of Latvia take their names from the
groups that were dominant in each one—namely, Zemgale, Latgale, and Kurzeme.
The fourth region is Vidzeme, meaning “middle land.” The Selonians inhabited
land in the southeast, most of which is in present-day Lithuania. Ethnographers
consider what remains within the territory of Latvia as a fifth region, which is
known as Selija, or Augšzeme.
From the early 13th century the territory of both Latvia and Estonia came under
German rule. German barons remained the ruling class until the early 20th cen-
tury, even while the whole area was administratively part of the Russian Empire.
Ancient Latvian dress had featured the use of much metal ornament, such as tin
buttons, silver neckpieces, and many decorative trimmings made of bronze. After
the 13th century the ethnic Latvian population became increasingly poor, and such
ornamentation diminished in their dress. The most elaborate items were women’s
head coverings. Into the 19th century unmarried girls continued to wear crowns
made of either bronze plate or red fabric ornamented with beads and pendants.
Like the ethnic dress of most parts of northern and eastern Europe, that of
Latvia was based on linen. Both men and women wore tunic-like linen shirts for
everyday use and as an undergarment. During the 19th century many variations
in cut and detail developed for festive wear, such as different types of collars or
embroidered embellishment. Ring- or heart-shaped brooches were used to fasten
them at the neck or down the front.

The upper part of women’s shirts was
made of the finest linen, while coarser
linen could be used for the lower part,
as it was covered up by a long skirt. In
the 19th century women’s outer gar-
ments were waist-length coats or vests
and woolen shawls, pinned in place
on the chest with a brooch. Latvian
brooches are very distinctive and can
be of enormous size. Usually made
of silver, they could be circular, with
raised decoration like thimbles, or set
with red glass stones. There are many
beautiful examples on display in the
National Museum of History in Riga.
As in Estonia and Lithuania, a
great deal of decorative knitting, weav-
ing, and embroidery was done in the Illustration of a couple from Barta in
home to produce items of dress. Such Kurzeme, western Latvia. Fastening the
ornamentation is described in Latvian shawl with a large metal brooch on the right
shoulder is characteristic of women’s dress
as raksts (writing). Mittens and sashes of this region. (Courtesy Pamela Smith)
were especially diverse as the aim was
not to produce the same design twice. In the second half of the 19th century, when
shop-bought chemical dyes began to overtake those obtained locally from plants,
colors grew more vivid. The ancient pagan fertility- and protection-invoking sym-
bols of the sun, moon, snake, ears of wheat, and the “fertile field” (a square or dia-
mond shape enclosing dots thought to represent seeds) often appear in woven and
knitted patterns.
Simple footwear made of bast strips or from pieces of leather made to fit the
foot by means of drawstrings were worn throughout Latvia. Leather boots and
shoes were reserved for festive wear.
Variations in clothing can be seen in the different regions.
Zemgale
In the mid-south of Latvia, this region saw the greatest occurrence of industrial
development, including textile production, as early as the 17th and 18th centuries.
Peasants learned advanced weaving techniques, and the effect of this can be seen
in the sophisticated patterning created in vertical stripes on skirts and on wide
sashes. Development and the resulting relative prosperity for many also meant that
the wearing of ethnic dress in Zemgale declined earlier than in other regions. The
traditional headcloths and crowns were abandoned in the 19th century in favor of
silk scarves.
Latgale
Latgale, in the east of Latvia, borders on Russia and Belarus, and its dress
shows influences from those countries, as well as from Estonia to the north and
Lithuania to the south. A feature is the extensive use of linen, so that dress tended
to be light in color and also in weight. Women often wore exclusively linen gar-
ments. In the northern part linen was woven with a decorative twill pattern, which
was not usual in any other part of Latvia. Shirts here had distinctive woven pat-
terns in red on the shoulders, similar to hem decoration on men’s shirts in Estonia
and to the embroidered shoulder panels typical of northern Russia. In the late 19th
century girls from villages of northern Latgale made 10 to 15 shirts each when
they married, decorated with these separate shoulder pieces. It is thought that these
parts might have been woven by specialist artisans rather than the girls themselves.
Although Latgale festive dress had both belts and aprons, they were never
worn together. Aprons were very long and wide, made from two widths of cloth
stitched together down the middle. Thought to be a particularly ancient type of
garment, this construction bringing two parts into one may have carried a symbolic
meaning, or it may simply reflect the fact that looms were originally quite narrow
and it was not possible to create the full width of cloth in one piece. Sometimes the
seam was accentuated with decorative stitching or applied lace.
Kurzeme
This region, in the west, is bordered by the Baltic Sea. It was here that many
of the early Livonian peoples settled, and their culture assimilated into that of the
Balts. Kurzeme dress also shows influence from the Lithuanians and Estonians.
For example, Kurzeme women wore two or more scarves at a time, tied elabo-
rately around the head in a similar form to that found in the neighboring region of
Žemaitija in Lithuania.
Like Zemgale, parts of the region experienced early industrial development,
and manufactured materials such as silk and velvet were adopted into ethnic dress.
The use of aprons died out in the 19th century, apart from among the more conser-
vative Liv women. Chemical dyes led to brightly colored striped skirts, which had
previously been made in plain dark materials.
In the southwest a fashion emerged of wearing large shawls fastened not in
front of the body but on the right shoulder. By the coast outfits were decorated with
small brooches and beads made with locally found amber.
Vidzeme
The women’s festive dress of Vidzeme, in the central and northern area of
Latvia, has been described as “quiet and harmonious.” Long white embroidered
woolen shawls were worn, together with beaded headbands for girls and high caps
in white linen for married women. These so-called “tower caps” were popular from
the 18th century and are thought to have developed from an urban fashion. White
aprons were also part of the ensemble. Skirts were brighter, in stripes and later in
checks, but the effect was rather subtle, with strong colors being balanced with
gray, black, or brown.
Selija
Many traits of ethnic dress in this small area of southeast Latvia are similar
to those of Lithuanian dress. Most Selonians settled in territory that is now within
Lithuania. The key garment of Selija dress was the linen tunic-type shirt with added
shoulder-pieces in a cut considered to be very ancient. The married women’s fine
linen headcloths and white aprons were similar to those found in parts of Lithu-
ania. The wearing of traditional dress had ceased in Selija by the 1860s.
For centuries women made all the clothes for the family. By the second part
of the 19th century the job of making outdoor clothing was taken over by profes-
sional tailors. In the beginning they also sewed by hand, but soon sewing machines
appeared and became widely used throughout Latvia. Shirts and skirts remained
handmade until the beginning of the 20th century, especially in remote areas.
By the end of the 19th century, ethnic dress had almost completely disappeared,
though in some isolated districts with strong national awareness and traditions,
such as Alsunga, Rucava, and Nīca (in Kurzeme), ethnic dress continued to be
worn as festive clothing until the 1940s.
Lithuania
The most striking feature of Lithuanian ethnic dress is the beauty and immense
variety in pattern and color of its linen and woolen materials. Girls had to develop
great skill to produce elaborate cloth, which was woven in the home and made up
into many elements of both male and female dress. Woven sashes were a typical
accessory, worn all over the country.
The production of an impressive collection of clothes and household textiles
for her dowry was so important for a girl’s future that the work and effort involved
was of minimal consideration. Inspiration and ideas for patterns and color com-
binations came from her mother and grandmother, from pieces handed down
from earlier generations, and her own creativity. The seams, pleats, and style of
a garment had to be considered in deciding whether to use checked, vertically or

horizontally striped, or patterned material. Girls made their own clothes, with their
mother’s help. Women would weave and sew several skirts, bodices, aprons, and
sashes in a number of weaves, patterns, and individual colorways, making it pos-
sible to uniquely coordinate parts of the costume to suit their moods as well as the
occasion.
Variations in 19th-century Lithuanian ethnic dress occurred in different
regions, because of the distinct traditions that grew up in isolated communities.
Ethnographers have identified these regions as Aukštaitija, Dzūkija, Suvalkija,
Žemaitija (also known as Samogitia), and Mazoji Lietuva (Lithuania Minor, in the
area of Klaipėda, on the coast). In all regions women wore bleached linen shirts
with long sleeves and a fold-over or standing collar. The collar, sleeve ends, and
neck opening were decorated with embroidery or decorative woven braids.
Aukštaitija
The distinctive garment most associated with this region, in the northeast of
the country, was the nuometas (wimple), which was a long white cloth arranged
to frame the face and cover the hair of married women. These were worn all over
Lithuania, but survived longest in Aukštaitija. Unmarried girls wore their hair in
two braids, and on top of their heads, a wreath of flowers or rue, or a crown con-
structed from fabric or ribbons. Brides and bridesmaids had more ribbons streaming
from the back of the rue wreath. Aukštaitija dress was characterized by simplicity
and was predominantly light-colored. Whitework embroidery was used on shirts.
Women’s vests were often made from purchased silk, brocade, or velvet. They
were fastened with metal clasps or hooks. The color of the vest often contrasted
rather than matched that of the skirt. White linen aprons with woven decoration in
red or blue were worn by both married and unmarried women and girls.
Dzuˉkija
Women’s outfits in this region of southeast Lithuania featured dark skirts,
which contrasted with the whiteness of their headdresses and shirts. A wide sash
was an important element, worn by both men and women. To make all the pat-
terned garments, strikingly beautiful cloth with checks, stripes, and delicate motifs
was woven in linen and wool in inventive color combinations. An ancient folk say-
ing was that “a woodpecker is colorful, but the clothes of Dzūkija are even more
so.” Married women wore white caps made in the spranging technique (a type of
braiding) or in crochet. Sometimes a white scarf edged in narrow red stripes would
be worn over the cap. Vegetal and solar designs in the embroidery worked on shirts
are thought to originate from pagan times, when such symbols were believed to
encourage fertility and protect against the evil eye. A rectangular stole in fine linen
could be worn on the shoulders in summer, whereas in winter large woolen plaid
shawls kept out the cold.
Suvalkija
This small region in the south was where the most ornate styles of dress devel-
oped. Women’s vests were hip-length and fitted, some with pleats fanning out the
lower edge. A sash further accentuated the waist. Shirts decorated with embroidery
in white were shorter than those worn in other regions. Both skirts and aprons were
very colorful, the cloth woven for aprons being particularly striking. A favorite
design comprised four stylized tulips woven in variegated yarn, arranged to form a
cross and repeating in bands across the garment.
Žemaitija
In the northwest of Lithuania, the characteristic features of women’s dress were
the abundant types of scarves and wraps, and the ways of arranging the headdress.
The dominant color of the outfit was usually red. Women often wore several skirts
at once and covered their heads with many kerchiefs and shawls as it was consid-
ered fashionable to make the head look large. One particular form of headdress
was created by placing a diagonally folded plaid scarf on the head, bringing the
ends round the back, and then tying them on the top, so that they stood up to look
like horns. Shawls were considered an essential part of the outfit. If the weather
was too warm to wear them, they would be carried over the arm. Shirts were not
much decorated because they were usually mostly hidden under shawls. Vests were
short, with a scooped neckline, and were typically made from cloth woven in nar-
row horizontal stripes. The single piece of material used to make the skirt was ver-
tically striped. Wide aprons of an intricate weave were gathered onto a waistband.
The most popular type of jewelry was a necklace of amber beads—amber being
found in this region, along the Baltic coast. The wooden shoes (klumpes), which
at one time were worn throughout Lithuania, survived in use longest in Žemaitija.
Mazoji Lietuva
For centuries this region was separated from the rest of Lithuania and was
under German rule, but the ethnic Lithuanian population maintained their tradi-
tional way of life, including their own styles of dress, weaving, and embroidery.
By the late 19th century more use was made of factory-made fabrics here than in
other areas, and darker colors were preferred. Silk was often chosen for aprons and
shawls. By the beginning of the 20th century much clothing was black.
A particularly intricate form of weaving was undertaken to create the “hun-
dred-pattern” sash, on which each individual motif along its length was unique.
Great emphasis was placed on the fringes of sashes. All of the family’s significant
events were preserved in them as they were made from scraps of cloth taken from
important garments, such as the bride’s wedding dress or a baby’s christening shirt.
Professional sash-weaving groups grew up in the region at the end of the 19th cen-
tury, and the sash was regarded as a potent symbol of Lithuanian identity.
Most women and girls in Mazoji Lietuva wore small cloth bags like detachable
pockets, which were tied around the waist on a narrow sash. The most highly deco-
rated ones, embellished with colorful embroidery in wool thread or with beads,
were on show on top of the skirt on festive occasions, while those for everyday
use were tied to the underskirt and could be reached through a slit in the top skirt.
Contemporary Uses of Ethnic Dress

Ethnic dress in the Baltic region started to disappear from daily village life
comparatively early, and in most places had been replaced by urban-type clothes
by the second half of the 19th century. In a few regions, such as western and south-
eastern Estonia, the female festive ensemble was in use up to the 1940s. Toward
the end of the 19th century the products of domestic spinning and weaving were
being replaced by factory-made fabrics, but there still existed an appreciation of
home-woven garments, notably sashes and aprons, which resulted in the preserva-
tion of many items of ethnic dress. This was fueled by the widespread interest in
folk art that grew up throughout Europe in this period among artists and intellectu-
als. By the early 20th century handwoven festive clothes had become cherished as
museum pieces and collectors’ items.
Not only were individual pieces valued as works of art, but the notion of a
national costume also became important as a statement of identity in all three coun-
tries, at times when their peoples were struggling to gain a degree of autonomy
from their foreign rulers. When the countries experienced a short-lived period of
independence between the two World Wars, the wearing of ethnic dress to express
nationhood became popular. After 1940 they were annexed by the Soviet Union,
which encouraged the individual Soviet Socialist Republics, as they had become,
to express their identity at public events. This included the wearing of national cos-
tume. But this expression was channeled into the glorification of socialist ideology,
attempting to show that the previously independent states were content to be part
of the great brotherhood of the Soviet Union.
Toward the end of the 20th century, the Baltic peoples increasingly used their
ancestors’ clothing as a means to express the kind of national feelings that were
denounced by authorities. Ethnic dress could be seen especially at the festivals of
song, which had became a feature of Baltic cultural life and a mark of resistance,
culminating in the “Singing Revolution” of the late 1980s.
In the early 21st century reconstructed traditional dress in many regional varia-
tions is worn during national holidays; by folk dance groups, choirs, and other per-
formers; by costumed interpreters at historical sites; and occasionally for weddings
and family celebrations.

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National Costumes (3 volumes). Riga: Latvijas Vestures Muzejs, 1995, 1997,
2003.
Estonian Institute. Estonian Folk Costumes. http://www.estinst.ee/publications/
folk_costume/.
Folk Costume and Embroidery. [Blog.] http://folkcostume.blogspot.co.uk/.
Jurkuviene, Terese. National Costume. Site devoted to regional Lithuanian folk
dress. http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/eka/costume/cost_c.html (Lithuania).
Kaarma, Melanie, and Aino Voolmaa. Eesti rahvarõivad. Estonian Folk Costumes.
Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1981.
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Costumes of the Soviet Peoples. Moscow: Planeta, 1990.
Kelly, Mary B. Goddess Embroideries of the Northlands. Hilton Head Island: Stu-
diobooks, 2007.
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latvia.lv/content/latvian-folk-dress.
Saliklis, Ruta. “Lithuanian National Costumes and Folk Dress.” In Folk Dress in
Europe and Anatolia: Beliefs about Protection and Fertility, ed. Linda Welters.
Oxford: Berg, 1999.
Tamosaitis, Antanas, and Anastasija Tamosaitis. Lithuanian National Costume.
Toronto: Lithuanian Folk Art Institute, 1979.
Torchinskay, Elga, and Galina Komleva. Jewellery (from the Museum of the Eth-
nography of the Peoples of the USSR). Leningrad: Aurora, 1988.
Welters, Linda, and Ira Kuhn-Bolšaitis. “The Cultural Significance of Belts in Lat-
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Fertility, ed. Linda Welters. Oxford: Berg, 1999.
Ethiopia
Lucy Collins

Historically known as Abyssinia, modern-day Ethiopia is located in the fabled
Horn of Africa and contains many ancient traces of human civilization. Most nota-
bly “Lucy,” the famous australopithecine fossil, considered to be one of the most
fully preserved human fossils, was found in Ethiopia and is estimated to be 3.2
million years old.
Geographically, Ethiopia contains many diverse natural elements. While it is
typically extremely hot, in fact one of hottest locations on Earth, the country boasts
caves, plateaus, mountains, volcanoes, and waterfalls. The Great Rift Valley runs
southwest to northeast, essentially dissecting the country. The Ethiopian Highlands
are typically much cooler than the other areas so close to the equator. Ethiopia
experiences heavy rainfall during the summer months, which helps keep the coun-
try more temperate in climate.
Ethiopia is especially known for coffee. Coffee beans are still one of the coun-
try’s largest exports. Recent contracts with such global corporations as Starbucks
will continue to keep Ethiopian coffee on the map. Additionally, Ethiopia trades
livestock, oilseeds, beans, honey, gold, and leather products. Interestingly, Ethio-
pia has its own alphabet, time system, and calendar.
Ethiopia is an ethnically diverse country, but it is still primarily composed
of African people. Orthodox Christianity plays a significant role in the character
of the country as Christian roots extend deep into the history of Ethiopia. Coptic
Christianity, an Egyptian form of Christianity from the first century, has had an
important impact on the development of the country as a whole. The Rastafarian
movement also finds its spiritual home in Ethiopia.
The capital of Ethiopia is Addis Ababa, home to over 3 million people. The
country is divided into nine ethnically determined subcountries: Afar, Amhara,
Benishangul-Gumez, Gambela, Harari, Oromia, Somali, Tigray, and the South-
ern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region. Additionally, the cities of Addis
Ababa and Dire Dawa exist as separate chartered entities.
204
Ethiopia | 205
Poverty is a major concern in Ethiopia. Even in Addis Ababa, over half the
population lives in slums. Sanitation is a particularly pressing issue as only around
10 percent of homes in the country even have floors of any kind.
Despite an inability to organize resources, Ethiopia is one of the most fertile
countries in the world. Ethiopia has the largest water reserves in Africa, but little
ability to fully utilize the potential of such a resource.
Clothing plays a role even in the legends of Ethiopia’s beginnings. Prester
John, the famed Christian king of Ethiopia, was said to have worn robes made from
the skin of a salamander who lived in fire. This striking myth seems to summarize
much of the Ethiopian fascination with their own heritage, as much of Ethiopia’s
history is a tale difficult to dissect into reality and fiction.
Many Ethiopians trace the origin of the country to King Solomon, the king
of Israel whose extravagant wealth attracted the attention of the queen of Sheba.
Legend has it that the queen of Sheba adopted a belief in the Christian god of
Israel after spending time at Solomon’s courts. A son, Menelik, was also a result
of her time with Solomon. Menelik became the first in a line of Christian kings of
Ethiopia. This connection to King Solomon is also part of the reason why many
Ethiopians still believe that the country is hiding the Ark of the Covenant—Mene-
lik is said to have begged for a piece of the fringe of the covering of the Ark from
Solomon and he was to have granted this wish.
People and Dress

Ethiopia is still primarily a Christian country, with factions of Islam throughout.
Therefore concerns over modesty have had a significant effect on the dress of
the country. It makes sense, then, that the most consistent traditional garment in
Ethiopia is essentially a white cotton gauze-like wrap worn over other clothing.
Although this type of garment is accepted as indicative of Ethiopian ethnic dress
in general, it is specifically associated with the people of the highlands, especially
in the Amhara region.
The traditional dress of Ethiopian Christian highland peasantry is a shamma of
white cotton cloth. About 30 inches (90 cm) wide, a shamma is a loose wrap, worn
over long trousers for men and draped over long dresses for women. Because of the
simplicity of the traditional ethnic garment—a plain white cotton wrap or tunic—
much attention is paid to smaller details such the styling of the hair, jewelry, and
ornamentation and embroidery on the dress. The embroidered borders are often in
the form of woven crosses, although other designs are used as well.
The woven cotton of the shamma is also used to make garments such as the
gabbi and netella. Gabbi is a very thick cloth used much like a blanket. It is one
piece that has several layers of fabric and is used to keep one warm both in and out
of bed. A netella, also called a sash,

is a head covering or shawl that
women use in church and other places
where modesty is a concern. Women
also wear dresses known as kemis
made of embroidered and woven cot-
ton. Dresses are also referred to as
habesha qemis.
Ethiopian highlanders also typi-
cally wear bernos, a one-piece dark
wool garment with a hood. The hood
may be used to cover a rifle and may
be used to prevent water from affect-
ing the function of the gun. The ber-
nos (cloak) has come to be associated
with the upper classes. Bernos are
decorated to indicate social status.
Interestingly, a successful contempo-
rary Ethiopian T-shirt company called
Bernos uses the term to express a con-
nection to the traditional garments of
Ethiopia.
Girl wears a habesha qemis in Lalibela, Ethio-
pia, 2011. (Joel Carillet/iStockphoto.com) Men in Ethiopia typically wear a
dashiki. A dashiki is a particular style
of suit. Traditionally natural cotton in white or off-white, the front may be deco-
rated. The top is a long tunic to the knees without any kind of collar.
For formal occasions Ethiopian men wear a suit. The Ethiopian suit is com-
posed of pants with a long-sleeve, knee-length shirt or tunic. Chiffon is typically
used for the suit and a chiffon wrap is usually worn over the suit. The shirts do not
have a typical collar, but usually have a mandarin or banded collar. Rastafarian
men can often be identified in other countries by wearing the Ethiopian suit.
Much of the more elaborate clothing and ornamentation in Ethiopia serves a
certain ritualistic purpose. Whether religious or otherwise, the differences in dress
are primarily due to different religious purposes.
Muslims in Ethiopia are considered as wearing much more colorful cloth-
ing than the Christians. Women typically wear dresses in purple, red, and black
while men wear a more colorful wrap over shorter pants. Muslims also wear jal-
abiya, loose white dresses long enough to cover the ankles. In the Harari region,
Muslim women wear skirts and blouses with shawls covering their heads and
shoulders.
Ethiopia | 207
Even daily rituals may require a specific form of dress. Similar to the Japa-
nese tea ceremony, Ethiopians take great pride in the ritual of drinking coffee. An
Ethiopian coffee dress, then, is a quintessential traditional garment of Ethiopian
women. The coffee dress is an informal ankle-length dress made of white cotton.
The dresses are often decorated and worn for the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, a
ritualized method of serving and drinking coffee utilized in daily life and on spe-
cial occasions.
The Ethiopian lowlands are very warm and hot and the dress in these areas is
much lighter or in some cases nonexistent. Lowlanders and Ethiopians living near
the Rift Valley are often naked or partially naked with straw or various animal
skins covering the genital areas. Sometimes sheep or goat skin is made into a sort
of miniskirt, fastened around the body with straps of leather. In the Surma tribe,
for instance, men only wear a cloth knotted over one shoulder and hanging down
over the body.
Ethiopians who dress in these simple styles frequently incorporate complex
forms of body adornment such as tattoos, scarification, and body piercing. These
practices will be discussed in more detail below.
Ethiopian Textile Production

Ethiopians take great pride in the cotton used in their clothing. Ancient tech-
niques of simple weaving are used to produce the cotton fabric, and they are very
pleased to display the fabric in their garments. Traditionally, it can take up to
three weeks to produce enough cloth to make one dress. Because the cotton is
first woven together in long strips before being sewn together to make the cloth,
the process can be very tedious. Often tiny threads of metallic or colored threads
are woven into the cloth to give the subtle decorative elements that distinguishes
Ethiopian clothing.
British and German travelers admired the quality of both the fine and coarse
cloth woven in Adwa in Ethiopia. Cloth manufactured in Adwa was thought to be
the best in the country. The robes made in the city of Harar were also recognized
by Europeans to be of finer quality than those made by machines in Europe. The
travelers all admired the craftsmanship the Ethiopian weavers put into their weav-
ing process.
Accessories/Ritualistic Adornment
One especially significant aspect of Ethiopian costume is the decorative
embroidered umbrellas and parasols carried by Christian Ethiopians during certain
special occasions. These umbrellas are highly decorated and offer a striking visual
Priest walks nearby the town of Axum (Tigray region) in Northern Ethiopia. He wears
the traditional clothing and turban and holds a typical orthodox cross and an umbrella,
2011. (Guenter Guni/iStockphoto.com)
appeal for those who see them, gold and silver threads sparkling in the embroidery.
Priests and deacons in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church are typically escorted with
the umbrellas carried over their heads. Priests also wear some of the most colorful
dresses and capes completed with flat, brimless round hats. The Ethiopian Epiph-
any on January 19th and the Feast of the Cross on September 27th are occasions
when priests are the most elaborately dressed.
Oromo horsemen in particular wear lions’ manes or baboon-skin headdresses
when they participate in parades on certain ceremonial days.

Jewelry is an important part of Ethiopian self-presentation. The simplicity
of Ethiopian garments allows jewelry to really stand out. Most Ethiopian women
wear lots of gold and silver bracelets on both the wrists and ankles. Women also
wear bracelets of ivory, copper, and brass.
Body modification and ornamentation serves to distinguish individuals as they
prepare for individual adulthood while also advertising their membership in a certain
Ethiopia | 209
social group or tribe. The Mursi women

who live near the Omo River are espe-
cially known for the large clay discs
they wear in their lower lips. Some
women and girls wear discs as large as
4.75 inches (12 cm) or more in diam-
eter. These clay discs have been said to
indicate the amount of dowry the girl’s
father may be capable of providing,
while others have interpreted the discs
as an attempt to disfigure the women
to make them unattractive to potential
slave traders. Either way, these lips
plates have become a notable feature
of both the Mursi tribe in particular and
the Ethiopian people in general.
The influence of Coptic Christi-
anity in Ethiopia is very apparent in
body adornment. Tattoos particularly
reflect Coptic influences as the Cop-
tic cross is often found tattooed on Portrait of young Mursi woman with pierced
Ethiopians’ faces as well as their neck ear lobes and lower lip, 2010. The Mursi
and hands. Even the Jewish popula- women are famous for wearing plates in
their lower lips. These lip discs are made of
tion began tattooing themselves with
clay. (Uros Ravbar/iStockphoto.com)
Coptic symbols as an effort to blend in
with fellow Ethiopians.
Scarification and body painting are also tribal forms of body modification
prevalent in Ethiopia. These practices are intended to beautify women and exalt
men as successful in battle. The Karo tribe in particular incorporates scarring
and body paint into normal body adornment through rubbing ash into the cut to
accentuate the scar. The Nyangatom tribe in southern Ethiopia scars women with
dots as well as straight and curved designs to emphasize a woman’s beauty. Both
Nyangatom men and women wear lip plugs in their lower lips and wear intricate
headdresses with a variety of natural materials like clay and feathers (DeMello,
2007, 107)
Muslim Ethiopians also use henna in wedding body decoration.
While not practiced for fashion purposes, female genital mutilation remains an
extremely prevalent practice in Ethiopia. This controversial practice has been more
widely opposed by global humanitarian efforts in recent years.
Hairstyles
Women of Amhara and Tigray wear dozens of braids tight against the head and
then loose at the shoulders. Women of the Arsi tribe have short hair worn in a bob.
Other tribal women wear their hair parted in the middle and buns on either side.
Young children typically have shaved heads.
Head coverings in the form of shawls, sashes, or netellas are often used by
Christian and Muslim women. A cross figure, or meskelya, is produced with the
shawl when worn to church. Women cover their hair with the netella and then
drape the ends up over their shoulders. The shiny threads are then left visible at
the top. At funerals, however, the shiny threads should be seen at the bottom edge
of the netella.

Ethiopian styles of dress are very simple and beautiful, and many people have
found fashion inspiration in the Ethiopian look. Ethiopian supermodel and Good-
will Ambassador Liya Kebede found much international success with her clothing
line LemLem that features scarves and caftans made in the traditional Ethiopian
style. Her company directly benefits the Ethiopian craftspeople who produced the
textiles. But in 2007, fashion designer Matthew Williamson was accused by the
Ethiopian government of including replicas of Ethiopian traditional garments in
his spring/summer 2008 collection. The case brought up many issues related to
ethnic dress in general, fashion inspiration, and how a country’s regional dress may
be trademarked. The issue sparked a great deal of debate in the fashion community
at large because it is felt that the dresses are symbols of faith and national identity
and should not be claimed as a fashion designer’s work alone.
While American and European fashion seems to taking inspiration from Ethio-
pia, the influence of American and Western clothes is definitely apparent in Ethio-
pia as well. While many Ethiopians do still wear the traditional garments for special
occasions and holidays, most people today dress in more homogenized Western
styles. However, the remote tribesmen who practice body painting and scarifica-
tion seem to be immune to influences from the West and continue to engage in their
simple yet fascinating forms of bodily adornment.

Beckwith, Carol, Angela Fisher, and Graham Hancock. African Ark: People and
Ancient Cultures of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. New York: Harry Abrams,
1990.
Ethiopia | 211
DeMello, Margo. Encyclopedia of Body Adornment. Westport, CT: Greenwood

Press, 2007.
Mursi Online. Lip Plates. http://www.mursi.org/life-cycle/lip-plates. 2010.
Silver International. Ethiopians Are Proud of Their Traditional Clothes. http://
silverinternational.mbhs.edu/v163/V16.3.04b.Ethiopianclothes.htm. 2002.
Finland
Michelle Webb Fandrich
Located in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe, Finland is a parlia-
mentary republic though its history reveals a less autonomous past. Finland is
historically linked to its neighbor to the west, Sweden, as well as its neighbor to
the east, Russia. Finland was part of the Swedish kingdom as early as the 12th
century and through the 19th century. Finland was then occupied twice by Rus-
sia during the 18th century before being made into a grand duchy of the Russian
empire in 1809 following the Finnish War. It wasn’t until the early 20th century
that Finland wrested control of its government and lands from occupying forces
and forged the republic after only a brief attempt at a monarchical government
in 1919.
It is not surprising that the greatest influences on the culture and with it the
traditional dress of Finland come from the countries that once occupied its lands,
Sweden and Russia. In the 19th century, Finnish author Elias Lönnrot composed
what is considered Finland’s national epic, The Kalevala or “the land of Kalev-
ala.” In 1828, Lönnrot began conducting fieldwork throughout Finland, collecting
oral folklore and song stories. What would become The Kalevala is essentially
a collection of these oral traditions combined with a mythology shared with the
Karelian people of Russia. The Kalevala would become instrumental in the con-
struction of a Finnish national identity and would be held up as Finland’s national
epic during its struggle to gain independence from Russia in the early 20th cen-
tury. The epic has over 22,000 verses divided into 50 songs or sections. Begin-
ning with a retelling of the Finnish creation myth, The Kalevala goes on to tell
stories of individual quests and daily life, with the Sampo, a Finnish talisman of
indeterminate size and style, as its center point. Created by Seppo Ilmarinen, the
Eternal Hammerer or heroic artificer, the Sampo was produced as a result of a
trick played upon him by Väinämöinen, the central god in the Finnish creation
myth. It is similar to the cornucopia in Greek mythology, producing food, grain,
212
Finland | 213
and other sources of nourishment or prosperity when called upon. The influence
of the Sampo imagery as well as The Kalevala as a whole can be seen in the
names of Finland’s cities and streets as well as prominent businesses based in
Finland. The art, literature, and especially music of Finland reveal the reach of
this national epic.

To the north of the Republic of Finland lies Norway, a neighbor that also has a
shared history with its western neighbor, Sweden. Across the Gulf of Finland to the
south lies Estonia. One of the largest countries in the EU, Finland is also one of the
least populated. One-quarter of Finland lies within the Arctic Circle. The subarctic
climate of these northern parts of Finland (particularly Lapland) results in long,
freezing winters, which might help to explain the low population-to-landmass
ratio. In other parts of Finland, a slightly warmer climate persists with freezing
winters lasting four months and warm, humid summers of similar length. The bulk
of the population is found in the southern regions of the republic, a trend that was
only strengthened by the country’s eventual entrance into the industrialized world.
Only in the southernmost regions of Finland is agriculture viable. Here the land is
mostly suited to grain crops, with little diversity.
The Republic of Finland was mostly agrarian until the 1950s. Though the
country came late to the Industrial Revolution, the bulk of Finland’s gross domestic
product is now generated through services and manufacturing and not agriculture.
In fact, almost one-third of the GDP for Finland is produced within the capital area
of Helsinki, with technology services and electronics manufacturing as the lead-
ing industries. In 2012, the population of Helsinki was approximately 1,107,000,
with the population of Finland more than 5,260,000 (Central Intelligence Agency
World Factbook, 2012). That said, the country’s forests also play a key role in the
economy with forests covering over 85 percent of the country. Finland is one of
the world’s leading producers of wood, providing raw materials to manufacturers
of wood-based goods worldwide.
In addition to cultural influences, Finland’s climate has also naturally played
a role in shaping the traditional or national costume of its inhabitants. The arc-
tic climates of the most northern regions of Finland are reflected in the type of
clothing worn there. In the north, the costume is most readily identified with the
Sami people, an indigenous population that inhabits the region known as Lapland,
which encompasses areas in Finland, Sweden, Norway, and parts of Russia. Fur
and animal skins are the materials of which most dress is constructed. Both men
and women wear moccasin-style shoes and boots.
People and Dress

The Karelian influence seen in The Kalevala is also revealed in the tradi-
tional dress of eastern Finland. Here, the costume reflects the influence of Rus-
sian culture. The use of colorful fabrics and embroidered details, for example, is
most often associated with the Karelian influence on Finnish traditional dress. In
western Finland, the Swedish influence is more predominant. Here, shadows of
the aristocratic dress of the 15th century—when Finland was part of the Swed-
ish kingdom—are seen in both the materials and the shape of traditional dress.
Because the influences of the countries to the east and west of Finland are so
pronounced, it is easiest to discuss national dress in terms of these regions. By
and large, the silhouette is consistent from one region to another, with changes to
specific elements such as collar, jewelry, and headwear revealing the influence of
one culture over another.
The Sami people of northern Finland are indigenous to the Arctic Circle.
They inhabit parts of Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia in an area referred to
as Sápmi. The Sami are best known for their seminomadic culture that centered
on the herding of reindeer; however, they also make a livelihood from fishing,
fur-trapping, and the herding of other, smaller animals such as sheep. The cold
climates of their native land in the Arctic have shaped the traditional dress of this
people. Today, the majority of Sami people are urbanized with only a few living
in the coldest of climates but the traditional dress or Gákti lives on. The Sami’s
relationship with Finland is a particularly tenuous one since the traditional cul-
ture and dress of the Sami have been exploited in this country for the purposes of
tourism.
History of Dress
Like many other European nations, the interest in national dress in Finland
reached a pinnacle in the late 19th century, born out of a desire for a national iden-
tity. Scholars and enthusiasts began gathering extant examples of traditional dress
or recording them with drawings, prints, and oral histories. The first patterns for a
national costume in Finland were gathered by Dr. Theodor Schvindt and published
in 1899. This publication featured only eight of the modes of traditional dress in this
country. Research by others continued well into the 20th century, resulting in mul-
tiple publications as well as the foundation of a Finnish National Costume Council
in 1979. The popularity of wearing national dress ebbed with the advent of World
War II and again in the 1960s but has slowly made its way into “fashion” again.
Finland | 215

Wool and leather figure prominently in the production of Finland’s national
costume. They are also a significant feature of the Gákti of the Sami people.
Bands of fabric and braid ornament these costumes. Cotton is sometimes used
today in both costumes. Embroidery is not as strong a feature of women’s dress
throughout most of Finland as it is in other Scandinavian countries. Most exam-
ples are simple geometric patterns, frequently large in scale. These are typically
executed in red thread on a white or cream background. It is usually executed
on the collar, cuffs, and sometimes the shoulders of the blouse, apron, and skirt
hem. Other popular colors include blue and green. Lace, when used, is usually
limited to the cap only, though it may be seen on the blouses of many mass-
produced costumes.

Women’s traditional dress in Finland is comparatively simpler than those
found in other parts of the Scandi-
navian region of Europe. The basic
silhouette for women and girls con-
sists of a white blouse, generally con-
structed of linen or cotton, with full
long sleeves and a collar or neck frill.
Over this, a sleeveless bodice is typi-
cally worn, which may be either laced
or fastened with buttons. If the bodice
is fastened with buttons, it is custom-
ary for married women to leave the top
two buttons unbuttoned. This custom
appears to be unique to Finland and it
is done to signify their marital status.
Bodices made with striped fabric fea-
ture an interesting detail at the back.
The back panels are cut on the cross
grain, creating a point or arrow out
of the striped motif, pointing toward
the waistline. An apron is worn over
Couple dances traditional Finnish folk dance
a long, full skirt. Skirts are typically
at the Seurasaari Open Air Museum during
made of wool and may be made from midsummer festival in Helsinki, 2011. (Tomi
a fabric with a woven stripe or other Tenetz/Dreamstime.com)
geometric pattern. Pockets or reticule bags are traditionally hung from the waist
and are a canvas upon which traditional styles of embroidery may be practiced.
The primary influence on dress in the eastern regions of Finland is not from its
Scandinavian neighbors but from Karelia. Once a province of Finland, the area is
now divided between Finland and Russia. The silhouette worn by Karelian women
is not wholly dissimilar from that worn in western Finland. The most typical cos-
tume is that of Kaukola, a municipality in the former Finnish Karelian region. That
it is still considered a national costume of Finland is a testament to the ongoing
influence of Karelian culture. The women’s costume features the same basic ele-
ments of blouse, bodice, skirt, and apron as in western Finland; however, the skirt
is pleated instead of full and the bodice displays more embroidered detail than
those found in the west. The headdress of Karelian women is more like a head
kerchief than the sewn bonnets seen in western Finland women’s dress. These
kerchiefs are typically white linen though there are examples of headdresses made
of calico as well. Headbands of felt or ribbon are also worn, some adorned with
metal elements. The costume of the Tuuteri region of Karelia features the same
combination of blouse, bodice, skirt, and apron with some distinctive features.
Here, embroidery in red and blue at the shoulders of the blouse and along the front
placket is used. Further embroidery is seen at the hem of the apron, executed in a
similar range of colors. Another distinctive feature of Karelian-influenced wom-
en’s dress, which is not very common today, is the hanging square. This large piece
of fabric is suspended from the shoulder with a long band and may have originally
been intended as a kind of wearable blanket. Some note that in its last iterations
it was more of a decorative piece than a functional one, with the incorporation of
metal lace and other ornamentation making it an impractical sitting surface. This
would be worn slung across one shoulder over a long coat. The coat, in turn, was
worn over a one-piece, loose-fitting dress, which was frequently constructed of
colorful calico.
The traditional dress in the north of Finland is that of the Sami people. Wom-
en’s dress includes a peski—a kind of unisex tunic or coat made of reindeer. This
is slipped over the head, with the pelt worn toward the body for warmth. Leather
leggings and moccasins cover the lower extremities and mittens or gloves cover the
hands. The Sami women’s dress differs from that of men in the length of the peski
and in the style of headwear worn. Typically a cap is worn by women, which may
be trimmed with lace in some instances. Embroidery is rarely, if ever, seen in Sami
traditional costume.
National dress is less frequently worn by men in Finland than it is by women.
Like other traditional Scandinavian dress, Finnish men’s costume begins with a
white, full-sleeved shirt. This is ornamented with embroidery and features a stand-
ing collar that is fastened at the neck with a silver brooch. Over the shirt a waistcoat
Finland | 217
is worn, typically of striped material

and made in a double-breasted fash-
ion. This vest or waistcoat may be
made with the same fabric front and
back, instead of a simpler fabric for the
back section. This feature is often con-
nected with the tendency toward dis-
carding the outer coat or jacket when
indoors. Matching coat and trousers
or breeches are worn in either black
or dark blue. Breeches are more com-
mon in western Finland, where the
Swedish influences are strongest. The
coat or jacket is most often trimmed
with braid around the edges and hem
and features a standing collar. Belts
ornamented with brass reflect the ear-
liest dress worn by Finnish men—a
T-shaped tunic that was belted with
a similar decorative belt, which also Man in traditional Sami costume, including
served as a kind of tool belt holding “cap of the four winds,” Rovaniemi, Finland,
early Finnish men’s weapons, pockets, 2008. (Joop Kleuskens/Dreamstime.com)
and other useful items. On the head, a
skullcap or a brimmed felt hat is worn.
The Karelian-style national costume for men is typified by the regional dress
of Kaukola. A red-trimmed coat of dark brown or black is worn over a vest of
similar material and worn with trousers. A tall brimmed hat, similar in style to a
top hat but wider at the crown than the brim, is a distinguishing feature of this cos-
tume. The suit is worn with a white shirt and tan or black leather shoes. A costume
typifying the Swedish influence on men’s national dress in Finland would be that
of Valkeala, a former municipality in the southern region of Finland. Here dark
breeches are worn with a vertically striped vest and a white shirt. A round cap or
skullcap may be worn on the head, and it is common to see black buckled shoes
worn with red stockings.
In the north, the traditional dress for men is that of the Sami people. Like the
dress for women, the costume begins with the tunic-style overgarment—the peski.
In warmer months, the reindeer version may be replaced by a cloth version. In
colder months, the tunic may be supplemented by a high-collared cape called a
lukka. Men’s tunics are shorter than women’s and are worn with breeches. Moc-
casins or boots are worn over these.
The type of headwear worn by women typically signifies her marital status, a
tradition that is not unique to Finland but is found in most Scandinavian traditional
dress. A bonnet or kerchief is worn by women who are married, while a head-
band or ringlet with ribbon streamers is the only adornment worn by unmarried
women and girls. Bridal headdress is more elaborate, with the introduction of a
high peaked cap. Marital status among women may also be signified in the manner
in which the bodice is worn, as mentioned earlier.
Stockings are typically white or off-white. These are usually worn with flat-
soled leather buckled shoes, another reflection of the Swedish influence on Finn-
ish dress. In the recent past, stockings—particularly those worn for important
ceremonies like marriage—were manufactured by hand. It is more common to
find mass-produced stockings worn with even the most authentic national dress
in Finland today.
Regarding the aprons that are worn by Finnish women, these are typically col-
orful and are worn in both the eastern and western regions of Finland. Those famil-
iar with Swedish national dress will note that the styles worn in western Finland
are similar to some of those worn in Sweden, rectangle in shape and made with
fabric in an all-over print. Striped aprons are also worn, again reflecting a Swedish
influence. White aprons are worn and will typically feature embroidery.
The traditional dress of the native Sami people features the iconographic “cap
of the four winds.” This cap is constructed with four points. It is frequently adorned
with tassels and other trim in a colorful fashion. It is perhaps the most recognizable
element of the Sami costume.

Today, Finnish national dress is recorded, studied, and exhibited in the National
Costume Center of Finland, part of the Craft Museum of Finland. The museum
boasts a collection of over 400 costumes representing different regions in Finland
and different eras in the nation’s history. Many of these designs are now made
and sold by folk costume companies for use on national and local festival days, at
church events, and for use in traditional dance performances.

Central Intelligence Agency. World Factbook: Finland. https://www.cia.gov/
library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/fi.html. 2012.
Craft Museum of Finland [Suomen Käsityön Museo]. National Costume Center of
Finland. http://www.craftmuseum.fi/english/nationalcostumecenter/index.htm.
2012.
Finland | 219
Helmi Vuorelma Oy website. http://kauppa.vuorelma.net/.

Lehtaosalo-Hilander, Pirkko-Liisa. Ancient Finnish Costumes. Helsinki, Finland:
Suomen arkeologinen seura (The Finnish Archaeological Society and Vamma-
lan Kirjapaino Oy), 1984.
Primmer, Kathleen. Scandinavian Peasant Costume. London: Adam and Charles
Black, 1939.
Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples website. www.galdu.org.
Sichel, Marion. Scandinavia. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1937.
France
Christina Cie
I f fashion were a nation, Paris would be its capital. Paris has come to influence
fashion internationally, even dominate it at times. However, what reigns in Paris
will take time to fall on the plain and everyday dress worn in the regions that make
up the French nation.
As a part of mainland Europe, France’s population has been strongly influenced by
both its neighboring countries and the Catholic Church. Invasion and occupation
by Rome saw the blending of the more northern Celtic culture with southern Italian
culture, then Germanic tribes largely replacing the Roman Empire, with periodic
raids by the Viking “Norse men,” who eventually settled in Normandy. The border
with Spain has allowed not only Spanish customs and culture to be absorbed, but
also North African and Arabic cultures via the Muslim Moors’ occupation of Spain.
During a period of fighting between cities or provincial states and ruling families,
Joan of Arc became a powerful symbol of French identity against its old enemy, the
English. Religious dissent left France in between a largely Catholic southern Europe
of Spain and Italy, and an increasingly diverse Protestant northern Europe of Ger-
many, Holland, and England. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which
had granted Protestants significant rights, led many to emigrate and take their skills
in textile industries, particularly lace and silk production, to commercial rivals such
as Holland and England. Successive kings and ministers worked to develop home-
grown industries to compete with products imported from such rivals. Jean-Baptiste
Colbert, a minister of finance in the 17th century, created schemes and incentives that
grew silk manufacturing in Lyon, as well as other textile production appropriate to
different areas, and included expectations and even measures for quality.
Agriculture remained the dominant activity for most as the Industrial Rev-
olution reached France later than some other European countries, due to a lack
of plentiful and easily accessible coal and iron ore for making and powering the
new machines. The establishment of France as a colonial power also had little
220
France | 221
immediate effect on the rural peasant majority, nor ultimately did the French
Revolution. While the Revolution introduced ideas of equality and eroded the
wealth and influence of the Church, much of the old way of doing things returned
when the king was replaced by an emperor, Napoleon. His influential expansion
into northern Europe did not last formally, but France continued to expand, to
the Americas and most notably to northern Africa and Southeast Asia. Much of
this followed the “exploitation” model of colonialism, where the ruling power was
interested in importing the products and wealth available from the new country,
rather than exporting and resettling sections of its own population. Postcolonially,
however, the emigration of workers from former colonies to the colonizing country
has significantly increased ethnic and religious diversity in France, particularly in
urban areas, as it has for other colonizing countries such as Britain and Germany.

France is located in western mainland Europe. The Pyrenees mountains form a
natural border with Spain to the south; the Alps, including Mont Blanc, the highest
mountain in Europe, forming a formidable border with Italy and Switzerland to
the south east. With no dominant geographical features like mountains or rivers to
form natural borders, areas to the northeast have long been disputed and changed
hands many times between France and neighboring Germany and Belgium. The
north and the west are bordered by the sea with the English Channel, known as
La Manche by the French, separating France from its northern neighbor, Britain.
The southern central area is dominated by a collection of mountains known as the
Massif Central. Until relatively recently, these formed a natural barrier between
the northern part of France and some of the south, particularly the wide flat plains
of Provence, formed by the delta of the Rhone river as it enters the Mediterranean
from its source in the Alps, flowing down between them and the Massif Central.
Physical conditions such as these made sheep and goat rearing prevalent activities,
with wool, leather, and shoe production stemming from these.
Northern France is characterized predominantly by gently rolling hills offering
lush pasture or arable land with most but not all residual forest having been cleared
for agriculture. Flax could be grown here, and the best flax was easily accessible
from neighboring Belgium. Areas such as these have produced some of France’s
most internationally recognized products, such as champagne. Names of areas that
become synonymous with a product such as champagne, the generic name for a
particular sparkling wine, evoke the French concept of terroir. Coming from terre,
the French word for land, this concept describes the special characteristics of fla-
vor, color, and so on generated by the unique combination of soil, weather, and
production techniques in a particular area. For wine and some other foodstuffs,
this is now a concept enshrined in law, being very important commercially, par-
ticularly when competing globally. For example, in many countries, no sparkling
wine may be described as champagne unless it comes from the Champagne area of
France. With such a strong sense of regionality, it is not surprising that a country
like France does not have a single distinctive national dress, but instead has many
local versions, many being variations on a central theme of male and female outfits
that allow for activities usually defined by rural life, and utilizing local materials
that showcase the products of that area.
People and Dress

France, still a largely Catholic country, sits between a largely Catholic southern
Europe of Spain and Italy, and a diversely Protestant northern Europe of Germany,
Holland, and England. Stereotypically, its population also reflects this position,
with the northern French population showing the influence of the blond hair and
blue eyes of Scandinavian invaders, the “Norse men,” truncated to Normans, from
Normandy. Southern French are held to show the genetic influence of their southern
neighbors, with the dark hair, dark eyes, and olive complexion so prevalent along the
borders of the Mediterranean. In common with many capital cities, there remains a
psychological as well as geographical distance between Paris and the “provinces.”
Periods of religiously based wars, then tolerance allowed the development of
strongly held beliefs, but these were rarely secured by freedom in law. Jews and
Muslims have always held a perilous position. The Edict of Nantes had granted sig-
nificant rights to Protestants, but when it was revoked in 1685, many involved in the
growing textile industries decided to emigrate and they took their skills with them,
often to countries that rivaled France commercially. While the textile industries that
they left behind went on to thrive, they now had to do so in the face of the resulting
increased competition.
As in many other countries, industrialization and globalization in France have
led to a far greater movement and mixing of peoples. New populations with new
customs, religions, and dress styles have yet to influence national dress, with local
regions preferring to reflect back what they have traditionally produced locally, and
perhaps holding to these ever more tightly in changing times. The population of
France in 2012 was approximately 62,814,200, with Paris having 10,410,000 people.
History of Dress
The carved Venus of Lespugue, found in the foothills of the Pyrenees, is
reputed to show the earliest representation of spun thread. In southern France,
France | 223
skeletons found with lines of beads indicate the wearing of bracelets, beaded gar-
ments, and hair coverings some 20,000 years ago. The famous cave paintings of
Lascaux in southwestern France detailed animals rather than humans but as tech-
niques for preserving images were developed, alterations to styles of dress can
be traced in what remains of humans’ depictions of themselves. Fiber and animal
skin–based items do not usually survive well through time, disintegrating quickly
although there are exceptions in peat, ice, or dry conditions. Customary burial
rather than cremation also increases the chances of a garment’s survival. Great skill
was developed in the making of metal-based jewelry such as brooches, with trade
routes stretching over considerable distances to bring materials.
Successive invasions by peoples such as Romans and Vikings brought new cul-
tures to influence local dress. Some fragments remain from burials of wealthy and
powerful individuals from the first millennium of the modern era. Tunics, probably
belted, and shawls or cloaks of wool, even fur, probably worn over a simple shift
or shirt of linen and breeches for men with socks were replaced, for the wealthy at
least, by silk. Samples feature embroidery, including gold thread and fringing, with
gauze weaves now covering the hair, probably only of married women, and fas-
tened with ornate silver and gold jewelry. Such clothing items are seen frequently
across western Europe at this time, much of it ruled at one point by Charlemagne,
king of the Franks. A contemporary account states that for everyday wear, his
clothing did not vary greatly from the styles adopted by his people.
Images from illuminated manuscripts, the Bayeux Tapestry (actually embroi-
dered, as tapestry is woven), and stone carvings on churches testify to a relatively
long, static period in the evolution of clothing styles. However, as early as the 12th
century, sleeves began to widen at the wrist, and the bodice began to fit increas-
ingly close to the body as far as the skirt at the hips, each following a similar
“funnel” silhouette. Such body-conscious garments were supplemented by the
subsequent arrival of knitting, particularly for socks and stockings (hose), with the
knowledge probably traveling along trade routes from North Africa, although net-
ting techniques were already known.
No one can state for certain when fashion started, but from around this time,
styles for the wealthy begin to become more extreme and to change more fre-
quently. Both men and women wore ever more elaborate and cumbersome shoes
and hats or headdresses, perhaps also to distinguish themselves from those whose
physical labor would be severely compromised by such an outfit.
The Renaissance, roughly spanning from the 14th to the 17th century, saw an
increase in trade and travel and the rise of a mercantile class. While much of the
country was still rural and devoted to agriculture, cities such as Lyon began to grow
along with increasing purchasing power for the imported silks for which it was
famous. The new middle class aped the clothing styles of their “betters,” as the
notion of a God-given place in life was eroded by the concept of self-advancement.
In France, such extravagances were cut

short by the French Revolution, begin-
ning in 1789, trumpeted as a revolution
of the people. Paintings commemorat-
ing this event show ordinary people as
opposed to the customary royal sub-
jects. Clothing styles seen include the
last medieval elements giving way to
modern dress. The urban working class
wear trousers more than breeches,
shirts instead of tunics, sabots (clogs)
rather than boots. These were the sans
culottes, urban laborers who made up
the bulk of the revolutionary army,
although not the majority of the deci-
sions, distinguished from the wealthy
wearers of culottes or breeches.
As the 19th century progressed,
Paris regained its position as the
The Singer Chenard, as a Sans-Culotte, (oil
on panel) 1792, by Louis Leopold Boilly. height of fashion. Workers could visit
(Musee de la Ville de Paris, Musee C arnavalet, the new department stores and travel
Paris, France/Giraudon/The Bridgeman in from the provinces on the new train
Art Library) system. France boasts both the inven-
tion of commercial photography and
some of the earliest movie makers. The 20th and 21st centuries see Paris continue
in a position of strength at the top of the fashion industry, while the everyday
clothes of the French were influenced particularly by American styles, as seen via
the mass communication of magazines, film, and television. Blue jeans, as else-
where throughout the globe, might be described now as typically worn by many
French, albeit with a certain flair and savoir faire.

Silk Weaving
France has a long tradition of the production of luxury goods. The luxury goods
houses of today, such as Hermes and Louis Vuitton, are inheritors of a tradition
of excellent and expensive products including champagne, brandy, silk, and lace.
There had been a strong internal market for the import and consumption of luxury
goods. During the Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries, much encourage-
ment including legal provisions such as effective monopolies were used to encour-
age the growth of home-based industry.
France | 225
Lyon was already well known for importation of silk fiber and fabric. Due
to the luster or shine of silk, weaving it into satin, with long “floats” of threads
to reflect the light, has long been popular for use in scarves and other items.
Distinct light and shade also encourages the development of techniques such as
brocade or damask to weave highly complex patterns with pictures, resulting in a
skilled and subsequently relatively well-paid workforce. Along with the wealthy
business owners came a large mass of working-class but highly skilled people,
whose comparatively well-paid lives were upset by the mechanization of indus-
try. Jacquard invented a system to automatically control patterned weaving at
the beginning of the 19th century. This complex machine, recognized as an early
forerunner of the computer, considerably speeded up production, but allowed
one person to do the work of several. The reaction of the French workforce to
such mechanization, occurring in various industries during the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution, was industrial sabotage. It is said that the word comes
from the throwing of the heavy wooden peasant clogs, known as sabots, at or
into the new machines.
Woven fabrics were significant products of the silk industry, but the availabil-
ity of silk fiber also led to the development of other products, including decorative
items such as passementerie (trims such as tassels, fringing, and pompoms), silk
embroideries, and silk flowers and ribbons. Many of these are seen as decorations
on local, traditional dress.
Lace Making
There are several different ways in which to make lace, “stitches in air,” either
by the weaving or knotting of a fabric around holes of varying sizes, or the cre-
ation of holes by the withdrawing or removal and control of threads within a fab-
ric. Principal types include bobbin lace, where many different threads are woven
together; needle lace, where a needle is used to weave a single thread through
supporting threads; and knitted or crocheted lace. The north and northeastern areas
of France offered favorable conditions for the cultivation of linen fiber, producing
the smoothest, finest thread and cloth generally available until the discovery and
widespread adoption of cotton, particularly facilitated by the Industrial Revolu-
tion. As well as offering a smooth and fine fiber, linen is also very strong, allowing
it to last well through the twists and turns of lace making. This location also shows
the twin influences of Flemish and Italian style and technique. While lace became
a very significant commodity for trade internationally, it was also used locally,
particularly as a trim for scarves and bonnets.
Embroidery
The church has historically been an important consumer of embroidery, and
convents in France became known for the production of embroidered fabrics
of professional quality. As a public space, the church also allowed local people
exposure to such high standards of design and workmanship. While not having
access to the quantity of gold- or silver-covered threads and silks used on tex-
tiles for the church, many local dress styles incorporate distinctive embroidery
as a detail on bodices, hems, and so forth, particularly showing local flora in the
designs.

There are no longer any significant communities wearing traditional dress on
an everyday basis in France. The French are proud of their reputation for being
well dressed, but almost all wear the homogenous dress style developed in Europe
and North America over the last 50 years. This is shoes or sneakers appropriate
to the occasion, jeans, a top or T-shirt, with a sweater or jacket for warmth. Hats
are rarely worn. Uniforms or suits for business people are generally replaced by
dresses in the current fashion and suits for formal wear.
Component Parts
The Beret
Most regional and thus national dress includes headwear of some sort for both
men and women. Prior to modern conveniences, most ordinary people spent most
of their time outside and the head needed to be protected from the weather, whether
too cold or too hot. The beret, worn tilted to the left or the right, has become syn-
onymous with the men of France. Made from wind and rain-resistant felted wool,
the tight-fitting crown holds it close to the head and keeps hair out of the way. Easy
to pack away with no crushing as a result and no brim to shield the eyes or obscure
the vision, it remains a popular element in the uniform of elite military forces such
as the Green or Red Berets.
The word béret originates from the Latin birettum or cap, with variations
appearing in the language and local dialects of France, Spain, and Italy where it is
worn. The word and the item discussed here originate from the Basque country in
the southwest of France, on the border with Spain, marked by the Pyrenees moun-
tains. The harsh climate of the mountains dominated local agriculture with the
prevalence of sheep and goats influencing the materials used for clothing locally.
The Breton Shirt

It is difficult to trace the exact origins of this striped top, similar to the telnyas-
hka worn by Russian soldiers, made from knitted cotton fabric to allow for efficient
physical activity in windy and wet conditions. Since the early 1920s, however,
France | 227
this simple garment, named after the Brittany area in the northwest of France, has
gained popularity among fashionistas and film stars as classic, casual wear. As
an iconographic symbol, the Breton shirt, when worn with a beret, dark trousers,
perhaps a cigarette, and, to be very stereotyped, a string of garlic at the neck, has
become part of an outfit that is globally recognized as closest to a national dress
of France.

Permanent body modification such as tattooing or piercing is not part of French
traditional styles of clothing. As it is a Catholic country, rosary beads may be car-
ried on the body, but jewelry, if worn at all, is discreet rather than ostentatious. In
the south and south central areas of France, pendants, particularly the Christian
crucifix, may be worn at the throat, threaded on black or dark ribbon.

The French no longer wear regional dress in everyday life. Tourism, however,
along with local traditions, generates opportunities to see local dress styles at fes-
tivals and events throughout the country.
With a strong sense of regionality, it is not surprising that a country like France
does not have a single distinctive national dress, but instead has many local ver-
sions, many being variations on a central theme of male and female outfits that
allow for activities usually defined by rural life, utilizing local materials that show-
case the products of an area. Outfits largely consist of dark trousers or breeches for
men, worn with a light-colored smock or shirt under a dark waist-length waistcoat
or jacket, and a distinctive regional hat. For women, a full gathered skirt is cov-
ered by an apron and often ends above the ankle. The long-sleeved, light-colored
blouse is covered by a bodice or shawl and often accessorized by a distinctive head
covering. Children’s outfits often follow a similar form according to gender. Func-
tionality was a priority, as national dress is often derived from the everyday styles
of ordinary working people, so decoration and distinctiveness from the everyday
are restricted to extraneous items such as head coverings, the edges of shawls, and
trims at the edges of garments.
To the northeast are areas long disputed between France, Germany, and Bel-
gium. Clothing here often displays the fine lace and linen grown and made in the
area. Laced high waists and hems of skirts feature bands of orderly, colorful regional
flowers on a dark ground that echo styles in neighboring Germany. Alsace women
wear large, distinctive, probably dark silk headwear (coiffe alsacienne), looking a
little like a very big bow worn to the back of the head and framing the face.
Costumes from the central area of

France tend to be far more colorful,
with multicolor striped skirts and lace
and ribbon headwear. White lace deco-
rates the blouse or scarf, with waists
either extremely high or a close-fitting
bodice on a dress. Men incorporate
color in shorter jackets and trim on
dark trousers.
To the south and southeast are
areas influenced by relative isolation,
rural poverty, and the other countries
that border the Mediterranean. Women
in Provence wear long full skirts, often
with a contrasting long apron, and a
lace-trimmed triangular shawl worn
fichu-style over long-sleeved tops and
crossed or tucked at the waist. In some
areas, the bonnet has shrunk to an
almost miniature version, worn high
on the back of the head. Men wear the
Couple wears traditional Alsatian costumes
at a canal bridge in Strasbourg, France. (Paul working clothes seen across the south
Almasy/Corbis) of heavy trousers, shirt with gilet
(waistcoat) or short jacket, and a low-
crowned, medium-brimmed hat echoing the cordobés hat seen in southern Spain.
Corsica has been ruled by Italy as well as by France, and its culture shows the
influence of both countries. Dark trousers and jackets are worn by men, dark skirts
or dresses with aprons worn by women, with both genders in white or light-colored
shirts or blouses. Headwear for women often covers shoulders as well as hair, held
in place by a light contrasting headband worn low on the forehead. Men’s jackets
may be long and loose, decorated with a bright band or trim.
To the southwest lie the Pyrenees mountains and the influence of Basque cul-
ture. Footage from a 1938 costume parade shows men often wearing a beret, a
light-colored shirt or smock sometimes covered with a sheep or goatskin gilet or
waistcoat with the wool or hair worn on the outside, rather than facing in to the
body for warmth. At the waist of long dark trousers is wrapped either a red or
sometimes blue long rectangular scarf, with another scarf folded to a triangle and
knotted at the throat. Trousers may be breeches, or the lower legs wrapped with
gaiters for protection through dense brush, mud, or snow. Women wore a full-
length skirt, with apron and wrapped shawl, also seen farther along the coast to the
France | 229
east. The shawl was now likely to be

of wool rather than lace, and the neck-
erchief worn by the men is also worn,
knotted like a bandanna to cover the
woman’s hair.
To the north and northwest lie
areas with remnants of seagoing Celtic
and Viking cultures. The Breton wom-
en’s outfit of dark long dress sets off
the often starched whiteness of apron,
lace collar, and elaborate, often high
or voluminous headdresses, again
trimmed with lace. Menswear of volu-
minous shirt and trousers contained
under a close, buttoned waistcoat and
tucked into boots echoes seagoing
wear from the 17th and 18th centuries.
Coco Chanel famously opened a bou-
tique in Deauville, Normandy, and is Breton father and daughter in tradi-
tional dress, Brittany, France. (Lange/
said to have been inspired particularly
StockphotoPro)
by men’s local work wear.
References and Further Reading

Boucher, François. 20,000 Years of Fashion: The History of Costume and Personal
Adornment. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1987.
British Pathé. Pyrenees Costume Fête, 1938. http://www.britishpathe.com/record
.php?id=19432.
Cap Corse. Le Conservatoire du Costume. (Musée de la Mode et du Textile in Paris
and local museums such as the Corsican dress museum). http://www.destination
-cap-corse.com/communaute-communes/cap-corse.php?menu=1&ssm=29.
Embroidery in France. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/txt_e/hd_txt_e.htm
“The Essay: Stars in Stripes. Breton Shirt in the Twentieth Century.” The Indepen-
dent. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/the-essay-stars-in-stripes-1105547
.html. July 10, 1999. The Lace Making of France. http://lace.lacefairy.com/Lace/
International/Francemap.html.
Laver, James. Costume and Fashion: A Concise History. London: Thames and
Hudson, 1982.
Medieval Sourcebook. Einhard: Life of Charlemagne. (Account of Charlemagne’s
dress by Einhard.) http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/einhard1.asp. 1996.
Morris, Grace M. Basque Costume. http://jessamynscloset.com/Basquehistory

.html.
Saint-Denis, a Town in the Middle Ages. Clothing of Queen Arnegund, buried
approx. end 6th century. http://www.saint-denis.culture.fr/en/2_2_aregonde
.htm.
Wayland Barber, Elizabeth. Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years. New York:
W. W. Norton, 1994.
Germany and Austria
The relationship between Germany and Austria dates back to the 10th century and
the birth of the Holy Roman Empire. Modern-day Germany was once the seat of the
Holy Roman Empire, which stretched from central Europe to include most of the
continent. When Otto I was crowned king of Germany in 962, the empire centered
around the kingdom of Germany, which included the bulk of the country that would
become Austria, as well as modern-day Germany. It wasn’t until the Napoleonic Wars
of the 19th century that Austria would attain its identity as a separate empire. The
Austro-Hungarian Empire of the Hapsburgs would last only a few decades before
World War I would bring about its collapse. World War II brought further changes
to Austria through its occupation by neighboring Germany during the war. It would
not be until the middle of the 20th century that Austria would return to being a fully
sovereign country and declare its neutrality as the Second Austrian Republic in 1955.
Germany has seen tremendous changes from the earliest recorded Germanic
civilizations dating back to the second century. Once the center of the Holy Roman
Empire, the country would become the center of the Protestant Reformation of the
16th century. The Napoleonic Wars brought about the union of Germanic states and
the formation of the German Empire in 1871. In the 20th century, further political
and economic changes would bring about the Weimar Republic in 1918, the Third
Reich in 1933, and a division into East and West Germany by the Allies of World
War II. In 1990, following intense international political talks, the two states were
reunified following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Today, Austria is a parliamentary
representative democracy consisting of nine federal states, and reunified Germany
is a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic.

Situated in central Europe, Germany and Austria share the high mountainous ter-
rain of the Alps. Germany extends into western Europe, however, and possesses a
231
more seasonally temperate climate while Austria retains a mostly alpine and there-
fore colder climate. Austria is landlocked and lacks the biodiversity of Germany,
which has both woodland terrain and a coastal region. Germany and Austria share
a common neighbor in Switzerland, and similarities can be seen in both climate
and costume of these three countries.
People and Dress

A land settled by Germanic people dates back to the second century in what is
now modern-day Germany and Austria. Today, less than one-fifth of Austria’s popu-
lation is made up of foreign-born citizens and, in Germany, closer to one-tenth of the
population is made up those of foreign-born descent. In 2012, Austria’s population
was 8,219,750 and Germany’s population was 81,305,850. In Austria, Slovenes, Cro-
ats, and Hungarians are recognized minorities. The bulk of the population in Austria
are registered members of the Roman Catholic Church while in Germany, Roman
Catholics and Protestants seem to be equally represented. However, there does appear
to be concentrations of one denomination over another—the highest concentrations
of the Roman Catholic faith appear to be centralized in the south and west, while
Protestantism is more popular in the north and eastern parts of the country.
History of Dress
It is no surprise that the complicated and diverse political history of Germany
should influence the shape of its national dress. The traditional regional costumes of
Germany, reunified in the late 20th century, share traits in common with the coun-
tries that have been neighbors, allies, and enemies. Austria’s costume may show
an influence of neighboring Germany, yet German folk or regional dress reveals
broader elements of influence. Among the countries to have a marked influence on
Germany’s folk or regional dress are Denmark, the Czech Republic (formerly called
Czechoslovakia), and France along with Nordic influences of the Scandinavian
countries and Baltic states. While Germany’s diverse range of regional styles reflect
its history of divided kingdoms, duchies, grand duchies, and federal states, Austria’s
national dress is based on more modern influences. In fact, the national costume of
Austria dates back only to 1918 and the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The
dirndl and lederhosen of Austria was worn previously, first by the peasant class and
then by the upper classes as a form of fashionable fancy dress. Their final itera-
tion and acceptance as the national costume of Austria, however, was inspired by a
strong nationalist feeling that aided in the popularizing of traditional forms of dance
Germany and Austria | 233
and performance in Austria. The advent of the Salzburg Music Festival can be seen
as a key factor in the development of the Austrian national dress.

Materials from animal sources figure prominently in the construction of national
dress in Germany and Austria, namely wool and leather. These sturdy materials are
natural choices for the cool mountain climates experienced in both these countries.
The Scandinavian influence can particularly be seen in the color choices for Ger-
man women’s regional dress: red, blue, green, and yellow are favored above others.
Leather breeches or lederhosen for men are popular in both in parts of Germany
and Austria. These practical garments are linked to Celtic traditions. Embroidery
and braid trim each play an important role in the ornamentation of both men’s and
women’s dress in both countries, and straw, wool felt, and cotton can all be seen in
use for the accessories worn in each. Silk is sometimes used in more contemporary
examples of national dress in both Germany and Austria, but this material is usu-
ally reserved for women’s dirndls and is associated with “fancy dress” over true
examples of regional attire.
Wool felt is the most common material used in the construction of hats in these
countries, though hats of straw may be seen in some of the more inland regions of
Germany. Lace caps are worn under most women’s headwear, an element common
in most forms of national costume in Europe today.

Women’s traditional dress in Germany is centered on a simple silhouette of
four component parts—the bodice, blouse, skirt, and an apron. These four items
vary in style and construction from region to region and may incorporate more or
less ornamentation.
In the north, Germany shares a border with Denmark, and this is where the
Scandinavian influence on dress can be most clearly seen. The women’s silhouette
is comprised of a pleated wool skirt in red or green with a wool jacket and white
frilled-neck blouse. White stockings are worn with ribbon garters at the knees and
the skirt is covered with a plain or striped apron. A Danish-style bonnet is worn
on the head. As one moves farther south, the colors become more sedate and less
influenced by the Scandinavian palette. Here fashionable dress has played a larger
role in influencing the regional styles. Women wear long-sleeved blouses with
large frills at the neck and wrists. Sleeveless bodices of black velvet are worn over
these and are sometimes ornamented with embroidered flowers. Skirts are pleated
and constructed of red or red and green–striped wool, sometimes with a black
border. Over these, large black aprons

are worn. On the head, red bonnets are
worn over lace caps.
The costume of the Black Forest is
perhaps one of the most distinctive of
Germany. Here a halsmantel or hals-
band, a kind of bib, is worn over the
black velvet bodice and white blouse.
These are usually highly decorative,
trimmed with embroidery or braid,
and were originally made to tie to the
bodice with four ribbons. In contem-
porary examples of the costume, how-
ever, they are usually incorporated into
the bodice’s construction. This is worn
with a full, below-knee-length skirt,
which is shaped with numerous petti-
coats. The headwear of the women of
Woman wears traditional Bavarian dirndl, the Black Forest is distinctive, a straw
near Oberstdorf, Germany, 2012. (Johannes hat ornamented with pom-poms.
Simon/Getty Images)
In the south, the dress of women
from Austria and Germany is very
similar. It, like that of the men of the region, has been inspired by a country or
peasant style (Landhausmode). Here, the dirndl has been adopted as the national
costume of each. This consists of a laced bodice with a low, square neckline, some-
times ornamented with embroidery and trimmed with lace. This is worn over a
white cotton blouse with short or elbow-length full sleeves and a full knee-length
skirt. The word dirndl originally referred to the young women who wore this cos-
tume in the Alpine regions of these countries. However, in contemporary usage, the
term may refer both to the wearer and what she is wearing.
The silhouette for men dates back to the 19th century and the popularity of the
fashionable frock coat of that time. In the north, they are worn in blue and lined in
red, with lapels and a collar. The suit continues with a blue waistcoat, and breeches
of wool or buckskin are worn to the knee with knee-length black leather boots.
Underneath, a white shirt is worn with a black ribbon tied under the collar. Felt hats,
in either broad-brimmed or top hat shape, are worn decorated with ribbons, flow-
ers, and other trim, particularly for special occasions. Moving south, men’s jackets
become collarless and lack lapels, and the breeches are replaced by yellow trousers,
which are worn with buckled shoes instead of boots. Woolen waistcoats in green
with a high collar are worn underneath the coat, with a black silk scarf tied around
Germany and Austria | 235
the neck. In the Harz mountains, black

breeches are worn tucked into gaiters.
The ensemble is completed with a blue
frock coat, trimmed with brass buttons,
worn over a patterned standing-collar
waistcoat.
In the south and in Austria, the
lederhosen or leather breeches have
become the staple for men’s tradi-
tional dress. These are the descendants
of peasant, country wear, which was
adopted as fashionable dress by the aris-
tocracy in the late 19th century. Worn
with embroidered braces over a white
shirt, the ensemble is completed with a
wool felt fedora-like hat, trimmed with
red braid and tassels, and a gray wool
coat. White stockings and black buck-
led shoes are commonly worn with this
form of national costume.
Local man wears traditional lederhosen at an

Component Parts Oktoberfest in Germany, 2011. (Janateneva/
Dreamstime.com)
Headwear plays an important role
in distinguishing the dress in different parts of Germany. In the north, where Ger-
many shares a border with the Scandinavian country of Denmark, one finds similari-
ties in their headdress. Moving inland and away from the high winds of the Baltics,
more frivolous headwear can be seen, often in the form of highly perched straw hats.
Moving toward the south, the headwear becomes more somber, with simple bonnets
worn over lace caps and trimmed with ribbons. The influence of neighboring France
can also be seen in the headwear of German women. In the Harz mountains, a little
cap with black ribbons similar to those worn in Alsace is seen. The straw hat of the
women of the Black Forest serves an additional function to the discerning eye. Orna-
mented with red pom-poms, the hat signifies that the woman wearing it is unmarried.
Upon marriage, the red pom-poms are replaced by black ones.
Aprons play an important role in women’s dress in most regions of Germany.
Those of the northern regions tend to be plainer, constructed of black fabric and
unadorned. Moving south, they become more decorative and are made of flower-
print material or trimmed with embroidery and braid. This adornment is usually
reserved for the hem of the apron.
Boots and buckled shoes are the most common forms of footwear for both Ger-
man and Austrian national costumes. These are worn with white stockings almost
universally. The one exception is in the men’s dress of Mecklenberg, where purple
stockings are worn with yellow trousers and black shoes. Another unusual feature
of men’s footwear is seen in examples from Bavaria, which shares similarities with
the national costume of Austria. Here, men’s stockings, worn with the lederhosen,
are footless, ending at the ankle and extending to just under the knee where they
are rolled and sometimes worn with garters.

Ethnic dress, particularly the dirndl and lederhosen, have become iconic repre-
sentations of the Oktoberfest celebrations around the world. These and other forms
of regional attire are also commonly worn while folk dancing or in other traditional
performances of song and dance in both Germany and Austria. The formation of
Trachten-Vereine or social clubs that preserve traditional dance, song, and dress
has helped maintain the culture of both Austria and Germany since the early 20th
century. Folk dance festivals are a frequent occurrence in both countries and the
various forms of national dress play an important role in these events.
There are many different forms of folk dance in Germany and each has a spe-
cific costume associated with it. For example, the Schuhplattler performed in the
Alpine region of Germany and in Austria is a dance reserved for men. The lederho-
sen costume is worn while dancing what was formerly a ritual act of courtship. The
dance is performed with a series of jumps and foot-stamping, which is punctuated
by the striking of the performers’ thighs, knees, and the soles of the feet with their
hands. One can imagine that the leather of the lederhosen provides an excellent
acoustic element to the slapping of the men’s thighs.

American Federation of German Folk Dance Groups website. www.germanfolk
dancers.org.
Dirndl Online Magazine website. www.dirndl-mode.com. 2012.
Elfi Maisetschläger Trachten website. www.maisi.at.
Harrold, Robert. Folk Costumes of the World. London: Blandford Press, 2002.
Leitner, Hanna. Deutsche Volkstanzkostüme. Leipzig: F. Hofmeister, 1958.
Mann, Kathleen. Peasant Costume in Europe Book I. London: Adam and Charles
Black, 1937.
Ghana
Malika Kraamer
Early History
The coast of the state of Ghana, with its current borders, was probably already
inhabited by 4000 BCE. Several waves of migrations took place over the last 1,000
years. Commercial connections between Ghana and the north, at least since the
13th century, gave rise to several political states in mid-Ghana. At the end of the
15th century, with the spread of Islam and the influx of Islamic rulers, new states
like Dagomba and Gonja developed in northern Ghana. Across all these states
lived various groups mainly organized on kinship ties. The best documented pre-
colonial state is the Asante confederacy in mid-Ghana. Since the 17th century, it
ruled over many other groups and developed in a centralized empire with Kumasi
as its capital. In southeastern Ghana, the Ewe and Ga-Adangbe are believed to
have gradually moved from the east between the 14th and 17th centuries.
Slave Trade and Colonization

With the arrival of Europeans on the Gold Coast, the European name for
present-day Ghana, the traffic in enslaved human beings quickly became the main
trade, with millions of people shipped to the Americas. Although abolished in 1807
by the British, this trade continued until the 1860s. By this time, the British had
become the dominant European power. After the British attack on Asante in 1874,
the Gold Coast became a crown colony. The rest of the country was colonized in
the early 20th century. The current borders were defined in 1956, when British
Mandated Togoland (eastern Ghana) voted to become part of modern Ghana.
Ghanaian nationalism started in the 19th century and became widespread after
World War II. In the early 20th century, export revenues of new crops, mainly cacao,
financed infrastructure and an extensive educational system. The 19th-century
influx of missionaries resulted in a now predominantly Christian southern Ghana.
237
Independence
On March 6, 1957, Ghana became the first independent country in sub-Saha-
ran Africa, with Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as the first president. His government was
overthrown in 1966. In the next 15 years, alternating military and civilian govern-
ments were not able to deal with inherited problems of heavy debt, rising inflation,
and economic mismanagement, and Ghana’s economic and political situation dete-
riorated further. In 1992, with the introduction of a new multiparty system, Jerry
Rawlings, who had already ruled the country with the military since 1981, was
elected as president. In 2000, John Kuffuor of the opposition won the presidential
elections. Since the 1980s, Ghana has had a steadily growing economy and, since
the 1990s, a growing independent judiciary and press system. A large amount of
remittances increasingly come in from Ghana’s extensive diasporas.

Ghana, a country on the West African coast, is roughly the size of Great Britain or
the Korean Peninsula (148,221 sq. mi., 238,540 km2). Around 20 million people live
in Ghana today and it is surrounded by three countries, Togo, Burkina Faso, and the
Ivory Coast. It has five geographical regions: low plains on the coast; a hilly, forestry
area to the north of these plains; a higher mountain range in the southeast; the Volta
Basin in the center; and dissected high plains in the north. The climate is tropical,
determined by the interaction of dry continental air from the northeast and opposing
moist air from the southwest. Rain is heavy in the south, but the resulting thick veg-
etation thins to savannah and dry plains in the north with much less rainfall.
People and Dress

Ghanaians give much attention to the way they dress on many different occasions.
They choose from a wealth of continuously changing textile and dress traditions,
such as kente, colorful handwoven wrappers from southern Ghana; fugu, smocks
that are mainly produced in northern Ghana; and kaba, blouses with matching
skirts manufactured from printed, batik, or tie-dyed materials. Of course for sev-
eral centuries, people have also worn what is still often described as Western dress,
sometimes in combination with these locally developed garments.

Ghanaians may affiliate with just one or two particular religious and ethnic
identities, depending on the context in which such an affiliation is considered
Ghana | 239
important to mark. Particular dress forms, however, often are not confined to a
particular identity or group of people, even though distinct dress traditions have
been mainly made in certain production centers. Since at least the 19th century, for
instance, Ga-Adangbe chiefs have been using textiles produced by Asante and Ewe
weavers, and several Akan peoples also use cloth woven by the Ewe. In the early
21st century, urban and chiefly elites have used perceived Nigerian handwoven
textiles that mainly were designed by Ewe weavers who migrated back and forth
between Ghana and Nigeria.
While a bewildering amount of ethnic or linguistic groups are described in
many scholarly books on Ghana, often four main groups are distinguished, cov-
ering 85 percent of the population. The Akan of southern Ghana, consisting of
several groups of which the Asante and Fante are the best known, comprise almost
half of the population. Ewe speakers live mainly in southeast Ghana and adjacent
Togo. The Ga-Adangbe people are concentrated in Accra and west of the lower
Volta river. The Mole-Dagbane is a clustering of most groups in the northern half
of Ghana. Such a division of the country should not suggest, however, that any
region is homogenous, as intermarriage and settlement of migrant groups have
been reported for centuries. The population of Ghana in 2012 was 25,242,000.
It is important to bear in mind that ethnic and other social identities are nei-
ther fixed nor consistent. This, as demonstrated in the work of many scholars, is a
myth. People negotiate many social identities at the same time, and current ethnici-
ties are often not older than one or two centuries. Ghanaian identity, furthermore,
developed in the 20th century. Multiple identities are, thus, as common in Ghana
as elsewhere in the world.
Religious identifications are predominantly Christian in central and southern
Ghana and Muslim in the northern part, alongside of, or fiercely opposed to, indig-
enous religious affiliations. Historically, the influences of northern Muslim groups
settling in Ghana have had an impact on the dress of both those who converted
to Islam and others throughout the country. Dress of religious leaders, such as
southern Christian reverends, northern earth priests, and eastern vodu priests and
priestesses, often outshines the dress of others.
The choice of a particular dress is never influenced only by perceived social
identities like age, kinship, gender, marital status, occupation, education, religion,
ethnicity, or nationality, and may be of no concern to the individual at a particular
time. Factors such as taste, fashion, lifestyle, tradition, occasion, and wealth all
may play a role. In Ghana, the decision to wear a particular type of textile, espe-
cially on special occasions, is often more influenced by enacting a social position,
rather than an ethnic identity. Furthermore, different identities may be manifested
on different occasions. The relationship between dress and ethnicity, like ethnic
identity itself, should, therefore, not be treated as fixed.
History of Dress
Little is known about early forms of dress in Ghana before the 16th century,
and until the 19th century written, archaeological, and other sources and available
examples of dress are scarce.
Until the 16th century, the most common outfit was likely tree bark in the
south, and leaves and skins in the north. The use of cotton became more common
in the two following centuries. Cotton cloth was probably first reserved for elite
groups in society, but gradually developed into daily dress for most people.
Kente
In southern Ghana (including the inland Akan areas and the Ewe region),
women mainly wore a handwoven cloth wrapped around the hips. Sometimes a
second wrapper was used to protect against the evening cold, or to carry a child.
Men used one large wrapper, or a smock and trousers, all made from handwoven
strips sewn together. Apart from plain textiles, yarns and wrappers were sometimes
dyed and designs could be created through warp-striping. The dress of farmers and
hunters often was dyed brown. Hunter shirts were fortified with amulets, often
including Koranic texts. From at least the 17th century, dress for economic and
political elites became more elaborate as the use of silk and more complicated
techniques opened up design possibilities. Jewelry and component parts were
already important in these outfits, mainly worn on special occasions.
The exact stylistic developments in these textiles and the interrelationships
between different weaving centers have not yet been fully established. Today, some
of the main characteristics of many Ewe and Asante textiles, commonly known as
kente, is the alternation of weft- and warp-faced plain-weave areas in one length of
strip and the use of supplementary weft-float motifs. The weaving of such altera-
tions (creating visual block effects in textiles) was at least well established by the
mid-19th century, and most likely began in Agotime in the Ewe region.
Asante weavers, the main Akan weaving group, are historically known for
their silk or rayon textiles full of nonfigurative motifs. They developed this style of
weaving in the 18th or 19th century. By the turn of the 20th century, much of their
elite dress consisted of an abundance of different motifs in contrasting colors. Cer-
tain design configurations were restricted to their king, the Asantehene, and Asante
nobility. These restrictions dwindled in the 20th century due to a changing political
landscape and new customer groups. More and more Asante cloth was produced
entirely in rayon (the replacement of silk), and the number of different designs in
one cloth diminished.
Since at least the 17th century until the mid-20th century, Ewe weavers mainly
continued to work in cotton. They have been exploring the weaving of all kinds of
Ghana | 241
figurative motifs in their more expen-

sive textiles since at least the 19th cen-
tury. These textiles were not restricted
to particular elite groups; only their
high cost and a general sense of propri-
ety limited their use. Ewe weavers also
developed the process of weaving with
two sets of warps and the use of plied
yarn. In these less expensive textiles,
color combinations were often more
subdued than in Asante cloth. In the
20th century, Ewe weavers developed
several new types of textiles, such as
cloth with designs visible mainly on
one side of the textile, a technique
developed in the 1930s. It is clear that
Asante and Ewe weavers have been
mutually inspired by each other’s
textile traditions (and those of other
weaving centers) over the last few cen- A kente cloth seller stands in front of his
stock in a market in Accra, Ghana, 1996.
turies. They also share a long history
(Jonathan C. Katzenellenbogen/Getty
of wearing their handwoven textiles in Images)
similar ways.
In the mid-20th century, kente acquired the status of the national dress. Nation-
alists before independence and the political elite afterwards used kente as part of
a mental decolonization process, with a connotation, among others, of the cultural
richness of Ghana. Nkrumah used kente as produced in the Asante region in his
politics of national identity building, and he was widely followed by many Gha-
naians. One of the consequences was not only a shift in production in the Ewe-
speaking region toward the weaving of these shiny rayon textiles in contrasting
colors, but also the gradual use of this cloth in this part of the country. Since then,
Ewe and Asante weavers developed this particular style, constantly coming out
with new designs.
Kaba
Coastal communities have the longest tradition in the adaptation of European
dress forms. European textiles have been imported and used since the 16th century.
Men increasingly wore trousers and blouses or complete suits, especially among
the urban populations, since at least the 19th century. The requirement that women
cover their breasts, under the influence of 19th-century missionary and colonial
activities, meant a much wider use of blouses and skirts. This is also the time that
the so-called African prints (or “wax cloth,” a technically incorrect term) arrived
in Ghana. Attempts to commercialize Indonesian batiks in the Netherlands and
England did not find a market in Indonesia but proved to be popular in west Africa,
leading to the production of these prints in Europe specifically for the west African
market. At the turn of the 20th century, all these developments had resulted in a
particular Ghanaian dress form: the kaba. This is a blouse in an African print with
a matching, often ankle-length skirt and possibly one or two wrappers to be used as
a head tie, a wrapper over the skirt, or a cloth to carry a child. Tie-dye, handmade
batik, and so-called fancy prints (imported cloth printed on one part of the textile)
have also been used, since the 20th century, for kabas.
Fugu
In the northern part of Ghana, cotton is extensively used to make smocks and
women’s wrappers, especially in the predominantly Muslim areas such as Gonja,
Dagomba, and Mamprusi, but also among predominantly non-Muslim groups such
as the Talensi. They are mainly produced by Dagomba and Mossi (to the north of
Ghana). Smocks, generally known as fugu, are composed from narrow strips in
the same fashion as kente, either plain or with warp-striping. The name batakari is
the Twi name for these garments. Colors are often subdued blues, browns, greens,
or whites. Smocks range from simple shirts, with or without sleeves, to very wide
garments, whose lower part is able to form a full circle. Robes used ceremonially
comprise different gowns and are worn with trousers, a cap, and leather boots. The
inner gowns often are plain; the outer flow and have different patterns. Some chiefs
wear ankle-length, opulent gowns with elaborate embroidery like those of Muslim
chiefs in neighboring countries, now generally called boubou.
Fugu have likely been around for a long time. The oldest extant gown dates
from the 17th century and was bought at the Benin coast. Elaborate smocks with
matching trousers now used by northern Muslim chiefs have their origin in more
northern Islamic dress forms. These types of smocks can be found throughout west
Africa, especially in the Sahel zone.
In many other parts of northern Ghana, especially among predominantly non-
Muslim groups in the northeast, the use of cotton cloth was minimal before the
20th century. In the 20th century, dress, including body modifications, has changed
especially dramatically for the latter group, partly under the influence of colonial
and postcolonial policies. Evidence suggests that women’s dress in this north-
eastern region comprised woven grass waistbands with small forked branches of
leaves attached to the front and rear since at least the 19th century. The types of
leaves depended on social factors and individual preferences. In the second half
of the 20th century, this use gradually disappeared, except for certain ceremonial
Ghana | 243
functions. Men used to wear skins, one at the back, one in front. In the early 20th
century, skins were replaced by a triangular piece of cloth. At present, skins are
associated, throughout northern Ghana, with leadership and tradition. The use of
cotton cloth increased dramatically in the course of the 20th century, especially
outside the home. Even though missionaries and the Ghanaian government in the
1960s tried hard to change what was perceived as nudity to the wearing of differ-
ent types of clothing, change in dress forms mainly came in the 1970s. Economic
access to cloth only started with increased participation in farming activities.

Fibers: Bark, Cotton, and Silk
All kinds of fibers, such as tree bark, hides, leaves, cotton, wool, and silk,
have been used for dress in Ghana. The likely oldest fibers used were tree bark in
the south and leaves and skins in the north. Wool was around in the west African
region since at least the fifth century CE, and cotton since at least the 10th century
CE. Cotton was grown locally in north and eastern Ghana and has been imported
from the north, together with silk, to the forest areas and coast since at least the
15th century. In the 18th century, and possible already before, weavers throughout
southern Ghana, but especially Asante weavers, unraveled silk from European tex-
tiles and explored its use in their textiles. At the end of the 19th century, silk was
replaced by rayon.
Since the 19th century, imported machine-spun cotton has been available in
southern Ghana, spreading rapidly in the southern weaving centers, especially in
the Ewe region. Machine-spun cotton not only changed the texture of textiles, it
also influenced the speed and organization of production, which in turn opened up
new design possibilities. The use of hand-spun cotton diminished in the south but
continued, up to today, in northern Ghana. In the mid-20th century, the ongoing
importation of rayon and cotton from European, Asian, and African countries was
supplemented by the mechanical production of these yarns in Ghana.
In the 1970s, Lurex, a metallic yarn, entered the Ghanaian market from Nigeria
and quickly gained wide popularity in the weaving industries in southern Ghana.
This aesthetic of shininess not only has a long history in southern Ghana, but also
in many other west African textile traditions.
For centuries, natural dyes, including indigo, provided a range of colors, but red
was hard to obtain from local sources. This was one of the reasons for unraveling
European textiles. Since the 19th century, most yarns in southern Ghana have been
machine-dyed, though resist-dyeing is still common in northern Ghana. Home dye-
ing of cotton fibers with synthetic dyes has spread quickly in the southern Ewe region
since the 1980s due to economic upheavals that hit this weaving industry hardest.
Man weaving cloth, Ghana, 2008. (Aprescindere/Dreamstime.com)
Production Centers
At present, Ghana has four main weaving centers. Three are in the cotton-grow-
ing areas of Ghana: Daboya in the north, producing mainly smocks; the Agotime
area; and many coastal Anlo villages in the eastern Ewe region, weaving wrappers
called kente. Bonwire, near the Asante capital Kumasi, is the only weaving center
in the forest region and also produces kente cloth. Historically, weavers could be
found in many villages in the cotton-growing areas. However, the development of
these particular weaving centers, and those that have lost importance such as Peki,
has also been influenced by many other factors, like trade routes and concentration
of economic and political power. Today, many weaving workshops are also located
in the main cities, often employing weavers from different parts of the country.
In Ghana, all the dress forms made of handwoven textiles are formed by nar-
row strips two to four inches (5–12cm) in width. These strips are cut and then sewn
together edge to edge to form a wrapper or smock. Weavers all over Ghana use
essentially the same apparatus to weave: a loom to mount the warp in tension and
one or two pairs of heddles (the shedding device) to separate warp elements so that
the weft elements may pass through. As in many other west African countries, the
warp is mounted horizontally and held in tension by attaching one end to the loom
Ghana | 245
and the other end to a small sledge weighed down by a heavy stone. Because both
sets of warp elements are leashed to one of the heddles, this type of loom is often
referred to as the west African double-heddle loom. The weaver operates these
heddles with the feet, which leaves the weaver’s hands free to throw the weft with
a shuttle and to make designs. Most textiles are warp-faced plain-weave cloth; in
the Ewe-speaking region entire weft-faced plain-weave textiles are produced too.
Ewe and Asante weavers are well known for exploring the design and technical
possibilities of their loom to the limit. By using two pairs of heddles, they are
able to alternate weft-faced and warp-faced plain-weave areas in one strip and
to create supplementary weft-float patterns. Ewe weavers also use supplementary
warps, a feature rare in other African textile traditions, sometimes in combination
with supplementary wefts. Gonja weavers in the north mainly produce warp-faced
plain-weave strips with a variety of warp- and weft-striping.
Weaving is predominantly a male job, although this gender division has been
loosening since the mid-20th century, especially among Ewe weavers. The spin-
ning of cotton has mainly remained a task for older women. Almost all clothing of
machine-manufactured material, including kabas, is hand-tailored. The gender of
the maker normally follows the gender of the user.

Throughout Ghana, wrappers, smocks, leaves, and skins are often used in
a context in which status and wealth play a role. Differences between daily and
special occasions, and high- and low-ranking dress mainly lie in the patterning,
the used materials, the accessories, and in the north also the amount of cloth
worn. Since the 20th century, handwoven textiles with long-standing traditions
and the more expensive kaba have become more and more confined to dress for
special occasions, while hand-tailored locally manufactured cloth is most com-
mon for daily dress, even in the northeastern part of Ghana. Men here normally
wear commercially produced slacks or shorts and various kinds of cotton smocks;
women often use a kaba, as in the rest of Ghana. At the end of the 20th century,
both women and men used more and more secondhand cloth imported from Asia
and Europe.
Today, kente is the main attire of a chief, it plays a role in different life-cycle
events, it figures in some religious services, and it is an especially vibrant visual
element in festivals. Almost every family has at least one cloth; handwoven textiles
are a repository of wealth and give prestige to the wearer. Fashion always plays a
role; one’s appearance in a newly designed kente cloth is highly admired. Weav-
ers take requests for a “modern” cloth in different ways. They frequently repeat
details of specific designs and experiment with new color combinations. They also
augment the design possibilities made available by the wide range of existing tech-
niques and through the use of an increasing range of threads.
The wearing of a cloth directly influences body gestures, stance, and move-
ments. The use of untailored textiles, especially a man’s cloth, is not necessarily
easy or comfortable. Cotton textiles, especially those containing a lot material, are
heavy and warm. Rayon and other synthetic yarns make the cloth lighter, but it
can be sweatier to wear. Kente cloth must be wrapped carefully around the body
in order not to slip off, and one must constantly adjust it. The heaviness, specific
way of wrapping, and untailored character of these fabrics, and the esteem that the
community attaches to the wearing of such cloth directs the wearer to move slowly
and with dignity.
There are many different occasions to wear kente (wrappers), fugu (smocks)
and expensive kaba (blouses and skirts). They play a role in different stages of the
life cycle, such as birth and the “outdooring” (the first appearance) of the newborn,
twin rituals, the still occasionally held puberty or initiation rites, marriages, funer-
als, and widowhood. In most of these events, handwoven textiles are used, and
sometimes required, as part of the rite, even though these rites have changed and
may be celebrated differently depending on an individual’s main religious orienta-
tion. Kente, fugu, and kaba may figure in some religious services, like Easter, Eid,
and the “outdooring” of a new initiate in a vodu cult. They are an especially vibrant
element of festivals, including yam festivals, festivals to install a new chief, to wel-
come a politician to the area, or, for instance, a festival to celebrate the opening of
a water project or office block. In southern Ghana and Togo, one of the most spec-
tacular events is the procession of chiefs and court officials to the location where
the public audience of a local ruler takes place. Every chief or queen mother walks
under a state umbrella or rides a palanquin, sometimes with a young girl in front
standing up and dancing. These girls are dressed in and carry on their heads older
textiles. The attending public is relatively free to wear any textile, handwoven or
otherwise. Apart from the chiefs, queen mothers, court officials, and festival orga-
nizers, most people do not choose, and often have not the financial means, to buy
and wear the most expensive or very new textiles; but even if they did wear them,
it might inappropriately suggest an important social position.
Jewelry and Body Modifications

Jewelry is used in abundance in Ghana by men and women. Most women will
not leave the house without earrings, necklaces, and/or bangles. Jewelry is part of the
regalia of chiefs, queen mothers, and elders. Beads are widely used on many special
occasions, and they are part of the dress of devotees of indigenous religious cults.
Ghana | 247
In southern Ghana, gold is often profusely used in chiefly regalia, such as

headgears, rings, and armlets. Other regalia are decorated leather slippers, fly-
whisks, and swords. High-ranking officials are dressed most sumptuously and they
have several outfits for one event.
The use of these regalia can be traced back to at least the 15th century. The
dominance of the Asante confederacy meant the spread of their regalia to many
other groups in southern Ghana and beyond. The historical depth of regalia of
northern chiefs is less known.
In northern Ghana, silver is often employed for jewelry, also due to the Muslim
prohibition of wearing gold. Chiefs often wear silver pendant necklaces typically of
mudfish or crocodile heads. In general, Muslims wear less jewelry than other Gha-
naians. The predominantly non-Muslim northeast was a center for jewelry in the
19th century, especially for bangles in ivory, bone, stone, and cast brass. Men and
women wore most bangles around the upper arm; ivory bangles were mainly worn
by women and gave high prestige. Brass bangles were also worn around the wrist
and ankles and could indicate a new social status, such as reaching marriageable
age, or worn on the advice of a diviner. They are still worn on special occasions.
Hats have a long tradition as component parts of more northern dress forms.
A red fez, turban, or other Islamic cap and decorated leather boots form part of
ceremonial outfits. The most important hat used in northeastern Ghana, until the
20th century, was a black cap made of twined bast fibers. This hat was restricted
to certain priests. With the introduction of chieftaincy in this area, chiefs started to
wear a red fez. In the 20th century, a variety of basketry hats and cloth caps became
widespread as part of daily dress.
Body modifications have only a limited importance in most parts of Ghana.
It is customary for women to have their ears pierced when they are babies. Most
women wear small earrings at all times. In southern Ghana, many people have one
or two small scars on the face, a customary way to apply medicine when affected
by childhood illness. This custom is, however, gradually disappearing, especially
in the urban and more Christian areas. Elaborate facial and body scarification has
only been practiced in the upper north part of Ghana, although 16th-century sources
indicate that scarification was then also more common in southern Ghana. Even
though scarification was banned by the government in 1960, its wide use continued
until fairly recently. Torso scarification already began to disappear in the early 20th
century, possibly due to the growing use of cotton cloth. Most Ghanaians see facial
scarification as an indication of far north Ghanaian identity, but locally the concern
is more for individual embellishment. The particular style depends on the choice of
the father of the young child, the style of the specialist performing the scarification,
and possibly on particular advice from a diviner.
As in many African countries, the decorative potential of the coiffure has

always been exploited, especially among women. Hairstyles are mainly based on
personal preference, except in the case of some religious specialists. In the last few
decades, most men have confined hairstyles to simpler styles, possible with some
shaved patterns (a clearly international trend). Women use varied styles of plaiting
or make new coiffures through straightening the hair.
Body painting, used mainly for beautification and display, plays a significant
role in southern Ghana, especially in rituals relating to rites of passage and festi-
vals. In previous centuries, however, it was also common for daily use.

Dress in Ghana forms parts of ongoing traditions and is at the same time influ-
enced by contemporary local and international fashion trends. In the early 21st
century, for instance, the use of Nigerian handwoven shawls to embellish the latest
cut kaba was common for urban elites.
The possession of handwoven textiles is still a concern to most Ghanaians,
although only some are able to acquire (and inherit) more than a few. Apart from a
sleeveless smock, which came into fashion throughout Ghana in the 1990s, hand-
woven textiles are rarely used in daily life. They continue to be of large importance
during all kinds of special occasions, especially festivals. They also continue to
be of importance in different religious services. Kente, fugu, and kabas feature in
the rites of some Christian churches (e.g., Catholic churches stimulated abundant
use of locally produced cloth as part of their principle of enculturation) and local
religious cults, and can be used as prayer mats or Friday outfits in certain mosques.
The use of elaborate smocks has become more widespread in southern Ghana,
though kente is still less used in the north. In women’s dress, a new trend in the
use of kente is the cutting of a handwoven cloth into a kaba. Doing so indicates
much wealth, as the sheer cost of these textiles prevents many from reducing it to
such limited use. Handwoven textiles, especially kente, are often used by Ghana-
ians outside Ghana to indicate a national sense of belonging. At the opening cer-
emonies of the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, for instance, all Ghanaian sport people
were dressed in kente. For cloth in daily life, most Ghanaians rely on the numerous
tailors and sewers. Only recently have secondhand clothes from other parts of the
world engulfed the market.
Even though the bulk of handwoven textiles remain intended as wrappers for
men and women and smocks, many handwoven kente strips have also been trans-
formed, since the 1960s, into accessories such as hats, shoes, jewelry, and ties. This
trend was at first geared toward a tourist market, but it has been taken up, since
the 1980s, by Ghanaians, especially the urban middle classes. Kente patterns have
Woman wearing Ghanaian kaba. (Poco/iStockphoto.com)
been appropriated by the fashion industry, both within and outside Ghana, as a sur-
face design for a wide variety of uses, especially in North America. Single strips,
often with letters woven into them, have also become popular; partly intended for
clerical dress and church decorations, partly for graduation ceremonies, and partly
as a token of a visit to Ghana. In many homes of diaspora Ghanaians decorations
in which kente plays a role can be found.

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on Ewe and Asante Textile History.” African Arts 39 (4): 2006.
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ian Textiles.” Afrique: Arts & Archeologie 4 (2006): 53–76.
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J. Picton. London: Barbican Art Gallery. Lund Humphries Publishers, 1995.
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Identity. UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History Textile Series, no. 2. Los
Angeles, CA: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1989.
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Tulloch, Carol, ed. Black Style. London: V&A Publications, 2004.
Great Britain and Ireland
Sara M. Harvey
The countries of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland comprise the
United Kingdom. England, Scotland, and Wales are all located on the same land-
mass with the large island of Ireland, divided into Northern Ireland and the Repub-
lic of Ireland, situated to the west across the North Channel and the Irish Sea. Both
the United Kingdom and Ireland are members of the European Union. Although
divided politically between north and south, Ireland is treated here as one entity.
While the countries are geographically related and connected, they are each
unique ethnically and culturally, and have their own languages. The English are a
mix of Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Norman, while the Irish and Scottish are primar-
ily Celtic peoples. The ethnic background of the Welsh is primarily Celtic, with
Anglo-Saxon and Norman influences.
England was a major world power throughout the Middle Ages and into
the 21st century. England was the dominating naval force from the Renaissance
through the 18th century, colonizing countries from North America to Africa, from
India to Australia, turning the kingdom into an empire. A popular saying of the
19th century was that “the sun never sets on the British Empire,” meaning that
the empire was so far flung around the earth that at any point in a given 24-hour
period, it was always daytime in an English colony. England was also one of the
major driving forces of the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century and produced
some of the world’s best authors, poets, and playwrights. England was a founding
member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and is one of the five
permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
England has had a very long history as a major world power. It was the supreme
naval power throughout the late 16th century and into the 17th century, claiming
colonies and trade routes all over the globe. The Industrial Revolution of the 19th
century began in England and although it brought about great advances in technol-
ogy, particularly in the fields of transportation and textile production, it also brought
on a plague of inhuman treatment of workers. Textile mills and factories employed
252
Great Britain and Ireland | 253
very young children as well as the uneducated and immigrant poor. The urban lower
classes slipped into deep poverty and were the subject of many works of 19th-
century art and literature; most notably the books of Charles Dickens, who sought
to shed light on this shadow society of the poor and bring about social change.
In the 21st century, relations between all of the countries that occupy the Brit-
ish Isles are friendly, but that has not always been the case. Wales and Scotland,
located on the same landmass as England, resisted British authority and strove to
maintain independence. With varying degrees of conflict both were absorbed into
what became Great Britain: Wales in the 13th century and Scotland in the 18th
century. Wales was integrated into England in 1282 under the rule of Edward I. To
honor the Welsh, the heir apparent to the English throne was styled the Prince of
Wales starting in 1301. Wales fully became part of England in 1536.
England and Scotland had a very adversarial history throughout the Middle
Ages. Edward I also moved to claim part of Scotland for England. Robert the
Bruce became King Robert I of Scotland in 1306 and secured Scotland’s free-
dom from England in 1314. But after Robert’s death, the situation destabilized
until the 1370s when the Stuarts came to power. They would maintain Scottish
independence until the 17th century when James Stuart, James IV of Scotland,
became King James I of England after the death of his cousin, Queen Elizabeth
I, in 1603. Although the crowns were joined, Scotland and England maintained
separate parliaments throughout the 17th century. In 1707, the parliaments were
joined, forming the two countries into a single entity known as Great Britain. Scot-
land also developed its own religious group known as the Church of Scotland, a
Presbyterian sect. For two countries that share the same landmass and cultures
that have a shared history, Scotland and England are relatively different from each
other. Today, Scotland maintains a distinct cultural identity, which is rich in an
ethnic heritage of clothing, food, language, and music. The Welsh maintain a sense
of their “Welshness” primarily through language and music. After centuries of
political struggle and guerrilla warfare Ireland was formally split in two in 1921.
Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland
gained independence.
England also sought to conquer Ireland beginning in 1170 and continuing
through the 20th century. Ireland was also invaded by the Vikings and the Nor-
mans throughout the Middle Ages as well. The Irish Parliament passed the Act of
Union, which joined Ireland to Great Britain in 1800. Ireland would remain a part
of the United Kingdom until 1921 when the country was split, allowing the bulk of
the nation to gain their independence and the Protestant and British-loyal Northern
Ireland to remain under English control. The country of Northern Ireland com-
prises only about 3 percent of the total population of the United Kingdom. This
victory was hard-won by the Irish. Starting in 1912, a nationalist movement had
been growing, finally erupting into a full-scale war of independence from 1919 to
1921. Ireland was declared a republic in 1948 and its official title is the Republic of
Ireland, although it is rarely used outside of formal government speech. Even after
Ireland was freed from English rule, the Irish Republican Army sought to drive
English influence out of Ireland entirely and liberate Northern Ireland as well. The
Protestants of Northern Ireland wished to remain part of the United Kingdom while
nationalist groups demanded an entirely united Ireland, regardless of the animosity
between the Catholics of Ireland and the Church of Ireland Protestants of Northern
Ireland. These clashes were often bloody. In 1998, the Good Friday Agreement
began the process of peace between Ireland, Northern Ireland, and England by
creating an autonomous governing body in Northern Ireland. It also solidified the
secession of the Northern Irish territory from the Republic of Ireland. At the start
of the 21st century, this agreement began to break down, but the 2006 St. Andrew’s
Agreement resolved several of the central issues, allowing for a power-sharing
process between the three nations. After the terrorist attacks on the United States in
2001 and on the London subway system in 2005, the Irish Republican Army offi-
cially disarmed and abandoned violence as a means of attaining their objectives.
Ireland is also known historically for the Great Famine of the 1840s, which
decimated the staple crop of potatoes and caused a sharp decline in the population
due to starvation and emigration to the United States. Over the ensuing decades,
great numbers of the Irish population left the country; then in the 1990s and early
2000s, many returned home for a temporary economic boom, which burst in 2008
and affected Ireland, along with much of Europe and the United States, quite badly.
The United Kingdom and Ireland are a major tourist destination, offering a
wide variety of coastal, meadow, hilly, and rugged landscapes. The historical sig-
nificance of the region is also a major draw, from ancient monuments in England
like Stonehenge to the raucous, musical pubs in Dublin, Ireland, to the world-class
theater in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the peaceful farmsteads of Wales where people
still practice traditional handcrafts. Although the cultures of the British Isles are
unique unto themselves, their shared histories and geographies have made them
into one community. The population of the United Kingdom in 2012 was approxi-
mately 63,047,160; of this, 1,799,000 people live in Northern Ireland; approxi-
mately 3,000,000 people live in Wales; and 5,220,000 live in Scotland. The city of
London’s population was estimated at 7,830,000 in 2010.

The United Kingdom and Ireland are located in the west of Europe in the North
Atlantic Ocean. This gives the countries a temperate to cool climate with prevailing
winds off the Atlantic from the southwest. Most days in the United Kingdom and
Ireland are cloudy and overcast and precipitation is nearly constant year-round.
The terrain is rocky and rugged with low hills and small mountains. In the east and
southeast of England, the land is flatter with rolling plains and fields that allow for
farming and raising range livestock like cattle and sheep.
Due to the cool temperatures and high rainfall, the flax plant grows well in
England and Ireland. Sheep also thrive across the British landmass and in Ireland,
making this part of the world a leader in wool production as well as linen. In Wales,
sheep breeding for color and texture of wool is a national pastime. Dying wool and
linen in the United Kingdom and Ireland is still done with many of the traditional
methods using local plants. The madder plant, which produces a red dye, grows
well in the southern parts of England and across Wales. Using madder with a vari-
ety of mordants can produce many colors beyond red hues: pink, purple, brown,
and black. The dying agent is found in the roots, but the rest of the plant is used
as fodder for sheep and cattle. Another plant useful to the residents of the British
Isles is woad. A relative of the mustard plant, woad leaves produce a sky-blue dye
that was used for dying wool and linen, and for painting the body. The pre-Celtic
Picts and other early Britons often painted their faces for ceremonial, ritual, or
battlefield occasions. Woad was the primary dyestuff for blue-colored fabric, but it
was replaced by indigo once regular and inexpensive trade was developed from the
East. Exports of wool, linen, and dyestuffs were a major source of income for the
British Isles and are still a point of pride for all of the nations of the area.
People and Dress
England
Although England is a country rich in folk history, it has no official national
dress or recognizable ethnic dress; it does have several styles of traditional clothing
that are uniquely English. These modes of dress vary from those based on ancient
roots and those that are quite modern.
Occupational dress was an important part of English clothing. During medieval
times, before literacy was common, tradesmen wore smocks that were dyed a color
that denoted the home region of the wearer. The color and motif of embroidery on
the side panels, collar, and sleeve cuffs as well as the smocking pattern were a clear
indication of the trade followed by the wearer. The smock is an upper garment worn
all over Europe from as early as the 13th century and through the 20th century. It is a
very voluminous shirt with long, full sleeves gathered into cuffs at the wrist. But the
most defining feature is the smocking done at the collar or yoke of the shirt. Smock-
ing is small pleats stitched in place that gather and shape the garment, allowing for
a close fit at the chest and a great deal of ease over the hips. Smocking can be very
simple or very elaborate and highly

decorative. Smocks can be of vary-
ing lengths, coming either to the low
hip or all the way to the knees in the
case of the smock frock. Men’s smocks
were most commonly of wool, linen,
and hemp. Women occasionally wore
smocks as well, but made of finer linen.
Another form of iconic occupa-
tional dress was the hats of the Lon-
don street merchants. The merchants
would often cry out slogans and other
calls to advertise their wares. Sell-
ers that cried their wares were called
hawkers; these peddlers were banned
from shouting by an ordinance in
1839. Taking a cue from the hiring
Any Milk Maids, Above or Below! from fairs of old, the peddlers took to wear-
The Cries of London by John Harris, 1804.
ing hats that communicated what they
(Collections Picture Library)
sold. These hats were not only useful,
but popular among London merchants. Even in the 21st century, London mer-
chants still wear hats.
Men were not the only people in England that employed occupational clothing.
The female milk-sellers of London were easy to spot. They were allowed to sell
from dawn until ten in the morning and again from mid-afternoon until six in the
evening. Their clothing was not so different from that of any working-class woman
in England. They carried a wooden yoke across the shoulders from which were
suspended pewter tins of milk, which was sold directly from these tins. A black felt
hat was worn to shade the eyes from the sun, and a linen kerchief helped control
the hair and keep it from falling into the milk. They walked the streets in sturdy
leather clogs that also gave a little extra height. The milk girls were most common
during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. They were replaced by milkmen that
delivered milk to the homes of London residents, and the milk girls selling their
wares at dawn and dusk became a thing of the past.
Women peddlers or mongers were usually dressed in homespun linen, wool,
or a blend of both called linsey-woolsey. Cotton was a costly luxury item before
the 19th century and would only be worn by the well-to-do as a blouse, head ker-
chief, or fichu. Fabrics were coarse and usually naturally colored from the wool in
browns and grays, but also dyed to more fashionable colors such as blue or mauve.
Most peddlers wore homespun cloth made by local spinners and weavers. Women
typically wore one or two skirts and an apron with a stiffened bodice that laced
up the front. This style of dress was worn well into the 19th century, but was very
reminiscent of 17th-century styles. Some women tucked their overskirts up over
their hips and wore mobcaps or bonnets in the 17th-century fashion.
Morris dancing is an important cultural event and is performed by men during
festivals at specific times of the year. This style of country dancing is popular not
only in England but in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.
Thought to be of Moorish influence, the earliest record of “morisco” or “morris”
dancing in its recognizable state was from the record of the May Day and Christ-
mas festivities of the Tudor court. The dancing has a mix of Moorish and archaic
pagan ritualistic elements. Morris dancing is performed by teams of six to eight
men with the leader known as a Squire or Bagman. Dancers carry sticks, swords,
or large white handkerchiefs. The handkerchiefs are swung and swirled over the
dancers and the ground to gather and scatter magical energies to encourage new
crops to grow and to bless the soil with fertility. The swords or sticks are clashed
together to beat out a rhythm to accompany the dancing. Some troupes incorpo-
rate remnants of past animal worship into their performances. In Staffordshire the
dancers carry antlers, and in Abingdon they carry a bull’s head.
The typical costume for Morris dancing is white trousers or breeches and a
white shirt. Beyond that, there are nearly unlimited regional and troupe-specific
differences. Most troupes wear a baldric, sash, or simple ribbon rosette in the col-
ors of their region. Green is a common color to use. Many troupes tie bands of bells
around the calf or ankle that add more rhythmic sounds to the stylized dancing.
Hats are always worn. They can be of felt or straw and are commonly adorned
with flowers and ribbons. The use of flowers is highly symbolic, such as red pop-
pies for health and wheat for plenty. Blue cornflowers are worn by unmarried
men. Although the Morris costumes are very influenced by 18th- and 19th-century
styles, the idea of a “traditional” dance costume is fairly modern.
Today, there are women’s teams that participate in Morris dancing. They usu-
ally wear a costume consisting of a bodice and skirt or kilt, although some women
choose to wear the traditional breeches and shirt as the men do. But the placement
of the shoulder sash is gender specific. Men wear theirs over the right shoulder and
women over the left. There are some troupes that are mixed in gender, but most are
made up of all men or all women.
Another traditional costume that is rooted in a much older style is that of the
Palace Guards. Even today, the Yeomen of the Guard and the Warders of the Tower
of London still dress in their 16th-century uniforms that were designed for the
court of Queen Elizabeth I. The guards wear red wool tunics over full, paned knee
breeches and red hose. Red, black, white, and gold braid and embroidery embla-
zon the front of the tunic in the heraldic device of the sitting monarch. They wear
Woodcut shows William Kempe performing the Morris dance, c. 1600. (Kemps nine daies
wonder, 1600/Dover Pictorial Archive)
garters with red and white ribbon rosettes that match those that adorn their shoes.
The shirt is of very fine white cotton or linen lawn and is worn with a deep ruff
at the neck and frilled cuffs that show at the ends of the long sleeves of the tunic.
The traditional Yeoman hat is made from black beaver felt and has a medium brim
with a wide, flat crown. The hatband is red and gold and worn with a red cockade.
The Yeomen traditionally carry a lance with a very large gold tassel as well as a
ceremonial sword. The ensemble is finished with white gloves.
In the 19th century, the royal residence was moved to Buckingham Palace and
the Queen’s Guard there has a slightly more modern look. They still wear primarily
red, but a simpler coat with a long skirt that falls to the low hip and simpler gold
trimming. They wear black trousers and carry bayonets instead of ornate lances.
All guards carry ceremonial sabers. The most noteworthy accessory of the Buck-
ingham Palace guards is the very tall, domed bear fur hats. The long, silky fur
comes from the Canadian brown bear and it can take half a hide to create just one
hat. The hats are eighteen inches in height and weigh about a pound and a half (665
g). In the late 1990s, there was a great deal of public outcry against the use of real
bear fur in the Palace Guard’s headgear. The British Army is seeking a nonliving
The Pearlie King and Queen of Finsbury and their children in a donkey-drawn cart,
surrounded by a crowd of locals, 1925. (Keystone/Getty Images)
source for their furred hats, but since the fur is taken from bears that the local Inuit
natives in Canada are allowed to cull and the animals are not killed for their fur,
protests have quieted and the traditional hats remain.
The early 20th century gave London one of its most unique and iconic cos-
tumes: the Pearlies. The Pearlies are descended from 19th-century London fami-
lies of fruit and produce sellers, originally apple sellers, known as costermongers.
The Pearlies’ dress begins simply as dark wool garments of very plain construc-
tion. These items are then sewn all over with mother-of-pearl buttons in rows,
stripes, chevrons, checks, swirls, floral patterns, and geometric motifs. For men,
jackets, waistcoats, pants, and overcoats are completely covered with these but-
tons. Women wear tailored skirt suits or dresses in dark wool decorated with but-
tons. Many women like to pair their pearl-button suits with a straw or felt hat that
is almost outlandishly decorated with ostrich plumes or other feathers with great
panache. The Pearlie style was popular at the turn of the 20th century with the
height of interest in the 1930s. Although in the 21st century Pearlies aren’t seen as
often, they display their finery on special occasions such as Derby Day. Original
Pearlie garments, though of very humble origin, can sell at auction for hundreds of
thousands of dollars.
Scotland
Scotland is part of the same landmass as England, but there are many dif-
ferences in culture, language, and dress. Scotland has one of the most instantly
recognizable forms of national dress in the world: the tartan kilt. Family ties are
extremely important to the Scots; surnames are reflective of an individual’s clan as
well as a tradition of colors and patterns woven into the tartan.
The modern idea of the kilt has evolved over the centuries from a much simpler
garment. The kilt evolved from a garment that was a combination blanket/cloak
used to keep the wearer warm during the very cold and wet Scottish winters. Wool
was the fiber of choice, not only because it was plentiful in Scotland and versatile,
but because wool has the unique ability to retain heat and continue to insulate the
wearer, even if it is wet. Called the breacan-feile, or the “great kilt” or “belted plaid,”
it was about two yards wide and four to six yards in length. It was worn doubled and
wrapped around the waist and belted with the remainder draped over the shoulder or
wrapped around the body. There was great variation in how this excess fabric could
be worn, and it would depend on the length of the wool and the weather as well as
the gender and taste of the wearer. The breacan-feile was worn by both men and
women. Women tended to wrap the excess fabric around both shoulders and some-
times up over the head. Until the 13th century, it was most likely a plain, homespun
wool and not necessarily plaid. Eventually, the breacan-feile became more decora-
tive and incorporated multicolored plaid into the woven mantle.
It would be many centuries still before the idea of a family tartan would
become common. The term “tartan plaid” was first seen in accounts of Scottish
clothing in the 16th and 17th centuries, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that
tartans would become standardized in design and recognized as clan-specific. The
design of the plaid that makes up the tartan is known as a sett. A sett is the number
of threads used in each color of the plaid. A sett is measured pivot to pivot, a pivot
being the central band of color where the pattern reverses, then repeats. A tartan is
defined by its color pattern, which primarily consists of the pivot and the ground.
Tartan patterns are divided into many smaller subsets; these include ancient: a
tartan pattern using natural dyes developed before 1700; old: a tartan pattern that
predates the pattern/color currently used; hunting: a pattern worn specifically dur-
ing hunts, usually by the Scottish nobility; dress: a tartan the ground of which has
been changed to white to visually differentiate it as a special-occasion variation.
Tartan plaids can be connected to specific Scottish clans, but also to specific dis-
tricts or towns as well as families not belonging to a particular clan. The kilt can
be pleated to stripe, meaning that the bold central stripe runs on the length of each
pleat and the rest of the plaid is folded in and not seen. But more popular is a kilt
pleated to sett, where the intersecting lines of the plaid are pleated and aligned to
show the whole sett design.
By the mid-18th century, the pleated lower skirt and the draping worn on
the upper body was separated. The lower half became known as the feile beg or
the “little kilt.” In modern Scottish dress, the feile beg is a more structured gar-
ment with stitched-down pleats and leather straps with metal buckles. The back is
pleated, but the front overlaps one side over the other, forming a flat, straight hang-
ing portion of the kilts known as the apron. The apron of a modern kilt is layered
left over right. The buckled straps allow for custom fit at the waistline of the kilt,
which should be worn at the natural waist. There are often buckled straps on the
apron at the low hip line. A kilt pin can be worn on the lower corner of the apron.
The pin functions as a weight to keep the apron from being blown open. It is not
pinned through to the layer below, only on the surface of the apron. The great kilt
was worn to the mid-thigh, just long enough to cover the pubic area, but the mod-
ern kilt is worn longer, coming to the middle of the knee.
The Stuart rising of 1745 tried to support the claim of Prince Charles Stuart to
the English throne. The uprising was not only a failure, but it also brought English
hostilities to a head. Scottish nationalism was outlawed, including the wearing of
the kilt, playing bagpipes, Scottish games, speaking Gaelic, and other traditions.
Trews replaced the kilt in many areas of Scotland. Trews were a bias-cut combi-
nation garment of stockings and breeches that were first worn by peasants in the
Middle Ages. Scottish trews could be of plaid or plain wool. The law was repealed
in 1782 and a vigorous interest in Scottish dress in the British Isles began.
Modern Scottish dress first became popular during the reign of England’s
Queen Victoria. She romanticized Scottish costume and incorporated many ele-
ments of it into everyday dress for both men and women. Scottish men’s dress
comes in two styles: everyday and occasion/evening. Daywear consists of a tweed
jacket in brown or green, a feile beg kilt, a shirt in white or another light color, and
stockings that match the jacket. Accessories such as the shoes and belt must be of
brown leather with brass, bronze, or gold tone buckles, buttons, and other details,
such as the chains of the sporran, the kilt pin, and the handle of a small dagger
worn in the hose. The sporran is a fur-covered bag worn suspended from the belt
at the center front of the kilt. The dagger is called the sgian dubh, pronounced and
often spelled skene du, and translates in English to “black knife.” It has a 3½- to
4-inch blade and is worn tucked into the stocking with only the handle showing.
Occasion dress is worn for evening and formal events such as weddings. The
jacket is usually black, the shirt is always white, and the outfit is worn with black
leather shoes and belt with silver accessories. The “Prince Charlie” jacket, also
known as the “Bonny Prince Charlie,” is a single-breasted short jacket worn for
casual dress. It is of wool or velvet and can be black, blue, brown, or green and is
worn with a bow tie in the matching tartan of the kilt as well as argyle stockings
that match the tartan as well. Formal ensembles can be worn with a close-fitted
Montrose jacket, which is a short double-breasted jacket typically in black, blue,
or green wool or velvet. It closes high on the torso and is worn with a lace jabot.
White stockings are worn with the Montrose jacket, often with tartan flashes, or
bits of tartan ribbon connected to the garters and worn on the outside of the leg.
Shoes are typically leather dress shoes in the appropriate color.
For traditional Scottish dancing, men can wear either casual or formal attire,
depending on the formality of the festival or occasion. But instead of dress shoes,
men wear smooth leather dance pumps. Headwear usually consists of a Balmoral
cap or a bonnet with a pom-pom on the very top. Both of these hats can be worn
with a brooch and a decorative item such as a cockade or a bundle of herbs. The
herbs are indicative of the clan of the wearer and the type of cockade will depend
on the rank. Occasionally, men add the fly plaid, a square of matching tartan pinned
to the left shoulder. It can hang loosely down the back or be belted in the style of
Highland drummers. Although it is traditional for men to wear no undergarments
beneath their kilt, this is not recommended at modern, formal occasions.
Traditional dress for women is Scotland is no less fine, but does not quite have
the same level of recognition. Women will wear a draped plaid sash called an aris-
ade from the shoulder. Depending on the period, this might be a very full piece or
tartan pleated into the belt at the back and hanging to the hemline. Modern women
wear a simpler sash that does not require pleating. This is often worn pinned to the
bodice. The wife of the clan chieftain pins her arisade on the left shoulder, but all
other women must wear theirs over the right. For the traditional Scottish dancing,
the arisade is fairly full and worn with a long skirted dress and a white chemise.
Some forms of Scottish dancing require the skirts to be much shorter, allowing the
legs to show below the knee. White stockings are worn with laced leather slippers
called ghillies. For Highland dances, women wear a feminine version of the kilt.
Modern women also have a kilt option. A woman’s kilt, while made of tartan,
is referred to as a skirt. They are traditionally worn long, past the knee, but are also
available in more fashionable shorter lengths. These skirts are made with leather
straps with buckles at the waist for a perfect fit and often feature a buckled strap at
the low hip to help keep the apron closed. Women do not usually wear kilt pins; the
length of the skirts help keep the garment closed.
Both men and women wore a linen shirt with very long, trailing sleeves called
a léine (“len-yuh”). It is an article worn by the Gaelic people of both Scotland and
Ireland. The Scottish léine is usually historically recorded as being dyed yellow or
golden using saffron. The length of the léine was up to the tastes of the wearer, but
often they were worn at least past the hips to put a layer between the skin and the
wool of the kilt. Women would often wear the léine quite long to serve as both a
chemise and underskirt.
Young men wear a kind of feile beg that is fringed all the way around and not
pleated very deeply. They pair that with a short tweed jacket and cuaran shoes. The
cuaran are much like the ghillies in that they are a soft slipper that tie around the
leg. Cuaran are typically made of deerskin and worn with the thongs cross-gartered
around the lower leg over the stockings.
Currently, Scottish dress is widely popular around the world from historical
reenactors to Hollywood. Scotland is also one of the few countries of the world
where the traditional dress is still a fashion staple in the 21st century.
Wales
While Wales has been part of England much longer than Scotland and North-
ern Ireland, the Welsh have managed to hold on to their indigenous language and
customs. The Welsh language is known for its musical quality and the Welsh peo-
ple are very proud of their music and their singing. The Welsh are also very proud
of their wool industry, and there are gatherings of breeders, dyers, spinners, and
weavers to compete and share information about wool production. Much of Welsh
wool is still produced by local farmers and is dyed, spun, and woven in a small
cottage-industry environment. Dying with local, natural dyestuffs is also common
in Wales. Red is a very popular color, and the particular shade favored by the Welsh
is made from cockles found off the rocky coast. They also employ cabbage and
lichens and other plant material to create a variety of other colors.
Welsh dress is very simple and 19th century in style. It differs from other
traditional dress in Europe that has roots in the 17th and 18th centuries. The look
is overall dark, with black hats and shoes and deeply colored breeches or skirts.
Welsh men wear dark wool breeches, either in black or brown, with a waistcoat
usually in the same color. The waistcoat is also wool and may be figured or plainly
woven. Men and women alike wear a tall-crowned wool or beaver felt hat with a
small/medium brim and often decorated with a band with a buckle. Shoes are of
black leather with silver or golden buckles; they have a square or rounded toe and
a thick, moderate heel.
Women often pair their tall hats with a frilled cap, a lingerie cap, or a mobcap,
made of fine cotton or linen and trimmed with lace. The hair of both women and
young girls is worn pulled back beneath this cap or under a kerchief. The blouse
may be of a fine linen and in a high-necked style. It has full sleeves that can be
trimmed with narrow lace for special-occasion dress. Women’s costume has a lay-
ered look with multiple skirts and an overdress. Women can wear a separate wool
bodice and one or two skirts in wool, linen, or cotton. The topmost skirt is dark and
tucked up to show the more colorful or striped underskirt. Red is a very popular
color in underskirts. An overdress can be worn over a stiffened bodice or a simple
corset, or it can be boned itself and worn without any further torso underpinnings.
It is also a dark color such as black or brown. The overdress closes at the center
front with laces or clasps and falls open from the waist to the hem. This split front
can then be pulled back over the hips to reveal the decorative underskirt beneath.
The ensemble is then accessorized with an apron that can be made of linen left
plain or trimmed with frills or lace, or made from a textile with an interesting pat-
tern such as stripes or plaid. Older women also wear shawls. These can vary from
elegant and lightweight lawn to thick, fringed wool. Younger girls sometimes also
wear shawls to church and special occasions, usually lighter-weight lawn shawls
versus the heavier-weight wool shawls that are considered more matronly. Wom-
en’s shoes look much the same as men’s shoes but usually with a more rounded toe
and higher heel.
Overall, Welsh costume is simple and rustic, not overly adorned. They are
renowned for their use of local materials and elegant, but still practical designs.
Few Welsh people today wear the traditional garments, but many tourist areas fea-
ture farmsteads and handicrafts exhibits where people may experience rural life in
Wales. The folk costumes may also be worn at some cultural festivals. Wales has a
rich history and culture that is all too often overshadowed by England, but in recent
years, a new sense of Welsh identity has fostered a renewed interest in their tradi-
tions and their practical and unique dress.
Ireland
The Irish people are known for their strong folklore traditions and their love of
life. Because of the cold and damp climate of Ireland, wool is commonly used, just
as it is in Scotland, England, and Wales. Flax also grows in abundance in Ireland,
which makes linen another popular and inexpensive fabric. Also like the Welsh, the
Irish are a practical people that live close to the land and their clothing reflects this.
Although an official and recognizable Irish national costume did not exist until
the 19th century, there were many common elements of dress throughout the coun-
tryside. The average Irish peasant dressed in functional wool clothing, usually worn
with linen undergarments. They often went barefooted, only donning shoes in the
coldest and wettest weather. These shoes were extremely simple leather slippers
that were still being worn regularly through the start of the 20th century, although
their use has diminished today in favor of imported shoes. The Irish share the use
of the léine with Scotland. While the shape and textile makeup of the bag-sleeved
tunic is strikingly similar, the Irish differ in their use of color. While the Scots’ léine
is primarily saffron, the Irish tend to prefer the natural color of linen or to have it
bleached white. Saffron dye is used on many occasions, but it is not as predominant
in Ireland as it is in Scotland. The Irish also wear their own style of kilt, although
usually not in tartan plaid and certainly with much less ceremony attached. The
Irish kilt is much simpler, more like the feile beg, or little kilt; it is a wrapped gar-
ment with pleats and buckles, but not as elaborate as the more famous Scottish kilt.
The Irish kilt is still worn in the 21st century by some traditional dancers.
Irish dancing came into a great deal of popularity at the end of the 20th century
and has remained popular through the start of the 21st. People of all nationalities
are attracted to its precise, rhythmic, bouncing steps. Costumes for Irish dancing are
loosely based on traditional dress and vary between troupes, dance styles, and events.
The most elaborate costumes are for the feis, or dance competitions. Feis are held all
over the world and feature dancers as young as four or five years old through adults
and often have categories for all skill levels from beginners to very advanced danc-
ers. The skirts for female dancers are fairly short, coming to above the knee. This is
important since the style of dancing focuses on the legs and feet as well as proper
upper body posture. The shoes will also differ between styles of dancing. The Irish
wear ghillies, the soft lace-up leather slippers, for soft-shoe dancing and a thick-
soled clog for hard-shoe dancing. Irish hard-shoe dancing was made internationally
famous by Riverdance, a stage performance of Irish dancing and music. Dresses are
flared and often embroidered or beaded with intricate and colorful Celtic knotwork
designs that may cover the entirety of the skirt and sometimes the bodice as well.
These designs are unique to each troupe, school, or district. A sash or short cape may
be worn with the dress and is reminiscent of older rural costumes.
The cloak has been a staple in Irish dress since ancient times. Like the Scots,
the Irish peasants and shepherds needed a multifunction garment that could serve as
outerwear as well as a blanket or other shelter from the elements. These cloaks were
referred to as brats and are worn in Scotland as well, especially in the Lowlands.
The brat began as a simple large square or rectangle of wool that was bound around
the edges in a decorative manner. It was wrapped around the shoulders and secured
with a brooch. In later years, the brat would be cut to a more body-accommodating
shape, incorporating a deep hood into its construction. The brat was worn by all
stations of Irishmen through the 17th century. It was traditional for a mother to pre
sent her daughter with a new cloak on her wedding day. Newer or more decorative
cloaks were worn to church and to festivals and celebrations, while the old cloak
was used for market days and everyday wear. Its popularity in the 21st century is
limited to small pockets such as County Cork where the brat is still worn regularly
by the locals. Popular colors for brats have been black, blue, gray, and red. Red dye
was made from the madder plant and blue dye from the woad plant. Black and gray
brats were often woven with wool from black or gray sheep.
While red and gray and blue were quite popular colors, nothing can match the
Irish love of the color green. If a country can be defined by a color, it is Ireland
and that color is green. Called the Emerald Isle, the Irish countryside is rolling and
green, and this is reflected in their dress. The vast majority of all traditional and
dance costumes are made in some shade of green. In addition to the traditional
knotwork, motifs incorporating the shamrock are also extremely popular. Saint
Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, used the shamrock to illustrate the Holy Trinity,
and it quickly became a symbol for the whole nation.
National pride has been very important to Ireland since the 19th century, and
this is seen in the push for a national costume to express that pride. Ireland was
under English control from the 17th century through the 20th, and in those inter-
vening centuries, the Irish people sought to retain their national identity. This was
done with several forms of dress including hat styles akin to the Revolutionary
bonnet worn by the French in the 18th century. Irish women preferred to declare
their national pride with Celtic jewelry. The Irish have been known for centuries
as master metal artisans and their intricate knot designs are still popular today. The
Claddagh ring with its crowned heart clasped by two hands symbolizing loyalty,
love, and friendship is probably the most instantly recognizable piece of Irish jew-
elry. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, there was also a movement to incor-
porate native textiles and trims into women’s clothing such as Irish linen, woolens,
tweed, and poplin all trimmed with Irish lace and embroidered with Celtic knot-
work motifs. This growing movement toward a national identity through costume
was very small at first, but by the mid-19th century it was starting to garner interest
in major Irish cities like Dublin. In 1911, the Dress of All Nations Exhibition in
Boston, Massachusetts, featured Irish clothing for the first time. The gowns were
made of imported silk that had been woven in Ireland and embroidered with Celtic
designs. The showing was a great success and a lasting international appreciation
of Irish traditional styles was born.
Men had a slightly more difficult task in finding a suitable style of national
dress. Early records show that Irish men often wore nothing but a léine. This would
not be acceptable for the modern man. Trews, a close-fitted pair of pants with the
legs cut on the bias, had been worn by medieval Irishmen, but were considered
unsightly and uncomfortable. It was finally settled that the official ensemble of the
Irish man would be a white shirt with a simple kilt dyed with saffron. With this he
would wear a tweed or woolen jacket, wool stockings, a beret-like cap, and a brat.
Some men chose to wear the léine with the ionar, another clothing item shared
with Scotland. The ionar was a short jacket with sleeves open along the bottom that
would allow the extremely full sleeves of the léine to hang down. The sleeves could
also be removed or worn tied behind the back. This was an impractical outfit for a
gentleman and did not remain in regular use.
Today, aside from Celtic motifs and dance costumes, the most commonly
associated clothing items with Ireland are the Galway shawl and the fisherman’s
sweater. The Galway shawl was popularized by a ballad sung in the 1880s, but
it was already a staple of the Galway woman’s wardrobe. It is a wide rectangle
woven on a jacquard loom and incorporating many symbolic designs. The shawl
was most popular between the early 1800s and the 1950s and like the brat, it was
often handed down from mother to daughter. The Galway shawl was chosen in
2000 by the Irish government as a gift to present to dignitaries and diplomats in
honor of the millennium. The shawls are still made today and are still worn by
some locals but have a greater appeal as a souvenir for tourists who tend to use
them as bedcovers and lap blankets rather than garments.
The Irish fisherman’s sweater is called the Aran sweater in Ireland and is
based on designs originating in the Channel Islands between England and France.
The sweaters are made of unscoured wool, which allows the lanolin to remain in
the fiber and increases the water resistance of the garment. They are traditionally
cream-colored and can be made as cardigans or pullovers. Legend states that each
family knitted a different pattern in order to identify the bodies of loved ones lost
at sea when they inevitably washed up on the shore. This is most likely a colorful
story created around the regional differences in the knitted designs. These designs,
of course, had symbolic meanings of good luck and success to the fishermen.
These sweaters were most widely used during the end of the 19th century through
the start of the 20th. They remain very popular with tourists.
Throughout their long history, the Irish have been known to make the best of
any situation and this is reflected in their clothing. In recent years, Irish styles have
seemed most popular among non-Irish people, spreading the unique charm of this
small island nation to all corners of the world.

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c. 1230–1327. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Dunlevy, Mairead. Dress in Ireland: A History. Cork: The Collins Press, 1999.
Fairholt, F.W. Costume in England: A History of Dress to the End of the Eighteenth
Century. Detroit: Singing Tree Press, 1968.
Harrold, Robert, and Phyllida Legg. Folk Costumes of the World. London: Blan-
ford Press, 1999.
Huddleston, Joe D. The Sgian Dudh. OregonKnifeClub.org. http://www.oregon
knifeclub.org/dubh.html.
The Morris Federation of England. http://www.morrisfed.org/mf/infoform.htm.
January 2008.
The Pearlies. [The Original Pearly Kings and Queens Association.] http://www.the
pearlies.com/.
Wilcox, R. Turner. Folk and Festival Costume of the World. New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1965.
Greece
Leyla Belkaïd

Greece has some of the most varied traditional costumes in Europe. This excep-
tional diversity is the consequence of specific geological parameters. Mainland
Greece lies as far as the southern extremity of the Balkan Peninsula, skirted by the
Ionian Sea to the west and by the Aegean Sea to the east. The northern regions of
the country are connected to Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and
Turkey. More than three-quarters of the 51,000 square miles of the territory are
mountainous. Greece is crossed by the Pindus Mountains chain from north to south.
It encompasses peninsulas like the Peloponnese; big islands like Crete, Euboea,
Rhodes, the Dodecanese, Corfu, and the Cyclades; and about 3,000 smaller islands.
Situated in the heart of the Middle Eastern Mediterranean area, Greece has a long
and tumultuous history. The mixed ethnic and cultural heritage of the Greek people
contributed to the hybridization of the clothing landscape. The population and the
territory of modern Greece has increased since the second half of the 19th century.
When the country was liberated from the Ottomans in 1832, it was composed of the
Peloponnese, Rumelia in Central Greece, Euboea, the Cyclades, and the Sporades
islands. The Ionian Islands were joined to Greece in 1864, followed by Thessaly in
1881, then Crete and the major islands of the Aegean Sea in 1912. Epirus, Thrace,
and Greek Macedonia were integrated after the final collapse of the Ottoman Empire
in 1922. The country acquired more than half of its present area between 1881 and
1922. The Dodecanese islands were annexed to Greece in 1947, after the Italians left.
In the 19th century, Western European travelers were disappointed not to
meet Greek men and women wearing antique drapery in the streets of Athens or
in the villages of Attica. After 25 centuries of invasions and wars, migrations and
resettlements, empires growing and declining, the Greek costumes were totally
metamorphosed. In Boeotia, for example, the wide veil wrapped around the Tana-
gra women, as shown by the graceful statuettes of the third century BCE, are not
similar to the traditional white woolen dress and sleeveless waistcoat of a 19th-
century Tanagra dweller. Today, the global fashion style that can be seen all around
269
the world is followed by the Greek people in the cities, from the capital, Athens,
to Thessaloniki, Patras, Larissa, or Ioannina, and in the rural areas as well. How-
ever, the evening dresses created by Athens-based contemporary fashion designers
sometimes evoke reminiscences of the antique drapery. In light of Greece’s recent
economic crisis, there may not be as many up-to-date clothes purchases, especially
among the hard-hit middle classes. As of 2012, Greece’s population was nearly 11
million, with about 3,250,000 living in Athens.
People and Dress
Ancient Greek Clothing

In the second millennium BCE, the Mycenaean Greek costumes used very few
variations of outfits, even though a vast range of draped forms and arrangements
could derive from them. Carding,
spinning, and weaving the home-
made woolen textiles on a vertical
loom, which differed from the hori-
zontal Egyptian loom, was one of the
prominent activities of the female
population. The Dorians who occu-
pied Greece in the 12th century BCE
were mountain people coming from
the north and spreading to the south
along the western coast. The Dorian
peplos was the principal dress of the
ancient Greek women. This wide rect-
angular piece of woolen cloth, pinned
on each shoulder with a fibula, could
be open on one side when worn with-
out a belt, or closed with the edges of
the cloth seamed together. The flap of
the peplos, called colpos, covered the
breasts down to the waist. Women and
men also wore a woolen cloak, called
himation, wrapped around the body
and pinned on one shoulder. At least 12
variations of drapery allowed women
Greek goddess Athena wears a Dorian
peplos in this fifth century BCE relief titled to cover their head with the himation,
“Mourning Athena.” (Susana Guzmán but only nine were used by men. The
Martínez/Dreamtime.com) chlamys, a civil or military smaller
Greece | 271
variation of the himation, could be thrown over the shoulder or fastened on one
of the shoulders. Greek warriors and shepherds covered themselves with a warm
cloak, called a chlaine.
The ancient Greeks dyed the wool fibers with mineral or vegetal substances to
obtain diverse nuances of reds, yellows, greens, blues, and purples. They avoided
increasing the weight of their woolen drapes with embroideries. The colored sur-
face of the dress could be exclusively ornamented with geometrical or figurative
waved motifs. Religion prescribed or imposed the use of certain colors for ritual
costumes. The bridal veil had to be yellow. At the end of the fifth century BCE,
when Egyptian and Asian influences reached Greece via Asia Minor, women
adopted more sophisticated costumes. They wore a linen chiton tunic sewn on both
sides. A waist belt regulated the length of the garment. Its upper edges were fixed
by small beads or fibulas along the shoulders and the arms. The linen was richly
colored and thinly pleated. The men’s chiton was basically similar to the female
one, but shorter and used as an undergarment. A linen cloak or pharos was also put
on by city dwellers.
At the end of the first millennium BCE, women completed their outfit with
jewelry and accessories like the tholia (hat) and sandals made of leather straps
fastened in different ways, similar to the men’s sandals. In the third and second
centuries BCE, the luxurious jewels and the colorful linens and cottons imported
from Syria, Egypt, India, and China made the Hellenistic dress look more magnifi-
cent than ever before.
Greek Byzantine Costume

Greece was occupied by the Romans from the middle of the second century
BCE till the year 330 CE. The Roman dress was inspired by the Greek one. As a con-
sequence, the clothing landscape of the Greek provinces changed very slightly. The
transformation took place later, in the third and fourth centuries, after the decline of
Rome and the emergence of the eastern Roman Empire. The capital, Byzantium,
which was shortly to be named Constantinople, became a cultural center where
new dress codes were invented. The proximity of the Sassanian Empire of Persia,
Syria, and other Near Eastern cultures where royal courts exhibited luxurious silk
textiles, embroideries, and jewelry influenced the evolution of Greek dress. The
development of the silk manufactures, adopting weaving, dying, and embroidering
techniques from Persia and China, was the most striking element of innovation.
In the sixth century, under the reign of Justinian, the costumes of the Greek
aristocracy reached an unprecedented level of opulence. The ceremonial dress of
the court dignitaries showed magnificent silks decorated with woven medallions,
floral and geometric patterns, stylized or mythical animals, and scenes represent-
ing religious themes. The Empress Theodora wore a stemma (diadem), several
superimposed silk tunics embroidered with gold thread, and a wide collar covering
the shoulders, called maniakis. The women of the Byzantine court enhanced their
dress with enormous necklaces and pendants made of pearls and gems, hanging
from the head along the temples.
During the Byzantine centuries, men borrowed the concept of long trousers
from the Persians. The sleeved tunic, boots, caftan, and tiara adopted by the Greek
aristocracy were also inspired by Persian dress. The tight trousers and mid-calf
boots were introduced in the civilian wardrobe. The Greeks conserved the draped
chlamys, but their tunics showed longer and tighter sleeves following the cut of the
imperial paragaudion tunic. From the 12th century to the 15th century, noblemen
used to put on many variations of tunics and caftans made of gold brocaded silks.
From Constantinople, the new clothing system spread all across Greece and the
Mediterranean world, but also across the Balkans up to Russia. The imposing jew-
els, together with the striking colors, brocaded silks, sparkling embroideries, and
the Eastern cut of most of the garments brought an Asian touch to the aristocratic
and higher-urban Greek dress style.
Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman Empire after it was con-
quered by the Turks in 1453. Male and female dress further developed the con-
cept of layering several sequences of garments, but kept most of their ritual and
aesthetic characteristics unchanged. Diverse variations of coats, waistcoats, and
jackets superimposed over a long shirt, wide cloth belts or sashes wrapped around
the waist to close the garments, loose baggy trousers, embroidered shoes, leather
boots, and a wide range of headdresses could be seen all over the cities. Distinc-
tions of gender, status, or ethnicity were indicated by differences in colors and
accessories such as jewelry and above all, headgear. During the 18th century, the
variety of the textiles and the number of the clothing layers increased. Even the
urban lower classes could afford more fashionable clothing items thanks to the
wide diffusion of cotton fabrics coming from Europe and Asia.
The long-sleeved caftan was a major evolution at that time. It was cut in silk
velvets and brocades, lighter tafta silks, or woolen fabrics from Venice, Genoa,
and Florence. The cheapest caftans were of white undyed cotton. The Oriental-like
dress of the Greek city dwellers combined shirts, waistcoats, and caftans of differ-
ent shapes, lengths, and colors. The excessively long sleeves and the use of fur to
trim the caftans, waistcoats, and coats indicated elevated social status.
Men’s and women’s popular dress was quite similar. Till the early 19th cen-
tury, the men’s dress was composed of baggy knee-length pants, cotton or wool
socks, embroidered waistcoats, and fezzes. The urban costumes did not differ sig-
nificantly from one town to another. In higher society, male and female dress was
more differentiated. The city with the most elaborate dress during the four centu-
ries of Ottoman rule was Salonica, now Thessaloniki, on the northeastern coast of
Greece | 273
Greece. The melting pot of cultures and the trading activities of the Aegean city
where many ethnic groups and religions lived together, in particular Sephardic
Jews expelled from Spain in the 15th century, helped the development of an excep-
tional diversity of costumes and jewels between the 16th and 19th centuries. Before
the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, Salonica women used to wear a loose
chemise, voluminous baggy breeches, and an elegant coat called anteri, fitted to
the waist with a rounded décolletage. Outdoors, they also wore a ferace (overcoat),
with a mousseline headscarf wrapped around the headgear and the face. An elegant
umbrella decorated with lace completed the dress.
Dress helped the Ottoman state differentiate the subjects of the empire’s vari-
ous religions and ethnic communities. Sumptuary regulations were issued by the
authorities to impose restrictions on the non-Muslim groups, but the Christian
Greeks of the privileged classes evaded the regulations and could use a vast array
of garments, accessories, and colors. In the 19th century, the sartorial rights of the
Greeks were extended, after the 1856 proclamation of the equal rights of all Otto-
man citizens put an end to the tradition of specific dress codes for each community.
In the rural areas, costumes differed from the dress of the city dwellers. They
often identified the members of specific ethnic communities within Greece like
Albanians, Karaghounides, Vlachs, Koutsovlachs, Turks, Sarakastani, Serbs,
Sephardic Jews, and so on. The shape and the color of a garment, the volume of
the headgear, or the shape of a jewel could mean cultural affiliation. They could
also indicate the village people came from. The provinces where different ethnic
groups cohabited were those where dress communicated ethnicity the most. It was
chiefly the women who expressed ethnicity through dress. Men’s costumes were
more uniform throughout the country.
The Greek-Albanians, called Arvanites, constituted one of the most important
communities in Greece. Since the 14th century, they had settled in Attica and the
Peloponnese, then in the Boeotia mountains, Euboea, and other islands such as
Aegina, Salamis, and Andros. Most of them were Orthodox Christians coming from
South Albania. In the Messoghia villages of Attica where the population was mainly
Albanian, the women’s dress was composed of an embroidered chemise, an apron,
and a sigouni. The sigouni is a sleeveless coat made of thick white wool. A pleated
skirt called fustanella distinguished the men’s dress. It was used as a military uni-
form during the war of independence from the Turks. The Suliotes rebels were
Albanians wearing the fustanella. Since the independence of Greece in 1832 and
the progressive building up of its territory till 1922, the townspeople’s clothing has
been deeply transformed and has adhered to Western dress codes. In the meantime,
the regional costumes remained almost unchanged and preserved their astonishing
variety. Today all the ethnic groups form the Greek nation together. Their origin is
secondary as their settlement in the country happened many centuries ago.
Contemporary Greek National Dress

During the war of independence from the Ottoman Empire, many heroic fight-
ers were Greek-Albanians. They used to wear their ethnic dress and were always
represented with the typical fustanella skirt. Otto, the Bavarian prince who became
the king of Greece after independence, decided that the fustanella would become
the official court dress and the patriotic symbol of the modern Greek state. This
multigored kilt is made of hundreds of pleats called lagiolia. Each pleat is a right-
angled triangular strip of linen or cotton. The costume is completed by a white
shirt, a waistcoat embroidered with golden thread, and a plain fez with a long
tassel hanging on the back. White leggings, leather gaiters, and clogs complete
the outfit. King Otto adopted this national dress, followed by the aristocrats and
the diplomats based in Athens, the capital of modern Greece. During the Bavarian
legacy, the fustanella was shortened above the knees and named fustanellitsa. A
few decades later, the Western two-piece suit accelerated its waning. It is exhibited
today by the Evzones or Tsoliades soldiers who guard the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier of the Old Palace building in Athens.
The women’s national dress was also created in the transitory postindepen-
dence period by Amalia of Oldenburg, King Otto’s consort and queen of Greece,
who arrived in Athens in 1837. Inspired by Western fashion, the Amalia dress is a
hybrid outfit composed of a dark velvet fitted jacket worn on top of a white chemise
decorated with lace at the neck and cuffs. The hems of the jacket are lightened with
gold-colored damask braids and embroideries. The Eastern reminiscence revealed
by the embroidery motifs is contrasted by the Parisian crinoline. The voluminous
skirt put upon the crinoline is sometimes pleated. The Amalia dress included a flat
toque with a long golden tassel called kalpaki. It became the royal court dress of
Greece and was adopted by the upper-class Christian Orthodox city dwellers.
Folk Dress in Regions of Greece

The folk costumes of Athens and the villages surrounding the capital are
similar to the dress of the Attica region, called ta arvanitika because of its Alba-
nian roots. The rural populations of Attica shared common dress codes with the
peasants of Boeotia, Phtiotide, Argolida, Euboea, and Corinth for centuries. The
female costume was traditionally worn on festive occasions during the year fol-
lowing a woman’s marriage, or till the birth of her first child. It was composed of
a long skirt densely embroidered with red, black, and golden geometric motifs;
three sleeveless wool or velvet embroidered jackets and waistcoats; a cloth cum-
merbund wrapped around the waist; and a white headscarf. The bridal dress is
characterized by a headband decorated with couched gold-colored metal-wrapped
Greek ezvones (guards) wearing fustanella, Athens, 2009. (Pixxart/Dreamstime.com)
thread and breasts jewelry, called kordoni, made of nine chains and more than 10
medallions.
Another original dress of Attica is the ceremonial costume of Salamina called
koulouris. The original dark blue or dark green cotton skirt is made of 13 horizon-
tal pleats and 77 vertical pleats. A crimson velvet apron with floral golden embroi-
deries and a long-sleeved waistcoat, the tzako, complete the outfit. An additional
head veil, the skepi, and a jewel called giornanti, made of a net of black pearls,
nacre, coral beads, and 25 Byzantine coins, highlight the bridal dress.
The composition of Corinth and the Peloponnese costumes is quite similar to
the Attica ones. In Perachora, the female folk dress includes a white dress named
kolonato, an apron, a jacket, and a white cotton headscarf. All those elements are
enhanced with dark geometric embroidery motifs. One year after the marriage cer-
emony, a woman used to stop wearing her bridal dress to conserve it till the day of
her funeral. In Thessaly where many ethnic communities cohabited like the Sara-
katsani, the hellenized Vlachs, the Sephardic Jews, the Albanians, and the Turks,
costumes inherited diverse materials and symbolic traditions. The traditional dress
of the Karagounides village dwellers in western Thessaly includes two aprons. The
apron underneath is made of silk in the summer and velvet in the winter. The hems
of the upper apron of black or purple felt are decorated with golden embroideries.
In most of the Greek costumes, the aprons had for centuries magical attributes
linked to the protection of the fertility of married women from evil spirits. Today,
most of those ancestral beliefs are forgotten, but folk dancers never discard this
central piece of the costume.
Another region where clothing traditions persist for the ceremonies and the
folk festivals is Epirus in northwestern Greece. While the city dwellers of Ioannina
followed the Ottoman urban dress codes till the early 20th century, in the surround-
ing villages, peasants superimposed original types of vernacular garments and jew-
els. The women of Zitsa wear a brocade skirt with a typical black sleeveless jacket
for festive occasions. In most of the Epirus localities, the lines and hems of the
jackets and waistcoats are underlined with red trimmings and embroideries. The
women of Souli put on a black wool waistcoat adorned with red ornaments over
a fringed dark apron embroidered with archaic red, green, and white motifs. The
Epirus women’s sleeveless waistcoats might have Vlach origins. The Vlachs were
nomad shepherds coming from Dacia in Romania who descended to the plains in
the winter.
In northern Greece, varied traditional costumes were used by the Greek peas-
ants who live on the fertile plain of Macedonia. Ghidas or Yidas, now called
Alexandria, is famous for the castouli or castoula female headgear, made of three
headscarves arranged on a rigid support and adorned with jewelry chains, gold
coins, black silk fringes, flowers, and pom-poms. The black and white dress of
Greece | 277
Ghidas is embellished with a large belt covered with silver brass sequins. The
Greek Macedonia province also preserves more urban forms of clothing such as
the dress of Veria. The women of Veria who belonged to rich traders’ families took
inspiration from the fashion styles of Austria and central European cities. Their
hybrid traditional dress combines a black coat and a pleated skirt made of taffeta
or other silk damasks.
For parades and festivals, the village women of Thrace, in northeastern Greece,
wear sigouni coats, white shirts, woolen aprons woven with colorful geometric
patterns in horizontal narrow rows, hand-knitted socks, rustic leather shoes, and
flowery headscarves with bright colors, which evoke the traditional Bulgarian
costumes. In Greece, the nomadic groups used typical costumes that coexisted
in different regions. The Sarakastani women of Thrace produced the homemade
components of their pleated skirt and elaborate garments with domestic wools.
The colors of the dress, essentially dark indigo, black, white, and bright yellow,
are symbolic. The cross-stitched embroideries on the sleeves of the chemise, like
most of the dense ornaments applied on the apron, reflect the different steps of a
woman’s life. They indicate the social status of her family, but also the season and
the kind of ceremony for which the variation of the ethnic dress is made. A few
decades ago, a woman had to weave between 20 and 40 different aprons to alter-
nate wearing them to show her physical and mental state, and also the happy or sad
events linked to her family and community life.
The costumes of the mountain and nomadic groups are often more insular and
original than those of the Greek Islands. In the Aegean Sea, Euboea is separated
from the continent by straight canals. The pleated skirt and the black velvet jacket
worn by the women of Kymi on festive occasions confirm the link of the island to
the continental cities. Pleated skirts are also typical of other Greek islands such as
Skopelos in the Sporades where voluminous skirts distinguish the traditional dress.
One of the most astonishing costumes is the folk dress of Kastellorizo, a small
island in the Dodecanese Archipelago. The magnificent bridal velvet coat, called
gouna, is worn today by the Kastellorizo diaspora in Australia and Canada for fes-
tive occasions and folkloric dance shows. It is trimmed with fur and embroidered
with golden thread to show the wealth of the individual’s family. Totally different
is the dress of the Karpathos, another island of the Dodecanese, where the skirt and
blouse are cut in synthetic silks with colorful printed flowery patterns. Today, in
the village of Olympos, women still wear this folk dress for festivities.
The Ionian Islands are situated along the western coast of the country. They
belonged to Venice, then to France, Russia, and England, before being annexed to
Greece in 1864. This historical itinerary made the Ionian Islands’ dress evolve fol-
lowing a specific aesthetic that integrated fewer Ottoman influences. The contem-
porary folk dress of Corfu and the villages situated in the south of the islands, like
Lefkimi and Gastouri, is composed of

a white blouse, a crimson velvet waist-
coat, a pleated blue skirt, gold jewelry,
colorful silk ribbons, and a lace heads-
carf decorated with flowers. The dress
has a Western European style, but the
gold-colored trimmings and embroi-
deries of the waistcoat reveal the rela-
tionship between the Corfu society
and mainland Greece.
In Greece, the men’s attire was
less varied and ornamented than the
women’s because its ritual and magic
meanings were less preponderant.
Today, in most of the folk festivals,
men’s dress usually combines white
cotton or linen shirts embroidered at
the neck and on the cuffs, baggy knee
breeches, silk cummerbunds, and vel-
vet or felt waistcoats decorated with
Young man in traditional clothing in Gastouri, embroideries. The principal accesso-
Corfu, 2011. (Pixxart/Dreamstime.com) ries are the woolen socks, the gaiters
called touzloukia, the moccasin-like
shoes or the tsarouchia clogs, and the tasseled bonnets or fezzes. The folk dress of
Rumelia can be considered as one of the most representative Greek men’s costumes.
The Rumeliotes wear a white shirt, white leggings, a white fustanella kilt, a black
waistcoat with embroidered sleeves hanging from the shoulders along the back, and
a red satin bonnet with a long black tassel. A scimitar and a crafted pistol can be
held to the waist by an embroidered leather cummerbund called selachi. This outfit
corresponds to the uniform of the klephtes, the 19th-century soldiers of the war of
independence, with the pleated fustanella that became the iconic dress of Greece.
Contemporary Use of Folk Dress

The Greek urban costumes were discarded before the middle of the 20th
century. Today, the townspeople’s dress codes are identical to those of Western
European societies. They follow the global trends of the international clothing and
fashion systems. The rural costumes used for festive occasions compose the land-
scape of what is considered today to be the Greek national dress. Only a few village
costumes still survive, while most of the ancient spinning and weaving techniques
Greece | 279
were lost, and local textiles have been replaced by synthetic imported fabrics. In
some remote mountainous agglomerations and islands, the brides sometimes wear
the ritual costume inherited from their mothers and grandmothers.
Nowadays, the extraordinary diversity of the Greek costumes is mainly pre-
served thanks to the folk dance companies. Greece has approximately 4,000 tradi-
tional dances and an elevated number of folk dance groups, approximately 5,000
in the country and almost 1,000 set up abroad by the diaspora. The Greek dance
theater Dora Stratou, founded in Athens in the 1950s, involves a minimum of 16
dancers for each show, wearing an average of 10 different costumes each. The
handwoven cotton chemises decorated along the necklines, cuffs, and hems with
geometric motifs, the embroidered waistcoats and skirts, the fringed aprons, the
hand-knitted plain or patterned socks, the leather moccasin-like shoes made from
one piece of leather, and the coin-covered headgear are some of the most recurrent
elements of the female traditional dress.

Hatzimichali, Angelike. The Greek Folk Costume. Athens: Benaki Museum and
Melissa Publishing House, 1977.
Petropoulos, Elias. The Fustanella. Athens: Nefeli, 1987.
Skafidas, Michael. “Fabricating Greekness: From Fustanella to the Glossy Page.” In
Hazel Clark and Eugenia Paulicelli, eds. The Fabric of Cultures: Fashion, Iden-
tity, and Globalization. London and New York: Routledge, 2009, pp. 145–163.
Welters, Linda. “Ethnicity in Greek Dress.” In Joanne B. Eicher, ed. Dress and
Ethnicity. Change Across Space and Time. Oxford: 1999, pp. 53–77.
Welters, Linda. Women’s Traditional Costume in Attica, Greece. Nafplion: Pelo-
ponnesian Folklore Foundation, 1988.
Zora, Popi. Embroideries and Jewellery of Greek National Costume. Athens:
Museum of Greek Folk Art, 1981.
Greenland
Claire Townsend
The first peoples to set foot on Greenland arrived between four and five thousand
years ago from the North American continent via what is now Canada. There have
been six different types of Inuit tribes that have arrived in Greenland in different
waves, and the current Greenlanders are descended from the Thule tribes, which
arrived in the ninth century. They arrived at a similar time as the Norse invaders
led by Erik the Red, chronicled in the Icelandic sagas. The Norse population dis-
appeared from southern Greenland around the 16th century for reasons that have
never been properly explained, although their ruins can still be seen in the plains
and along mountaintops. Expeditions from England and Norway came through
frequently in the 16th and 17th centuries and European, particularly Dutch, whal-
ers in the 17th and 18th centuries. There was a rich trade between the Europeans
and the Inuits, who traded heavily for European glass beads that were adopted
into their national costume. Greenland was officially declared part of the Danish
kingdom in 1814, although it was occupied by the United States during the Sec-
ond World War to prevent attacks from Germany. Today Greenland has a self-rule
contingency within its inclusion as part of the Danish kingdom and strengthened
its autonomy in 2009, although it still receives grants from the Danish government.
The population in 2012 was estimated at 57,700 people.

Greenland is the world’s largest island and covers 836,300 square miles, 81 percent
of which is ice sheet. The weight of the ice sheet has depressed the central land
area, so that it now forms a large basin within which the ice collects. All towns
and settlements are situated along the ice-free coast, with the population concen-
trated along the west coast. The highest point in Greenland is at Gunnbjørn Fjeld at
12,139 feet, although the majority of Greenland, however, is less than 4.921 feet in
280
Greenland | 281
elevation. The average annual temperatures of Greenland vary from 16°F to 45°F
(−9°C to 7°C).
Greenland is roughly divided into three sections, in which the dress varies
slightly. The first is Thule which is centrally located in terms of Eskimo immigra-
tion routes, but the most cut off from Denmark and Europe. The dress in Thule has
remained closest to the original Inuit costume. The other two sections are East and
West Greenland.
People and Dress

Greenland’s population is about 90 percent Inuit and natural-born Greenland-
ers and about 10 percent Danish and other nationalities. The missionary Hans
Egede from the joint kingdom of Denmark-Norway arrived in Nuuk in 1721 in
his search for the Norse settlers. He never found them, but instead converted the
Inuits to the Christian faith. Today, the majority of the population are Lutheran
Evangelists.
History of Dress
Originally, traditional dress included an inner and outer anorak, inner and outer
trousers, and inner and outer boots, with variations of cut for each gender. The gar-
ments were all made of fur and skin combinations, with the inner layer having the
fur turned toward the body and the outer layer having the fur away from the body,
allowing for a layer of air as an insulating cushion between the two and providing
room for evaporation of sweat.
Women’s Costume
The women’s anorak was a closed jacket, which was in principle a poncho
made of a whole piece of reindeer or seal skin with a hole for the head to which
sleeves and a hood were added. Traditional anoraks adhere to this principle, so that
there are no shoulder seams, which makes the garment more waterproof. There
has since been a variation in the pattern, with two separate shoulder panels that
fold over the left and right side of the body, again so there are no shoulder seams.
There were no closing devices other than drawstrings to tighten the jacket open-
ings. There were sometimes gussets of white skin sewn on around the hood on
the outer anorak, and this could be reinforced with skin mosaics. The women’s
anorak was cut with pointed fronts and

backs, reminiscent of the tail of an ani-
mal at the back, and they were often
long enough to tie them together under
the legs. Women’s anoraks had high
peaked hoods, which could be up to
one foot taller than the men’s to allow
for the arrangement of their hair in
the traditional topknot hairstyle. The
seams were decorated with white skin,
and there could be decorative fringe,
bearskin, or dog skin at the hem. There
was decorative embroidery at the edge
of the sleeves, and woolly wristlets
were worn underneath.
The backs of the women’s anor-
aks were broader than the men’s, par-
Woman’s parka with a baby carrier on the ticularly if they were amauts, anoraks
back. (Werner Forman/Corbis) for married women, specifically
developed so that the children could
be tied to the women’s backs. The children were fastened with a pouch over them
that tied around the women’s chests, so that the children lay naked against their
mother’s back. The amauts had drawstrings tops so that the children’s heads could
stick out, and the children wore nothing but bonnets. The amauts were also wide
enough that the women could move the children around to the front to breast-feed.
In the 1860s a hoodless anorak was also developed with a raised collar of dark
skin, which has become the basis for formal traditional dress in East and West
Greenland today.
The traditional underlayer for the anorak, the kapissil, was much like a shirt,
with the same cut as the anorak but without a hood. This skin shirt could be sewn
from two skins and have shoulder seams. Sealskin, caribou skin, or bird skins were
used for this inner layer, and all free edges were bound in caribou skin.
The women’s trousers also consisted of an inner and outer trouser. The inner
trousers were called naatsit, and they were like shorts that were decorated with
beads and skin mosaics, which were different types of fur sewn together in geo-
metric patterns and embroidered with beads. They were cut low-waisted and tight
at the hips and buttocks, and apparently date to the mummies of the 15th century.
All the women wore the naatsit, and at home and in summer wore them only,
so the decoration was quite important. The outer layer of trousers either reached
to the top of the boots (called kamiks) or to mid-thigh. There seems to be some
Greenland | 283
discrepancy between sources, with women either having a band of flesh on their
thighs exposed to the cold (with a piece of skin tied around the thighs if it was
extra cold) or having the outer trousers meet the top edge of the kamiks. The cut
indicates the trousers were developed similarly to Indian leg coverings, cut as two
identical pieces with a waistband or belt attached, which tied in the back. The outer
trousers were made of caribou skin or sealskin, also with the fur turned toward the
outside. In the modern dress the outer trousers, called sekernil, are embroidered or
sewn with skin mosaics that run along the outer seams and horizontally across the
thighs, although in some cases the trousers have become shorter and only have the
outer seam decoration.
The boots, called kamiks, also consisted of two layers: the kamik and the
kamik stocking. The kamik seems to have developed from sandals and skin stock-
ings being combined. The lower shoe wrapped around the foot and was tightly
pleated and painstakingly sewn to the boot shaft part of the kamik, with a cas-
ing at the top. They were cut as three pieces—the sole and a front and back boot
shaft—and have evolved to include a triangular insert at the knee, particularly in
East and West Greenland. The kamiks varied in length from knee length to thigh
height and were sewn of waterproof skin without fur, often dyed in red, yellow,
or black. The kamik stocking, the inner boot, was made to the same pattern as the
kamik, but the sole and boot part were sewn with looser pleats. It was also made
of skin, sealskin or caribou with the fur intact, and the fur was turned toward the
body for warmth.
The women’s hair was arranged in a topknot and tied with different colored
ribbons that indicated their status: Virgins wore red ribbons, married women wore
blue ribbons, unmarried women with children wore green ribbons, and widows
wore black ribbons. Nowadays, this is only seen in the women in South Green-
land on a daily basis. Sometimes hair was let down for mourning, and also during
childbirth.
Hats or caps were also worn. They were conical in shape to allow room for the
topknot and made of waterproof skin with appliqués of figures from everyday life
appliquéd on in white skin.
Men’s Dress
The men’s dress originally had the same elements as the women’s dress with
an inner and outer anorak, trousers, and kamiks.
The cut of their outer anorak was a little different from the women’s anorak.
They were fitted, but were not shaped at the waist, and often the sleeves were cut
at an angle to allow for greater ease of arm movement while hunting. They were
cut straight across in contrast to the pointed cut of the women’s anorak. The hoods
A group of Inuit in skin parkas in Greenland. (Theodore Le Boutillier/National

Geographic Society/Corbis)
were also closer cut to the face. The outer anoraks for men were often made of
light-colored skins from polar bears, arctic foxes, or perhaps sealskin, to help dis-
guise the men while they hunted.
The inner anoraks were the same cut as the outer, although in summer some-
times the men only wore their inner anorak. The men also wore an amulet harness
underneath, which was worn around the shoulders and connected in the front.
The men’s outer trousers were cut longer than the women’s, to the knee or
longer so that the boots met to them. They were traditionally worn over the anorak,
while the women’s trousers were worn under it.
The men also wore the naatsit, leather briefs with the fur to the outside.
The men’s kamiks were traditionally the same as the women’s and lengths
varied, with knee-length boots for summer and slightly taller ones for winter, often
with a layer of dried grass in between the kamik and the kamik stocking for extra
insulation.
For hunting the men traditionally wore a jumpsuit that combined a hooded
anorak, trousers, mitten, and kamiks all sewn together. It was opened by a draw-
string down the front. Once closed, it could be inflated through a button on the
Greenland | 285
chest, which made it warmer with an insulating layer of air. This also meant it
could function as a life jacket if the wearer fell in the water. The hunting jumpsuit
is still worn in the Thule region of Greenland.
The men wore caps of smooth white skin, embroidered with concentric circles
or white fox skin caps with the tails hanging down the back. The cap visor was worn
separately and was edged and patterned with two circles reminiscent of eyes or the
sun. A wooden eyeshade was worn underneath the visor. There were also caps made
from a wooden hoop covered with embroidered skin, with a visor and chin strap
attached. Goggles were made of wood, which was either carved out like a small
mask, or a narrow band of wood with a slit all the way along through which to see.

Garments were made of skins of ringed, hooded, and harp seals, caribou, polar
bears, bears, dogs, arctic foxes, ravens, auk, eider ducks, and fish.
The skins were prepared in the traditional manner and made into three different
types—ordinary skin, which has the fur preserved; waterproof skin, which has the
fur removed; and white skin, which has both the fur and epidermis removed. Ordi-
nary skin was used for most clothing items for warmth. Waterproof skin was used
for summer clothing and kamik boots. White skin was used primarily for embellish-
ment, such as ornamental edging and skin mosaics. To prepare skins, the blubber
was removed and the hide was washed with water and soaked in urine for a day.
Nowadays, they use soapy water to wash the skins after removing the blubber. The
skins are rerinsed in water and stretched out in a frame or pegged into the ground.
For waterproofing skin the preparation was the same, except the skin was soaked
for three to five days in urine (today a detergent with enzymes is used), and the
hairs were plucked out with a blunt knife. White skin followed the same prepara-
tion as waterproof skin, but was dipped in hot water after the urine bath and the fur
and epidermis were scraped off, and then resoaked in urine and rinsed in water as
much as needed until all the blubber was removed. The skins were sewn together
with sinew thread from the sinews of caribou, dolphin, narwal, or seal. The sinews
were cleaned in seawater to wash off the blood and then scraped with a bone tool
called an ulu. They were then washed again, split, and hung to dry, and remoistened
and split as needed to the desired thickness. Sinew thread swelled as it got wet
and ensured garments were waterproof in wet weather. Skins were sewn with bone
needles using thrown seams, so there was no hard edge to rub against the body.
Skin mosaics were often used as decoration. This consisted of appliqués of
dyed squares of skin sewn together with beads. The skin was dyed by chewing
pieces of bark into the skin and treating it with urine in East Greenland, although
in West Greenland there was more access to vegetable dyes, which made their
costume more colorful.
Skins could also be dyed with an extract from silk ribbons or painted with
oil paints. They used reds, yellows, dark blues, and lime greens. The beads were
carved from ivory or fox paws, as well as the vertebrae of capelin fish, and they
were dyed with blood. When Danish and Dutch traders arrived in Greenland, glass
and stone beads were incorporated into the skin mosaic. The skin mosaic also
reinforced seams and so was practical as well as decorative.
Although the skin mosaic is not used a lot in the national dress today, it is
often used to decorate bags and belts, as well as household items such as cushions,
candleholders, and table centerpieces. The same has happened with the use of bird
skins, which are now used to make blankets and decorative wall hangings.
In modern-day Greenland, Danish linen, lace, and taffeta have all replaced
skins in the women’s anoraks and boots, and holmensklæde, which literally trans-
lates as island cloth, a heavy knitted fabric, has replaced the skins of the men’s
outer trousers.

Masks were used in Greenland from pre-Christian times up to the 19th century
for dance rituals, theater entertainment, and shamanism, as well as wall hangings.
They were primarily made of dark decorated skin with contrasting white skin
to make skeleton-like faces in East Greenland. In West Greenland they were pri-
marily made of wood and are larger, without as much ornamentation. Unfortu-
nately there are not a lot surviving as many were burned during the conversion
to Christianity. The lines of ornamentation seem to correspond with the lines of
tattooing on the women’s faces, although it is unclear whether the masks represent
women’s tattooed faces or the same symbols were simply used on both.
The women of Greenland were tattooed, which was done with a sewing needle
and blackened thread, with the pigment made of graphite and urine or a combina-
tion of oil and soot. Both graphite and urine were believed to have protective pow-
ers, and the urine would have served as a antibiotic. They were tattooed on their
faces between the eyes and on the chin, arms, hands, legs, and thighs.
A woman’s face was tattooed to mark important events in her life, such as
menstruation, marriage, the birth of her first boy, and the first seal caught by her
eldest son, which was marked with vertical stripes on her chin. It was believed that
the Moon Man would be angry if the women were not tattooed properly and would
ruin the hunt, a belief that held sway until the early 20th century.
Tattooing was also done to protect the body against spirits entering it, particu-
larly at the time of death when the soul or spirit left the body. Pallbearers were
Greenland | 287
tattooed on their joints, which were said to be the weakest parts of the body, to
block the spirit of the dead from entering. Men were also tattooed on their faces to
protect against animal spirits while hunting.

Although folk costume on Greenland is quite removed from Danish folk cos-
tume, within the last 50 years traditional dress has adopted Danish accessories and
fabrics.
In the 1860s a hoodless anorak was developed, which has become the basis for
formal traditional dress in East and West Greenland today. It is called a tingmiak,
and it is made of flowered cotton cloth or silk, with a raised collar of dark skin or
white dog skin and black sealskin cuffs.
The points at the front and back of the anorak have been replaced by a broad
checked ban of taffeta and are sewn of heavy cotton or silk, but the wrist embroi-
dery and woolly wristlets are still worn. The amauts are also still worn, although
the sleeve length has become shorter, particularly with younger women. In East
Greenland the amauts are now sewn from white cotton with red borders and deco-
rated with glass beads. The hoodless anorak was worn with a bead collar, which
is still evident in today’s traditional dress. It is longer than a regular collar and
shaped much like an elbow-length poncho that is strung of large whaler’s beads.
These were originally traded goods and spoke to the woman’s husband’s skill as
a hunter, and so were a kind of status symbol in that regard. The beads vary from
oblong, spherical, and long and slender in shape, and are strung together in zigzag
patterns. Some older women do not wear this, but have a collar that they pin with
a small brooch.
The women’s inner kamiks have changed slightly and are now finished with a
band of black dog skin. The tops are decorated with a border of embroidered flow-
ers on white Danish linen, topped with a piece of white Danish lace.
The men’s traditional dress has also evolved. The modern-day anoraks are
now made of cotton, but the traditional color of white has prevailed for confirma-
tions, weddings, and ceremonies, although some men have black cotton anoraks
for extra-special occasions. Many men also wear blue salt-and-pepper cloth anor-
aks as everyday wear, particularly in West Greenland.
Men’s kamiks have also changed slightly in style, and are now made of knee-
length waterproof skin with a white fur stripe down the center front of the boot.
Today, traditional dress is used on special festive occasions and for Christ-
mas, Easter, Greenland’s National Day, confirmations, and weddings. It is used
for a child’s first birthday and for children’s first day of school at the beginning
of August, which is a day of great celebration in Greenland. In addition to the
traditional festivals, visitors to Greenland will also see traditional dress being worn
when cruise ships call at ports or when there are other special events.
See also Denmark

About Greenland. The History of Greenland. http://www.greenland.com/en/about
-greenland/kultur-sjael/historie.aspx.
Kaalund, Bodil. The Art of Greenland. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 1983.
Krutak, Lars. Tattoos of the Early Hunter-Gatherers in the Arctic. http://www
.vanishingtattoo.com/arctic_tattoos.htm.
Levin, Judith, Tattoos and Indigenous Peoples. New York: The Rosen Publishing
Group, 2009.
Medgaard, Jorgen, Jorgen Nordqvist, and Jens Pederharthansen, eds. The Green-
land Mummies. London: British Museum Press, 1991.
Guatemala
Jill Condra

Guatemala, the land of forests in the Mayan language, is part of the area that was
historically influenced heavily by the Mayans. This sophisticated ancient culture
had dominated the area that also included Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, and Mex-
ico for centuries before the Spanish arrived in the 16th century. Religion was well
developed; the Mayan warriors had ruled over much of the region and occupied
large amounts of land until the fall of the Mayan empire in 1523–1524 at the hands
of Pedro de Alvarado. The Captaincy General of Guatemala controlled most of the
Central American region during Spanish rule.
Guatemala City was established in 1777 as the third capital after others were
destroyed by earthquakes. It was founded in the La Hermita Valley. Independence
from Spain did not come until 1821, and the country was made an official republic
in 1847. Largely ruled by a succession of dictators, insurgents, and military lead-
ers, Guatemala has seen only glimpses of representative democracy from the mid-
19th century through the end of the 20th century, and is plagued with high crime
rates and government corruption. It is difficult for judges, activists, journalists, and
human rights workers to bring awareness and justice to those involved in crime.
Guatemala sits in Central America and is bordered by the north Pacific, El Sal-
vador, the Gulf of Honduras in the Caribbean Sea, Honduras, Belize, and Mexico.
It is hot and humid with a tropical climate in the lowlands and cooler tempera-
tures in the mountainous region. This is a mountainous country for the most part,
with coastal plains and a limestone plateau. It boasts the highest point in Central
America in the Volcan Tajumulco at 13,815 feet (4,211 m). There are many active
volcanoes in the Sierra Madre and Santa Maria ranges, which are particularly con-
cerning because they are close to human populations including the capital city of
Guatemala City (population approximately 1 million). The city has been evacuated
in the past because of falling ash that originated in Pacaya Mountain.
Guatemala has natural resources including nickel, hydropower, petroleum,
special wood products, and fish. Agriculture makes up only about a quarter of the
289
gross domestic product of the country. Crops such as sugar, coffee, and fruits such
as bananas are exported around the world and employ about 50 percent of working
people, where roughly 55 percent live under the poverty line. Inflows of income
from Guatemalans living in the United States help alleviate some of the poverty for
those who have such sources. The population of Guatemala in 2012 was estimated
at 14,099,000.
People and Dress

Of the 14 million people, about half live in the urban areas and approximately 60
percent speak Spanish, which is the official language. The population, as in many
countries in Latin America, is made up of people of European descent (mainly
Spanish), Ladino (a mix of European and Amerindian), and almost two dozen offi-
cially recognized Amerindian groups with their own distinct languages.
The official religion in Guatemala is Christian with most people calling them-
selves Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Evangelical. The Catholic Church provides
the basis for the legal systems in the country and is recognized in the constitution.
Mayan beliefs are still practiced by some in Guatemala.
Guatemalan arts are recognizable around the world, especially the textile arts
produced by hand by indigenous groups. These brightly colored fabrics, handwo-
ven on a backstrap loom, are popular around the world. Pottery and woodcarvings
are also recognized worldwide for their unique designs and quality.
Component Parts
Women
As in most of the more recently settled parts of the world, such as North
America and South America, Guatemalan national dress is largely defined by the
dress worn by the original inhabitants of the country, namely the Maya people. As
European settlers came to the country, adaptations were made to the dress worn
by Amerindians, and traditional textiles were adopted by Europeans. The tradi-
tional outfit of a Mayan woman is called the traje. Women often make these with
handwoven (on backstrap or treadle looms), durable cloth and will make a special
traje to indicate a life change or transition. Women wear a long shawl over their
shoulders, called a rebozo. The individualized specially designed huipil is made
with two separate pieces of rectangular fabric that are sewn together, leaving an
opening at the top for the head and two armholes on the sides. The huipil is com-
bined with a long tube-shaped wrap skirt called the corte, which is tied at the waist
with a colorful sash called a faja (sometimes used to carry babies on the woman’s
Guatemala | 291
Maya women wearing traditional clothing, western highlands of Guatemala, 1992. (David
Mcnew/iStockphoto.com)
back) and an apron called a delantal. The skirt fabric is often in an ikat pattern. As
in other Central and South American cultures, headwear is important, and women
often decorate their long black hair with ribbons braided in or wear a cinta, or
headscarf. Sometimes the headwrap is made from a wide cinta of rich brocade fab-
ric, wrapped around and around the head with tassels decorating the ends. Certain
different styles of sandals are worn on the feet.
The traje fabrics are distinct in design, and traditionally the region where the
textiles were made could be determined by the color choices and geometric design
motifs. Even certain villages could use similar motifs, making it easy to determine
from which village the wearer came.
Part of the reason this traditional dress style has remained popular in Guate-
mala is the international popularity of the textiles. Being a skilled weaver can help
add to the family’s income by producing the valuable textiles and selling them in
tourist markets.
Men
Men traditionally wore clothing of the Mayan heritage and some continue
to do so, especially in the highlands of Guatemala. While many men wear
American-style cowboy clothing in-

cluding jeans and boots, the tradi-
tional dress for men includes hand
woven textiles just like women’s
dress. National dress for men includes
the colorful textiles made into color-
ful, patterned, and striped pants or
shorts, which are then covered with
a wide sash at the waist that ends at
the hips, almost like a miniskirt worn
over the longer trousers. The shirt
worn by traditional men is from the
mountainous region of Todos Santos.
The style is largely a Western combi-
nation of center front opening, collar,
and chest pockets (one or two), all of
which is heavily decorated with col-
orful embroidery. Like the women’s
huipil, these shirts are made from fab-
rics woven on backstrap looms. Men
Traditionally dressed Maya man from Panaja- wear handwoven hats or sombreros
chel, Guatemala. (Danny Lehman/Corbis) with decorative fabric bands.
Children
While some children, especially those with traditional parents, may still wear
small versions of the clothing worn by grown men and women, to a large degree,
the younger generations are rejecting traditional clothing in favor of more Western-
ized, American clothing such as jeans and T-shirts.

Altman, Patricia B., and Caroline D. West. Threads of Identity: Maya Costume of
the 1960s in Highland Guatemala. Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural
History, UCLA, 1992.
Deuss, Krystyna. Indian Costumes from Guatemala. 2nd ed. Decatur, Il: Osborne,
1990.
Hendrickson, C. Weaving Identities: Construction of Dress and Self in a Highland
Guatemala Town. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995.
Guatemala | 293
Osborne, Lilly de Jongh. Indian Crafts of Guatemala and El Salvador. Norman:

University of Oklahoma Press, 1965.
Root, R. A., ed. The Latin American Fashion Reader. Oxford: Berg, 2005.
Rutahsa Adventures. http://www.rutahsa.com/traje.html. 2012. (Site dscribes a
number of different types of dress from small mountain departmentos in detail
and has very good images.)
Schevill, Margo Blum, ed. The Maya Textile Tradition. New York: Harry N.
Abrams, 1997.
Vecchiato, Gianni. Guatemala Rainbow. San Francisco: Pomegranate Artbooks,
1989.
Haiti and the Dominican Republic
José Blanco F.

The island of Hispaniola (La Española) includes the two separate countries of the
Dominican Republic in the eastern part and Haiti on the western third of the island.
Christopher Columbus landed on the island on December 6, 1942, and named it La
Española, allegedly because of geographic similarities with Spain. Hispaniola is the
second largest of the Antilles islands in the Caribbean. The island has a diverse land-
scape of mountains, fertile valleys, and navigable rivers leading to the coastal areas in
the Caribbean. Most of the large cities are seaports. Challenges for the island include
lack of adequate freshwater supplies and frequent earthquakes and landslides.
The original inhabitants, the Arawak, used several names for the island before
the arrival of the Spanish, including Ayty or Haytí, meaning land of the mountains.
The Taínos, a later group living on the island, called it Quisqueya or Earth Mother.
The Taíno society viewed their leader or cacique as the sole representative of the
gods and their communication agent to the spirit world. Taíno spirits were repre-
sented by small figures known as cemi and made out of stone, wood, or bone. Also
native to the island were the Ciboney and Caribe groups. Little is known about the
clothing worn by these natives but early accounts describe them as wearing loin-
cloths, body paint, and embellishments made from local stones and feathers. Most
of the 500,000 natives were exterminated by the end of the 16th century due to the
Spanish hard labor system known as encomienda, which gave the owner full con-
trol over a piece of land and the people living on it. The Spanish brought African
slaves to maintain production in the area. They established in Hispaniola the same
well-defined social caste system as in the rest of the New World. The peninsulares
or recent arrivals were at the top of the hierarchy, followed by the criollos or people
born in the Americas but of Spanish descent, and then the mixed-race mestizos,
children of European and native couples. Lowest in rank were the descendants of
European and African couples, the mulattoes and native-born people. As in the rest
of the Caribbean, European and African cultures shaped customs and traditions in
Haiti and the Dominican Republic. A majority of Haitians and a sizable amount
294
Haiti and the Dominican Republic | 295
of Dominicans are descendants of African tribes such as the Senegalese, Aradas,

Ibos, and Mandingoes. During the Spanish colonization Africans and natives living
in the area were forced to adopt European dress practices and views of modesty.
Their clothing consisted of secondhand pieces and coverings made of coarse linen.
The peninsulares established sumptuary laws regulating certain fabrics, colors, and
embellishments as a privilege for themselves and occasionally for the criollos.
The Spanish depleted the island’s gold resources and exploited fertile lands to
exhaustion. By the end of the 16th century the island no longer generated wealth
for the Spanish crown and the colony was virtually abandoned.
In the early 17th century the French established the colony of Saint Domingue
in the western part of the island; by the middle of the 18th century it had become
one of France’s most profitable colonies at the expense of the labor and lives of
millions of African slaves brought to the area. A large percentage of the sugar and
coffee consumed in Europe during the 18th century came from the Saint Domingue
colony. In 1777 the Treaty of Aranjuez partitioned the island into two separate col-
onies. The western French colony—present-day Haiti—was wealthy and mostly
populated by slaves. The Spanish colony on the other side of the island—present-
day Dominican Republic—occupied an area of depleted resources. In 1791 the
slave population led an insurrection against the French exploitative system and after
a civil war the Republic of Haiti was created—a nation ruled by former slaves. In
1795 Spain ceded the Santo Domingo colony to France. In 1801 the new nation of
Haiti—where slavery was abolished—occupied the former Spanish colony. Spain
reclaimed its rights on Santo Domingo in 1809. The Dominican Republic declared
independence from Spain in 1821 but was annexed by Haiti in 1822. Dominican
independence was fully obtained in 1844.
Dress in the Dominican Republic

Dominican society is composed of a mix of people of Caucasian and African
descent. The population of the Dominican Republic in 2012 was approximately
10,088,600. Catholicism is the dominant faith in the country. There is also a siz-
able population of descendants of Sephardic Jews that immigrated to the country
from other Caribbean islands in the late 19th century. The Dominican Republic
holds one of the highest poverty indexes in the Caribbean. Past dictatorships have
negatively influenced the country’s prosperity and stability. In 1930 Rafael Leoni-
das Trujillo established a repressive dictatorship that lasted until 1962. The Trujillo
era marks one of the darkest periods in Dominican history, including the 1937
operation known as El Corte (The Cutting Down) when Dominican troops mas-
sacred thousands of Haitians and some dark-skinned Dominicans living in border
areas. Trujillo was obsessed with the idea of blanqueando la nacion (whitening the
nation), an effort to eliminate dark-skinned people from the country. Dominican

society still emphasizes racial differences, at least in colloquial conversation, as
a person can be described as someone having pelo bueno (good hair), referring
to someone with European straight hair, or pelo malo (bad hair) in reference to
wavy African hair. The term zambo describes descendants of indigenous people
and someone of African descent. Pelo lacio describes straight hair particularly as
associated with indigenous populations. Natives are also described as either indio
claro or lighter native and indio oscuro or dark-complexioned native.
European clothing styles have prevailed in the Dominican Republic since the
arrival of Europeans. Middle- and upper-class urban groups dress following interna-
tionalized Western clothing styles, including pants, skirts, dresses, blouses, T-shirts,
sweaters, coats, and formal or sport shoes. U.S. brands are readily available, and
Dominicans follow global trends in regard to fit, texture, color, and surface design
for clothing. Commercial and entertainment logos appear on apparel, and in the
case of the tourist market, logos include images of Dominican culture and history.
Formality in dress marks Catholic rituals such as weddings and first communions
where women wear elaborate white gowns while men use formal suits.
The Festival de los Palos (Sticks and Drums Festival) is an African-derived
musical celebration. The event is also known as Atabales, Bambulá, or Quiyombo.
Drums and sticks of various types and sizes provide the music for the celebra-
tion whether religious in nature, such as a wake, or simply a family gathering. No
special costumes are worn during the event but a combination of white and bright
colors are favored in attire. Performance bands at festivals sometimes wear all-
white ensembles with red accents. These include white full skirts and loose blouses
with red headscarves for women and white pants and shirts with straw hats and
red accents for men. Percussion also plays an important part in Gagá festivities in
areas near the Haiti border or communities with strong African influences. Gagá is
similar to Haitian Ra-Rá, which includes representations of slavery and the fight
for liberation set to music and dance. The celebration incorporates spirit invoca-
tions and possessions as well as other magic elements.
Carnival, as in most of the Caribbean, is a part of Dominican life. Costumes
and masks are essential for carnival. Costumes are made from colorful fabrics and
are body fitting or revealing for females. Men’s attire consists of plain or color-
ful ensembles. The diablos cojuelos are men masquerading as devils with capes
covered by mirrors and bells. The devils poke fun at characters dressed in Euro-
pean style, known as Señores Medievales (medieval knights). Bailes de Disfraces
(costume parties) are organized as private or public events during carnival days,
giving people an opportunity to dress in creative costumes. As in other Caribbean
countries, carnival participants organize themselves in comparsas or dance groups
dressed in matching costumes designed with a specific theme in mind. Comparsas
Revelers wearing masks of diablos cojuelos dance during the carnival parade of Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic, c. 2003. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)
and individuals may receive prizes awarded by private or government organiza-

tions interested in promoting creative expression in costume. In certain cities, such
as San Pedro de Macorís, costumes are more elaborate, incorporating feathers
and mirrors as embellishments. An important part of the carnival in the city are
the Buloyas or Guloyas, masked revelers believed to represent the biblical battle
between David and Goliath, and the Momís, derived from the British Mummer’s
Play with an added touch of African traditions represented in their costumes.
The Carnaval Cimarrón (Cimarron Carnival) is held around Holy Week—as
opposed to Fat Tuesday or the days leading to Lent—as in most of the world. The
Cimarrones are descendants of runaway slaves from the 16th century who live in
mountain communities. Their reverence for tradition leads them to replicate Afri-
can villages in every detail, including dress and appearance. The main element in
the Carnaval Cimarrón is the diablos (devils), masked men who chase other people
in the community with whips. In the town of Elías Piña, the masks are burned at
the end of the event and spread around the agricultural lands.
Dance was always an integral part of Dominican society. Merengue, a style of
tropical music created in the Dominican Republic in the middle of the 19th cen-
tury, has evolved into a national symbol. Merengue does not have a traditional style
of dress. The association of merengue with dress resides in the fact that women
Dancers wear typical Dominican national costumes in Santo Domingo, 2003. (Antonio
Scorza/AFP/Getty Images)
wear fitted short dresses in styles that change according to the fashion of the
period. Bachata is another style of Dominican music popularized worldwide by
Juan Luis Guerra and the group Aventura. Bachata and merengue musicians often
perform wearing colorfully printed short-sleeve shirts. Older types of music and
dance include the sarambo, guarapo, and fandango (a word also used to describe
a party). The calenda, a dance originally performed by African slaves, may be the
origin of other dances such as the sarandunga and the jaiba. No particular style
of dress is perceived as traditional for theses dances, but women often perform
wearing white short-sleeve blouses with round necklines and ruffles on the edges
along with red, white, and blue pleated skirts. Men wear either white trousers or
jeans and a simple shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbows. The men’s look is
accessorized with a red, white, or blue handkerchief around the neck or a straw hat.
The Cuban guayabera, known as a chacabana in the Dominican Republic,
is sometimes considered a representative item for men’s costume. The guaya-
bera originated among Cuban upper-class or hacendados (landowners); it is
a lightweight white or pastel-colored cotton dress shirt decorated with rows of
vertical tucks on both the front and back. In 2007, through a nationwide contest,
the Dominican Republic selected an official national dress for the country. The
winning garment, named Cultivo de Vida (Life’s Harvest), was designed by Carlos
de Moya. The Consejo Nacional de Cultura (National Culture Council) ratified
the official selection. The top has a scoop neckline adorned with five necklaces
inspired by those worn by the Taínos and made from local stones. The outfit’s
sleeves make references to folkloric instruments (drums and accordion). The dress
is also adorned with lace and ribbons acknowledging the Spanish influence. The
headdress is designed with the national flower caoba (Swietenia mahoganny) and
earrings are made of bull’s horn as a reference to the livestock industry. The gar-
ment is merely symbolic and not rooted in historic or traditional outfits as is cus-
tomary in other Latin American countries.
Dress in Haiti
Haiti has the misfortune of being the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere,
a difficult situation made worse by a devastating earthquake in 2010. At the turn
of the 20th century a political and economic crisis in the nation provoked an inter-
vention by the United States that lasted until 1934. In 1957 François “Papa Doc”
Duvalier established a regime that lasted for several decades. In 1990 Jean Ber-
trand Aristide was elected president, but he was ousted by the army within a year.
This episode provoked the exodus of thousands of Haitians to the United States,
Europe, and other Latin American countries. The economic profile of the country
further deteriorated in the 1990s, leading to restlessness and violence among the
population that lasted well into the 21st century. The population of Haiti in 2012
was approximately 9,802,000.
Social structure in the French colony of Saint Domingue was strict. Grands
blancs (great whites) were the landowners; the poor whites or petits blancs were
small merchants, clerks, or plantation managers. The grands blancs kept strong
ties with many aspects of Parisian society including fashion and appearance. A siz-
able number of immigrants from Syria and Lebanon arrived on the island in the last
quarter of the 19th century, adding to the cultural variety of the country. The gens
de couleur (people of color) were wealthy mulattoes or free slaves; they eventually
surpassed the number of wealthy whites. The bulk of the population was com-
posed of African slaves further classified between bozales, first-generation African
slaves, and creoles, those born on the island. Even after independence and the abo-
lition of slavery in 1791 the large population of peasants in the country lived under
conditions of poverty that have lasted for centuries.
Haitian clothing is usually colorful, bright, and made of lightweight cotton.
Women’s skirts are full and blouses have wide necklines. Men mostly wear short-
sleeve shirts and trousers. Footwear ranges from sandals to formal leather shoes.
Some Haitians make their own sandals with materials such as straw, wood, and
rubber. A common occurrence in Haiti is the sight of women coming from the
mountains to the urban areas or moving within the urban areas balancing on their
heads large baskets with products for sale.
Catholicism and Voodooism

Catholicism is the socially accepted religion, but a number of African religious
practices are intertwined with Catholic traditions. Voodoo (also spelled Vaudou or
Vodou) is an Afro-Haitian belief system with a number of complex rituals mostly
originating in Dahomey, Africa. Voodoo celebrations are magical in nature and
involve spirit possession of one or more of the participants, who normally dress in
white. Voodoo priests are known as hungan or papa-loa and priestesses as mambo
or mama-loa. They dress in long loose robes and headscarves. Voodooists may
dress in costumes representing a spirit or loa. Agwe, for instance, is a spirit that
rules over the sea and is represented with brightly painted shells and fish placed
over military uniforms. Zaka, a loa associated with agriculture, is represented by
blue jeans, a large hat, a machete, and a peasant bag. Guédés are spirits of the dead.
Any participant seeking to be possessed by a Guédé must wear dark or purple gar-
ments that may include frock coats, dark veils, and top hats. Also important is the
Voodoo flag or Drapo created with thousands of sequins over a solid fabric panel.
Protection against evil eye or maldioc is common in Haiti. People wear charms or
carry wanga dolls to protect against it. Wanga dolls represent spirits working on
behalf of those who carry them.
In Voodoo religious dancing is seen as a link to the supernatural and many
rites and celebrations involve forms of dancing and costume. Long skirts are fun-
damental in the visual effect created during the dances as the women hold the
hems to raise and lower the skirts in unison with the music. Men perform similar
movements with a piece of cloth worn around the neck. Rara celebrations—a form
of entertainment associated with voodoo—are popular in the evenings during the
Lent season and particularly on Easter Sunday. Elements of possession are also
part of Rara as the celebration invites the loas to improve and renew life. Rara
bands include improvised percussion instruments and long bamboo tubes used
as wind instruments. Performers wear colorful ensembles and include men who
cross-dress as women and are feared by young children whom they chase after.
The Haitian Rara/rock band Boukman Eksperyans tours internationally, perform-
ing in costumes created from West African prints or vibrant neon fabrics. Rara
parades are also staged during Lent in parts of the Dominican Republic where they
are known as Gagá. The celebration is seen by some as a manifestation of friend-
ship between Haitians and Dominicans. Gagá is particularly popular in rural com-
munities depending on agriculture for sustenance.
Women dance in a Rara procession in Gonaives, Haiti, 2010. (Carlos Cazalis/Corbis)
Carnival
Haitians celebrate carnival during the weekend leading to Ash Wednesday. A
variety of costumed characters participate in the celebration including demons,
animals, and ghosts. Men dress as women for comic purposes while women
wear elaborate and sometimes body-revealing costumes decorated with beads,
sequins, feathers, glass pieces, and ribbons, as is customary in other Caribbean
countries. The compa or kompa is regarded as the national music and dance of
Haiti. The mid- to fast-tempo dance originated from the French contradance and
appeared in Haiti during the 18th century. The dance is characterized by sensu-
ous hip movements accentuated by coordinated movements of the full skirts worn
by female dancers. Other varieties of Haitian music and dance include Zouk, a
modern version of compa, racine, and tajona. The rhythm for these dances is
African in nature and probably originated from music performed by the slaves.
No specific form of dress is associated with the dances, but men often wear white
pants and shirts while women use long one-piece gowns or two-piece ensembles
and headscarves. Women occasionally wear midriff-bearing tops and open skirts
that reveal the legs. White is a dominant color in female dance garb, but other
colors are used in women’s clothing and in men’s handkerchiefs worn on the head
or around the waist.
The national dress for women in Haiti is the karabela, known in other parts of
the Caribbean as a quadrille dress. It consists of a full-flared skirt made of white
cotton and a white blouse with ruffled sleeves and neck. Red and white plaid fabric
or other bright colors can be used as accent material or in headwraps or to deco-
rate a straw hat. Men wear white pants and shirts and accent fabric tied around
the head, the waist, or a straw hat. Men occasionally wear the gwabel, a loose
shirt worn untucked. The garment is similar to the Cuban guayabera, a lightweight
white, or pastel-colored cotton dress shirt decorated with rows of vertical tucks on
both the front and back.
Further Reading and Resouces

Cambeira, Alan. Quisqueya la Bella: The Dominican Republic in Historical and
Cultural Perspective. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1997.
Leyburn, James G. The Haitian People. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966.
Listin. “Un Traje Típico Oficial para el País.” Listin Diario, November 10, 2007.
http://www.listindiario.com/app/article.aspx?id=36238.
Rouse, Irving. The Taínos: Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.
Sagás, Ernesto, and Orlando Inoa, eds. The Dominican People: A Documentary
History. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2003.
Vega, Bernardo, ed. Dominican Cultures: The Making of a Caribbean Society.
Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2007.
Zakrzewski Brown, Isabel. Culture and Customs of the Dominican Republic. West-
Hungary
Christina Lindholm
People have long roamed the great flat plains of the Euro-Asian region. Ancient
peoples lived a pastoral, nomadic lifestyle and animals, especially horses, were of
great value. To this day, Hungarians are known for the quality of their horses and
the excellence of their riding.
The Magyar tribes united in the Middle Ages (about the ninth century) to form
the nation now known as Hungary. Christianity and social reform were introduced
under the leadership of Geza in the late 900s. Geza’s son Stephen was crowned
king in 1000 CE, and he consolidated Hungary as a Christian nation aligned with
the Roman Catholic tradition. In the following centuries, Hungary stood against
invasions from Germany and nomadic tribes, although it fell under Mongol attack
in 1241. After the invasion, Hungary erected significant fortifications to protect
against future invasions, and these castles and fortresses provided excellent defense
against the forces of the Ottoman Empire. Eventually parts of Hungary became an
unwilling province of the Ottoman Empire, which lasted until the empire was dis-
solved during World War I. Other parts of Hungary endured political fighting and
upheaval with the Austrian Hapsburgs gaining control and ruling for 400 years
until 1918.
A period of reform began in 1825 and focused on modernizing the country and
addressing the needs of the peasantry. This eventually led to the revolution of 1848
when activists demanded civil and human rights reforms. Continued conflict with
Austria resulted in the 1867 Austro-Hungarian Compromise and the establishment
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This period saw remarkable economic develop-
ment and modernization. The independent cities of Buda and Pest, separated by
the Danube River, were united with the ancient town of Obuda to form the new
capital of Budapest.
Twentieth-century Hungary endured World War I, fighting on the side of Ger-
many, Bulgaria, and Turkey and with Germany in World War II. After World War II,
Hungary became part of the Soviet Union and the country was under Communist
303
control until 1989. Hungary continues to struggle to establish a stable political

system as it seeks to define itself as a nation.

Hungary is located in Central Europe, south of Slovakia, east of Austria, west of
Romania, and north of Croatia and Serbia. Slovenia shares a short portion of the
southwestern border and a similar area borders Ukraine to the northwest. It is a
landlocked country, approximately the size of the U.S. state Indiana. Like Indiana,
it shares a moderate climate with distinct seasons. Summers range from warm to
hot, and winters are cold and can be overcast and gray with high humidity.
Most of Hungary is fairly level with plains suited for agriculture, and it is
home to the Great Hungarian Plain, one of the largest flat areas in Central Europe.
More than half of the country is arable land, making land one of Hungary’s most
important resources. In addition to the traditional green pepper, the paprika, Hun-
garian crops include hemp, flax, corn, wheat, barley, and oats. There is also a lively
viticulture in the hill and mountain region with records indicating that wine was
being produced as far back as Roman times.
About 20 percent of the country is forested and the Danube, the second larg-
est river in Europe, runs north/south through the country. The Tisza River, another
major river in Central Europe, also flows through Hungary. These rivers roughly
divide the country into three regions including the Great Alfold (the Great Hun-
garian Plain), which is situated east of the Danube River. To the west is the hilly
Transdanubis region and to the north is the mountainous region leading to the
Carpathian Mountains.
People and Dress

According to the World Bank, the 2010 population of Hungary was 10,008,703,
with 68 percent of the people now residing in urban areas, although as recently as
the mid-20th century, more than 50 percent of the country still lived in rural areas.
Hungarians comprise the largest ethnic group in Hungary, accounting for 89.9 per-
cent of the population. The second largest group at 4 percent is the Roma (also
known as the Romani or Gypsies). This is followed by Serbs, 2 percent; Slovak,
0.8 percent; and Romanians, 0.7 percent (World Bank). The average income per
capita is estimated at U.S. $12,850.
Religious representation is more diverse with 51.9 percent of the population
practicing Roman Catholicism. Calvinists represent 15.9 percent and the remainder
Hungary | 305
are Greek Catholic (Orthodox), other Christian, or unaffiliated. It is interesting to

note that slightly more than 25 percent of Hungarians do not publicly identify with
a religious tradition.
History of Dress
Hungarian dress developed along two parallel lines; that of the few wealthy
noble citizens and the majority of rural peasants. The styles of dress are markedly
different, but both styles are colorful and decorative. There is no single style, with
a great variety of dress between regions and even between villages. Still, there are
basic common elements.
Men’s Dress
As in most of the Balkans, the basic garment is a simple, natural-colored,
pullover shift made of hemp. Linen and cotton did not grow in the region in the
past so hemp was the most often-used plant fiber. The shift used the entire width
of cloth produced in homes on a small loom. One length was used for the front
and back with a hole cut for the head. Smaller rectangles were added at the sides
for sleeves and in colder weather, the garment could be constructed with a double
layer. No mention is made of any undergarments. The shirts were hip length and
fastened with a cloth or leather belt over simple cloth trousers. Vests were worn on
occasion and could be a variety of lengths and of different fabrics, including wool
and leather. Outer garments included the guba, a unique type of wool cloak woven
so that long yarn tails hung on one side of the cloth resembling fur. The suba was
a sheepskin overcoat featuring embroidery with a flaring bottom edge. Expensive
subas required many more sheepskins and could be nearly circular in their fullness.
The cifraszűr was a formal broadcloth cloak, which enjoyed great popularity.
Notable among traditional male Hungarian dress is the equestrian military
dress, which evolved during the 17th and 18th centuries. This dress, largely that of
the nobles, called díszmagyar, was adopted as the uniform for the Hungarian hus-
sar troops. Many European cavalry regiments developed uniforms that were also
based on the Hungarian noble dress. The basic components of this included tall
leather boots; very close fitting, colored riding pants; and a tight, short jacket made
from elegant cloth such as brocade or velvet, known as a dolman or dolmany. The
jacket was heavily covered with gold braid or silk cord (frogging) and the pants
might display gold trim as well. An overjacket called a pelisse was often worn
casually over one shoulder. A fur-lined long, loose overcoat called a mente was
also part of the outfit. It could be knee or calf length and might have precious metal
buttons with gemstones. Knee-high leather boots were worn over the trousers, and
the boots often featured colorful embroidery. Men wore a tall fur or fur-trimmed
A young Hungarian girl in traditional dress with an older gentleman wearing a large coat
cifraszűr, c. 1930. (Rudolf Balogh/Alinari Archives, Florence/Alinari via Getty Images)
Hungary | 307
hat, frequently with a feather and possibly a large brooch, and carried a highly
decorated bag at the belt to complete the ensemble. This outfit personified the bold,
devil-may-care cavalry officer of so many old films.
Male peasant dress, especially on the eastern border regions, came to resemble
noble dress. The Székelys, a minority group, served as border guards for several
hundred years and wore similar outfits including tall boots and tight pants. Their
jackets and vests were highly decorated with cording, and their rank and status
were visible on their jackets through military insignias. A unique design feature of
their pants was the front flap. This was held closed with a belt and decorated with
more cord. The style is still occasionally seen in Székely villages.
During the 19th century, white cotton cambric cloth was imported in Hungary,
and this resulted in a noticeable enlargement of the sleeves and trouser legs. What
had previously been tight to straight sleeves and legs now became very full and
loose. A very wide garment, nearly skirt-like in its fullness, the gatya, was still
worn into the early 20th century.
Women’s Dress
Prior to the unification of Buda and Pest, Buda was the center of court activity
and urban home to the Hungarian aristocracy, while Pest developed as the com-
mercial center. Since much wealth was agriculturally based, the upper classes
usually remained on their country estates, generally wearing garments designed
specifically for country life. Members of the aristocracy frequented Vienna and
traveled to Buda for court activities and celebrations. For those events, fashionable
dress was greatly influenced by Paris and Vienna.
Traditional Hungarian women’s folk dress was distinctly different from the
fashion popularly worn in Europe. Like men’s dress, women originally wore a
simple shift with a hole for the head, straight sides, and stitched-on sleeves. In the
less-traveled areas of Hungary, a rectangular piece of cloth was wrapped around
the body as a type of overskirt. It was tied in place with a belt made from either
woolen cloth or leather. These simple garments were worn with woolen vests and
cloaks as well as felted wool foot coverings. Leather was also used for vests, and
fur was used both as trim and as entire cloaks.
Heavily influenced by the Ottomans, this traditional dress evolved in the
16th century to a far more elaborate garment for the upper classes. The intru-
sion of external cultures expanded trade opportunities and introduced new types
of prestigious and exquisite fabrics. Heretofore unavailable textiles like velvet,
brocade, and silks were adopted by both men and women of the aristocracy. While
European fashionable dress certainly had a decided impact, Hungarians elected
to retain aspects of their traditional dress in concert with more elaborate fabrics.
This evolved into a distinctly Hungarian outfit with several component parts. The
sleeves of the original white blouse grew to great dimensions and were gathered
at the armhole and at either the elbow or the wrist. The shorter-sleeved blouses
might have lace at the edge, forming a deep ruffle over the elbow. A round neck
opening was tied closed and a short, scoop-necked, closely fitted vest was worn
atop the blouse. Some vest styles were cut underneath the bustline, rising to a peak
between the breasts and laced to the waist, very much like a corset, while others
had square or round necklines. Some vests extended past the waist, either fitting
over the hips or extending to a long point at the center front. A long, full skirt,
gathered or pleated at the waist, was worn with several petticoats creating a wide
silhouette at the hem. This was made possible by the importation of cotton fabric.
The enormous yardage required for the petticoats was a clear indication of wealth
and status. The skirt was topped by a long apron trimmed with wide borders of
exquisite lace. Embroidery was used throughout on the blouse, vest, apron, and
skirt. Red, blue, and green were the favored colors in bold, bright shades.
Headgear was an important feature of the ensemble. The párta was worn by all
unmarried (and presumably virgin) young women, regardless of social class. It was
a crescent-shaped band constructed from a wire frame and covered with cloth, then
embellished with lace and even pearls. For festive occasions, married women wore
a főkötő, a headdress that covered the front of the hair. The főkötő was a stiff base
covered with cloth, highly decorated with lace, embroidery, gems, or corded designs.
For daily wear, married women shifted
to wearing headscarves. A great variety
of colors and patterns exist for scarves
and most women were thought to have
owned many.
Székely garments for women were
similar to the peasant dress of other
regions in that they consisted of the
basic shift, skirt, vest, and apron, but
were made from home-produced cloth
in stripe or check patterns. These dis-
tinctive patterns varied by community
and became regional identifiers of the
Székely people as well as indicators of
the age of the wearer.
Toward the end of the 19th and
early 20th centuries, peasant dress
became widely popular and a symbol of
Women in traditional dress, Holloko, national pride. Queen Elizabeth, wife
Hungary, 2009. (Vidler/StockphotoPro) of Francis Joseph of Austria, commis-
Hungary | 309
sioned a traditional Hungarian-style dress from the Paris House of Worth to wear
at the coronation ceremony in 1867 when the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was
established. Naturally, this endorsement by a person of such social and political
standing led to widespread popular adoption of the style. The traditional com-
ponents remained but parts were increasingly produced in expensive fabrics, and
individual craftsmen and designers found opportunity to create masterpieces of
embroidery and garment embellishment. Craft guilds were the province of men,
but in small villages, women were able to participate and earn a small income from
sewing and embroidery.

Hemp, which was cultivated in Hungary, was the most common cloth for shirts
and dresses. Cotton did not grow in the region, requiring a different climate, thus
hemp served the purpose for many garments. Wool from sheep and goats was used
for heavier garments and could be felted into thick materials for footwear, hats,
vests, and outer cloaks. Sheepskin served well as jackets and outer cloaks. Leather
was processed into garments and footwear.
Like many Balkan countries, Hungary has a rich embroidery tradition, thought
to date back to the Middle Ages. Females learned to embroider at a tender age
and produced not only highly embellished blouses, dresses, jackets, aprons, and
shawls, but household items like pillow and bed covers, napkins, tablecloths, and
bags. They favored bright colors and semirealistic floral designs with many tex-
tured stitches. As factory-produced cloth and clothing began to appear in Hungary
in the early 20th century, a strong folk tradition in embroidery reasserted itself.
The style of embroidered flowers on white cloth became especially familiar in the
Kalocsa region, and it is this type of bright floral embroidery on white cotton that
personifies what Euro-Americans consider the “peasant blouse.”
Mass-produced fabrics eventually replaced homespun cloth, but these factory
textiles were adopted into local styles. Manufactured cloth allowed for greater tex-
ture and chemical dyes, which meant that colors were brighter and greater in range
than homespun, home-dyed cloth.
Hungarian needlepoint lace is another important and persisting textile tradi-
tion. It was used in trimmings and on collars, ruffs, and lace fans. In 1902, a style
depicting people and animals in lace emerged. Known as Halas lace, these compli-
cated designs were basically lace pictorial scenes featuring peacocks, doves, deer,
and peasants. It was made through a combination of needle lace and weaving. As
its popularity grew, copies were inevitable, so makers of the original Halas lace
included a small logo of three tiny fish on every original piece. The demand for
lace greatly diminished after World War II, so current production is limited.

The Magyaros dress movement began in 1930 with fashion designers encour-
aged to create a style of dress that would make use of the embroidery and lace-
making skills of traditional craftsmen. Klára Tüdős was one of the most successful
of these designers. Her work referenced classic Hungarian aspects in cloth, silhou-
ette, and embellishment, but had a modern flair that had wide popular appeal. After
World War II, this style of dress lost appeal for several reasons. Manufacturing
systems had become defunct during the war, and the colorful and decorative Mag-
yaros style was considered too impractical for everyday wear. As with many con-
sumer goods after the war, there was a significant shortage of clothing. There were
also nationalistic political connotations with this style, so many people elected to
dress in more somber, anonymous clothes suited for work.
The Communist powers ruling Hungary sought to nationalize Hungarian dress
in the 1950s. The Hungarian Fashion Designers Union was directed to create wear-
able, useful clothing for the workers rather than frivolous garments for the few,
and women’s magazines offered suggestions on how to alter “bourgeois” dress.
Wearing fashionable or distinctive styles was criticized by the government, which
strove for uniformity and equality. Still, Western fashion was desirable and found
its way into Hungary through back channels. Outlying and more rural areas did not
necessarily abandon traditional dress. Women, in particular, were more likely to
retain folk or national dress. Some villages did not discard folk dress until the mid
to late 20th century, and some women did not ever give up their traditional styles.
Today, folk dress is still worn in Hungary for celebrations, festivals, and holi-
days. Dance troupes and folk groups maintain the full regalia, but for everyday
wear, Euro-American fashion in the form of suits and sportswear has largely been
adopted.

Bartlett, Djurdja. FashionEast: The Spectre That Haunted Socialism. Boston: MIT
Press, 2010.
Csepeli, György. National Identity in Contemporary Hungary. New York: Colum-
bia University Press, 1997.
Csernyansky, Maria. The Art of Lacemaking in Hungary. Budapest: Corvina Press,
1962.
Dózsa, F. K. “How the Hungarian Costume Evolved.” In Polly Cone, ed. The Impe-
rial Style: Fashions of the Hapsburg Era, pp. 75–88. Metropolitan Museum
exhibition. New York: Rizzoli, 1980.
Hungary | 311
Farkas, Eniko. “Political Resistance in Hungarian Dress.” Voices: The Journal of

New York Folklore. Vol. 30, Spring–Summer 2004. http://www.nyfolklore.org/
pubs/voic30-1-2/resist.html.
Fülemile, Ágnes. Hungary: Ethnic Dress. Joanne Eicher, ed. Berg Encyclopedia of
World Dress and Fashion, Vol. 9. Oxford: Berg, 2012.
Gáborján, Alice. Hungarian Peasant Costume. Budapest: Kossuth, 1969.
Hofer, Tamás, and Edit Fél. Hungarian Folk Art. Budapest: Corvina Press, 1994.
Hollins, David. Hungarian Hussars 1756–1815. Osprey Warrior Series. Oxford:
Osprey Publishing, 2003.
Hungarian Culture 101. Hungarian Traditional Costume—Folk Dress of Hungary.
http://goeasteurope.about.com/od/hungary/ss/hungaryculture_3.htm.
Laces of Traditional Hungarian Dress. http://www.budapestzin.com/2010/09/
laces-of-traditional-hungarian-dress.html.
Medvedev, Katalin. Hungary: Urban Dress up to 1948. Joanne Eicher, ed. Berg
Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Vol. 9. Oxford: Berg, 2012.
Tilke, Max. Costume Patterns and Designs. New York: Rizzoli, 1990.
World Bank. Hungary. http://data.worldbank.org/country/hungary. Accessed
March 17, 2012.
India
Michele A. Hardy
The first permanent human settlements in the Indian subcontinent are dated to
7000 BCE and likely evolved into the Indus Valley civilization (3300–1700 BCE).
Located in the vicinity of the Indus River in present-day Pakistan, the Indus Valley
civilization is associated with some of the earliest evidence of cotton and cotton
textiles. Indigenous to the region, cotton (gossypium arboreum) was used from
4000 BCE. There is evidence that spinning, weaving, and dyeing were highly
developed and that cotton textiles were extensively traded from an early date.
In the third century BCE the powerful emperor Ashok’s kingdom stretched
from present-day Afghanistan and western Iran to the Indian states of Bengal and
Assam in the east and Mysore in the south (304–232 BCE). Relations with the
Hellenistic kingdoms to the north and west of his empire were amicable. Follow-
ing Ashok’s demise, however, Demetrius I, ruler of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom
(covering parts of present-day Afghanistan and Central Asia), conquered much of
north India and established the Indo-Greek kingdom. Dominating northern India
between about 180 BCE–10 CE, it was a period of cultural syncretism. Greek
influence, particularly on sculpture, was evident from this period and has had an
enduring influence on Indian art.
The Gupta dynasty (320–550 CE) is often referred to as “India’s Golden Age.”
It was characterized by relative peace and prosperity, fostering scientific and artis-
tic achievements. Following a subsequent period of invasions from Central Asia,
northern India and later much of south India was united under the Delhi sultanate
(1206–1526 CE), followed by the Mughal Empire (1526–1857). The Mughals were
descendants of the Timurids, Persianate Central Asian Muslims. Under their rule
and enthusiastic patronage, Persian, Central Asian, and Indian arts creatively inter-
mingled. From the 16th century, the Portuguese, Dutch, French, and British arrived,
initially as missionaries and traders. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, India
became a British colony (1858–1947). By the end of the 19th century, the move-
ment for Indian independence was gaining momentum. A prominent member of
312
India | 313
the Indian National Congress, Mahatma Gandhi promoted independence through

nonviolent means including a return to the use of khadi, a hand-spun, handwoven
cotton cloth. This was an orchestrated attempt to undermine British economic con-
trol (whose machine-made cloth had caused widespread unemployment in India)
and reassert India’s prominence as a textile producer. Khadi production remains
supported by the Indian government and closely associated in the minds of Indians
with nationalism. Indian independence from Britain and the partition of India and
Pakistan were achieved in 1947.

The Republic of India has only been a political entity since 1947 when the former
British colony achieved independence. This involved the partition of India from
the Dominion of Pakistan, which included the present-day Islamic Republic of
Pakistan and People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Indian sovereigns have, at vari-
ous historical points, ruled over kingdoms that stretched from Afghanistan to the
Indian states of Bengal and Mysore.
India, as it is known today, is bordered on the north by the Himalaya Mountains,
the world’s highest range; the Thar Desert on the west; the Sundarbans Delta on the
east; and the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean on the southeast, south,
and southwest, respectively. The Ganges River originates in the Himalayas, feeds the
rich soils of the Indo-Gagnetic Plain, and empties into the Bay of Bengal. Revered by
Hindus, the Ganges has sustained cultivation in northern India for millennia.
The climate of western India ranges from arid to semiarid, the southwest is
tropical wet, the regions closest to the Himalayas are montane, and those along
the Indo-Gagnetic Plain are subtropical humid. The climate is influenced by the
presence of both the Himalayas and the Thar. The Himalayas prevent cold Central
Asian winds from blowing over the subcontinent, while the Thar attracts moist
summer winds contributing to the summer monsoons. For parts of western India in
particular, the annual monsoon provides much, if not all, of the yearly rainfall. The
population of India in 2012 was estimated at 1,205,073,600, making it the second
most populous country in the world, behind China at 1,343,239,900.
People and Dress

India has traditionally been divided in half by the prevalence of Indo-Aryan
speaking northerners (e.g., Hindi) and Dravidian-speaking southerners (e.g., Tamil).
The Indo-Aryans are thought to have arrived from beyond the Hindu Kush Mountains
sometime before the writing of the Rig Veda in the second and first millennia BCE.
The Rig Veda is a collection of religious hymns that laid the groundwork for the
development of modern Hinduism. The origin of speakers of Dravidian languages is
unclear. Some scholars claim they migrated from East Africa, while others argue they
were indigenous to the region. In addition to Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages,
there are significant numbers of speakers of Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic lan-
guages. The Indian Census of 1991 recognized 1,576 different languages.
While Hinduism predominates on the subcontinent, there are significant popu-
lations of Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Ismailis, and other
religions. There are also numerous adivasis (indigenous) populations who were tra-
ditionally animists. Many of these groups have converted to one of the major Indian
religions or developed syncretic beliefs (blending concepts from different spiritual
traditions). Within Hinduism there is great scope for diversity of practice. Devotees
revere a number of different deities and engage in various forms of devotion.
One of the most notable features of India is the presence of the caste system.
Based on Hindu ideas of purity and pollution, the system assigns certain preroga-
tives and responsibilities to caste members depending on their rank within the
system. The higher castes are considered the most pure and therefore eligible to
perform certain rituals. They must, however, take precautions to safeguard their
purity. Those considered less pure are of lower rank and may be prevented from
entering certain temples or using certain religious specialists. Those who fall out-
side of the caste system were traditionally shunned. These groups include the
untouchables, renamed Harijans (“God Men”) by Mahatma Gandhi; adivasis, and
Muslims. Caste is associated with spiritual rank and identity, but it also influences
occupation, marriage patterns, residence, ritual practices, food, and dress.
Dress is, in the broadest sense, a marker of ethnic and religious identity, gen-
der, age, life stage, and caste. A very broad generalization is between unstitched or
draped garments and stitched garments. The former are often considered to have
been indigenous to India, while the latter are thought to have been introduced from
outside. While certain tailored styles were undoubtedly introduced from Central
Asia and beyond, there is also evidence that jackets were worn at the time of the
Vedas (1500–400 BCE). Unstitched garments consisting of lengths of fabric draped
around the body tend to characterize the dress worn by contemporary Hindus,
while tailored garments are more characteristic of rural and Muslim populations.
The sari, the quintessential garment worn by Hindu women, is a length of fab-
ric, 6.5–9.8 yards (6–9 meters) long, that is today worn with a petticoat and bodice.
It can be wrapped around the body in a variety of styles that speak to region, eth-
nicity, class, occupation, and fashion. In Gujarat, the pallu (decorative end of the
sari) is brought over the right shoulder and tucked into the waist at the left side. In
Chennai (Madras), the sari is pleated, brought between the legs, and tucked into the
India | 315
waist at the back, giving the appear-

ance of trousers. Sari blouses were not
traditionally worn until the arrival of
European missionaries. Today they are
typically tight fitting with sleeve and
bodice lengths and necklines varying
according to fashion.
Hindu men, while donning trousers
and shirts for everyday wear, often turn
to draped dhoti (north India) or lungi
(south India) for nonbusiness wear. For
certain Hindu ritual practices, draped
rather than tailored clothes are neces-
sary to meet purity requirements and
suit customary practice.
In rural areas women’s dress may
involve gathered skirts worn with bod-
ices and a veil cloth. These are often
embellished with designs that speak to
marriageability, clan, or subcaste mem- Woman wears a sari in rural Rajasthan, India.
bership. Men’s dress in rural areas may (Vikram Raghuvanshi/iStockphoto.com)
involve combinations of tailored anghurkas and draped dhoti, which, in combination
with distinctively tied turbans, speak to ethnic identity and distinctive lifestyles.
History of Dress
The history of dress in India is a tale compounded by the depth and breadth
of Indian history. What is known of dress, prior to the Mughal Dynasty (1526–
1857), has been pieced together from sporadic literary references, archaeological
evidence, and the study of art. Archaeological evidence includes jewelry, figu-
rines, seals, and architectural elements as well as rare samples of cloth, preserved
by their proximity to metal artifacts. Literary evidence includes often vague ref-
erences to cloth or clothes mentioned in early texts such as the Rig Veda (com-
posed 1100–700 BCE) as well as more descriptive passages of the Arthaśātra
(composed 200–400 CE). Art in the form of sculpture, bas-reliefs, and paintings
provides important evidence for the history of costume, especially when analyzed
in relation to other sources. Significant works include the Ajanta cave paintings in
the state of Maharashtra, dated from the second century BCE, and the Brihadis-
vara Temple frescoes dating from the Chola dynasty of Tamil Nadu (ninth to 13th
centuries CE).
The famous “Priest King,” exca-

vated at Mohenjo Daro and associated
with the Indus Valley civilization, dates
to 2500–1700 BCE. The sculpture is
of a male figure with short hair held
in place by a headband and wearing a
cloak over one shoulder embellished
with a trefoil pattern that was initially
filled with red pigment. Other evidence
suggests that both men and women
wore draped garments that often left
the chest and/or right shoulder bare.
Jewelry is worn mainly by women and
includes necklaces, chokers, belts, fil-
lets, and bangles. Men wear chokers
and bangles as well as turbans and
headbands. Hairstyles appear to have
been elaborate and there is evidence
for the use of cosmetics.
From the time of the Gupta
dynasty (320–550 CE), commonly
referred to as India’s “Golden Age,”
The “Priest-king” sculpture from Mohenjo there emerges a new syncretism in
Daro, Indus Valley civilization, c. 2000 BCE.
Indian art, culture, and dress. Gupta
(National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi,
Pakistan/DeAgostini/Getty Images) artists infused their works with a new
emphasis on spirituality and styliza-
tion. Works from this period betray Greek influences, particularly in depictions of
draped textiles. They also speak to influences from Central Asia with the presence
of items such as sewn tunics, trousers, high boots, and armor. Indeed, the stitched
garment, although known earlier, becomes much more commonplace. Initially
adopted for use by court servants, tunics began to be worn by court officials.
The Delhi sultanate (1206–1526 CE) is a period characterized by a number of
Islamic Afghan and Turkish dynasties that ruled over much of northern and parts
of southern India. With historic and cultural ties to the Near East, the sultanate
ushered in a period of “Indo-Muslim” style that influenced literature, architecture,
music, religion, and dress. This period saw the increasing use of tailored garments
such as robes, gowns, and coats of extravagant fabric and trim.
In 1526 Babur defeated the last of the Delhi sultanate rulers and founded the
Mughal dynasty. Mughal, from the Persian word, Mongol, suggests descent from the
India | 317
Mongols of Genghis Khan; however, Babur was of Turkic descent from Turkestan.
Although he only ruled India for five years, he spawned a dynasty that would consoli-
date power over much of the subcontinent and parts of Afghanistan, introduced Urdu
(a synthesis of Persian, Arabic, Turkic, and Indian languages), as well as encouraged
new developments in the visual arts, especially architecture, book illustrations, and
dress. His grandson, Akbar (1542–1605), self-consciously undertook to synthesize
Hindu and Muslim, Indian and foreign elements in the creation of new dress styles.
Akbar is said to have manipulated an existing garment in order to remove it from its
“ethnic” context and make it more acceptable to both Hindus and Muslims.
His son, Jahangir (1569–1627), synthesized Hindu and Islamic philosophy
in the construction of great architectural works, miniature paintings, and dress.
Mughal dress combined elements from different spiritual, ethnic, and aesthetic
traditions to produce a style that was distinctive.
The earliest Europeans arrived as missionaries and traders and left rich descrip-
tions of dress and cultural practices. Portuguese, Dutch, French, and English trad-
ing companies established bases in Surat, Cochin, Pondicherry, and Calcutta from
1498, and India became a British colony after the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The
East India Company had been hugely successful, making British traders of textiles
and tea extraordinarily wealthy. Subsequently, in the name of understanding its
subjects better, the British Crown undertook numerous surveys and ethnographic
reports including John Forbes Watson’s The Textile Manufactures and the Cos-
tumes of the People of India of 1866.
Dress during the late 19th century reflected sometimes dramatic changes in
Indian society. A new class of British-educated civil servants developed, who com-
bined elements of Western and Indian dress. Referred to as the Bhadralok in Ben-
gal, they were concerned with balancing social reform with nationalism. With the
growing movement for Indian independence, Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pro-
moted khadi, a handwoven, hand-spun cotton fabric worn in the traditional manner
(dhoti, chaddar or salwar kurta for men, sari for women), as a means to overturn
British economic and cultural domination.
Since Indian independence in 1947 dress in India has continued to evolve,
selectively incorporating foreign influences and materials. Tailored pants and
shirts are the accepted daily wear for men while salwar kameez, once considered
Muslim dress, is widely worn by Hindu and Muslim women. The sari is still the
quintessential dress of Hindu women although it is not impervious to the effects
of fashion. Sari blouses, in particular, reflect changing tastes. Urban elites, college
students, and the growing Indian diaspora introduce new styles including a taste
for jeans and sportswear. Bollywood films spawn periodic interest in “ethnic” fash-
ions borrowed from India’s tribal or ethnic minorities.

There are a number of plants and animals indigenous to India used for the
production of fiber. Excavations of the sites associated with the Indus Valley civi-
lization point to some of the earliest evidence of cotton processing. Mineralized
fragments and other evidence suggest that cotton (gossypium arboreum) was
already grown, spun, woven, and dyed from 1750 BCE. Textual sources point to its
extensive trade and foreign appreciation of Indian technology. Silk was in use by
the time the Arthaśāstra was written sometime between the second and fourth cen-
tury CE. It notes a distinction between Indian and Chinese silks as well as Indian
cultivated silk (bombyx mori) and wild silks (anthera paphia, anthera assama,
saturnia assama), all of which were grown and processed in the areas correspond-
ing to present-day Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh. Other bast
fibers (jute, hemp, flax) were widely used for cordage and the production of mainly
rough cloths. Indian sheep produce coarse wool that is not suitable for garments;
consequently wool was little used for clothing.
The exception is in the far north, particularly in Kashmir, where the cool,
mountainous climate supported different breeds of sheep and goats with wool
more suitable for garments. Intricately woven or embroidered cashmere shawls
(produced from the wool of the Cashmere goat (capra hircus laniger) were par-
ticularly popular during the latter half of the 19th century.
Indian craftspeople were highly skilled in all aspects of textile manufacture.
Cotton grown in what is now Bangladesh was woven into muslins renowned for
their fineness. Praised by Greek, Roman, and Arab authors, they were variously
known as baf-thana (woven air) or shabnam (morning/evening dew), among other
poetic names. Complex woven clothes are produced in various textile centers. Jam-
dani (intricately patterned woven cotton) is produced in West Bengal and Bangla-
desh, while silk and cotton brocades are made in Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Paithan,
and Kanchipuram. Many of these centers are famous for their saris brocaded with
gold or silver threads.
Indian textile dyers are world masters of this art form. Early craftspeople
developed methods of dying cotton with mordants that remained unknown in
Europe until the 17th century. They also excelled at a variety of textile printing and
embellishment techniques. It has been suggested that the “Priest King” unearthed
at Mohenjo Daro (circa 2500 BCE) may be wearing a block-printed shoulder cloth
called ajrakh because of its trefoil design and evidence of being colored red at
one time. Block-printed ajrakh cloths are still produced and worn by Muslim men
on both sides of the India-Pakistan border. Predominantly red with blue ajrakhs
are a symbol of Sindhi identity, while predominantly blue with red ajrakhs are
India | 319
more associated with Muslims on the Indian side of the border. Block printing was
highly developed both on the west and east coasts and traded widely. Kalamkari
is a technique of block printing and/or drawing on fabric with a kalam (pen) to
produce delicate, often floral designs. Kalamkari bed covers called palampores
and later chintz fabric from the Coromandel Coast were exported to Europe in the
17th through 19th centuries. Chintz became so highly sought after in the 17th and
early 18th centuries that British authorities imposed laws to protect local textile
producers. The use of block printing in Indian dress is suggested by the depiction
of richly embellished garments in miniature paintings and palm leaf manuscripts,
among other sources.
Tie-dye and ikat are other techniques that Indian craftspeople excel at. The
most famous and highly prized is the Patola of Patan, Gujarat. The Patola fab-
ric is a double ikat: both the warp and weft are tied and dyed prior to weaving.
The Patola fabric has been exported to Indonesia since the early 15th century
where it was worn by the nobility and associated with ancestor worship. In India,
Patola saris are highly desired for weddings. Typically they have red grounds
with various animal, floral, and geometric motifs in white, green, black, or yel-
low. Tie-dyed cloth is particularly popular in western India. Produced primarily in
Kachchh in the state of Gujarat, it is made mainly by Muslim Khatris for a broad
market. Memon and Khoja women traditionally wore very intricately tied and
dyed tunics called abas with gathered trousers while other groups wore full, gath-
ered skirts (ghagra) embellished with tie-dyed patterns. Tie-dyed veils remain an
important gift from Muslim mother-in-laws to new brides (although many use
machine-made imitations today).
Embroidery is one of the many techniques used in India to embellish cloth-
ing and household textile items. Chikan embroidery involves stitching intricate
designs usually in white cotton or silk thread on fine white cotton. It was produced
in the vicinity of Dacca, Calcutta, and Lucknow; only chikan from Lucknow was
produced for the local market and continues to be produced today. Kantha embroi-
dery is practiced in Bengal where it initially developed as a form of making quilts
from recycled cloth. Layers of old saris, for example, were stitched together with
running stitches that formed designs culled from religious tales and everyday life.
Today kantha-style embroidery embellishes saris and salwar kameez for urban
consumers. Zardozi embroidery is another style associated with urban workshops
employing men. Zardozi involves stitching gold- or silver-wrapped threads onto
cloth. Embroidery is also widely used by various rural communities to create dis-
tinctive dress styles. The Indian state of Gujarat, for example, is famous for its
ethnic diversity and richly embroidered folk dress. Many communities incorporate
mirrors into their embroidery, creating a dazzling effect. The Banjara or Lambadi
are a seminomadic tribal community living across central and south India. Their
dress style likely hails from Rajasthan; however, their embroidery, with its inclu-
sion of mirrors, cowry shells, metal or plastic objects, and even bone, is distinctive.

The difference between everyday and special-occasion dress is, in many parts
of India, less about substance and more of degree. In urban centers, women will
don more richly embellished versions of saris or salwar kameez and wear more
and better quality jewelry. Where Hindu women may wear salwar kameez during
the day, for special occasions and for religious observances, they are more likely
to wear a sari. Being an uncut garment, it is thought to be more pure and therefore
more appropriate for ritual activities. Similarly, silk or silk-like fabrics are pre-
ferred because of their apparent impermeability to pollution. Among rural com-
munities, women will don garments made of more expensive fabrics with more
embellishment as well as more jewelry. Among the Mutwa, a rural Muslim clan
in Kachchh, women will wear their most heavily embroidered garments as well as
veils embellished with bands of embroidery, and gold or silver jewelry including
the nath (nose ring), which they do not wear every day. The Mutwa traditionally
wore specially embroidered garments made specifically for the marriage ritual and
included motifs associated with fertility. The women of neighboring Hindu com-
munities, likewise, wear special garments that mark a young women’s transition
and new status, generally tight-fitting embroidered blouses worn with gathered
skirts and veils. The dress associated with widows in both Hindu and Muslim com-
munities differs from the dress of married women. Hindu women will remove their
jewelry and dress in simple white garments while their Muslim sisters will also
remove their jewelry and don more simple, darker colored versions of their tradi-
tional dress. Muslim men or women who have made the pilgrimage to Mecca may
wear white garments without jewelry upon their return home.
For many communities, special occasions are marked by the use of traditional
dress styles seldom used for daily wear. In Gujarat, the festival known as Navratri
involves nine nights of dancing with the dancers dressed in traditional styles. Men
in urban centers across India tend to wear tailored pants and shirts for business. For
weddings, funerals, and other ritual occasions, however, men don more traditional
forms of dress. For Hindus this most often involves the untailored dhoti, chaddar,
and turban, although there are rural communities who also wear short fitted vests or
jackets (anghuraka). Rabari men of Kachchh are renowned for their magnificently
embroidered wedding attire consisting of kediyun (jacket), dhoti, and pagadi (tur-
ban). Muslim men most often don a Pathani suit for special occasions consisting of
a pair of salwar (gathered trousers) and long tunic (kamiz) with or without a vest,
India | 321
shoulder cloth, turban, or a topi (cap). With the exception of the topi, embroidery
is seldom used on Muslim men’s dress, although finely printed or woven textiles
may be worn as turbans or shoulder cloths. Muslim men do not wear gold jewelry
or silk because it is thought to interfere with prayers. The turban is an important
marker of both respect and identity for men in India. Covering one’s head is a sign
of marriage for women and speaks both to men and women’s honor. Laying one’s
turban at the feet of another is an act of great humility. Turbans are also markers
of group membership. From the voluminous white swathes worn by Ahir farmers
in Gujarat to the intricate folds donned by Muslim dandies, turbans speak to age,
caste, religion and ethnicity.

Arguably the most traditional Indian dress consists of different lengths of cloth
wrapped around the body. From the earliest date Indian men’s dress consisted of
a cloth wrapped around the lower part of the body, another around the upper, and
a belt or cummerbund. Women’s dress involved a cloth wrapped around the lower
part of the body with a second worn around the upper body. The names of these
basic types vary according to region, time period, style or draping, embellishment,
and whether men or women wore them.
The lower part of men’s bodies have traditionally been covered by what is
referred to in Sanskrit as the antariya, a length of fabric which, depending upon
its size and how it was draped, could form a loin cloth or nīvi, the skirt-like lungi
or billowing trouser-like dhoti. The upper part of their bodies was covered by the
uttariya, cloths subsequently referred to as a dupatta or chaddar depending on the
size. Dhoti today are generally made of cloth 2.2–5.5 yards (2–5 meters) in length
and are worn with a kurta or shirt.
Women’s early dress was similar to men’s and consisted of a cloth worn around
the lower part of the body, sometimes as minimal as a loincloth, other times more
like a dhoti or skirt. A second cloth, also called uttariya for women, covered the
upper part of the body to form the sari.
Although stitched garments were known earlier, the first centuries of the
Christian era saw the introduction of new tailored garments. In both north and
south India, from approximately 200 BCE tunics began to be worn as well as
trousers, jackets, coats, and boots. The Kushans, for example, hailed from Central
Asia and ruled over areas from Tajikistan to Pakistan and across northern India.
They introduced a tunic called a chugha, which had a center-front opening and was
embellished with borders down the front and along the hem.
Initially worn by servants and soldiers, these became increasingly elaborate as
the nobility adopted them. During the Gupta period, choli (fitted blouses), gaghra
Camel trader wearing a dhoti at the Pushkar Camel Market in Pushkar, Rajasthan, India.
(Mlenny Photography/iStockphoto.com)
India | 323
(gathered skirts), angarkha (a tunic with an opening), and quaba or jama (calf-
length coats) were worn. The Mughals refined and elaborated these garments,
introducing new variations based on length, cut, opening, and embellishment.
Contemporary Indians continue to wear stitched and unstitched garments
modified through interaction with Western culture and re-envisioned historic
dress. Women’s dress consists of the sari worn with a petticoat and blouse, salwar
kameez, skirts, blouses, pants, and dresses. Men’s dress, similarly, consists of dhoti
or lungi worn with a kurta, as well as a variety of traditional jackets and tunics
(e.g., anghurka), trousers, and suit jackets.

Jewelry is widely and prolifically worn by men and women across India. It
speaks to wealth as well as class, religious belief, life cycle, and ethnic identity.
Dar has pointed to the importance of binding parts of the body in order to both con-
trol and contain malignant forces. Women’s hair, for example, is most often worn
in plaits as loose hair is associated with wantonness. Similarly, women’s extremi-
ties are often encircled or “bound” with bracelets, arm bands, necklaces, belts, and
ankle bracelets while their ears, noses, and other body parts are embellished with
metal, plastic, or other ornaments. Specific ornaments are associated with different
ethnic groups, occupations, or regions. Muslim and Hindu women living in Banni,
a geographical region in northern Kachchh, for example, wear chura, sets of plas-
tic bangles on their forearms and upper arms. Traditionally these would have been
carved out of ivory and speak to Kachchh’s maritime trade with East Africa. Worn
in sets of 12, chura are graded in size to fit snugly and are not removed until the
woman’s husband dies. In rural communities, people most often wear silver jew-
elry. Gold is preferred, for those rural dwellers who can afford it, and in urban con-
texts. Jewelry marks ethnic identity and life cycle stage. Considered a requisite of
marriage negotiations, prescribed pieces of jewelry are given to the bride from the
groom’s family as well as her own. For the Mutwa the groom’s gifts should include
jir (ankle bracelet), varna (ring), and varlo (heavy silver necklace) among other
items, which, when worn, speak to the bride’s married state and legitimized sexu-
ality. For Hindu women, there are five traditional markers of marriage: bangles, a
nose ornament, toe rings, sindoor (vermilion color applied to the front of their hair
part), and most importantly, the mangalsutra (a necklace of black and gold beads).
The bindi is a small dot worn in the middle of a woman’s forehead just above the
eyebrows. Although once associated with Hindu marriage, it is commonly worn by
women across India and broadly associated with beauty. Kumkum are marks made
with powdered turmeric by devotees visiting a temple or offered to female guests
as a sign of respect or blessing. Larger markings are referred to as tika or tilak and
worn by Hindu devotees.
Men in India also wear jewelry although in less quantity than women. Unlike
their Muslim brothers who avoid gold, Hindu men wear gold necklaces, rings,
and occasionally bracelets. Wristwatches are worn extensively by men and often
demanded as part of marriage negotiations. Men, women, and children also occa-
sionally wear small protective amulets around their upper arms or necks. The men
of certain communities wear distinctive earrings. Rajput men of Rajasthan, for
example, wear diamond studs while Rabari men of Kachchh wear ghokh or toliya.
Tattooing is widespread among adivasi and rural communities in India. Naga
tribal women of Manipur, a state in northeastern India, wear elaborate tattoos that
indicate group membership, offer protection, and generally speak to their strength.
The Kanbi and Kharek women living in peninsular Kathiawar, Gujarat, tattoo their
arms and hands. Muslims generally do not wear tattoos. Both Muslim and Hindu
women paint their hands, lower arms, and feet with henna prior to special occasions.
Prior to the wedding, urban brides are painted with particularly intricate geometric
or floral designs. Rural brides paint the whole palms and soles of the feet with henna.
Makeup is widely worn in India. Even in the most isolated villages young
women wear nail polish, lipstick, and kajal (eyeliner) on special occasions. Men
will also wear kajal on special occasions. Young children’s eyes are frequently
smeared with it to ward off the evil eye and protect the eyes from the sun’s glare.
Hindu bridal makeup can be elaborate with extravagant bindis and eyebrow tikas.

Many ethnic groups in India are reconsidering dress in the face of moderniza-
tion and globalization. Even in the most remote corners of India, new materials are
being incorporated, new ideas considered, and new meanings negotiated. Many
communities are reevaluating their relationship with traditions and the past. For
some embroidery is considered “backward,” while for others, the heavy financial
burden of producing a dowry of traditionally embellished garments is too much.
Cultural tourism, however, in India as elsewhere is dependent upon the preserva-
tion of traditional culture, which includes dress. Members of different communi-
ties in Kachchh are not unaware of the economic value of their traditional dress
and use it to their advantage. Similarly, traditional dress is implicated in the dem-
onstration of sovereignty. Members of local communities, in Kachchh and beyond,
periodically use traditional dress or elements thereof to demonstrate historic pres-
ence and political legitimacy.
Ethnic dress has had a profound influence on Indian fashion. Periodically it
incorporates chunky silver jewelry, mirrored embroidery, and tie-dyed cloth. Indian
India | 325
films, too, borrow heavily from ethnic groups featuring vamps and other characters
in midriff-baring, tight-fitting embroidered cholis with swirling veils and jingling
ankle bracelets. Khadi, the simple hand-spun, handwoven cloth associated with
Indian independence, is still produced and used by nationalist-minded Indians. It is
also popular among intellectual elites and is occasionally seen on Indian runways.

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ety.” In A. Appadurai, ed. The Social Life of Things. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1986, pp. 285–321.
Bean, S. S. “Gandhi and Khadi, the Fabric of Indian Independence.” In A. B. Weiner
and J. Schneider, eds. Cloth and Human Experience. Washington: Smithsonian,
1989, pp. 355–376.
Bhandari, V. Costume, Textiles, and Jewellery of India: Traditions of Rajasthan.
London: Mercury, 2005.
Chandra, M. Costumes, Textiles, Cosmetics, and Coiffure in Ancient and Mediae-
val India. Delhi: Oriental Publishers, 1973.
Chatterjee, P. “Colonialism, Nationalism, and Colonized Women: The Contest in
India.” American Ethnologist 16 (1989): 622–633.
Cohn, B. S. “Cloth, Clothes, and Colonialism: India in the Nineteenth Century.” In
A. B. Weiner and J. Schneider, eds. Cloth and Human Experience. Washington:
Smithsonian, 1989, pp. 303–353.
Dar, S. N. Costumes of India and Pakistan: A Historical and Cultural Study. Bom-
bay: D. B. Taraporevala Sons, 1969.
Forbes Watson, J. The Textile Manufactures and the Costumes of the People of
India. London: Printed for the India Office, 1866.
Goswamy, B. N. Indian Costumes in the Collection of the Calico Museum of Tex-
tiles. Ahmedabad: The Calico Museum of Textiles, 1993.
Pandya, V. “Nose and Eyes for Identity: Accoutrements and Enumerations of Eth-
nicity Among the Jatha of Kachchh.” Journal of Material Culture, 7 (2002):
295–328.
Tarlo, E. Clothing Matters: Dress and Identity in India. New Delhi: Viking, 1996.
Watson, J. F. The Textile Manufactures and Costumes of the People of India. Lon-
don: Printed for the India Office, 1866.
India: Nagaland Tribes
Brenda Brandt

Naga hill tribe people are one of the most uniquely adorned tribes of the world.
Sixteen major tribes inhabit Nagaland, a hilly region covered with dense vegeta-
tion in northeastern India and parts of Myanmar (formerly Burma). The dress and
adornment of the Naga are not only decorative, but also serve as a method of iden-
tifying people according to birth, personal achievement, tribal affiliation, and sta-
tus. The most important item of Naga dress is the shawl, which reveals a person’s
identity in the tribe as well as the clan’s standing in the community. Shawls have
fulfilled the cultural and physical needs of the Naga for generations and continue
to be worn with pride today.
The origin of the term Naga is unclear, as well as the beginnings of the people
themselves. Some scholars think the word came from the ancient Sanskrit word
naga meaning mountain, while others suggest that the word meant naked, referring
to their traditional state of undress. Another source traces Naga back to the word
nok or people, which is found in a few Tibeto-Burman languages.
Naga people probably migrated from northern and northeastern China and
display cultural and social characteristics similar to those of Southeast Asian and
Oceanic societies. Ancient Sanskrit manuscripts tell of a golden-skinned people
of the sub-Himalayan regions, thought be to the ancestors of the present-day pop-
ulation. The Naga are said to be a predominantly Mongoloid people, and their
movement into the highlands of South and Southeast Asia may have taken place
as early as 12,000 years ago. Naga legends tell of a great migration that came
from the north, areas that are today in China or Tibet, and the spoken languages
support this.
Significant events in Naga history include fierce resistance toward British
colonial rule in the 19th century, a conversion to Christianity, the struggle for inde-
pendence from India, and isolation from outside visitors until 1950. In 1961, the
region became one of the smallest states within the Union of India. Today, about 90
percent of the Naga live on the Indian side of the border, with nearly 2 million peo-
ple living in a territory similar in size to New Jersey, and engage in an agricultural
326
India: Nagaland Tribes | 327
economy. Over 100,000 Naga live in Myanmar to the east. The border between
Nagaland and Myanmar is fluid, and Naga may legally travel on both sides of the
border without documentation.
Nagaland is a remote part of India that borders the Indian states of Assam on
the west, Arunachal Predesh on the north, and Manipur on the south. Living high
in the jungle-layered hills along the slopes of the rugged Patkoi range, the Naga
are a resilient and hardy people. The hills they inhibit remain pristine due to a low
population density, a rugged landscape, and a lack of roads in the region. The Naga
reside high above the broken misty valleys on hilltops and mountains, and clear
land for planting and raising animals. These early settlements developed into small
sovereign villages, composed of self-sufficient communities of approximately 200
to 1,000 people which would wage war against each other. Each tribe could be
subdivided into several or as many as 20 clans. Some groups like the Konyak tribe
have a highly structured autocratic society; other tribes are more egalitarian and
elect their leaders. The Angami are one of the largest and most politically con-
scious tribes.
Customs and Beliefs

The cultural practice that has brought the most attention to the Naga in the past
was head-taking; this tradition was ended by the Indian government and by the
conversion to Christianity, primarily the Baptist faith. The human head was a com-
mon symbol in their culture, based on the belief that a man’s soul lives in the head.
The soul remained as a fertile potency or life force inside the head and was used to
diffuse, channel, and direct fertility for the good health and prosperity of the com-
munity. The reproductive nature of human sexuality and agriculture all tied into
the Naga concept of fertility. Historically, when a head was taken from an enemy,
brought back to a village, and put in a sacred place, the life essence would diffuse
to the villagers, their crops, and their livestock. Naga warfare pitted one group or
village against another and lasted for generations. Taking a head was the ambition
of every male Naga for the sake of courage and warrior status, for the well-being of
his village, and also for the specific adornment that he was entitled to wear.
Today, various alternatives to head-hunting and the right to wear certain orna-
ments are now in place. Ways to obtain head-taker ornaments include killing a
tiger, making payments to village elders, hosting feasts of merit to provide rice
and meat to one’s villagers, or through symbolic acts such as throwing a spear on
the soil of enemy territory. All activities continue to promote fertility, a powerful
inherent force or quality in nature, which serves as the life force in the continuation
of Naga society.
Adornment
Traditional ethnographic artifacts that remain from the time when head-taking was
allowed in Nagaland have been sold by the tribes to private collectors worldwide or
displayed in British museums; some are kept by families or tribes in their homeland
and worn for festivals and ceremonial occasions today. Head-taker ornamentation
included boar’s tusk and tiger teeth necklaces, head-taker baskets, ivory bracelets,
chank shell disk ear ornaments, elaborate tribal headdresses decorated with horns
and animal hair, and various other glass and stone bead ornaments. These orna-
ments, made of a variety of animal-derived materials, were exclusively worn by
men and handled with care due to their meaning and intrinsic power. Brass head
beads or trophy beads also communicated a warrior’s head-hunting achievements
and high status within the community. Tattoos on warriors revealed head-taking
status, with facial tattoos in a cross or multiple line arrangements encircling the
eyes, nose, and chin, and a stylized human being for each head taken on the chest,
arms, legs, shoulders, and buttocks.
Other materials for adornment were obtained through trade; cowrie shells
were listed as an import from Tibet to neighboring Assam in the 19th century and
Myanmar in the 20th century. The Naga traded slaves for chank shells, which are
decorated with rows of incised black dots or geometrical figures. For various tribes,
the chank shell from the Bay of Bengal was one of the most desirable materials
available through trade and was used extensively in women’s ornamentation for
necklaces. Carnelian beads were secured from Naga traders who imported them
directly from manufacturers in Khambhat or Cambay (India), and brass alloy beads
and armlets made their way into Naga adornment from other locations in India, with
bracelets procured from the neighboring state of Manipur. Glass beads arrived in
Nagaland via trade from the plains people of Assam and Manipur. Job’s tears, both a
staple food when dried and a bead material, was indigenous to the Naga. Wood and
bone beads, as well as canework in necklaces and girl’s bracelets, were also local.
Naga tribes have a strong intrinsic feeling for beauty and are gifted artisans.
In the past and today the Naga combine adornment in ways that are as varied and
complex as the tribes themselves, while reflecting overall unity among the various
tribes with localized diversity. Their use of horn or bone spacers provide form and
organization to multistrand bead constructions, and the wearing of several orna-
ments at one time combines to form a colorful, textural, and powerful aesthetic.
In the past, at ritual occasions and festivities, it was essential for men and women
to wear ceremonial adornment. A woman’s adornment as well as her children’s rep-
resented the status of her husband and father at these events. Women covered their
bodies with colorful multiple-strand glass bead and carnelian necklaces embellished
with chank shells and bronze coins and added arm bracelets and C-shaped earrings
Naga man wearing headdress made of woven cane decorated with wild boar tusks and
fur, with tiger claw straps, 2009. (AP Photo/Sorei Mahong)
of metal and quartz or glass for a striking, yet harmonious appearance. Tattooing on
the face, shoulders, torso, and legs revealed a woman’s tribal affiliation, her social
status, and certain life states, such as womanhood, marriage, and motherhood. One
string of beads or multiples of colorful glass trade beads—oranges, yellows, reds,
and occasionally turquoise, blue, or green—were the ornaments worn on a daily
basis by men, women, and children. Beads were the first ornaments put on a baby,
recognizing the newcomer as a member of the community. In some tribes, removal
of beads from a corpse indicated the formal transition from being to nonbeing, and
among other Naga groups, beads were considered to be the very essence of a person
and were buried with the body.
Textiles
Textiles played an equally important role in the maintenance of Naga tribal affili-
ation and revealed feats of merit and head-taking status among the Naga. Fabric of
skirts, aprons, sashes, and shawls identified the status of the male or female wearer,
young or old. What an individual wore differed from one Naga tribe to another; each
had its own distinctive symbolic designs and color combinations. Designs varied
from a formal arrangement of lines to elaborate, complex patterns of diamonds and
lozenge shapes. Simple woven-in straight lines, stripes, squares, and bands varying in
width, color, and arrangements are the most traditional designs from the past. Stripes
and bands were worn horizontally on the body, and textiles worn by men were more
spectacular in color and design due to their status as warriors, heroes, and fathers.
The shawl, also referred to as a body cloth, was worn by all Naga adults and
children as a fabric wrapped around the body. Designs varied as to gender and
age and reflected class distinctions. Each tribal shawl was different, as all were
hand-loomed and one-of–a-kind. Shawls ranged from simple white to elaborately
designed fabrics with symbols and colors, and warrior shawls were reserved for
specific groups of men. A traditional polychrome (red, blue, ochre) man’s shawl
with a human figure and triple circles stitched in cowrie shells communicated
Chang adult tribal membership and indicated warrior/head-taker status.
Traditionally, among the Chang, a cowrie-embellished shawl could not be
worn before an adult man had taken six heads. Cowries were a trade item and used
as money throughout India. Among the Naga, these shells symbolized immortal-
ity, resembled an eye to ward off evil, and enhanced female fertility. When stitched
in circles, the shells revealed head-taker status and/or a wealthy man’s ability to
provide feasts in his community. Circle designs also alluded to the moon as a
successful time to carry out raids on enemies. A single-circle shawl of multiple
tribal affiliations revealed warrior status, and the use of red-dyed dog hair squares
symbolized setting an enemy village on fire. Another type of Chang shawl featured
a zigzag design in alternating red and

black colors on a blue band. The zig-
zag design in the shawl was required
to fall uniformly when worn, or the
young male warrior wearing it might
die a premature death.
Painting on woven shawls was
practiced by the Ao tribe; a tsung-
kotepsu shawl featured a white hori-
zontal band woven into a black and
red striped fabric. The body cloth was
worn by a warrior who had taken heads
or by a wealthy married man who
had hosted feasts of merit. Figures
of elephants and tigers (to symbolize
valor), mithuns (animals sacrificed at
feasts of merit to symbolize wealth),
and human heads (to symbolize suc-
cess in head-taking) were painted in
black on the white band. The color
was prepared from tree sap and mixed Naga men wearing traditional woven shawls,
with rice beer and leaf ashes; old men headdresses made of woven cane decorated
did the painting in a free style. The ash with wild boar teeth, fur, and topped with
of bamboo leaves was also used and hornbill feathers and tiger jaws, 2009. (Art
Directors.co.uk/StockphotoPro)
resulted in a grey liquid, which was
applied with the pointed end of a bamboo stick. Any man wearing this shawl with-
out permission and the achievements to do so had to answer to the village council
and pay violation penalties. Ao women living in the Chungliyimit village are given
credit for designing and weaving this shawl as a token to encourage their men
to ward off head-taking attacks from neighboring tribes. Another Ao tribal shawl
contained a red and indigo fabric with thick tassels of dyed dog’s hair and revealed
ownership by a wealthy man who had hosted feasts of merit. His sons and daugh-
ters were also permitted to wear the shawl. Dog and other animal sacrifices were
common among different Naga communities.
One of the most decorative shawls worn by the Angami people of the southern
Naga groups featured embroidery as embellishment. These shawls originated in
Manipur, which borders Nagaland to the south. The body cloth was received as a
gift from Manipur rulers in return for favorable services from the Naga and was
worn by wealthy feasts of merit hosts or warriors. The shawl contained a range of
wild animals, including elephants, embroidered on a black background, which was
divided into horizontal panels by woven bands of color. Manipuri weavers used
bright-colored yellow, red, green, and white yarns to create designs on the shawls.
The name of this shawl, sami lami phee, when translated means “warrior cloth of
wild animals.”
Convention and custom also regulated shawls worn by other members of Naga
tribes. Women’s shawls were distinctly different from those worn by men in some
tribes, while for other tribes, shawls were interchangeable between the sexes. Women
of the Angami tribe traditionally wore a white shawl with black stripes and a pat-
terned border. A wealthy Konyak woman wore a special shawl, a shatni. This shawl
was given to her by a rich father at marriage; she would preserve the shawl and it
would be used again to wrap her body at death. Both women and men of the Angami
tribe wore an everyday black shawl known as a ratapfe, and an Angami priest wore
a distinctive shawl, the phichu-pfe. Among the Rengma tribe, a man who had not
taken an enemy head or hosted a feast of merit was entitled to wear an ordinary type
of shawl, a rhikho. This body cloth was white with four narrow black bands and
worn by young and old alike, the only difference being the number of bands.
Unlike other regions of India where much of the spinning and weaving were
done by men, traditional spinning and weaving in Nagaland were done exclusively
by women; men excelled at wood carving, metalwork, and canework. Every Naga
woman was expected to spin and weave her own family’s textiles. Until recently,
it was essential that every marriageable girl know how to spin fiber and weave
fabric. Cotton grew in abundance and was widely cultivated in the villages of the
northeastern states of India. Naga women picked cotton by hand. Simple tools,
including a short stick, rolled over the cotton on a lat stone or mat removed the
seeds from the cotton fibers. Carding followed, by flicking the fibers with a small-
sized bow. Slivers were formed by hand-rolling the fibers with the help of a round
stick over a flat stone. A simple spindle with stone weights was made of a spike of
hard wood from the sago palm and used to add twist to the fibers to make a yarn.
From the spindle, the cotton yarn was wound onto a double T-shaped stick, steeped
in hot rice water, and when dry, wound on a bamboo frame. The final step involved
winding yarns into balls.
Dyeing took place after the yarns were made into skeins. The Naga used black,
dark blue, red, and some yellow dyes; white yarns were boiled for hours in rice
powder. Today, manufactured colored yarns dyed with synthetic dyes, including
green yarns, are bought to be used for weaving. In the past, taboos existed as to
who could dye and when dyeing could take place, and women often did the process
as a community, often accompanied by a song and prayer. Pregnant women were
not allowed to handle any dye as it might affect the unborn child.
Blue/indigo dye came from the leaves of a plant that grew on the outskirts of
the villages or in patches cleared in the jungle. Each tribe’s method of indigo dye
preparation differed; however, leaves were commonly boiled in a large pot, with
yarns added and boiled for almost an hour. Yarns were then taken out of the pot
and dried in the sun. The entire process was repeated if needed to produce a darker
blue color. Red dye was used less than dark blue, and the color was obtained from
creeper roots. Only old women took part in this dyeing process. It was believed that
if a young woman participated, she would die a violent death or lose her head in
a raid. Only a few tribes used yellow dye. The Angami tribe prepared it from the
wood of a local plant. Bark was removed and wood was sliced into chips, which
were boiled in water with yarn and then dried in the sun. Another tribe, the Rengma,
made yellow dye from the flowers of a tree. The dyeing process did not take place
before the annual harvest, as it was considered to be detrimental to the crops.
The process of weaving fabric was also regulated by the yearly harvest; it
began as soon as the new rice was harvested and eaten. Shawl weaving was done
on a backstrap-type loom, also known as the Indonesian tension loom. The warp
yarns were attached to the warp beam and securely fastened to a house wall or a
wooden frame. A cloth beam was attached to the weaving belt worn by the weaver,
and looped string (around a stick) heddles raised and lowered the warp yarns.
Naga women weave on a loom in their village in Assam, India, 1943. (Time Life Pictures/
Mansell/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
The shuttle was shot through by hand and a beating stick held the weft in place.
Designs were made by the combination of different-colored yarns in the warp and
weft (fill), and after weaving the shawls were finished by twisting warp yarns and
knotting to hang as tassels, or cut and stitched into the fabric. Extra weft weaving
was also practiced as well as embroidery. Angami women excelled at weaving, and
when not working in the fields, they could be seen sitting at their simple looms for
hours, bending forward and interlocking the weft with the warp yarns.
Weaving took nearly 10 hours to complete a plain strip of fabric, and 30 hours
were required to make a complete fabric. Three pieces of fabric were woven sepa-
rately and stitched together for adult shawls. The fabric in the center was more
decorated than the border fabrics, which generally had more or less the same
design. In body cloths/shawls for children, only two fabrics were stitched together.
Again, as was the circumstance with adornment, the Naga placed great importance
and value on clothing worn for ceremonies or festivals, at which time all Nagas
embraced traditional dress.
Naga Today
Naga people and their communities have undergone considerable change over
the last two decades. Today, they are following a policy of economic and social
modernization, and the old traditions are gradually disappearing in some regions.
Traditional shawls have been traded or sold for clothing and other objects, which
are more useful for present-day living, and it is almost impossible to find authentic
traditional tribal ornamentation. At a recent wedding, only tribal elders wore tra-
ditional dress and adornment. Other guests as well as the bride and groom wore
Western dress.
Weaving remains a cottage industry, with previous restrictions on weaving
loosening and paving the way for experimentation with new designs, new color
combinations, and usage of different yarns. At present, many elders in Naga tribes
no longer insist on following the regulations for wearing particular shawls; how-
ever, not every community approves of the changing mind-set. Some regret that
shawls that were once worn only during festivals are being worn whenever one
chooses to, and that Naga textiles from the past have lost their significance as a
powerful indicator of tribal identity and status. Rather, shawls today are purchased
by outsiders as commodities for their ethnographic and aesthetic appeal.

Broman, Barry. “Myanmar Naga Adorned.” Arts of Asia (September–October
2002): 96–107.
The Crafts and Artisans. “Tribal Textiles of Nagaland.” http://www.craftand

artisans.com/tribal-textiles-of-nagaland.html.
Ganguli, Milada. A Pilgrimage to the Nagas. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publish-
ing, 1984.
Indianetzone. “Nagaland.” http://textiles.indianetzone.com/1/nagaland.htm.
Stirn, Aglaja, and Peter Van Ham. The Hidden World of the Naga: Living Tradi-
tions in Northeast India and Burma. Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2003.
Indonesia
Monica Murgia

Indonesia is an expansive archipelago consisting of 17,508 islands situated in the
Pacific Ocean between Australia and mainland Asia. Indonesia’s economic strong-
hold has always been its geographic location. It has been a center of trade since
the seventh century CE. The main island, Java, has a lucrative trade market on its
north coast. The Java Sea is quite tranquil, enjoying a mild climate, and rarely
experiences the typhoons and wild storms that plague much of Southeast Asia. The
archipelago is the home of the famous Spice Islands, a favorite of early explorers.
These attractive features promoted trade relations and drew merchants from all
over the world.
Trade had more than just economic repercussions in Indonesia. Many foreign
people settled in Indonesia, creating an amalgamation of ethnicities. Religion was
also greatly affected. Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam successively came to the
various islands, each leaving an indelible mark on the development of Indonesian
batik and regional dress.
Early trade occurred with India and China in the ninth century. Cloves, nut-
meg, and other spices were traded for silk, teas, and other goods. These trade rela-
tions also introduced Hinduism and Buddhism. Hinduism also brought the caste
system, introducing new levels of linguistic formality according to rank and age.
The caste system also changed the way people dressed, and certain batik designs
were assigned to people of importance. This created a visual and linguistic hier-
archy. Hindu, Buddhist, and Chinese mythological motifs in batik spread through
the archipelago.
Muslim communities had existed in Java in the 12th century, but it was in
the 16th century that Islam flourished in Indonesia. This religious conversion was
fueled by commercial and political aspirations. The Muslims were, at the time, the
world’s leading traders, offering Indonesia new trade routes, alliances, and riches.
Arab traditions discourage the use of depicting animate objects in art, thus batik in
the Muslim tradition uses geometric patterns and calligraphy.
336
Indonesia | 337
The Dutch also reached Java in the 16th century, and soon established a com-
mercial colony in 1602. This colony began aggressive advancement in Southeast
Asia and seized control of many areas. The Industrial Revolution made transporta-
tion more accessible to the public, and the Dutch colonized Indonesia. The Dutch
East India Company was chartered in order to promote trade efforts under a unified
policy. Batavia, present-day Jakarta, was the first permanent trade center, estab-
lished by the Dutch East India Company in 1619. Dutch occupancy increased over
the years and by 1700 a colonial pattern was established.
Colonial expansion continued throughout the 19th century. New patterns and
motifs began to emerge, creating a modern batik style. These motifs included steam-
boats, trains, airplanes, card games, opera, and other themes of a colonial lifestyle.
Full Dutch colonial rule occurred after the Javanese defeat in 1830 during the
Java War. Motifs and styles were exchanged and collected through this new rule,
including a bright color palette. The bright colors were synthetic dyes, introduced
by the Dutch in 1890. Synthetic dyes allowed a broader range of colors to be used
and allowed the production of batik in mass quantities.
World War II led the Japanese to control Indonesia, which caused an uprising.
Citizens were unhappy and formed an independence movement. In 1945, after
the surrender of Japan, Indonesia declared its independence. Divided and colo-
nized for millennia, Indonesia gained its freedom. Although unified, there is a frag-
mented sense of national identity, since historical experiences varied drastically
from island to island.
Today, the islands are home to over 248 million people, of which there are more
than 1,000 ethnic and subethnic groups. The largest ethnic group is the Javanese,
representing 42 percent of the population. The Javanese have the largest influence
over national dress. Java has remained the fabric-making capital of Indonesia, pro-
ducing the majority of batik fabrics. Cultural diversity is celebrated in the country;
the national motto is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika or Unity in Diversity.
People and Dress

Batik was exclusively made for clothing until the late 20th century, when batik
became popular as art and wall coverings. There are several ways of wearing batik,
and each communicates ideas of social class, rank, and gender.
Unisex
The sarong is typically two yards long (180 cm) and consists of a badan, the
main body of the cloth, and a kepala, or top of the cloth. A pagi-sore is a reversible
batik cloth that can be used for daytime or evening dress, as it is divided diagonally
and decorated in different designs and colors. The cloth is then draped and tied to
reveal one side.
The dodot is a royal garment consisting of two batik cloths sewn together
lengthwise. It is worn over a pair of silk trousers, draped and folded as an overskirt,
often with a train on one side.
The kain panjang, or kain, is a cloth three yards long (250 cm) by 40 inches
wide (107 cm) that is ankle length when worn. It is a more formal style than the
sarong. Women will wrap the cloth left over right with narrow pleats in the front.
Men will wrap the cloth right over left, the opposite of the women’s style, and wear
it with broad pleats.
Women
The kemben is a narrow batik wrapped around the breasts. Women often wear
the kemben with a dodot.
The kebaya is a long-sleeved blouse adorned with embroidery and lace. The
selendang is a multipurpose accessory. It is a long narrow cloth used as a shawl
and bag. It can even be used to carry a
baby. Note that while the selendang is
not being used to carry things, it is an
accessory.
Men
The iket kepala is a square head-
cloth used to make a turban. Since
there is no real deviation in garment
type, decorative motifs and color
usage are essential in asserting indi-
vidual style. Aside from variations in
tying the cloth, colors and designs are
the only manner in which individuals
can assert a personal style.

Batik is a word of Indonesian ori-
gin referring to a wax-resist dyeing
Woman wearing kebaya. (Krisna Haryadi/ technique for textiles. Melted wax is
Dreamstime.com) applied to a textile in specific areas of
Indonesia | 339
the design to prevent dye absorption. Beeswax is most commonly used, as it is

abundant in the islands of Sumba and Timor. The wax can also be mixed with
various resins to change the finish and color absorption. Eucalyptus and animal fat
are widely used at many batik cooperatives, but the proportions of the mixture are
guarded as proprietary secrets.
Both silk and cotton are used. Silk is particularly popular on the North Coast
and is much easier to dye. Cotton is generally used for mass production and is
worn on hot days. Cotton was produced in Java as early as the 17th century, but the
quality was very coarse. In 1824, the Dutch introduced a machine-woven cotton.
Java became heavily dependent on this Dutch imported cotton for batik production.
Cotton must be prepared before the dye process. It is first measured and cut
into appropriate lengths. Then it is washed and boiled to prevent shrinking and to
remove imperfections. After boiling, the cotton cloth is treated with oil and lye,
which create a base color. The cotton cloth is then rinsed, folded in one-foot-wide
sections along the warp, placed on a wooden board, and then beaten with a mallet
to soften the fibers. Beating the cloth also opens the fibers so they will absorb the
wax. If silk is used, it must also be measured, cut, and hemmed to prevent fraying.
The wax mixture can be applied in two methods: the tulis method or the cap
(tjap) method. The tulis method is when wax resist is applied to the cloth freehand
with a tool called the canting. The canting is composed of a wooden or reed handle
and a thin copper sheet that is welded into a small container with a spout. Cantings
come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and with several spouts to create different sizes
of lines and dots. The designer will fill the container with the wax mixture and
skillfully pour it through the spout to create a design. The canting is the oldest tool
used for batik, predating written records. Tulis batik is the most time consuming
and expensive to create.
The cap method is a stamping method. The first caps were introduced from
India, as were crudely cut wooden blocks. This type of cap is carved by an artist,
similar to block printing. Cap production became more sophisticated over time,
evolving to a refined copper stamp.
Most caps utilize two or more copper stamps, creating a repeating unit within
the batik. Copper is designed and soldered into a design pattern. The cap is dipped
into the wax mixture and pressed onto the cloth. Production in batik cooperatives
exploded with the introduction of the cap, allowing Java to create an international
batik textile industry.
The tulis and cap techniques can be combined, resulting in a technique known
as kombinasi. Both employ a shared tool called the cemplogen. The cemplogen is
like a wire brush, used to scrape small spots of wax off the surface of a batik before
it is dyed. This creates interesting patterns of small dots. The cemplogen has a
wooden handle and steel needles.
Woman uses a canting to apply wax to a traditional Indonesian batik fabric, 2005.
(Stefano Alberti/iStockphoto.com)
The process of making batik is very gender specific. Women primarily do the
fine handwork and apply the wax. Designs are passed down from mother to daugh-
ter. Men are responsible for the dyeing process, as well as crafting caps. Men pri-
marily control the cap method, as the stamping process is labor intensive.
Design Motifs
Indonesia’s complex history of colonization and trade has created innumerable
design motifs for batik. The flora and fauna of Indonesia is the most consistent
motif. Indigenous folklore has also provided a constant source of inspiration for
batik artists. The Garuda, a mythical bird, has been used throughout the ages. It can
be stylized to show one wing, the Mirong, and a double wing, Sawat. The Garuda
is considered to be auspicious and is depicted on the modern-day flag. Kantjil
is another heroic mythical creature. An indigenous mouse deer, Kantjil outwits
dangerous animals. This folk tale is told throughout the islands of the archipelago.
Traditional Indonesian batik consists of three key elements: the bandan, the
kepala, and the papan. The bandan is the main field of the batik. The kepala is a
Indonesia | 341
wide perpendicular band located in the middle or at the end of the batik. The color
and pattern of the kepala contrast with that of the bandan. The kepala often has a
triangular geometric motif called a tumpal. The papan is the border of the batik.
Common designs on the papan are fine lines made to look like fringe.
Trade interaction with India and China brought representations of Buddha and
Siva. The lotus with interlocking and intersecting circular designs, called kawung,
was a style borrowed from Buddhist and Hindu temples.
In the 16th century, the spread of Islam had reached Indonesia. Arab traditions
discourage the use of depicting animate objects in art, thus batik in the Muslim tra-
dition uses geometric patterns and calligraphy. The boteh (almond) pattern became
popular during Muslim rule.
The Dutch introduced new patterns and motifs, creating a modern batik style.
Western industrial themes included steamboats, trains, and airplanes, which were
adapted to batik. Motifs and styles were exchanged and collected through this
new rule, including a bright color palette. The bright colors were synthetic dyes,
introduced by the Dutch in 1890. Synthetic dyes allowed a broader range of colors
to be used and allowed the production of batik in mass quantities. Colet was also
developed after the synthetic dyes. Colet is the painting of small areas directly on
the cloth by hand.
Uses for Indonesian Ethnic Textiles and Dress

Batik made its international debut in the Western world via the Dutch East
India Company during the 17th century. Western culture loved these exotic, color-
ful prints. Their popularity soared, and soon Western textile artists were imitating
batik by various printing methods. Printing was less time consuming and more
economical than the hand-drawn method, and Indonesia’s economy suffered until
the 19th century when Javanese artists starting using the cap method.
Contemporary batik is radically changing from the more traditional and formal
styles. The batik process is largely being outsourced to Malaysia and India, where
the process is done by silkscreen. Silkscreening, stenciling, and dye discharge have
become attractive alternatives to traditional batik. These alternatives are attractive
due to the expense in creating handmade batik. True batik is still created in Indo-
nesia, but it is expensive and has become incorporated into art.
Batik is still a fashion item for many young people in Indonesia. The batik
fabric is now fashioned into contemporary shirts, dresses, or scarves. The kebaya
is still standard for women to wear to formal occasions. Men also are permitted to
wear batik in the office and on formal occasions. Traditional Balinese and Javanese
dancers also wear traditional costumes. Oscar Lawalata is a forerunner in using
traditional batik fabrics for contemporary ready-to-wear. Other Indonesian fashion
designers have followed suit in reviving batik. The future of batik is anticipated to
heavily incorporate traditional motifs into ready-to-wear garments. This evolution
assures that Indonesia will retain its rich identity of national dress.

Drakeley, Stevens. The History of Indonesia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
2005.
Elliott, Inger McCabe. Batik: Fabled Cloth of Java. New York: Clarkson and Pot-
ter, 1984.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Fabric of Enchantment: Batik from the North
Coast of Java. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1996.
Suryadinata, Leo, et al. Indonesia’s Population: Ethnicity and Religion in a Chang-
ing Political Landscape. Singapore: ISEAS, 2003.
Iran
Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood

Iran is a large and ancient country that lies at the crossroads between Asia, the Near
East, and Europe. Over the centuries, numerous different peoples have settled in
the country. As a result, there are currently about 100 different ethnic and religious
groups (both Muslim and non-Muslim) living in the country. Iran’s ethnic diversity
is reflected in many aspects of Iranian culture, notably its literature, painted forms,
as well as its traditional regional dress, especially that worn by women. In recent
years, Iran has suffered a turbulent history. Originally called Persia until 1935, it
was ruled over by a monarchy until 1979. In 1979, the shah was overthrown and
forced into exile. Iran has been an Islamic republic since then.
Specific details about a region’s geographical and climatic characteristics are
important as they affect what people wear. It is normal, for instance, to find thick,
baggy trousers being worn in mountainous regions where ease of movement and
protection against rocks are essential. On the other hand, in hotter and flatter desert
regions, emphasis tends to be placed on keeping cool and being well protected
against the effects of the sun and sand, while using a minimum weight of cloth. In
the coastal regions of northern Iran, for example, the high Elburz Mountains and
the presence of the Caspian Sea mean that the summers are very hot and humid,
very different from the desert plains south of the mountains. The geographical and
climatic conditions of northern Iran mean that it is possible to grow both tea on the
mountain slopes and rice on the adjoining plains.
The Zagros Mountains along the western borders of the country play an impor-
tant role in providing both a barrier and a means of communications between vari-
ous cities and groups. Here live large groups of Kurds, who have close connections
with Kurds from eastern Iraq and Turkey, and together they have formed a separate
nation all across the mountains. The Kurds are very proud of their separate regional
identity and dress, and there are many variations being worn at the beginning of
the 21st century.
343
The vast desert of central Iran has meant that communications were very diffi-
cult until comparatively recently, when a motorway system was built in the second
half of the 20th century connecting the many oasis towns scattered throughout the
desert. Towns such as Qom, Kashan, Isfahan, Shiraz, Yazd, and Kirman are still
important communication and cultural links down the center of the country. This
area is the home of the Persians, who are now the main group in the country, with
other groups, including the Kurds, surrounding them in a great circle. Until the end
of the 20th century there were still some isolated groups that retained their tradi-
tional dress, notably in the Abayaneh region, but many people long ago adopted
pan-Iranian dress, which is based on Western styles of dress.
Further to the south of Iran the mountains and desert regions are populated by
various nomadic groups, including the Bakhtiari and Qashqa‘i, who are of Turkic ori-
gin. And further south, the centuries-old trading contacts with the Gulf region mean
that there is a strong Arab cultural tradition. The southern coastal region of Iran,
the Bandar or harbor area, has long been home to numerous different cultural and
ethnic groups, including Africans, Arabs, Europeans, Indians, and Persians. The
Bandar area is a relatively flat region that is cool in the winter and very hot and
humid in the summer. Many people move inland in the summer to escape the worst
of the heat.
The influence of India and modern-day Pakistan can be seen in the garments
worn by the Baluch people, who live in the eastern deserts of Iran. These were
originally a nomadic and trading people who traveled vast distances throughout the
Indian Ocean and Gulf region.
The northeast of the country is mainly settled by Turkmen groups who live
throughout the northern parts of Iran, Afghanistan, as well as southern Russia and
western Central Asia. There are numerous subgroups who live in this mountainous
region of Iran and who have developed their own special cultural heritage. In addi-
tion, the religious center of Mashad lies in this part of Iran, so there is also a strong
Persian community that tends to the spiritual and material needs of the thousands
of pilgrims from all over Iran who visit the city every year.
People and Dress

Iranian society is made up of many different groups living together in various situa-
tions. The population of Iran in 2012 was estimated at 78.8 million people. The larg-
est group is the urban population. People are constantly being drawn to the large cities
such as Tehran (population in 2009 estimated at 7.19 million), Tabriz (1.459 million),
and Mashad (2.592 million) in order to find work and better prospects for the future.
In all of these urban regions there is a mixture of ethnic groups including Persian-,
Arabic-, and Turkish-speaking peoples.
Iran | 345
In other areas of Iran, however, one particular group may predominate, such
as the Kurds in the western part of the country. But it should be noted that it is not
uncommon to have villages of different groups close to each other. For instance,
outside the city of Ahwaz in southwestern Iran, one particular village may be
regarded as Arabic, while the neighboring village is described as Iranian, namely
Persian.
There are also a large number of villages that have permanent and semiperma-
nent inhabitants. The village near the Sasanian (early first millennium BCE) palace
of Firuzabad (located to the south of Shiraz in southwest Iran) includes a large
number of Qashqa‘i people who live there during the hot summer months and then
travel with the “black tents” in the winter. This is part of a deliberate policy by the
Iranian government to encourage the settlement of nomadic groups.
The following description of the main types of Iranian regional dress has been
given in an alphabetical (Abayaneh to Zoroastrian) rather than geographical order
to make it easier to identify the basic forms.
Abayaneh Dress
Abayaneh is situated some 80 miles (130 km) south of Tehran. Until relatively
recently, the region around Abayaneh was virtually cut off from the rest of Iran.
Men’s and boys’ clothing in the region was based upon late-19th-century-style gar-
ments, namely a shirt (pirahan), a gown (qaba), a sash (kammarband), baggy trousers
(zir-jameh), cloth shoes (giveh), and some form of headgear, such as a cap (kolah)
or a turban (mandil). By the beginning of the 21st century, the remaining traditional
feature is the loose-fitting shiny black trousers with cuffs embroidered in a line motif.
The dress of both girls and women is based on three items: a tunic (pirahan),
knee-length “skirt” (shalwar), and a large headshawl (chargat). The “skirts” are not
actually skirts, but extremely wide trousers. These garments are made out of at least
eight yards of pleated black cloth. The Abayaneh headscarf is made out of a large
square of cloth, which has a light-colored background with small colorful motifs. It
is folded diagonally and then fastened under the chin.
Arab-Style Dress
There are many Arab groups living in Iran, the largest of which lives in the
southwest of the country. Unlike Arabs living further to the west, Iranian Arabs wear
undertrousers rather than a hip wrap (lungi). The summer styles of these trousers are
made of thin cotton fabric, while the winter versions are made from thicker, knitted
fabrics. A gown (dishdasha) is worn over this. The summer version is made from
lightweight cotton, while the winter style is of a much heavier material. The basic
head covering consists of a square of cloth folded diagonally and draped over the
head. The Iranian Arabs do not wear a headrope (‘aqal) as men wear in Saudi Arabia.
One of the most distinctive items of Arabic dress is the so-called cloak or aba.
Two forms of aba are worn here, namely a light summer version made from loosely
woven cotton, and a heavier winter version made out of good-quality camel hair or
wool. As a generalization the wearing of abas is generally regarded as something
older men do, especially in the winter.
The basic outfit of an Arab woman consists of undertrousers (shalwar), a long
dress (libas), a loose overdress (sob), a head covering (shelagh), and an outer cov-
ering (abayeh). The most characteristic element is the sob or overdress, which is
worn over the normal dress. A basic sob is made from a large rectangle of cloth
with a hole cut out for the head. The sides of the garment are sewn together, with
holes left for the arms. The Iranian sob is almost identical in construction to the
thob worn by women in the eastern parts of the Arabian Peninsula. The basic head-
gear or shelagh is made up of a large rectangle of cloth, which is wrapped around
the head, covering the neck and hair. Various forms of cloth are used, but most tend
to be made from a lightweight cotton.
Younger women tend to wear a light-
color shelagh, while older women
normally wear black versions. Finally,
on top of the indoor garments, Arab
women often wear a cloak-like gar-
ment called an abayeh when outdoors.
In Iran, these garments are worn over
the head in the Iraqi manner, rather
than on the shoulders as is common in
Saudi Arabia.
Bakhtiari Dress
The Bakhtiari are a conglomera-
tion of various groups who probably
migrated from Syria to Iran during
the medieval period. They live in the
western part of the country. A distinc-
tive part of Bakhtiari male dress are
A young Bakhtiari villager poses in his the trousers (shalwar-gosad, tombun),
brightly colored national costume, Bakhtiari, which are black and cut very wide (120
Iran, 1968. (Roger Wood/Corbis) cm, 47” around the leg) and are usually
Iran | 347
worn over long underpants (zir-shalwar). The trousers are held in place by a leather
belt or a large sash or rolled white cloth (sal). Baktiari men are also famous for their
piano-striped jackets called coga, which are made out of natural and indigo-dyed
wool. Each tribe has its own design, making the identification of a person from a
distance much easier.
The basic outfit for a Bakhtiari woman consists of a pair of undertrousers worn
with a long, full skirt (tombun-zanuna), which is usually made of between 8 and
10 yards of cloth. The material in the skirt is gathered at the waist. Over the skirt
is worn a knee-length tunic (jowa or pirahan), which is slit at the sides in order to
accommodate the full skirt. Bakhtiari women normally wear a small cap (lacak) to
which a veil (meyna) is pinned in such a way as to frame the face without hiding it.
The hair is normally parted in the middle and arranged in two braids that are joined
together under the chin.
Baluch Dress
Most Baluch are Iranian speaking who live in the south of Afghanistan, Paki-
stan, and Iran. Most Baluch men wear the kameez or long shirt, worn with simple
drawstring trousers (shalwar). Other elements of the male dress include a long scarf
or shoulder wrap (pushtin) and a close-fitting cap (topi) over which is wrapped a
turban (pag). In addition, during colder weather other garments are added includ-
ing a waistcoat (sadri) and an overcoat (kaba). Occasionally a woolen blanket or
shawl (sal) is worn. The typical Baluch skullcap (topi), over which the turban is
tightly wrapped, is usually made of cotton with fine silk or cotton embroidery in
floral or geometric designs and incorporating small, round mirrors.
The basic elements of a Baluch woman’s dress consist of a pair of baggy trou-
sers. The older trousers of striped silk fabric are called kanavez, while the modern
matching trousers are called shalwar. Other dress elements are a knee-length dress
(pashk) with pleats (cheen) at either side of the waist, and finally, a large, rectan-
gular shawl or head covering (chadar). Nowadays, the trousers and the dress are
made in the same material, with a complementary colored head covering.
Traditionally, the dresses are decorated with four specific panels of embroi-
dery (doch). These panels are a large yoke covering the chest (jig/jeg); a long,
narrow rectangular pocket (pado, pandohl); and two sleeve cuffs (banzari). The
form of embroidery used is called pakka, meaning firm or solid. These used to
be hand stitched, with each group having their own form of patterning. Nowa-
days, however, machine-embroidered decoration is much more common. Some-
times, embroidered panels from worn-out dresses are cut off and resewn onto new
garments.
Bandar Dress
The people of the Iranian shores of the Persian Gulf are often loosely known
as Bandaris, from the Persian word for port or harbor. The Bandaris tend to be
of Iranian, Arab, African, Baluchi, Indian, or European descent. The traditional
male dress in the Bandar region is very similar to Baluch-style clothing and con-
sists of a shirt (juma) that reaches below the knee and is fastened with buttons
on the right side of the neck. The shirt is worn over loosely cut trousers (shal-
war). On the head is worn a small white or colored cap (kolah), and over this is
wrapped a length of cloth (lang, languta), which is about two yards long. Older
men tend to use white (ratrah) or striped cloth, while younger men use colored
material.
The Bandar region is famous for the embroidered trousers (shalwar) worn by
the women. The trouser cuffs used to be decorated with hand embroidery. The
design found on the trouser cuffs used to reflect where the wearer came from, but
nowadays most women wear whatever design they prefer.
The basic garment worn over the trousers is a dress (pirahan). The older-
style dresses are made in colored cotton, either waisted (gavan style) or cut full
(dara‘a). The head covering is normally made up of a rectangular (about 3 by 2
feet) scarf of thin black material (makna). Over all these garments, women gen-
erally wear a large, semicircular chador, which is made from a very lightweight
cotton.
Perhaps one of the most widely commented upon aspects of Bandar dress
are the various types of face coverings. The type of face veil worn by a Bandari
woman depends in the main on three factors, namely (a) her religious back-
ground (Sunni or Shi‘ite), (b) her ethnic origins, and (c) where she lives.
Shi‘ite Face Veils

Many Shi‘ite women in the Bandar region, for example, wear bright red rect-
angular masks of the battulah construction, locally known as a burqa, decorated
with various patterns. Originally these were hand worked, but nowadays most are
decorated using machine embroidery. The color and designs provide information
as to which ethnic group the wearer comes from.
Sunni Face Veils

In general, Sunni women of Arab origin in the Bandar region wear either black
face veils or gold mask-like forms. The main form of battulah (locally known as
a burqa) that they wear is squarish and rather long in shape and black in color, as
opposed to the red, rectangular shapes worn by Shi‘ite women described above.
Iran | 349
The Sunni battulah is made out of black cotton or black velvet. The veil is similar
to a type of battulah worn in parts of Qatar, on the other side of the Persian Gulf.
Some Sunni women in the Bandar region also wear a niqab-style face veil.
They are usually in a loosely woven black cotton material. They are made from
two layers of material with a small slit for the eyes. These veils are very similar in
form and size to the more pan-Islamic niqab.
Gilani Dress
Gilan is a region along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea in northern Iran.
The traditional dress for men in Gilan consists of a short tunic (pirahan sey) or,
more commonly, a Western-style shirt. Over the shirts are worn waistcoats (jeliqe),
which are often made of sal, a locally made woolen cloth. In some areas a 19th-
century form of jacket called an alkaleq was worn, but this has been replaced by a
Western-style jacket (kot).
Men used to wear a type of trousers (sal-shalwar) made of sal or thick cotton
(qadak), which reached to the ankles. By the end of the 20th century, however,
it was usually only shepherds who wore such trousers. The shoes and stocking
worn until very recently by men, especially shepherds, were also specific to the
Caspian region. The woolen stockings were hand knitted and had either plain or
polychrome designs.
At the end of the 20th century, the basic outfit of a Gilani woman consisted
of close-fitting, ankle-length trousers (shalwar), over which were worn a full skirt
(tuman) gathered at the waist. Women normally wear two or three skirts together,
one on top of each other. The length of the skirt is often used to indicate the age of
the wearer: a younger woman will have a calf-length skirt, while an older woman’s
version may reach the ankles or the ground.
Over the skirt is worn a tunic (koynak). There are two slits at either side of the
garment to allow for the fullness of the skirts. A waistcoat (jerqa) is normally worn
over the koynak. As a generalization, dark gray or black waistcoats are worn on a
daily basis, while those for special events are normally in bright colors and orna-
mented with braids, beads, and coins. Another distinctive regional garment is the
sash (chadarsab), which is a rectangular piece of cloth folded into a triangle and
worn knotted around the waist with the point at the side or back.
At home a woman may wear a scarf (lecek), which covers only the top of the
head. In the eastern part of Gilan these tend to be made of plain black cloth folded
into a triangle. Elsewhere the scarf may be white or a plain, light color. Outside the
home, women normally wear a white shawl (yaylik). It is made from a square of
material folded into a triangle and then knotted or crossed under the chin.
Kurdish Dress
The Iranian Kurds inhabit various parts of western Iran, but they also live
in the northeast of the country. By the end of the 20th century there were three
distinctive dress forms that were worn by both urban and nomadic Kurdish men.
These were based on traditional costumes with some modern adaptations. These
forms were the sal-sepik, the peshmerga, and the rank-o-choukhah. One of the old-
est forms of Kurdish male dress is the sal-sepik, which consists of trousers (rank)
and a V-necked jacket (coga). The best-quality examples are made out of striped
mohair. Since the 1970s the influence of Kurdish refugees from Iraq has led to
a preference for the peshmerga dress. The suit is made up of a matching jacket
(kava) and trousers (pantol) in black or brown, which is worn with a colored sash
(pestand). The turban (pac) in a fringed dark print is normally folded diagonally to
leave a triangle at the back of the head.
The rank-o-choukhah consists of a shirt (keras) with a round neck and either
straight sleeves or, less frequently now, pendant or funnel sleeves (soranis). Over
this is worn a plain, long-sleeved jacket buttoned down the front, in a range of solid
colors such as brown, cream, beige, black, or grey. An unbuttoned (cuka) version
of this garment has an open neckline. The jacket is worn with matching trousers,
which are baggy and gathered at the waist while tapering to the ankles. A long cot-
ton sash (pestand) is normally wrapped tightly around the torso.
Throughout the region the main headgear is based on a variation of a skullcap
(kelaw) with a large cloth used as a turban. The colors and material used for these
turbans can vary, including green for sayyids, white or black for sheiks and mul-
lahs, while burgundy, gray, black, and white are used by other men. Turban cloth
used by ordinary Kurds usually has a small printed design on it, which is often
based on flowers.
There are five basic types of costume worn by urban Kurdish women in west-
ern Iran, namely those from around the cities of Maku/Khoy, Urumia, Mahabad,
Sanandaj, and Kermanshah. The basic outfit of the Jalali women living in and
around Maku consists of trousers (darpe); a long, very full dress (keras); an apron
(mizar); a long-sleeved coat (der); sleeve puffs; and a headdress, which is usually
made up of a single headscarf (dastmal) for an unmarried woman and two or more
scarves for a married woman.
The basic Urumia outfit consists of baggy trousers; a plain, shaped underdress
or petticoat, which reaches to just above the knee; and a dress that is often made
out of sheer material. The dress usually has a gathered waist and long sleeves,
sometimes in a pendant shape. Over this is worn a long-sleeved coat with a wide
scoop front. The sleeves of the dress are usually tied behind the back so that the
woman can more easily work.
Iran | 351
The Mahabad outfit consists of a shift; balloon-shaped trousers (darpe), which

can be up to six yards wide and fitted at the ankles; and finally a long, pleated
dress (keras), which has a hem width of four to five yards. The dress normally has
a round neckline and long sleeves that may terminate in pendants (soranis). These
extended sleeves are normally either wrapped around the wrists or tied behind the
neck. Over the dress is worn a short waistcoat. Finally, a cotton sash (pestand) is
normally wound loosely around the hips. This sash is made from three to six yards
of patterned cloth. The traditional headdress is a low cylindrical cardboard cap
(tas-kelaw) covered with velvet or brocade. The version worn by girls has a chin
chain decorated with coins or more commonly plastic discs. The cap is normally
wrapped in a long triangular shawl (dastmal), which is worn with the points of the
triangle crossed over on the chest and the main point dangling down the back.
Sanandaj female dress is made up of a similar range of garments to those
described previously; however, the garments tend not to be so full or decorative.
The main form of head covering from this region is called a kalagi and consists of a
domed cap decorated with sequins or beads and wrapped with one or two scarves.
Some of the caps are held under the chin with a beaded chain. Until comparatively
recently, all married women used to wear a turban made from numerous scarves
and tasselled lengths of fabric.
Women from the Kermanshah region tend to wear various layers of clothing
including long trousers (soval jafi) under a long, full dress. Over the dress is a
waist-length bodice or waistcoat, which is often in velvet and covered in sequins.
The basic headdress consists of a sequined cap (koter) wrapped with one or several
scarves. The caps worn by younger women and girls are usually decorated with
either sequins or embroidery, while those of older women are normally of plain
velvet or decorated with small black beads.
Eastern Kurdish Dress

In addition to the Kurds living in western Iran there are Kurdish groups living
near the cities of Bojnurd and Quchan in eastern Iran. Until the 1960s there were
elements of traditional male garments such as a shirt of red or white silk, without
a collar and with either a front opening or a slit on the shoulder. It was worn with a
jacket (nivtana, panjak) or an ankle-length overcoat (kot) made of brown or black
lamb’s wool with a wide collar and an opening in front. The headgear included a
tasselled black cap, around which a shawl was wrapped, or an expensive type of hat
made from lambskin (astrakhan). But by the end of the 20th century most of these
garments had virtually vanished, and men, especially the younger ones, were wearing
a mixture of Iranian and Kurdish-style garments or pan-Iranian style clothing with
trousers, belt, and shirt.
The traditional outfit for an eastern Kurdish woman is still worn and consists
of a plain cloth tunic (salita) with long sleeves, the front of which is decorated with
zigzag patterns. Under the tunic is worn a knee-length skirt (tambon) made from
up to 10 yards of cloth. A variety of materials are used for the skirt depending upon
age, status, and clan; for instance, an unmarried girl may wear a velvet skirt deco-
rated with seven colors, while an older woman would wear a plain red skirt. White
socks or stockings are often worn with the skirts. The headdress consists of three
elements: a cloth (bonhani) directly covering the hair; a white shawl (chaharqad)
consisting of a piece of unsewn cloth; and a kerchief (rosari), which is worn on top
of the head over the chaharqad. All married women normally veil their mouths by
pulling part of the white chaharqad across the lower part of their face.
Qashqa‘i Dress
The Qashqa‘i are a Turkic-speaking people settled in the mountains of south-
west Iran. Today, Qashqa‘i men usually wear urban styles of dress (long-sleeved
shirts in dark colors), although they continue to wear the distinctive Qashqa‘i hat
called a dogusi cap (“two-eared”), which is regarded by many as being the quintes-
sential garment that identifies a Qashqa‘i man. The cap is made of orangey beige,
tan, or gray felt and as its name suggests, it has two flaps on either side just above
the ears.
A Qashqa‘i woman’s outfit consists of baggy trousers (shalwar), which are cut
very wide at the top, gathered onto a drawstring at the waist, and tapered to ankle
cuffs. Over these are worn 2 to 12 underskirts (tuman-i zir), again with a cord at
the waist. The greater the number of these skirts, the higher a woman’s social sta-
tus. Over the underskirts is another, more flamboyant skirt (tuman-i rue), which is
usually brightly colored and made from finer materials. Between 2 to 15 yards of
cloth may be used for making each of these skirts. Over the skirts is worn a long
tabard or dress (keynak), which has a high, round neck and long sleeves. These
dresses are slit at the sides from the thigh downward in order to make room for the
various skirts. A waist-length fitted jacket (yal-i arsin fosol), is sometimes worn by
wealthier women at festivals and weddings.
The headgear worn varies according to age, status, and tribal affiliation. The
basic form, however, consists of a small cap (kolahqcha), worn with one or more
diaphanous triangular veils or kerchiefs. These are often made out of net trimmed
with sequins. The veils are fastened under the chin with a brooch or fastener
(asmaliq, chapa) of some kind. Over the veil is worn a band or fillet of chif-
fon, silk, or net (yayliq), which is usually brightly colored. Unmarried women
normally wear their hair outside the veil at the front, while married women tuck
it inside.
Iran | 353
Qashqa‘i women wearing traditional dresses sit in a tent during a wedding ceremony
near Dehpagah, Fars Province, 2006. (Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images)
The same types of clothing are worn on a daily basis and are also worn at wed-
dings and other festivals. Even while on migration, women will wear their splendid
skirts while sitting astride their camel, horse, or donkey.
Shahsavan Dress
The name Shahsavan is given to various tribal groups who mainly live in north-
western Iran. A distinctive and at times spectacular item of men’s clothing is the hat,
with which men express their status within society. The Shahsavan hats are gener-
ally regarded as setting them apart from non-Shahsavan. There are two types. The
official Iranian dress reforms of the 1930s meant that men had to adapt to Western-
style clothing, including Western styles of headgear. As a result, homburg hats (säpo)
became fashionable among the Shahsavan. After World War II, younger Shahsavan
men began to wear the peaked jämsidi-style cap, while older men continued to wear
homburgs. The jämsidi is now regarded by the Shahsavan as a tribal hat.
A woman’s outfit consists of five main elements: a full-length tunic (könek),
a tailored waistcoat (yel, jilitkä), several wide full-length underskirts (dizlik) gath-
ered at the waist, a small skullcap (äräxcin), and two headscarves (yaylik and
käläyagi). The bell-shape appearance of the women’s dress is achieved by wearing
at least two or more full-length underskirts, while on special occasions up to five
skirts may be worn. The waistcoats worn by younger girls tend to be made out of
red material decorated with braids, buttons, and coins. The waistcoats of married
women are normally more somber and are often made out of men’s suiting.
The headdress is one of the most important elements of the dress worn by
a married woman. Its shape, size, color, and complexity are used to denote the
wearer’s status. The basic headdress is created with two scarves, both of which
are made of hand-printed silk. The large scarf (yaylik) is about five feet square
and decorated in a variety of colors. The most common combination for the yay-
lik is white, yellow and oranges patterned with darker colours. The smaller scarf
(käläyagi) is smaller and is normally the darker of the two. It is rolled diagonally
and tied tightly around the large scarf and the skullcap in order to keep them in
place. As a rule, Shahsavan women will partially veil their faces in the presence of
unrelated men. This is done by bringing part of the yaylik across the lower part of
the face covering the nose, mouth, and chin.
Turkmen Dress
The region where the Turkmen live is divided among Afghanistan, Iran, and
Turkmenistan. Traditionally there were considerable differences between the dress
worn by male Turkmen from the various groups living in Iran. This difference,
however, is now virtually nonexistent, as major changes have taken place in men’s
clothing since the mid-20th century. The daily outfit for most men is based on pan-
Iranian–style clothing. On special occasions, however, a more traditional form of
dress is adopted. This consists of a shirt with the front opening coming from the right
shoulder, a long robe or gown (don), and a small, embroidered skullcap (bark). The
cap may be covered by a neat turban, which is made out of a square of cloth folded
diagonally and then wrapped around the head. Another form of headgear associated
with Turkmen is the telpek. This is a large, fluffy cap made from black or white sheep-
skin. It is now mainly worn on special occasions.
The basic dress of a Turkmen woman consists of under trousers (balaq), a
dress (koynak), and a headdress. In addition, some groups also have a face veil
(yasmak), a sash (sal qusaq, bil qusak), an indoor coat of some kind (cabit or
kurte), and for outdoor wear, a second coat (chrypy), which is often worn over the
head. Some Turkmen women wear a broad cloth sash around their indoor coats in
order to keep the garments from opening, especially while they are working.
Various forms of headdresses are worn by married Turkmen women depending
upon which group they belong to and whether it is a day-to-day or more formal
occasion; for the latter they tend to wear an elaborate hat decorated with various
scarves, while on a daily basis the headdress is much simpler.
Iran | 355
At the end of the 20th century, for example, a Yomut woman’s headdress tended
to be based upon a headring (aldarij, alan dangi) covered by a large shawl (yagliq,
yaghg, or cargat), which was folded diagonally in half and then draped over the head
and upper body of the wearer. In contrast, Tekke and Goklan women often wear a
headdress, which is 10 inches high and made up of a cloth (qinyac uci, yasmak)
wrapped around a structured framework. The frame may be made out of a variety
of materials such as rushes, twisted cloth, leather, felt, or cardboard. Sometimes
the cloth is used as a veil to cover the lower part of the face.
One of the main features of the dress of a Turkmen woman used to be her jew-
elry, as it played an important role, namely that of “life insurance” giving financial
security. The jewelry included diadems (ildirqich), tiaras (egmeh), temple pendants
(adamlyk), earrings, necklaces and collars (boqow), collar studs (gol yaqeh, guly-
aqa), armbands and bracelets (bilezikl, bezelik), and finger rings. These are usually
worn en masse and can weigh a considerable amount; a young bride, for instance,
may wear up to 14 pounds (6.35 kg) in silver jewelry during her wedding festivi-
ties. By the end of the 20th century, however, gold jewelry was rapidly replacing
the older silver forms.
Zoroastrian Dress
The Zoroastrians are followers of the main religion across the Iranian Plateau
prior to the introduction of Islam in the seventh century CE. Zoroastrians are fol-
lowers of Zoroaster, who lived, or so we assume, at some point in the early first
millennium BCE. He introduced a monotheistic religion that is based around an
omnipotent god called Ahura Mazda. By the end of the 20th century the Zoroastri-
ans were a minority group concentrated around the city of Yazd.
For centuries Zoroastrian men have been barely indistinguishable from their
Muslim neighbors, and as a result there is no special clothing for them. In contrast,
however, Zoroastrian women have developed and preserved their own distinctive
form of dress. Up to the latter half of the 20th century the basic dress of a Zoro-
astrian woman in Yazd consisted of a pair of baggy trousers (shalwar), a panelled
dress (qamis), and various forms of headgear. By the end of the century, many
women were choosing to wear pan-Iranian garments, and within a short while the
older form of clothing will no longer be regarded as everyday wear, although it
may survive for festival occasions.
The traditional trousers worn by Zoroastrian women are large and baggy, but
women now tend to wear narrow, knee-high trousers that can just be seen below the
hem of the dress. The dress includes a long skirt made out of green/brown or green/
purple panels. The bodice section is usually plain and in a contrasting color to the
skirt sections. The traditional headdress can be quite complex and consists of vari-
ous elements that can be worn together or by themselves, including a small triangle
cap (lacak) with a chin band; a large headcover (maknun) made up of three yards of
cloth placed under the chin and then folded over the head; and finally, in the winter,
a large, diagonally folded shawl (chargat), which is often draped over the top.

Allgrove, Joan. The Qashqa‘i of Iran. Manchester: Whitworth Art Gallery, Univer-
sity of Manchester, 1976.
Andrews, Peter, and Mugul Andrews. The Turcoman of Iran. Kendal: Abbot Hall
Art Gallery, 1971.
Beck, Louise. The Qashqa‘i of Iran. New Haven and London: Yale University
Press, 1986.
Bier, Carol, and Mary Martin. “Pasture and Product.” In Carol Bier, ed. Woven
from the Soul, Spun from the Heart: Textile Arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran 16th–
19th Centuries. Washington, DC: The Textile Museum, 1987, pp. 288–324.
Encyclopaedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/clothing-index. A
long entry by various authors who discuss the history and range of Iranian urban
and regional dress.
Tapper, Richard. Frontier Nomads of Iran: A Political and Social History of the
Shahsevan. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Tapper, Richard, and Jon Thompson, eds. The Nomadic Peoples of Iran. London:
Thames and Hudson, 2002.
Vogelsang-Eastwood, Gillian. “Iranian Regional Dress.” Berg Encyclopedia
of World Dress and Fashion, Vol. 5: Central and Southwest Asia. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2010, pp. 298–307.
Iraq
John A. Shoup

In recent history, Iraq has been much discussed on the world stage as there has
been a continuing war for the past decade. The history of the country is one of great
tradition and it has long been a civilized country, since settled life in cities began
in the fourth millenium BCE. Iraq was part of the Fertile Crescent where large
production of grains such as wheat were first introduced. The Sumerian civiliza-
tion thrived for more than 3,000 years, after which Iraq was alternately occupied
and fought over by many groups including the Anatolians, Amorites, Sumerians,
Assyrians, Hittites, Babylonians, and Mitanni, who all controlled Iraq at some
point in ancient history. The Babylonians assumed control from the Assyrians in
612 BCE with the last Babylonian king (Nabonidus) ending his reign in Iraq in
539 BCE. The Persians conquered Babylon and brought a period of tolerance and
justice, and also ruled Anatolia, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. They allowed people
to return to their lands, including the Jews.
In the 20th century the British army took control of Baghdad in 1916 but were
soundly defeated in the Battle of Gallipoli in that same year. None of this gave the
Arab nationalists much hope, but also in 1916, the Sharif of Makkah, Hussein ibn
‘Ali, felt he had secure promises of British support for an independent Arab state
after the war that he declared the Arab Revolt. The Arabs had equally poor success
in attacks on Madinah, but in 1917, the Arabs were able to take the strategic fort
at al-‘Aqabah in modern Jordan. With strong support by local Bedouins, the Arab
army had more victories at Showbak and Tafilah in Jordan that assisted British
advances in Palestine. The Arab army entered Damascus to find the Arab flag fly-
ing and the Turks gone. British advance troops arrived hours later. With the defeat
of Germany and its allies in 1918, World War I ended.
The British Mandate in Iraq continued until 1932 when independence was
granted by the British. The Iraqi throne remained within the British sphere of influ-
ence and, as a result, more Iraqis saw their own monarchy as merely a tool for
continued British interference in the country. During the height of Pan Arabism of
357
the 1950s, Iraq was not immune to the rise of strong Arab nationalist feelings and
in 1958, in a very bloody coup, the king and his government were overthrown and
many were killed including King Faisal II (ruled 1939–1958).
Iraq’s new republican government was not only Pan Arab, taking on the Pales-
tinian cause, but also anticolonial and anti-British. In 1941, long before the republic,
the Iraqi army staged an anti-British coup and briefly was able to rule the country.
During the period of King Faisal II’s rule, there were eight attempted coups
showing how unhappy many in the army were with the pro-British stance of the
monarchy. Iraq (along with Iran) was drawn into the cold war on the British-Amer-
ican side, and the Iraqi republic withdrew from the Baghdad Pact and established
good relations with the Soviet Union. In 1963, in another coup, the government
was overthrown and another set of generals ruled the country. In 1968, they in
turn were overthrown in a military coup and the Ba‘ath Party came to power with
Ahmad Hasan al-Bakir as the president. In 1979, his cousin, Saddam Hussein, was
able to take over the presidency and the Revolutionary Command Council without
a fight.
Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq until the American-led invasion of 2003. He dealt
with a Kurdish rebellion in the north of the country, and the Kurds were subjected
to renewed Iraqi military offensive between 1975 and 1978; 200,000 Kurds were
deported to other parts of the country.
In 2003, the Americans and British invaded Iraq and in a brief war defeated the
Iraqi army. Baghdad was occupied and Saddam Hussein fled. Kurdish attempts to
separate were defeated in a vote, and in the 2005 constitution the two districts of
Erbil and Sulaymaniyah were unified. Kurds behaved as if the north were a near
separate state since 1992 when the Kurdistan Regional Government was formed
under the tutelage of the American army.
The American occupation of Iraq sparked an internal resistance, which began
in 2003 and intensified in 2004. Resistance groups were not only formed by the
Sunni Arabs, but also the Shi‘ites began to form groups, and among the largest and
most influential were the Shi‘ites loyal to the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Qa’idah
became involved in the Iraqi Sunni insurgency. The American military operations
from 2006 to 2008 helped bring most of Iraq under the Iraqi government’s control.
In 2010, American president Barack Obama began the pullout of American troops,
which was completed in 2011.
Geography
Iraq has a hot, dry climate for the most part and rainfall happens in the winter
months. Rain amounts to around 9.5 inches (250 mm) a year in much of the coun-
try. Much of Iraq is fairly flat with two major rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris,
Iraq | 359
dominating the country. Most of the mountain range lies inside the Iranian border.
The mountainous north is the ancient homeland of the Kurds.
The Euphrates and Tigris nearly come together in Baghdad, but continue their
separate courses until just north of Basrah they join together to make the Shatt al-
‘Arab waterway. The waterway has always been important, but its economic value
increased with the shipping of oil from both Iraqi and Iranian terminals.
North of Basrah is a large marshland that covers 7,700 square miles (20,000
square kilometers). The marshes have existed since ancient times; the Sumerians
called them the Apsu or Eden, where life began. Today, attempts to revitalize the
region have been successful in restoring around 56 percent of the marshes.
Most of western Iraq is true desert and some of the most arid parts of the Syrian
Desert. The Syrian Desert is inhabited by Bedouin Arabs who are mainly Sunni Mus-
lim. Their pastoral patterns bring them into Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.
People and Dress

Iraq is a country with a diverse population in both ethnicities and in religious
communities. The total population of Iraq in 2012 was estimated at 31,129,000.
While a good portion of the Iraqi population has abandoned traditional clothing
for a more standard Western style, some communities, such as the Kurds (who are
mostly Sunni), maintain distinctive dress in order to mark themselves as different
from Arabs, Turkmen, or Persian speakers. Iraq, like other Arab countries, has a
major division between Bedouin (pastoral nomads), village, and urban communi-
ties, each with distinctive aspects of dress. Religion also has helped set certain
types of dress for Armenians and Assyrians (both Christian) and, to a lesser degree,
for Shi‘ites, who are mainly Arabs in Iraq.
Arab Bedouin Men’s Dress

Bedouins are not a large portion of the Iraqi population, but do represent an
important segment of the rural population. Bedouin men wear much the same
types of clothes worn by Bedouin in Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Men wear a
long cotton shirt (thawb or dishdashah in Arabic) reaching to the ankles, usually
made of white cotton in the summers and a colored cotton blend (linen or wool) in
the winter. Wealthy men wear a shirt with color embroidery around the collar and
down the front placket buttons. Underneath the shirt, men wear sirwal or trousers.
Bedouin men prefer those with long, straight legs.
Bedouin men wear a long white or black and white checked headcloth that
is folded into a triangle; the point of the triangle hangs down the back. There are
various names for this headcloth, but it is frequently called a kuffiyah, named for
Bedouin family in southern Iraq, 2005. (Susan Schulman/StockphotoPro)
the Iraqi city of Kuffah where they were first made. The kuffiyah can be wrapped
around the head or held in place by a double rope of goat hair called an ‘aqal. Men
in Iraq like the ‘aqal to be very thick (more so than in other Arab countries). In
more recent times, Iraqi men have begun to wear slightly smaller ones, but similar
to the Bedouin ones worn in Syria, they now are placed more on the crown of head
than around the forehead.
Bedouin men, rural elite, and even urban elite wear a ceremonial robe/cloak
of thin woven camel hair called a bisht or ‘abayyah. The better types have gold
thread embroidery around the neck and partially down the front. Less expensive
ones have cotton thread embroidery. The summer version is lightweight and sheer
but the winter version is made of wool or a wool/cotton blend. The bisht is made
with openings for the hands, but generally the cloak is worn over the shoulders and
the extra cloth brought up off the ground by folding it around the hands and arms
in front. Few, if any, wear it with both hands through the hand openings.
In the winter many Bedouin and rural elite wear a coat with a fleece lining
called a farwa. The farwa (which literally means fur/pelt in Arabic) is made of a
woolen blanket cut to form the coat and then is lined with as many fleece as the
owner can afford, making it very warm to wrap up in on cold, windy winter days.
Some Bedouin and rural elite men wear a short waistcoat or bolero jacket
called a damir. The damir can be very decorative, made of velvet in a number of
Iraq | 361
colors and decorated with gold or silver embroidery (or plain cotton embroidery)
along the cuffs, down the sleeves, and down the front of the jacket.
Bedouin men usually wear a leather belt, which in the 19th century was to be
made with a pistol holster and with a cross-front bandolier for the bullets. In addi-
tion several knives and daggers were placed in the front of the belt. Today these
are as likely to be made of black plastic. Bedouin men usually wore leather sandals
and the type made in Saudi Arabia became very popular. These have a fairly wide
leather top to cover as much of the foot as possible, leaving the tips of the toes and
the heel exposed. Wealthy Bedouin and rural elite preferred to wear soft leather
boots made of finely tanned goat hide with a firm heel and hard leather sole since
they often rode horses and needed a good heel for safety in the stirrup.
Arab Bedouin Women’s Dress

Bedouin women wear dark, mostly black clothes. Bedouin rural and urban
women wear a large, black overcloak when leaving the house, generally called an
‘aba. Unlike the one worn by men, the women’s ‘aba is rarely decorated with metal
embroidery and is usually plain. It is often made today of synthetic fabric, making
it very hot to wear, but in the past, like the bisht worn by men, it was woven of
camel hair and/or wool. The women wear their ‘abayyah over the top of the head,
not draped on the shoulders as the men do, and therefore it is much longer. Bedouin
women are less concerned with the religious fashions of the cities and, should a
woman’s husband not be using his bisht, she may decide to borrow it to wear.
Bedouin women, because they have lots of work to do, rarely veil their faces
as urban and village women do. Instead Bedouin women wear a large, light
(sheer) headcloth often called a shambar. The shambar is worn over the head and
around the neck and held in place by a headband or scarf that can be decorated
with flower prints, paisley prints, or block prints on silk. Unlike in Syria where
Bedouin women make tall points out of the headband cloth, in Iraq the women
tend to keep it all close to the shape of the head. While Bedouin women in Syria
and Jordan frequently wear heavily embroidered dresses, Bedouin women in Iraq
tend to wear plain dresses or ones that are made from cotton prints. Farther north
dresses become more vibrant in color, such as red, and in decoration with rows
of sequins.
Bedouin women belt their dresses with a simple cloth sash wrapped around
the waist with the end folded into the wraps. Some like leather belts and those who
migrate to Syria like a type of belt made by special craftsmen in Damascus that are
plaited and then attached to leather pieces with metal buckles. In the past, various
belts were made for Bedouin and rural women by specialized jewelers who made
belts of silver or other metals decorated with inlaid stones (such as cornelian agate
or turquoise) and glass, with rows of bells or small hands of Fatimah attached to
them. The buckles were large and in the shape of the boteh or a paisley design.
Bedouin women tended to wear simple leather sandals in the past or leather
slip-on shoes made in the villages and in the urban centers where they would shop.
These have been replaced recently by cheap imported shoes that are easy to take
on and off.
Ma’din (Marsh Arabs)

The Marsh Arabs are composed of seven separate tribes all claiming Arab
ancestry, but most who have visited them note the close similarity of their lifestyle
with that depicted in Sumerian art. The Ma’din wear clothes similar to that worn
by the Bedouin and the villagers in southern Iraq. Their clothes, when home made,
look rough and more like sackcloth than the finer cloth worn by Bedouin and most
rural men. It is noted the men may wear very little and when working, strip to
being naked. Men wrap their kuffiyahs around their heads like turbans and mainly
the tribal elite wear the ‘aqal. Due to their work in the marshes and on boats, men
do not frequently wear shoes but sandals are worn to help protect the soles of their
feet from thorns, stickers, or splinters.
Women tend to wear voluminous black cotton dresses rather than ‘abayyah
(worn when visiting villages and towns on the edge of the marsh) and use the
excess amounts of cloth from the sleeves to tie around their heads as a covering.
The large amounts of cloth allows the women to use their dresses as a means to
carry various items including children and work at the same time. Women wear
sandals or leather slippers that can easily be taken on or off when moving from the
outside to the inside of their reed houses. As rural women with a good deal of work
to do, Ma’din women did not veil their faces but used the folds of their dresses to
bring up over their mouths and noses when they felt necessary. Most visitors to
the Marsh Arabs note that the women are more open, free, and have contact with
strange men with much less concern than village and urban women do. Contact
with more conservative Iranians and Iraqis in recent years has not changed Ma’din
customs for those who have chosen to return to the marshes. Those who have
remained in towns and villages as refugees take on the customs and the dress of
the village women.
Kurds
Kurds maintain their traditional dress as a means of self-identification and to
differentiate themselves from others in Iraq. Kurdish men wear long, baggy trou-
sers or shalvar that fit tightly at the ankle; a short, tight jacket over a striped silk
Iraq | 363
shirt; and a cummerbund of print or striped cloth wrapped around and around the
waist. Wealthier Kurdish men have the jacket embroidered in cotton. Kurdish men
wear leather sandals, but more frequently wear soft leather boots. Kurds live where
it is cold and can snow in winter and, like the Bedouin, have a long colorful winter
coat. Kurdish men like to wear kuffiyahs with long, string-like tassels that, when
the cloth is folded into a turban, are allowed to fall freely from the turban’s folds.
Kurds wear the same large black and white checkered kuffiyahs favored by the
Bedouin and urban men in Iraq, except with the long tassels. Men may also wear
more colorful cloth of silk or silk blends woven in Turkey, Syria, or Iran but again,
want those that have long thin tassels.
Kurdish women’s traditional garments are colorful and decorated with sequins,
glass beads, coins, and semiprecious stone beads such as turquoise. Women cover
their dresses, scarves, and hats with beads and sequins. Special holiday dresses are
even more colorful and fully decorated with sewn-on beads rather than embroi-
dered. Women like metal belts, and in the past ones known as lira belts were deco-
rated with gold Turkish lira coins. While Kurdish women cover their hair, they
usually did not veil their faces. They liked, and still like, colorful scarves such
as the silk prints from Aleppo. Some-
times, women place black or white
ostrich feathers in their headbands.
Women wore leather slippers or san-
dals but today these have been mostly
replaced by plastic shoes from China.
Turkmen
The Turkmen tribes in Iraq are
the descendants of the two great con-
federations, the Aq Qonyolu and the
Kara Qonyolu, who once ruled much
of Iraq, eastern Turkey, and western
Iran. They have maintained their lan-
guage and identity despite years of
mixing with Arabs and Kurds. Men’s
dress has maintained a greater differ-
ence than that of the women in that the
men have maintained the large caracul
wool hats of their ancestors. The hats Man wearing typical clothing stands outside
are tall and the fleece hangs in large a house in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, 1995.
loose coils, which move as the person (Nevada Wier/Corbis)
walks. Turkmen men also tend to wear a striped cotton belted jacket (or silk for
special occasions) that is similar to the chapan of Central Asia. In winter, the jacket
may be lined with the fleece of a sheep or the men may wear the sheep’s fleece
coats made in Iran decorated with fine silk or cotton floss embroidery around the
cuffs, the neck, down the front, and around the hem. Turkmen men wear dark trou-
sers of the Turkish style and tall, black leather boots. Because they are horsemen,
the boots have stiff leather soles and tall heels.
Women wear colorful dresses much like those of the Kurds, though not as
decorated with beads, coins, and sequins. Nonetheless, like the Kurdish women,
the Turkmen women like bright colors of blue, orange, red, and yellow. The head
scarf covers their hair and their neck and can be brought up over the nose and
mouth should they be dealing with a strange man. Like most rural women, they do
not wear face veils.
Lurs and Bakhtiar

The Lurs and the related Bakhtiar people are pastoral nomads who move from
the lowlands in the winter to summer pastures in the Zagros Mountains in the sum-
mer. Linguistically, their language is related to Kurdish and, in the years leading
up to the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam Hussein deported to Iran a good number of both
Lurs and Bakhtiaris as “Persians.”
The Bakhtiari men wear distinctive clothes that include a black and white wool
cloak/jacket called a chuqa or chukha and a black felt hat called a kulah namadi
that stands up high on the head. Their dress distinguishes them from both the Lurs
and the Kurds. The jacket is made with no sleeves but does have wide openings
for the arms. It is mainly white with black stripes. The men wear trousers called
shalvar dibit similar to those worn by Kurdish and Lur men and, given the fact they
ride horses, the elite prefer to wear boots with stiff leather soles and heels rather
than sandals. Bakhtiari women wear long dresses that allow for walking and head
scarves that cover their hair and neck, but do not wear face veils. Like many pas-
toral women, the Bakhtiari women are open and have freedom of movement. They
are modest in their dress and today many wear commercially made dresses of print
cottons over which they wear sweaters and coats, given the cold of the mountains.
Women often do not wear boots, but, like many poorer people in the Arab world,
they wear plastic slip-on shoes made in China.
Contemporary Urban Use of Ethnic Dress

Urban men today tend to wear more “Arab” fashions when dressing in tradi-
tional garb. The better known Bedouin long shirt or dishdashah, kuffiyah, ‘aqal,
Iraq | 365
and bisht are worn. However, older urban fashions included dress that can be seen
as part of Persian dress with a long jacket, tight fitting with long, tight sleeves made
of silk, cotton, linen, or blends. The jackets had double rows of buttons or loop frog
buttons and were inspired by Saffavid and Qajar court dress in Iran. Men wore long
trousers to the ankles, often of similar fabric as the jackets, and black or gray felt
hats that fitted to the head but were tall and had a fold down the center. The hat
lasted well into the 20th century and was worn with three-piece Western suits as
well as more traditional clothes. Men also wore tightly bound turbans in fabrics
matching their jackets. Urban men tended to wear high leather boots that again
were similar to those worn by Persian courtiers. Leather slippers, wooden clogs,
and sandals were more for inside wear or for the urban poor.
Modern women also wear the large, black outer cloak or ‘aba or ‘abayyah as a
modesty garment. The quality of the cloth used to make the ‘abayyah differs from
expensive fine wool for winter to costly imported silk, but many today are made
with synthetic cloth like rayon that look like silk. Iraqi urban women also wear a
large black headcloth called an asha. They wear a separate face veil called a futa
attached at the back of the head that covers the nose, mouth, and chin. Women usu-
ally do not wear the ‘abayyah or the asha while in the house.
Iraqi women add small things to the modesty garments that are hardly notice-
able to men, but are well known to other women. In order to make it easy to iden-
tify women (without being able to see their faces), women will sometimes fold
the fabric, or wrap excess cloth differently, or some will add small bits of silver or
gold jewelry such as pins, allowing a degree of individuality in the conformity of
modest Islamic dress.
Most Iraqi urban women wear colorful cotton in summer and flannel in winter.
The dresses for everyday wear are not embroidered and women may wear knitted
sweaters or short, tight jackets in the winter. Underneath the dress, women wear
sirwal or trousers but, unlike those for men, these are embroidered.
Dress for Special Occasions

For special holidays and celebrations, women wear a massive, gauzy dress
called a hashmiyah similar to holiday dresses in the Gulf States. The hashmiyah
can be embroidered around the neck, around the wrists, and down a front panel
with metal thread and even with rhinestones set into the decoration. When wearing
the hashmiyah, women often do not cover their hair, but allow it to flow freely and
toss it side to side while dancing. They hold the massive dress to the sides or pick
it up with both hands in front to keep from stepping on it while dancing.
Urban women used to wear either wooden clogs or leather slippers both in the
house and when going outside. Both are still found in the market and the wooden
clogs (called qubqab from the sound they make when the wearer is walking in
them) are a favorite for walking around in the bath house or hammam. Today,
cheap plastic shoes from China have replaced the leather slippers. Those women
who can afford it buy fashionable leather high heels, which now seems to go with
the expansive hashmiyah dresses.
Resources and Further Reading

Dickson, H. R. P. The Arab of the Desert (3rd ed.). London: George Allen and
Unwin, 1983.
Fernea, Elizabeth Warnock. Guests of the Sheikh: Ethnography of an Iraqi Village.
New York: Anchor, 1995.
Jabbur, Jabrail. The Bedouins of the Desert, translated by Lawrence I. Conrad.
Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995.
Maxwell, Gavin. A Reed Shaken by the Wind: Travels Among the Marsh Arabs of
Iraq. London: Eland Books, 2004.
Roaf, Michael. Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East. New
York: Equinox Books, 1990.
Weir, Shelagh. The Bedouin. London: British Museum Publications, 1990.
Weis, Walter, and Kurt-Michael Westerman. The Bazaar: Markets and Merchants
of the Islamic World. London: Thames and Hudson, 1998.
Israel
Jill Condra

Although the idea of an independent Jewish state has been around for 3,000 years,
it was not until 1948 that the parliamentary republic of Israel was established. In
1947 the United Nations’ partitioning of Palestine declared Israel independent of
British rule. It is the smallest of the Middle Eastern countries and is bordered by
the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the Gulf of Aqaba to the south, and is bordered
by Egypt, Jordan, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip. The borders
of this country have been the subject of much discussion and disagreement since
its establishment, and several wars have been fought in an effort to fairly divide
this territory. To date, any efforts led by Western nations, such as the United States,
have resulted in no resolution to the conflict and peace has not yet been established
in the region.
The capital of Israel is Jerusalem, but the industrial center is Tel-Aviv and
the commercial and trade center is Haifa. Generally, within these cities, Jews and
Arabs live separately in different neighborhoods and rarely mix. Israel is home
to diverse geography with dry deserts and inland seas (e.g., the Dead Sea). The
climate is largely subtropical but temperatures can vary greatly depending on the
region of the country. Coastal weather is quite different from the inland dry deserts.
Agriculture is practiced in two ways in Israel: the corporate farm and the kibbutz,
a collective settlement of farmers sharing the work and profits. Farms produce
a wide range of food products including fruit, vegetables, dairy, and livestock.
Industrially, Israel is known for its production of electronics, chemical fertilizers,
textiles, and for finishing (cutting and polishing) raw imported diamonds for the
world market.
The population is approximately 7.5 million people of which 75.6 percent
identify themselves as Jewish (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012). Of the more
than 1 million non-Jews, many different religions are represented including Mus-
lim, Christian, Druze, and others. Israel is a nation made up of immigrants from
all regions of the world. After World War II, Jews from all over Europe, many
367
of whom had suffered through the Holocaust, found their way to Israel to set-
tle among people who would not persecute them for their religion. Jews from
Africa, Asia, and America have all immigrated to the Jewish state, making for a
population unified by religion, if not by culture. Of the Arabs who populate Israel
most are Muslim, with around 10 percent being Christians. Israel is also histori-
cally closely tied to the Christian tradition, with locations of great significance
to Christians, such as Jerusalem, and so many very devoted Christians also call
Israel home. For the most part, Arab Israelis live in the rural settlements while
Jews live in more urban settings. Though there is a wide range of devotion to the
predominant religion, most Israelis would identify themselves as non-Orthodox.
The Orthodox Jews are conservative, have larger families, and are strict about
their practice of their faith. Women must cover their hair and only wear skirts
(no trousers), and men and women worship on separate sides of the synagogue.
Reform Jews are socially different from the Orthodox in that they attempt to sepa-
rate their national identity and their religious identity. In both the conservative
movement and the reform movement, women can become rabbis, and genders
are integrated. Non-Orthodox Jews have smaller families and are more Western
oriented, embracing social diversity and modern ways of doing business and liv-
ing their lives.
People and Dress
Jewish Traditional Dress

The people known in ancient times as Israelites wore the simlah, a cloak, and a
tunic with sleeves called a kethoneth under which they wore a loincloth called the
exor. Men wore a headwrap with tassels called tzitzit on four corners to remind the
wearer to be faithful and follow the commandments. The modern striped prayer
shawl made of wool or silk (never blended together) incorporates the tassels of the
ancient garments.
As in many new countries and especially those largely made up of immigrant
populations, identifying a particular style or method of dress is a real challenge.
Looking at the people who make up the state of Israel, we see that dress from all
over the world is represented. Russian Jews brought with them the particular styles
worn in that country, while Moroccan Jews brought a completely different style
of dress heavily influenced by styles of North Africa. Israel is constantly trying to
identify its culture, which is an ever-changing entity that is difficult to describe. Is
the culture identified as simply Jewish? This is not possible because even within
the Jewish faith, depending on the sect of Judaism, the clothing and religious gar-
ments will be quite different.
Israel | 369
Component Parts
There are certain pieces of clothing that are worn by many, often for reli-
gious ceremonies, and these can be defined as particularly Jewish. Ritual dress
may not, however, be specifically identified as Israeli. The tallit, for example,
is a prayer shawl. It is worn by men when they pray, draped over the shoulders,
and is usually white with blue stripes. Religious men and boys wear the kip-
pah or yarmulke, or skullcap, on the backs of their heads as a sign of modesty
before God.
Chassidic (Orthodox) Jewish men are quite distinct in their dress and are easily
identified on the streets of Israel and in other countries. These ultra-Orthodox Jews
are known to reject most modern ways and believe strongly in modesty. Men have
very full beards, not tapered or rounded at the side, and short hair except for the
peyos, long curls that fall down the sides of the head over the ears. Chassidic men
must cover their heads and wear tall black hats with wide brims, long black coats,
white shirts, and often wear small prayer shawls known as tallit katan. These men
also wear a black hat made of fur (shtreimel) on Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath). The
tefillin is a small leather box worn on the forehead of young boys and men. It con-
tains passages from the Torah.
Orthodox women are also espe-
cially conservative in their dress. Upon
marriage, women shave their heads or
cover their hair with scarves or wigs,
called sheitels, as a symbol of their
faith and their place within society.
Showing hair is considered immodest.
Women wear long skirts and clothing
that covers their bodies, such as shirts
that cover their arms to the elbow. For
the most part conservative women do
not wear clothing that is at all reveal-
ing or ornately decorated.
Historically Jews have often been
required to wear symbols that differ-
entiate them from non-Jews, due to
persecution from Christian societies,
such as wearing armbands (in medi-
eval Europe) or distinct hats, or would Jewish man wearing tallit katan and tefillin
have had to wear their robes tied with in prayer at the Western Wall in Jerusalem,
ropes around the waist. Israel, 2011. (Dreamstime.com)
In the 19th and 20th centuries

Middle Eastern and Eastern European
Jews may have appeared to wear cloth-
ing that was similar to non-Jewish
dress, but there are details that made
it uniquely Jewish. Jewish women in
Yemen had embroidery that was black.
Men had sidelocks and hats with
checkered cloth shawls. Jewish Moroc-
can women wore the Muslim dress but
with a smaller veil covering their faces.
Solid black caftans were worn by Jew-
ish men in Slavic countries along with
Sabbath suits of black satin, not wool.
Traditional Jewish people wore
natural fibers such as cotton, linen,
silk, and wool, but never mixed the
fibers in one fabric. In the 19th and
20th centuries, men wore plain knee-
length tunics in cream or blue, a long
Ultra Orthodox family during Purim in Mea
coat, a jacket or vest, pants, belt/sash,
Shearim, Jerusalem, 2012. (Kobby Dagan/
Dreamstime.com) and head covering. For warmth, outer-
wear may have been a sheepskin jacket
and a sleeveless cloak draped over the shoulders. During the British Mandate in the
mid-20th century, men wore European-style suits including jackets and overcoats
to replace older, more traditional styles. Whether a man lived in a rural area or city
dictated how much traditional dress he continued to wear. Urban men adopted more
of the Western style of dress, and rural men largely adopted new styles and mixed
them with traditional dress. The Druze men wore long black robes and white tur-
bans, and men in the villages wore the qumbaz. Bedouin men, on the other hand,
wore the thob tunic and the abayeh cloak.
Modern Israeli Use of Traditional Dress

Modern Israeli dress is like dress in most other countries, where the young
wear jeans and T-shirts, but it is still possible to see all kinds of other traditional
dress worn by various groups. Muslim Palestinian and Bedouin women wear tra-
ditional thobs and veil their faces. Armenian men of religious orders wear long
cassocks and tall hats all in black, and traditional Muslim women might show only
their eyes and cover themselves completely in a black abayeh.
Israel | 371
As in many countries traditional dress is often saved for special occasions or

festivals. In Israel the costumes of the many different peoples are worn on special
days such as the Mimouna holiday for the Moroccans when they wear their dis-
tinct caftans, or at weddings when brides of different cultures wear the traditional
clothing of centuries past. Palestinians will wear ethnic dress for the holidays of
Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha. Orthodox Jews are the most loyal to wearing their
traditional dress every day.

Central Intelligence Agency, 2012.
The Israel Museum. http://www.imj.org.il/eng/judaica/index.html. (Pictures of tra-
ditional costumes.) 2012.
Leibowitz, Yeshayahu. Judaism, Human Values, and the Jewish State. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1995.
Rubens, Alfred. A History of Jewish Costume, rev. and enl. ed. London: Peter
Owen, 1981.
Italy
Sara M. Harvey
The country of Italy is a boot-shaped peninsula situated in the Mediterranean Sea. It
borders France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia. Neighboring countries include
Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Greece, Libya, and Tunisia. Italy is
divided into 20 regions, called regióni in Italian. Although these regions have their
own cultural flavor, they are ethnically and religiously similar. Non-Italian minor-
ity groups are a small population in Italy and comprise mostly German, French,
Slovene, and Albanian Italians. The majority religion is Roman Catholic, but all
religious faiths are provided equal protection under Italian law. Italy is known for
its exports of olives and olive oil, durum wheat and pasta, and red wine. Art is
possibly the most important contribution to world culture. Italy was the birthplace
of the Renaissance and is still the home of some of the world’s most famous and
recognizable works of art and architecture.
Italy was originally inhabited by the Etruscans throughout the northern and
central peninsula and was settled in the southern regions by Greeks in the seventh
and eighth centuries BCE. Its name was thought to come from the Greek word
Italoi, which meant veal or calf, possibly alluding to the cattle raised in the south-
ern areas. The Roman republic emerged in about 500 BCE and was superseded by
imperial Rome in the first century BCE. Imperial Rome united the Italian peninsula
for the first time, but after its collapse, the individual regions became autonomous
once more. The various kingdoms, principalities, and regions were often at odds
with each other and outside forces. Central Italy, the area immediately surrounding
Rome, was fairly stable and under the rule of the Pope and the Roman Catholic
Church. Warfare was common through the 11th century, but commercial success in
the north and central parts of Italy led to an increase in trade and communication
among the disparate regions.
With the beginnings of the Renaissance, Italy became more ideologically
united, but remained a country made up of fiercely independent regions. This gave
rise to a ruling class of merchants and burghers that controlled many of the major
372
Italy | 373
cities of Italy—Milan, Genoa, Venice, Florence, and Pisa—making them autono-

mous city-states called comuni. Residents of these city-states identified strongly
with them instead of with the region or country as a whole. Through the Renais-
sance and into the 16th century, the various regions of Italy reached an accord
of peace among them and the idea of Italian unity began to cross the minds of
the country’s citizenry. This was mainly due to the large amount of foreign influ-
ence over Italy throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Italy fell under the control
of Spain, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and finally Austria. By the 19th cen-
tury, the idea of Italian nationalism was very popular and a war for independence
was brewing. Known as the Risorgimento, the fight for a unified and independent
nation of Italy became paramount. Several small and unsuccessful rebellions broke
out in the 1820s, but it was not until the 1850s that any real success was realized.
In 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was declared king of Italy. The nation at first did not
include Venice or Rome, but these two powerful city-states were finally brought
into the union, Venice in 1866 and Rome in 1870. Rome was declared the capital
of Italy in 1871.
From 1870 until 1922, Italy was a constitutional monarchy with a parlia-
ment elected by limited suffrage. During the first World War, Italy sided with the
Allies, abandoning former alliances with Germany and Austria-Hungary. In 1919,
with unemployment at record highs, the populace, desperate for change, elected a
Socialist government. Benito Mussolini, a Socialist revolutionary, gathered a great
deal of political and popular support behind him. He called his new political move-
ment Fascismo. The word came from the Italian term fascio, which meant “union,”
and was based on the Latin word fasces, which was a weapon fashioned from an
axe tied into a bundle of rods to give strength to the haft. In 1922, Mussolini and
his army marched into Rome and King Victor Emmanuel III named him prime
minister. By 1926, Mussolini had assumed total power and had become the dicta-
tor of Italy. He established the Rome-Berlin Axis with Adolf Hitler in 1936 and
assisted Francisco Franco in becoming the dictator of Spain, spreading Fascism
across Europe. Italy entered World War II in June 1940. Mussolini’s supporters
turned on him early in the war and the Allies were able to sweep through most of
the country. Mussolini was captured and executed in April 1945.
In 1946, Italians voted to abolish the monarchy entirely and create a republic
with a new constitution. Through the postwar era, Italy enjoyed prosperity. In the
late 1970s through the 1980s, Italy was once more the scene of political unrest. Cor-
ruption, scandal, and organized crime brought a great deal of unrest to the country
as a whole. The government was reorganized in the 1990s, which allowed for more
accurate regional representation in elections. In 1984, the Catholic Church was
declared to be no longer considered Italy’s official state religion, although Vatican
City has remained a sovereign and independent region within Rome.
At the start of the 21st century, Italy’s political party structure was still under-
going many changes and restructuring with some parties merging with others
and other parties disappearing entirely. As in Greece, Spain, and other European
nations, the economy was struggling badly, with many out of work. The political
climate was center-right at this time. Italy is very involved on the world political
stage and an active member of the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN),
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the Group of Eight (G-8). The
population in 2012 was more than 61 million people.

Italy is a Mediterranean country with generally mild and pleasant weather. In the
south, the summers are hotter and more humid and the winters less severe. In the
north, especially in and around the Alps, the winters are longer and snowy and
summers are generally cooler than in the south. The large amounts of coastline
allow for refreshing ocean breezes and are popular tourist destinations for locals
and tourists alike.
The Italian climate is suitable for growing a variety of crops; unfortunately
the geography is not so accommodating. The Italian peninsula is primarily rugged,
rocky terrain. The northern and north central areas have more open spaces and
farmers raise a wide variety of crops including soybeans, sugarbeets, and assorted
grains. Most cattle farming for meat and dairy is done in the north as well. The
southern and south central areas concentrate more on fruits like citrus, grapes, and
vegetables such as olives and tomatoes. Durum wheat, used for making pasta, is
also primarily grown in the southern half of the country. Much of the country’s
wine comes from the central and southern regions of Italy where the warmer, Med-
iterranean climates offer a longer, warmer growing season that can produce better
quality, more flavorful grapes. A large portion of the population works in agricul-
ture. Most farms are fairly small and are still run as family-owned businesses.
In addition to agriculture, fishing is also a major part of the economy. With a
vast coastline and access to several different oceans, fishermen catch various kinds
of fish, as well as mussels, clams, crab, and other seafood. Aquaculture also repre-
sents a large portion of Italy’s exports.
Italy is well known for its fine-quality textiles and leather goods. Italian leather
is still considered to be some of the finest in the world and in the medieval period,
Italy had cornered the market in silk production and trade. By the 13th century,
Venetian merchants were importing silk to be traded to the rest of Europe. Although
the Roman Empire had a great deal of interest in silk and traded for it often, it would
not be for several hundred more years that sericulture would become a staple of the
Italian economy. Italy was the terminal point of the Silk Road, an overland trade
Italy | 375
route that connected China, India, and the Middle East, and it became the European
gateway to the East, importing not only silk, but tea, spices, jewels, and dyestuffs.
Italy became a well-known exporter not only of whole goods received from the
East, but of its own creations made from raw materials. Since mulberry trees grew
well in the Italian climate, silk eggs were imported and Italy began its own sericul-
ture, which allowed better control over the quantity and the quality of the silk.
Fibers indigenous to Italy include wool and linen. Italians have bred sheep for
fine wool since the time of the Roman Empire. In fact, the Roman togas were made
from wool. The finest wool used in apparel today comes from the Merino sheep,
which had originated in the pastures around Rome and was brought into Spain
from Italy. During the imperial Roman era, Tarentum, now modern-day Taranto,
was known for having the best-quality wool of Italy and produced wool cloth to
make togas and fine clothes for the aristocracy. Both sheep and goats can be raised
throughout the country and are used not only for wool, but for their dairy, meat,
and leather products as well.
The flax plant, used to make linen cloth, grows well in Italy’s mild climate and
Italy is a top producer of fine linen products. The Italian skill in dyeing and finish-
ing fabrics was not confined to silk, but was used in linen production as well, yield-
ing rich and vivid colors in linen that were unrivaled anywhere else in the world.
People and Dress

Although Italy’s traditional costume styles are as diverse at its population, there
are distinct cultural ties throughout the country. While everyday wearing of folk
dress has all but vanished since World War II, Italians are passionate about keeping
their clothing traditions alive. Religious and cultural festivals still bring people out
in their full skirts, detailed aprons, and elaborate hairstyles. Although the modern
world takes precedence over the clothing choices for day-to-day life, and clothes
are not as closely linked to wealth and status as they once were, Italians make
sure to maintain those ties to the old days and the tradition of some of the finest in
indigenous costume in all of Europe.
Dress in Northern Italy

In northern Italy, the boundaries between countries have always been rather
fluid. People in the Italian Alps wore clothing almost indistinguishable from that
of their Austrian neighbors. The area of Tyrol was actually in dispute between
Austria and Italy, and the common culture is evident only in these border regions.
In the northern regióni, in traditional styles of dress, women wear full skirts over
petticoats with a tightly fitted, sleeveless bodice. Popular skirt colors are black,
plum, and red. The skirts can be gathered or pleated to the waistband and often are
made with horizontal tucks at the hemline to make the skirt the correct length for
the wearer. Size flexibility is important as these skirts are typically passed down
from mother to daughter. Skirts were originally made from wool, but today are
made from cotton, synthetics, or blends.
Aprons are also an important article of the ensemble and are made in blue,
plum, or red to match or contrast with the color of the skirt. Aprons are tradition-
ally made from linen and would be worn plain or embroidered at the edges.
Bodices are typically a dark-colored wool or velvet, usually black, but also
deep red or green, cut low across the chest and laced with colorful laces over a
front stomacher panel. The stomacher is often red or of a contrasting color and
can be embroidered. Floral designs are the most popular embroidery motifs used
in northern Italy, just as they are in the Alpine regions of Austria and Switzerland.
Contrasting edging or metallic braid are two other popular trimmings for bodices
in this region. In the Val d’Aosta region, which lies on Italy’s northwestern border
with France, the bodice is replaced by a long-sleeved, snug-fitting jacket made of
black or blue velvet and decorated with an inserted panel embroidered with gold
thread. In general, the look in this area is less Alpine and more French.
The blouses favored by women in this area are very influenced by Alpine
dress. Almost exclusively white, the blouses have a high, frilled collar and very full
sleeves. The construction of the blouse is reminiscent of the German halsband or
halsmantel blouse, which is made with a deep, square yoke at the front. This yoke
area can be left plain or it can be trimmed with braid or filled with embroidery.
Women accessorize this blouse with a black velvet ribbon crossed over the throat
and secured with a pin or brooch, or with a neckerchief worn crossed over the
chest with the points fastened under the arms. Both of these styles are derived from
Austria. Another popular accessory in the north of Italy is a set of long, trailing
ribbons worn by young, unmarried women. These ribbons are typically gifts from
their paramours and are worn tied around the waist with the long ends left hanging.
Headwear throughout the northern region has many similar features. Women
adorn their hair with flowers and ribbons throughout the area. Silver and gold
hairpins are also popular as well, especially for weddings and festivals. In Pied-
mont and Trentino Alto Adige, northern border regions, silver hairpins used to be
preferred, but have been supplanted by fresh flowers. But in Lombardy and Val
d’Aosta, hair is coiled up into a bun and silver and gold hairpins are still worn. In
Lombardy, whose principal city is Milan, the hairpins are extraordinary. They are
long with filigreed ends and worn in such a way as to create a circular halo effect
around the head. Hats across the region vary in shape and style. In many areas,
no hat is worn with the traditional costume, but in others they are an option for
Italy | 377
Young adults dressed in national costume, Tyrol region of northern Italy, c. 1951.
(Volkmar K. Wentzel/National Geographic Society/Corbis)
women. In the areas bordering France, women tend to wear a bonnet of stiffened
lace, usually gold or white and decorated with flowers and ribbons. Elsewhere, the
very Alpine-inspired black felt hat is popular. These hats are traditionally worn
with a deep green hatband and a silver buckle and can have other flourishes such
as flowers or feathers.
Shoes for women are simple and sensible and often boot- or clog-like, made of
black or brown leather. Stockings are hand-knit from white cotton, but occasion-
ally red stockings are worn.
The traditional Easter costume for young girls in Val d’Isarco is unique. Val
d’Isarco is in the Dolomites, an area of the Italian/Austrian border in Southern
Tyrol. The girls wear a full black skirt with a large, white lace apron that ties in the
front with a pink ribbon. The bodice is traditionally red with a green edging and
laced closed over a contrasting stomacher. The blouse is modeled after the German
halsband and features a small, frilled standing collar and deeper frilling on the
yoke. This ensemble is worn with white knit stockings and black shoes with silver
buckles. In Venice, traditional costumes for the celebration of Shrove Tuesday, the
last day before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, are especially spectacular. Called
carnevale, it literally translates into “good-bye to meat” since observant Catholics
forgo eating meat on Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent and some do not eat it at all
throughout the 40 days. Masks are very popular for carnevale since the celebra-
tions can get very risqué.
The traditional dress for men in the north of Italy is also very much like that
of their Austrian and Swiss neighbors. In the Italian Alps, men wear black leather
breeches or shorts with broad suspenders that are usually embroidered with floral
motifs. Their shirts are of white linen and worn under a red or black waistcoat and
a red or black wool jacket. Jackets can also be made of velvet for more formal
occasions. Stockings are primarily white and worn with black or brown sturdy low
boots or leather clogs.
The traditional headwear of the northern border regions is also very reflective
of the Alpine influence, and the felt hats Italian men wear are much like those of
their Austrian counterparts. Black felt hats are usually worn with a red or black
hatband and decorated with the feathers of birds found in the mountains, includ-
ing striking white feathers that can be two to four inches in length. These hats also
feature a tassel at the back much like the hats men wear in Austria. Elsewhere in
the northern regióni, men prefer green felt hats that are decorated with flowers in
the spring and summer and in the fall and winter are worn with woolen balls that
dangle from the left side. In South Tyrol, just across the Austrian border, men deco-
rate their hats with cords wound around the hatband. Red cords are for unmarried
men and red and green together symbolize a newlywed. When a man becomes a
father, for a traditional hat, he wears only green cords and will continue to wear
green cords for the rest of his life.
A popular accessory for young men is a long handkerchief that is used in
several traditional dances. Men wear them tucked into their waistbands or tossed
over one shoulder. Another decorative element seen on young men of the north
is the companion trinkets to the colorful ribbons the young women wear. If a
couple is engaged, the man will wear ribbons that match his fiancée’s pinned to
his lapel.
Away from the border areas long black trousers are worn instead of shorts or
breeches. Waistcoats can be of wool or velvet and are made in a variety of colors
and designs. The waistcoats are single-breasted and gold or silver buttons are very
popular. Plain buttons are also used, but men like to match the buttons of their
waistcoats to the buttons on their trousers. A brightly colored silk or cotton sash
is wound around the waist. In the northerly areas the ends of the sash are worn
tucked into the trousers; in the southern areas of the region the ends are left to hang
loose. Shirts here are also white linen and long-sleeved. They can be made with or
without a collar and usually have an opening at the neck.
Italy | 379
Dress in Central Italy

Central Italy has the widest variety of traditional dress in the country. As the
geography and climate change, so does the manner of dress. The traditional styles
here are what most people think of as “Italian,” especially in Latium, the region of
Rome, on the central west coast of the peninsula. Skirts are worn long and made
of homespun black linen or wool; red skirts are worn for festivals. Blue is also a
popular color in some regions. In some areas, the skirts are very somber in color
but beneath them are worn brightly colored and patterned petticoats. Hems of the
skirts are decorated with bands of contrasting fabric or with embroidery. The skirt
is paired with a wide apron in blue, brown, or white cotton. An apron of floral bro-
cade on a white ground is used with festival or more formal attire. For major festi-
vals, such as Pentecost, aprons embroidered with traditional or heraldic designs are
worn. Blouses are worn with full sleeves and are generally made of a white, black,
or neutral color of linen or a linen-wool blend. Black leather slippers called cio-
cie are ubiquitous across central and southern Italy. Ciocie are very simple shoes
that date back to antiquity. They fit the foot snugly and are tied in place across the
instep, or in some variations at the ankle or up the leg.
One distinguishing feature of central Italian traditional clothing is the head-
dress. The tovaglia is worn throughout central Italy, but each region puts its own
local flavor into how it is styled. In its most basic form, the tovaglia is a pastoral
headdress of starched linen that is folded over the top of the head. It was origi-
nally designed to protect the head and neck from the sun and is still occasionally
seen in the current, everyday dress of farmers. In Latium, the white linen is usu-
ally scalloped or edged in lace. The material is usually embroidered in whitework
over the entire piece. For festival occasions, women might wear a second, colorful
tovaglia on top of the white one, leaving the decorative scalloped edges to show
from underneath. Women of Latium wear their tovaglia pinned to the head with
decorative hairpins. Unmarried women use silver hairpins, while married women
use gold. The silver hairpins are usually passed down from mother to daughter
while the gold pins are a wedding gift or included as part of a bride’s trousseau. In
neighboring Abruzzi, which has its coastline on Italy’s east side, a lightly starched
lace or linen scarf is first draped over the head and then the stiffer tovaglia is folded
over the top. In the southern portions of Abruzzi, in Mascione and in Sulmona, it is
just the opposite with a draped cloth called a fasciatrella worn over top of the stiff
tovaglia. Women of Mascione prefer a green fasciatrella while those in Sulmona
wear red trimmed in fringe. This cloth can be worn very long to the waist or folded
up. In the Marches, which is on the east coast directly north of Abruzzi, the white
linen is folded into three parts facing the back of the head. In Campania, just south
of Latium on the west coast of Italy and straddling the central and southern areas,
Parents, a married woman, and an engaged woman in the costume of Baranello, central
Italy, c. 1900. (Alinari Archives/Corbis)
the color of the headdress has meaning: red for unmarried women, green for mar-
ried, and black for widows.
There are some unique and unusual styles of traditional dress found in central
Italy as well. In parts of Abruzzi and its close neighbor, Molise, the bodice is made
with sleeves that tie in, but that show large portions of the blouse worn beneath, a
style reflective of the sleeves worn during the 15th and 16th centuries. Tradition-
ally the bodice is black or red velvet and form fitting, cut low across the chest. The
tied-in sleeves will leave a gap of five to six inches (12.5–15 cm) between the top
of the sleeve and the shoulder. The blouse sleeves are extremely full, often pleated
or tiered, and worn fluffed out over the top of the bodice sleeve with the frilled cuff
visible at the bottom. A lace shawl or sheer fichu is usually worn tucked into the
Italy | 381
top of the very low-cut bodice. Areas within Abruzzi have resisted change and tra-
ditional dress lingered on as everyday attire far into the 20th century in the towns
of l’Aquila and Scanno. L’Aquila has always been known for its lace-making and
dedication to the handicraft is still seen there today. The areas surrounding the city
were isolated for a very long time and the folk dress found in these outlying areas is
considered to be the most authentic of Italy. In Scanno, the full blouses are always
made in black and older women often wear it with a black skirt as well. Younger
women might wear skirts of brighter colors, but the blouses are always black. In
Scanno, the most popular form of hairdressing is to braid the hair, then wrap the
braid in ribbons and arrange it on top of the head. On top was worn a series of
folded black scarves. Widows would drape additional black scarves around their
chins and throats. But one of the most unique items of dress in all of Italy is part
of the Scanno bridal regalia. Brides wear a headdress of blue and white that bears
a very Asian inspiration. This type of headdress is not seen anywhere else in Italy
and probably entered the city in centuries past through trade with Byzantium.
Men’s traditional dress in central Italy is very much like that of the lower areas
of the northern region. But instead of trousers, men wear breeches of wool or vel-
veteen that come in black, olive, green, or various shades of brown. The breeches
can have a relaxed fit or be very tight to the body. They usually reach to the knee
and are fastened there by two or three gold or silver buttons or a colorful garter.
As in the north, men of central Italy prefer a colorful, single-breasted waistcoat
made in velvet, wool, or brocade that closes with buttons that match those on the
breeches. Shoes are soft and moccasin-like and tie at the ankle with straps.
While festival dress is the most colorful, color is important throughout the cen-
tral area. In Mascione, in Abruzzi, the bridegroom wears a brightly colored jacket
made from silk or wool with traditional purple trousers. In the mountains of Cam-
pania, the shepherds are also known for their bright-colored stockings and black
felt hats with flourishes of mountain flowers and feathers. These shepherds also
wear thick wool cloaks in the cold and wet seasons and use large cotton umbrellas
to shield themselves from the sun.
Dress in Southern Italy

Southern Italy has the mildest weather of the entire country with a small land
area and many bays and inlets. Silk and cotton are used more often than linen and
wool to help the residents stay cool and comfortable. Calabria, in the “toe” of Italy,
has had a long and well-established silk industry and produces some of Italy’s fin-
est silk brocades, patterned silks, and silk ribbons.
Women of the south have the same tastes in colors as do women throughout
Italy: black and red are favored. But the south has a reputation for having the most
colorful and some of the most costly traditional costumes in the country. Calabria,
Apulia, and Basilicata form the toe and heel on the southernmost portion of the
peninsula and women in all three regióni wear brightly colored pleated silk skirts.
The pleats are set into the skirt fabric while it is still damp and create a very crisp
appearance. Over time, these pleats become nearly permanent. The skirts usually
have some sort of border or trim along the bottom for added interest and in all
three areas two contrasting skirts are usually worn at once. The top skirt is folded
back, tucked up onto the hips, or carried draped over the arm to reveal the under-
skirt beneath.
The colorful skirts are paired with vivid, high-waisted jackets. The jackets and
skirts are often paired in traditional color combinations: a dark blue jacket with a
red skirt, a light blue jacket with a yellow skirt, a pink jacket with a blue skirt, and
a green jacket with a brown skirt, although other color combinations are possible.
Aprons are made in a variety of colors from very dark in some regions to so sheer
that the color of the skirt may be seen through it. Aprons are generally decorated
with embroidery depicting heraldry or flowers and are often trimmed with lace.
Bodices are usually made from silk-velvet and are very tight fitting. Again,
black and red are very popular colors for bodices. Ribbons are a very important
accessory for women who wear them in their hair, use them to tie up their bodices,
and wrap them around their waists as belts leaving the long trailing ends to dangle.
Stockings are usually white and worn with simple black leather or silk slippers
with a small heel. Hats are small and more understated, often a circle of pleated
silk or a small cap draped with fabric and ribbons.
The Tarantella dance is very popular in the south and has its own version of the
traditional costume. Female dancers wear a sleeveless black or red velvet bodice
that is low-cut. Bodices are often laced with a brightly colored ribbon that may
match or contrast with the skirt. The blouses are always white and have small,
puffed sleeves and a wide neckline with a frill. The silk or cotton skirts are very full
and fairly short, coming to just below the knee, and worn with several cotton pet-
ticoats. Favorite colors of Tarantella dancing skirts are red, green, blue, and black.
The apron worn with this costume is small and either sheer or of lace. The idea is
to be able to let the color of the skirt show through. The shoes are always black
and resemble the shoes of the region. They are simple, flexible, and lightweight as
the steps of the dance require nimble footwork. Sometimes the shoes are decorated
with a red pom-pom on the toes.
In contrast to this profusion of color, the small village of Alberobello dresses
entirely in black and white. The structure of the clothing matches the architecture
of the buildings in the town. Their style of dress is fairly simple except for festival
days when women put on an extremely wide and stiff collar reminiscent of the
starched ruffs of the Renaissance.
Italy | 383
Men’s traditional dress of the south is much like that of the central portions of
the country. They prefer breeches of black, red, dark green, or brown that are made
from velveteen or lightweight wool. The fit is looser in that part of the south than it
is in the central regions, but they still fasten the same way, either with two or three
buttons or a garter at the knee. Waistcoats are made in silk or velvet or occasionally
wool with shiny gold buttons that match the buttons on the breeches. The waistcoat
and breeches may match or contrast, but contrast is important for the male Taran-
tella dancers. Jackets are made in velveteen and trimmed with silk ribbon. Shoes are
simple leather slippers with a low heel and dancing shoes are especially flexible. A
wide, fringed silk sash is a popular accessory for men and especially dancers.
Hats of the southern areas are highly specific to the region. Fishing is a major
industry in the south and the fisherman’s hat is not only popular but very practical.
These hats are made in either red or black. The knit wool clings to the head and is
not easily blown off by high winds. Wool also has the ability to retain heat even if it
is wet, making it a very attractive fiber choice for sailors and fishermen of all kinds.
Hats for nonfishermen are Spanish in style and have a tall crown and a dished brim.
It is popular to wear this hat tilted rakishly to one side with pom-poms or ribbons
trailing from it.
Dress in Sicily and Sardinia

The island of Sicily is just off the coast of Calabria. The traditional Sicilian
style of dress is very simple with a strong folk tradition, but employed very for-
mal and sophisticated elements, especially in jewelry. The Sicilian costume has
its roots in Greek folk dress from the days when Sicily gave refuge to Albanian
Greeks fleeing the Turkish oppression.
For women, the skirts are plain, but deeply colored and usually feature con-
trasting ribbons sewn along the bottom. The Sicilian aprons are small and semi-
circular; they are trimmed with lace or can be embroidered. Some festival aprons
are entirely made from lace. The bodice can be made with or without sleeves; it is
modest and simple and often made in a color matching the skirt to create the look
of a one-piece gown. These gowns can be very elaborate for festival and formal
occasions, often dyed a rich red with bands of gold lace and gold fringe around the
hem. Formal aprons are of black lace. Small lace laps are also worn decorated with
red and gold. Densely embroidered shawls are draped over the very sheer white
blouse. Because of the expense of this ensemble and the vanishing handicraft tra-
ditions of embroidery and lace-making, the traditional Sicilian formal costume is
rarely seen in the 21st century.
Sicily is best known for its jewelry. Rosaries are extremely popular accesso-
ries and often made with fine, filigreed components. Belts made from linked silver
plates are worn by both men and women. The best fasten with elaborate buckles
and the plates are sometimes enameled with devotional images or family portraits.
Sardinia has been under both French and Italian control. It is situated in the
Mediterranean and sits parallel to peninsular Italy. It is equidistant from Italy,
France, and Africa and maintains an autonomous traditional style of dress.
In traditional dress, the women of Sardinia wear a bodice made of embroidered
green panels. The stitching is done in black and the edging is piped in red. A rigid
underbodice is worn for support and is usually plain white with a black border. The
sheer white blouse is gathered and shirred. Skirts are primarily black with a dark
red border and worn under a black apron with white polka-dots. They wear a black
fringed shawl draped over the head. Overall the look is very old-fashioned, dating
to the 16th century.
For Sardinian men, traditional dress includes a scarlet bolero jacket with green
panels also embroidered in black. Red piping is used on the men’s jackets as well.
The shirt is very full and pleated and made of white linen, as are the breeches. A
wide, embroidered belt made from felt or leather is worn with a flounce of skirting
that matches the jacket. The flounce is given its shape by the decorative cording
all around the hem. Men wear a knit wool cap that has a long tail like a medieval
liripipe. The tail can be arranged in a variety of ways, either pinned up or left to
hang. There is also a pocket in the tail and men carry their money or a snack inside.

Frick, Carole Collier. Dressing Renaissance Florence: Families, Fortunes, and
Fine Clothing. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
Harrold, Robert, and Phyllida Legg. Folk Costumes of the World. London: Bland-
ford Press, 1999.
The Island of Sardinia. Sardinian Costumes: A Journey through Time. http://www
.sarnow.com/sardinia/costu1.htm. 2003.
Maginnis, Tara. Traditional Dress: Italy. The Costumer’s Manifesto. http://www
.costumes.org/HISTORY/100pages/BOOKS/racinet/italy19th.htm. 2008.
Steele, Valerie. Fashion, Italian Style. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.
Japan
Jill Condra
Japan has a long and culturally sophisticated history dating back thousands of
years. The different periods in Japanese history (from the perspective of the Chris-
tian calendar) include many unique eras devoted to certain emperors including
the Heian period (794–1185), Kamakura period (1185–1333), Muromachi period
(1333–1573), Momoyama period (1573–1615), Edo period (1615–1868), Genroku
era (1688–1704), and Meiji restoration (1868–1912). Clothing styles from these
eras carried forward and evolved over time, and different variations of style were
influenced by each shogunate’s relationships with other countries, such as China,
and later with European nations, interspersed with periods of great isolation (e.g.,
the Edo period). A shogun is a military and dynastic leader in Japan; each of these
leaders had distinct cultural and political practices that separated them from other
shoguns. Trade and political ties were formed throughout Japan’s history to help
form the current system of government, a constitutional monarchy, with an impe-
rial head of state, or emperor, and an elected political leader in the form of a prime
minister who leads an elected government.
Each era saw different levels of stability; for example, there were unstable
times in the Muromachi period in the 14th and 15th centuries where there were
many social changes and urbanization began in earnest. Class divisions and bound-
aries in Japan were strict, and one easy way to uphold the divisions was through
the use of sumptuary laws that restricted the use of certain fabrics and colors or
styles of garments to those in different classes. Clothing of the elite was strictly
controlled and had great meaning, symbolizing where each person ranked in soci-
ety in relation to others. Clothing highlighted an individual’s wealth or position in
government. Peasants, those outside the class system, were strictly forbidden from
wearing silk, which they would not have been able to afford anyway.
In Edo Japan, great expansion of urbanization meant that each large urban
center became known for certain activities, and depending on who was shogun,
the capital of the country changed frequently. Kyoto was the imperial city and the
385
center for crafts and arts, and Osaka was the traditional center for commerce. Edo,
at this time, was the political center. There was a strict four-class system. The sam-
urai warriors were at the top of society, followed by the agrarian class and artisans,
and then in the lowest class were the merchants, who were often very wealthy. The
common folk in Edo Japan included those in the merchant class and the artisans
who became the most influential in terms of fashion innovations. They were known
as the townsmen (chonin). The highest of all in society was the imperial family and
aristocracy, and the most disreputable were completely outside the very inflexible
class system and counted for nothing in society. These people would have had such
professions as prostitution, acting, or gravedigging.
Japan was a cash-based society with wealthy merchants and agriculturalists
lending money to the often poverty-stricken, yet upper-class samurai. There was no
way for the merchants to spend their money to buy their way into a higher class
strata, or to advance themselves politically, so instead they spent lavishly on art, plea-
sure, and beautiful textiles. It was the wealthy merchant class that dictated fashions
that showed off their family’s wealth. More traditional and conservative dress was
still worn by the conservative aristocracy who wore the imperial styles. The shogu-
nate often made strict regulations about who could wear certain colors and patterns
on their kosodes (the precursor of the modern kimono) and the dyeing methods they
used to make the garments. The laws were enforced part of the time, and only for
certain people. Punishment could be harsh, in the form of losing all land and other
property. Depending on the shogunate and how conservative it was, sumptuary laws
were either very strictly upheld or people could get away with wearing what they
wanted. Purple dyes were commonly restricted in many cultures including Japan’s
because they were expensive to produce, and the artisans in Japan who undertook
the dye production were revered as great artists, recognizable for their dark, dyed
fingers. Their hands marked them as people to be respected within society.
Near the end of the Momoyama era in 1615, many years of civil war and
unrest followed a longer period of stability and peace led by the Tokugawa shogu-
nate. The 200 years of the Edo period, the Genroku era, and the Meiji restoration
were largely free of influences from other countries, and were periods when Japan
developed its unique and strong cultural identity. In the 19th century Japan’s isola-
tion ended. The Treaty of Kanagawa of 1854 meant that Japan, with the help of the
United States, began to develop a very strong industrial base with modernization
leading to changes to Japanese culture.
Japan gained great economic strength throughout the second half of the 19th
century and the beginning of the 20th century and was very much an empire-build-
ing society looking to dominate all of Asia. Japan overtook both Russia and China
in the region and occupied territories including South Korea and Taiwan, as well as
Manchuria in 1932, and all of China by 1937. Japan famously attacked the United
Japan | 387
States at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. This attack provoked the
United States into action, and it joined World War II on both the European and
Pacific fronts, protecting European interests in the region. The nuclear bombing by
the United States of the city of Hiroshima in Japan brought fighting in the Pacific
region to an end. The end of World War II meant certain defeat of the Japanese, and
the territories they had gained were returned, for the most part, to their previous
status. Parts of Asia remained under the control of Great Britain, Portugal, and the
United States, but in the case of Macau (Portugal) and Hong Kong (Great Britain),
only for relatively short periods that ended in the late 1980s, when these territories
reverted back to China.
Japan suffered militarily after the war when forbidden by the Allies in World
War II from forming aggressive armies that would threaten peace in the region, and
so instead turned their attention to, and heavily invested in, intense industrializa-
tion and manufacturing of electronic goods and automobiles for sale in the Western
world. Under conditions of surrender, Japan was bound by law to minimal military
spending of only 1 percent of its GDP, leaving room to invest in infrastructure and
growth of the economy. Japan and the United States became allies, and with U.S.
help, the Japanese economy flourished for 30 years with unprecedented economic
growth and great wealth for many Japanese people. The people of Japan are known
for their strict and strong work ethic and for being very adept at technology. By
the 1990s there was a decline in economic growth in Japan to adjust to the exces-
sive debt loads of the very large Japanese corporations. The country has steadily
declined in economic growth and was overtaken by China and India in terms of
growth in 2011, making it the fourth largest economy in the world.
Japan’s population was 127,368,088 as of July 2011. The people are largely Bud-
dhist or follow Shintoism, and many identify themselves as followers of both.
There are relatively few Christians in Japan. The country is an archipelago of 6,852
islands located in the Pacific Ocean, east of China and North/South Korea and
bordered by the East China Sea in the south and the Sea of Okhotsk in the north.
Most of the population of Japan resides on four main islands including Hokkaido,
Honshu (where 80 percent of the population lives), Shikoku, and Kyushu. The
population is largely homogenous, with only approximately 2 percent who are not
ethnically Japanese. Tokyo is the largest city in Japan with nearly 9 million people,
followed by Yokohama (approximately 3.7 million) and Osaka (2.6 million). Japan
has a largely temperate climate, but there is great variation from the northern parts,
with long cold winters and lots of snow, to the mountainous regions, such as Shi-
koku, with mild weather throughout the year. There is a rainy season in Okinawa
in May, but the season does not start in Honshu (a little farther north) until June,
culminating in typhoons in August and September.
In 2011, Japan was devastated by the massive Tohoku earthquake, which was
followed by a giant and incredibly destructive tsunami in the northern part of the
country. The Japanese islands are in a highly volcanic zone known as the Pacific
Ring of Fire that often has large, damaging earthquakes and volcanic activity.
There are over 100 active volcanoes.
People and Dress

Technical perfection of textile production, from weaving to dyeing and assem-
bling the garments, has long been a point of pride with the revered artisans. The
fine, high-quality textiles produced for centuries in Japan are carefully produced. The
silkworms are raised in controlled conditions to produce the best quality filament
that will in turn become an excellent quality fabric once spun and woven, but the
designs and techniques for applied design and color changed dramatically from one
period to another as fashions changed. Early fabric dyeing was not seen as a fine art
by many Japanese in the textiles industry, as the all-over embroidery patterns were
so fine and detailed, and time consuming and expensive, that they were considered
higher art forms. Dyeing became, however, a form of textile arts that was popular
with the people and several different techniques developed over time. Shibori is the
overall term used to describe resist dyeing in Japan. This may be more familiar to
Westerners as a complex and intricate form of tie-dye. A few shibori dyeing tech-
niques included tying the fabric into specific patterns with thread (kanoko shibori),
and gathering/pleating the fabric using a running stitch, then dyeing it (nui shibori).
Tsujigahana dyeing, used for ancient kosodes fabrics, incorporated a combination
of methods, including shibori methods along with embroidery, application of metal
foils, and drawing. The nuishime method is also a resist dye method, but employs a
stitched pattern where the dye will not penetrate, thus revealing a pattern. Kanoko
shibori became a fine art and was so special that it was controlled by sumptuary
laws in the Edo period. Textiles were also painted in the kaki-e method or the haku
method, where metal leaf was applied to the fabric, along with complex embroidery
using fine floss called nui. The motifs applied to the fine fabrics depended upon who
the wearer was and his or her political and societal affiliation and wealth. Warriors,
for example, may have worn clothing with motifs highlighting arrows in the patterns.
The kosode is an important garment in the Japanese historical evolution of
fashion for traditional women and men. The kimono, now mainly associated with
Japanese national dress, is really a descendant of this most culturally important
Woman’s kosode, silk plain weave with yuzen dyeing, 19th century. (Philadelphia Museum
of Art, Pennsylvania/The Samuel S. White 3rd and Vera White Collection, 1967/The
Bridgeman Art Library)
garment. The kosode was made from a very long and narrow piece of fabric made
into two long panels joined together in the center back and open in the front. The
sleeve was also constructed from long, narrow pieces of fabric and attached at the
shoulders. The kosode was tied at the waist with the left side overlapping the right
and held in place with a sash, known as an obi. This was a simple garment with
little structural design elements or tailoring, but what made it so spectacular was
the color and applied designs that covered the fabrics with stories and themes.
Sleeve design was used to distinguish age and marital status. The furisode sleeve,
characterized by its flowing and swinging design, was worn only by unmarried
young women. The length of the sleeve was shortened upon marriage, and the
bright colors of youth were replaced with subdued hues as the woman aged. A very
wide, stiff sleeve was worn only by those aristocrats who spent their days at court.
History of Dress
The kosode was worn by both men and women and was really the same garment,
made distinct by the styles of applied design and the way it may have been worn. Chi-
nese and Korean styles of dress heavily influenced the development of this garment,
with long-lasting effect and use in Japan. Before the Heian period, which began in
the eighth century, both men and women wore shirt-styled garments under a front-
wrap coat, similar to the kosode. Men wore trousers underneath, and women wore
another skirt layer called the mo. At first, the kosode was worn as an inner garment,
and women wore multiple layers of outer garments, known as the kasane shozoku
style. The patterns of embroidery, dye, and woven design were mainly applied to the
outer garments, and the early kosode was simply made with white silk. Common
people began wearing the kosode, but it was not made of fine silk, but of rougher
fibers, such as linen. For the common people, this garment was worn on the outside,
unlike the aristocracy who wore it only as an inner garment. They were likely to be
undecorated, due to restrictions on application of color and design for the poor. It was
not until the end of the 15th century that the kosode was worn as an outside garment
by everyone in Japan, no matter his or her class. What varied was the fiber content,
the elaborateness of the applied design, and dye methods. The kosode was replaced
at the end of the Edo period in the late 1860s with the kimono, which simply means
“a thing to wear.” Before the mid-1900s, women made kimonos for their whole fam-
ily and cared for them with great attention to washing and drying the garments.
The Kimono
Like the kosode, the kimono is an outer garment that ties at the waist, and for
the most part, it is the same design for both men and women. Men rarely wear the
kimono now, but it is considered traditional dress for both sexes. The fabric used
Japan | 391
in the making of a kimono comes in bolts of fabric that are 12 yards (11 m) long
and only 14 inches (30 cm) wide. The fabric is cut into the eight pieces needed to
construct the garment (two sleeves, two pieces joined at center back, two pieces at
the front, and collars). There are several different styles of kimono, and the level of
formality of the occasion dictates which one is the appropriate one to wear. While
most people in Japan only wear their kimono for special occasions, such as wed-
dings and for festivals, there are still traditions associated with the use of the gar-
ment. Traditionally, Japanese people changed their clothing seasonally; the kimono
was more heavily lined or quilted for winter and lightly lined for summer in cotton
or silk. The quilted kimono was mainly worn at home and not out in public.
The men’s kimono is now worn for formal occasions and is made from very for-
mal fabrics, such as lustrous black silk, and adorned with the family crest. Placement
of the family crest is important, and when there are five crests on the garment, it is
a formal kimono, but when only three crests are found, it is a less formal occasion
where the kimono will be worn. Men must wear additional garments in the most for-
mal of settings, including a shorter kimono worn over the black formal one and silk
trousers. The least formal kimonos are made of other fibers, including warm wool,
cool cotton, or linen, and with newer
fiber technology, man-made fibers
are used as cheaper alternatives to the
expensive silks used in the past.
For women, the kimono design and
color must be chosen with great care
and attention to her marital status and
age. As in days gone by, festive kimonos
are often brightly colored with all-over
patterns and designs containing great
meaning. The longest sleeve design
reaches the hem of the kimono, close to
floor length, and are worn for weddings
by the bride, and shorter sleeve lengths
are worn by the guests. The black crepe
tomesode is worn by married women,
and the flashy colors of her youth are
replaced with family crests and designs
limited to the hemline.
The obi (a long sash) is used by
both sexes to hold the kimono together.
Woodcut print shows two women wearing
The sash is most often tied at the back kimono and platform clogs called geta. One
but certain types of women (e.g., the woman brushes snow from the geta of the
geisha) may tie it at the front and have other, Japan, 1776. (Library of Congress)
long ends hanging down the front to the floor. The woman’s obi is often close to
13 feet (4 m) long and 12 inches (30 cm) wide. Women can have this tied in many
different styles, including a simple square bow in the back. A man’s obi can vary
according to the formality of the occasion. The three-inch-wide obi is made of very
stiff silk and is tied in a half bow. It is known as the kaku-obi. The very wide (20
in./51 cm) obi wraps around the waist at least twice and is then tied or tucked in
the waistband. Both men’s and women’s obis can have elaborate applied designs,
and for very formal occasions are the showpieces of the outfit. They can cost even
more than the kimono.
Under the kimono, men and women wear several different sets of garments,
traditionally held together not with buttons, but with elaborately designed belts to
help hold everything in the right place.
Footwear
Women’s footwear is meant to show off the kimono, so is not necessarily
elaborately decorated, but it is distinctively Japanese. Japanese people are very
strict about not wearing shoes indoors, and so removing shoes is necessary before
entering anyone’s home. Ease and grace were expected when removing shoes, and
bending down when dressed in a full kimono outfit was difficult and influenced the
styles of footwear. Wood is the main material used in the production of traditional
footwear. There are two types of sandals for women. The most recognizable of
these is rice straw sandal (zori), with the strap between the toes. Thong-style san-
dals with large wooden pieces lifting the foot off the ground are called the geta.
The geta often feature very tall stilts, sometimes only two slender pieces of wood
touching the ground, and were useful for wet, snowy walking paths, helping to
keep the feet clean. These were often worn with white cotton socks (tabi) with a
separate toe section for the big toe. These socks are acceptable for wearing indoors.
Rice straw and other types of vegetable fibers were useful for making into
boots and shoes suitable for harder labor. Even fish skins were used to make boots
and were then tied with a cord to keep them snug on the feet.

As in most cultures, the wearing of traditional national dress is no longer a
day-to-day endeavor. Western-style clothing such as jeans and T-shirts dominate
the mainstream culture. There is also a particularly Japanese adoption of uniforms
that have in some ways replaced the old kimono culture. Japan has been, for much
of the 20th century and the early 21st, a culture where from the beginning of school
days, children are dressed in uniforms for daily activities throughout their childhood
Japan | 393
and teen lives. Once in university, the uniformity is to some extent abandoned, but
until fairly recently, even college-age students wore uniforms. To a large extent this
period of de-uniformity has led to teens and young adults experimenting with West-
ern dress and making it unique in look and style to their own identities as young
Japanese. Once these young people enter the workforce they are often once again
forced to wear certain uniforms that represent the culture of their company and
allow for a uniformity of behavior and pride in the place of work. This disciplined
attitude to uniformity in dress is partly attributed to the culture of pride in work-
manship and great care in organization shown throughout the centuries in Japan,
resulting in economic success. Traditional Japanese dress is still sold in regular
department stores in Japan and is still worn, if only for special occasions, by most
Japanese people at some point in their lives.

Bata Shoe Museum. http://www.batashoemuseum.ca/collections/permanent/japan/
index.shtml.
Condra, Jill. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through World History.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007.
Dalby, Liza Crihfield. Kimono: Fashioning Culture. Seattle: University of Wash-
ington Press, 2001.
Four Centuries of Fashion: Classical Kimonos from the Kyoto National Museum.
San Francisco: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1997.
Gluckman, Dale Carolyn, and Sharon Sadako Takeda. When Art Became Fashion:
Kosode in Edo Period Japan. New York: Weatherhill, 1992.
Imperatore, Cheryl, and Paul Maclardy. Kimono Vanishing Tradition. Atglen, PA:
Paul Schiffer Publishing, 2001.
Ishimura Hayao and Maruyama Nobuhiko. Robes of Elegance: Japanese Kimonos
of the 16th–20th Centuries. Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1988.
Kamachi, Noriko. Culture and Customs of Japan. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
1999.
Kawamura, Yuniya. “Japanese Fashion,” in The Encyclopedia of Clothing and
Fashion, ed. Valerie Steele. Farmington Hills, MI: Charles Scribner’s Sons,
2005.
Kyoto National Museum. http://www.kyohaku.go.jp.
Liddell, Jill. The Story of the Kimono. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1989.
Munsterberg, Hugo. The Japanese Kimono, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press,
1996.
Murasaki, Shikibu. The Tale of Genji [translated by E. Seidenstricker]. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1975.
National Museum of Japanese History, Nomura Collection. http://www.rekihaku

.ac.jp/e-rekihaku/110/cover.html.
Nomura Shojiro and Tsutomu Ema. Japanese Kimono Designs. New York: Dover
Publications, 2006.
Shimizu Yoshiaki, ed. Japan: The Shaping of Daimyō Culture, 1185–1868. Wash-
ington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1988.
Stinchecum, Amanda Mayer. Kosode: 16th–19th Century Textiles from the Nomura
Collection. New York: Japan Society, 1984.
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and Prints of the Floating World. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1996.
Tokyo National Museum. http://www.tnm.jp/?lang=en.
Encyclopedia of
National Dress
Encyclopedia of
National Dress
Traditional Clothing
around the World
Volume 2
Jill Condra, Editor

Copyright 2013 by Jill Condra
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without
prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Encyclopedia of national dress : traditional clothing around the world / Jill Condra, editor.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-313-37636-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-37637-5 (ebook)
1. Clothing and dress—Encyclopedias. I. Condra, Jill, 1968–
GT507.E535 2013
391.003—dc23 2012040568
ISBN: 978-0-313-37636-8 (set)

978-0-313-37638-2 (v 1)
978-0-313-37640-5 (v 2)
EISBN: 978-0-313-37637-5
17 16 15 14 13 1 2 3 4 5
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Contents
Entry Guide vii

Introduction ix
The Encyclopedia 1
Museums with National Dress and Textile Collections 773

Selected Bibliography 777
About the Editor and Contributors 783
Index 793
v
Entry Guide
Afghanistan, 1 Croatia, 167

Albania, 11 Cuba. See Caribbean Islands
Algeria, 19 Denmark, 177
Angola. See Southern Africa Dominican Republic. See Haiti and the
Armenia, 29 Dominican Republic
Australia, Aboriginal, 44 Egypt, 183
Australia, Settlers, 53 El Salvador. See Belize, Honduras, El
Austria. See Germany and Austria Salvador, and Nicaragua
Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the England. See Great Britain and Ireland
United Arab Emirates, 62 Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, 191
Belgium. See The Netherlands and Ethiopia, 204
Belgium Finland, 212
Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, and France, 220
Nicaragua, 71 Germany and Austria, 231
Bolivia. See Chile and Bolivia Ghana, 237
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 81 Great Britain and Ireland, 252
Botswana. See Southern Africa Greece, 269
Brazil, 93 Greenland, 280
Bulgaria, 100 Guatemala, 289
Burkina Faso. See Niger and Burkina Haiti and the Dominican Republic, 294
Faso Honduras. See Belize, Honduras, El
Canada, 111 Salvador, and Nicaragua
Caribbean Islands: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Herzegovina. See Bosnia and
Jamaica, and Lesser Antilles Herzegovina
Islands, 121 Hungary, 303
Chile and Bolivia, 131 India, 312
China, 140 India: Nagaland Tribes, 326
Costa Rica and Panama, 150 Indonesia, 336
Crete, 160 Iran, 343
vii
viii | Entry Guide
Iraq, 357 Poland, 594

Ireland. See Great Britain and Ireland Portugal, 602
Israel, 367 Puerto Rico. See Caribbean Islands
Italy, 372 Qatar. See Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Ara-
Jamaica. See Caribbean Islands bia, and the United Arab Emirates
Japan, 385 Romania, 612
Jordan. See The Palestine Region and Russia, 621
Jordan Russian Federation Republics, 633
Kenya, 395 Rwanda and Uganda, 640
Korea, 406 Saudi Arabia. See Bahrain, Qatar,
Laos (Hmong), 416 Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab
Latvia. See Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania Emirates
Lebanon and Syria, 426 Scotland. See Great Britain and Ireland
Lesser Antilles Islands. See Caribbean Slovenia, 649
Islands Somalia, 656
Libya, 440 South Pacific Islands, 663
Lithuania. See Estonia, Latvia, and South Africa. See Southern Africa
Lithuania Southern Africa: South Africa,
Madagascar, 448 Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, 672
Malaysia, 461 Spain, 682
Mauritania, 471 Sweden, 690
Mexico, 478 Switzerland, 700
Mongolia, 488 Syria. See Lebanon and Syria
Morocco, 499 Thailand, 708
Namibia. See Southern Africa Tibet, 717
Native North American Dress (United Turkey, 726
States and Canada), 510 Uganda. See Rwanda and Uganda
The Netherlands and Belgium, 519 United Arab Emirates. See Bahrain,
New Zealand, 527 Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United
Nicaragua. See Belize, Honduras, El Arab Emirates
Salvador, and Nicaragua United States: Hawaii, 740
Niger and Burkina Faso, 536 United States: Hispanic West, 746
Nigeria, 545 United States: New England, 752
Norway, 557 United States: Puerto Rico. See Carib-
Pakistan, 567 bean Islands
The Palestine Region and Jordan, 574 Vietnam, 758
Panama. See Costa Rica and Panama Wales. See Great Britain and Ireland
The Philippines, 585 Yemen and Oman, 764
Kenya
Neal Sobania
East Africa is one of the great crossroads of the world, where peoples and cultures
from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia have been meeting and interacting for hun-
dreds of years. As a result, the region contains an astonishingly rich array of ethnic
and cultural diversity. When the internal migrations and local networks of trad-
ing were joined by seafarers in their dhows, who rode the monsoon winds across
the Indian Ocean from the Persian Gulf to Africa’s east coast and back to trade,
the alcoves and bays where they anchored quickly made Kenya part of a global
trading system. Evidence of this trade, from at least the ninth century, is found
in the archaeological remains of the towns and urban centers that dot the coast
from Somalia to Mozambique (Nelson, 2002). The introduction of cloth, as well as
Islam, brought new styles of dress that while still worn as wraps, greatly expanded
both the variety of materials and the way these could be worn.
With the arrival of Chinese ships at the beginning of the 15th century and the
Portuguese at the end, this trade became still more global. Peoples at the coast
sought cloth from India, metalwork from the Middle East, and ceramic ware from
China in exchange for ivory, rhino horn, wood, and slaves captured in the interior.
Portuguese domination of the Indian Ocean in the 16th century lasted until
an alliance of locally powerful Swahili families and Omani Arabs forced/pushed
them out in the 18th century. Broad-ranging social and political changes brought
numerous influences to bear on the local populations, which continued with sub-
sequent British colonial involvement and domination from the end of the 19th
century. With the British came a new range of influences, all of which impacted
patterns of dress. Colonial administration, from the village-level appointments of
headmen and chiefs to the enlistment of police and soldiers (askaris), were each
associated with particular forms of attire. Evangelization by missionaries resulted
in still more change with the particular focus being on decency in dress and school-
ing of youth, again with each having significant impact on what was to be worn.
The opportunities for employment and the recruitment and hiring of labor, which
395
often included people migrating from one region to another, were similarly associ-
ated with certain clothing, for example on the railroads, in the courts, and on white
settlers’ established farms, especially in the central highlands, accompanied by
the growing cash crops such as coffee, tea, and sisal. Market influences continued
to have an impact on dress up to independence from Britain in 1963 and through
to the present day. In different eras each of these forces influenced what had been
traditionally worn at different times in the different regions of the country.

The five major regions that usually identify Kenya geographically give definition
to its having one of the most diverse landscapes in the world. The coastal plain,
with an extensive offshore coral reef along the Indian Ocean, was also home to
towns and urban centers that from the first millennium engaged in trade. The Great
Rift Valley, which runs the length of the country from north to south, consists of
savannas and lakes, and separates the temperate central highlands in the east from
the western highlands that continue westward to Mount Elgon and into Uganda to
the shores of Lake Victoria.
Although it is the central highlands with Mount Kenya (17,058 feet) that are
generally thought of as Kenya’s most distinctive geographic region, nearly 70 per-
cent of the country’s total land mass is the pastoral corridor, which stretches from
Somalia in the east across northern Kenya and into northern Uganda. Here on
plateaus, semiarid plains, and deserts, herding peoples graze the livestock—cattle,
camels, sheep, and goats—upon which their existence depends. Yet, the total popu-
lation of these pastoralist peoples, among which the most numerous are the Somali,
Turkana, Maasai, Samburu, and Borana, make up only 4.5 million of the country’s
now estimated 36-plus million people (Kenya Census, 2009). Seventy-five percent
of the total population lives in a highly productive agricultural belt that stretches
from just north and east of Nairobi across the central and western highlands to the
border with Uganda, yet it makes up only 10 percent of the country’s land mass.
What has evolved across this varied landscape, from centuries of historical
and political processes, is not one Kenya, but many Kenyas; not a single Kenyan
culture, but many Kenyan cultures. Today a “Kenyan” is a citizen of the country
of Kenya.
People and Dress

Thanks to travel brochures, film, magazines, and glossy coffee table books about
Kenya, the dominant image of this East African country’s people is of spear-carry-
ing men wrapped in shoulder to knee red cloaks, tending their cattle, camels, sheep,
Kenya | 397
and goats, or of women similarly wrapped either in a shoulder-draped leather skin

or red-colored cloth or blanket with their necks, ears, and wrists adorned with
multiple strands of colored beads. Seldom pictured are the school-age children
dressed in uniforms of smartly pressed shorts or skirts with white shirt or blouse, a
contrasting colored sweater, and school tie, or on the weekend in a T-shirt, soccer
jersey, and blue jeans. Also rarely appearing are people riding in a bus or taxi van,
or driving a car to and from work in skirts or trousers with blouse or shirt, finished
off with a cardigan or coat and tie with even finer outfits reserved for Sunday or
special occasions. As is apparent by these “new” traditions, evidence of colonial
times remains.
However, even these two contrasting patterns of dress, the first found on the
semiarid plains and savannahs of Kenya’s north, east, and south, and the second in
urban cities and towns, do not capture the diversity found throughout the country.
Not all of Kenya is semiarid and not all of it is urban. Nor is any of what passes
as “traditional” dress timeless, unchanging, or even disappearing. The assumed
authenticity of glossy photographs, coupled with the loaded words in their captions
depicting social customs and lifestyles of natives and tribes living in primitive huts
and wearing costumes, only perpetuate an impression of static cultural practices
and hide an ever-changing dynamic and vibrant reality. Kenya is in fact a multiplic-
ity of customs and traditions, just as is most of Africa. In this respect, patterns of
dress mirror the diversity found in the country’s configuration of housing design,
religious practice, modes of economic production, types of literature, and art.

The citizens of Kenya represent more than 40-plus ethnic groups, along with
considerable numbers of people of Arab, Asian, and European descent. Nearly all
Kenya’s ethnic groups have emerged as a result of immigration, migration, and
trade. None have lived in such total isolation as to be immune from the influences
of others, whether neighbors, enemies, or trading partners. Indeed, Kenya’s ethnic
groups recount, in the genesis traditions that support their formation as a distinc-
tive people, the incorporation of others whom they encountered along a migra-
tion path, gave refuge to, and later absorbed in a time of ecological disaster, or
those they traded with who later stayed and never went home, wherever home
was. Moreover, the archaeological record indicates trade routes from 4,000 years
ago that brought materials used for personal adornment long before Indian Ocean
dhows at the end of the first millennium began to carry trade goods including cloth-
ing and cloth of cotton and silk from the Middle East, India, and beyond (Nelson,
2002; Kusimba, 1997). As a result, the ethnic identities associated with particular
named groups, whether for example the Kalenjin, Kikuyu, Luhya, or Maasai and
Samburu, are today nearly all an amalgam of peoples who came together over
time. While boundaries between ethnic groups were not totally fluid, they were,
as a result of marriage ties, gift exchanges, and trading relations, more permeable
than is usually understood. The ability to move, shift, and over time even take on a
new ethnic identity was all part of an adaptive strategy that enabled peoples to sur-
vive, especially during times of natural and human-made disasters such as drought,
epizootics, and raiding (Waller and Sobania, 1994).
Because national boundaries, beginning from the mid to late 19th century and
in some cases well into the 20th century, were demarcated, contested, and later
altered again, many Kenyan peoples include community members with the same
ethnicity but different citizenship. Often these are close family members who live
across an international boundary such as the Maasai in the south (Tanzania), the
Luo in the west (Uganda), the Dasenech in the north (Ethiopia), and the Somali
in the east (Somalia). Similarly, across an international frontier are found ethnic
groups so closely related as to be nearly indistinguishable in terms of dress and
adornment. Just as ethnicity and languages carry across national borders, so too do
types of ethnic and regional dress. As a result, this has led to styles of dress both
locally and regionally that share this richness of diversity.
The religious diversity found in Kenya similarly reflects this multiplicity
of origins. Kenyans are predominantly Christian, including both Protestant and
Roman Catholic (31.5 million). At the coast there is a long-established, histori-
cally dominant Muslim population, and in the urban centers are communities of
Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims, whose existence in Kenya dates to the turn of the
20th century and the building of the Uganda Railway from the coast to Lake Vic-
toria. Today, communities of all these great enduring religions are found across
the country, often beside fast-growing Pentecostal and independent evangelical
Christian churches. Within each of these is found a wide range of believers fol-
lowing a multiplicity of religious practices, including a still strong element of
practitioners of traditional belief systems. These can include systems in which
ancestors play a strong role and others that look to a higher being, albeit a rather
distant force, that can bring unity and harmony. The Borana and Gabbra identify
this as Waq, the Maasai and Samburu as Engai, and the Turkana as Aakuj. The
Maasai-speaking peoples also have a strong tradition of diviner-prophets, laibon,
as do the Kalenjin peoples.
With today’s contemporary mixing of still evolving traditional types of dress
and adornment, with the increasingly widespread availability of Western-style
clothing, it is sometimes difficult to identify by the clothing worn what ethnic
group an individual may belong to. Nevertheless, there are “traditional” patterns of
dress that are historically identified with particular ethnic communities.
Kenya | 399
History of Dress
The dominant style of dress across the interior of East Africa has historically
been some form of apron or wrap. Made in some regions of sisal or palm fiber, but
more typically of leather, such garments could be made from a single skin but were
more commonly from two pieces—one worn in front, the other in back. The area
of coverage and length were often both markers of gender (male and female), age
(child, adult), social status (unmarried, married), and, one must presume, availabil-
ity and personal choice. For example, in the early decades of the 20th century, mar-
ried Kikuyu women wore long leather skirts, nyathiba, that draped toga-style over
one shoulder. If this type of skirt was coupled with long hoop earrings, hang’i, of
beads threaded on wire, it further identified the woman’s status as one whose eldest
child had been circumcised. In contrast, unmarried girls were dressed in only knee-
length aprons with multiple strands of beaded leg bands that announced their eligi-
bility for marriage. Beyond a waistband of beads, very young children wore little
to nothing (Muriuki and Sobania, 2007: 3–8). Among the vast majority of ethnic
groups, males passed into adulthood through different stages of life from child to
youth to warrior to elder with each transition marked by a specific ritual. Distinc-
tive clothing, adornment, and hairstyles were typically associated with each age
grade and related to new and appropriate behaviors, privileges, and responsibili-
ties. This also included the passage from one social status to another and indicated
the separateness of the initiate as he made this passage. For example, among the
Maasai and Samburu, the initiation that marked the passage of a male adolescent
to warriorhood was denoted by his being housed in a separate enclosure wearing a
black- or blue-colored skin or cloth, his mother’s earrings, a crown of stuffed dead
birds, and his face painted with white chalk. Among the Kikuyu a dance, gichukia,
was performed by warriors and initiated girls. For this occasion, the young men,
painted face to ankles with white ochre/clay and wearing short leather coverings
decorated with grass and beads, carried staves topped by pom-poms and colobus
monkey hair—staves rather than spears to indicate the peaceful nature of the event.
Just as historical photographs are important sources for studying the changes
in patterns of dress in Kenya, invaluable are the 700 or so watercolors and draw-
ings completed by Joy Adamson over some six and a half years beginning in 1948.
Best known for her books on Elsa, the lioness cub, Adamson’s portraits of named
individuals, which were commissioned by the Kenya government, document in
exceptional detail the traditional clothing, adornment, customs, and ceremonies
of peoples from all parts of the then-colony. She relied on community elders to
authenticate what each subject wore when she painted or photographed him or her
for this project (Adamson, 1975).

While the apron and wrap style of dress found in Kenya’s interior can today
still easily be seen, it is increasingly giving way to blouses or shirts with full
skirts for women and shirts with jean and trousers or shorts for men. In urban
centers, men add a suit or sport coat and the skirts and dresses of women may
have more contemporary styling, but this is generally more a factor of the avail-
ability of a broader range of options and personal choice influenced by education
and employment.
Some of the most distinctive and colorful ways of dressing are found along the
East African coast, where people have had the longest ongoing contact with traders
from all along the Indian Ocean rim. Here the men, especially the Swahili, wear
the white, one-piece kanzu (Arabic: thawb). Recognized across the Middle East
and the African continent, this lightweight and loose-fitting robe or caftan is ideal
for the hot and humid climate at the coast. Essentially a long cotton dress shirt than
extends from the shoulders nearly to the ground, it can also be worn more formally,
for example in a wedding, by topping it with a vest, cloak, or suit jacket. In the past
a long, dark-colored coat-like joho, with richly embroidered shoulder decorations,
was worn on top, but today is seldom seen. Whether in the past or today, the kanzu
is nearly always worn with a kofia, a
hand-embroidered white cotton cap
that also serves as a marker to identify
the wearer as a Muslim, just as it is
throughout the world.
The black cloth covering worn by
some Muslim woman is called a bui-
bui at the coast, and when worn with a
veil only the eyes and hands are visible.
Worn when going about out of doors,
this protects the women from the eyes
of men who are outsiders and not part
of her family. Indoors Swahili women
traditionally wore richly colored trou-
sers and dresses made of imported silk.
Also at the coast, able to be worn
by both women and men, but espe-
cially men, Muslim and non-Muslim
Maasai men wear the traditional shuka, in alike, is a long, square piece of col-
southern Kenya, 2005. (AP Photo/Leigh orful cloth called a kikoi. Wrapped
Murray) around the chest or waist it resembles
Kenya | 401
the sarong from Asia and is one of three different wraps that originate at the coast.
Elsewhere in Kenya, especially when worn by the Maasai or Samburu in various
shades of red, it is called a shuka. The rectangular khanga is similar but worn
exclusively by females and woven or manufactured as two identical pieces. These
can be worn singly, for example as a sleeping garment, or tied and used as a baby
carrier, or as a pair—matching skirt and head covering or skirt and shawl. Unique
to the khanga is the Swahili proverb found on each one. The meaning of these
proverbs can be short and to the point as in Atakae hachoki (a person in need
never gets tired) and Mapenzi hayana Macho ya kuono (love is blind) or require
more reflection: Utabakina na chokochoko utaambulia ukoko (by causing misun-
derstandings you’ll end up with leftovers) or Mtaji wa maskini ni nguvu zake (a
poor man’s capital is his body strength).
The third type of warp is the kitenge, and like the kikoi, it is found in many
parts of Africa. It is a heavier cloth manufactured in bright colors with designs
made using a batik printing method. At one time the kitenge were imported from
Indonesia via Holland, but today they are manufactured across Africa with those
from Congo particularly favored in East Africa. Today older khanga, with their
proverbs, are sometimes collected, but it is the kikoi that are sold commercially
to tourists as beachwear, part of a growing fashion industry. So too is the red
shuka, “the fabric with a culture” sold commercially under the label “Warrior
Wear.” For the Kenya manufacturing industry, there is concern that these color-
ful, attractive, and charming cloths do not go the same way as the kiondo baskets
woven by the Kikuyu and Kamba, made popular in the United States reportedly
by actress Diane Keaton when she used the basket as a shoulder or tote bag in
the film Annie Hall and now reported to have been patented in a number of Asian
countries.
Jewelry, Body Paint, and Body Modification

Adornment is not a particular feature of dress at the coast, except among a
wealthy class of women who wear anklets and bracelets of silver. More common,
especially at weddings and other special occasions, is the painting of intricate designs
on a bride’s hands and feet. In the interior, however, is found an astonishing array
of earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and anklets of beads, shells, seeds, metal wire, and
other forms of personal adornment, including hairstyles and headdresses. Some times
singly but more generally in combination, these distinguish ethnicity, gender, social
grouping, and status, with certain ensembles particular to specific occasions, such
as age and puberty ceremonies, marriage, and other clan or society rituals. Kamba
women were known for the wide, beautifully patterned blue and white beaded belts
that they used to help secure the goatskin skirts they wore. Typically, as women
approached marriageable age, the num-

ber of beaded necklaces they wore
increased. Conversely, as people aged
and women became mothers and men
became elders, the number of strands
worn decreased. At the same time, some
ethnic groups were identified with cer-
tain colors of beads, such as the Kikuyu
using pink and the Kipsigis with tur-
quoise. Among Turkana women the
color of beads worn denoted to which
tribal section the husband belonged.
However, what was fashionable in one
era often changed in another, often sim-
ply as a matter of availability and access
to what traders brought.
Beads have been a dominant form
of visual expression for thousands of
years in East Africa and are found
Turkana woman wears beaded necklaces, throughout the archaeological record.
near Baragoi, Kenya. (Corel) Just as cloth later replaced animal
skins, so beads took the place of plant
and tree seeds, seashells, and beads of ostrich shell, bone, and stone. Initially, the
introduction of colored European-made beads found their way to the interior over
short, interconnecting, local trade networks that linked neighboring peoples with
complementary resources and different object-making skills, for example, met-
alsmithing and pottery making. Later, as long-distance caravans from the coast
found their way deep into the interior seeking valuable commodities such as ivory,
rhino horn, and slaves, these were followed by European travelers and adventures,
who sought to “discover” and name Africa’s lakes and rivers, and especially in East
Africa to identify the source of the Nile. The trade goods they brought with them
included these colored beads, brass and copper wire, and cloth. It is clear that from
the second half of the 19th century leather wraps were being oversewn with beads
and in some instances pieces of metal, either for decorative purposes or a further
status indicator. However, from the standpoint of dress, the most important product
the traders and travelers from the coast introduced was unbleached U.S.-made cot-
ton cloth that came to be known across the region as “merkani.”
A number of peoples in the pastoral corridor wear their hair under distinc-
tive mud caps. These include the Dasenech, Pokot, Turkana, and others across the
Ethiopian and Ugandan borders. The hairstyle that so distinguishes the warrior
Kenya | 403
generation of Maasai, Samburu, and Rendille is long strands of hair, often inter-
spersed with extensions of grass, and then heavily covered with red ochre.
Body modification in East Africa has largely been limited to the ears and chest,
although there was a time when the Kamba filed the front teeth of males. Ears
are pierced, not in one place but in many, often at the top and the bottom. Most
widely recognized as Maasai, but also practiced by the Samburu and Rendille, are
enlarged lobes that enable the insertion of ivory earplugs. Scarification on the chest
among certain peoples in the pastoral corridor was used to denote the number of
enemies killed in cattle raiding. But just as enlarged holes in earlobes are disap-
pearing, so too is scarification, although more as a matter of contemporary social
pattern rather then declining deaths from raiding.

Increasingly, for people who only 20 and 30 years ago were thought of as
living in remote areas, manufactured cloth and clothing is the new norm. This is
true even in the pastoral corridor where garments of tanned animal hide are cer-
tainly seen less frequently today, but where they still have a certain practicality. For
example, here, where water is at a premium for drinking by both people and live-
stock, tanned leather does not require
regular washing. Similarly, it is not
practical to sew beads, metal wire,
and other sorts of traditional identi-
fying adornment on cloth (Sobania,
2003). For a time in the first decades
after independence, there was a bud-
ding clothing industry in Kenya. Then
from the 1980s, the arrival of airplane
containers full of used clothing put a
pinch on local production, as a wide
assortment of apparel, including shoes
and caps, was sold in shops and mar-
kets across the country.
Today the continued popularity
of films about Africa and the grow-
ing presence of sophisticated market-
ing firms, most notably in Nairobi,
who promote local production of all Maasai-inspired design at Fashion Week in
things Kenyan, has given this industry Nairobi, Kenya, 2004. (Simon Maina/AFP/
new life. The annual Fashion Week, Getty Images)
sponsored by banks and automobile manufacturers, shows off the work of local
designers. It both attracts an international audience and gives local designers an
entrée to other parts of the world. The creation of accessories, including jewelry
using traditional designs for inspiration, is being fashioned in local shops and by
NGO-sponsored workshops.
In the early 1990s there were, in many parts of the country, emotional and
highly charged debates that had begun a decade or more before over the wearing
of Western-style clothing, hairstyles, and cosmetics. In urban areas people were
accused of forgetting their roots; in the rural areas people were criticized for being
backward and not covering their naked bodies. Today, while such debates have not
entirely ended, with the power and intensity of the global media and the world’s
interlocking economy, what was once identified as “Western” is increasingly
understood as marking a higher degree of education, a desired standard of living,
and an acquisition of material possessions that nearly all Kenyans are both aware
of and desirous of obtaining. Preserving traditional culture and values is important,
but so too is the sense of pride in Kenya being a modern nation, worthy of playing
a valued role in the contemporary world.

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History of the Kanga website. www.glcom.com/hassan/kanga_history.html.
Hay, Margaret Jean. “Changes in Clothing and Struggles over Identity in Colonial
Western Kenya.” In Jean Allman, ed. Fashioning Africa: Power and the Politics
of Dress. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2004.
Kenya Census 2009. “Population & Housing Census Results.” August 31, 2010. www
.scribd.com/doc/36670466/Kenyan-Population-and-Housing-Census-PDF.
The Kikoy Co. website. www.kikoy.com.
Klumpp, Donna. “Maasai Art and Society: Age and Sex, Time and Space, Cash
and Cattle.” Unpublished PhD dissertation. Anthropology Department, Colum-
bia University, 1987.
Klumpp, Donna, and Corinne Kratz. “Aesthetics, Expertise, and Ethnicity.” In
Thomas Spear and Richard Waller, eds. Being Maasai: Ethnicity and Identity in
East Africa. London: James Currey, 1993.
Kratz, Corinne, and Donna Pido. “Gender, Ethnicity and Social Aesthetics in Maa-
sai and Okiek Beadwork.” In Dorothy Hodgson, ed. Rethinking Pastoralism in
Africa. Oxford: James Currey, 2000.
Kusimba, Chapurukha. “A Time Traveler in Kenya: An Archaeologist Rediscovers
the Roots of the Swahili People in the Course of His Research in Kenya.” Natu-
ral History 106 (1997) (5): 38–48.
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Muriuki, Godfrey, and Neal Sobania. “The Truth Be Told: Stereoscopic Photo-
graphs, Interviews and Oral Tradition from Mount Kenya.” Journal of Eastern
African Studies 1 (2007): 1–15.
Nelson, C. M. “Evidence for Early Trade Between the Coast and Interior of East
Africa.” In The Development of Urbanism from a Global Perspective. Uppsala:
Uppsala Universiteit, 2002. www.arkeologi.uu.se/digitalAssets/9/9638_Nelson
All.pdf.
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1991.
Parkin, David. “Textile as Commodity, Dress as Text: Swahili Kanga and Women’s
Statements.” In Ruth Barnes, ed. Textiles in Indian Ocean Societies. London/
New York: Routledge, 2004.
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Sobania, Neal. Culture and Customs of Kenya. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2003.
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Elliot Fratkin, Kathleen A. Dalvin, and Eric Abella Roth, eds. African Pasto-
ralist Systems: An Integrated Approach. Boulder, CO/London: Lynn Rienner,
1994, 45–68.
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of African Studies 6 (1972): 339–49.
Korea
Aleasha McCallion
Old Choson is the earliest known state in Korea and spanned a legendary age of
2333–108 BCE on the Korean peninsula. Taken over by the Han Chinese, Old
Choson would not be the last Korean kingdom to be influenced by China. In the
last century BCE, the Korean kingdoms of Koguryo, Paekche, and Silla rose in
power, bringing about the Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE–668 CE). Depending
on their political or geographical circumstances, all three kingdoms were influ-
enced by alternating alliances with China and Japan, including socially, aestheti-
cally, and religiously.
After 500 years of intrakingdom warring, Silla emerged dominant in the sev-
enth century with the assistance of Tang China. Prior to unification the Silla king-
dom held a distinctive native culture that had developed due to its greater distance
from mainland China and is credited as a strong basis for independent Korean
culture. Silla fell in 935 CE to the Koryo dynasty (918–1392), and a period of
increased northern pressure from Mongol invasions ensued. Their influence was
intense and invasive; however, it was a time of civil sophistication, Buddhist pub-
lications, and cotton cultivation.
The later Choson dynasty (1392–1910) was a period of extensive Chinese influ-
ence but also of the revival of the Silla-developed Korean identity. Korea became a
vassal state to Ch’ing China and this increased the exporting and paying of resources
and goods as tribute. However, even though there was extensive economic and
scholarly trade, with political cooperation evident throughout the 18th and 19th cen-
turies, the export of resources diminished the economic strength of Korea. At a time
when the class structure was strictly polarized in that the Yangban or aristocrats held
elite social positions of power and had influence over the king, Catholicism spread
among artisans and farmers. The last years of the Choson dynasty were tumultuous
with isolationist policies against foreign influence and trade, internal Catholic perse-
cutions, and peasant wars (1812 and 1862). This era was the last of the independent
neo-Confucian Korean state before the annexation by Japan in 1910.
406
Korea | 407
Under Japanese control (1910–1945) the Korean populace was subjected to

political, economic, and cultural oppression, and although there were uprisings
like the March 1, 1919, independence demonstration, Japan retained restrictive
power and absorbed Korea’s resources including Korean conscripts for the war
effort. At the end of World War II came the liberation of Korea in 1945 and a brief
time of optimism, which quickly turned to a far greater challenge than occupation,
that of civil unrest and political polarity. The northern territory of Korea was under
communist Soviet guardianship and the southern territory had a U.S.-supported
elected president (1948), Syngman Rhee, who in short order created a dictator-
ship. When the North, led by Kim Il Sung, invaded the South with Soviet military
arms in 1950, Korea’s people were launched into what would become the Korean
War. Casualties numbered an estimated 900,000 soldiers including 160,000 South
Korean soldiers and 38,000 United Nations soldiers, as well as an estimated 2
million civilians killed or wounded. In 1953 a demilitarized zone that was four
kilometers wide was established along the 38th parallel and the North and South
were ultimately divided.
North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a communist regime
under Kim Il Sung’s leadership, was supported by trade relationships with the
Soviet Union and the production and exports of armaments and minerals. The peo-
ple of the northern state embarked on a rigidly regulated life including work, dress,
and religion; any who resisted were considered to be treasonous and tortured,
killed, or disappeared in prison labor camps. With the fall of the Soviet Union in
1991, North Korea lost subsidized trade and the economic state worsened for its
people with widespread malnutrition and starvation due to food shortages and little
ability to earn reasonable wages. North Korea emerged into the 21st century with
the fourth largest army on the planet, approximately 1 million people in uniform
each day policing and managing a population of 23 million, mainly Confucianists
and Buddhists, and a gross domestic product equivalent to $1,000 U.S. per person.
South Korea, the Republic of Korea, remained under the control of Syngman
Rhee’s leadership until 1960 when he was forced into exile, after which the coun-
try emerged, through expansive export trade, into today’s thriving economic state.
With a population of 48 million, the democratic country by comparison has a gross
domestic product equivalent to $19,600 U.S. per person, and there is religious
freedom. People are predominately Buddhists or Christians.

The Korean Peninsula in northeast Asia borders China and Russia with the Yalu or
Amnok and Tumen or Toman-gang rivers serving as natural borders, and reaches
out from the main continent southeast toward Japan. The southern reach of the
peninsula boasts 3,000 small islands off the coast, amid the Yellow Sea and the
East China Sea.
The climate offers full seasons and spectacular changes for the river basins,
waterfalls, and lakes, as well as diverse vegetation that offers plum blossoms in
spring and fiery maple leaves in the fall. The range of natural landscapes in Korea
is diverse, from the islands and beaches in the south, through agricultural land
pockets and floodplains, to mountain ranges throughout and into the north where
they dominate.
The rich agricultural land produces core food products of rice, corn, potatoes,
soybeans, and livestock as well as indigenous fibers including hemp, ramie, and
jute and the introduced super fiber of cotton. As well, there is the long tradition of
sericulture, which provided a wealth of silk textiles throughout history. Silk was
restricted to the elite during the Three Kingdoms period, but later commoners wore
dyed colored silk.
The climate and environment affected traditional dress, the range of layers,
and the usage of different textiles during the course of the seasons. Ramie and
later cotton were worn in the warm summer months in plain weaves, which are
breathable and naturally cooling. The cold winter months were met with the use
of wool garment layers and winter accessories such as deerskin footwear and the
pungchas or hood, which was fur lined and covered the head and ears down to
the jawline.
People and Dress

Despite struggling to keep an independent cultural and political identity, the
Korean people have one of the longest national histories in the world. They are a
single ethnic family anthropologically distinguished from both their Chinese and
Japanese neighbors and claim descent from several Mongol tribes. The Korean
language is spoken; however, a uniquely Korean written alphabet was not devel-
oped until 1443 by King Sae Chong the Great.
Buddhism was brought into Korea through China in the fourth century and
grew to be a powerful force by the sixth. A nature-aligned and nature-respecting
practice was successful as it paralleled an older philosophy of relating humans
with their natural surroundings. The Korean cultural expression is influenced by
this awareness of nature and is reflected in the costume classifications of beauty
of nature, personality, evil, and tradition. In the 10th century, the united Korean
state of Silla (668–935) was firmly established, and Buddhism, the official state
religion, had inspired the state’s intellectual and artistic achievements.
Korea | 409
The Ch’ing style code of Confucianism was integrated into social life in the
15th and 16th centuries and the Choson dynasty regulated costume based on status,
including fabrics, colors, motifs, and accessories. A Confucian scholar’s ceremo-
nial costume of red and blue robe, chobok, with a reversed apron or lower back
panel that has a belt tie in the front and symbolic embroidered details exemplifies
the absorption of the religion into Korean society and dress.
In the 17th century, after surviving several invasions from Manchu and Japan,
the Korean identity became a national project. The sporadic exposure to Western
ideas through China and Japan encouraged the study of Korea’s own history and
geography. Soon there was a movement away from Chinese themes in art as artists
started to focus on the Korean common people rather than Chinese characteristics.
Paintings by Cho Yongsok (1686–1761) and Kim Hongdo (1745–before 1818)
exemplify this trend. The artistic expression of Korea, despite other Asian influ-
ences, has been refined in a unique and identifiable style.
History of Dress
Although there are references to previous periods, the Choson dynasty (1392–
1910) is the time period when the costume of the Silla kingdom was gradually
altered into the recognized traditional Korean hanbok, or costume, in the forms
known today. Modestly covering almost all of the body, the colors, fibers, and
ornamentation of the hanbok were purposely chosen to reflect themes of cultural
belief, the wearer’s particular guild or position in society, and adherence to sump-
tuary laws that were present during the Choson dynasty.
The origin of the hanbok is traced to Manchurian and Northern Koreans who
wore daily white gowns or robes with large sleeves and pants, and adorned silk
brocade or embroidered clothing on special occasions. The art of the Koguryo
tombs of the Three Kingdoms period are the strongest reference to early forms of
costume; these are, however, portrayed within a Chinese-influenced art aesthetic.
The women are dressed in waist-length or longer V-neck tops and generous long
skirts over pants, while the men are shown wearing a similar style top garment with
a wide-leg pant.
The costumes of men of the later Silla court, on the urging of royalty, were
adaptations of the Tang style of official costumes brought back from China in 647.
Women’s clothing at court and eventually royalty would also adapt Tang, Yuan,
and later Ming dynasty styles; however, the traditional Korean clothing aesthetic
persisted as the common population was less affected by such fashion trends. It
was in the later 13th century that Korean royalty submitted to the encouragement
to marry Mongol princesses, after which Korean costume, particularly women’s,
was greatly influenced by the style of the northern invader.

The basic hanbok was designed and made in the home by women, until the
influence of Western clothing production. Although the elite classes and royalty
were not restricted in fabric choices, the lower or laborer classes were limited to
fabric created from hemp (sambe) plants and to some degree from ramie (moshi)
plants, which were produced in great amounts at the beginning of the Choson
period. Ramie later increased in value and quality, declined in production, and was
only attainable by the upper classes. The dominate fiber and fiber production for
the general population of the late Choson period was that of cotton (myon), which
was in healthy cultivation after being introduced in 1367.
Weaving cloth by hand and by traditional methods has a long history in Korea
with natural fibers like ramie, hemp, and silk and ranges from perfection in plain
weaves to patterns and complex weaves, which began emerging after the seventh
century over the course of the Unified Silla period (668–918).
Sewing is traditionally women’s work that was done exclusively in the company
of other women—mothers and daughters, friends and neighbors, sitting together and
hand-sewing garments, wrapping cloths, and other household textiles. Wrapping
cloths are a unique textile art that is completely functional and an exquisite example
of a range of sewing and embellish-
ment techniques; they are square and
made up of small geometrical, usually
square or rectangular scraps of fabric,
pojagi, and were used to cover items
for storage or gifts for delivery.
Embroidery in Korean history is
rich, colorful, and diverse both in how
many objects it was applied to and
in symbolic forms. Nature-inspired
motifs of flowers, trees, and birds, as
well as mountains, waves, and clouds
are some of the classic choices for
embellishing everyday or special-occa-
sion objects and garments. In the mod-
ern era, handcraft is well recognized in
Korean society, specifically in South
Korea where it is seen as artistry and
respected for its skill and expression.
Woman in traditional Korean hanbok. The five colors of blue, red, yel-
(B.T. Renkel/iStockphoto.com) low, white, and black have powerful
Korea | 411
natural, elemental, and spiritual interpretations in the Korean aesthetic and tra-
dition. Some interpretations are seasonal changes, the four directions and their
center, as well as wood, fire, metal, water, and earth. These colors can be seen on
the sleeves of ceremonial robes for men, women, and children and communicate
a distinctly Korean style. Alternating positive and negative color placements are
seen within the sleeves of upper garments, as well as the color scheme between the
upper and lower garments in an ensemble.

Traditional garments of choice for everyday were predominantly the natural
cellulose white; however, with natural dyes there were a number of colors that
were used to ornament costume. During a time of extensive hierarchical organi-
zation, class-based costume was dictated by sumptuary laws. Costume colors,
materials, motifs, and accessories reflected the status of the owner and the occa-
sion or function, and this is still true in modern times for special occasions and
festivals.
Colors reserved for those of status or for special occasions varied; purple and
pink garments can be found in the royal collections of queens, while the jackets of
courtesans or princesses were often green. Prior to marriage, a high-status woman
wore an attractive combination of a yellow chogori and red chi’ma; once married,
women wore colors that reflected their husband’s social station.
The most exquisite examples of traditional Korean costume are of the Choson
dynasty royal costumes. The queen and noblewomen had the privilege of wear-
ing luxurious fabrics of silk, cotton, hemp, or ramie, all of which were greatly
available from royal gifts, imports, or domestic production. Noblewomen wore the
Samhoejang chogori, which would have been worn by the upper-class women on
special occasions. The queens of the Choson period layered several embellished
garments including an outer ceremonial jacket, hwangwonsam; in this manner, the
chogori was not the outer layer as it would have been for women of lesser status,
except for their wedding day. Beaded and embroidered geometrical headdresses
were an addition on a woman’s wedding day and were perfectly set at the front
center of the head, with a dangling beaded tassel that rested on the forehead.
The Choson king’s robes changed slightly with each reign; however, the hon-
gnyong-po or official costume included a long, wide-sleeved red, blue, or yellow
robe decorated with large elaborate golden crests on the front chest, back, and
two shoulders with the royal motif of a dragon with five claws. The footwear
of the king was the basic design of a day-to-day pointy toe and thick elongated
ankles, but they were eloquently made of deerskin dyed black and had a promi-
nent sole.

The Korean chogori, compared to the Chinese robe and the Japanese kimono,
has basic form similarities but also unique characteristics reflecting Korean style
and aesthetic. Stylistic norms demonstrated in Korean costume are natural, sooth-
ing lines and gracefully exaggerated human shapes. In the 16th century the shape
was more similar in an A-line or fan-shaped body and in sleeve structure to that of
the Chinese robe, especially in the garments for men.
The basic hanbok for women is the ch’ma-chogori. The ch’ma refers to the
highwaisted full skirt with narrow shoulder straps that wraps to overlap in the
back and flows in slight pleats to the ankles. The chogori top is a jacket or blouse
with long curved sleeves, sohme, that has evolved to a short bolero length and is
overlapped to close right of center front and ties above the bustline with two long
sashes, korum, in a large loop. The collar, kit, has a thin, replaceable outer layer,
tongjong, of white woven material, hemp, cotton, or ramie, to protect the garment
from wearing at the neckline. The ch’ma-chogori was worn over undergarments
reminiscent of an earlier pant underlayer, and it could be accompanied by an over-
coat, dooroomakee, or outer cloak or veil, chang-ot. In place of pockets, small
geometrical pouches, yeomnang or gangnang, hung on ties and were embellished
with the embroidery of auspicious symbols.
The ch’ma skirt has changed little over time except originally it had ties at the
ankles and eventually demonstrated class or marital status. The chogori has under-
gone many alterations to the shape of the main body, kil, hem, and sleeve arc. Also,
the characteristics of the collar, armhole, panel positioning, sashes, and component
measurements changed the garment over time. Controversially revealing, cropped
lengths in the 17th and 18th centuries were popular even when women’s rights
were limited by the Confucian state. Women, however, also wore overcoat styles
that originated from men’s garments, especially those women of status, even when
the principle of three obediences gave men control over a woman for her entire life.
The hanbok for men, paji-chogori, includes the wide-leg trouser, paji, and an
earlier, longer version of the chogori. The men’s chogori length has remained more
static over time, reaching to just below the waist. Additional layers of long coats,
turumagi, or overcoats, dopo, had wider sleeves and collar, and were generally
considered as more formal wear. The dopo’s tie position was adjusted above that
of the chogori’s so that the two ties would not overlap on a man’s chest; however,
an additional tie belt, tti, that was thin and usually black was fastened around the
outside of all the jacket layers.
Although children’s clothing reflected in miniature the attributes of adult gar-
ments, including the padded socks (beoseon) and heukhye, footwear with pointy
toes, the head ornamentation styles were extremely different until their wedding
Ensemble for a Korean man: shirt, robe, socks, bag, hat, hat liner, sash, and tie (four),
c.1922. (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania/Gift of Harry A. Franck Jr., Katharine F.
Huettner, Patricia F. Sheffield, C. William Frank & Peter W. Franck, 1988/The Bridgeman
Art Library)
ceremony. Children wore a bonnet-style embroidered hat (gulle) with a number of

dangling ribbons or tails depending on the region. In warm weather women wore
a peaked hat, gokkal, made of paper or cloth that is folded repeatedly and fixed
to the hair; dark fur- and silk-detailed nambawi hats were worn by fashionable
women and offered warmth in the winter. The men’s hats are the most intricate and
diverse; there are different designs for nobles and officials, as well as Confusian
scholars and religious leaders. The nobleman’s hat, gat, was stacked onto a head-
band, mangeon, and high cap, tanggeoun, and then fastened to the head with a tie
around the chin. The wide brim was positioned carefully to sit lower in the front.
The samo or coronet hat of the official was woven with side wings out of bamboo
or horsehair, whereas the jegwan or the Confucian horsehair hats are architectur-
ally tiered upward from the crown of the head in geometrical shapes and points.
Royal men wore taller black silk cylindrical coronet and some kings wore the
Confucian jewgwan.

Body paint and jewelry in traditional Korean costume could be described as
comparatively minimal compared to those of other world cultures and include
rouging of the cheeks of women for wedding ceremonies, but mainly the wearing
of pendants, hairpins, and miniature knife accessories.
Pendants that were attached to clothing at the tie or belt level were a combina-
tion of metal or semiprecious stone and textile knots with specific meaning and long
tassels. The pendants are bundled in multiple ways, especially for wedding ceremo-
nies, but normally are either singles, danjak norige, or triplicates, samjak norigae.
Delicately ornamented hairpins were worn regularly; those of the aristocratic
or royal women included metal and jewel-adorned hairpins while more common
were hairpins fashioned from bamboo. Hairpins fit as a focal point for adornment
with the traditional but functional low-placed hair bun at the nape of the neck.
An accessory that was common for men and some women was a small knife
(jangdo), often with ivory detail, which was attached to a belt at the waist or hip
and used rarely for its original purpose of self-defense.

Through the history of Korean society, the traditional costume characteristics
have reflected the social, political, national, and economic changes of the society,
yet still maintained the religious or spiritual preferences and practices of the Korean
people. The simplicity and uniqueness of the Korean traditional costume is a rec-
ognizable symbol of the Korean aesthetic among an extensive and world-renowned
Korea | 415
Asian textile culture. Contemporary use of traditional dress is reserved for special
occasions such as wedding ceremonies, birthday celebrations, public festivals, and
a range of traditional performing arts.

Kim, Kumja Paik, and Huh Dong-hwa. Profusion of Color: Korean Costumes &
Wrapping Cloths of the Choson Dynasty. Seoul, Korea: Asian Art Museum of
San Francisco and The Museum of Korean Embroidery, 1995.
The Korean National Folk Museum. http://www.nfm.go.kr:8080/english/main.jsp.
Kwon, O-Ch’ang. Korean Costumes during the Chosun Period. Trans. Kim Eun-
ok. Soul-si: Hyonamsa, 1998.
Kwon, Yoon-Hee Suk. Symbolic and Decorative Motifs of Korean Silk, 1875–1975.
Seoul: Il Ji Sa, 1988.
Pacific Asia Museum. http://www.pacificasiamuseum.org/.
Roberts, Clair, and Huh Dong-hwa. Rapt in Color: Korean Textiles and Costumes
of the Choson Dynasty. Sydney, Australia: Powerhouse Museum, 1998.
Seoul Museum of Korea. www.museum.seoul.kr.
Laos (Hmong)
Geraldine Craig

The Hmong people of Laos are an ethnic group independent of geopolitical boundar-
ies, and their traditional dress is a reflection of the deliberate effort to remain stateless
for many centuries. Even before Chinese attempts at cultural integration precipitated
a Hmong migration into Laos and other mountainous regions in Southeast Asia, paj
ntaub (translated as flower cloth) signified Hmong ethnic independence.
The Hmong have lived in southwest China for thousands of years as an ethnic
group separate from the Han majority culture. The Hmong are a subgroup of the
Miao minority in China, although it is a commonly held misconception that Miao
and Hmong are different names for the identical ethnic group. While the Chinese
gave the Miao their derogatory name (considered to mean “barbarian”), the Hmong
who migrated outside of China have been successful in recapturing their Hmong-
language name for themselves, a defining act of self-determinism. The Hmong
language is sufficiently different from other Miao languages that it is unintelligible
to other Miao subgroups and has different roots. Also, while Miao and Hmong
textiles share a similar visual language, the patterns are differentiated by locale and
particular histories of ethnic subgroups, including the Hmong subgroups—White
Hmong, Blue or Green Hmong, and Striped Hmong are the most common.
In the mid-19th century, attempts by the Chinese to subjugate and assimilate
the Hmong led to migrations from China into the northern mountainous parts of
southeast Asia, with the greatest concentration of Hmong settling in northern Laos
and Vietnam, and later northern Thailand. Just as there had been vertical segrega-
tion in China, the Hmong in Laos chose to live isolated at the highest altitudes at
the top of the mountains in a closed society for generations. In traditional villages,
Hmong practiced a subsistence economy of swidden (slash-and-burn) agriculture
and followed traditions of shamanism and animist spiritual beliefs. In order to
keep outside influences away from their traditional society, they generally avoided
outside contacts and produced everything they needed except salt and metal goods
obtained by itinerant traders. According to Hmong scholar Dr. Dao Yang, “They
416
Laos (Hmong) | 417
believed that the teachings of their ancestors had helped them preserve a moral,
spiritual and physical harmony across many centuries and, therefore, did not wish
to risk change” (2004). One of the most important traditions was the production
of colorful handmade clothing that was strongly integrated into their identity and
cosmology, in particular ritual practices around birth, marriage, and death.
Traditional forms of Hmong paj ntaub were influenced by external sources
from the mid 1950s as Westerners who visited Laos wanted a souvenir of the fine
stitching that appeared on Hmong dress. Later there were efforts made by mis-
sionaries in the late 1960s to market paj ntaub squares and coasters to buyers in
the United States and France to obtain financial assistance. Making and selling paj
ntaub squares became a lucrative business for the less remote villages and inspired
the development of larger decorative hangings. While small squares of paj ntaub
were exchanged by Hmong in Laos as a sign of friendship—and also enabled shar-
ing ideas for new pattern designs—this was different from the “decorator squares”
that began to be produced for the tourist market (Cohen, 2000). These acculturated
textiles were removed from the original cultural context and ritual functions of
Hmong identity and spiritual protection that marked the traditional clothing forms
and were not “activated” by the same belief systems.
In the early 1960s the most dramatic upheaval to Hmong village life came
when the United States waged a secret war in Laos against communism as part of
the Vietnam conflict. When the communist Pathet Lao gained control of the Lao
government in 1975, the Laotian Hmong that sided with the U.S. CIA forces fled
from retaliation across the Mekong River into refugee camps along the borders of
Thailand. A few Hmong were given permission to immigrate as political refugees
to the United States, France, and Australia right away, but many Hmong were in
the Thai camps for more than a decade. This period from the early 1960s to the
present has been a period of highly accelerated cultural change, in particular for
Hmong textile language in Laos and the diaspora. New representational forms of
embroidery have developed for wall hangings and art quilts that have a completely
different visual language from the geometric abstract patterns on clothing. Knowl-
edge of arts and crafts as part of daily life has been severely diminished, yet the
textiles remain primary visualizations of Hmong culture and cultural change. The
population of Laos in 2012 was estimated at 6,586,260.
People and Dress
Cosmology and Rituals in Dress

The important rituals and protections connected to traditional paj ntaub are
complex and layered, spanning birth to death. A belief shared by Hmong refugee
women is that paj ntaub, especially baby carriers and hats, disguise the children
as flowers so evil spirits will not pluck them from the earth. Spirits are called dab;
evil spirits called dab qus are the kind of wild forest spirits that seek human souls
to capture or attack, especially those of young children. For traditional Hmong
religion and medicine, the root of much illness is when one of the many souls
leaves the body; this makes it vulnerable to capture by the malevolent dab qus.
Souls leave the body during sleep, and the playful “chicken soul” likes to wander
and go play with the souls of other children. The richly embellished Hmong baby
carriers not only hold the baby onto the back of the mother, but also bind the soul to
the body psychically through the material culture that is family, clan, identity, and
Hmong society. Simple silver neck rings also serve a spiritual function, believed to
hold the souls to the body and keep them from wandering. A Hmong baby receives
the first neck ring at the ceremony held in his or her honor to celebrate the survival
of the first 30 days of life (Cooper, 2008).
Creation of clothing for families by the women was in progress all year,
although most productive during the months after the harvest cycles of crops—
rice, vegetables, and opium as a cash crop for trading. Paj ntaub production peaked
in late fall as the New Year festival in early December approached. However, funer-
ary clothing was made throughout the year well in advance of old age to guarantee
that the right garments would be complete whenever the time came.
Funerary textiles were made by a young wife for her parents and her new
in-laws, with great importance attached to the textiles and their presentation to
one’s parents. They would show honor to the parents when used for their burial.
The paj ntaub offered protection and symbolic way-finding (a kind of map) in the
textile patterns used, so the deceased could make the long journey back to his or
her birthplace. Preparation for death began at birth, when Hmong fathers buried
the placenta (called “birthshirt” or “coat”) after birth in the packed dirt floor near
the center of the house pillar for boys and near the place of birth for girls (Cooper,
2008; Symonds, 2004). The deceased must wear all new clothes for the journey
to his or her birthplace to collect the birthshirt before traveling on to his or her
ancestral village. Hemp sandals are placed on the feet to cross to the Otherworld
safely, a journey backward in time to the origins of humanity where the deceased
must return before being reborn. Since all that is buried in the grave must perish
if effective reincarnation is to take place, no metal, jewelry, or synthetic materi-
als can accompany the corpse (Cooper, 2008). Funerary robes can now be pur-
chased in Hmong markets as craft skills in the current young generations diminish.
They seem to be made of all-natural fibers, unlike the polyester New Year’s skirts.
However, modern urban life and hospital births have broken traditions around the
birthshirt beyond recognition, and possibly with it contact with the knowledgeable
ancestors who can show the way.
Laos (Hmong) | 419
Extravagant clothing for a young woman’s dowry was of great importance,

as it was part of her “bride wealth” that her family sent with her to remind the
husband’s family that there was love and protection in her natal home. This is
different from the bride wealth that the groom’s family paid in silver bars to the
bride’s parents in exchange for the young woman’s care in their home (also called
“mother’s milk”) and for losing a productive member of their household since she
would now work for the husband’s family when she moved in with them. The bride
wealth, also called bride price, paid by the groom’s father also helped to guarantee
that the bride would be well treated in her new life in the husband’s home, as the
steep bride price would not be returned in cases of divorce unless the wife commit-
ted adultery (Cooper, 2008).
Although the young woman might have made many articles of clothing for
her dowry, they were considered the property of her parents until she wed and
constituted part of her bride wealth from them. They had paid for the threads and
cloth, and had allowed the young woman time away from child care or agricultural
work to produce the labor-intensive garments. The Hmong New Year was and is
most significant for young women of marriageable age to reveal new garments
New Year’s ball toss courting game in a Hmong village, Xieng Khuang, Laos, 2009.The fur and
beaded hats are a contemporary style imported from China. (Courtesy Geraldine Craig)
and display their needlework skills. Mothers and grandmothers assist with sewing
for daughters and weaving and batik if knowledgeable in those techniques. While
today most of the skirts are pleated polyester and not hemp—white or machine
printed to look like Blue Hmong batik with embroidery—the counted cross-stitch
apron (sev) and collars appear to be the traditional elements still stitched by hand.
Young Hmong women in villages mostly embroider their own aprons and feel they
should not buy them in Hmong markets (where they are available for sale).
Women would sew for husbands, brothers, and sons so they would have new
garments for the New Year festival as well, but most Hmong men at the 2009 New
Year’s festival in Xieng Khouang wore Western clothing, not traditional dress.
Although the traditional-style costume is worn by most of the young women, it
appeared nonexistent for the young men. A young male Hmong translator/guide said
that the young men don’t care about wearing traditional clothing, but when looking
for a Hmong bride at New Year’s, they still cared a lot if the woman was wearing a
Hmong dress with hand-embroidery and appliqué. He indicated one important rea-
son was because she would need to make funeral clothes for his mother.
The Importance of Hmong Dress

The importance of Hmong dress is revealed in an oft-repeated legend that
claims the Hmong used to have a written language, but when the Chinese made it
illegal to speak or write Hmong, the Hmong women hid the alphabet in the folds
of their skirts. With complex patterns of embroidery, appliqué, and batik in skirts
made of 24 feet of cloth compressed into tiny pleats, the legend gains currency
when understood in context. While the traditional designs were not an alphabet in
the strict linguistic definition, they did serve as a visual language that was under-
stood by fellow Hmong and were important in a shared history and the ritual func-
tions of paj ntaub. Geometric abstract patterns drawn from sources in nature—such
as spirals for snails or triangles for fish scales—reinforced animist beliefs and
ritual protections in Hmong village life.
The three primary reasons for wearing traditional dress were to identify one-
self as Hmong; to display the wealth of one’s family at celebrations, especially the
Hmong New Year festival; and to prepare oneself for the passage into the spiritual
world after death. The costume pieces (hats, jackets, funeral pillows, etc.) afforded
the wearer spiritual protection or assisted in recognizing/claiming an individual’s
spirit by the clan ancestors after death.
Clothing is so linked to Hmong identity in Asia that subgroups of Hmong
were and are defined by the patterns and style of women’s traditional dress. White
Hmong women wear white skirts, Blue or Green Hmong women wear indigo-dyed
skirts, and Striped or Armband Hmong wear jackets with pieced stripes on their
Laos (Hmong) | 421
sleeves. The Kohler Arts Center catalog (Hmong Art: Tradition and Change, 1985)
describes a legend that suggests how the Striped Hmong dress style originated. A
young girl lost in the forest disguised herself as a tiger by sewing stripes on her
sleeves. It was believed this protected her from being attacked by tigers, so it was
adopted by Hmong in her clan and their descendants.
Young Hmong girls began learning cross-stitch embroidery when they were
as young as five years old, and learned the more complex processes of hemp pro-
cessing and weaving, appliqué, indigo dyeing, and garment construction as they
grew older. It was widely reported that a young woman’s industriousness and tex-
tile skills were among the most highly regarded attributes of a partner when a
young man was searching for his future wife. A woman’s inventiveness in textile
pattern design was also reported to be an indicator of her future fertility in child-
birth. The knowledge to produce “Hmongness” passed from one generation to the
next is more than a superficial indication of Hmong identity, it is material charged
with psychological meaning—a psycho-material narrative of unconventional lan-
guage that constructs Hmong family, society, identity, and history with a particular
Hmong aesthetic.

In spite of widely shared patterns and design motifs passed from one generation
to the next, the Hmong maintain a high regard for design innovation as meaning
was not fixed. The use of bright colors (like flowers) has remained a distinguishing
feature of the embroidery and reverse appliqué, stitched into abstract patterns usu-
ally derived from nature. The design motifs as documented by Dewhurst and Mac-
Dowell (1984) often have several Hmong names, such as the double spiral with a
jagged interior called a dragon or rooster comb. Other motifs cannot be translated,
such as kab lij tshooj, centipede-like arachnoids indigenous to Southeast Asia, a
wonderfully animated motif based on right-angle geometry. Whether it is an image
or element drawn from the rich store of Hmong craft design over centuries, or a
derivation of a traditional form, there is always a strong Hmong palette and aes-
thetic that remains intact.
In traditional Hmong life, paj ntaub clothing was created from handwoven
hemp or cotton that had been acquired through trade. All pieces except the White
Hmong skirt were richly embellished by hand with embroidery, appliqué, reverse
appliqué (a top layer of cloth is cut and turned under to reveal another color beneath
in the negative space), and indigo-dyed batik among the Blue (also called Green)
Hmong. Batik is a process of applying hot wax to cloth to resist or block color
absorbing into the cloth when immersed in a dye bath, and the wax is boiled out
once dyeing is complete. One constant in Hmong women’s traditional clothing in
all subgroups is the approximately knee-length skirt comprised of hundreds of tiny,

vertical pleats that allowed freedom of movement. White Hmong women wore
black pants for everyday, reserving the white hemp skirt for special occasions,
while Blue Hmong wore old skirts for work in the fields each day as they created a
new indigo batik skirt for the next New Year’s celebration.
Skirts were made from hemp in all Hmong subgroups as it had the firmness to
hold the many fine pleats. Cotton and silk was used for appliqué or possibly as a
base in the middle section of the skirt to allow the finest batik work. The hemp was
grown along with other crops on the sides of the mountains. The plant fibers were
harvested in July/August, split into rough strips, softened with repeated pound-
ing with the rice pounder, then hand-spun with a homemade spinning wheel and
wound into skeins of yarn. Once the yarn was bleached it would be woven on a
loom in a simple over/under weave. The loom was constructed from bamboo and
wood and used the body of the woman to create tension in the warp threads as she
wove, a combination of floor loom and backstrap loom that was common in China,
Korea, and Japan (Cooper, 2008). Usually middle-aged women wove the hemp
while older women would spin the fibers into thread.
Another constant in all Hmong women’s traditional clothing styles in Laos is
the long front sev. According to Symonds (2004), a good Hmong woman would
never leave the house without this modesty panel as it would reflect poorly on
her character. It was often black or with a colored edging for everyday, but richly
embellished with embroidery and reverse appliqué for festival wear. Women also
wore long belts or sashes that wrap the waist many times to add fullness and were
heavily worked in reverse appliqué and embroidered designs. Today the sashes are
often lengths of bright pink or lime green cloth without embroidery and may not
be layered as full, as young Hmong adapt to Western standards of beauty of thinner
waistlines and a different profile.
In village life, Hmong women wore leggings or gaiters around their calves to pro-
tect their legs when working in the fields. The gaiters were usually plain black with
perhaps colored ribbon ties at the top, although White Hmong women might wear
white leggings for New Year’s and special occasions. Women also stitched elaborate
collars that were attached at the back of the neck like a small sailor’s collar, with
great attention to the quality of the craftsmanship and design. White Hmong women
wore the embroidery side out, but usually Blue Hmong women wore the embroidery
turned underneath. Different styles of elaborate hats, turbans, or hairstyles wrapped
around forms to exaggerate the shape such as a large bun or horns.
Blue Hmong men throughout Southeast Asia and China wore plain black
skullcaps with a bright pink pom-pom on top. Hmong men in all groups had com-
plex stitching on the ends of sashes worn around the waist with black pants. The
difference in pants between subgroups was primarily shape: Blue Hmong men
Laos (Hmong) | 423
White Hmong belts, purchased in Laos 2009, probably stitched before 1975. (Collection
of Geraldine Craig/Photo courtesy Kansas State University Photographic Services)
wore baggy pants with the crotch sewn very low, close to the ankles, while White
Hmong men wore pants with the crotch seam much higher like Western or Chinese
trousers. Hmong children, boys and girls, wore a miniature version of adult dress
except for the more colorful, elaborate hats when young.
Men and women both wore a traditional short jacket of blue or black that
was usually embellished along the neck or front overlap with embroidery and/or
appliqué for both everyday and festivals. Both wore elaborate silver jewelry hand-
crafted by the men, another visual testimony of the family’s wealth. While much
of the jewelry is now made of less expensive aluminum, the intricate designs based
on small interlocking parts remain similar. According to Cooper (2008), the men in
Laos would wear their neck rings infrequently outside of holidays, while Hmong
women would rarely be seen without them.
Most compositions of Hmong design motifs and composition of batik patterns
were based on a square unit, often framed or edged by many layers or borders. The
square unit in a batik pattern would be combined with other squares for the length
of yardage needed for a skirt. Likewise, compositions in counted cross-stitch or
reverse appliqué would use the square as an organizing design principle, which
continues with refugee makers of paj tnaub even when the symbolic meaning of
traditional design motifs or patterns is lost.
Due to many Hmong living in refugee camps for almost a decade and the
steady growth of tourism in Southeast Asia at the end of the 20th century, tex-
tile techniques, palette, and designs have changed to meet Western non-Hmong
tastes. However, traditional clothing has not changed dramatically in style since
it was not a primary sales commodity; the smaller, less expensive squares of the
reverse appliqué, batik, and cross-stitch were created for tourist price points. The
development of pictorial narrative story cloths in the refugee camps also has not
been incorporated into traditional clothing styles. Camacrafts (a nonprofit that
began working with Hmong in the refugee camps in Thailand in the late 1970s
to maintain traditional craft skills) encouraged adaptation to Western taste, with
miles of taupe and sky blue fabric becoming a standard for tourist story cloths
and reverse appliqué squares. Camacrafts has continued to insist on a very high
level of craftsmanship from Hmong producers, so many difficult techniques—
especially the wax batik and indigo dyeing—have been maintained. Because of
this market, more traditional patterns and skills that have always been used in
clothing production have not been completely lost and may survive for the next
generations.
Contemporary Use of Hmong Traditional Dress

The first Hmong refugees arrived in the United States from Laos after 1975.
Due to displacement and the resettlement necessitated by war and its aftermath,
there has been a dramatic upheaval in all forms of traditional Hmong culture, in
Laos and the diaspora. Urban Hmong everywhere assimilate to a different life
that is based on wage labor, not self-sufficient agriculture. This leaves little time
to produce the labor-intensive paj tnaub garments, although stylistically Hmong
festival dress remains quite similar to traditional forms, now with less handwork,
more machine production, and synthetic materials. The traditional design motifs as
a shared visual language are almost lost, as is a cosmology in which nature was the
connection to deeply held beliefs in ancestors and animist spirits. But of course the
Hmong have never been part of a fixed cultural tableau. Culture changes. Young
Hmong designers presented a fashion show in St. Paul, Minnesota, in November
2010 that had a requirement that one outfit be inspired by traditional designs, but
Hmong elders would not recognize (or possibly approve of) the majority of the
garments. The markets in Phonsavan, Laos, and St. Paul, Minnesota, now sell the
same polyester pleated skirts from China for Hmong New Year’s and weddings;
only the wealthy can afford a hemp skirt. No longer is Hmong identity instantly
recognizable in everyday life; most Hmong have adopted Western-style garments
or the sarong skirt in Laos for daily use. Paj ntaub production is no longer a perva-
sive feature of Hmong life, and traditional dress is reserved for special occasions
even in most villages. However, in the attempt to find new forms of meaning when
connection with old ways are broken, the psycho-material value of an artistic lan-
guage stitched in cloth may regenerate a feeling of Hmongness and ease the pain
of integration and change.
Laos (Hmong) | 425
Market in Phonsavan, Laos, 2009. The cross-stitch on garments is done by hand, but most
borders and trims are machine-made. A traditional hand-stitched baby carrier is in the
upper right. (Courtesy Geraldine Craig)

Cohen, Erik. The Commercialized Crafts of Thailand: Hill Tribes and Lowland
Villages. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2000.
Cooper, Robert. The Hmong: A Guide to Traditional Life. Vientiane: Lao-Insight
Books, 2008.
Dewhurst, C. Kurt, and Marsha Macdowell, eds. Michigan: Hmong Arts. East Lan-
sing, MI: Michigan State University, 1984.
Hmong Art: Tradition and Change. Sheboygan, WI: John Michael Kohler Arts
Center, 1985.
Hmong Studies Internet Center. www.hmongstudies.org.
Mallinson, Jane, Nancy Donnelly, and Ly Hang. Hmong Batik: A Textile Technique
from Laos. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1996.
Symonds, Patricia V. Calling in the Soul: Gender and the Cycle of Life in a Hmong
Village. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2004.
Yang, Dao. “Hmong Refugees from Laos: The Challenges of Social Change.” In
Nicholas Tapp, Jean Michaud, Christian Culas, Gary Yia Lee, eds. Hmong/Miao
in Asia. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2004.
Lebanon and Syria
John A. Shoup
Lebanon and Syria form most of the Levant in the eastern Mediterranean, which
has a long history stretching back to the Neolithic period some 8,000 years BCE.
Syria has the two oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, Damascus and
Aleppo; both proudly claim the distinction of being the oldest cities in existence.
Syria and Lebanon were occupied alternately by a number of different powerful
peoples at different times in their ancient histories including the Hittites, Hurrians,
Egyptians, Romans, and Palmyrans. In the Byzantine era, in 306 CE Constantine
became emperor and Syria was one of the most important provinces in the eastern
Roman Empire. In 330 Constantine dedicated his new capital on the site of ancient
Byzantium as Nova Roma, but it would become known as Constantinople or the
city of Constantine. Although Constantine did not convert to Christianity until on
his deathbed, his mother Helena became a devout Christian (later St. Helena) and
made a pilgrimage to Palestine in 326 to identify most of the places mentioned in
the New Testament, and her identification has remained to this day.
In what is known as the Islamic period, while the great powers of Byzantium and
Persia fought themselves to a standstill, events in Arabia began that set the history
of the region to the present day. During the month of Ramadan in 610 the Makkan
named Muhammad ibn ‘Abdallah was meditating and fasting in a cave outside of
Makkah, and suddenly on the 27th night of the month the angel Gabriel came to him
with the first revelation of the Qur’an (Surah 96 al-‘Alaq). Islam grew rapidly and
by 636 the Byzantine emperor Heraclius lost Syria for good to the Arabs and Islam.
In northern Syria the Bedouin-based Hamdanid dynasty established itself in Aleppo
in 944 and was able to rule much of northern Syria until 1003.
The 10-year occupation by the Egyptians under Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha ush-
ered in the modern period in Syrian history (ruled 1805–1848). Reforms, such as
equality among all citizens of the empire, were not popular with all of the people
and sparked a civil war among Muslims, Druze, and Christians in 1860. The civil
war between Druze and Christians in Lebanon spilled over into Syria with Muslims
426
Lebanon and Syria | 427
and Christians fighting each other in Damascus. The rioting was swiftly put down
by the Ottoman authorities, but the enmity between the Druze and the Maronite
Christians of Lebanon festered until the civil war of 1975–1990.
Arab provinces began awakening to their own history and literature, and Arab
writers began to experiment with literary forms rather than simply imitate past
styles. Ideas of nationalism began to penetrate into Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and Iraq.
Arab youth trained in institutions such as the Syrian Protestant College,
founded by U.S. missionaries in 1866 (in 1920 it became the American University
in Beirut), were instrumental in the growth of Arab nationalism. Arab nationalism
grew and Syrians were among the most active. Various secret organizations were
established that promoted Arab independence from the Turkish state, and contact
was made with the sharif of Makkah, Hussein ibn ‘Ali, who was under house arrest
in Istanbul, and his sons.
In 1908 the Young Turks or the Committee for Union and Progress (CUP)
overthrew the Ottoman sultan ‘Abd al-Hamid II and restored the constitution, lim-
ited the role of the sultan, and set up a new government that had a Turkish nation-
alist agenda. The Arab citizens did not feel the new government represented their
interests, especially after new laws were passed that required all citizens to speak
Turkish. The British encouraged Arab nationalists and in 1916 the Arabs under
Sharif Hussein declared the Arab Revolt against the Turks. Arab soldiers in the
Turkish forces were encouraged to defect, but British defeats at Gallipoli in 1915
and in Iraq in 1917 did not encourage the Arabs. The Arab forces were defeated
outside of Madinah in 1916. In 1917 the Arab army took the strategic port of
‘Aqabah in modern Jordan and opened up the way to Damascus. In a strategy of
guerilla war tactics, the lightly armed Arab army was able to strike fast and strike
again miles apart. They constantly cut Turkish supply lines, and in the spring of
1918 the British forces and the Arab army launched two successful attacks on the
Turkish forces in Syria.
The Arab nationalists tried to set up an independent Arab government under
Faysal, one of Sharif Hussein’s sons; however, the British and the French had
already signed an agreement in 1915 to split the former Ottoman Empire between
them. Syria under the French was in constant political turmoil. The French sought
a policy of divide and rule and tried unsuccessfully to exploit the regional rivalries
and religious communities in the country. In 1925 the Syrians rose in rebellion.
The revolt was not put down until 1927. The result of the rebellion was, in part, a
victory for the nationalists. They forced the French to agree to rejoin the country
into a single entity and to allow for a parliament to be elected. The French agreed
to that in 1936; however, in 1940 (in World War II) France fell to the Germans
and the large French colonial empire was left for the pro-German Vichy govern-
ment to control. Lebanon and Syria were surrounded on three sides by the British
in Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq, and in 1941 the British moved in and defeated the
Vichy forces. Syria declared itself an independent republic in the same year, but it
was not recognized by the Free French as such until 1944, when the British forced
the Free French to give up their claim and evacuate their forces. Syria was a found-
ing member of the Arab League in 1945 and of the United Nations also in 1945.
Syria was unstable during the first decades of independence, and Lebanon’s
government remained weak, allowing regional powers inside the country to arm.
Syria unified with Egypt in 1958 and formed the United Arab Republic. Egypt,
with its larger population, dominated the government and the military, which
caused popular opinion in Syria to swing against the unity. In 1961 the Syrian army
rebelled and withdrew the country from the unity with Egypt. Syria did not emerge
as politically stable. Political direction was provided by the Ba‘ath Party, which
emerged with the 1963 coup that brought to power Amin al-Hafiz as president. In
1975, Lebanon descended into a bloody civil war between politically conservative
pro-Western Maronites and Arab nationalists who were mainly Muslim and Druze.
The presence of Palestinian refugees and the growing power of the Palestine Lib-
eration Movement in the Palestinian refugee camps heightened the tensions.
Various private militias in Lebanon belonged to different political parties
and the situation reached a breaking point in 1975 with the Lebanese thoroughly
divided. By 1976 the Syrian presence in Lebanon was recognized by the Arab
League and Syria became a major power broker in Lebanon till its final withdrawal
in 2005.
The Lebanese civil war dragged on for 15 years with much switching of sides
and alliances. It was hard to know where a particular militia stood vis-à-vis others
on a daily basis. By the end of the war, the most underrepresented portion of the
Lebanese population, the Shi‘ites, emerged as one of the strongest militias, first
al-Amal and then the even more powerful Hezbollah, particularly after the Israeli
invasion and U.S. intervention of 1982, both of which the Shi‘ites claimed to have
defeated. Lebanon has been able to emerge from its civil war, but the issues of
sectarianism and Palestinian refugees have not been settled.
In Syria, the regime of Hafiz al-Asad survived his death in 2000 and he was
succeeded by his son Bashar. Bashar al-Asad began by promising a number of
political reforms, but the Ba‘ath Party’s old guard prevented these from coming
to fruition. Syria’s economy was opened up and participation with the allies in the
1990–1991 Gulf War helped end much of its political isolation. Syrian involvement
in Lebanese politics resulted in international condemnation for the assassination of
Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005. Although Syrian involvement was
never proven, deep suspicions have not been cleared away. Bashar al-Asad’s gov-
ernment faces a more important challenge from internal forces who want an end to
the regime. Violent fighting has continued since March 2011, with the UN Human
Rights Council estimating that more than 9,000 people had been killed between
March 2011 and March 2012 (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012).
Geography of Lebanon and Syria

Syria and Lebanon are the largest (in area) countries bordering the area of the
eastern Mediterranean (with Israel south of them). The population of Syria was
estimated to be 22,530,750 in 2012. Lebanon’s population was 4,140,289. The
climate is typically wet, with cold winters and dry, hot summers. Most of Lebanon
is mountainous, made up of the Jabal Lubnan or Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon or
Jabal al-Sharqiyah Mountains. The mountains of Jabal Lubnan, Jabal al-Nasiriyah,
and Jabal al-Shaykh receive over 39 inches of rainfall a year while only 38 miles
further inland yearly rainfall drops to 10 inches in Damascus.
The Great Rift system of valleys starts in southern Turkey, runs south through
Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, and exits Asia at the Gulf of ‘Aqabah, then turns south
in the Red Sea, comes inland again in Ethiopia, runs along the Lakes region of
eastern Africa, and exits again into the Indian Ocean. The whole system is charac-
terized by volcanism and earthquakes. The most fertile areas of Syria and Lebanon
are part of the river systems that drain the highlands of the Rift and include the
Ghab along the Orontes or ‘Assi River in Syria and the Baqa‘a valley in Lebanon.
To the east lies the next major feature in the area, a wide fertile plain that is
around 62 miles (100 km) wide in the north, near Aleppo, but narrows as it extends
south until it merges with the desert. The region has long been incorporated into
nomads’ migrations where in the summer herds and flocks are allowed to graze in
the stubble fields in exchange for the fertilizer the animals leave behind.
Farther to east is the desert of Badiyat al-Sham, the Syrian Desert that extends
into Iraq and Saudi Arabia where the Nafud Desert marks the end of Syria and the
start of the Arabian Peninsula. There are several important oases in the Syrian Desert.
The Euphrates forms the northern border of the Syrian Desert and the region
between the two major rivers is one of the most fertile areas. A number of dams
on tributaries and on the Euphrates are used for massive agricultural schemes for
increased wheat and cotton production. The other major waterway is the Tigris,
which brushes briefly along Syria’s northeastern border with Turkey and Iraq.
Clothing in Syria and Lebanon

Lebanon and Syria have long traditions of sophisticated urban populations open to
changes in fashion as well as ethnic and religious communities who wore (and still
wear) distinctive styles of clothes as a means of identity. In addition, the clothing
traditions are broken into two major categories of urban and rural with numerous
variations within each. Syria has a long history of making a number of high-cost
fabrics in silk and silk blend that have been used to make both men’s and women’s
clothes. Therefore, clothing traditions maintain high taste in what they are made
from and reflect the urbane tastes of the people.
Syria: Women’s Clothes

The wearers of traditional women’s clothes in Syria fall into three major divi-
sions: women from large urban areas such as Damascus, Homs, Hamma, and
Aleppo; women from rural villages; and women from the Bedouin tribes of the
Syrian Desert. Each of these groups of women wore and still today wear different
types of fashion with Bedouin women being the least affected by larger trends
in women’s fashion. In addition to the clothes, in many countries such as Syria,
jewelry is an integral part of women’s fashion and can be an important part of
regional costumes.
Urban women’s fashion in Syria has always been part of the larger, even global
fashion scene. Urban women of more recent historic times wore the same sorts of
clothes associated with the Turkish ruling elite in Istanbul, and by the early 20th
century, Western fashions were well known in the large cities. The main market
street in Damascus called al-Suq al-Hamidiyah was rebuilt and reorganized in the
19th century to display mainly “modern” clothing and imported cloth (Keenan,
2000, p. 185). More traditional clothes were sold in nearby markets such as Mid-
hat Pasha and al-Suq al-Jumrukiyah. Today, al-Suq al-Jumrukiyah sells mainly
women’s undergarments and baby clothes imported from East Asia.
Urban women wear traditional clothes for special occasions and these include
long dresses and button-down coats made in Damascus silk brocades, silk, or cot-
ton and linen blends. Damascus brocades are world famous. Queen Elizabeth II
of England’s coronation dress was made of specially ordered Damascus brocade
with a bird motif. In 2010, the maker still had a small amount of the cloth for sale
although nothing large enough to make even a shirt. Damascus brocade is avail-
able in a number of color combinations from the simplest three-up to the very hard
to make seven-color thread, which have very complex designs. Unfortunately, the
number of skilled craftsmen is dying out and may today number no more than
three in the whole country. Other types of silk or silk blend used for outer coats
are atlas and hermesy made in narrow strips of red, green, and yellow silk or gha-
bani, colored cotton cloth with chain stitching in geometric or floral patterns. Atlas
refers to a yellow and red striped fabric made in Damascus and exported through-
out the region, used in men’s and women’s clothing. The word atlas means “shiny”
in Arabic and today the term is used to describe a number of shiny fabrics includ-
ing silk, synthetic silk, and cotton. Ghabani, sometimes called aghabani, is made
of cotton with chain-stitch embroidery in gold or yellow. It was, and still is, made
into long strips used in men’s turbans or for belts, women’s scarves, or for table-
cloths. Today, it is rarely used for dresses. Hermesy is a silk, like atlas, made of
green, yellow, and red stripes and is still popular today in the region for both men’s
and women’s clothes.
Urban women wore large belts in silver or white metal decorated with red or
blue glass or agate insets. Frequently the belt’s buckle was large, shaped in the
boteh (paisley) design with metal chains ending in crescent moons or small silver
coins hanging from the bottom of the belt. They were inset in colored glass, agate,
or even turquoise and pearl beads for weddings or other special occasions (Kal-
ter, 1992). For urban women, these were in imitation of Ottoman fashions from
Anatolia.
Urban women wore a large, black outer cloak when leaving the house that
fully covered them. In addition, women, even many Christian women, covered
their face with a black gauze material (called a burq‘ah) that allowed the woman to
see but did not give others a clear view of her face. The gauze material was fixed to
the main outer garment just above the forehead; when it was lifted, the entire face
was visible. Women usually wore a headscarf even while at home but let it fall off
when there were no men about. The headscarf could be quickly brought up over the
head when needed. The scarves were made of a number of different textiles, some
with long fringes and embroidered with red, yellow, green, and blue geometrics
or floral designs, often embroidered by the women themselves, although it was
possible to buy ones already embroidered. Urban women did not tend to wear the
gauze shambar that covered the head, neck, and shoulders, but both village and
Bedouin women did and many still wear it today.
As part of their clothes, urban women wore gold or silver necklaces, bracelets
and bangles, rings, earrings, and head disks. These were as much for other women
to see and notice as for their husbands, and the forearm covered in gold bangles
was an indication of how much a woman’s husband loved her. In addition, many
urban women wore wooden clogs called qubqab while in the house or at the ham-
mam or public bath house. Wealthier women wore qubqab decorated with inlaid
mother of pearl and silver wire. The strap that she put her toes through and that
held the shoe was frequently made of silk or velvet with gold or silver metal thread
embroidery.
Village women were less in contact with the Turkish ruling elite and their cos-
tumes did not change until the 20th century during the French mandate (1920–1945).
Syria’s villages have maintained traditions in fine embroidery particularly in the
north and in the oasis of al-Sukhnah, located between Tadmur and the Euphrates
River. Other towns and villages famous for embroidery are Khan Shaykhun, Ma‘arat
al-Nu‘man, and Saraqib. Women from the far northern region near Qala‘at Saman
and Kafr Tasharim, close to the Turk-

ish province of Hatay, embroidered
and lined their outer coats with appli-
qué in atlas silk like women in Galilee
(see the entry on Palestine and Jordan).
Best known to collectors today are the
dresses and coats from Mhardah and
Saraqib (Rajab, 1989). Most women
prefer to use black cotton or a cotton
and linen blend for the body of the dress
and use mostly reds for the embroidery
with highlights in yellow, white, green,
and blue silk floss. Saraqib, Khan
Shaykhun, and Ma‘arat al-Nu‘man are
distinguishable by the color combina-
tions used, but generally women use
similar designs, some clearly based on
jewelry worn in the past, on the upper
Detail of the back of a dress, Syria. body, both front and back. Side panels,
(Courtesy John A. Shoup) sleeves, and seams are also embroi-
dered in varying degrees. Women from
Saraqib produce not only for themselves, but more and more produce dresses for the
tourist market.
The oasis of al-Sukhnah is also famous for the embroidered items its women
make. Unlike most Syrian villagers, the women from al-Sukhnah do not wear a
long, single-piece dress (fustan or thob), but instead wear a long, wide skirt in
black silk heavily embroidered in various shades of red. Under the skirt they wear
long trousers or sirwal that are embroidered in red from hip to ankle. Over the skirt
and shirt, the women wear a black, equally heavily embroidered coat; side, front,
and back panels are fully embroidered mainly in reds. The main design used is
called nakhlah or palm tree. Al-Sukhnah remains unique in Syria and the women
make use of a wide range of individual designs—that is, the meanings are individ-
ual to the specific woman. Marriage between al-Sukhnah and other nearby settle-
ments has given rise to an expansion of where the designs are used. On the head,
the women of these villages wear a black shambar or milfa’ held in place with a
headband or ‘asbah of floral cotton prints or, for special occasions, silk prints from
Aleppo.
Other village communities have developed other styles such as those along
the mountainous spine of western Syria where women have developed dresses
that reach to above the ankle and wear trousers that form fit around the lower leg
that are either heavily embroidered or flare out at the bottom. The trousers are
often made in bright red, pink, green, yellow, or white, which shows the embroi-
dery. The dresses may have minimal embroidery on them and may instead use
rickrack strips or cloth appliqué. Where much of the embroidery may be found
is on long sleeves that can be attached or detached with minimal effort to make
an ordinary dress one for a special occasion. In Damascus and Aleppo today it
is possible to buy these special sleeves separately from the dresses. The designs
include a wide selection of small, tightly made flowers, trees of life, and so on
using a number of different types of stitch from cross-stitch to chain, couched,
satin, herringbone, and buttonhole stitch. The long sleeves can be tied behind the
wearer when she needs to keep them out of the way and kept clean, or can be
allowed to swing when she is dancing. Over the dress, women wore and still wear
short jackets of atlas or hermesy silk or plain cotton with minimal embroidery or
cloth appliqué.
Women in and around the towns of Hama, Homs, and Damascus are adept
in making tie-dye cloth in what is called plangi. They use mainly dots and circle
designs and make dresses with matching scarves in red, blue, black, and green
cloth. The designs are similar to the embroidery also still found in the region, but
tie-dyeing is easier and quicker.
Druze women wear distinctive clothing in order to distinguish themselves from
their Muslim and Christian neighbors. They tend to wear a long, full skirt in plain
black cotton or a brocade or velvet dress with the front open nearly to the waist.
They wear a white or black shirt and a plain white headscarf. If wearing the dress,
they stuff the sides of the headscarf down inside the dress. On their heads they wear
a short tarbush frequently covered in gold thread with a metal disk on top or the
tall metal piece called a tantur as do Lebanese women. In the past, the tantur was
worn by recently married women to mark her change of status. The tantur is a tall
cone with two long side pieces that is fixed to the head by a cloth headband of silk
or silk brocade. Over it is placed a long cloth that reaches about midway down the
back. The tantur’s origin is unknown, but as a piece of women’s costume it is shared
with the Mongols of the 13th century, and it may have influenced women’s hats of
Europe’s high Middle Ages.
Bedouin women in Syria include styles from Jordan, Iraq, and northern Saudi
Arabia, areas where Syria’s Bedouin traditionally traveled in their yearly migra-
tions. Though few Bedouin make these long treks with their livestock today, none-
theless they remain in contact with Bedouin from these and other countries in the
region that influences their clothes as well as other aspects of their lives. Syria’s
Bedouin women, like Bedouin women in Jordan, used to wear the massive thob
‘ob or folding dress. The dress, around 3 meters (approximately 9 feet) in length,
was belted and then pulled up through the belt and allowed to fall in folds back
down to the ground. It had equally massive sleeves that were long and pointed.
One was folded up over the woman’s head and held in place by a cloth headband.
The other was tied behind the back to allow the woman’s arms and hands to be free
to work. The dress had minimum embroidery, mainly along the seams to enforce
places where the dress could tear. Over the dress, women wore short jackets in
atlas and hermesy silk similar to those worn by village women.
Syrian Bedouin women frequently wear a long outer coat called a sayah, sabu-
nah, or durra‘ah made of dark cloth decorated in metallic threads down the front,
around the collar, and around the hem. These are usually purchased in the markets
in towns such as Dayr al-Zawr, Aleppo, Homs, and Damascus, and today many are
made from imported Chinese cloth. They are worn so that the woman places her
arms through the sleeves, which fit tight around her wrists. The coat is cut so that
the sides are open and allow the woman better freedom of movement; it can be
folded up and tied to carry things purchased in the market, children, and even bun-
dles of firewood. When not being used to carry items, the coats are elegant as they
flow with the woman’s walk. Under the coat, women wear a simple black cotton
dress with minimal embroidery or colorful cotton print. In keeping with the older
styles of clothes, they often have short sleeves that are tied behind the woman’s
back. Her arms are protected by a shirt she wears under the dress.
Bedouin women in southern Syria and northern Jordan wear a distinctive
headpiece that is a large piece of jewelry called the ‘arjah. The ‘arjah is both a
headpiece and a piece of dorsal jewelry (Rajab, 1989). It has a headband of fine
metal chain decorated with a row of beadwork and gold or silver coins along the
bottom. In order to help hold it in place, another metal chain is attached to the
middle of the headpiece and is brought up over the head and attached to the back.
Where the two pieces are joined, a long, wide strip of folded cloth is attached
that runs down the back of the wearer to end below the waist. This is then deco-
rated with silver coins, usually Maria Theresa thallers (locally called Abu Rish
for the eagle on one side of the coin) and/or Ottoman silver pieces, and ending
in a large silver amulet (called a maskah) and large silk tassels. ‘Arjah are still
worn on special occasions but are becoming collector’s items due to their rarity
and high cost.
The ‘arjah and other headbands hold in place a light, gauze-like cloth called
a shambar or milfa’ that covers the hair, neck, and shoulders of the wearer. Today
these are usually plain pieces of black material, but in the past and for special
occasions today, women wear more decorated ones with a wide strip of embroi-
dery in red along the bottom. Many Syrian and northern Jordanian Bedouin
women wear a large, expensive piece of brocade cloth folded over and over and
then wrapped like a turban around the head. This cloth is made in Homs or Aleppo
and is usually called a kasrawaniyah or humsiyah (Bouilloc et al., 2009). They are
generally red, green, blue, or black in color and the lancé or brocade designs are
made in gold metallic thread. They have always been expensive and today, like
many other such items, they are quickly becoming collectors’ items. In northern
Syria Bedouin and Kurdish women still tie colorful silk scarves made in Aleppo
as their headbands. These scarves are made in a lime resist–dying process where
the cloth is treated first with a lime solution, stamped, washed, and restamped in
color. Aleppo remains the only place where the process is done, but today fake
silk is often sold to unsuspecting tourists as real silk. However, it is easy to see
the difference between the two as the silk remains soft and the whole scarf can be
easily pulled through a finger ring. The makers today use a number of designs and
invent new ones as well as using older, more traditional ones (Kalter, 1992). In
Syria, Bedouin women tie their headbands into tall cone shapes, much taller than
is worn in Jordan or Iraq.
Syria: Men’s Clothes

Syrian men’s clothes are less varied and have been more open to Ottoman
and European fashions. With the exception of Bedouin and some rural men, most
men today have abandoned traditional
fashion in place of Western shirts and
jeans. Urban men began wearing Otto-
man-influenced clothes in the 19th
century when Western-styled three-
piece suits and the tarbush replaced
more traditional forms of dress as
part of the Tanzimat movement; the
tarbush first appeared in the 1826
reform to Ottoman military uniforms.
The more traditional format worn by
urban and village men included Turk-
ish pants or sirwal, a wide Kashmir or
silk sash around the waist, a waistcoat
or short jacket made of atlas or her-
mesy silk, and a silk or cotton shirt.
Men wore turbans of various materi-
als, the cost of the cloth being a means
to demonstrate socioeconomic class.
In the 19th century British cotton and
cotton-wool blends entered the market Man with water pipe, Aleppo, Syria, 1995.
competing with Syrian-made cloth, (Tibor Bognar/Corbis)
and many men switched to having their trousers made from British cloth. Gener-
ally men in Syria wore high leather boots or a leather slipper when going outside.
Some men wore wooden clogs or qubqab in the house or at the public bath house.
Men’s qubqab are simple affairs of a plain wooden sole with a leather strap over
the foot to hold it in place.
Some ethnic or religious groups developed specific dress to set them off from
others, such as the Kurds and the Druze. Kurdish men wear plain-colored cotton
clothes, usually in browns or blacks, that consist of trousers that are flared from
waist to ankle. They wear a black and white striped or a plain white shirt and a short
jacket in the same plain cloth as the trousers. On their heads Kurdish men wear a
black and white checkered kuffiyah or headcloth that is decorated with long, thin,
straight tassels. They tie the cloth into a turban, allowing the tassels to fall down
around the turban. Druze men dress in black and white. They wear Turkish trousers
in black, a white shirt, a black cloth sash belt, and a short black jacket. On their head
they wear a pure white kuffiyah with no headband or over a short tarbush.
Bedouin men have retained more of their traditional clothes, which consist of
a long, ankle-length shirt under which are trousers. Bedouin trousers are simple
and straight legged, made usually of white cotton cloth. The long shirt is called
a thawb or dishdashah, and today many have button-down collars and fronts to
midway between the neck and the waist. The dishdashah is made of different
weights of cloth with heavy dark-colored cloth for the winter and lighter ones
for the summer. Frequently dishdashahs are purchased from urban clothing mer-
chants, and the amount of money that can be spent by the customer can allow
some of them to be heavily embroidered around the neck and collar, and down the
line of buttons.
Bedouin men wear a kuffiyah on their head held in place by an ‘aqal. These
items are rarely made by the man’s wife today, but are purchased in shops in
towns and urban centers. The quality of the kuffiyah is an important indicator of
wealth, and they run from fairly inexpensive cotton to very expensive silk and
cotton blends. The best are still made in Syria with Aleppo being a major sup-
plier while Japanese and Korean models are highly competitive. Syrian Bedouin
prefer the thinner type of ‘aqal made in Aleppo and Damascus that end in a single
long braid down the back of the wearer. These often end in a design such as a star
and crescent in twisted and braided black goat hair. The Syrian style is placed
directly on the crown of the head and is small enough not to be able to reach to
the sides as the Jordanian ones do. Bedouin men wear a large overcoat or cloak
of finely woven camel hair called a bisht (Dickson, 1983). The bisht is trimmed
in gold, silver, or colored cotton thread and, though there are sleeves and hand
openings, it is usually worn draped over the shoulders. They come in a number
of colors, black, brown, tan, and the like, and there are two main weights, a
light, see-through one for the summer and a dark, heavy one for the winter. Both
Damascus and Aleppo are major suppliers of the finished product not only for
Syria, but for the Arabian Gulf, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt. In winter, Bed-
ouin men still wear a large coat lined with a sheep’s pelt called a farwa. The term
farwa means a pelt of fur in Arabic and the coat takes its name from the pelt used
to make it. The outside is often highly decorated with couched stitch embroidery
or with rickrack appliqué. It is possible to buy the coat without the pelt and have
it lined with your own sheep’s pelt. In recent years it is possible to buy ones made
with synthetic wool.
Lebanon: Women’s Clothes

Lebanon, like Syria, was heavily influenced by the Ottoman reform move-
ment and the importation of Western fashions. The urban elite abandoned more
traditional fashions early on and even during holidays, they rarely wear traditional
clothing. Initially styles from Istanbul were commonly a three-piece suit for men
in dark colors and a tarbush. These were quickly replaced with more European
fashions following the end of WWI, leaving only rural people wearing traditional
clothes. In recent years, somewhat fanciful dress has appeared in dance troupes,
reflecting a more general version of Arab clothes than a Lebanese one.
Lebanese women wore clothes similar to their village and urban sisters
in Syria. In 1920, the French established Greater Lebanon and joined several
regions of Syria to the country. Therefore, dress between the two countries was
hard to differentiate. Women tended to wear clothes similar to those of villages
and towns in nearby Syria. Dresses were long, though not always down to the
ankles. Long trousers were worn underneath that tightened around the lower legs
and ankles and were heavily embroidered or flared open along the bottom hem
with lace. Women wore large, often white head veils, and many village women,
Christian, Muslim, or Druze, wore the tall tantur. The tantur was adopted in the
1950s as part of Lebanese national dress and today is recognized as such through-
out the Arab world. The tantur is a tall, conical piece of metal that often has two
long side pieces that fit tightly to the side of the head to help hold it in place.
The metal center can be heavily worked in designs or have red glass, cornelian,
and turquoise inlays. It is then wrapped in a turban of colorful silk cloth bound
tightly and sometimes with rows of gold or silver coins along the forehead of the
wearer. Over the top of the tantur a large piece of white cloth or striped silk is
suspended that hangs down to at least the middle of the back if not longer. There
is no real knowledge about the origin of this headpiece, though Mongol women
as far back as the 13th century wore them (Rajab, 1989). Some speculate that the
hennin of medieval European women was borrowed after contact with the Middle
East during the Crusades (Rajab, 1989). If not wearing a tantur, women wore a
head veil that was not usually as decorated with embroidery as those worn by
Palestinian women. Nonetheless, cultural conventions of modesty were followed
by Christians, Muslims, and Druze, meaning the hair, neck, and shoulders were
generally covered.
Lebanon: Men’s Clothes

Lebanese men’s dress used to
be very similar to that of villagers in
Syria. Men wore dark, often black,
baggy Turkish trousers with a wide
cloth sash belt in atlas or hermesy silk.
Men wore a shirt often of striped white
and black silk and a tight-fitting short
vest or jacket heavily embroidered in
gold metal thread. Some of the jackets
had extra wide shoulders with open
sleeves with large slits, left unbut-
toned at the wrist. In the most exag-
gerated form worn by the dragoman or
tarjuman (translators for the foreign
embassies) in the 19th century, there
was a good deal of colorful silk used
for nearly every piece of attire. Unlike
villagers in Syria or Palestine, Leba-
nese men wore a tall, brown felt hat
that came to a rounded top similar to
a tarbush. This hat was then wrapped
around the bottom with a white piece
of cloth or with ghabani and tied in
a knot on the side, leaving the ends
loose. This felt hat was adopted as
part of Lebanese national dress by the
state when it started the process of
establishing a national dress as well
as national food, music, and dance in
the 1950s. Starting in the early 20th
Man from Lebanon in traditional dress, century this hat began more and more
c. 1873. (Library of Congress) to be replaced with a kuffiyah, with a
plain white one being the most common. Some Druze preferred black kuffiyah that
fit with their general use of black for trousers, shirt, and jackets. Very few Lebanese
men wore the bisht, but it was part of the dress for even urban elite males when
visiting rural estates. The bisht, being made in Damascus, was often very costly,
made in the finest of camel hair and trimmed in gold thread.
References
Bouilloc, Christine, Arnaud Maurrières, and Marie-Bénédicte Seynhaeve. Tapis et
Textiles du Maroc à la Syrie: Tissage ruraux de la’Afrique du nord et du Proche-
Orient. Paris: Hachette Livres/Le Chêne, 2009.
Central Intelligence Agency. CIA World Factbook: Syria. 2012. https://www.cia
.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sy.html.
Dickson, H. R. P. The Arab of the Desert. Ed. and abridged by Robert Wilson and
Zahra Freeth. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1983.
Jabbur, Jibrail. The Bedouins of the Desert: Aspects of Nomadic Life in the Arab
East. Trans. and ed. by Lawrence Conrad. Albany, NY: State University of New
York Press, 1995.
Kalter, Johannes. The Arts and Crafts of Syria. London: Thames and Hudson, 1992.
Keenan, Bridgid. Damascus: Hidden Treasures of the Old City. London: Thames
and Hudson, 2000.
Rajab, Jehan. Palestinian Costume. London: Kegan Paul International, 1989.
Shoup, John. Culture and Customs of Syria. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008.
Weir, Shelagh, and Serene Shahid. Palestinian Embroidery. London: British
Museum Publications, 1988.
Libya
John A. Shoup
M any North African communities have maintained cultural ties with those
of the historical past and perhaps nowhere as much as in Libya. Much of
the clothing worn in Libya connects to similar pieces from the past from Greek,
Roman, Berber, or Arab origins. Libya, although mainly Arab today, has Berber/
Imazighin, Tuareg (who are also Berbers), and Tebu (also called Tubu) populations
with their own cultural heritage.
Libya’s history begins in the Sahara during the Neolithic period where cattle were
domesticated and where a vibrant culture developed. The ancestors of the Berbers
migrated into North Africa during the Neolithic period and may have influenced
aspects of early ancient Egyptian life.
In the west, Tripoli came under the control of the Berber Numidian kings and
remained so until the defeat of the Berbers by the Romans. The Emperor Justinian
(ruled 527–565) brought an end to the Vandal kingdom in Tunisia. The Byzantines
found it impossible to revive the ruined cities and the old imperial institutions. In
the seventh century CE, their kingdom collapsed and the pastoral nomads moved
in to take control.
Islam
In 642, Arab cavalry from Egypt crossed the border into Cyrenaica and the
region fell to the Arabs. In 663, the great Arab general ‘Uqbah ibn Nafi‘ conquered
Fezzan for Islam. The Coptic Christians of Cyrenaica saw the Arabs as gentler
occupiers than the Byzantines who had persecuted them. The Arabs were fellow
Semitic peoples with a similar language. The pastoral nomadic Berbers of the inte-
rior accepted Islam quickly, but did not accept Arab domination; but unlike in
Tunisia and Algeria, they did not rise in revolt.
440
Libya | 441
The Ottomans conquered Tripoli in 1551, effectively separating Tripoli from

control of Tunis and making it one of the finest cities in the Mediterranean. There
was a pattern of military coups until 1711, when Ahmad Karamanli took power.
Libya later became the object of the European scramble for Africa and the
Berlin Conference (also called the Congo Conference) in 1884 where European
powers agreed who would take what parts of Africa. Neither France nor Great Brit-
ain wanted Libya and allowed Italy to invade and begin its long conquest of Libya.
The Ottoman era ended when Italy invaded with the blessing of France and
Britain. Resistance to the Italians was greatest among the Bedouin in the region
of Cyrenaica where the Sanusiyah Sufi brotherhood was strong. The Italians
were forced to fight the Bedouin, who were hard to defeat. A concerted effort
was made after World War I when Italy fell to the Fascist government of Musso-
lini, who sent one of his toughest generals (Rudolfo Graziani) to Libya to bring
an end to the costly war with the Libyans. Graziani used concentration camps
where he placed as many of the Bedouin as he could find. Between 1928 and
1932, it has been estimated, the Italians killed or caused the deaths of over half
of all the Bedouin of Cyrenaica. In 1935, the Italians were finally able to crush
the Bedouin in Libya. The areas taken from the Italians were administered by the
British and the French until an independent government could be formed after
the war ended.
In 1951 Libya became a constitutional hereditary monarchy with a national
parliament. In 1959 oil was discovered in Libya, changing one of the world’s poor-
est countries to one of the richest. However, misuse of the oil revenues caused
resentment to begin to build. In 1969, Mu‘ammar al-Qaddafi, from an unimport-
ant tribe near Sirte in the middle of the country (between Tripoli and Cyrenaica),
instigated a coup and overthrew the king, who withdrew to Egypt where he lived
out his days and died in 1983 at the age of 94.
At first Qaddafi was a popular leader, but he had no real political agenda until
several years after the revolution. In much of Africa, Qaddafi was seen as a hero
and one of the few leaders that could be counted on for needed financing. In Libya,
he began to favor groups such as the Teda from the south, but actively persecuted
Libya’s Berbers, concentrated in the Jabal Nafusah, who joined the revolution
against him in the spring of 2011. In 2008 he declared himself to be the “King of
Kings of Africa” and dressed flamboyantly in African fashion, not Arab clothes.
His cruelty was known from several coup attempts where in retribution large num-
bers of people were killed. The Libyan people could no longer tolerate him in
2011 and followed the lead of Tunisia and Egypt, who had toppled their leaders in
popular uprisings. Within months the rebels had toppled Qaddafi and killed him.
Libya began a new post-Qaddafi era in October 2011 with the establishment of the
new government under ‘Ali Tarhuni to organize elections and a new constitution.
The population of Libya in 2012 was estimated at 6,733,600.
Libya is mostly desert with only a few areas with enough natural rainfall to support
agriculture. Most of the country’s rain falls on the Jabal al-Akhdar or Green Moun-
tains in Cyrenaica. The mountains rise to a height of 500 meters (1,600 feet) and
have natural stands of forest. Other parts of Libya can have no rainfall for decades
and when it does occur it can be devastating downpours.
In addition to the Jabal al-Akhdar, Libya has several other highlands and moun-
tain ranges, but most of these are too far inland to catch the winter rains common
to the Mediterranean region. South of Tripoli is the Jabal Nafusah range, which
is part of the Jafarah Plateau that separates the coastal plains and the interior. The
mountains rise to around 750 meters (2,460 feet) in height but are not able to catch
much moisture, being too far south of the Mediterranean rain shadow, but farmers
are able to raise small stock, such as goats, and cultivate olives.
Other highlands include the Jabal Akakus, a spur of the Tassili N’Ajjer along
the Saharan border with Algeria. Most of the Tassili is inside Algeria, but the
Akakus north of the oasis of Ghat is in Libya and like other Saharan mountain
ranges has important collections of Neolithic rock art. Along Libya’s southern
border with Niger are the Air Mountains and along the border with Chad are the
Tibesti Mountains, home of the Tubu or Teda peoples. Near the southeastern bor-
der with Egypt and Sudan is Jabal ‘Uwaynat that rises to a height of 1,934 meters
(6,345 feet), the highest in the eastern Sahara.
Libya also has several large oases in the Sahara that have supported popula-
tions for centuries. Jaghbub near the border with Egypt is part of the same series of
depressions that also forms the Siwa oasis. Kufrah in the deep south of the country
is an important place for agriculture and trade with Sudan and Chad in the past.
Ghadames, just inside the Libyan border at the southern tip of Tunisia, served as a
major stop in the caravan trade from Tripoli south to central Africa. Most of the rest
of Libya is Sahara and includes some of the most impressive sand dunes in the Great
Sand Sea along the border with Egypt and the Ramlat Rabyanah north of Kufrah.
People and Dress
Men’s Dress
Libyan men’s clothes tend to be similar no matter where the person is from
and consist of a long white shirt or qamis or jilbab, long (usually straight legged)
Libya | 443
trousers or sirwal that end at the

ankles, and over the shirt a vest or
short coat or sidriyah, often in black
and heavily embroidered in black silk
or cotton thread. The front of the vest
or coat has embroidered buttons and
loops. Libyan men wear the close-
fitting headwear called the chechia
or shashiyah, like the ones made in
Tunis, although Libyan men usually
do not wear the long tassel or qub-
bitah common in Tunisia. The hat is
red or black felt. Tripolitanian men
prefer black shashiyah to help distin-
guish them from Tunisians where red
is the preferred color. In Cyrenaica,
red is worn as often as black. Libyan
men also wear a tight-fitting knit-
ted or crocheted cap called a taqiyah Elderly Libyan man wearing a ksa and a black
shashiyah, near the Tunisian village of Dehiba,
underneath, which they keep on when
2011. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
inside. For outdoors, the shashiyah is
worn over it. The taqiyah can also be made of white cotton cloth with white cot-
ton thread embroidery around the sides and on the top. Men feel comfortable
wearing the taqiyah when they go to pray, and it serves a similar purpose as the
Jewish yarmulke (yamaka) or kippa. Some Libyan men wear a cloth similar to the
kuffiyah as well, and in recent years, kuffiyahs from Syria and Egypt have become
available in Libya.
The main piece of men’s clothing in Libya is a large outer cloak called a ksa
made of cotton, wool, or blend of both that is wrapped around similar to the Roman
toga. In Libya, it has ties that can be joined together at the right shoulder and the
remainder of the cloth is brought around, behind the wearer, up over the head, and
folded over the left shoulder leaving both arms and hands free. The cloak is belted
in place once the folding is set. The belts worn by Libyan men tend to be in leather,
although some are of woven or plaited wool. The cloak is expansive enough to
allow mounting and riding a horse without problems.
Libyan men tend to wear soft leather boots with stiff soles and a heel because
men, particularly in Cyrenaica, ride horses. The heel is needed for the stirrup. If
not wearing boots, men wear leather sandals or slippers. Fezzan men wear sandals
more often while the more urban Tripolitanian men wear slippers similar to their
Tunisian neighbors.
During the winter months, men in Tripolitania used to wear jallabahs made
of rather rough-spun wool. The jallabahs were similar to those made and worn in
southern Tunisia, but were generally natural, off-white (wool) and black (wool or
goat hair) in thin stripes running down the length of the garment. The hoods were
large and the piece was sewn together down the front and pulled on over the head.
The sleeves were wide, and the garment reached to just above the knees. The jal-
labah was worn as an outer coat over everything else.
Women’s Dress
Women in the major cities tended to wear an all-covering modesty garment
called a haik or safsari that allows them freedom of movement without being seen
by strangers. However, in Libya, where many are of Bedouin origin, women have
needed greater freedom of movement because they work with their hands. Libyan
women like to wear colorful clothes and choose shiny cloth with bright colors and
designs. The cloth is used to make a dress by attaching large silver brooches at the
shoulders called khilalah in Arabic and tizerzai in Berber. The dress is belted at
the waist and a second piece of fabric is wrapped around as the modesty garment.
Sometimes, the brooches also attach a shoulder drape or kitfiyah that helps to cover
the shoulders and neck of the wearer. In addition, women in the rural areas also
covered their heads with a cloth, some of rather large size and many that are fairly
heavy woven pieces similar to a rug. In the Jabal Nafusa area, the term for these
is a tajirah and they are embroidered and embellished with colorful pom-poms in
cotton thread. The tajirah are similar to the head veils worn in southern Tunisia
and most likely are from the same Berber cultural origin. Women wear a headband
called an ‘asabah of plain dark cotton or, in some cases, in dark tie-dyed cotton.
The ‘asabah can be worn alone, used to hold in place a lighter piece of cloth that
covers the woman’s hair and neck. A larger piece of cloth worn over everything else
is called a bakhnuq msarrar or bakhnug, which can be embroidered and tie-dyed.
For cut and sewn dresses, Libyan women used to follow the pattern com-
mon throughout the Arab world for rural dresses, being cut in a large “T” shape
with long, wide sleeves and with a decorated chest panel. Libya women preferred
striped cotton or cotton and silk blends. Such dresses were common in the oases
such as Kufra and Jaghbub, influenced by the dresses worn by women in the Siwa
oasis. Unlike the Siwan women, Libyan women did not spend a great deal of time
in embroidering their dresses and let the material form the designs.
Women of the large, powerful Bedouin tribe, the Awlad ‘Ali, wore leather boots
that were similar in shape to short cowboy boots. The boots were then embroidered
in purple, yellow, orange, and red cotton in floral and arabesque designs. Few
women wear the boots today except for special occasions.
Libya | 445
Young women wear traditional Berber clothing and jewelry during a folk festival in
Kabaw, Libya, 2000. (Reza/Getty Images)
Libyan women, like all women throughout the Arab world, wore large pieces
of silver jewelry that have been replaced in recent years by gold. Bedouin women
liked to wear massive bracelets 4 to 6 inches wide (10 to 15 cm) or bracelets
called dimlidj worn in pairs, one per wrist, embossed with fish, birds, or a sunburst
(sometimes called a sunflower). A distinctive necklace is called al-salahat, made
of silver crescent shapes or hilal and silver ball and red coral bead spacers. The
crescent shapes can be all of the same size or graduated from larger on the front to
smaller ones on the sides. Matching earrings are also worn.
Libyan Bedouin women wear other large pieces of jewelry, but the large sil-
ver brooches that in the past were used to attach corners of cloth to make a dress
are among the most spectacular. These are usually made of silver, but in the 20th
century Bedouin women began to have the silver brushed with gold, or those
who could afford gold bought them of gold rather than of silver. The khilalah or
brooches/pins have a long pointed pin and a semicircle to help hold the pin in the
cloth, and both are attached to a decorative silver base. In Tripolitania, the long
pin was especially long, similar to those made in southern Tunisia, while the base
was relatively small, being in some cases only a large silver coin and the other two
pieces welded to it to make the brooch. In addition, a silver chain was attached to
both brooches so that should one come undone, it would not be lost. The chain was
then decorated with silver “hands of Fatima” or khamsah or other charms to ward
off the evil eye. Today, such pieces are quickly becoming collector’s items and are
less and less made for women to wear.
Tubu/Teda
The Tubu (with various spellings) or Teda (with various spellings) are a non-
Arab people who inhabit the southern Sahara and the Tibesti Mountains of northern
Chad but some live within Libya as well. The Tubu are perhaps one of the oldest
populations of the Sahara and could be descendants of those who created Saharan
rock art during the Neolithic period. The sheep and goats raised by the Tubu do not
produce enough wool and hair to be used in weaving, and the women make their
tents from woven grass or palm fronds. They make no cloth of their own, but buy
cloth (and completed clothes) from urban merchants. Prussin notes that among
the Tubu, the craftsmen called the Azza wear homemade clothes of finely tanned
leather, which is abhorred by the other Tubu. This refers to the general Islamic
belief that a Muslim should not wear animal skins (being “unclean” and therefore
preventing men from praying).
Tubu men wear clothing similar to that of others who live in the Sahara; a large
piece of cloth that is wrapped around the head, chin, and neck is one of the most
important pieces. Color is less important to the Tubu than it is with the Tuareg, who
prefer to wear blue or white turbans. In the past, Tubu men wore a long, ankle-
length shirt and a pair of trousers underneath that fit tight just below the knee and
were embroidered. Unlike the elegant styles developed by the Hassani Arabs of
Mauritania or the Tuareg, the Tubu (who are generally poor nomads) style of dress
was practical and often they wore what was available in local markets.
Tubu women like bright colors and wear an outer garment of print cotton cloth
similar to the milhifa’ worn by Hassani Arab women or Sudanese women. Cheap
factory-made prints now dominate, but in the past, cloth from Kirdasah in Egypt or
Tunisia was traded, or women wore the cottons woven by settled farming peoples
or traded by Hausa traders from Nigeria.

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Books, 1990.
Bouilloc, Christine, Arnoud Maurières, and Marie-Bénédicte Seynhaeve. Tapis et
Textiles du Maroc à la Syrie. Paris: Hachette Livre/Le Chêne, 2009.
Fakhry, Ahmed. Siwa Oasis. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1990.
Libya | 447
Hachid, Malika. Les Premiers Berbères: Entre Méditerranée, Tassili et Nil. Aix-
en-Provence: Edisud, 2000.
Moseley, K. P. “Téda/Tubu.” Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An
Encyclopedia. Edited by John A. Shoup. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011.
Prussin, Labelle. African Nomadic Architecture: Space, Place, and Gender. Wash-
ington, DC: Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of African Art,
1995.
Robinson, Francis. Atlas of the Islamic World since 1500. New York: Equinox
Books, 1987.
Vivian, Cassandra. Islands of the Blest: A Guide to the Oases and Western Desert
of Egypt. Cairo: Trade Routes Enterprises, 1990.
Weiss, Walter, and Kurt-Michael Westermann. The Bazaar: Markets and Mer-
chants of the Islamic World. London: Thames and Hudson, 1998.
Madagascar
John G. Hall
The written history of Madagascar began in the seventh century CE when Arab
merchants established trading posts along the north coast of the island. European
contact began in 1500, when Portuguese explorer Diego Dias sighted the island
after being separated from a fleet bound for India. In the 17th century, the French
established trading posts along the east coast. The Dutch and English also recon-
noitered the island. From about 1774 to 1824, Madagascar was the port of notori-
ous pirates, including Americans, one of whom brought Malagasy rice to South
Carolina. These were the years when the island of Madagascar, and the Malagasy
people who lived there, made their debut in the wider world. Few of these traders,
explorers, adventurers, bandits, and representatives of imperialist governments,
including missionaries, had any idea that Madagascar had a history reaching back
almost beyond memory.
The first people to migrate to Madagascar were Austronesian-speaking people
that probably originated from Indonesia. They brought with them their oral tradi-
tions, technologies, like their mode of transportation, and other aspects of their
belief and customs. They had free range of the island for several centuries.
Around the fourth century CE an Asian population from Indonesia arrived on
the island. Little is known about them. Their exact origin is questionable; so is
their reason or reasons for choosing Madagascar. There is, however, linguistic evi-
dence that suggest a link between Indonesian vocabulary and Malagasy language.
In terms of material culture, Malagasy outrigger canoes, musical instruments, and
second burial rights can be traced through these migrants back to Indonesia.
The flow of immigration continued from the fifth to 15th centuries. Asians,
believed to have traveled along the Indian coast, into East Africa, and through the
Persian Gulf, arrived sometime during the fifth century. Arab merchants arrived
during the seventh century. They established trading posts along the coast. They
operated in the Indian Ocean and voyaged as far as China. From this period we
have written sources from Arab merchants and writers. They also brought with
448
Madagascar | 449
them their religion, their knowledge of divination and astrology, which spread
throughout the island. Circumcision was another practice that they brought with
them. Africans from East Africa took part in this great expansion. They brought
with them cattle, musical instruments, and games. Many Malagasy expressions
for domestic animals and material items, including clothing, are African in origin.
The first European arrived on the island in 1500. Diego Dias, a Portuguese
explorer, landed on the island after his ship became separated from a fleet bound
for India. Dutch, English, and French traders soon followed. Initially, these were
brief stops to replenish supplies and trade for other valuables. In time, however,
slaves became part of the precious cargo bartered on the shores of Madagascar. The
use of guns and gunpowder as trade goods disrupted and changed irrevocably the
political power of many Malagasy people.
The rise of centralized kingdoms among the Sakalava, Merina, and other eth-
nic groups produced the island’s first standing armies during the 16th century,
which were supplied with cannons and other firearms. By the 19th century the
Kingdom of Imerina, supported by British mercenaries, was able to bring much of
the island under Merina control with a standing army of 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers.
This antagonized the French who were seeking to control the coastal areas.
France invaded Madagascar in 1883 in what became known as the first Franco-
Hova War. At the conclusion of hostilities, Madagascar became a French colony in
September 1885. The royal family was sent into exile. Madagascar remained under
French rule until June 26, 1960.

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean along
the coast of East Africa. It is opposite Mozambique and separated from it by the
Mozambique Channel. With an area of 226,657 square miles, 1,000 miles from north
to south, 360 miles wide, and with a coastline of nearly 3,000 miles, Madagascar is
the fourth largest island in the world, somewhat smaller than the state of Texas.
Madagascar is home to over 10,000 species of vegetation spread out over five
distinct regions characterized by their topography, climate, soil, and, the most
important, the people who have adapted their ways of life to meet the demands and
possibilities of each of these zones.
In the central highlands, except in some well-watered valleys and hilltops that
have sacred value, the primary forest has been replaced with eucalyptus and pine
trees. During the cool season temperatures can be cold. The Malagasy who live
here cultivate rice.
The east coast, exposed to trade winds, registers a heavy rainfall. As a result, a
narrow band of lush vegetation and rain forest lines the entire coast. Plants like the
fan-shaped traveler’s palm of Madagascar and bamboo are common. Rice cultiva-
tion and the farming of cash crops such as coffee, cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla
are valued in this region.
The west coast is characterized by a hot, dry climate. A dry season of up to
seven months is broken by a short but intense rainy season from December to
April. Much of the area is savanna dotted by the satrana palm and the occasional
towering baobab tree. The open plains have encouraged the raising of Madagas-
car’s humpback cattle or zebus. But farming is also carried out in bailboho, flood-
plains that provide some of the island’s most fertile soil. Fishing from outrigger
canoes is a full-time activity for one group of Malagasy called Vezo.
The north receives a blend of climates from the east and west. The soil is
largely of volcanic origin and fertile for many kinds of farming, including intro-
duced cash crops like vanilla, coffee, cloves, and ylang-ylang, a tree whose flowers
contain an essential oil used as a base for perfume. The extended coastline makes
fishing profitable.
The south is the least naturally favored zone with an annual rainfall of less than
12 inches. The vegetation is stunted and thorny, consisting mainly of fantastic-
looking spiny, but succulent, shrubs and trees. Their spindly shape, along with
another plant that resembles cacti, has earned the area the name of “spiny forest.”
The people who live in this semidesert have adapted to their homeland by raising
cattle, sheep, and goats. They gain water from cactus fruit and digging wells from
the dry riverbeds.
People and Dress

As of 2012, the population of Madagascar was estimated at 22,585,500. Dur-
ing the period from 1896 to 1960, the French colonial administration divided the
Malagasy population into 18 official ethnic groups. This division was completely
arbitrary and benefited the French while ignoring the unique history of the Mala-
gasy people.
Aside from smaller groups of Comorians, French, Indian, and Chinese, the
majority of Malagasy people are descendants of ancestors from Indonesia, Arab
and Bantu settlers from Southeast Asia, the Arab Peninsula, and East Africa.
Despite these differences the Malagasy culture exhibits great homogeneity. People
throughout the island speak a single language of Austronesian origin and African
influences. All Malagasy believe in the power ancestors have over the living and
their ability to determine the fortunes of their descendants. As a result, many Mala-
gasy rituals revolve largely around seeking the ancestors’ blessings. This is one of
Madagascar | 451
the reasons for wrapping the dead in the nicest lamba that the family can afford.
Aside from ancestor worship, many Muslim practices such as circumcision and the
use of astrological ritual calendars and horoscopes also contribute central features
to Malagasy culture throughout the island.
About 50 percent of Malagasy people practice traditional religions, which tend
to emphasize links between the living and the dead. The Merina in the highlands
particularly tend to hold on tightly to this practice. This veneration of ancestors has
also led to the tradition of tomb building and the famadihana, a practice whereby a
deceased family member’s remains may be taken from the tomb to be periodically
rewrapped in fresh silk shrouds known as lamba before being replaced in the tomb.
The event is an occasion to celebrate the loved one’s memory, reunite with family
and community, and enjoy a festive atmosphere. Residents from surrounding vil-
lages are often asked to participate.
Approximately 41 percent of Malagasy are Christians, divided almost evenly
between Catholics and Protestants. However, many Christians integrate their reli-
gious beliefs with traditional ones relating to honoring their ancestors. Many may
bless their dead in church before proceeding with traditional burial rites at the
tombs of their ancestors. Many invite a Christian minister to consecrate a famadi-
hana reburial.
Besides traditional and Christian beliefs, Islam is practiced on the island.
Islam was first brought to Madagascar during the Middle Ages by Arab and Somali
Muslim traders who established several Islamic schools along the eastern coast.
Although the use of Arabic script and loan words and the adoption of other Islamic
practices spread across the island, Islam never really penetrated beyond the coastal
areas. Today, Muslims constitute about 7 percent of the Malagasy population.
Muslims are divided between those of Malagasy ethnicity, Indians, Pakistanis,
and Comorians. More recently, Hinduism was introduced to Madagascar through
Gujarati people emigrating from the Saurashtra region of India.

Despite the belief system, the one thing that has remained constant in Mada-
gascar is the attachment to cloth. Because of this attachment, weaving rose to the
level of an art form and the Malagasy people most associated with this form of
expression were the women of Madagascar. Their mastery of weaving became so
developed, varied, and widespread it became impossible to decipher its meaning
without understanding the social and symbolic importance it held for its creators:
Malagasy women. They made cloth not simply as a technical act but as an integral
component of female identity. Furthermore, prolific or skilled weavers might trade
their surplus at local markets. This economic importance was greatest in the central
highlands, home of the Merina and Betsileo, where by the 18th century full-time
weaving supported many households.
There was obvious prestige bestowed on women weavers but this reverence
brought with it great demands because people judged a woman’s skills, intelli-
gence, and industry largely by her weaving. It was a mother’s duty to teach her
daughters to weave, and a dereliction of this duty reflected badly on both genera-
tions. As a result, the act and the art of teaching required more than normal devo-
tion because the care weavers took to produce fine cloth also stemmed from the
fact that they made it not for unseen or unknown recipients but for sons, fathers,
and husbands, who were also judged by the quality of the clothing they wore.
Therefore, for Malagasy women, making clothing was a labor of love.
The traditional dress of the Malagasy people of Madagascar is the lamba. It
is said that an individual is born, lives, and sleeps for all eternity with a lamba, a
versatile cloth either handwoven or factory made, that both men and women have
worn down through history until the present day. Although there are many reasons
for wearing a lamba, it is believed that one of the most compelling is a desire to
preserve and promote Malagasy cultural heritage. Both Madagascar’s leaders and
ordinary citizens adorn lambas as a matter of pride.
A lamba and the cloth it is woven from is highly symbolic, serving both a
secular (functional) and sacred purpose in Malagasy culture. It is a traditional gar-
ment worn by both men and women and consists of a rectangular length of cloth
wrapped around the body.
Traditional lambas used for burial are often made of silk while those for daily
use are often made of raffia, cotton, or bast. These could range in color from com-
mon undyed or solid white cloth, to striped red, white, and black, which are found
in most parts of the island. Some with geometric patterns in unique shades of
green and brown are produced in small Sakalava villages. Lambas with a brilliant
multicolored, complex weave were favored by the precolonial Merina aristocracy.
Unfortunately, during the colonial years, the handcraft of weaving lambas was
all but neglected, so much so that today it is common to find printed cotton and
rayon lambas produced in India for the Malagasy as well as those fabricated in
Madagascar.
Aside from its daily use as clothing, the lamba serves a variety of functional pur-
poses such as a sling or backpack for mothers to carry on their backs while keeping
their hands free. They can also serve as a cushion when transporting heavy objects
on the head. On a more symbolic level lambas are also traditionally exchanged
between a man and woman as part of their engagement ceremony. And, on more
than one occasion, lambas have served as diplomatic gifts of friendship from Mada-
gascar to the leaders of other sovereign states. For example, in 1886, Queen Ranava-
lona II extended a gift of two detailed silk lamba akotofahana, one multicolored
Madagascar | 453
and the other white-on-white, to the

president of the United States, Grover
Cleveland. And, as stated above, one of
the most sacred functions of the lamba
is to wrap the remains of ancestors dur-
ing burial and reburial.
The term lamba is the name in the
Highlands dialect of the woven cloth
that traditionally formed the essential
article of clothing throughout Mada-
gascar. This garment is known by other
names in various regions where other
dialects are spoken. In some parts of
the east it is called simbo. It is more
than just what the name signifies.
There are many other specifics that are
involved. The color, print, and type of
cloth also vary from region to region.
In some regions, the largest lambas
(lambamena) are made of heavy white
silk and are used to wrap the bodies of
Malagasy woman wearing a lamba with a
the deceased before placing them in a
baby secured in the back, 2008. (Elia Viel/
family tomb. There is nothing neces- Dreamstime.com)
sarily mystical about this act because
the more durable the lambamena, the better its chances of surviving the natural
elements like rain-soaked earth and human deterioration.
As already suggested, there are numerous types of lambas produced in Mada-
gascar. The names can serve to distinguish the material used, pattern types, and the
ritual purpose of the garment or the intended wearer. Names vary from region to
region according to the local dialect. Color patterns are also distinguishing factors.
Because color patterns convey symbolic messages, color combinations and deco-
rative themes are very carefully and deliberately chosen. Red, for example, indi-
cates blood, fire, or royalty. Yellow is a symbol of fertility, health, and abundance.
Blue suggests excellence; green evokes plants and harmony; white communicates
wealth and the acquisition of good fortune.
This symbolic culture helped create an atmosphere in which individuals played
important roles in determining the meaning of colors and the final use of a cloth.
The colors they chose communicated definite messages that they fully understood.
For example, in the highlands for over a century, the cloth worn by the living is
called a lamba whereas when used as a burial shroud it is called a lambamena.
Malagasy woman weaving a traditional cloth, 2007. (Antonella865/Dreamstime.com)
Until about 1950, Madagascar was home to a flourishing and varied weaving
tradition. The island’s divergent ecological zones made available a wide variety of
fibers including raffia, reeds, bark, cotton, hemp, banana stems, indigenous silk,
and imported mulberry silk. Women spun, dyed, and wove fibers into panels of
cloth to be wrapped gracefully about the body. Men wore a narrow panel as a loin-
cloth, and both men and women wore rectangle striped outer wrappers. Although
this form of dress might appear indistinguishable to visitors to the island, the Mala-
gasy have a complex system of classifying cloth based on its shape, fiber content,
striping patterns, and decoration. This became more evident during the height of
the Merina Empire beginning in the 17th century.
Although there were varied uses for Madagascar textiles, because of its tradi-
tional importance, the primary article woven by women was the lamba, which con-
sisted of two identical panels sewn together to form a rectangle. The most common
method of wearing a lamba for both men and women was to drape it gracefully
about the shoulders. But it was also worn in a variety of other ways. It could be
pulled over the head to shield against cold weather and rain, or it could be pulled
Madagascar | 455
tightly around the waist as an indication of action or determination. For mourning

the lamba was worn in a distinctive manner under the arms.
Other than clothing, the Malagasy people used the lamba for numerous practi-
cal purposes. It has already been mentioned that the lamba was used as permanent
slings or cradles for carrying children and as a cushion when transporting heavy
objects on the head but, when necessary, it became a blanket to protect from the
cold. It also served as an apron, table or kitchen cloth, a scarf, belt, bedding, tur-
ban, bag or suitcase, and sundry other useful items. It could also be made into a
tent or mosquito netting.
The Malagasy were inventive in other ways. In addition to the lamba, they made
other shapes and kinds of clothing that varied according to the gender of the wearer.
Men wore a loincloth, a panel of cloth that was wrapped between the legs and sev-
eral times around the waist so that the two ends fell before and behind the thighs.
However, by the 19th century, men’s costume on the east coast included a large
smock (akanjobe) tailored with a single panel of fabric. Women, on the other hand,
wore a smaller cloth (kitamby, sikina) wrapped around the waist. Along the east
and west coasts, the two narrow ends of cloth were stitched together to form a loop
or tube (simbo, salovana) that was belted with a fabric belt. Until the 20th century
women throughout the island also wore a small, tight-fitting shirt called akanjo
that left the midriff exposed. Only the poorest of women didn’t have one.

Fiber content was another way in which the Malagasy classified cloth. Mada-
gascar was home to a remarkably diverse range of textile fibers, a reflection of the
island’s varied ecological zones—from rain forest to semidesert savanna. Because
of the historic distribution of raffia, cotton, silk, and other fibers the island can
be divided into five general zones. The inhabitants of the first four zones became
specialists in the materials locally available, and they were largely self-sufficient
in producing their daily needs.
The East and West Coasts: Raffia

The leaf of the raffia palm (Raphia, ruffia) was the staple textile fiber for people
inhabiting the east coast and the northern end of Madagascar, home to the present-
day Sihanaka, Tsimihery, Antakarana, northern Sakalava, and Betsimisarka. Raffia
leaves were cut and scraped, combed into narrow strips with a metal instrument,
and then knotted end-to-end. Preferring cloth that reached to the feet and thus
conveyed dignity, Sakalava women of the west coast made wide panels for their
clothing. They also made short, square panels to serve as Islamic prayer rugs and
impressively large panels up to 7 meters (approximately 22 feet) in length. Weav-

ers on the east coast made shorter raffia wrappers (simbo) and tailored durable
raffia smocks for their husbands. Both garments served well in the mud, rain, and
standing water of the rain forest homeland.
The Southeast: Reeds (Sedges) and Beaten Bark

In the southeast, clothing was not woven on a loom but made from beaten bark
or plaited mats of harefo (Eleocharis plantagines). For the Tanala, Antemoro, Ant-
ambahoaka, Tefasy, eastern Bara, and the eastern Betsileo, mat clothing (tafitsihy)
was the primary form of dress for men and women of all social classes. A woman’s
dress consisted of two or three rectangular mats of harefo reeds stitched together
to form a tube. It could be belted at the waist or pulled up over the shoulder. Young
girls reaching puberty, who began “to know shame” (mahilala henasty), also wore
a breast cover made of mahampy reeds. Men wore a tunic or jacket mat, with
long sleeves for older men, over a loincloth of beaten bark. This cloth, generically
known as fanto, was made from materials from a variety of trees. The inner bark
was stripped off and the fibers were beaten with a mallet. By the 19th century this
beaten bark cloth was considered the specialty of the southeastern region.
The Southeast Hinterland: Spun Bark Cloth

Women’s skilled hands could also transform the inner bark of various types
of trees into a soft, shimmering yarn that rivaled the fineness of silk. This was
achieved by the Zafimaniry and eastern Betsileo people who inhabited the rain
forests of the southeastern hinterlands. They first dried strips of the white bark
above a fire, then boiled the strips for several hours and over several sessions. Next
they washed the bark on a rock, dried it in the sun, split it, knotted it end-to-end,
and rolled it on the right thigh to provide a twist. After the cloth was woven on a
backstrap loom, it was beaten with a mallet to soften it and add sheen. This cloth
could last for five or six years and thus was suitable for wrapping the dead.
The South and West: Cotton and Wild Silk

In the south and west, cotton is the essential fiber for clothing. Today women
gin it by hand and spin it with a spindle. The Bara and Betsileo people use a high-
whorl drop spindle while southwestern women use a horizontal thigh-supported
spindle that is rolled on the thigh to create a twist. Throughout this area of the
island, newly spun cotton yarn, before it is dipped into a stiffening solution, is
called fole velo or living yarn. Other than for clothing, this cotton yarn is believed
to possess magical powers. Healers (ambiasa), for example, tied a simple strand
of it around the wrist as a protective charm, and sometimes wrapped skeins of it
around the bodies of participants in certain rituals such as circumcision.
Madagascar | 457
Another fiber used for weaving silk is derived from a type of silkworm indig-
enous to local forests in the south and west. The Malagasy generally referred to
this kind of silk as landy because of the type of tree on which the worms feed.
The preferred type of silkworm, at least in the dry forest of the southeast, fed on
the leaves of the afiafy and pisopiso trees. But it was the landy from tapia trees in
the Isalo region of Bara territory that were the most highly valued throughout the
island even though the silk was thick and uneven. It was twisted by being rolled
on the thigh or a block of wood and usually was coarse but with thick threads. And
even though it is not aesthetically pleasing it served the purpose of the Malagasy
people who made it.
The Central Highlands: Hemp, Banana-Stem Fiber, Mulberry Silk

The central highlands is the historic homeland of the Merina and Betsileo peo-
ple. It was here, beginning in the 17th century with the rise of the Merina Empire,
that the island of Madagascar and its textiles underwent dramatic and irrevocable
transformations. For example, the Merina people used a multitude of fibers to over-
come environmental limitations through trade and other strategies. At its height,
the Merina Kingdom emerged as one of the most important centers of textile pro-
duction on the island, supplying high-prestige cloth to other regions.
This transformation began, in part, with three types of fibers that were indig-
enous to the area in limited distribution. Weavers harvested hemp fibers from the
stalks of cannabis plants. The hemp fibers were left in their natural white color
and trimmed with red at the border. Dwarf banana stems were highly valued for
their fibers, unlike hemp fibers, especially until the introduction of silk from the
mulberry worm. Banana-stem cloth was as fine and glossy as silk and could be
worn only by nobles, and Merina sovereigns distributed it as gifts until the 18th
century. Among the Betsileo, however, the cloth appears to have served as ordinary
costumes for commoners.
Indigenous silkworms also made their home in the highlands. A much valued
variety lived in the forests of tapia trees that stretched along the western slopes
of the highlands. Many important weaving centers emerged near these resources.
Until the mid-19th century weaving was the single most important income-gener-
ating activity. Another option available to highland weavers was imported Chinese
mulberry silk, purchased from Arab and Indian merchants.
Colored striping was the primary decoration of Malagasy textiles and the main
criterion for distinguishing among various types and styles of cloth. Women used
the island’s abundant dye sources to great effect.
The details of the dyeing operation vary depending on the colors that are to
be used, whether natural or chemical, and the mordants they require. Care must be
taken to use the proper timing for each dye bath, or fibers may become brittle. Once
Malagasy women wearing lamba, between 1910 and 1927. (Library of Congress)
the desired color is obtained at each step, the tied threads are removed, washed,
dried, and untied or retied as necessary for the desired pattern. Methods of tying
vary and are handed down within families. As there are no overdyes, the last color
dyed is always the brightest.
The ingredients used in the dyeing process are chosen meticulously and like
the weaving itself, it is a labor of love, a skill passed down from generation to gen-
eration. Although there were potential sources for a wide range of hues, weavers
faithfully produced only five colors that were culturally named and recognized:
white, red, black, yellow, and green.
Madagascar’s textiles have gone through many changes since the 19th cen-
tury and the collapse of the Merina Empire. The vast majority of Malagasy peo-
ple dress in factory-made, Western-style clothing, shirts and pants for men and
dresses for women. Most weaving households are finding it difficult to make a
living from burial cloth alone. The demand for this is seasonal, because reburial
ceremonies take place only in the winter. Moreover, the growing scarcity of wild
silk has greatly inflated prices, putting it out of reach of most families. The price
of a silk lamba of $100 represented four months of income for the average rural
farmer. An increasing popular alternative is an imported nylon fabric that meets
Madagascar | 459
both demands of the handwoven lambamena for wrapping ancestors. It provides

warmth and it is indestructible.

Perhaps one of the most momentous events that take place among the Mala-
gasy people is the burial and reburial of ancestors. It is not just an event for the
bereaved family, it is a collective celebration of the entire community and other
relatives separated by time and distance.
As part of one ceremony, a young woman, perhaps in her twenties, accompa-
nied by her extended family, friends, neighbors, community members, and maybe
even strangers left the ancestral compound and walked to the tomb to re-enshroud
their ancestor. The festive air was filled with the music of flutes and drums. Every-
one was dancing. She was draped with a silk lambamena. Other young women
were similarly draped. In addition to the lamba, women perfected their beauty
with elaborate hairstyles. Some wore finely braded plaits, arranged in curls behind
the head or above the ears. Along with the elaborate hairstyles women wore bead
necklaces, bracelets of beads, copper, silver, or sometimes gold.
The relationship between Malagasy and their ancestors is complex. Even after
death they continue to honor those individuals who fathered all the customs and
traditions, embody great power, and can bless or curse the lives of their descendants.
Reburial ceremonies are perhaps the most important events that take place in the lives
of the living. It can also be one of the most dangerous if not managed respectfully.
Although the prospects for the future look bleak for handwoven cloth, it is not
true in every sense. For Malagasy cloth is both social and sacred, and necessary. It
is one of the most compelling aspects of their cultural heritage. The Malagasy are
born, live, and sleep for all eternity with their lamba.

Brown, Mervyn. A History of Madagascar. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Pub-
lishers, 2002.
Campbell, Gwyn. An Economic History of Imperial Madagascar, 1750–1895: The
Rise and Fall of an Island Empire (African Studies). London: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 2008.
Goodman, Steven M., and Jonathan Benstead. The Natural History of Madagas-
car. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2007.
Kreamer, Christine Mullen, and Sarah Fee. Objects as Envoys: Cloth, Imagery, and
Diplomacy in Madagascar. Washington, D.C./Seattle: Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of African Art in association with the University of Washing-

ton Press, 2002.
Kusimba, Chapurukha M., J. Claire Odland, and Bennet Bronson. Unwrapping the
Textile Traditions of Madagascar. Los Angeles: Field Museum and the UCLA
Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 2004.
Raddrianaja, Solofo, and Stephen Ellis. Madagascar: A Short History. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2009.
Tyson, Peter. The Eighth Continent: Life, Death and Discovery in the Lost World
of Madagascar. New York: William Morrow, 2000.
Malaysia
Stephanie Ho and Jaime Koh
Until the 15th century, the Malay Archipelago—which includes the country that
is now Malaysia—was ruled by a succession of kingdoms and empires, such as
Srivijaya, Langkasutra, and Majapahit. One of the most significant empires was
the Malacca sultanate, founded by Parameswara, a prince from Palembang, around
the year 1400. Parameswara, also known as Iskander Shah, had founded the city of
Malacca after fleeing the ancient kingdom of Singapura (present day Singapore).
The Malacca sultanate’s wealth and power was built on the foundation of flourish-
ing trade. Its rule extended over the south of the Malay Peninsula and much of
Sumatra. It was also from Malacca that Islam spread throughout the region.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to set foot on the Malay Peninsula,
arriving in Malacca in 1509 on a trade mission. Two years later, in 1511, they
defeated the Malacca sultanate and established Portuguese rule in the city. In 1641,
Portuguese Malacca fell to the Dutch. As part of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824,
the Dutch handed Malacca over to the British, who in return relinquished control
over several islands in today’s Indonesia to the Dutch.
From the 19th century, the British established varying levels of control over
the Malay states and North Borneo mainly for the purpose of trade and commerce.
Malaya then was a grouping of largely independent states with their own local
rulers or sultans. By the early 20th century, the Malay Peninsula could be catego-
rized into several groups: the federated states, administered under the advice of a
British resident (Perak, Pahang, Selangor, Negri Sembilan); the unfederated states,
which had relative autonomy (Terengganu, Kelantan, Perlis, Kedah, Johore); and
the Straits settlements that were under direct British rule (Penang, Singapore, and
Malacca). Sabah and Sarawak on the island of Borneo were British protectorates.
After World War II, the Malay states were amalgamated and jointly adminis-
tered first as the Malayan Union, and two years later, in 1948, as the Federation
of Malaya. The federation was granted independence from the British in 1957. In
1963, Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak joined the federation to form the Federation
461
of Malaysia, but Singapore left the federation two years later to become an inde-
pendent nation.
Geography and Climate

Malaysia, located in Southeast Asia, is spread over 127,320 square miles just north
of the equator. Its neighbors include the island of Singapore to the south and the
islands of Indonesia to the west and southeast. Malaysia is a federation of 13 states
and three federated territories. Of the 11 states, two—Sabah and Sarawak—are
located on the island of Borneo, separated from the mainland by the South China
Sea. Sabah and Sarawak share borders with the Indonesian state of Kalimantan and
the Sultanate of Brunei.
Located near the equator, Malaysia’s climate is tropical, characterized by high
humidity (average 84 percent), high temperatures (average 80.2oF), and heavy
rainfall (average about 79 to 98 inches a year, or 2,000 mm to 2,500 mm annually).
Rainfall is typically most heavy during the monsoon seasons—the southwest mon-
soon from April to October and the northeast monsoon from October to February.
More than half of Malaysia’s land area is covered in tropical rain forest. The
country is also rich in natural resources such as tin, petroleum, timber, copper, iron,
ore, natural gas, and bauxite.
People and Dress

Malaysia is a multiethnic and multireligious society. Its population of 28.3 mil-
lion people (as of 2010) are made up of four major ethnic groups: the Malays (63.1
percent), indigenous tribes (4.3 percent), Chinese (24.6 percent), Indians (7.3 per-
cent), and minority groups such as the Eurasians and Peranakans (Department of
Statistics, 2011). The Malays and indigenous tribes are regarded as bumiputra—the
“sons of the soil,” the native. Islam is the official religion and has a strong influ-
ence on Malay dress. In adherence to Islamic requirements of modesty, most Malay
women dress in garments that cover their entire body except for their hands and face.
The indigenous tribal communities—mostly found in Sabah and Sarawak—
live in the rain forests or along the coasts. They were originally animists who wor-
shipped nature and animals, although many have since converted to Christianity.
Pockets of Chinese and Indians have lived in Malaysia for centuries although
the largest migration occurred during the 19th century. The Chinese and Indians
were attracted by the trading and economic opportunities under the British colonial
administration. In Malaysia, the Chinese and Indians claim allegiances to diverse
Malaysia | 463
religions: various Chinese religions including Confucianism, Buddhism, Hindu-

ism, and Christianity.
Some early Chinese migrants intermarried with the local Malay women, and
their offspring have come to be known as Peranakan (meaning local born). The
Peranakan communities live mainly in Malacca and Penang and boast a hybrid
Malay-Chinese culture. Most practice Chinese religion although they share simi-
larities with the Malays in language, food, and dress. Another ethnic group of
mixed ancestry are the Eurasians who claim both European and Asian descent.
History of Dress
Malaysia’s earliest inhabitants were probably attired like the Orang Asli—the
indigenous tribal people who inhabit the remote forests of Malaysia. Their gar-
ments were derived mainly from their natural environment. The men wore loin-
cloths make from the bark of trees and the women wore skirts made from leaves or
roots. Other accessories such as headdresses or necklaces were made from leaves,
flowers, roots, rattan, and vines and were worn for their supposed magical powers.
The indigenous tribes in Sabah and Sarawak were similarly attired. William
Krohn, an American who visited Borneo in the 1920s, observed that tribal men
wore three types of garments—a loincloth made from tree bark, a seat mat made
from animal skin or woven cane, and a rattan hat covered in animal skin and/or
feathers. Photographs of tribal women also show them with nothing worn on top
and only a piece of cloth tied around their waist. Children were shown running
around unclothed.
Although their daily dress may be simple, the tribes developed elaborate cos-
tumes for religious ceremonies and rituals. The costumes are also an important part
of tribal identity.
The Iban, one of the largest tribes in Sarawak, have a distinct type of ceremonial
costume. The Iban warrior wears a jacket (kelambi) of either woven cotton or bark
cloth, often embroidered with motifs embedded with special meaning; a loincloth
called a sirat that can measure up to six yards; and a rattan cap with feathers. The
Iban woman wears a heavily embellished tube skirt known as a bidang. It usually
has elaborate patterns, with beads and shells sewn on the skirt and bells, tassels,
and coins added to the fringes. The rest of the costume consists of a corset made
of rattan finished in silver or brass known as the rawai, a beaded collar, and a sash.
Traditional costumes have been affected by modernity and Westernization. The
conversion to Christianity and Islam meant that some costumes have to be adapted
to fit new conceptions of modesty. For daily wear, tribal people are more often
seen in factory-made T-shirts and shorts than a loincloth. Ceremonial wear only
makes an appearance during festivals and now incorporates modern components.
Machine-woven cloth has replaced

handwoven textiles, and mass-pro-
duced sequins, beads, and gold and sil-
ver thread are used as embellishments.
The Malays wore different clothes
depending on their rank and wealth.
As Malacca was a well-known trad-
ing port, the Malaccan royalty and
people had access to a variety of tex-
tiles from China and India. The tradi-
tional costume of the time was the baju
kurong—a long-sleeved shirt worn
over a full-length sarong.
Although the concept was essen-
tially the same, there were regional
differences in how the baju kurong
was made and worn. The baju kurung
Teluk Belanga, for instance, was said
to have been developed in the early
Malay girl wearing baju kurung. (Rusdi Yahya/
Dreamstime.com)
1800s in an area known as Telok
Belanga in Singapore, then the seat of
the Johor sultanate. The tunic had a round neckline and stretched below the knees.
Paired with a sarong, it was worn by both men and women. Some time later, a
modified style known as the baju kurung cekak musang emerged. This baju had a
1.5-inch (4 cm) collar and three pockets. It was worn with a pair of trousers and
a sarong.
The Malay women in Malacca traditionally wore a long and loose-fitting top
known as the kebaya or baju panjang, fastened in the front with pins or brooches
known as the kerosang. The long kebaya is worn over a folded sarong fastened
with a girdle or belt. It is said to have been introduced by the Portuguese.
Besides the Malay women, the Peranakan women also wore the kebaya. The
difference is mainly in the kebaya (fitted top); the Peranakan version is often elabo-
rately embroidered and revealing and is often trimmed with lace and made of sheer
or translucent material, showing off a camisole underneath or, since the late 20th
century, a bra. In addition, the kebaya is only part of an ensemble that includes
matching jewelry and shoes. Given the wealth of the Peranakans, the kebaya top
is held together not by buttons but by a set of three ornate gold brooches, often
with embedded diamonds or precious stones (kerosang); the batik sarong is held
together by a silver linked belt. This outfit is combined with hand-beaded slippers
known as kasut manek.
Malaysia | 465
Malaysian Muslims wear traditional baju melayu at a mosque in Kuala Lumpur, 2009.
(Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters/Corbis)
Away from the cities, Malay clothing was more casual. W. A. Graham, who
visited the northern state of Kelantan at the turn of the 20th century, noted that the
Malay man typically wore a sarong tied around his waist and slung another over his
shoulder. He went about barefoot. The women tied the sarong around their bosom
in a fashion known as berkemban, like the word kemben, a piece of batik worn
in a similar fashion in Indonesia. The practice of wearing the berkemban, how-
ever, faded as religious consciousness grew. Sultan Mansur, who ruled Kelantan
between 1890 and 1899, declared that any women caught wearing the berkemban
in public would be smeared in mud. The women were supposed to wear clothes
that covered their hair and shoulders. In some instances Malay women wore three
sarongs: one tied around the waist and hanging down to the ankle, the second tied
underneath the arms to cover the bosom and hanging down to below the buttocks,
the third serving as a scarf to cover the head, face, and shoulders.
The baju kurong continues to be the basis for Malaysia’s official dress today,
although the style has since evolved. Malaysia’s national dress is the baju melayu
for the men and baju kurong for the women. The baju melayu consists of a long-
sleeved shirt with a raised collar and a pair of trousers. A kain samping, a short
sarong, is often worn over the trousers. The baju kurong consists of a collarless
long-sleeved tunic worn over a full-length skirt.
The majority of Chinese in Malaysia were peasants from southern China who
dressed simply. Laborers or coolies wore comfortable, loose-fitting shorts and a
plain shirt or a singlet, while the women did their work in a cotton trouser suit
known as a samfu. The sam is an upper garment with a mandarin collar and sleeves
of varying lengths. The garment has an asymmetrical front opening sloping toward
the right underarm that is fastened either by Chinese frog buttons or by metallic
snaps. It was worn with a fu, a pair of ankle-length trousers.
As the Chinese became wealthier, they began to adopt the fashion of the Chi-
nese elite. Rich Chinese men wore long silk tunics buttoned at the neck, with silk
trousers, and their wives wore the cheongsam. The term cheongsam originally
meant a loose-fitting long dress that could be worn by both men and women. Men
often wore it with a pair of trousers and women with a long skirt. By the 20th cen-
tury, the cheongsam evolved into a high-collared, figure-hugging dress with cap
sleeves. The dress had two side slits, and the hem fell just below the knee.
The Chinese community has generally abandoned traditional ways of dressing
except during Chinese New Year and at formal occasions such as weddings. Despite
giving up traditional garb, some Chinese still observe cultural fashion norms that
encourage the wearing of bright and “lucky” colors such as red and orange for the
Chinese New Year and avoiding them for mournful occasions such as funerals.
Most Indians in Malaysia originated from southern India where the traditional
dress is the dhoti for men and the sari for women. The dhoti is a lower garment
for men draped to form front pleats. It is usually worn with a shirt or a loose long-
sleeved shirt known as the kurta or nothing at all. The sari is essentially a piece
of cloth, about 6 to 9 yards in length, wrapped around the waist several times and
then draped over the shoulders. The sari is usually worn with a short, tight blouse
known as the choli. In the early 20th century, the choli had a high neckline and
long sleeves, but since the 1960s it has become shorter, with sleeves ending above
the elbow and the choli itself ending above the navel. Wealthier Indian women also
typically wear the sari with gold jewelry ranging from hairpieces, earrings, and
necklaces to wrist and ankle bangles.
In more recent times, the Indians also wear a northern-influenced blouse and
pant combination known as the salwar kameez or Punjabi suit. The salwar is a pair
of drawstring pants, usually narrow at the ankle, while the kameez is a long tunic
with side seams usually left open below the waistline.

Before the availability of commercial textiles, tribal communities spun cloth
out of materials in their environment using natural fibers from vegetables and fruits
such as pineapple, plantain, and palm. They also used the bark from trees such as
Malaysia | 467
the breadfruit tree and the ipoh tree. The inner tree bark is stripped and pounded till
soft. Then it is made into garments such as jackets and loincloths.
Subsequently most textiles were hand-spun or woven on a hand loom. One of
the most common weaving techniques used in Malaysia (and throughout Southeast
Asia) is the ikat method. The word ikat means to tie or to bind. Generally ikat cloth
is made by first dyeing spools of yarn, which are then woven. The yarn is first tied
into bundles, which may be covered in wax or bound by dye-resistant materials
so that selected areas would not be colored. This resist-dye procedure is repeated
depending on the colors desired. Once ready, the yarn is then woven.
The two main types of ikat techniques are the warp-ikat and the weft-ikat. In
warp-ikat, the dyed yarns are used as the lengthwise yarn, which is tied across the
loom. In weft-ikat, the dyed yarn is used as the weft, which is drawn through the
warp to create the cloth. One variation of the ikat method is the double-ikat, in
which both the weft and the warp are colored and used in combination to create
the ikat cloth.
The most treasured fabric for the Malays is kain songket, often worn by roy-
alty, and used for ceremonial attire worn at weddings and official functions. The
fabric is woven on a floor loom called a kek tenun that is operated by two transverse
foot pedals. Gold and silver threads from France or Japan are interwoven with silk
yarn from China and cotton yarn from Japan, and the richness of the gold thread
is highlighted by using maroon, brown, and blue as base colors. Songket weaving
is mainly done on the east coast states of Kelantan and Terengganu. It can take a
weaver about six to eight hours a day to weave an intricately patterned sarong.
In the Iban culture, woven cloth was as important to the women as trophy
heads were to the male headhunters. The better the women were at weaving, the
higher their status. The Iban women used the sungkit method to produce the highly
prized pua (ceremonial blankets). This technique required the use of a needle to
wrap colored threads around the warp at the intersection of the weft in order to
create an almost identical pattern on both sides of the cloth. The motifs and pat-
terns used in their textiles were drawn from the natural environment and served as
a visual record of tribal beliefs and values.
Batik is one of the most recognizable textile traditions. Although the people of
Malaysia have worn batik since the ninth century, they did not produce batik until
the 20th century. Until then, most of the batik was imported from Indonesia, where
it originated.
There are two main techniques used to create batik textiles. The most tradi-
tional method is by hand-painting. Using a pen-like instrument known as a cant-
ing, the artist draws a design with molten wax on a piece of cloth that has been
stretched taut over a wooden frame. Once the design is completed, she then paints
the fabric with colored dyes with a brush or a sponge. After the fabric is dried, the
cloth is treated with sodium silicate, after which it is washed to remove the wax
and excess colors.
The other technique is block printing. Once a design for the cloth is deter-
mined, it will be shaped into a block with copper, brass, or tin. The design block
is dipped into wax and stamped onto the cloth. The stamping is repeated until the
whole cloth is covered with the design. After that, the cloth is dipped into a dye
bath and hung to dry. The process of dyeing and drying is repeated, depending on
the number of colors needed. Once the entire process is completed, the cloth is
washed in boiling water to remove the wax.

Today, Western forms of clothing ranging from T-shirts and jeans to formal
business suits are popular everyday wear in Malaysia, as in many urban areas in the
world. Although some people do wear their ethnic dresses regularly, they are most
often seen during festive occasions and festivals.
Weddings, in particular, are times when traditional dress in the finest materi-
als is favored. A Malay wedding will see the bridal couple decked out in the full
Malay regalia for the day as “king and queen.” It is the only time that commoners
are allowed to wear the royal color of yellow. The guests also come in their baju
melayu and baju kurong. At Chinese weddings, it is not unusual for the bride to
have two wedding gowns: a white one in the Western tradition, and a kwa for the
Chinese tea ceremony. The kwa is an impressive two-piece outfit, typically red and
decorated with gold and silver embroidery with dragon and phoenix motifs.
Component Parts
Headgear is important for Malay men and women. Malay men often wear a
songkok, a traditional Malay hat that resembles a brimless cap. This can be made
from cotton or velvet, and designs range from plain black to batik prints. Some of
the more elaborate songkoks have embroidery, and these are often worn during
festive, formal, or religious occasions. A man who has performed the haj to Mecca
wears a white songkok.
Royalty and aristocrats wear a folded headdress known as a tengkolok during
ceremonial occasions. Bridegrooms wear this on their wedding day. Made out of a
folded rectangular piece of cloth, usually songket, it is worn differently depending
on a person’s social status. The Malay sultans typically have the state crest on their
tengkolok.
Many Malay women wear a headscarf known as a tudung. Although the tudung
is worn mainly for modesty purposes, they need not be dull. There are a wide
Malaysia | 469
Many Muslim women in Malaysia don the tudung as part of their everyday wear. (Photo
by Jaime Koh)
variety of tudung designs, ranging from the highly sequined and beaded or floral
patterned to plain black.

Tattooing was a traditional practice for many of the indigenous tribes, but it
has begun to die out with modernization. In the past, tattoos were believed to have
strong curative or protective powers. Both men and women would have tattoos. An
Iban warrior would typically have a collage of powerful images on his back that
celebrated his hunting prowess such as the hornbill, scorpion, and water snake. In
the Kayan group, girls were tattooed at puberty as recognition of their status as an
adult, to attract men, and to provide protection against evil spirits.

Modern technology has made traditional outfits more affordable and wearable.
For example, in the sarong kebaya worn by Malay and Peranakan women, the
beautiful kerosangs on the kebaya have been replaced by press studs and the silver
belt by a waistband and zipper on the sarong. In addition, the modern Malaysians
often integrate traditional dress with modern clothes. In the cities of Malaysia, it is
not uncommon to see modern women wear the kebaya or baju top with jeans and
high heels. Ethnic dress also serves as an inspiration for fashion designers. The
form-fitting style of the sarong kebaya is the inspiration for the uniforms of the air
stewardesses on Malaysia’s national airlines.

Andaya, Barbara Watson, and Leonard Andaya. A History of Malaysia (2nd ed.).
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001.
Chin, Lucas, and Valerie Mashman, eds. Sarawak Cultural Legacy. Sarawak: Soci-
ety Atelier Sarawak, 1991.
Department of Statistics, Malaysia. http://www.statistics.gov.my/portal/index.php
?option=com_content&view=article&id=1215%3Apopulation-distribution
-and-basic-demographic-characteristic-report-population-and-housing-census
-malaysia-2010-updated-2972011&catid=130%3Apopulation-distribution-and
-basic-demographic-characteristic-report-population-and-housing-census
-malaysia-2010&lang=en. Accessed December 2, 2011.
Guynup, Sharon. Painted Past: Borneo’s Traditional Tattoos. National Geographic
Channel website. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0618_
040618_tvtattoo.html.
Hood Salleh, ed. Encyclopedia of Malaysia, Volume 12: Peoples and Traditions.
Malaysia: Archipelago Press, 1998.
Krohn, William O. In Borneo Jungles: Among Dyak Headhunters. Malaysia:
Oxford University Press, 1991.
Lu, Sylvia Fraser. Handwoven Textiles of Southeast Asia. Singapore: Oxford Uni-
National Art Gallery. Baju + Sarong: Dressing a Nation. Kuala Lumpur: National
Art Gallery, 2002.
Ong Liang Bin, Edric. “Sarawak Costume.” In Lucas Chin and Valerie Mashman,
eds. Sarawak Cultural Legacy. Sarawak: Society Atelier Sarawak, 1991.
Zubaidah Sual. “The Malay Costumes.” In Khunying Maenmas Chavalit and
Maneepin Phromsuthirak, eds. Costumes in ASEAN. Bangkok: ASEAN Com-
mittee on Culture and Information, 2000.
Mauritania
Keri Cavanaugh

The Islamic Republic of Mauritania is located on the Atlantic Ocean in North
Africa. It shares a border with Senegal, Western Sahara, Algeria, and Mali. Mauri-
tania was named after the Roman territory of Mauritania. Ironically, the borders of
modern-day Mauritania do not overlap with the borders of Roman Mauritania. The
largest city and the capital is Nouakchott. Aside from the short Atlantic coastline,
the climate in Mauritania is generally hot and dry. Mauritania is largely covered
by the Sahara Desert, which makes much of the land unhospitable. The population
density is only about eight people per square mile, making it the ninth least dense
country in the world.
Today, the population is a mix of Arabs, black Africans, and Afro-Arabs, but
in ancient times the population was made up of nomadic Berbers who were part
of the Ghana Empire. In 1076, Moorish Islamic warriors conquered modern-day
Mauritania. The Beni Hassan tribe fought against the Arabs in the Mauritanian
Thirty-Year War from 1644 to 1674 in the final act of resistance by native black
Africans but lost. Since then the population has become Arabized and nearly half
of the population is of mixed race through intermarriage.
France began assuming control of areas in modern-day Mauritania in the
early 19th century because of their strategic location on the Senegal River. It
was a French colony from 1904 to 1960. The population remained largely poor
and nomadic with little infrastructure but did benefit from the French coloniz-
ers outlawing slavery and interclan warfare, ushering in a period with few racial
tensions. After independence from the French, there were severe droughts in
the 1970s, which reignited racial tensions, and a caste system was reinstated in
which the Arab Moors ruled and the “Black Africans” were treated as a lower
caste and sometimes even enslaved. Slavery in Mauritania is an ongoing issue
drawing international attention. According to some estimates by international aid
organizations, there may be as many as 600,000 people enslaved in Mauritania.
With the caste system that developed, there was also an effort since the 1970s to
471
Arabize the entire population. Arabic is the official language and aside from a
very small group of Catholic worshippers, the population is nearly 100 percent
Muslim.
In 1976, Mauritania and Morocco each annexed a portion of Western Sahara, a
disputed territory located on the Atlantic Ocean between Mauritania and Morocco.
After several military losses from 1976 to 1979 to an Algerian-backed militia
(the Polisario, who were seeking independence for the native population in West-
ern Sahara, the Sahrawi), Mauritania resigned its portion of Western Sahara to
Morocco. The dispute over Western Sahara continues today even though there
has been a United Nations–sponsored cease-fire in effect since 1991. Injuries and
deaths still occur as a result of the many old landmines throughout the territory. As
a result of the war there are an estimated 100,000 Sahrawi refugees in Algeria and
tens of thousands of Moroccans have been displaced from Algeria. Since Maurita-
nia retreated in 1979, it has remained largely neutral. The official stance is that it
wishes to have an expedient solution mutually agreeable to all parties.
Mauritania’s relationship with the United States and European nations has
been anything but smooth. It publicly sided with Iraq in the first Iraq-U.S. war in
1991, which weakened its relationship with the United States and other Western
countries. The United States did not maintain an embassy and therefore had no
official diplomatic relationship with Mauritania from 1991 to 1999. Mauritania’s
relationship with the United States and other Western countries has improved since
1999 when an agreement was reached with the United States establishing a full
diplomatic relationship. Mauritania also became one of only four countries in the
Arab League to officially recognize Israel, which further withdrew it from political
isolation with the West.
Today Mauritania is an Islamic republic led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. In
1992, the democratic process was adopted, and the first presidential election was
held after many years of military rule. The 2003 presidential elections were signifi-
cant because presidential candidates included the country’s first female candidate
and the first candidate from the Haratine or slave class, though neither won the
election. A coup in 2005 restored military rule until 2007 when Sidi Ould Cheikh
Abdallahi was elected by democratic vote. General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz,
who was the head of the Presidential Guard under Abdallahi, organized a coup in
2008 after being dismissed from his position by Abdallahi and assumed control. As
a result of the coup, Mauritania has returned to some of its political isolation. Many
Western countries canceled aid projects in protest of Abdallahi’s imprisonment
and Abdel Aziz’s administration’s denouncement of Israel. In 2009, Abdallahi for-
mally resigned under pressure and was released from prison and is now held under
house arrest. These changes paved the way for Abdel Aziz to be officially elected
president (although some still dispute the legitimacy of the election), and he is now
Mauritania | 473
generally accepted as the leader by Western countries including the United States.
The population of Mauritania in 2012 was estimated at 3,359,200.
Mauritania is a vast, flat country. Over 75 percent of the country is categorized
as desert or semidesert. It is the 29th largest country in the world, similar in size to
Egypt or about three times the size of New Mexico. Plateaus mark the landscape
in the center of the country but it is still very dry and arid. The highest point in the
country is Kediet ej Jill at 3,281 feet. Spring-fed oases can be found around many of
the plateaus but it is otherwise dry with few lakes or rivers. Mauritania, along with
other countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa, has faced an increase in droughts
since the 1960s as climate change has caused the Sahara Desert to expand rapidly.
Despite the many mineral deposits (iron ore accounts for 50 percent of exports
from Mauritania) and the discovery of oil in Mauritania in 2001, it remains one
of the poorest countries in Africa. The harsh desert climate has made it difficult
to capitalize on the natural resources. Most Mauritians are subsistence farmers or
raise livestock. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, repeated droughts forced many
nomads and agriculture workers into the capital, Nouakchott. It is estimated that
over 40 percent of the population now lives in an urban area. Unemployment in
urban areas is high, but sporadic work can be found selling merchandise at markets
or working at the nearby deep sea port. Although the waters along the coastline
were once rich with fish, the economy sees little benefit because the waters have
long been overfished and exploited.
Of the more than 3 million Mauritians, approximately 40 percent are mixed
Arab and black. The remaining 60 percent are split almost equally between Arabs
and blacks with a very small percentage of French and Spaniards. Despite the dif-
ferent ethnic backgrounds, the country is 99 percent Muslim (Sunni). Arabic is the
official language, but French is spoken among the educated class. Tribal languages
including Pulaar, Soninke, Imraguen, and Wolof are still spoken in rural areas.
Life expectancy is low (about 54 years) and infant mortality is high at nearly 8
percent. Despite the poverty, obesity levels in women are shockingly high. Being
overweight is seen as beautiful, so women strive to be obese, which has a negative
effect on their health.
National Dress
Mauritania is perfectly positioned, geographically and culturally, as the bridge
between Arabs and black Africans. This is evident in the national dress, which
incorporates elements of Arab and West African fashion.
Malafas are the traditional dress of Arab women in Mauritania, although many
women in urban areas, regardless of their ethnicity, will be seen wearing them.
Malafas are lengths of lightweight cotton wrapped around the body and tied at one
Mauritanian women wearing malafas fetch water in the village of Barkeol, 2002. (Georges
Gobet/AFP/Getty Images)
shoulder with the remainder of the fabric being draped over the head or shoulders.
The lightweight fabric is sold in 13-foot lengths and is worn uncut and untailored.
Traditionally, malafas were a deep blue color achieved with indigo dyes. Indigo
dyeing is a difficult, time-consuming, and costly traditional craft. Indigo does not
bind well with fabric and rubs off on anything it touches, including skin. Arabs in
West Africa were called “blue Arabs” because of the blue tint the indigo left on
their light complexions. Today many malafas are printed with bright or pastel flow-
ers, an umbra effect (color is graduated from light to dark and often into stripes of
varying shades), or other designs. Indigo dyeing requires a high level of expertise
and is expensive, so most malafas are made out of less expensive machine-printed
fabrics imported from China or India. Both the light weight of the fabric and the
light colors are helpful in the intense dry heat. The entire body is covered from
head to heel. This fashion evolved both out of the need to protect the body from the
desert heat and wind as well as to uphold modesty required by the Muslim faith.
To protect the wearer’s modesty, the malafa is often worn so long that it drags on
the ground. This causes the wearer to appear slow and encumbered. Although it is
often not the case, women who wear their malafas long are thought to be wealthy or
slave owners because they are so encumbered that housework and cooking would
Mauritania | 475
be difficult. It is assumed that they are wealthy enough not to have to perform such
duties. It is also considered fashionable or flirtatious to continuously adjust the veil
or lift the skirt off the ground to reveal an ankle or any bare skin. The fanciest and
most expensive jewelry is worn only where it will be seen by these motions. Ankle
bracelets that peek out as the wearer walks or earrings that are revealed by adjust-
ing the veil are very fashionable and seductive.
Jewelry and accessories are very important and are worn by women of all
ethnicities in Mauritania. Earrings and necklaces are usually sold and worn as
matching sets. Many accessories have painted pendants made out of metal or
wood. The pendants are worn strung on long strings so they hang to waist level.
When a baby turns 40 days old, it is traditional to adorn it in amulets at a cer-
emony to commemorate the occasion. The amulets can be anything from glass
beads to metal charms wrapped in leather with special Arabic inscriptions to
ward off evil spirits and illness. Female children often get their earrings pierced
at this time and wear gold studs or small hoop earrings throughout their child-
hood and adolescence.
Kiffa are powdered glass beads that are unique to Mauritania. The colorful
beads are worn as hair decoration and on necklaces and bracelets. There is evi-
dence that Kiffa beads may have been made in Mauritania as early as the ninth
century. The beads are named after Kiffa, the town in western Mauritania where
the art form was first created. Kiffa beads have always been made exclusively
by women. Kiffa beads are unique because they were made from powdered or
pulverized glass instead of hot blown glass like most inexpensive beads that can
be purchased today. Kiffa beads also use a wet form technique, which results in a
high level of detail and design. These beads feature a variety of geometric designs,
chevrons, circles, crosses, and triangles. The beads themselves also come in a vari-
ety of shapes including conical, circular, and oblong. Blue, yellow, black, white,
and red are the traditional colors of Kiffa beads. The last of the traditionally trained
bead makers died in the 1970s, so it is a lost art. Today, beads that resemble Kiffa
beads are made by women in Mauritanian workshops or collectives. They are made
of polymer clay instead of glass and have never managed to reach the same level of
artistry and design as traditional Kiffa beads.
Other fashionable accessories for women are kohl and henna. Kohl is a dark
substance worn as a thick eyeliner. Henna is a natural dye used to stain the hands
and feet in decorative patterns. The patterns range from solid blackened henna (it
is blackened by using ash) to elaborate floral and scrolling designs. Mauritanian
women wear their hair in elaborate braids that frame the face. In southern Mau-
ritania, unmarried women will often wear their hair so there is a slight roll at the
forehead with braids hanging to the side. Married women wear three thick braids
tightly following the head from the

forehead to the nape of the neck.
Women in the southern regions of
Mauritania tend to wear the traditional
West African outfit of matching wrap
skirt, blouse, and head wrap. There is
sometimes a fourth matching com-
ponent that is folded and tied around
the waist or used to carry babies and
small children on the back. All four
sections are made out of the same cot-
ton fabric, which is often printed with
a colorful geometric pattern. Other
popular patterns feature objects that
represent wealth such as cell phones,
diamond rings, and oil pumps. These
outfits, commonly called by the French
term pagne, are also used to dissemi-
nate political or public service mes-
sages and are printed with the image
Mauritanian delegate to the United Nations of politicians running for office or
wears a boubou, March 3, 2011. (UN Photo/ simple graphics showing how to stop
Jean-Marc Ferré) the spread of AIDS or other diseases.
The skirt is a single untailored piece of
cloth, wrapped around the body and tied or secured at the waist. They are usually
worn ankle length. The tops can have any number of styles. Most are long and full.
The sleeves may be very voluminous and there may be a decorative collar or yoke
with trimming. Similar to the malafa, this style is well suited to protecting a woman’s
modesty according to the rules of Islam but also protects the wearer from the heat
and intense desert sun.
Men in both parts of the country wear the traditional Islamic garment called
a boubou. A boubou consists of a long, loose tunic-style shirt over loose pants;
for more formal occasions, a turban and shawl will be added. White is the tradi-
tional color of Islam, but boubous are found in many colors. The lightweight cot-
ton is usually solid or has a faint stripe but may be embellished with embroidery
around the neckline and tunic yoke. Boubous are normally bought ready-to-wear
in standard sizes as opposed to women’s outfits that are usually made to order. Men
in urban areas or government officials (including schoolteachers) often choose to
wear Western styles including suits, jeans, and button-down collared shirts instead
of a boubou.
Mauritania | 477

Eicher, Joanne B., ed. Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Volume 1,
Africa. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2010.
Popenow, Rebecca. Feeding Desire: Fatness, Beauty, and Sexuality Among a Saha-
ran People. London: Routledge, 2004.
Trigingham, J. Spencer. A History of Islam in West Africa. London: Oxford Uni-
U.S. Department of State. Mauritania Country Specific Information. www.state
.gov/p/af/ci/mr/. 2011.
Mexico
Marie Botkin

Mexico is a land of contrasts, whether one is considering the geographical dif-
ferences between the mountains and valleys, looking at culture in small villages
in contrast to large urban cities, or comparing past traditional clothing to current
fashions. Mexico also has a rich history with artifacts that date back thousands of
years and records of some of the earliest civilizations in the world. The past con-
tinues to influence aesthetic and social patterns, but global pressures also weigh
heavily on contemporary culture. Belief systems from other cultures, changes in
trade, and economic fluctuations have all influenced the country in many ways
to become the nation it is today. The population of Mexico in 2012 was approxi-
mately 115,000,000.
One of the reasons for the variety of styles of clothing and clothing decora-
tion is the variety of geography present throughout the country. Early dress styles
evolved to protect their wearers in the variety of temperatures and environmental
conditions. Within the borders of the country, there are fertile valleys, dry desert
conditions, mountains, and tropical forests. The borders of the country, which cov-
ers approximately 761,600 square miles, connect Mexico to the United States in
the northernmost regions, and to Belize and Guatemala at the southern tip. Along
with the inevitable cultural influence from the north and the south, Mexico is also
graced with long coastlines that border the Pacific and the Caribbean, as well
as lending its name to the Gulf of Mexico. Protective clothing for centuries was
designed to fit the needs of people who lived from the warm beaches on the coast-
line to the tallest mountains in the Sierra Madre mountain ranges.
The epicenter of this wide variety of geographical environment lies within the
central plateau in the city named after the nation, Mexico City. Mexico City is the
cosmopolitan center of the country and has fashion that mirrors the styles of the
great fashion capitals of the world such as Paris and New York. Everyday clothing
that is worn by Mexicans varies with their age, class, and fashion interest, just as it
does in other nations throughout the world. Young Mexicans enjoy fashion and wear
478
Mexico | 479
T-shirts, blue jeans, and athletic shoes with brands that could be seen in any major
city. Other large cities like Monterrey and Guadalajara are similar. However, as
soon as the traveler moves outside of the larger cities, there is much more variation
to the styles worn and produced in the various provinces. Central Mexico consists
mainly of mountainous areas with several valleys and basins. These geographical
features tend to isolate the people who live in small villages in the area and create a
rich environment for a variety of designs and styles of decoration unique to the indi-
vidual villages. The traditional folk styles of Mexican clothing display great artistry,
aesthetic variety, and creativity. Bright colors and patterns are common features and
may symbolize specific information to the wearer. Fiber use has ranged from native
agave plants to silk that was imported from Spain. Some of the techniques to fabri-
cate these garments are done with a machine, and some are still done by hand, with
lessons taught through generations of men and women.
Historical Mexican Dress

Historically, the major changes in Mexican folk costume can be divided into three
periods: preconquest, postconquest, and contemporary. Some of the traditional
garments worn today come from early styles that were created thousands of years
before. For example, representations of the huipil, a loose tunic-like garment that is
still worn today, can be seen in the Mesoamerican clay statues of the Teotihuacán
peoples, who lived between 100 BCE and 650 CE. Major changes occurred with
the arrival of Cortés, when the indigenous civilization began to change under the
influence of the European Spanish styles and customs.
Garments worn in preconquest civilizations such as those of the Maya and the
Aztecs could indicate social status and geographical location through their design.
Much of the information on ancient costume comes from original sources of evi-
dence such as clay figures and some early examples of books called codices. From
these resources, we can see that the most common garments worn by men in ancient
Mexico include several variations of loincloths, capes, and ritual wear. The maxtlatl
was a loincloth worn by men of all classes; it was worn wrapped around the body
with a tie in front and could have decorative features such as colored fringe for mem-
bers of the elite classes. The tilmatli was a rectangular-shaped cape that was worn
wrapped around the shoulders and considered to be important in representing status.
Warriors that were victorious on the battlefield received capes that showed their
higher place in the hierarchy in Aztec culture. The ichcahuipilli was a heavy cot-
ton fabric used to fabricate armor for warriors. It is described as being “two fingers
thick” and was an effective protection for battle. Ceremonial garments included the
kilt, which was a wraparound skirt worn by gods, priests, and the humans who inter-
acted with the gods. It is shown only in connection with the pictorial representations
of the Mixtec peoples of Oaxaca. The

tlahuiztli was another military garment.
It was constructed with sleeves and
legs and decorated with feathers. It was
associated with great symbolic power
and could represent a variety of differ-
ent animals such as eagles, coyotes, or
jaguars. Like the tilmatli, it was given
to brave warriors as a reward for their
feats on the battlefield.
Ancient costume for women
included a mixture of general styles
and ceremonial garments. The cueitl
was a wraparound skirt made out of
a simple rectangular shape of cloth
and tied at the waist with a sash. Elite
women wore decorated versions. The
huipilli was the basic garment for the
upper body, worn by all classes. It was
constructed out of a rectangle of cloth
Aztec warrior wearing a tlahuiztli, from La with a hole cut at the center for the
Historia antigua de la Nueva Espana, 1585.
neckline. The sides were sewn shut
(Library of Congress)
with openings at the top for armholes.
For outer garments, women wore capes, although representations of them are rela-
tively few. Decoration was an important part of the garments, and women who
were skilled at weaving complex cloth and embroidery also gained social prestige.
Design motifs for all classes were both rectilinear and naturalistic forms. Many
animal designs appeared, such as forms representing eagles, butterflies, jaguars,
and snakes. Some of the geometric patterns were named and potentially held sym-
bolic meanings. Women also decorated their faces with early versions of makeup
and perfume, using natural dyes such as yellow ochre and copal incense. Footwear
and headdresses for both sexes could be highly decorative for the elite; there is
evidence of use of gold, gemstones, exotic animal skins, and embroidery as well as
feathers from tropical birds.
One of the most important distinguishing characteristics of Mexican cos-
tume is the use of decorative textiles. The major fibers used through the ages have
changed from native plants to imported cotton, and currently to a predominance of
synthetic fibers because they are cheaper. Ancient civilizations such as the Maya
and the Aztecs had elaborate systems of hierarchical social divisions, including
sumptuary laws that prevented common people from wearing certain materials and
Mexico | 481
styles. The members of the elite ancient Mexicans wore cotton while the common
classes wore bast fibers that were much rougher to the touch.
The Backstrap Loom

Many of the techniques used to fabricate the textiles have not changed since
colonial times. Spinning is now less frequently seen even in small villages because
of the availability of synthetic yarns. However, it was traditionally done for cen-
turies by women, who first used a drop spindle and later a spinning wheel. One
of the most common fabrication methods that dates back several thousand years
is the use of the backstrap loom for weaving. A backstrap loom is unique in its
design as it is significantly easier to move, less expensive to create, and simpler to
maneuver than traditional wooden looms. Instead of anchoring yarns onto a large
wooden frame the threads are tied around the waist of the weaver and anchored
onto an object such as a tree, making the entire process completely portable. The
materials used to make it can be as simple as one stick used to stretch out the width
of the fabric; the remaining setup is made up of yarn. One of the unique features of
cloth woven on a backstrap loom is that it is sized almost perfectly to fit the human
body. For this reason, cloth was not cut and tailored to fit the body until the arrival
of Cortés, when European fashions became part of the upper classes’ preferences.
When Cortés arrived in 1519, these garment styles remained, but were accom-
panied by an influx of European fashions that were worn by fashionable elites and
sometimes in combination with earlier folk styles. The Indian styles worn by the
Aztecs were met by the initial travelers from Spain with both distaste and admira-
tion. The lack of modesty inherent in the style of the loincloths was of immediate
consternation to the Catholic Spaniards, but the level of decoration in the warriors’
cloaks was approved of, and Cortés was given a costume to represent the feathered
serpent Quetzalcoatl. Many of the opinions and observations of the first settlers
are recorded in chronicles and tell us much about the customs and clothing worn
by the Aztecs when the Spanish arrived. Among other references, one of the most
thorough was written and illustrated by a Franciscan friar named Bernardino de
Sahagun. It recorded the language of the Aztecs and documented daily life. It is
now called the Codex Florentine, being named after the city where it is housed.
Life for the Aztecs changed drastically with the invasion of the conquistadores.
It is estimated that between one-third and one-half of the population of Indians
died from the smallpox disease that the Spanish carried to their lands. Aside from
this, many Indians were abused for labor and ended up working as slaves to mine
for gold, labor on estates, and weave. A two-tiered social system began, with the
European Spanish colonists forming the elite classes and the Indians making up
the lower classes. Clothing styles quickly separated the two classes visually. One
Women wear rebozos in the painting Market in Mexico City (1850) by Jose A. Arrieta.
(DeAgostini/Getty Images)
of the biggest changes in the clothing worn by the Indian population was enforced
by the missionaries that arrived soon after Cortés. These friars and priests consid-
ered the male loincloth an article of clothing that was far too immodest, and they
worked to enforce new standards alongside their efforts to convert the Indians to
Catholicism. For the most part the new costume consisted of plain trousers and
shirts. Indian women, on the other hand, kept many of their traditional garments
including the huipil tunic top and the wraparound skirt. New garments for the
Indian population included the sarape, which was a poncho-like garment worn by
men, and women began wearing the rebozo, which was a head covering or shawl.
Some historians connect the rebozo with the Spanish lace mantilla and the new
demands of modesty required by the Spanish Catholic clergy members. The Indian
population continued using many of the simple textiles they had worn previously,
made of rough bast fibers and other plant fibers. But with the settlers came sev-
eral innovations in agriculture, including a more widespread production of cotton.
Where previously it had been against the law for Indians who were not part of the
elite Aztec society to wear cotton fabrics, cotton became available to all classes
after the conquest. Women produced much of the cloth worn with the familiar
Mexico | 483
technology of the backstrap loom. There were some members of the Aztec society
that managed to garner favor with the conquistadores, and they sometimes wore
the clothing preferred by the colonists.
The colonists wore styles that were in fashion in their home country. Ready-
to-wear clothing was scarce in the early period of the conquest and was among
the top imports from Spain to Mexico. Early Spanish settlers came from a variety
of classes and wore the clothing appropriate to their station in life; religious men
wore simple robes, and nobles wore an ensemble that was at the peak of fashion
in Europe. Men’s fashions at this period included shirts of fine linen with gathered
necklines and cuffs with hose, garters, and short puffy breeches. Very wealthy men
sometimes donned a ruff, which was a high ruffled collar that varied in width and
could be made of starched linen or lace. For outerwear, they wore belted doublets,
short capes, or jerkins, which were tunic-like garments. A hat finished off the entire
ensemble. Many of these garments, excluding the shirts and underlayers, were
made of luxurious brocades and velvets that were imported from the Philippines.
A wealthy colonial woman would be costumed in a two-piece ensemble that was
fitted tightly to the body and consisted of a long-sleeved bodice and long skirt. The
bodice could be low cut in front and worn with inserted chemises that were highly
decorated with lace and embroidery. The overall silhouette of the ensemble was
created by an undergarment called a Spanish farthingale, which was an elaborate
petticoat that reached out to widen the skirts. Fashionable women also covered
their heads with lace textiles called mantillas. Women’s garments were also fabri-
cated of the elaborate textiles imported from the East and could be decorated with
pearls and jewels, depending on the wealth of the individual. The common people
who had migrated to New Spain from the continent wore much plainer clothing.
They came to make better lives for themselves, and were made up of merchants,
farmers, artisans, sailors, and other laborers. Their garments were made of coarser
cloth in muted colors. Men wore basic garments such as breeches with tunics over
them, and women wore long gowns that lacked the decoration and the aristocratic
petticoats that made it extremely difficult to do any physical work.
Contemporary Use of Ethnic Dress in Mexico

By the 20th century, much had changed. After centuries of colonial rule, Mex-
ico won back its independence after the revolts of 1810. However, in terms of
clothing styles, change varied depending on location. Many Indian women car-
ried on the craft of weaving the familiar styles of the huipil and decorating it with
embroidery that had stylistic origins from the Aztecs, thousands of years ago. The
fibers used in contemporary Mexico have changed with the times. Cotton is still
popular because of its availability, appropriateness to the warm climate, and ease
of care. It is grown in small crops by individuals and sold in bulk to the villagers
who are still able to spin yarn themselves. Wool is available in a similar manner.
Sheep may be kept in small flocks, and the wool is prepared, spun, and either fab-
ricated into winter garments or sold at the market. While the numbers of young
women who learn to spin and weave continue to wane, there are still some places
where mothers teach their daughters at an early age the virtues of the textile arts.
There is evidence that girls learn to weave complex patterns by age 11.
Men’s clothing in contemporary Mexico is a combination of Western styles
that can be seen all around the world and folk costume that is unique to the smaller
villages less influenced by global culture. The typical ensemble includes a white
shirt and calzones, which are loose-fitting pants. The shirts worn by men are usually
plain and tailored, with long sleeves. Some variations include brocaded embroi-
dery styles that are worn in Oaxaca and striped designs that are made by Mixtec
weavers. The guayabera shirt, emblematic of Cuba and worn in other Spanish-
speaking countries, is also popular in parts of Mexico. This shirt can be long- or
short-sleeved and is distinguished by its four patch pockets, two at the chest and
two at the hips. The shirt has a collar and center closure, and two lines of either
pleats or embroidery running down the front from shoulder to tail. These distinct
decorations are sometimes also adorned with buttons that match the buttons on the
center panel and cuffs. Calzones are worn in a variety of lengths, including those
that resemble Western shorts. Men may tighten the trousers at the waist with belts
or elaborate colorful sashes that are woven on backstrap looms. Sashes are often
fabricated with distinctive designs that connect the wearer to a specific geographi-
cal location. For outerwear, men may wear Western-style jackets or the sarape
poncho garment that has been worn for centuries. Headwear such as the traditional
sombrero began to be worn by agricultural workers who were plagued by laboring
in the sun for hours at a time.
Women’s clothing in Mexico likewise has been recently more and more
influenced by Western materials and trends. But some women continue to wear
garments that echo the past folk styles worn by their foremothers. The huipil con-
tinues to be worn in southern Mexico and may be decorated with a variety of dif-
ferent embroidery and weaving techniques. The tunic-like garment continues to be
fabricated with textiles woven on a backstrap loom, but since factory-made fabric
is often the most economical choice, there are many versions that use it. Other
folk styles worn by women include the quechquemitl, which is a triangular-shaped
blouse. It is almost always decorated around the neck with appliqué or embroidery
and may have fringes at the bottom. Women also wear wraparound skirts that are
similar to those worn by their historical ancestors. Contemporary styles are made
of both handmade and commercial textiles and can be found in white and black as
well as a variety of colors. Lengths of skirts vary with tradition and geographical
Mexico | 485
location, although it is common for modern young women to wear shorter skirts
than their older relatives. Like men in small communities, women also wear dis-
tinctive highly decorative sashes that range in width from 1 to 17 inches. Designs
include animals, flowers, and geometric forms. In addition to sashes, women con-
tinue to wear the traditional rebozo, a type of shawl, which today has a variety of
uses. It is used as it originally was, for warmth and to cover the head in church, as
well as to carry babies or fruit from the market.
In addition to clothing worn in everyday life, special occasions were celebrated
with great fanfare and frequently included special costumes. Ceremonial dress
has been important to Mexican peoples as early as any information was recorded.
From the earliest clay figures found by archaeologists that date back 4,000 years,
to Aztec warrior capes awarded to the bravest in battle, to present-day fiestas,
dressing up for special occasions has been an integral part of the Mexican spirit.
This tradition has continued in various forms in contemporary Mexico. Some of
the most visible costumes worn for celebrations can be seen at both religious and
social ritual occasions.
One of the traditions that is celebrated exclusively for young girls is called
the quinceañera, which is a coming of age ritual for many young women in Latin
American countries. It marks specifically the 15th birthday of a young woman and
with it her passage into womanhood. The young woman is celebrated by her fam-
ily and friends with a large coming-out ceremony where she is dressed in a formal
gown and a fancy headdress such as a tiara. Often she is flanked by maids of honor
and chamberlains, who are their male counterparts. The gowns are often strapless,
floor length, and usually made in pastel colors.
There are also vibrant costumes worn to celebrate the Day of the Dead, which
is fundamentally tied to a religious ceremony on the first two days of Novem-
ber every year. Young girls dressed in satin blouses, white pinafores, and patent
leather shoes perform the ritual offerings at the graves of their loved ones who
have passed on. Some of the offerings associated with this holiday include skulls
made of sugar, paper flowers, and elaborate dolls that are skeletons dressed in tra-
ditional folk costume. After the visit to the graveyard, many Mexican towns have a
parade through the town to celebrate. Mexicans also celebrate their Independence
Day with the colors of the Mexican flag, as well as Cinco de Mayo, which repre-
sents the Mexican victory over Napoleon’s army in 1862. Typical Mexicans may
celebrate fiesta days by wearing their best, most colorful garments with elaborate
decorations, including sashes with festive designs, blouses with floral or animal
designs, and decorative sombreros or other headwear.
Other elaborate costumes associated with Mexican culture include the cloth-
ing worn by charros, who are skilled horsemen that perform in rodeos and festive
events. The charro figure has been connected to Mexican history for hundreds of
Woman dances at a Cinco de Mayo celebration, 2010. (Richard Gunion/Dreamstime.com)
Mexico | 487
years, and there are distinctive costumes and equestrian accessories that are associ-
ated with it. Charrería events began when the conquistadores introduced horses and
horsemanship to the indigenous members of the Aztec society in the 16th century.
Both men and women participate, with male participants riding horses in roping
and horsemanship events and women performing daring feats while riding sidesad-
dle. The men wear several specific costumes that are connected to their functions.
There are five costumes in all for a male charro: working attire, mid-elegance,
elegance, grand elegance, and black tie. The outfits are typically extremely decora-
tive and feature colorful embroidery and sombreros. Female performers wear one
of two classic ensembles, which are long gowns that tie at the waist. The Adelita
dress has long sleeves that are puffed at the top and tight at the wrist and a long
gathered skirt worn over ruffled petticoats. It may be colorful and frequently has
metallic embroidery. This ensemble is worn with a rebozo and a plain sombrero.
The China Poblana outfit is a colorful type of dress with various influences that
include Spanish-style skirts, sequins and beads, a typically square-necked blouse
with puffed sleeves, and all decorated with traditional Mexican embroidery.

Berdan, F., & Barber, R. Spanish Thread on Indian Looms: Mexican Folk Costume.
Trans. by R. Correa. San Bernardino, CA: California State University Press,
1988.
McMenamin, D. Popular Arts of Mexico: 1850–1950. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Pub-
lishing, 2000.
Sayer, C. Mexican Costume. London: British Museum Press, 1985.
Scalzo, W. Mexican Popular Art: Clothing and Dolls. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Pub-
lishing, 2008.
Takahashi, M. Mexican Textiles. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2003.
Mongolia
Timothy May
Mongolia has been the domain of nomads. Since the domestication of the horse
(circa 3000 BCE), pastoral nomadism, aided by the “five snouts” (horses, sheep,
goats, cattle/yaks, and camels), has been the primary mode of economy for Mon-
golia. Some towns and permanent settlements appeared throughout the ancient
and medieval history of Mongolia, but they tended to be ancillary—usually trad-
ing posts inhabited by foreign merchants or imperial capitals that also housed
large numbers of foreign staff and diplomats while the imperial court nomadized
in the vicinity.
Mongolia first appears as a significant factor during the period of the Xiongnu
Empire (209–71 BCE) created by Modun (r. 209–174 BCE). Under his leadership,
the Xiongnu dominated the steppe from Manchuria into Kazakhstan and controlled
much of the Silk Road trade. During the Xiongnu era it alternately raided and
traded with the Han Empire of China. Often the raids were used to secure more
favorable trading terms with the Han for goods the Xiongnu could not produce
themselves. The horse, as it would be for centuries, was the primary object that
came from the steppe in exchange for manufactured and luxury goods.
An alliance between the Han and other steppe tribes tired of Xiongnu hege-
mony broke Xiongnu power. A number of other steppe confederations dominated
much of Mongolia, but often their power was ephemeral until the rise of the Kok
(Blue) Turks (552–750 CE) in the sixth century. Their empire eventually reached
the Black Sea. The empire’s unwieldy size ultimately led it to split into eastern
and western wings with the split occurring roughly around the Ili Valley in mod-
ern Kazakhstan. The Kok Turk Empire, like so many steppe empires, fell apart as
disgruntled tribes seized power from the dominated group of the confederation
(which usually also lent its name to the confederation).
Other steppe powers came and went including the Uighurs in the ninth cen-
tury as well as the Khitans, who also ruled much of northern China and Manchu-
ria as the Liao dynasty (916–1125). The apogee of steppe empires came in the
488
Mongolia | 489
13th century when Temüjin (c. 1162–1227) united Mongolia and was crowned
Chinggis Khan (fierce, firm ruler) in 1206. He altered the social structure, elimi-
nating much of the leadership of other steppe groups so that the only legitimate
leaders came from his offspring and relatives. This ended the process of steppe
confederations that dominated Mongolia up to this point and united all groups
under the ethnonym Mongol.
Chinggis Khan and his successors created the largest contiguous empire in his-
tory, which reached a size of approximately 14 million square miles (or roughly the
size of Africa). Mongolia became the center of the world with the establishment
of a capital by the second khan, Ögödei (r. 1230–1240). Trade was rerouted to it
by generous purchasing on the part of Ögödei. After the death of the fourth khan,
Möngke (r. 1250–1259), a civil war occurred over the succession to the throne,
with Khubilai Khan (r. 1260–1294) emerging as the victor. Complete unity was
never restored to the empire, although some token resemblance of it manifested
periodically. Mongolia, however, became a backwater province as Khubilai Khan
moved the capital to Shangdu, in the environs of modern Beijing. From there, he
and his successors ruled east Asia as the Yuan dynasty. The Yuan Empire ended in
1368 during the Red Turban Rebellion and the rise of the Ming dynasty.
With the collapse of the Yuan, Mongolia entered a period of disorder. Although
a strong khan emerged periodically and leadership remained solidly in the hands
of Chinggisids, other groups appeared to challenge it such as the Oirats or Western
Mongols. Ultimately, however, unity in Mongolia did not return until its conquest
and incorporation in the Qing Empire (1616–1911) in 1690. Initially, Mongolia
played an important role in the Qing Empire by providing troops and officials, but
by the late 18th century its importance diminished. When the Chinese nationalist
revolution overthrew the Qing in 1911, Mongolia broke away and became inde-
pendent, although this was fleeting.
In 1921, the Red Army invaded in pursuit of White Russian troops. As a result,
Mongolia became the second communist country in the world. While independent,
Mongolia became in reality the 16th republic of the Soviet Union. Its policies mir-
rored those of the Soviet Union from Stalinesque purges to social and economic
purges. The change, however, occurred in 1990 with the collapse of the Soviet
Union. Mongolia successfully transitioned to a democratic government, although
it was not without difficulties. International pressure to move to a free market econ-
omy caused numerous problems in education, health care, and social life—with all
suffering negative effects. In the 21st century, Mongolia is rebounding and enjoys
a vibrant economy due to the exploitation of its numerous natural resources such
as coal, copper, and gold. Excessive and unregulated mining, however, threaten its
fragile ecosystem as well as the nomadic lifestyle that 40 percent of the population
still enjoys. In 2012, the estimated population of Mongolia was 3,180,000.

The geography and environment of Mongolia has traditionally been one of extremes
and thus has had a profound impact on dress. With average temperatures ranging from
–30 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter and the cold weather lasting from October
to April, rising to the 90s during the summer, Mongolians have focused on warm
clothing but they also take into consideration the seasons, which are well defined.
Additionally, Mongolia’s continental climate experiences little precipitation,
averaging fewer than 16 inches per year. There is extreme cold in the winter and
relatively little snowfall, although harsh ice storms known as zhuds have occurred
with increasing frequency. These storms have decimated the herds of many nomads,
ruining them economically. Most of the precipitation, however, occurs during the
summer months. With global warming, the climate is changing. Less of Mongolia
has permafrost as well as less snowfall. The increasing aridity thus is leading to
erosion, which is also worsened by more goat herding, because the goats’ sharp
hooves damage the grasslands more severely. The increase in goats is largely due
to Mongolia’s entry into the cashmere market.
Geographically, Mongolia ranges from the Gobi Desert in the south to moun-
tains and forests in the north. The Gobi consists of both sand and chol or gravel
deserts. The major mountain ranges also help define Mongolia as they frame the
Mongolian plateau, making 80 percent of the country over 1,000 feet above sea
level. The major mountain ranges are the Altai Mountains in the southwest, the
Sayan Mountains in the northwest that border Russia, the Khentai Mountains in the
northeast, and the Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia. While forests are found
in much of the northern part of Mongolia and comprise about 8 percent of Mongo-
lia, the country is best known for the grassy steppes that cover the rest of Mongolia.
With the low annual precipitation, farming is relatively difficult in Mongolia.
The steppes, however, allow for pastoral nomadism to thrive if herds are carefully
managed. Contrary to popular belief, nomads do not wander around aimlessly;
rather, they have planned migration patterns that prevent overgrazing. Those
nomads situated near the mountains tend to transition from the higher elevations in
the summer to lower valleys in the winter, while those who are in the steppes move
from one region to another. Although land is not owned by nomads, use of certain
pasturelands has became a tradition and is respected by other nomads.
People and Dress

While not homogenous, the vast majority of Mongolia is Khalkha (80 per-
cent). Other Mongolian groups exist as well such as the Dariganga (1.4 percent)
Mongolia | 491
and Darkhad (less than 1 percent). The largest difference among the Mongolian
groups is observed in the dialectal Mongol language, although traditional dress
varies too. Other non-Mongolian groups are the Kazakhs in western Mongolia,
particularly in Bayan-Ölgii aimag (province) and the Tsaatan or Dukha in north-
western Mongolia.
In the 1990s, much of the Kazakh population immigrated to Kazakhstan; how-
ever, many returned after finding few economic opportunities there. In addition to
ethnic differences, although the Kazakhs are also a result of the dissolution of the
Mongol Empire, the Kazakh language is Turkic, not Mongolian. While they do
share words with Mongolian, the language is significantly different. Their tradi-
tional clothing also resembles those of Kazakhs outside of Mongolian, although
Mongolian influences are apparent. The other significant difference is that the
Kazakhs (10 percent of the population) are largely Muslim. This is in stark contrast
to the Mongol population whose members tend to be Buddhist. That being said,
shamanism and Christianity have grown in popularity. Christians tend to be either
Catholic or Mormon in faith, with the latter growing rapidly in the 21st century. It
is not clear whether this is due to Mongolia’s emergence from a Soviet-imposed
official atheism and the destruction of the Buddhist community in the 1930s, or
an increasing attraction to Western religious ideologies, or a combination of both.
Nonetheless, Buddhism remains the most popular religion.
The Dukha are reindeer herders of Turkic ethnicity and language (Tuvan). Tra-
ditionally they have nomadized in Mongolia and Tannu Tuva in Russia. They num-
ber only a few thousand and are largely found only along the northwestern border.
Religiously they tend to favor shamanism, although exceptions can be found.
History of Dress
Since the prehistoric era, Mongolia has largely been a land of pastoral nomads.
Making a living with the help of horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and Bactrian camels,
the inhabitants of Mongolia have survived for centuries. Considering the climate of
Mongolia, the primary concerns about clothing have been pragmatic ones—func-
tionality and warmth.
Trousers appear to have been invented by nomads as they make riding horses
easier and more comfortable than other garments. Furthermore, trousers pro-
vide better protection to the legs from thorns, branches, as well as chafing. Boots
also suited the nomadic life in providing protection and warmth for the feet. The
upturned toe that developed over the centuries also assisted in insulating the boot
as the pocket of air would warm from body heat and thus keep frostbite at bay in
combination with felt socks.
The upper body was protected by the deel (pronounced dell), a long-sleeved
robe or caftan that reaches just below the knee. Among the Mongols it was
fastened on the right. Evidence sug-

gests that Turkic groups prior to the
rise of the Mongols fastened it on the
left as many observers who had con-
tact with pre-Chinggisid Mongolia
remarked on this difference. Often the
deel was insulated or layered to pro-
vide warmth. In warmer weather, men
might wear it unfastened so that the
right side of their body was exposed
and cooler. Like boots and trousers,
the deel was and remains a unisex
article of clothing, although colors and
decorations might vary.
A few towns or settlements have
appeared throughout history. These
settlements have largely been the result
of steppe-based empires. The first sig-
nificant empire was that of the Xion-
gnu. Although they remained pastoral
nomads, the Xiongnu did establish a
few permanent settlements. In addi-
Man wearing Mongolian national dress, tion, they also raided the Han Empire,
including pointed-toe boots and deel, 2010. and they traded with their neighbors in
(Bartosz Hadyniak/iStockphoto.com) China as well as Central Asia. At times,
the Xiongnu enforced more favorable
trade terms, resulting in larger amounts and a better quality of goods moving north to
their domains. The goods usually included silk. Other empires succeeded the Xion-
gnu, including the Turk Empire. One advisor to the Khaghan (emperor), Tonyukuk,
advised the ruler to eschew silk as it was not suitable to the rough life of a nomad—it
tore easily and lacked the practicality of felt, the primary cloth worn by nomads.
The rise of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century with its capital at Karako-
rum in central Mongolia had a significant impact on clothing. One factor was that
the Mongols brought numerous artisans including weavers to their camps as well
as to Karakorum. While the style of garments did not change significantly, the
materials became more luxurious. Silk was not the only cloth that became ubiqui-
tous among the Mongol elite. Their love for the gold brocade known as nasij led to
a increase in nasij production that led to the movement of skilled weavers across
Eurasia—much of it involuntarily. In addition, Mongol-style clothing became
fashionable, particularly among courts where the ruler took a Mongol princess as a
Mongolia | 493
wife, such as Korea. Others adopted some aspects due to proximity to the Mongols
such as among the Rus’ princes, whose clothing began to include a caftan similar
to the Mongol deel.
Other fashion influences included the transfer of decorative clothing and head-
gear. Mongol writing influenced decoration along the hems of clothes in much of
Eurasia. The Phagspa script introduced during the reign of Khubilai Khan with
its square-shaped cursive letters was imitated as a decorative form on dresses and
robes among the elites. The tall hats worn by the female Mongol elite gave rise to
the conical “princess” hat of the European high medieval period. Mongol hats with
brims and a peaked top also became the model in the European imagination for the
headgear of witches and wizards.
With the collapse of the Mongol Empire, clothing did not change drastically.
With Mongolia’s incorporation into the Qing Empire, the most notable change in
dress appeared in headgear for the nobility as they adopted some of the attire of
the Manchu court. Some Buddhist influences also crept in, but traditional attire of
boots, trousers, and the deel remained a constant.
The next significant historical phase occurred in the 20th century with the Soviet
Union’s domination of Mongolia. Although never formally a part of the Soviet Union,
Married couple wearing deel—the woman’s is bright purple whereas the man’s is a
customary muted shade of brown. The man also wears a trilby hat which is typical of
modern Mongolian dress, 2008. (Wade Davis/Getty Images)
Mongolia’s internal policies were closely linked to directives made in Moscow. Even
though more Western attire appeared, such as business suits, ties, and dresses, the
omnipresent deel remained the standard attire for most Mongols. Buddhist influ-
ences also declined due to the oppression and destruction of the Mongolian sangha
or Buddhist community and monasteries. The most notable switch, as in the Qing
era, was in headgear. Although traditional hats continued to be worn, the trilby hat
became a standard accoutrement for Mongolian herdsmen as well as urban dwellers.
Schoolchildren also wore uniforms similar to those in the Soviet Union.
Westernization continued in the 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Mongolia embraced a third neighbor (anyone beyond Russia and China). Head-
gear continued to change as baseball caps and blue jeans became popular. The
most important influence, however, came not from the United States or Europe, but
Korea, called the Korean Wave. Korean investment as well as Mongolian immi-
grant workers in Korea introduced styles and fashions from Korea.

The traditional pastoral nomadic lifestyle in combination with the climate has
greatly influenced Mongolian national dress. With an abundance of sheep, wool
became the primary medium for clothing. Unlike in other societies, wool was not
developed into yarn or thread as this would have required a spinning wheel or other
cumbersome object that would then have to be packed and transported when the
nomads moved. Instead, the nomads transformed the raw wool into felt. Wool con-
sists of many scales at the microscopic level. When flattened these scales interlock,
thus forming felt.
The felt can then be used in large sheets to cover the ubiquitous dwellings
of the nomads, known as gers or yurts. It is also the basic item for clothing rang-
ing from socks and the lining for boots. Trousers and shirts have also been fabri-
cated from felt. Of course, felt can be a bit uncomfortable at times, particularly in
warmer weather, so other materials have also been used. Silk, when available, has
been used for both inner layers next to the skin, as well as on the outside in order
to present a more attractive appearance for the garment. Silk floss has often been
used for insulation as well in many garments.
The extreme cold of the Mongolian winter has also affected clothing. Curi-
ously gloves or mittens are a more recent development. Historically, the nomads
and others used the long sleeves of their deel to keep their hands warm. Fur-lined
hats have been worn for centuries with a brim or flap that could also be pulled
down to cover the ears and neck. When furs have been used for clothing, the fur
is usually turned to the inside to keep the individual warm, unlike Westerners who
usually displayed the fur as a luxury item. For the nomads on the steppes, the use
Mongolia | 495
of fur was based on pragmatic purposes. Indeed, John de Plano Carpini, a Francis-
can monk who journeyed to the Mongol court in the 13th century commented that
the Mongols wore the skins of any creature. In the harsh environment of the steppe,
there was little reason to waste anything of use.
As mentioned earlier, the medieval Mongols adored nasij, the gold brocade
made by artisans from throughout their empire. After the end of the empire, the
Mongols lost the expertise to manufacture this. Indeed, it largely declined through-
out the world without the insatiable demand of the Mongol royalty. Silk, however,
never declined and remains a standard item in the manufacture of higher quality
deels with stitched and appliqué patterns.
While felt clothes are less common, cashmere has grown in popularity. Indeed,
more nomads raise cashmere-producing goats than ever before. Leather attire has
also become quite fashionable in boots and jackets, although woolen overcoats in
a Western style demonstrate that wool has not disappeared from the Mongolian
fashion world.

The traditional dress of Mongolia in the past, present, and probable future
is the deel, the long, loose robe that comes down to approximately somewhere
between the knees and mid-shin level with the front overlapping on the right side
of the body. It is fastened by two buttons on strings on the overlapping side with
loops, connecting on the upper right-hand side and then at intervals on the right
side. It is usually also fastened with a sash. Underneath, trousers are worn by men
and women and boots as shoes.
While the deel is worn less in the 21st century, it remains one of the most
practical forms of clothing in the world. For the nomads it can serve as a coat or
as a blanket, while also providing some privacy for bodily functions on the open
steppe. At the same time, the deel varies with the season and purpose. The basic
deel, known as the dan deel, is a plain and unpadded deel that is often worn as a
housecoat or work shirt. They tend to be a drab color such as earth tones or gray.
In colder weather, people wore a deel known as a terleg. The difference is
that the terleg is padded and insulated and even worn over a dan deel. In very cold
weather, a terleg might be lined with a sheepskin and wool or stuffed with cotton.
While the design is ubiquitous, a deel can also show individualism and be deco-
rative by revealing gender differences as well as tribal or familial identity through
patterns and color. Subtle differences exist between male and female deels. The male
version is wider and has more muted colors while the female version uses brighter
colors. Deels worn for special occasions or events are often made of blue, green,
or deep red silk. Other colors are possible, but these tend to be favored. The collar,
sleeves, and chest are often trimmed with brocade, fur, or leather. The buttons and
fastening loops vary in material. Around the waist, a long silken sash is tied.
Traditional Mongolian boots are heelless with upturned toes and are consis-
tently uniform in shape for both feet. The boots advance to about mid-calf and are
stiff, being made from leather and lined with layers of felt to protect against the
cold. Meanwhile, on the foot one wears a thick, quilted sock made from cotton
or felt. Much like Western cowboy boots, the Mongolian boot is decorated in a
myriad of styles and patterns. Today other shoes are more likely to be worn in the
cities. They include high heels, loafers, boots, and name-brand sneakers that one
would typically find anywhere in the world.
Hats and headdresses are also part of the traditional dress. Among traditional
ethnic dress, the style varies greatly across the country and has gender, ethnic, and
social differentiations. The basic hat in winter is simply a fur hat with sides that
can be turned down to protect the ears or kept up in warmer weather. The Kazakh
form has a longer brim or flaps that swoop backwards. Other, nonwinter hats also
denoted social status in the past. These styles are still sometimes worn, but no
longer carry a meaning. Typically the hat is round, made from felt, and dyed in a
variety of colors, with upturned brim pieces and a cord knot on top of a peak. The
hat is often decorated with patterns sewn on the sides.
Nonetheless this form of hat, which stems from the Qing period, demonstrates
its importance in the symbolism of its construction. Thirty-two stitches fasten the
cone or peak together with each stitch representing a Mongolian tribe. The knot
on top of the hat symbolizes Mongolia’s unity. Social rank was also demonstrated
by the height of the hat. The broad upturned brim represents the country’s inacces-
sibility. Red ribbons attached to the top were worn in the past to represent the rays
of the sun. This custom rarely appears today.
For women, another traditional hat or headdress is the tolgoin boolt, which
varied with region and tribal identity. Prior to the 1921 revolution, the tolgoin boolt
was common among noble women, but now they appear only during festivals and
special occasions. The headdress consists of silver, decorated with a variety of pre-
cious and semiprecious stones. Some forms of the tolgoin boolt included an elabo-
rate frame and hair extensions. Combined with ceremonial deels, often with padded
shoulders, it transformed the wearer into a striking image. Americans and indeed,
most people outside of Mongolia may be most familiar with it as one of the fashions
worn by the Queen of Naboo, Padme, in the Star Wars movie The Phantom Menace.

Although the deel continues to be the daily wear for most of the rural popula-
tion, the urban reality is quite different. Although one might see people wearing a
Mongolia | 497
deel, and the average Mongolian might not even turn their head, most urban Mon-
golians wear Western-style clothing. Seventy years of Soviet influence have made
Western fashions a common part of Mongolian life. Indeed, shortly after the 1921
revolution the government targeted traditional fashions as a symbol of nationalism
and an anathema to the communist ideal. The suit and tie and Western-style lace-
up shoes became the norm; however, the deel did not disappear by any means. For
instance, in the 1960s a nomad might have worn a deel, but his hat was usually a
fedora or trilby hat. Today, however, men usually wear a baseball cap.
While Western fashion is now the norm in the 21st century, it does not origi-
nate from Russia, the United States, or even Europe. Rather, it emanates from
South Korea. The Korean Wave, as the spread of Korean influence is often called,
has influenced Mongolia in many ways. Thousands of Mongolians study or work
in South Korea and then return home to Mongolia, bringing various elements of
Korean culture with them. The most apparent, outside of the numerous Korean res-
taurants in Ulaanbaatar, is fashion. The style and cut of blue jeans, shirts, dresses,
and shoes is influenced by fashion trends in Seoul, although other countries also
exert some influence as well.
Mongolia, however, has not completely submitted to outside fashion. It has
adapted its own styles to the 21st century. The khurem jacket is one such example.
Made from felt and with long sleeves and buttons down the front center of the
jacket with the looped buttons similar to the deel, the khurem is a young man’s
jacket. It is trimmed with cloth in traditional knot patterns. This style has also car-
ried over into other clothing forms such as leather jackets and sweaters.
Traditional Mongolian clothing has also inspired modern women’s fashions as
well. In the female form, the khurem is a coat that extends to just below the knees,
but otherwise resembles the khurem. Dresses and blouses bear a certain resem-
blance to the deel in that they fasten on the right side.
Mongolia also produces a number of very stylish sweaters and blouses made
from cashmere. As the world’s second largest producer of cashmere, Mongolian
fashion designers have taken advantage of the locally produced material and the
local elite have responded favorably. In addition to cashmere, trendy sweaters are
also manufactured from the wool of the Bactrian camel. This produces not only a
stylish sweater, but also one that is very warm.
A sash is usually worn with the deel and in the past, it had multiple purposes.
In addition to assisting in fastening the deel and adding color to the deel, it also his-
torically served as a corset. Mongolians were less concerned with keeping a small
waist than the support the sash provided while riding for long distances. The sash
alleviated some of the pounding and bouncing the body took on long horseback
rides across the steppe. More mundane uses, particularly during the Qing period
and early 20th century, included the task of holding things, such as the knife and
chopsticks, a snuff bottle, flint and tinder box, and a tool to clean a pipe. The pipe
rested in the boots.
In addition to the sash, some of these accoutrements were also attached via
belts and sheaths. Often the belts were studded or decorated with silver, which
appeared to be a preferred ornamental metal despite Mongolia’s gold deposits.

Allsen, Thomas T. Commodity and Exchange in the Mongol Empire: A Cultural
History of Islamic Textiles. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Atwood, Christopher. Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. New
York: Facts On File, 2004.
Avery, Martha. Women of Mongolia. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1996.
Bruun, Ole. Precious Steppe: Mongolian Nomadic Pastoralists in the Age of the
Market. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2006.
May, Timothy. Culture and Customs of Mongolia. New York: Greenwood Press,
2009.
Natsagdorj, Tsegmediin. Mongolia of Chinggis. Ulaanbaatar: Monsudar Publish-
ing, 2004.
Plano Carpini, Giovanni di. The Story of the Mongols Whom We Call the Tartars.
Trans. Erik Hildinger. Boston: Branden Publishing, 1996.
Rossabi, Morris. Modern Mongolia: From Khans to Commissars to Capitalists.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.
Morocco
John A. Shoup

Morocco is located in North Africa and is, in modern times, a constitutional mon-
archy where the king holds executive powers but with an elected parliament that
governs day to day. The most common languages spoken in Morocco are Berber
and Moroccan Arabic.
Historically, Morocco was a Berber state and was part of the Roman Empire
until the Vandals invaded and brought Roman rule to an end in 429 CE. Islam first
arrived in Morocco with the great raid by ‘Uqbah bin Nafi‘ between 680 and 683.
‘Uqbah’s great raid into non-Islamic North Africa sparked a number of local histo-
ries of conquest and subsequent marriages between the general and local women
establishing valued Arab lineages. The conquest of Morocco happened rapidly fol-
lowing the defeat of the last Berber resistance in eastern Algeria in 701. In 702 Tan
giers fell to a mainly Berber army headed by the Berber commander Tariq bin Ziyad.
Morocco remained a cultural backwater of the new Umayyad Empire (661–
750), and cultural centers of western Islam developed in Spain at Cordoba and
Seville and in Tunisia in cities such as Qayruwan. Moroccan Berbers quickly con-
verted to Islam, but were attracted to the more egalitarian Kharaji and proto-Shi‘ite
forms of the religion. The Idrisids were the first independent Muslim states in
Morocco following the Islamic conquest. In time, the Idrisid rulers weakened, and
the Umayyad ruler ‘Abd al-Rahman III (ruled 912–961) removed the last Idrisid
in order to defend his kingdom from Fatimid expansion. The Party King era lasted
from 1023 to 1091 and they were easy prey for the growing power of the Chris-
tian north, the kingdoms of Castile and Leon, Aragon, and Navarre. The Muslim
princes made alliances with the Christians in wars against each other and in 1085
the great city of Toledo fell to Castile and Leon. The number of Christians was
small as many had already converted to Islam.
When the Muwahhidin took Muslim Spain, they moved the capital from Cor-
doba to Seville and made Seville a second capital to Marrakech in Morocco. The
Muwahhidin became involved in the wars in Spain to prevent the Christian kings
499
from conquering Muslim cities and in 1195 defeated the Castilian King Alfonso
VIII (ruled 1158–1214) at Alarcos.
The Marinids’ legitimacy to rule was questioned after they were unable to
defend their own lands in Morocco from Christian raids. In 1415, the Portuguese
seized the port city of Sabtah/Ceuta and by 1513 all of Morocco’s coastal cities had
fallen to the Portuguese. Morocco was ruled by many different dynasties and alter-
nately influenced by France, Spain, and Portugal throughout its history. Dynastic
families divided the country. In 1666 the Alaouite dynasty reunited the country and
remains the ruling house of Morocco.
The French and Spanish ruled a divided Morocco after 1912 and the Treaty of
Fez only divided the country. During much of the colonial period, Morocco was
governed by French civilians in the major cities, and military officers from the
government department Affairs Indigènes. The French drew borders on their maps
for specific pastoral people and they were not to leave their area without French
authorization. It was not until 1956 that Morocco regained independence when
France became embroiled in Algeria, and made the decision to give up Morocco
and Tunisia in order to keep Algeria. The influence of France and Spain remains
evident in the society today and people still speak French.
The present king is Muhammad VI (1999–), who is often thought to be more
progressive thinking than the majority of Moroccans with initiatives including
political reform under a new constitution, women’s rights, and social reform. The
population of Morocco is estimated at 32,309,200.
Morocco is mainly mountains and high, arid plateaus and only the far south, the
Western Sahara, is true desert. In the north are the Jabaliyah and the Rif mountains.
The large part of the central area and the southeast are composed of the Middle,
High, and Anti-Atlas ranges. Other mountainous regions such as the Saghro and
Siroua are found between the High Atlas and the Sahara and the Anti-Atlas range.
High altitudes mean that winters are cold, and the African continental record for
cold was set in the Middle Atlas town of Ifrane at –8°F (–22°C), although it is most
likely that places where temperatures are not recorded in the High Atlas are colder.
Winters generally have snow in the high elevations and winter storms blow in off
the Atlantic.
Summers tend to be warm and mild with some places hot with temperatures
close to 122°F (50°C). Morocco’s south has a number of oasis communities that
have grown up where water is available either from streams or wells. Only the far
south of Morocco, the disputed Western Sahara, is true desert receiving 6 inches
(150 millimeters) or less of rain a year. This is the land of the Arab Bedouin Awlad
Morocco | 501
Hassan tribes who form a large “cultural area” from Guilmim in Morocco to the
Senegal River in Mauritania and across the Sahara, skirting the Saharan side of the
Anti-Atlas to the oasis of Tuwat in central Algeria and south to the Niger River
in Mali at the city of Timbuktu. Much of the Sahara is composed of stony plains;
much more of it is rock than sand, although the Hollywood stereotype is large
fields of sand dunes. The Bedouin are camel pastoralists and are rarely found in the
sand fields where there is no food or water for their herds.
People and Dress

Moroccan dress has significantly changed during the course of the 20th century,
and many elements have disappeared or have been subject to change/modification
for both men and women. Like most people today, Moroccans tend to dress in
Western clothes, and the youth closely follow contemporary fashion. Generally,
only rural and elderly people still wear traditional clothes day to day. Otherwise,
Moroccans wear traditional clothes at religious feasts and holidays, weddings, cir-
cumcisions, and other special occasions. The Moroccan population is ethnically
diverse with Berbers, or Imazighin, Arabs, Muslims, and Jews. In the past, such
distinctions were signified in dress, marking as much regional variation as any
other distinction. Jews, being a special religious group within the larger Muslim
community, wore certain clothes that distinguished them, although this is no lon-
ger the case.
Urban dress in Morocco used to be subject to regional styles and influences. In
Fez, Tetouan, Tangiers, Salé, and Rabat, Andalusians settled in fairly large num-
bers following the conquest of the last Muslim state in Spain. Andalusians brought
their clothes, food, and music and subsequently have come to represent the high
court culture of Morocco.
Dress of Andalusian Men and Women

Andalusian styles for men’s clothes are best represented by those seen in the
city of Salé, where on special occasions men dress in the style of their corsair
ancestors called the kiswa del bahriyah, or dress of the seaman. The kiswa con-
sists of a colorful striped cotton shirt and a short tight bolero-style vest of pastel
cotton. Over the vest men wear one or two short bolero-style coats of the same
color and fabric as the vest. All are heavily embroidered in gold, yellow, silver, or
white cotton or silk yarn. Men’s trousers are sirwal that fit tight around the upper
calf. The sirwal is made of cotton like the vest and jackets and is heavily embroi-
dered around the pocket and down the outer seam to the cuff. The cuff is tight and
ornately embroidered as well. A wide cotton or linen belt called a kurziyah is worn
like a cummerbund. On the head, they wore a red felt cap with a short cloth tightly
wrapped around the bottom of it. Men wore leather slippers called balghah.
Urban women also wore clothing influenced by the Andalusians, and some
cities such as Rabat, Meknes, and Fez became important centers of embroidery.
Embroidery was bright yellow floral designs. Some women wore massive dresses
of stiffened material such as heavily embroidered velvet. Fez became famous for
large silk belts called hizam sqalli. These valuable belts are now collectors’ items
and have generally been replaced with much cheaper macramé-type belts today.
Most urban women wore a caftan in the house, which is a collarless robe with
wide sleeves. Caftans were introduced in the early Islamic period from Iran to
Andalus and then, with Andalusian refugees to Morocco. Caftans could be made
of rich silk brocade or something fairly plain and simple. For inside the house,
women wore wooden clogs called qubqab and for going outside, leather slippers or
balghah with rich silver or gold embroidery. For everyday wear, women frequently
wore a takshitah, a skirt with long open panels that can be tied at the waist when
working. Under the takshitah women still wear light sirwal or trousers with heavily
embroidered cuffs that fit tight at the ankles.
When leaving the house women would wear a large modesty cloak called a
haik. The haik’s color was associated with the woman’s home city and different col-
ors were used, for example, in Taroudant (dark blue) and Essaouira (bright white).
The cloth is large, around 5.9 feet (1.8 meters) in width and 16.4 feet (5 meters)
long, much larger than the man’s ksa. The haik was pinned or tied at the shoulders
and then wrapped and folded around the body and over the head. Under the haik
women wore a headscarf that was tied to cover the lower part of her face. Scarves
used as head and face covers were often of finely woven cloth and were decorated
with embroidery in floral and arabesque designs.
In the 1940s and 1950s Moroccan women began to wear men’s jallabahs in
response to the speech by Lalla ‘A’ishah, sister to King Muhammad V, calling on
Moroccan women to support independence, leave their houses, and work. Noting
that the haik restricted movement, Lalla ‘A’ishah appeared wearing a jallabah stat-
ing that it covered women well yet allowed them to work. Subsequently, Moroccan
women have adopted the jallabah and modified it to be more feminine with more
embroidery.
Dress of Salé Men

Salé men have a unique form of dress. While the rest of Morocco’s urban men
dressed more or less in the same long jallabah and silham as the main outer dress,
some urban notables wore the ksa, a large piece of cloth folded and wrapped around
the body like a Roman toga, over the jallabah and the silham or burnus (burnoose)
Morocco | 503
with an attached hood over everything else. All of these pieces of clothes were
made of cotton for the summer and wool for the winter. Some Moroccan men still
wear two jallabah when going outside, a light inner one in white and a darker,
heavier one as dress for walking outside the house.
Under the jallabah, urban men usually wore a light cotton or linen shirt and
trousers called a jabador or jabaduli. The term jabador refers mostly to the shirt,
which hangs below the waist and is not belted. The trousers or sirwal were belted
with a bit of cord that is tied in the front. Men wore a variety of headdresses from
simple cloth turbans to a combination of felt hats and turbans. The shorter tar-
bush (commonly called a fez by Westerners) from the Ottoman lands was made
and worn in Morocco. In more recent times, men wear a tarbush associated with
Muhammad V and Moroccan independence, called the tarbush watani or nation-
alist hat, made of brushed felt with a crease down the center. The tarbush watani
could be any color and today men match the color of their jallabah to their tarbush.
Urban men in most Moroccan cities also wore a vest called a bdaiyat over the
jabador. The vest was made of a heavier type of cotton or cotton/linen blend and
embroidered in the same color cotton yarn around the neck, down the front, and
around the pocket.
Dress of the Berbers

Berbers generally did not move to Morocco’s cities in large numbers until after
independence in the mid-1950s. Many of the special clothes they wore have disap-
peared since the 1950s and 1960s.
The basic men’s wear was, and remains, the jallabah. In the past, some rural
men wore them knee length. Rural jallabahs were made from home-spun wool
or goat hair of natural off-white, gray, and black. Those who lived in the south
and had access to camels also used spun camel hair to make men’s clothes. Some
places developed particular colors or color combinations that are still worn. Around
Sefrou, the Ait Warayn wear off-white jallabahs with black checkerboard designs
while in the region of Azrou, they like a chocolate brown and white design. In the
north, men wear aqshab made of wool over their other clothes.
Over the jallabah, rural men wore and continue to wear a large cloak called a
silham. The silham can be made of finely woven brushed wool, cotton, or camel
hair and although it has a hole for the head, men like to wear it tossed over their
shoulders even when they bring the hood up over their head. Few men in Morocco
will wear it as it was intended. The place for the head to go through, which is
embroidered to provide strength, is to fit over the top of the chest. The long sides of
the silham can be wrapped around the body for warmth. It is snow resistant, if not
rainproof. Among the Ait Wawazgit of the Anti-Atlas, the silham is made of black
goat hair and decorated with red and white embroidery depicting a salamander, a
Berber symbol of longevity. This type of silham is called an akhnif .
Under the jallabah men wore a long shirt and short, full trousers, or sirwal.
Rural men often wore woven leather belts, sometimes decorated with leather or
cotton thread embroidery. Rural men carried a large bag made of stiff leather called
a shakurah. Shakurah are still made to carry a man’s sabsi pipe and his stash of kif.
Rural men wore a number of different types of footwear. In the past, men in
a number of different regions of the country wore sandals made of woven grass
called disira nuruwari in the Rif. In the southern part of the country, such sandals
were made from the leaves of the doum palm. Men wore a combined leather shoe
and woolen stocking sewn together called a loqshini in the High Atlas and an
ijekjad in the Anti-Atlas. Unlike the urban balghah, all of the shoes worn by rural
people were made with a collapsible heel and were walked on or stood up to form
the back of the shoe.
Most rural men wore and continue to wear a small turban made of any short
piece of cloth. It is tied into place by first putting it over the head and allowing a
small bit to hang down the back, then
twisting it at the forehead, bringing it
around the head, and tucking it into
the side of the turban. Berber men of
the Ait ‘Atta and Ait Murghad in the
south are known for their large tur-
bans made from a long piece of cloth
twisted into a round coil and wound
around the head. Often, the center of
the head is left exposed to the sun.
Zemmour men wear a large straw hat
with a wide brim decorated in bright
cotton yarn in geometric designs and
tassels called a taraza. In more recent
years, they have added sequins to them
so that they sparkle in the sunlight.
In the past, Moroccan Berber
women made a wide variety of woven
textiles. Unfortunately, most women
have stopped making such fabrics,
which have been replaced by cheap
Berber woman dressed for the celebration mass-production materials from over-
of Moussem, Tarhjijt, Morocco, 2005. (Olivier seas. Many of the items women used
Martel/Corbis) to make for themselves to wear are
Morocco | 505
now collectors’ items and are priced above what a woman would be able to pay
for them.
Berber women wore a large cotton cloth pinned at the shoulders and draped,
then wrapped around their bodies and over their heads like the haik. This was
called a tafawout or adrar in the Anti-Atlas region. The tafawout, unlike a haik,
included embroidery and small silk pom-poms. Women from the Anti-Atlas and
parts of the High Atlas wear a wide flat red or black belt with geometric designs.
In the Middle Atlas, women wove and wore a reversible cape called handirah.
It was made with tie strings and was usually made of cotton and natural off-white
wool. It was woven to have strips of wool pile that was worn on the inside in the
summer and on the outside in winter to keep the snow and rain from soaking the
garment. In the first decades of the 20th century, metal sequins were introduced
by the French and Middle Atlas Berber and women immediately loved them. Even
today, women cover their weaving with rows of sequins that sometimes makes it
very hard to see the quality of their fine weaving. On the summer side of the handi-
rah, there are woven geometric motifs in rows of dark blue, black, or red.
Underneath the handirah, women wore an izar. The izar dress was often dark
blue or black cotton cloth that was pinned at each shoulder with a fibula. In Moroc-
co’s south, women used to wear massive fibulas set with glass or semiprecious
stones or decorated with cloisonné. The two fibula were linked usually with a silver
chain that hung down to the abdomen where women from some communities such
as the Idu-u-Semlal had a large silver egg suspended. This large silver egg was
called a lagumnut and represented the woman’s fertility.
In addition, women wore headscarves even if the tafawout or haik was also
brought up over the head. The headscarves also helped indicate the different commu-
nities. Some were made of cotton or cotton/wool blends and decorated with designs
done in henna. Others were heavily embroidered such as those that used to be made
by women of the oasis communities on the Saharan side of the Anti-Atlas or the Ait-
u-Baha from the Sus region. Among the most intricate of embroideries are those of
the Ait-u-Baha who used a large piece of plain black cotton and then with a variety
of stitches covered it in yellow, red, green, and orange floral and arabesque designs.
Women also wore tie-dyed cloth as a head cover, and a type of weaving called sprang
is still used. In addition to the head veil, women used to wear massive coifs.
Berber women’s footwear was much the same sort of leather shoe or leather
and woolen stocking as men wore. The major differences are that the women’s
shoes are more ornately decorated than those worn by men. Women also wore
knitted leggings called tarriwin to keep the lower leg warm in the winter. Unfor-
tunately, today all of these traditional items have been replaced by cheaper mass-
manufactured fabric and plastic shoes. Traditional dress is worn only on special
occasions and at folklore presentations for tourists.
Dress of Awlad Hassan

The Arab tribes that inhabit the deep south of Morocco, the disputed Western
Sahara, are similar to their cousins in Mauritania, Algeria, and the Azwad of Mali.
They are the “Blue Men of Morocco” because they wear cotton dyed with indigo,
which rubs off on their skin, staining their skin dark blue.
Men wear a large overcloak/robe called a dir‘ah or dira‘iyah with massive
sleeves that are folded back over the shoulders. These cloaks are usually white or
light blue with silver or gold thread embroidery along the chest, around a front
chest pocket, and down the front panel.
Under the dir‘ah men may wear a shirt made of similar cloth with gold, yel-
low, silver, or white embroidery around the collar, the cuffs, and down the front,
although in the past many men did not wear a shirt. Today, most dir‘ah are made
from a waxed cloth from Mali called Khomeni that has a star and crescent motif
woven into the cloth. The Khomeni cloth was so named because of its association
with the Islamic revolution in Iran and the symbolic use of the star and crescent
showed support. Men wore and continue to wear trousers underneath made of sim-
ilar cloth to that of the dir‘ah that are similar to what in English is called “Turkish”
trousers (Arabic: sirwal.) The sirwal fit tightly around the bottoms, which may
only reach to the mid-calf of the leg. The cuff is heavily embroidered in the same
color as that of the dir‘ah. The sirwal is also embroidered around the pockets and
down the outside seam to the cuff. The sirwal is held in place by a braided leather
belt called a tijirkit or khazamah. The end of the belt hangs down below the knee
and some even reach the ankle. Some of the finer examples are made from several
strands of round braided leather stained red and green. Some belts have a metal
buckle while others are simply knotted or looped in place.
Hassani men wear a turban called a hawali and a litham or veil. Among the
Hassani Arabs most of the turbans are made from a long piece of black or blue
indigo cloth that is wrapped around the head and lower face of the wearer. Most
Hassani men do not use the turban as a head cover except during dust storms. In
general the cloth is worn more like a bandolier, crossed over the chest with the ends
tied together behind the back.
On their feet, Hassani men wear leather sandals or na‘ala (plural: n‘ail). Some
of the better quality sandals have finely painted geometric patterns on the sole of
the shoe and have soft leather straps that fit between the large toe and the next one
and around the ankle to hold it in place. On others, the front folds back to protect
the toes and ties into the leather strap that fits between the big toe and the next one.
A man will frequently wear a decorated leather pouch around his neck. The
pouch is the bayt or “house” for his small, straight tobacco pipe, called a tuba; his
tobacco; and a flint and steel lighter called a zanad. In addition, he may also have
Morocco | 507
Moroccan men participating in a fantasia or black powder gun play on horseback. Moroc-
cans wear traditional clothes to such celebrations. (Courtesy John A. Shoup)
on the same strap a decorated metal combination knife, punch, and tweezer tool
called a mungash. He may attach a small, decorated leather pouch to keep a stick
of miswak used to clean the teeth. Men frequently wore their camel stick or debus
suspended from a leather strap on their wrist. Wealthier men, such as tribal leaders,
wore a Moroccan-made kumiyah, a curved knife with a thin blade. The daggers
were suspended under the arm with a colored, braided woolen cord and attached to
rings on the dagger’s scabbard.
Boys wore very little until they were old enough to attend Islamic school.
They were then dressed in a simple cloth pinned or tied at one shoulder (the other
shoulder was left bare). Different ages and different Hassani groups shaved parts
of the head, leaving a cock’s cockerel or tufts of hair on the side, top, and back of
the head. This practice mostly died out during the second half of the 20th century.
Once the boy grew a bit older, the simple cloth was replaced with a child’s version
of the dir‘ah. When seen to be an adult, boys and men wore their hair long and
frequently stiffened by wind and dust so their hair stood up on end.
Hassani women wear a large cloth called a milhafa’ (plural: malahaf) tied or
pinned at both shoulders and then wrapped round the head and shoulders with the
loose end folded over a shoulder. In the past women preferred white or dark indigo
dyed cotton cloth called a shandura. Since the 20th century a light gauze-like
cotton cloth decorated with tie-dye techniques has been very popular. The border
town of Kahadi (Kaïdi) along the Senegal River is one of the main producers of
the milhafa’, but recently both the Mauritanian and Moroccan governments have
encouraged other women to learn how to make them. In the past, women usually
wore nothing under the milhafa’ but today, women frequently wear shirts, trousers,
or a dress because of the see-through gauze material. In the past, women used to
attach a long thin sachet filled with cloves or other fragrances used for incense
along the front neckline of the milhafa’ called a hafayid. The hafayid was hooked
into place with a set of bone or ivory buttons called maqfalat that were used to tie
the milhafa’ at the shoulders. In recent years, the milhafa’ has increased in popu-
larity among non-Hassani people in Morocco, Mali, and even Niger, where it is a
convenient means of modesty dress for women who cannot afford a large ward-
robe. It can cover the whole body and has extra cloth that can be used like a purse
to hold money, keys, and other items.
Hassani women wear leather or wooden sandals (wooden sandals are called
n‘ail sadar); both types are called na‘ala (plural: n‘ail) as they are for men. The
main difference is that those for the women are made with more care and are deco-
rated with red, black, green, and yellow paint in arabesque motifs. Those with a
wooden sole are relatively thick in comparison with those made of leather. Both
the wooden and the leather styles of sandal are secured on the foot by a system of
leather straps attached to the sole and fastened at the instep.
Hassani women like to have their hair done into distinctive braided coifs, called
dhafirah, which indicate tribal affiliation and social class. In order to build the elab-
orate hairstyles, women use a metal frame called a sharwitah, bent to a particular
shape distinct to each area, which is then covered with black wool or human hair
and woven into place on the head. False braids made from human or animal hair are
added to the woman’s own natural braids and decorated with glass, gold, semipre-
cious stones, and shell beads, each shape having a specific name. The number of
these hair ornaments as well as their placement and materials are used to signify
the tribal affiliation of the woman and her social class (free, hartaniyah, or slave).
Jewelry plays an important role among Hassani women, and they wear an
assortment of necklaces of semiprecious stones called qiladah or to use the Berber
term, azlaga. Many of the individual beads are from the Neolithic period (before
6000 BCE) and are made of semiprecious stones, while others have a well-known
silver “cross” called a mughdad in Hassani Arabic and khamisah in Moroccan
Arabic. Women wear wide silver or gold bracelets. The more delicate arsaq types
are made of pieces of wood set in a silver frame (today replaced with cow horn or
black plastic) and inlaid with thin silver wire. Among the most spectacular pieces
of a woman’s jewelry are the massive anklets worn by Hassani women that can
weigh up to 2.2 pounds (a kilogram) each. The anklets (khukhal) are decorated
Morocco | 509
with fine engraved designs. Hassani women wear different-sized and -shaped sil-
ver rings on every finger, each with its own name, although, in general, a ring is
called a khatim. A distinctive piece of Hassani jewelry is the large tasbih or string
of prayer beads. Men and women wear them like a necklace around the neck. They
are made of glass, semiprecious stones (mostly agate), and wooden beads inlaid
with fine silver wire. Those worn as a necklace end with two large silk tassels in
multicolors.
The clothing of modern Moroccans remains quite traditional and many of the
overall styles are worn all over the country, though they are distinct from urban
to rural populations. What has changed to a larger extent is how the garments and
jewelry are produced. While in the past much of the textiles were homespun close
to home, now fabrics are more commonly imported and made of lesser quality
fibers. Still, the traditional dress lives on here more than it does in many other
countries.

Bennet, Michael. The Battle of Stoke: The Simnel Rebellion. New York: Oxford
Bouilloc, Christine, Arnoud Maurières, and Marie-Bènèdicte Seynhaeve. Tapis et
Textiles du Maroc à la Syrie. Paris: Chëne/Hachette Livre, 2009.
Dodds, Jerrilynn D., Maria Rosa Menocal, and Abigail Krasner Balbale. The Arts
of Intimacy: Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Making of Castilian Culture.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.
Khalili, Nasser D. Islamic Art and Culture: Timeline and History. Cairo: The Ame-
rican University in Cairo Press, 2008.
Morin-Barde, Mireille. Coiffures Féminines du Maroc au Sud du Haut Atlas. Paris:
Edisud, 1990.
Panetier, Jean-Luc. Volubilis: Une Cite du Maroc Antique. Paris: Maisonneuve &
Larose, 2002.
Pean, Richard. Tunisia’s Berber Heritage from Prehistoric Times up to the Present.
Tunis: Edition Regie 3/Agence Nationale du Patrimonie, 1995.
du Puigaudeau, Odette. Arts et Coutumes des Maures. Edited by Monique Vérité.
Paris: Ibis Press, 2002.
Rabaté, Marie-Rose, and Frieda Sorber. Berber Costumes of Morocco: Traditional
Patterns. Paris: ACR Edition, 2007.
Native North American Dress
(United States and Canada)
Jennifer Moore
T he dress of North American native peoples is rich and complex. Its history
and development includes the inventive traditions of the preindustrial and
precontact past as well as the diverse customs of individual tribes whose living
traditions are an important part of Native American cultural expression in the
present. Information about Native American dress customs can be derived from
photographic evidence (after about 1840), paintings, written accounts, oral tradi-
tions (lore), artifacts, and contemporary accounts. However, understanding Native
American dress is far more than simply understanding the materials and tech-
niques used to make exquisite and expressive clothes. The clothes made by Native
Americans both past and present embody tribal values, pan-Indian ideals, and
personal power. Given that no single tribal culture was ever hermetically sealed,
diversity, evolution, and intermixing of traditions have always been normative in
the dress of Native American peoples. Defining and describing specific garments
and their innate properties must be done with caution and with the understand-
ing that “traditional” dress is expressive of evolving traditions. According to the
2008 U.S. Census, there were approximately 5.1 million American Indians and
Native Americans. In Canada, there were 1,172,790 according to the 2006 Cana-
dian Census.
Whether considering garments from the historical past or the present, it is
imperative to understand that the dress of Native American peoples of all tribes
are valuable expressions of both self and tribe. Garments are largely handmade
and hand embellished even in the 21st century. They are therefore imbued with
the spiritual energy of the maker and are considered to be alive with sound, spirit,
and meaning. Initially garment forms, the materials from which they were made,
and the manner in which they were decorated were largely determined by climate,
natural resources, and tribal culture. The flora and fauna of a region determined
what could be used in the manufacture of dress, whereas the ecology and climate
determined how garments were made. Notably, the archaeological record left by
early native peoples indicates that evolution and diversification were a part of
dress traditions from the beginning. Although some specific garments (or specific
510
Native North American Dress (United States and Canada) | 511
features or innovations thereof) or decorative patterns may be traced to specific

geographical regions and even tribal groups, over time, dress became increasingly
pan-Indian and multicultural. This phenomenon is the result of intertribal interac-
tions, contact with Europeans and their trade goods, and later, a response to the
suppression and fragmentation of Native American culture by the governments of
the United States and Canada. The combination of these forces stimulated innova-
tion in old forms and adoption of new ideas and identities.
People and Dress

In the preindustrial period Native Americans used hides, pelts, grasses, bark,
moss, and hair in the construction of their garments. The materials were largely
selected based on regional availability and need conditioned by the environment. As
a result skills and styles evolved in conjunction with the unique properties of regions.
Across North America the Native Americans realized ways to work these natural
hides and fibers with great skill and imagination. Josephine Paterek, writing in the
Encyclopedia of American Indian Cos-
tume (1996), has suggested that the
Lower Creek women were said to have
worn white mantles made of thread
from the bark of the mulberry tree, a
tree native to the Georgia-Alabama
border region where they lived. The
quality of this thread was believed to be
as fine as the best thread from Portugal,
though stronger. Native Americans of
the southeast were unique in the abil-
ity to spin and weave cotton centuries
before contact with European spinning
and weaving technologies.
Native American clothes have a
long tradition of using animal hides or
buckskin for their construction. Hides
from bear, rabbit, deer, elk, and buf-
falo have long been used, whereas
Kalispel Indian woman with wrapped braids
deerskin and synthetic buckskin are wearing white stripes painted on hair, shell
widely used today. Concurrent with disk earrings, and a blanket dress decorated
the widespread use of hides was the with elk teeth, c. 1910. (Library of Congress)
use of sinew, bone, feathers, teeth, and claws. The eyeteeth of elk (of which there
are only two per animal) were especially prized. Feathers were important for the
decoration of hair and headdresses, including war bonnets, but were also used in
the construction of mantles. Although modern garments still utilize feathers, the
feathers are generally purchased and may be dyed in order to create an “authentic
look,” as the sacred feather of the American bald eagle may no longer be used due
to federal protection of the species. Although bone may still be carved, it is more
common to find modern Native Americans using synthetic bones, teeth, and claws
in the adornment of dress.
Native American dress from the precontact period could also be made of woven
fabrics. Many woven textiles were made through finger-weaving techniques such
as twining or braiding. In the southwest, a true loom with a heddle was in use by
the 16th century. Cotton, wool, and yucca were handspun and hand-woven by pre-
and postcontact native peoples and are still used today.
With European contact came increased use of textiles. The introduction of
sheep by the Spanish into the southwestern United States affected the weaving tra-
ditions of the Navajo. Broadcloth, known as “saved list” or “Indian cloth,” as well
as “stroud cloth” (a felted fabric) were imported from England and sold or traded
to the native peoples of the northeast, who began to utilize the ready-made textiles.
Pendleton blankets, woven by the Pendleton Mills of Oregon, were popular among
the Pueblo Indians of the southwest as were Czechoslovakian shawls. Increased
contact with Europeans, industrialization, and the decimation of animal herds pre-
cipitated increased use of textiles, especially white cotton fabric.
Beads made of shells, bone, and stone were used to decorate garments before
trade routes carrying non-native goods became established. Perhaps the most
important and valuable decorative beads were wampum, beads that were meticu-
lously hand-fashioned from purple or white shells. With trade came Italian glass
beads, both faceted and unfaceted. Pony beads and their smaller counterpart, seed
beads, proliferated between 1800 and 1870. The ready availability of these beads
replaced the use of quillwork (porcupine or avian) to a large extent. Other decora-
tive devices that became available through trade in the 19th century included brass
bells, dentalium shells, brass sequins, and prepared paint. Many materials made
available through trade with non-natives were named for where they came from or
for who brought them (as in the case of “Siberian beads,” introduced by Russian
traders, and “pony beads,” named for how they arrived.
The making of garments (including preparing hides or pelts, preparing fibers,
spinning, and weaving) and the decoration of garments (including beading, paint-
ing, and executing quillwork) were originally women’s tasks, except for the deco-
ration of some ceremonial and commemorative garments, which was executed by
the men who would wear them. In the 20th century this gendered division of labor
became less stringent, whereas in recent decades the creation of traditional gar-
ments, especially those used for the powwow, is often done in concert among the
wearer and friends and family. Pieces of regalia worn by modern dancers may be
made or purchased by relations of the dancers while the dancer himself/herself will
make and buy parts of the regalia as well. Some aspects of garment making and
decoration have a long tradition of communal creation. For example, Cheyenne
women of the 19th and early 20th centuries completed elaborate beadwork within
the structure of a guild. Making and decorating a garment incorporates both tribal
and pan-Indian customs passed through generations as well as personal dreams
and visions. The act of skinning a deer, tanning a hide, and shaping quills has a
longstanding tradition of incorporating contemplation of existence and connection
to the spirit realm.
History of Dress
Historical garments can largely be dated based on the trade goods that were
employed in their manufacture and decoration. The transition from traditional
to European fabric and then to European garment forms is a part of the story of
Native American dress. By the middle of the 16th century Native Americans and
Spanish explorers had made contact, and as early as the 18th century some tribes
(among them the Creek) had already largely abandoned native dress customs in
favor of skirts, pantaloons, shirts, and coats. For most tribes, adoption of European
dress styles came later, mostly in the 19th century with the proliferation of mass-
produced fabric. Tribes including the Apache, Hopi, and Navajo were influenced
by the dress traditions of Spanish Mexico, adopting white cotton breeches and
tunics. In the northeast tribes such as the Chippewa, Delaware, and Huron would
have had access to broadcloth and calico—both printed and plain—that could have
been fashioned into skirts, shirts, dresses, and leggings.

In terms of traditional garments, mantles and “wearing blankets” were perhaps
the simplest garments in the dress of native peoples. Worn in the historical past by
members of tribes who lived in climates that necessitated outerwear, mantles could
be made of hides, feathers, or pelts. The most highly valued mantle was a buffalo
robe, which was most commonly worn by Plains Indians. Buffalo robes were worn
with the fur inside and the exposed hide painted. In some cases the hide was painted
by the male wearer, who documented his war exploits in pictographic records.
Native Americans wore woven blankets in the Southwest. This was an iconic tradi-
tion among the Navajo but was also found among the Hopi. Wearing blankets were
traded through tribes such as the Pima and Apache and could be of Native American
or European/mass-produced origin. Wearing blankets, also known as “chief blan-
kets,” were first woven of cotton, then of wool, and later of unraveled bayetta, a
red baize cloth. By the late 1860s these blankets were highly sought after by white
people who purchased them and used them as rugs or tapestries for hanging on
their walls. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, blankets that were produced by
the Hudson Bay Company of Canada or the Pendleton Company of Oregon were
adopted for use as apparel by virtually every tribe in North America, except those
that lived in geographical regions in which heavy outerwear was not required. This
was done as a result of the depopulation of buffalo herds and the decreased avail-
ability of their hides for robes. Additionally, white settlers set a high value on buf-
falo robes and handcrafted blankets, and actively sought them in trade. Today both
companies still produce blankets of
the same designs that were traded with
Native American tribes. The Pendle-
ton Company currently makes jackets
that interpret the “Indian” patterns that
have been woven into their blankets for
the past 150 years.
Many women’s dresses were
made of hides, and their construction
became progressively more complex
over the course of the 19th century. A
side-fold dress consisted of a single
hide, with an overfold consisting of
two legs to form a cape and a single
seam to close the side. Evidence of
such dresses exists for tribes living
in the regions of the upper Missouri
River, the Great Lakes, and the North-
east Plains. Specific tribes whose dress
customs evidence these constructions
included the Blackfoot, Mandan, and
Nez Perce. By 1830 there is evidence
of dresses made of two hides. These
are sometimes referred to as “tail
Early Sioux woman’s dress is decorated with
dresses.” These full-skirted dresses,
quilled stripes and red tassels, beadwork on with capes formed from the hind quar-
the cape, and a metal cone fringe around the ters and legs, were made of the hides
skirt, about 1830. (Werner Forman/Corbis) of deer, elk, or bighorn sheep. They
evolved over time (especially among the Crow) to include tapered sleeves cut from
separate hides. Both lore and physical evidence indicate that the hides of female
animals were preferred for their magical properties, and the tails of the animals
were left intact, a further indication of the spiritual connection maintained between
wearer and animal. Dresses of this design were found among the tribes of the Great
Plains (including the Crow, Dakota, and Mandan) and also among the tribes of the
plateau region (Yakama and Nez Perce). By 1870 a three-hide dress was in use.
One hide was used for the yoke, and two hides were used to make the skirt. The
volume of skin permitted elaborate and extensive decoration. Modern examples
of hide dresses tend to freely interpret this last form. Synthetic buckskin, satin, or
calico fabric may be used in conjunction with innovative or modern design motifs
(such as Christian symbols, military regiment insignia, or other symbols of per-
sonal significance). Exceptionally long fringe is also a common decorative motif
that is applied to modern interpretations of these dresses as the swaying fringe is in
keeping with modern dance traditions as well as current tastes.
Breechclouts (loincloths) made of tanned hides or breechcloths made of tex-
tiles were worn almost universally by Native American men. The cut of these
ubiquitous garments varied in terms of the amount of coverage that the garment
provided (whether it included front and/or back flaps). The manner of decoration
was also highly varied. For example, breechclouts worn by Native Americans of
the Great Plains, the vast “big sky” region spanning from the foothills of the Rocky
Mountains to the Mississippi River, tended to include fringe trimming of substan-
tial length. The use of the breechclout and breechcloth has been abandoned by
modern Native Americans.
Long-sleeved shirts were worn by both men and women and could be made
of a woven textile or buckskin. Women’s shirts, which were often cut somewhat
like a poncho, would typically be paired with a wraparound skirt of simple design.
Buckskin shirts were often beaded and included fringe, especially across the bust
and up the back of the sleeve. Shirts based on traditional designs continue to be
made and worn today in what may be described as pan-Indian tradition.
Both men and women from nearly every First Nations group wore leggings,
most often made of hide. Men’s leggings generally ended mid-thigh while women’s
leggings ended at the knee. Leggings could be tubular in structure or might consist
of a flat panel with thongs to bind it to the leg. Leggings could be elaborately deco-
rated, especially with beadwork or quillwork techniques, which were common in
different design motifs throughout North America.
Moccasins were the most ubiquitous type of footwear worn by Native Ameri-
cans, although they differed in design depending on regional climate. Moccasins
could have either a hard or soft sole and the height of the ankle shaft varied. Terrain
(rocks, thistles, swamp) as well as the severity of the weather determined the design
Decorated skin leggings with quillwork and animal hair. (Werner Forman/Corbis)
of the moccasin. The Kiowa and the Teton Sioux of the Great Plains wore hard-
soled moccasins whereas the Cheyenne of that same region, as well as the Jemez of
the southwest and the Yurok of California, for example, wore soft-soled moccasins.
Moccasins could be lined with fur for winter or attached to leggings to lend addi-
tional insulation for the wearer. These characteristics were common for many tribes,
among them the Ojibwa of the Lake Huron region, the Cheyenne of the Great Plains,
and the Kutenai of southern British Columbia and northern Montana. Moccasins
were often elaborately beaded. Some examples from the 19th and 20th centuries have
beaded soles. Although moccasins were essentially the last piece of native apparel to
be retained as Native Americans adopted European dress customs, today most Native
Americans who utilize traditional dress purchase ready-made moccasins, which are
manufactured in both buckskin and synthetic fabrics. Native Americans also wore
sandals and boots in both the precontact and postcontact periods.
Accessories included belts, pouches, and knife sheaths. Headgear was not
generally adopted for daily use; however, the Plains Indians wore elaborate war
bonnets adorned with plumes of feathers. Jewelry was decorative, symbolic, and
a means of transporting wealth on the body. Jewelry was typically made of silver,
and gold was rarely used. There is some evidence that the Haida of the Northwest
worked in gold in the 19th century, producing objects for trade. The Seminole of
Florida also worked in gold, prized booty gleaned from Spanish explorers and their
shipwrecks.
Special-Occasion Dress
Special garments were and still are made for ceremonial events including the
celebration of rites of passage and rituals that include calling upon the powers of
the spirit world. Among the dress traditions that have been abandoned over the
course of the last century is the Lakota (North and South Dakota) custom of com-
pleting a pair of quilled or beaded moccasins during the seclusion mandated during
the first menses of a young girl. With changing societal mores and the widespread
use of mass-produced footwear, this specific custom of moccasin production has
been abandoned. The Crow, who were tobacco farmers in the preindustrial period,
had a tradition of creating special dresses for the women who planted the tobacco
seeds. When the economy of the Crow ceased to depend on this form of agricul-
ture, the garments were abandoned. Ghost Dance dresses, a unique aesthetic of the
late 19th century, were painted with powerful symbols of nature and the elements
that beseeched the universe to come to the aid of the Lakota people. They were cre-
ated largely in response to the massacre of the Lakota at Wounded Knee, but when
the magic of the garments failed, the dress tradition was abandoned. Although
many ceremonial garments have fallen out of use, garments worn in celebration of
the modern-day powwow are rich and multifaceted examples of the enduring tradi-
tions of ceremonial dress among modern Native Americans.
Body Modification
Both permanent and temporary body modifications have a long history of
use among Native Americans. There is ample documentation that body paint was
widely used in the postcontact period. Paint was worn during athletic events and
in times of war as a means of designating opposing sides and making apotropaic
markings. Body paint was also used ceremonially. Historically, the Comanche
would mark their first-born child with a line (of cosmetic paint) from ear to ear.
Body paint in the form of mass-produced cosmetics and clown makeup is still
used, especially by those who perform at powwows.
Tattooing was also widely used in the past. It was largely adopted by males as a
marking of rank and could serve as a rite of passage. Some tribes tattooed females.
For example, the Seminole tattooed the wives of their chiefs. Among the Omaha,
Cherokee, and Creek tattooing has long been considered a mark of honor. In the
past, cosmic symbols were commonly tattooed on the neck or forehead, whereas
today symbols are derived from across cultures and frequently applied to forearms
or chest. Tattoos are especially common among the many Native Americans who
serve in the United States military. Ear piercing has had a long and lasting history
of use among both men and women, whereas numerous tribes prior to the 20th cen-
tury favored ear lobe elongating. Skull flattening was performed by the Choctaw
through the early stages of the postcontact period.

If you were to visit a community of Native North Americans in Canada or
the United States, you would likely see the majority of people wearing the same
clothes as you would see on any street in any contemporary city. If you attended
any festival or tribal gathering you would more likely see many people dressed in
the traditional clothing of their individual nations or tribes. As with many cultures,
the ethnic dress is reserved for special festivals or ceremonies to celebrate the cul-
ture of the people.
The living traditions of Native North American dress customs are rich and
varied. The study of both historical and contemporary practices reveals aspects
of Native North American culture, including personal and tribal values, spiritual-
ity, and ecology. As dress traditions continue to evolve in tandem with the culture
itself, no doubt the revelatory power of the garments will also evolve.
Further Reading
Brasser, Ted J. Native American Clothing: An Illustrative History. Richmond Hill,
ON: Firefly Books, 2009.
Her Many Horses, Emil, ed. Identity by Design. New York: Harper Collins, 2007.
Kaufman, Alice, and Christopher Selser. The Navajo Weaving Tradition: 1650 to
the Present. Tulsa, OK: Council Oak Books, 1999.
NativeTech: Native American Technology and Art Culture Areas and the Locations
of Tribes with Illustrated Clothing source. http://www.nativetech.org/clothing/
regions/regions.html. 2012.
Paterek, Josephine. Encyclopedia of American Indian Costume. New York:
W. W. Norton, 1996.
The Netherlands and Belgium
In the northwestern region of Europe lie the Netherlands and Belgium. The cul-
tural, political, and clothing histories of these two countries are very much inter-
twined. In the 15th century, these countries were united in the Burgundian union
of 1433. Before this, they were to a lesser or greater extent fiefdoms of the Holy
Roman Empire. Together with Luxembourg, they were referred to as the Low
Countries. With the advent of the 16th century, these Low Countries were divided
in half, with the southern portion comprising most of modern-day Belgium. In
1815, these countries were once again united as the United Kingdom of the Nether-
lands. It wasn’t until 1830 and the Belgian Revolution that Belgium would become
an independent constitutional monarchy. The area that is known as the Netherlands
today is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Referring to this
country as Holland is a misnomer. North and South Holland are in fact only two
of the 12 provinces that make up this country. The Netherlands is a parliamentary
democracy with its capital seated in The Hague. The population of Belgium is
estimated at more than 10,400,000 people, and the population of the Netherlands
is estimated at more than 16,700,000.

The Netherlands, as a country, is divided in two by the Rhine River and its main
distributaries, the Waal and the Meuse. This naturally occurring geographic divide
has had cultural implications on the country, creating and allowing the continua-
tion of linguistic and social differences between the northern and southern halves
of the Netherlands. The country is further divided into 12 provinces: Groningen,
Friesland, Drenthe, North Holland, Flevoland, Overijssel, Utrecht, Gelderland,
South Holland, Zeeland, North Brabant, and Limburg. The Netherlands is bor-
dered on the east by Germany and to the south by Belgium.
519
Belgium is divided into three distinct geographic regions. The coastal plain
of northwestern Belgium and the central plateau are two; they are both part of the
Anglo-Belgian Basin. The Ardennes uplands in southeastern Belgium make up the
third and are part of the Hercynian orogenic belt.
Both the Netherlands and Belgium possess a maritime temperate climate, like
most of northwestern Europe. They share a tenuous environmental state. In the late
19th century, the last of the native woods of the Netherlands were destroyed and
today the majority of woodland in the country is made up of non-native trees. The
shape of the Netherlands has also been affected by naturally occurring and human-
effected flooding.
People and Dress

The Netherlands is among the most secular countries in Western Europe today,
with a little less than half the population reporting no religious affiliation. Among
the religions represented in the Netherlands, the Roman Catholic Church is the most
popular with the Protestant Church of the Netherlands following close behind. On
the other hand, Belgium has remained a largely Roman Catholic country. Religious
freedom is a protected right in Belgium; however, the Roman Catholic Church
continues to play a strong role in the political scene of this country.
The languages spoken in each country reflect their interconnected cultural
history. In Belgium, three official languages are recognized, “Flemish” or Dutch
being the most prominent, with French almost equally represented. German is also
spoken, though to a lesser extent. In the Netherlands, Dutch is the predominant
language though a variety of dialects are spoken. In Friesland, Frisian is spoken,
and this is the only region where this language is officially recognized. The prov-
ince of Groningen is known for its dialect of Frisian and Dutch. In the northern
and eastern provinces of the Netherlands, Low Saxon is spoken. This is among the
many languages that are recognized as a “regional language” by the government.
History of Dress
As in most of Western Europe, the regional costumes of Belgium and the Neth-
erlands were refined and recorded in the late 19th century. Many aspects of the
regional dress in the Netherlands, in particular, can be traced to the fashionable
dress of a century before. Styles and silhouettes of the 18th century are reflected
in the national costume, along with elements of the 17th century as well, particu-
larly in the men’s costume. The history of these costumes, like those in other parts
The Netherlands and Belgium | 521
of Western Europe, is linked to the dress of the peasant class of earlier centuries,
though many of the refinements reflect the taste of the upper classes as well.

Wool, linen, and cotton are most typically used in the manufacture of regional
dress in the Netherlands and Belgium. These may be ornamented through printing,
embroidery, or in the case of some contemporary kroplaps, the bibs worn by some
women in the Netherlands, painting. Leather is typically used for shoe construc-
tion though the iconic or rather infamous carved clog of the Netherlands is made
of wood. Metal plays an important role in the creation of some of the Netherlands’
most remarkable accessories, however, such as the notable headwear of the women
in the province of Friesland. For Belgium, the materials are much the same as these
two countries shared access to similar resources and trading routes.

The costumes from the towns of Marken and Volendam and the Zeeland and
Friesland provinces in the Netherlands are the most iconic. Of these, Volendam is
perhaps the most well known and frequently represented in terms of Dutch national
costume. Situated in the province of North Holland, Volendam is located on the coast
and is the product of a 14th-century land-reclamation project. Volendam was origi-
nally a harbor for the nearby Edam, but it was later settled when the residents of Edam
dug a canal to the nearby sea and filled in the dam to create Volendam, the town.
Women and Girls

For women, the Volendam silhouette dates back to the 17th century, when
padded hip rolls were worn. The shape of the skirt extends from the waistline and
drops to the ankle. In addition to a padded hip roll, the silhouette of the dresses of
the women of Volendam may be shaped by several layers of underskirts. In current
usage, women are more likely to wear one or two petticoats and forego the older
style padded hip roll. Over this is worn an ankle-length skirt. Their white sleeve-
less underbodices are ornamented with a dickey-like garment called a kroplaps,
which is also similar to a bib. The kroplaps are squares of fabric with floral designs.
This bib or dickey is fastened at the neck and then secured to the costume at the
bottom with ribbons. This element is found in regional costumes throughout the
Netherlands and may reflect a foreign influence on the national costume, as they
are similar to those worn in parts of Germany. Early versions of the kroplaps were
embroidered with an all-over design whereas contemporary ones are usually made
of printed fabric or with a painted or embroidered motif at the center front. Made
Children from Volendam, the Netherlands, wearing their national costume, 1930. (Hulton
Archive/Getty Images)
in two square-shaped pieces, the kroplaps are joined at the shoulders and a solid-
color short standing-collar is attached at the neckline. The kroplaps extends to just
above the bustline and is covered with a dark wool jacket or overbodice. This is
the kletje, which it is sometimes made with a short skirt or peplum attached at the
back. It fastens at the center front (with hook-and-eye closure in contemporary
usage) and has a trimmed square neckline, front and back, to better display the
kroplaps underneath. Aprons of flowered material are worn over their skirts. A
white fichu or neckerchief is worn, with the ends tucked into the jacket or kletje.
White stockings and leather buckle shoes are worn. The famous wooden clogs
that are so iconic to the Netherlands are really meant for rough outdoor wear and
would not be worn indoors or with formal attire of any kind. On the head, the
iconic bonnet of the Netherlands is worn, made of white lace with starched wings
that extend from the side of the head and wrap toward the back. Necklaces of coral
in several strands, sometimes ornamented with a metal buckle, are worn close to
the neck. These are called Edelkraal and may reflect a belief in the healing powers
of coral that was commonly held through the 19th century.
This basic costume for women is modified to signify age and for special occa-
sions such as weddings. In the wedding guest costume, for example, the skirt worn
is vertically striped in red and black and worn with a black or navy-colored apron
over it, which may or may not be trimmed with a printed fabric at the top. For
market days, a black or navy-colored wool skirt is worn and may be covered with
a striped apron. Frequently, these aprons are smocked at the waist, executed in
brightly colored threads. The white fichu may also be replaced by a more utilitarian
knitted shawl or scarf. The white starched lace cap is not worn for everyday wear
and the kroplaps and white underbodice are replaced with a printed bodice. In this
very informal costume, the head is covered by a small black cap (which is typically
worn under the lace cap), and the kletje may be discarded entirely.
The costume for young girls, as in many other countries, is much simpler,
made up of a matching skirt and bodice and lacking embroidered or printed adorn-
ment. Young girls do not wear the kroplaps like their elders; however, contempo-
rary Volendam costumes for girls may include the high-peaked winged lace cap
worn over the black undercap.
Men
The men of Volendam also have one of the most recognizable costumes in the
Netherlands. Their wide-legged blue short trousers are fastened with silver metal
buttons in a fall-front fashion. These are worn with a white shirt and vest in either
stripes or red.
Nearby, the town of Marken shares
many of Volendam’s costume tradi-
tions. However, there are some pointed
differences in the way some costume
elements are worn. The most striking
is the women’s striped skirt. In Volen-
dam, it is worn just underneath the
apron in the most formal version of
that town’s costume. The women of
Marken, however, consider this striped
skirt more of an undergarment and
while it is worn, only the hem of it may
be seen under the outer skirt.
Because men in both Marken and
Volendam traditionally worked on
the water, a similar silhouette is seen.
This is a good representation of the
role occupation plays in the develop-
ment of regional dress (and dress in Fisherman from Marken, the Netherlands,
general). Work on the water requires c. 1900. (Library of Congress)
freedom of movement, and baggy knee breeches provided the right fit for their
maritime occupations. The most striking difference between the two costumes is in
color—the breeches of the men of Volendam are typically dark blue or black, while
those of the men of Marken are white. The costumes of Marken appear more color-
ful and decorative in contrast to the dark blues and blacks of those of Volendam.
Printed chintzes and floral embroidery are plentiful, even in the traditional dress
of children. The structure of their bodices also differs from those of Volendam. In
Marken, the kroplaps is not seen. Instead a laced bodice is worn, either laced in the
front or the back based on the age of the wearer. The lace caps of Marken women
and girls are less dramatic, fitting closer to the head and sometimes covered with
a flowered chintz cap as well. Aprons in dark solid colors and displaying elaborate
horizontal folding are worn over the whole costume.
The northern province of Friesland possesses a variety of regional costumes.
The town of Hindeloopen is perhaps the most different from others throughout the
Netherlands. The basic silhouette for women is changed slightly with the addition
of a long overdress and a starched bonnet with wings at the back made of checked
or solid fabric. The traditional dress of Hindeloopen offers an excellent example of
the role historic fashionable dress plays in shaping a regional costume. In the 17th
and 18th centuries, Hindeloopen was a very prosperous and worldly town, seeing
the benefits of trade with the east. Citizens of Hindeloopen would frequently use
their wealth to purchase the printed fabrics being imported from India from the
Dutch East Indies Company. The use of these all-over floral prints is a notable fea-
ture of Hindeloopen’s regional costume for women and men, both young and old.
Elsewhere in Friesland, the use of large amounts of lace in the regional dress rep-
resents the general wealth and prosperity in its past. Metal cap brooches were used
to affix the outer, often large, lace “German-style” bonnet to the undercap. The
wearing of these was a mark of age, as girls were not given them until adolescence.
In the south, the towns of Walcheren and South Beveland in the province of
Zeeland share other iconic, if less known, features of regional dress in the Nether-
lands. The silhouette for men and women is quite different from the majority of the
country. For women, a brightly colored underbodice is worn with a fitted, low-cut
jacket bodice. Vertically striped skirts are covered with solid, often dark-colored
aprons. It is with the costumes of the Zeeland province that the closest link to the
national dress of Belgium can be seen.
The national dress of Belgium is most heavily influenced by Zeeland and the
regional dress of Germany. The Dutch influence may be seen in both men’s and
women’s folk dance costume worn by Flemish dance troupes of today. A two-piece
dress is typically worn by the women and covered by an apron. The hair is covered
with a starched cap of colored fabric and a kerchief of patterned material is worn
over the shoulders. For men, the costume is typically made up of dark blue or black
long trousers, worn with a matching short jacket and white chemise-style shirt. A
short-billed cap may be worn in the fashion of the men of the Netherlandish prov-
ince of Zeeland.
Component Parts
Women wear pockets called zijzak attached under the apron. Reticules or other
purses are rarely seen in the regional dress of the women of the Netherlands, though
they are not unheard-of in modern interpretations. Perhaps the most recognizable
feature of Dutch national dress, the high-peaked cap of the Volendam costume,
is a relatively modern addition to the costume. This exaggerated style appeared
sometime around the turn of the 20th century. Before then, the black undercaps
and white overcaps were less peaked in shape, though the wings did extend out
to the side. Another equally recognizable component is the wooden clogs, which
frequently feature in representations of national dress in The Netherlands. These
utilitarian shoes, carved from wood and meant for wear alone or over cloth or
leather shoes, most likely originated before the 17th century. Today, they may be
seen in some festival wear but are not the only footwear that is worn. Historically,
leather buckle shoes offer a more accurate interpretation of what would have been
worn throughout the region.
Jewelry
The wide-winged, high-peaked lace cap of Volendam may be the iconic sym-
bol of traditional dress in the Netherlands. However, it is the headgear of the Zee-
land province that is perhaps the most striking in this country. Here golden helms
are worn under lace caps, with corkscrew-shaped cap pins extending outward
toward the front, next to either temple. In Walcheren, these are ornamented with
gold metal discs that are chased and circular. Those of North and South Beveland
are typically rectangular in shape. On top of the lace cap, a straw hat may also be
worn. The multiple strands of coral that make up the necklaces worn in the many
of the regional costumes of the Netherlands are not necessarily an iconic feature of
dress in this country, though the fashion in which they are worn—choker-style and
often fastened with a large metal buckle—is unique.

Today, the regional costumes of the Netherlands are most frequently seen at
regional dance festivals throughout the United States and Europe as well as in the
historic villages of the Netherlands. Volendam’s market days are particularly well
known for the appearance of regional dress. Museums in the Netherlands, such as
the Openluchtmuseum, began collecting regional costumes early in the 20th cen-
tury, just as the traditions were beginning to die out. As a way of preserving their
national heritage, these collections preserve and exhibit historic and contemporary
examples of regional dress from throughout the Netherlands.

Belgium National Costume. (Images and discussion about Belgian national
costume.) http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/belgium/belgium-national
-costume/ 1922. 2010.
de Gardilanne, Gratiane, and Elizabeth Whitney Moffatt. The National Costumes
of Holland. London: George G. Harrap, 1932.
Hijlkema, Riet. National Costumes in Holland. Amsterdam: J. M. Meulenhoff,
1951.
“Holland Lace in Friesland.” Friesmuseum website. www.friesmuseum.nl/index
.php?=2594.
Mann, Kathleen. Peasant Costume in Europe, Book II. London: A. & C. Black,
1936.
Mode Museum. http://www.momu.be/. 2012.
Musee du Costume et de la Dentelle (Costume and Lace Museum). http://www
.museeducostumeetdeladentelle.be.
Sitwell, Sacheverell. The Netherlands: A Study of Some Aspects of Art, Costume
and Social Life. New York: B. T. Batsford, 1952.
Smolar-Meynart, Arlette. Dentelle de Bruxelles. Brussels: Musee du Costume et
de la Dentelle, 1982.
Zuthem, Hannah, and Adriana Brunsting. Het Streekdrachten Boek (The Regional
Dress Book). Zwolle, The Netherlands: Openluchtmuseum 2007.
New Zealand
Chanel Clarke
Until European discovery of New Zealand in 1642 when the Dutch explorer Abel
Tasman entered New Zealand shores, followed by Captain Cook in 1769, this
island nation was largely isolated 900 miles east of Australia in the Pacific Ocean.
New Zealand comprises two main islands (the North and South Islands) and sev-
eral smaller islands.
The islands were settled very late in human history. The first peoples to populate
the islands were the Polynesians who came to New Zealand in the latter half of the
13th century where they developed what was to become known as the Māori culture.
In the early part of the 19th century Māori were still largely in control of
their own affairs. They maintained their own political autonomy, had significant
landholdings, and were socially and economically thriving. However, by 1858,
Māori were suffering from population decline due to internal warfare and intro-
duced diseases. As a result, with increased immigration and European settlement
Māori were outnumbered by Europeans and thus became a minority population
within their own country. They suffered major land losses as a result of this Euro-
pean settlement, which was accelerated after the New Zealand wars, as large tracts
of Māori-owned land was confiscated by the settler government. Late in the 19th
century Christian missionaries began converting Māori people to Christianity.
New Zealand ended up a British colony when the French (who had colonies in
the South Pacific such as French Polynesia) threatened to colonize New Zealand,
at which point New Zealand’s United Tribes asked for protection from the Brit-
ish. Captain William Hobson was sent by the British Crown to claim the islands
for Great Britain. Immigration increased to the islands and the population ratio
of Māori to European became skewed to favor a high percentage of whites living
in and governing the country. Despite their significant contribution to both World
Wars, the Māori continued to suffer from discrimination and unjust government
policies. There were very few opportunities for those in rural areas and as a result a
large proportion moved to the cities for employment and educational opportunities.
527
New Zealand declared itself a Dominion within the British Empire in 1907 and
remains a part of the British Empire in the same way Australia and Canada do, with
an independent parliament headed by a prime minister and governed by a cabinet
of elected members of parliament. Wellington is the capital of the country where
Parliament meets and governs the nation. The population in 2012 was approxi-
mately 4,328,000, 15% Māori.

The North and South Islands are long and narrow and separated by a short distance
(14 miles, 22 km) in the Cook Strait. The islands that make up New Zealand have
varied geographical characteristics, with dramatic mountain ranges on the South
Island and the North Island mountains prone to volcanic eruption in the Taupo
volcanic zone. Sitting on particularly active tectonic plates means New Zealand is
also prone to earthquakes.
The climate is varied but temperate year round and suitable for agricultural pro-
duction including fruits (apples and kiwis) and grazing for cattle and sheep. The
climate varies, however, depending on the region, from the wet West Coast to an arid
climate in central Otago. A subtropical climate can be found as well in Northland.
The climate is in part the reason New Zealand can compete in world agricultural
trade with fruit, dairy, and wine being sought-after commodities around the world.
Wool, once the mainstay of domestic trade, is less important as diversity in economic
endeavors has proven beneficial to the standard of living enjoyed in the country.
People and Dress

Aotearoa—New Zealand—located in the far southwest of the Pacific Ocean,
was the last substantial land mass to be reached by the Polynesian ancestors of the
present-day Māori. Arriving in successive waves from around 1300 CE, these early
settlers were greeted with a much cooler climate than they had been accustomed
to in their tropical homelands. Their knowledge of weaving was used to produce a
multitude of garments and utilitarian objects; first for protection from the elements,
and second to signify identity, status, and relationships.
These early ancestors introduced mammals such as the kurī (Polynesian dog,
which is now extinct) and kiore (rat), which were used for both food and cloth-
ing. They also brought other raw materials such as the taro, yam, paper mulberry,
coconut, breadfruit, and kūmara (sweet potato). Many of these plants did not sur-
vive the harsher climate, and protection from the elements therefore became a key
New Zealand | 529
priority. Substitutions for clothing,

shelter, and food had to be found from
the local flora and fauna.
The Māori found harakeke (New
Zealand flax) an excellent alternative
to the pandanus plant and used it in
much the same way to weave baskets,
containers, and mats. They also dis-
covered that its leaves yielded a strong
fiber from which the basic items of
clothing were created. These basic
clothing elements included apron-like
waist coverings as well as a variety of
garments draped from the shoulders.
The flax was cut with a mussel shell,
and the outer epidermis of the leaf
was scraped to reveal the fine white
fiber known as muka. Once extracted,
the fiber was prepared into lengths This cloak with decorative borders is made
of muka (flax fiber) and is known as a
suitable for rain capes, or the more kaitaka. The band of taµniko (finger weaving)
prestigious forms of cloaks such as the at the bottom and sides includes colored
kahu kuri (dogskin) and kaitaka, a flax wool. (Auckland Museum 815/Photographer
fiber cloak with decorative borders. Krzysztof Pfeiffer/© Auckland War Memorial
All garments were produced using Museum 2010)
off-loom finger-weaving techniques.
These methods included raranga (plaiting), whatu (finger twining), and tāniko
(finger-twined decorative borders).
Although the color palette available was limited, visual interest and pattern
was achieved with the use of various bark dyes. Brown/tan and yellow were sup-
plemented with black dye obtained from paru, which is mud that is high in iron
salts. Natural white fiber provided a fourth color choice. Sometimes garments were
rubbed with kōkōwai (red ochre) to provided a red hue.
Our knowledge of customary dress is derived from the observations and written
accounts of the earliest explorers. European exploration and settlement introduced
new materials and techniques, and Māori clothing has been strongly influenced by
the outside world ever since. These new materials were enthusiastically adopted by
the Māori and were integrated into their existing dress almost immediately. They
coveted the commercial cloths and blankets that the explorers and subsequent trad-
ers brought with them. Woolen blankets and clothing fabrics were unraveled, the
wool yarn untwisted, and then incorporated into tāniko (finger-weaving) patterns
or other decorative elements on cloaks. As well as integrating introduced materials

and trying new techniques on their existing garments, the Māori also adopted gar-
ments of European manufacture.
Maµori Dress
Kakahu is the generic Maori term for clothing. It can include customary ele-
ments of dress such as cloaks, capes, and skirts or more modern elements of cloth-
ing such as jeans and dresses. While customary cloaks and capes have specific
terms depending on the style and techniques used, the term kakahu is often used
when describing them in a general way.
The piupiu is a skirt-like garment that typically has a plaited or woven muka
(flax fiber) waistband and knee-length cylindrical tags. Often portions of the hang-
ing tags are dyed black to create distinctive patterns across the skirt.
A pari is a type of women’s bodice with straps. They were initially constructed
from muka (flax fiber) and became increasingly popular toward the middle of the
20th century for concert parties and kapa haka groups (dance groups). They con-
tinue to be popular today and are cre-
ated as the uniform top covering for
women during kapa haka (dance) per-
formances. These days however, the
pari is made with a type of aida cloth
using a cross-stitch method to create
a pattern that is relevant to the group.
This is then backed with a cotton fabric
and finally straps are attached.
A kaitaka is a particular type of
cloak that has a muka (flax fiber) foun-
dation and decorative tāniko (finger-
woven) border. The foundation of the
cloak is usually plain in color with the
decorative borders featuring colored
patterns.
A dogskin cloak is typically woven
with a muka (flax fiber) foundation
and strips of dog hair attachments are
Performer dressed in a piupiu (cylindrical
sewn across the surface. Sometimes
tag skirt) and pari (bodice) for a contempo- dogskin cloaks could be constructed
rary kapa haka competition. (Photographer by sewing whole skins together with
Chanel Clark) the fur still intact.
New Zealand | 531
The Māori were still very much a majority population in the early stages of
European settlement and as such, motivations for acquiring European dress were
carefully mediated. The European provenance of these garments were what made
them desirable, particularly for tribal leaders, who were eager to impress upon their
followers the advantages that would accrue with continued European connections.
While the Māori were actively adapting to European dress, how they were
wearing that dress was often either in combination with their own everyday gar-
ments or in a manner not typical for the garment. For example, shirts and trousers
were found to restrict movement and were often worn around the neck or waist for
display purposes rather than functioning as leg coverings for protection from the
elements.
As conversion to Christianity became more widespread, traditional dress disap-
peared or was replaced with European clothing that concealed previously exposed
body parts, certainly one of the causes of missionary opposition. In New Zealand an
ankle-length full skirt and blouse became the preferred dress for Māori women with
trousers and shirts being adopted by Māori men. However, both males and females
continued to wear their traditional garments, such as piupiu (flax skirts) and kākahu
(cloaks), for special occasions in combination with this European-style dress. Care-
ful use of their dress occurred depending on the particular circumstances in which
the Māori found themselves. Their location, the occasion, the nature of their presen-
tations, and their status all had a bearing on what they chose to wear.
With almost everyone adopting European dress by the late 19th century the
cloak became the predominant article of clothing to express Māori values and
signify cultural identity. Today, cloaks are only worn for the most significant of
occasions. Often, they can be seen draped over the coffin of a deceased person,
or during particular ceremonies such as university graduations or investitures, to
affirm the wearer’s mana (prestige), status, and tribal or family affiliations.
The second half of the 19th century became the era of the concert party with
the development of the action song and when giving personal pleasure through
song and dance as opposed to ritual observance prevailed. This was also the period
when a standardized dance costume developed and clothing that had previously
been everyday dress became costume, usually only donned for important ceremo-
nial occasions or performances for entertainment purposes.
The advent of large-scale organized tourism centered on the thermal wonder-
land of Rotorua in the central part of the North Island assisted greatly with this
transition. Rotorua became the center of tourist entertainment and the local Te
Arawa tribe has influenced the style of public entertainment by the Māori to this
day. Tour guides such as the famous Te Arawa (Rotorua tribal grouping) leader
Maggie Papakura organized touring concert parties and took a Māori dance troupe
to the Festival of Empire in London in 1911.
Traditional clothing became in-

creasingly refashioned as theatrical
costume. The dancing Māori girl in a
costume of piupiu and bodice coupled
with the warrior-like Māori male with
protruding tongue performing the haka
(male dance) came to signify and rep-
resent Māori culture, both at home and
abroad. The image of New Zealand
portrayed in Tourist Department pub-
licity and by travel companies almost
always depicted a Māori maiden in
a costume of piupiu (flax skirt) and
pari (bodice), which developed as the
standard top half covering for women
during this period. The pari was the
specifically constructed dress for kapa
haka (the concert party, or performance
of song and dance). While its basic
Makereti (Maggie) Papakura wearing a
construction was European in design
feather cloak and headband over her Euro-
pean dress. Maggie lived at Whakarewarewa, using fabric and tapestry techniques,
in the Rotorua region, where her guid- the motifs decorating it acted as signi-
ing services were well known. (Auckland fiers of Māori culture, enabling groups
Museum C18154) to express their collective identity.
Sometimes specific tribal emblems
and associated landmarks were depicted, which signaled belonging to a group both
within and beyond New Zealand. Often these performances became the only taste of
Māori culture that Europeans had. Kapa haka enabled the Māori to maintain aspects
of their culture in a fast-changing world. The accompanying costumes became can-
vases for displaying identity and a vehicle for the Māori to maintain their cultural
heritage in what was becoming an increasingly diversified society.
The beginning of the 20th century was characterized by this renewed interest
in the past and a revival of cultural life, particularly the creative arts. The arts of
carving and weaving flourished with the support of key Māori leaders.
As in many countries, there was a large movement of rural people to urban
centers in the latter half of the 20th century. One of the consequences of this rural-
urban drift was the formation of pan-tribal groups and Māori youth clubs within the
cities where the Māori could maintain family connections and continue to practice
their cultural traditions such as song and dance. This also cemented the change from
New Zealand | 533
performance for ritual, religious, and ceremonial purposes to almost exclusively

for enjoyment, revival, and competition. While regional kapa haka competitions
had been going since the 1930s, the first national competition was inaugurated in
1972 with the Aotearoa Traditional Māori Performing Arts Festival. The competi-
tion occurs in different locations around New Zealand every two years and is today
known as the Te Matatini Festival. The most well-known of Māori dances, the haka,
is performed with great vigor at these national festivals; however, it is actually only
one component of the competition. There are a total of six performance items,
including costume, and each item is judged separately by a panel of adjudicators.
These highly choreographed affairs are televised nationally, and competitions
have provided a platform for the unique expression of group identity via costume
to large and diverse audiences. This high visibility via the media has seen costumes
become an integral part of performances. In the early years of the festival costumes
were usually comprised of the standard form that had developed in the concert
parties of the previous decades. These consisted of flax or plastic knee-length piu-
piu and bodice for women with cotton underskirts and shorter piupiu for men. In
more recent years with a revival in traditional Māori arts such as the making and
playing of traditional Māori instruments, there has been a concurrent interest in
some of the more customary aspects of Māori dress, which has been translated into
costuming for kapa haka performances. There has been a renewed interest in tradi-
tional fibers and weaving techniques as groups have begun to explore old materials
in new ways. Furthermore, whereas previously groups would have supplemented
their costumes with the addition of painted tattoos, today with the reintroduction
of tā moko (tattoo) as a result of the general cultural renaissance among Māori one
can see the proliferation of permanent tattooing, which is proudly displayed as part
of one’s entire performance costume.

In addition, the Māori took great pains to supplement their clothing with
numerous body adornments such as necklaces, earrings, and feathers. These were
usually passed down the generations as family heirlooms and held great spiritual
mana (prestige). Other modifications included the mixing of oils and ochre for
application to the body as well as the more permanent tā moko.

More recently the Super 12 national competition has evolved, which provides
more scope for kapa haka to be combined with other performance aspects such
as theatrical acrobatics, and movement where performers take to the stage with
trimmed-down teams of 12 members as opposed to the 40-member teams allowed
in the larger festivals. The most innovative costumes are those developed and con-
ceived for the Super 12 kapa haka competitions. Teams have embraced the more
freestyle nature of the competitions by making a variety of innovative costumes
using new materials in new ways. Spandex, bold motifs, and bold colors are com-
monplace for Super 12 costumes, as are costume styles such as shorts and tights that
are a far cry from the traditional costumes of the concert party and the more regular
national kapa haka competition. These innovative costumes are not restricted to
local stages at home in New Zealand but are also evident in the costumes donned
by overseas-based Māori cultural groups as well as student groups participating in
the annual Auckland Secondary Schools Polynesian Festival, which is recognized
today as the largest festival of its kind in the world.
While the Māori have used the kapa haka costume as a means of express-
ing group identity and pride, others have adopted aspects of traditional Māori
dress to portray a distinct and authentic New Zealand identity both at home and
abroad. The promotion of New Zealand as a tourist destination on the world stage
has consistently involved using images that depict people in Māori dress. New
Zealand’s contribution to world fairs and other such international occasions has
also seen the promotion of a New Zealand national identity through Māori cul-
ture. Just as the haka has been appropriated as a cultural tradition unique to New
Zealand and performed by both Māori and non-Māori alike, so too has the stan-
dardized Māori costume of piupiu skirt and bodice been appropriated as national
attire instantaneously recognized as emblematic of New Zealand, particularly on
a world stage. On several occasions customary Māori dress has been the inspira-
tion for the national costume of New Zealand’s representative at international
beauty pageants. Similarly on the sporting field aspects of Māori design have been
incorporated into national representative uniforms, such as those for Olympic and
Commonwealth Games teams.
Despite major social and economic upheaval over the centuries, the Māori
have continued to adapt and evolve their dress to meet their changing circum-
stances. Initially adaptation occurred due to environmental conditions and for
protection from the elements. With increased European influence during the 19th
century customary dress was quickly refashioned into costume worn only for spe-
cial occasions and as identity markers. Today the vibrant range of costumes the
Māori employ continues to show distinct cultural traditions albeit in revitalized
and redefined forms. Often seen at its best during cultural festivals, Māori dress
has been and continues to be employed by both the Māori and non-Māori alike in
the promotion of a unique New Zealand identity.
New Zealand | 535

Buck, Peter Henry. The Evolution of Maori Clothing. New Plymouth, New Zea-
land: Avery & Sons, 1926.
Buck, Peter Henry. “On the Maori Art of Weaving Cloaks, Capes and Kilts.” New
Zealand Dominion Museum Bulletin, No. 3. Wellington, New Zealand: Domin-
ion Museum (1911): 69–90.
Clarke, Chanel. “A Maori Perspective on the Wearing of Black.” In Doris de Pont,
ed. Black: The History of Black in Fashion, Society and Culture in New Zealand.
Auckland, New Zealand: Penguin, 2012.
Mead, Sidney. Traditional Maori Clothing: A Study of Technological and Func-
tional Change. Wellington, New Zealand: A. H. & A. W. Reed, 1969.
Pendergrast, Mick. “The Fibre Arts.” In D. C. Starzecka, ed. Maori Art and Cul-
ture. Auckland, New Zealand: David Bateman Limited in association with Brit-
ish Museum Press, 1996, pp. 114–146.
Pendergrast, Mick. Te Aho Tapu: The Sacred Thread. Auckland, New Zealand:
Reed Methuen, 1987.
Te Kanawa, Diggeress. Weaving a Kakahu. Wellington, New Zealand: Bridget
Williams Books Limited in association with Aotearoa Moananui a Kiwa Weav-
ers, 1992.
Wallace, Patricia Te Arapo. “Introduction to Maori Dress.” In Margaret Maynard,
ed. Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Volume 7, Australia, New
Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Oxford: Berg, 2010.
Niger and Burkina Faso
Keri Cavanaugh

The West African nations of Niger and Burkina Faso share many common traits,
not least of which is national dress. Similarities in history and geography as well
as a vast shared border have contributed to this. Additionally, the remoteness and
isolation of some ethnic groups in both countries has allowed traditional dress to
evolve with little Western influence.
Both sub-Saharan countries are landlocked former French colonies. This,
combined with scarce natural resources, has had a great impact on economic and
political development and has to a large extent limited export ties with Western
countries. Both countries are consistently ranked among the poorest countries in
the world on the United Nations Development Programme, Human Development
Index, which measures life expectancy, education, and standard of living. In 2009,
Niger was ranked 182nd out of 182 while Burkina Faso was ranked 177th out of
182. The main economic activity in both countries is subsistence farming (farming
that produces only enough crops to feed the family and leaves little or nothing to
sell at markets). Niger is approximately twice the size of Texas but 80 percent of
it is covered by the Sahara Desert, making arable land for agriculture limited and
highly sought after. Droughts and locust invasions are always a threat to subsis-
tence farmers in Niger. Nearly the size of Colorado, Burkina Faso has more land
suitable for farming, but food shortages and access to water remain a constant
concern for subsistence farmers here as well.
Niger
Today Niger has a population of approximately 17 million people, 1 million of
whom live in the capital city of Niamey. It is predominantly a Muslim country
with small groups of Christians and animists (a spiritual or religious belief akin to
Voodoo that spirits exist in humans, animals, and natural features). Archeological
evidence suggests that people settled in modern-day Niger as early as 4000 BCE
536
Niger and Burkina Faso | 537
when it was a fertile grassland. Lions, monkeys, and other animals were once
common in Niger, but today many are extinct or live only in the national wildlife
park, Parc W, in southern Niger. The last known wild giraffe herd in West Africa
can also be found in southern Niger where, thanks to recent protection efforts, their
numbers are actually increasing.
Niger today is made up of many different ethnic groups. The two largest ethnic
groups are the Hausa (53 percent) and Zarma (21 percent), accounting for nearly
75 percent of the country’s population (U.S. Department of State, 2012). There
are also significant populations of Tuareg, Toubou, Kanuri, Wodaabe, and Fulani.
Despite this ethnic diversity, there is relative peace between the groups. Hausas
and Zarmas have largely become sedentary farmers while the other groups tend to
be nomadic herders. This has created a symbiotic relationship between the groups
with nomads hired to herd the sedentary peoples’ livestock and nomads using pay-
ment to purchase staple crops such as millet and sorghum from the sedentary farm-
ers. There are occasional organized violent attacks by Tuaregs and Toubous against
the central Nigerien government in an attempt to gain greater representation in a
government largely dominated by Hausa and Zarma politicians to secure a greater
share of health and education services.
Niger was a French colony from 1922 to 1960, and between 1960 and Decem-
ber 1999, the country was ruled by various civilian and military regimes. Niger
was a relatively stable democracy for the next decade, until a coup in early 2010.
The military regime now in power has promised to hold elections but as of this
writing has not set a date.
Subsistence farming is the main economy in Niger. The main crops are millet,
sorghum, cassava, and onions. Niger experienced a small economic boom during
the cold war (1970s and 1980s) because of uranium ore deposits that were exported
for use in manufacturing nuclear weapons and France’s civilian nuclear program.
Niger’s uranium deposits came to international attention again in 2002 when the
U.S. government claimed that Iraq was purchasing uranium from Niger to make
nuclear weapons (a claim that was later repudiated), leading in part to the Second
Iraq War (2003–2011). Today, uranium accounts for 72 percent of Niger’s exports.
However, nearly one-half of the Nigerien government’s budget comes from foreign
donations in the form of aid.
Large oil deposits have been discovered in Niger but as of yet have not been
capitalized on due to lack of infrastructure, making export costly. This may change
in the near future, though, with China’s recent involvement in pipeline construction.
Transportation in Niger has made both the export and import of all goods dif-
ficult. There is no railroad, so people must rely on the few paved roads that tra-
verse the country. The Niger River is shallow and broken up into small tributaries,
making large-scale river navigation difficult. Historically, camel caravans were
important for trade, carrying salt from deposits in the Sahara Desert in Niger to
Algeria and onward by sea to Europe and Asia. While camels are still used by some
nomadic animal herders, they are not viable for use in large-scale trade.
People and Dress

Clothing and grooming is a matter of great importance and esteem in Niger.
As in most societies, clothing can indicate a person’s social status as well as eth-
nicity. Many Nigerien men go south to the coast of Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, and
Togo or north to Algeria and Tunisia in search of seasonal employment due to high
unemployment at home. When the men return (usually after six months to several
years), it is expected that they will bring gifts of fabric and clothing for their wives
and families.
Component Parts
The most common women’s outfit consists of four pieces cut from the same
printed fabric. These consist of a wrap skirt or pagne, a loose-fitting top, a headscarf,
and a second rectangular fabric folded and tied around the waist or used to carry a
baby. To carry a baby on the back, the fabric is wrapped around the chest and mid-
section and tied or secured in the front. This outfit, often referred to by the French
term complet, is seen in the cities as well as in the villages and on women and girls
of all ages and ethnicities. For formal occasions such as weddings, funerals, or going
to market, they will wear their newest four-piece outfit. For work in the village, they
may wear a T-shirt or soccer jersey with a pagne instead of the matching top.
The layers and loose women’s clothing serve to maintain modesty as well as
show wealth. The more fabric one wears means the more fabric one can afford. The
cloth is sold at markets and in stores in urban areas in units of three pieces, each
measuring approximately 2.8 yards (2 meters) long by 1.75 yards (1.6 meters) wide.
An elaborately tailored top can also signal wealth. Tops will often have embellish-
ments such as large puffy sleeves, ruffled edges, or fabric braided and sewn around
the neckline. Finally, the size and complexity of headwraps vary depending on the
occasion and fashion sense.
Traditionally, batik fabric prints were created by hand using the wax resist
method. Today nearly all prints are mass-produced in factories. There are few textile
manufacturers in Niger, so even inexpensive fabrics have to be imported. “Dutch
Wax” cloth is a popular type of mass-produced imported fabric, so much so that
women often wear their cloth so that the “Dutch Wax” label is clearly visible in the
selvage. Large, colorful prints are very popular and sometimes depict items associ-
ated with wealth such as shoes, computers, cell phones, and candy. Large, repeating
geometric prints are also very popular

and can be purchased in many color-
ways. Politicians and aid groups use
textiles to inform and educate, too. Pol-
iticians may have large cameos of can-
didates’ faces printed and distributed
around election times. Aid groups may
have simple graphics printed on fabric
to represent health initiatives such as
breastfeeding, drinking filtered water,
or immunizing children. This method
of information dissemination is espe-
cially important in countries like Niger
where there is a high level of illiteracy.
Male Nigerien dress varies greatly.
Younger men often wear urban-style
oversized jeans and T-shirts or polo
shirts. These can be purchased new or
in secondhand markets known as “dead
man markets” because it is assumed
that only a dead person could afford Woman from Niger wearing a traditional
pagne, loose-fitting blouse, and headscarf,
to give away his clothing. The selec- 2011. (Bouereima Hama/AFP/Getty Images)
tion at secondhand markets is mainly
from unpurchased donations to chari-
ties such as Salvation Army and Goodwill. Garments that may have been misprinted
or contain misspellings and are unsuitable for sale in the United States or European
countries where they were intended to be sold are also commonly found in sec-
ondhand markets. Common motifs are of the deceased rapper Tupac, singer Celine
Dion, and promotional materials from the film Titanic.
Male professionals such as teachers or government officials mainly wear fonc-
tionnaire (French for civil servant) suits. The style of these suits is partially influ-
enced by Western suits but altered to accommodate the humidity and heat found
throughout West Africa. The suits are usually made out of lightweight, brightly
colored solid or printed pagne fabrics. They are often short-sleeved and the jacket
is worn with nothing underneath and buttoned up the front. Because the suits are
tailored, they indicate the wearer is of a higher social status.
The babban riga (big robe) was traditionally worn by Hausa chiefs and promi-
nent citizens. Today, it is worn by Hausa, Zarma, and other ethnic groups alike.
Because of their cost, they are often saved for dressier occasions such as holidays,
naming ceremonies, and market days. The outfits consist of drawstring trousers
and a large floor-length tunic that is sometimes worn over a long-sleeved tailored
shirt. As with formal women’s dress, the robes and pants are usually made from
the same cotton fabric. The fabric is usually a solid color with a high gloss finish.
In some examples, the robes have an intricately embroidered design around the
neckline and down the leg of the pants, and a turban is often worn.
Both the Hausa and Tuaregs of Niger are known for their special indigo dying
technique that creates a deep blue color and is then beaten to produce a smooth
finish with a metallic or silver sheen. The process of making indigo dye is very
expensive, so true indigo fabrics are precious, making it rare to see a complete
outfit of this fabric. Anyone who owns such an outfit is showing his wealth and
power. Often, instead of having the entire outfit made of indigo fabric, men will
wear only an indigo turban with a cotton babban riga. The indigo dye does not set
well in fabric and will rub off on anything that touches it. Because of this, Tuareg
men are known as blue men because the indigo dye from their clothes rub off on
their faces and hands, turning their skin blue.
Tuareg women can be identified by their unique dress comprised of an ankle-
length wrapped skirt with a loose long-sleeved blouse. The blouses are often solid
black or white with embroidered geometric designs decorating the chest and upper
sleeve. They wear their hair in long braids covered by a dark headscarf draped over
the top of the head from side to side.
In addition to running camel caravans, Tuareg men are traditionally silver-
smiths and leatherworkers. Men and women alike adorn themselves in earrings,
necklaces, and bracelets made of silver and leather with geometric patterns etched
into the silver or with ebony inlays.
Wodaabes are another nomadic group in Niger with very distinctive cloth-
ing traditions. Wodaabe men and women also wear indigo-dyed cloth, but with
multicolored chain-stitched embroidery covering large portions of the garments.
The cloth is woven on the traditional loom, which produces thin strips of fabric
approximately 4–6 inches (6–15 cm) wide. The thin strips are then sewn together
to create a larger fabric. Women wear this fabric as wrap skirts with loose tops or
dresses over it. Their wrap skirts often have thin white vertical and horizontal lines
woven in. Men wear long embroidered robes or vests over pants and a slim fitted
top. The embroidery motifs are often symbolic representations of family histories,
homelands, and general lifestyles.
Each year as many as 1,000 Wodaabes meet in the Sahara Desert to participate
in traditional charm dances in a festival called the Cure de Salee. Men don their
most elaborate clothes to perform dances, which are judged by women to select
their husbands. Men are considered desirable if they are tall and have very white
teeth and eyes. To accentuate the whiteness of their eyes and teeth, the men apply
Wodaabe men celebrate Cure de Salee, Niger, 2008. (Iconotec/StockphotoPro)
yellow paint to their face and wear black lipstick. A dance is then performed with
the men in a line standing on tiptoe. They make exaggerated faces to accentuate
their desirable traits as the women judge them.
Burkina Faso

The name Burkina Faso means “The Land of Up-right People” in
Mòoré and Dioula, which are two of the most commonly spoken languages in
Burkina. The country was renamed in 1984 after being known as the Republic
of Upper Volta (so named for the three rivers that flow through the country—Red
Volta, White Volta, and Black Volta). For many years there was a struggle between
Great Britain and France for control of the area known today as Burkina Faso.
The colonial struggle resulted in the country being split up, becoming part of Côte
d’Ivoire, French Sudan, and Niger between 1919 and 1947, when it was reconsti-
tuted along the traditional borders as a French colony.
Evidence of human farming settlements begins between 3600 and 2600

BCE, but it is believed that Burkina Faso was first home to hunter-gatherers
as early as 14,000 BCE. Today Burkina Faso is home to approximately 17 mil-
lion people who mostly make their living in agriculture. Farmers grow the staples
of their diet, which include sorghum, millet, rice, maize, and yams. Peanuts,
beans, and okra are also common crops used to make sauce to accompany pates
made from the stable grains. Though there is not a great abundance of natural
resources found in Burkina, there are small deposits of manganese, limestone,
marble, and gold.
Overall Burkina Faso has a relatively dense population, with 20 percent of
inhabitatants living in an urban area. Burkina Faso is approximately the size of
Colorado. Ouagadougou is the capital city and largest city with nearly 1.5 million
residents. Most of the country’s population lives south of Ouagadougou where
there is more arable land and a tropical climate. The main employers in Ouagadou-
gou are food processing factories and textile manufacturers. Although poverty and
illiteracy are widespread, Ouagadougou boasts an active art scene with a biannual
film festival (Festival Pan African du Cinéma et de la Télévison de Ouagadougou
or FESPACO), which draws visitors from around Africa and the world. Burkina
Faso is also home to some of the best craft markets in West Africa including the
biannual Le Salon International de l’Artisanat de Ouagadougou (SIAO). Crafts
and arts represented at SIAO include jewelry, textiles and clothing, handmade
musical instruments, leather goods, paintings and batiks, pottery and ceramics,
and sculpture.
Similar to Niger, the high rates of unemployment (80 percent of the popula-
tion are subsistence farmers) force a large number of men to leave the country in
search of work, making the number one export from Burkina Faso labor. An esti-
mated 3 million Burkinabè live in neighboring Côte d’Ivoire alone. Many Burki-
nabe families rely on money sent home from those who emigrate to find seasonal
work. Due to recent unrest in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and other surrounding areas
many Burkinabè have been forced to return home or have been unable to find
seasonal work in these countries, contributing to greater rates of unemployment
and poverty in Burkina.
Ethnically, Burkinabè are 40 percent Mossi with the remaining 60 percent made
up of Mande, Gurunsi, Senufo, Lobi, Bobo, and Fulani. Although French remains
the official language, there are many national languages spoken in Burkina Faso
including Mòoré, Fulfulde, and Lobi. The most recent census (2006) estimated
that about 61 percent of the population practices Islam, but a common expres-
sion in Burkina sends a different message: “50 percent are Muslim, 50 percent are
Christian, and 100 percent are animist,” meaning that traditional practices are still
commonplace but practiced in secret.
People and Dress

Traditional dress for both men and women in Burkina Faso consists of loose-
fitting garments to shield the body from the intense sun and heat and protect mod-
esty in accordance with the rules of Islam. The most common women’s outfit
consists of four pieces in a matching print: a wrap skirt or pagne, a loose-fitting
top, a headscarf, and a second wrapper folded and tied around the waist or used to
carry babies on the back. This outfit is seen in the cities as well as in the village.
Young girls also dress in this type of outfit but may have a smaller head covering
and will sometimes wear Western style T-shirts instead of the traditional tailored
blouse. T-shirts are available in most local markets and are less expensive than tai-
lored blouses, so they are commonly worn during work while the tailored blouses
are worn for better occasions. Decorative elements on tailored blouses include
fabric rosettes, ruffles, ruching, and lace.
Pagnes or cloth is sold at markets and in stores in urban areas in units of three.
One full unit is worn as the skirt, one can be used by a tailor to create the top, and the
third can be used for the headwrap and the one worn around the waist or as a baby
carrier. A headscarf of the same fabric or of a lightweight pleated fabric is worn. Fab-
ric tends to be very colorful and printed
with large patterns. It is uncommon to
see an outfit in a single color.
Younger men often wear Western-
style jeans or pants and T-shirts or
polo shirts. Professional men such as
teachers or government officials wear
two-piece suits consisting of tailored
pants and a short- or long-sleeved
buttoned-up jacket worn as a top. The
suits are made out of brightly colored
solid fabrics or printed pagne fabric.
Men also wear long tunics over
drawstring pants. The tunic is gener-
ally collarless and has a breast pocket
on one side. White is a common color
for men’s clothing because white sym-
bolizes Islam, but these outfits are also
made out of colorful patterned pagne
fabric. Small white or embroidered
pillbox-shaped hats are worn by Mus- Man wears the traditional dress of Burkina
lim men with the tunics and pants. Faso, 2007. (Gillespaire/Dreamstime.com)

Anawalt, Patricia Rieff. The Worldwide History of Dress, New York: Thames &
Hudson, 2007.
Beckwith, Carol, and Angela Fisher. Passages: Photographs in Africa. New York:
Harry N. Abrams, 2000.
Beckwith, Carol, and Marion van Offelen. Nomads of Niger. New York: Aradale
Press/H. N. Abrams, 1993.
Eicher, Joanne B., ed. Dress and Ethnicity: Change Across Space and Time (Berg
Ethnic Identities Series). Oxford, UK: Berg, 1995.
Hendrickson, Hilda, ed. Clothing and Difference: Embodied Identities in Colonial
and Post-colonial Africa. Durham: Duke University Press, 1996.
Human Development Report 2009, Niger. http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/
country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_NER.html. 2010.
U.S. Department of State. Travel.State.Gov. Niger Country Specific Information.
travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_986.html. 2012.
Nigeria
John G. Hall
Like so many other African countries, Nigeria is the creation of European impe-
rialism. Several sources suggest that its name was derived from the Niger River
in the 1890s by British journalist Flora Shaw, who later became the wife of colo-
nial governor Frederick Lugard. Nevertheless, the history of modern-day Nigeria,
encompassing more than 250 ethnic groups of widely varied cultures and modes of
political organization, dates largely from the consolidation of colonial territories in
1914. But some of these “Nigerians” could trace their histories through oral tradi-
tions that extended back for centuries before the earliest European contact. These
histories, as well as archaeological evidence and written documentation, indicate
the existence of dynamic societies, some of which possessed well-articulated polit-
ical systems that extended beyond colonial rule and remained meaningful institu-
tions after Nigeria became independent. Many of the most outstanding features of
modern Nigerian society reflect the strong influence of three regionally dominant
ethnic groups: the Hausa-Fulani in the north, the Yoruba in the west, and the Ibo in
the east. The Nigerian people of today have many different indigenous languages,
historical memories, traditional lifestyles, and social frameworks with roots reach-
ing into the distant past. These roots must be recognized for their significant con-
tributions to the development of human society throughout West Africa and for the
historical legacies that they left to subsequent generations.
The first known human remains, perhaps 10,000 years old, were found at Iwo
Eleru in southwestern Nigeria, roughly coinciding with the Late Stone Age (LSA).
While humans must have lived in this area before this period, the LSA is signifi-
cant for a variety of reasons. Some evidence supports the theory that this period
was characterized by unprecedented levels of migration in the greater Nigerian
area, particularly as people moved south from the savanna into the forest zones
to escape the rapid desiccation of the Sahara. Also, it was during the LSA that
humans in the greater Nigerian area began using tools, called microliths, such as
arrowheads and stone axes. This in turn led to the development of pottery and
545
other forms of ceramics. This was continued by grain farmers in stable agricultural
communities between 4000 BCE and 1000 BCE. Ultimately, the development of
agriculture provided the opportunity to establish permanent settlements like vil-
lages and village groups.
The development of permanent settlements allowed for the diversification of
economies and the creation of more sophisticated sociopolitical configurations.
One major example of economic diversification can be seen in the growth of iron-
working in many parts of the greater Nigerian area during the first millennium
BCE. Unlike those in Europe or the Near East, most West African societies tran-
sited directly from the use of stone tools to iron tools without an intervening period
of using softer metals, such as copper or bronze. There is evidence of ironworking
and iron tools that dates from the seventh century BCE at Taruga, near Abuja. The
Taruga site is also known as the center of the Nok culture.
The Nok people are most famous for their large terracotta sculptures. One of
the most distinctive aspects of these sculptures is the elaborate detailed hairstyles
and jewelry that adorn many of the figures.
Geographical and Environmental Background

Nigeria is in West Africa, along the eastern coast of the Gulf of Guinea, and just
north of the equator. It is bordered on the west by Benin, on the north by Niger
and Chad, and on the east by Cameroon. Nigeria covers an area of 356,669 square
miles; it is roughly 650 miles from north to south and 750 miles wide. It is compa-
rable to the size of Venezuela.
The territories that constitute modern-day Nigeria exhibit diverse geographi-
cal characteristics with climates ranging from tropical to arid. Typically, northern
Nigeria is mostly plains. The south consists primarily of lowlands. Plateaus domi-
nate the so-called central belt. The country as a whole experiences alternating dry
and rainy seasons.
The length of the rainy season increases from north to south. In the south, where
Nigeria borders the Gulf of Guinea, the rainy season lasts from March to November
with a slight respite in August. In the northern part of the country near the Niger
Republic, the season lasts approximately five months, May to September. Depending
on location, the amount of rain varies. For example, the far north receives 20 inches of
rain in a year, whereas southern Nigeria receives almost six times that amount of rain.
Climate, land, and natural resources impact the lives of individuals that live in
a particular region. In the 20th century Nigeria is perhaps most famous for its oil
resources but, historically, agriculture was the dominant way of life for the majority
of Nigerians. Palm trees, cocoa, and rubber have been cultivated in many parts of
Nigeria.
Nigeria | 547
People and Dress

There are roughly 170 million people living in Nigeria, with a combined 250
ethnic groups and languages, which makes Nigeria the most populous country in
West Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world and accounts for
over half the population in West Africa. Less than 25 percent of Nigerians live in
the cities; however, at least 24 cities have populations of more than 100,000. Many
of these urban or city dwellers, especially the “elite,” are heavily influenced by
Westernized customs and dress.
Out of the 170 million people, there are three dominant groups with large
populations: the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo. The Hausa-Fulani are located on
the northern savanna and account for roughly a quarter of the population, while the
Yoruba, located in the southwestern part of the country, make up approximately 20
percent, and the Igbo of the southeast represent slightly less.
There are other ethnic groups with relatively large populations. These in-
clude the Ijaw in the Niger delta region, the Kanuri of the Lake Chad region, the
Ibibio around the Calabar in the southeast, and the Nupe and Tiv of the middle
belt region.
There are many circumstances that must be taken into consideration when
discussing the ethnic and religious diversity in Nigeria. First, there has been a
major shift in population. In 1950, the United Nations estimated that 88 percent of
Nigerians lived in rural areas and practiced a relatively agrarian form of existence.
Although farming cash crops and herding still form a substantial way of life for
many Nigerians, only about half the people remain in rural areas. Many others,
especially the young, have migrated to the larger cities like Lagos and Kano.
Lagos, the largest city in Nigeria, has more than 10 million residents. Kano
has a little more than 3 million. Abuja, the capital, has 1.8 million, and Kaduna
has roughly 1.5 million. This is just a small listing. There are many, many others
but Lagos seems to be the primary attraction, and it is predicted that if the growth
continues it will be one of the most populous cities in the world.
It is estimated that nearly half of all Nigerians are 14 years old or younger. This
will have a significant impact on the country as this group grows older, especially
if they gravitate from the rural areas to the larger cities and adopt Western customs
and lifestyles. This would present a serious threat to traditional ways of life
This trek toward an urban way of life has brought with it mixed blessings.
Cities like Lagos are places where people from many different ethnic, religious,
and socioeconomic backgrounds interact on a regular basis. Under these circum-
stances, a mutual understanding and respect for differing points of view and beliefs
can be fostered. However, at the same time, the cities can become the breeding
ground for ethnic, religious, and class tensions.
Other conflicts are born out of these uncertain encounters. Culturally, Nige-
rians are guided by their loyalties to their traditional values and religious beliefs.
Urban life challenges these worldviews. For example, traditional forms of enter-
tainment such as indigenous juju and palm-wine music, the telling of stories, and
even oral histories are forced to coexist with radios, televisions, videos, movies,
computers, and other forms of technology.
Along with television, Nigeria has its own home-grown cinema called “Nol-
lywood,” which experienced so much growth during the 1990s and 2000s that it
has become, behind India’s Bollywood, the second largest film industry in the
world. In 2011, Forbes magazine reported that Nollywood is now an $800 million
industry that employs more than 300,000 people. It is ironic that an industry like
Nollywood can thrive in a country where the majority of people exist on a mini-
mum of $1.00 a day.
Nigerians belong to many different religions but the majority identify with
Islam, Christianity, and/or indigenous/traditional religions. About half of Nigeria’s
diverse population is Sunni Muslim.
Muslims are more concentrated in the northern savanna, where Islam first
appeared between the 11th and 14th centuries. Until the jihad of Usman dan Fodio,
who established the Sokoto caliphate in 1809, Islam was primarily a religion for
the elite. Kings and wealthy merchants adopted the religion as a means to extend
their commercial and diplomatic ties to Islamic states in North Africa and the Mid-
dle East.
The Sokoto caliphate grew out of the desire to establish a spiritual commu-
nity in northern Nigeria. The jihad succeeded in consolidating an empire, which
included modern Nigeria, Benin, Niger, and Cameroon. The vast majority of
Hausa, Fulani, and Kanuri became Muslims. About a third of the Yoruba became
Muslim as well.
Many Muslim leaders disdained Western dress and influences and appeared
in their finest traditional dress for public affairs. It is possible they wore the wide-
sleeved robe called the grand boubou or bubu in Nigeria, which is often worn
by men in West and North Africa. Other common names for this garment are
the aghaba (worn by the Yoruba ethnic group), babban riga (worn by the Hausa
group), and k’sa (worn by the Tuareg). This garment became popular in West
Africa through trade and migration of ethnic groups, such as the Fulani.
The women of northern Nigeria wear a similar garment called the m’boubou,
made with similar construction techniques, but that is worn in a different style
from the men. Women also commonly wear the caftan, which is a version of the
boubou, for formal occasions, along with headscarves.
Nigeria | 549
Historically, the grand boubou was worn by chiefs of the Yoruba of Nigeria,
Dagomba of Ghana, and Mandinka. Today, even though it is still mostly worn by
Muslims, it is gaining popularity as a fashionable form of attire by Christians in
West Africa.
Roughly 40 percent of all Nigerians belong to the Christian faith. They are
mostly concentrated in the southern coastal regions of Nigeria and along the mid-
dle belt region. Whereas Muslims were firmly established in the northern regions
of Nigeria at least by the 11th century, Christianity did not made any inroads into
the country until the 19th century, nearly 400 years after European contact. During
the 15th century European relations with Nigeria were dominated by commercial
interests and there were no attempts to convert Nigerians, particularly the political
and merchant classes.
There were a few attempts by missionaries in places like Benin, but they were
not successful. But in the 19th century, after the abolition of slavery, British mis-
sionaries achieved greater success that continued throughout the next century.
Christian conversion in these early years was not motivated by a desire just
to preach the gospel but to redeem Africans from their barbarian and economic
deprivation; to create an industrial class that would produce for the market; and to
produce a new educated elite that would be the agents of change.
Christianity brought with it many aspects of Western culture and ideas about
society to Nigeria. Converts were expected to abandon indigenous religions and
various aspects of their culture. Some fundamentalist Christians wanted a com-
plete abolition of the traditional “old ways” and a complete submission to their
adopted faith in Christ. While many Nigerians did not reject their traditional val-
ues worldview, nevertheless, many were altered by their conversion, affecting the
way that they viewed themselves, their community, and outsiders. Western val-
ues became almost seductive and many Nigerians were drawn to European food,
music, books, and clothes.
History of Dress
One of the essential aspects of Nigerian traditional dress, for both men and
women, is a rectangular cloth called the wrapper, which is worn draped around
the body and secured under the shoulder or around the waist. Although it might
be common attire throughout Nigeria, this piece of garment has taken centuries to
evolve into what it represents today, and tracing this textile will lead to the mean-
ing it holds for most Nigerians.
Indigenous fibers such as raffia, bast, and cotton were used to produce the
oldest existing examples of cloths that have been unearthed in the Niger region of
West Africa. Copper and copper alloys preserved some very early textiles at the
archaeological site of Igbo-Ukwu. Dating from the ninth century, Igbo-Ukwu pro-
vides the earliest direct evidence of weaving in the region.
Over 20 cloth fragments were excavated; all of them were woven on a loom
in plain weave of various densities from coarse to fine. The types of fibers used
indicated indigenous manufacture. Unfortunately, even though the evidence dis-
covered at Igbo-Ukwu establishes the antiquity of weaving and ceremonial regalia,
it is unable to provide vital information about the kinds of textiles that were worn
in the ninth century.
It is not until the 13th century, according to Colleen Kriger (2006), that there
is clear evidence of particular types of textiles being used as clothing. For exam-
ple, the burial site excavated near a king’s palace in Benin City was no ordinary
grave. That this was a ritual sacrifice is apparent: As many as 40 young women
were thrown together into a pit or cistern, along with decorated bronze jewelry
and beads made of glass and agate. Their clothing or burial shrouds, too, were
impressive. Some of the textile fragments were densely woven in plain weave,
while others included more complex structural embellishments such as network
and openwork. These were exceptional cloths, perhaps made specifically for this
occasion and, since it was created before or during the 13th century, it provides
ample evidence that it predates the arrival of the Europeans.
Much less is known about the early dress and weaving in the Yoruba king-
doms. But given the likely historical links between Ife, an ancient Yoruba city, and
Benin—as supported by oral traditions and linguistics—it is reasonable to sug-
gest that in Yorubaland too, royal and ceremonial dress included certain types of
imposing, locally woven textiles. Indeed, one eloquent example of visual evidence
comes from a figural sculpture portraying a Yoruba king, the Oni (he who owns the
land) of Ife, cast in brass and dated to the early 14th or early 15th century.
To say that this is a rarity is an understatement because of all the statues found
at Ife, it is the only full-length figure to have survived intact. He was discovered
standing in an erect frontal position. Beads worn in his crown wrap his arms and
encircle his legs. Ropes and strands of beads cover his torso, topped off by a
heavy beaded collar and his badge of office. Furthermore, he wears a cloth wrap-
per folded at the waist and cinched by what appears to be a cloth belt trimmed
with beads. Other emblems of his authority are a ram’s horn held in his right hand.
Finally, he displays the power and splendor of his office, an office held during the
period of Ife’s cultural florescence, when protective walls surrounded the town
and the floors of some buildings were paved with potsherds carefully laid down
in striking patterns.
From the end of the 13th to the middle of the 15th century, cloth and the art
of weaving took on a greater meaning for the people of West Africa. According to
Figure of an oni, Ife (zinc brass),Yoruba Culture, 14th century. (Private Collection/© Dirk
Bakker/The Bridgeman Art Library)
oral traditions one of the Obas of Benin (perhaps Ohen) established a merchant
and artisan association, the Royal Weavers Benin or Owina n ‘ido, which initiated
a new stage in the history of manufacture in the kingdom.
Similar events were taking place in the Yoruba kingdom of Ijebu-Ode and
other regions of Nigeria. Oral tradition suggests that Ijebu-Ode had a long history
of patronage of weavers. Ijebu-Ode was another of the earliest textile-producing
centers that was specifically mentioned by European traders. Therefore, it
seems reasonable to suggest that people, ideas, and items regarding the art of
weaving circulated among kingdoms as did craft workers and their skills. As
a result, weaving was well established at least by the 15th century, increasing
the possibility that some weavers made cloth for everyday use while others spe-
cialized in weaving ceremonial cloth for political officials, religious leaders,
and the elite.
Whatever the situation might be, the market for textiles was already estab-
lished by the time international commerce opened on the Bight of Benin and for-
eign merchants had to adapt to this existing market. However, in some special
cases imported novelties were universally admired and assimilated. Imported red
wool was one example and there are a variety of reasons to explain this. In some
Yoruba areas, scarlet cloth was imported to be unraveled, the bright thread was
rewoven into ceremonial colors, some to display at funerals, others to be worn as
costumes to honor ancestors.
It must be mentioned, however, that for the majority of the population tra-
ditional dress was revised but not revolutionized by the international trade in
textiles. During the 17th and 18th centuries clothing reflected a variety of social
divisions that were defined by age, gender, and class. Adult men wore plain or pat-
terned wrappers cinched at the waist. Adult women wore plain or dyed-blue cloth
wrapped around the torso and folded over at the waist, sometimes with a smaller
cloth over the breast.
Social positions were also evident in the number of cloths worn at a time;
“ordinary” people wore a single wrapper while the rich might wear as many as
four, draped and layered in such a way as to show them off. For the most part, yard-
age straight from the loom was preferred over sewn, seamed, and fitted garments.
Long lengths of fabric were cut down to the proper size for making wrappers,
shawls, and underclothes that continued to serve as traditional dress. European
merchants quickly learned that adherence to such matters of taste was crucial if
there were to be any successful trading. This is another example of how important
culture was in shaping markets and mediating economic transactions. But this bal-
ance of power would undergo an irrevocable transformation during the 17th and
18th centuries at the height of the African slave trade.
Nigeria | 553
During the 16th and 17th centuries, African exporters took European merchan-
dise on credit and they traveled miles to inland workshops to have cloth made over
the next six to seven months. They became ensnared in the unrelenting equation of
supply and demand. They faced numerous obstacles. First, the art of weaving had
not changed in generations. There was no reason to change. But now they were
faced with the changing technology they had used to weave cloth and they had to
produce more cloth than they had ever made. It had reached the point where the
market had begun to control their lives.

One of the reasons that Nigeria is of great importance is the prominent role
the region played in the trade, consumption, and manufacture of textiles. It is the
place where cotton and other fibers, like raffia and bast, were produced and where
textiles were imported via caravans that crossed the Sahara and, later on, via mer-
chant ships that plied the seacoast. It took great ingenuity to turn these raw fibers
into usable textiles.
A special kind of loom, sometimes called the vertical or the continuous warp
loom, was used in settlements in the tropical rain forest along the bights of Benin
and Biafra. It is uncertain when it was invented, but the many structural variations
suggest that specific groups of weavers made adaptations and modifications gradu-
ally over a period of time and in different locales.
Weavers with vertical looms used raffia, bast, and cotton, either gathered in the
wild or cultivated. Some were spun into threads. Some were not but, either way,
these early forest textiles were probably woven from unspun fibers that required
soaking, beating, and combing before being dressed and woven on the loom. One
of the most important fibers from this early period came from the palm leaves of
the raffia tree. It was sturdy and resilient and many raffia wrappers were woven
almost as finely as silk, which suggests that many in the region preferred it for
many purposes including ceremonial occasions.
The advent of spinning brought with it noticeable improvements in weav-
ing cloth. It offered weavers the ability to weave longer, wider, and more densely
woven cloth. Several types of fibers, usually referred to as bast, made this possible.
Bast was made from the leaves of a variety of tall trees found in the tropical rain
forest. The cloths made from these leaves continued to be used in the 20th century
for weaving treasured cloths for funerals and other sacred rituals.
Wild silk fibers were used throughout the region. Unlike the glossy silk cul-
tivated from Asian silk, the wild silk of West Africa consisted of coarse brown or
white fibers that had to undergo labor-intensive processing before it could be spun
into threads. The fiber itself was created by several varieties of caterpillars, which
nested in and fed on particular trees and bushes. After being gathered the fibers
were degummed and boiled in an alkaline solution before being dried, corded, and
spun. The Yoruba and Nupe people used wild silk yarn to weave elegant cloth that
was sometimes blended with hand-spun cotton. Among the Hausa people wild silk
was for embroidering imagery on trousers and robes.
Along with raffia and bast, cotton is one of the oldest fibers used to produce
textiles in West Africa, but it is not certain when it was first cultivated in the region.
There is some belief that it was introduced by Muslim merchants via the sub-
Saharan trade routes. However, there are two certainties regarding the role of cot-
ton. It became an indispensable cash crop for Europeans. It played a significant
role, both as currency and fabric, in the lives of people living in the Nigerian region
of West Africa. Part of the reason is
because of a particular loom, which
was said to have also been introduced
into the area of northern Nigeria
through trade networks established by
Muslim merchants.
The treadle loom, also called the
Sudanese treadle loom, was used spe-
cifically for weaving cotton and some-
times silk. Its woven strip cloth served
a dual purpose. First, the strip cloth
woven on the treadle loom was made
into tailored garments with embroi-
dered decorations. Many of these em-
broidered motifs were associated with
the history of Islam among the Hausa
in northern Nigeria and met the stan-
dards prescribed by sharia law. This
was important for the founders of the
Sokoto caliphate, which incorporated
much of the Hausa, Nupe, and north-
ern Yoruba during the 19th century. The
cloth represented wealth, power, pres-
tige, and leadership.
Second, the narrow strip of cloth
Nigerian foreign minister Chief Tom Ikimi
wears a grand boubou while attending woven on the treadle loom was used as
a state function in November, 1995. (AP currency in Muslim trading networks
Photo/David Hallet) throughout West Africa. It was carried
Nigeria | 555
by caravans into the Saharan routes and much of the savanna regions as well as the
rain forest zones.

Nigerian national dress communicates age, gender, occupation/class, ethnicity,
power, and prestige. It also expresses religious beliefs: Christian, Islamic, tradi-
tional. Particular dress is also worn at celebrations and ceremonial and ritual occa-
sions. In a strange way, dress projects one’s geography; in rural northern Nigeria,
people wear traditional clothing as their everyday work clothes.
In the southern region, among the elite, Western dress styles are more dominant.
People wear suits, skirts, and blouses and baseball caps. Suits, shoes, and dresses
are all imported from different countries. However, in spite of these enormous influ-
ences, tradition has not completely gone away even in the urban centers. There is
the ever-present “wrapper,” which is a frequent and popular garment worn by the
people of Nigeria. Women wrap cloth from their waist to their knees, calves, or feet.
Sometimes they wrap the cloth under their arm to shield their breast and lower body.
Another important garment is the grand boubou or bubu. As one would imag-
ine, the grand boubou has more decorative design in the form of elaborate embroi-
dery and is mostly worn for special occasions or religious ceremonies such as
the Islamic Eid festival or perhaps a
wedding or funeral, and even Friday
prayers.
Women also wear the boubou but
in different styles. The grand boubou is
worn either to the knee or full length.
The wide, round neckline allows for a
generous display of necklaces and other
adornments. For wealthy women, the
boubou can also serve as an additional
layer on top of a blouse and wrapper.
In many situations, the head is
part of traditional dress. Turbans are
preferred by Muslims. But others
wear head ties and men wear caps.
The most common is the fila, a close-
fitting cap slightly bent at the corners.
There is an older design among the
Yoruba called the abeti-aja with a flap Nigerian man wearing a fila cap.
to cover the ears. (iStockphoto.com)
While wealthy women wear hats like Europeans, Muslim women wear veils
that cover the head and face. Scarves can be used to tie back the hair and for deco-
ration. The gele or head tie is common among the Yoruba.
Women’s hairstyles are both an occupation and an art. They also indicate a
person’s ethnic or class background. For instance, there are traditional styles like
suke and kolese among the Yoruba. Some styles are reserved for royalty, while oth-
ers are for religious devotees. The Kanuri, Fulani, and Hausa adorn their hair with
a variety of ornaments such as beads.
Rings, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, armlets, and earrings made of gold and
silver and other valued materials like ivory and cowrie shells are popular body
adornments. The materials and craftsmanship are suggestive of status.
Finally, an individual’s traditional dress may express his or her belonging to an
ethnic, occupational, or religious group. To understand the traditional dress of the
people who live in Nigeria means realizing that many complex factors contribute
to the choices Nigerians make about what to wear at any particular time.

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Connecticut: Fawcett Crest, 1959.
Adams, Sarah. “Marcia Kure.” NKA Journal of Contemporary African Art. http://
www.inglettgallery.com/admin/press_pdfs/174.pdf. 2003.
Emechta, Buchi. The Bride Price. New York: George Braziller, 1976.
Falola, Toyin. Customs and Cultures of Nigeria. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
2001.
Falola, Toyin, and Matthew M. Heaton. A History of Nigeria. New York: Cam-
bridge University Press, 2010.
Gillow, John. African Textiles: Color Creativity Across a Continent. London:
Thames & Hudson, 2003.
Kriger, Colleen E. Cloth in West African History. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press,
2006
Steele, Valerie. Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion. New York: Charles Scrib-
ner’s Sons, 2004.
Norway
Laurann Gilbertson and Carol Colburn
The first archaeological evidence of humans in Norway dates from about 8000
BCE. The people of the so-called Komsa, Fosna, and Nøstvet cultures arrived from
the east or south and subsisted by hunting and fishing. During the Bronze Age
(1800–500 BCE) Norwegians began to trade with northern Europe for bronze,
gold, amber, and other luxury goods.
Norway was one of several “homelands” during the Viking Age (793–1066).
Norwegian Vikings sailed as far west as Newfoundland and as far east as Russia.
In addition to warfare and taking spoils, the Viking Age is characterized as a period
of exploration and trade. By the end of the Viking Age, Norwegians were unified
into a single kingdom ruled by an inherited monarchy.
The Hanseatic League was formed in the 13th century with north German
towns to trade fish and furs for grains. Merchants and tradesmen from Germany,
Holland, Scotland, and Denmark came to live and work in western Norway, par-
ticularly in the city of Bergen.
The Black Death arrived in Oslo in 1348. At least half of the population died.
This was the beginning of Norway’s cultural dark ages, which would last 150 years.
The country was still reeling from the results of the Black Death in 1380 when
Norway came into a union with Denmark because there was no direct heir to the
Norwegian royal throne after the death of King Haakon V (1299–1319). In 1536
Norway was declared a province of Denmark.
Denmark was forced to cede Norway to Sweden in the Treaty of Kiel in 1813
following the Napoleonic Wars. The Swedes took a lighter hand with Norway, and
Norwegians viewed this as a step toward independence. Full independence came
in 1905. Norwegians elected Prince Carl of Denmark, who took the name King
Haakon VI to reestablish the old line of Norwegian kings.
Although historically most Norwegians farmed, the farms were often small and
many farmers were tenants or laborers on the land. Many families undertook other
work for cash: fishing, logging, trade, and making handicrafts. Fishing for herring,
557
cod, sardines, and whales has been important for individuals and families, and sup-
ported entire industries of boatbuilding, barrel making, salting, and canning.
The relative isolation of Norway from continental Europe delayed industri-
alization until the mid-19th century. As the 20th century progressed, the devel-
opment of hydroelectric power and other natural resources began to enrich the
country. In 1971, Norway’s economy was transformed by the discovery of oil in
the North Sea. However, Norway continues to be defined by its rural and agricul-
tural heritage.
From 1820 to 1930 Norway lost more than 700,000 people, or nearly 25 per-
cent of its population, to emigration with most seeking economic opportunities in
the United States and Canada. Since the 1960s, Norway has been receiving work
immigrants from Pakistan, India, Turkey, Morocco, and Poland. In addition, Nor-
way has accepted refugees from Chile, Iran, Sri Lanka, Yugoslavia, Somalia, and
Vietnam. In 2012, the population of Norway was approximately 4,707,270.

Norway’s far northern border and its 1,100-mile coastline help define much of the
nature of the culture. In the western and central parts of Norway the land consists
of steep mountains, with deep valleys created by glaciers, rivers, and fjords. Nor-
way’s eastern lands share a long border with Sweden, where flatter and forested
areas dominate. Finland and Russia share short borders with north Norway. Rock
and lakes cover 74 percent of the land; forests cover 23 percent, leaving only 3
percent that is arable. Geography and cultural distinctions divide Norway into five
regions that will be referred to in this entry. These are North Norway, Mid-Norway,
West Coast, East Lands, and South Lands.
The development of many forms of distinctive folk culture and dress in Nor-
way corresponds to climate and geography. The coastal areas have been open
to northern European influences and cultural exchanges over time, while inland
areas, isolated by rugged mountains, did not have easy access to quickly changing
cultural ideas. This relative isolation resulted in distinctive language dialects and
equally distinctive regional rural dress.
People and Dress

The largest percentage of the population has been ethnically north European
and, since 1030, Christian. The country was declared Lutheran in 1536 and that
remained the state religion until 2012, with plans for the Parliament to disestablish
Norway | 559
it as the official state religion later in

the year.
The indigenous Norwegians are
called Sami or Saami and today make
up less than 1 percent of the popula-
tion. They are culturally more similar
to other Sami people in Sweden, Fin-
land, and Russia than to other Norwe-
gians. Originally nomadic and engaged
in fishing, trapping, and hunting wild
reindeer, the Sami began domesticat-
ing herds of reindeer in the 16th cen-
tury. Some Sami families have relied
entirely on following their herds of
reindeer, while others have settled
along coastal and inland waterways.
Today, Sami political and cultural inter-
ests are encouraged and protected by an
elected Sami Parliament. Norwegian national costume on a Christ-
In the 19th century Norway be- mas postcard, early 1900s. (Vesterheim
came more ethnically and religiously Norwegian-American Museum)
diverse. Jews had been banned from
entering Norway, except with special permission, until 1851. After 1852 Norway
received approximately 1,200 Jewish immigrants from Denmark, northern Germany,
and Eastern Europe while in the 20th and 21st centuries Buddhist and Muslim immi-
grants have been moving into Norwegian society.
History of Dress
What little is known about clothing in the Bronze Age (1800–500 BCE) and
Iron Age (500 BCE–800 CE) indicates that Norwegians dressed similarly to other
northern Europeans at that time. Archaeological sites have revealed simple gar-
ments, caps, and shoes made of hide, leather, animal fibers, and plant fibers that
were created by sewing, weaving, netting, and looping.
Throughout Scandinavia during the Viking Age (800–1030) women’s clothing
consisted of a simple wool dress over a pleated linen shift. Brooches, bracelets,
neck rings, and other jewelry were an important part of the dress. Men wore wool
tunics, leggings or trousers, and cloaks fastened with ring brooches.
Norwegian dress during the Middle Ages (1030–1537) continued to be similar
to dress in other parts of northern Europe, with fashionable impulses traveling with
traders to the coast and by way of Denmark and the Danish political and religious
officials working in Norway.
After the Middle Ages, urban Norwegian dress matched that in other northern
European cities. What is commonly thought of as Norwegian ethnic dress today is
the clothing that was worn in rural Norway between about 1650 and 1850, or later
in some areas. Folk dress often includes elements of European fashion, worn in
combination with home woven and sewn garments and accessories. In many areas
women adapted fashionable ideas, such as creating with embroidery the patterns
they admired in expensive, imported damask and brocade fabrics.
Clothing boundaries often followed geographic features, such as valleys. Peo-
ple dressed similarly within a region, but with differences according to economics,
personal taste, and personal skill.
Historically, the people in North Norway (Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark
counties) were most concerned about wearing clothing adapted to the climate.
Along the coast, fishermen wore specially adapted clothing including leather or
oilcloth outerwear.
Sami dress can be divided into two general styles: north and south. The north
Sami dress was a hide or wool tunic (longer for women) with a high standing col-
lar. The tunic was belted at the waist by women and at the hip by men. Both men
and women wore hide leggings held up with woven bands wrapped around the
lower leg, and reindeer hide or leather shoes with turned-up toes. Women wore silk
shawls and brooches for festive occasions.
The south Sami tunic had a deep V-neck in the front and a high standing collar
in back for men. The women’s outfit was a long tunic or dress with a deep V-neck.
Both included a front piece to fill the neck and chest area made of colorful wool
and decorated with pewter-thread embroidery or beads.
Trondheim, a center of trade, religion, and education, is located in Mid-
Norway (Sør- and Nord-Trøndelag counties), bringing many fashionable impulses
to this region. Around 1800 women wore striped skirts, printed cotton aprons, and
fitted jackets of imported fabric. A print or plaid scarf over the shoulders and one
around a cap appeared in many variations. Men wore wool coats, vests of imported
brocade or striped fabric, and wool or leather knee pants. The cut of the coat and
vest followed the fashion of the times, long in the 1700s, shorter in the 1800s, but
the rural styles often lagged behind those of the city.
The East Lands, too, have received many fashionable impulses through neigh-
boring Sweden and the port city of Oslo, the country’s capital. The people in the
counties of Akershus, Østfold, Vestfold, and Hedmark dressed like those in Mid-
Norway, while people in the counties of Oppland and Buskerud wore clothing that
was fossilized from previous urban style periods.
Norway | 561
Hallingdal (Buskerud county) had a distinctive style of clothing retained from

the early 19th-century Empire period. Women wore a very short bodice made of
embroidered, brocade, or damask fabric, which was sewn to the skirt. A very short
black wool jacket was worn. The headdress was quite elaborate and clearly distin-
guished unmarried and married women. Men wore a white wool jacket with stand-
ing collar and multicolor embroidery, red vest, and embroidered black knee pants.
The red cap was a style held over from the Middle Ages.
The coastal areas of the South Lands (Telemark, Aust-Agder, and Vest-Agder
counties) were active in shipping and trading, so residents wore fashionable dress.
But in the inland valleys the trend was quite the opposite.
In eastern Telemark county women’s dresses had short bodices that showed off
richly embroidered blouses and several silver brooches. The full black skirt was
made even fuller by a wide, stiff band of trim at the hem. There was a dark-color
apron and a wide tablet-woven belt
wrapped high around the waist. The
short red jacket had an asymmetrical
closure and rich embroidery. Men
wore a white wool jacket with high
standing collar and a vest, black knee
pants, and stockings, all with baroque-
style embroidery.
The woman’s dress in Setesdal
(Aust-Agder county) featured a tiny
back piece and straps decorated with
silver ribbon and embroidery. The
attached calf-length black skirt was
finely pleated in back and smooth in
front. Bands of stiff red and green
wool were sewn to the hem to add
dimension. Finally, there was a short
black jacket with green wool trim and
embroidery. Men wore long gray or
black trousers with a bibbed top. The
bib and sometimes the trouser cuffs
were embroidered. There was a large
patch of leather on the seat of the trou-
sers. Since the late 1800s, the embroi- Front and back views of the dress worn in
dered jacket has become sleeveless to Setesdal, Aust-Agder, Norway, early 1900s.
show off a pattern-knit sweater. (Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum)
The West Coast had a rich tradition of folk dress. Renaissance features were
held over in the Hardanger (Hordaland county) woman’s ensemble. It consisted of
a black wool skirt, red or green bodice, white apron with needlework trim, white
blouse with white or black needlework trim, and a prominent headdress for mar-
ried women. The bodices were cut with a wide front opening that was filled with
a beaded or embroidered breastplate. Men wore a white, red, or black coat with a
high back collar, contrasting wool vest, knee pants, and a felt hat or knit wool cap.

Norwegians successfully cultivated and used wool and flax for their clothing
needs. Since Viking times, domestically produced fibers and textiles have been
supplemented by imported silks and cottons, but availability and climate favored
fibers of local production for clothing.
The spelsau sheep is a breed that was known in Norway since prehistory. This
wool was historically considered best for clothing due to its light weight and water-
repellent qualities. The breed is still maintained to supply the wool favored by
traditional textile makers.
The earliest cloth for clothing was woven on a vertical, warp-weighted loom.
By around the year 1000, the horizontal floor loom for hand weaving came into use,
which sped up cloth production. Vadmel, a coarse woolen cloth that has been fulled or
felted to make it dense and warm, was commonly woven for clothing. Improvements
to the floor loom during the Renaissance and baroque periods made complex pat-
tern variations possible. Cottage and factory production of woolen cloth took place
throughout the 19th century. In the 20th century, farm production of woolen cloth for
garments continued, and today artisans are handweaving fabric for folk costumes.
Small band looms have been important for creating trim and accessories. The
folk dress of many regions featured colorfully patterned woven bands for hair rib-
bons, stocking garters, belts, and trim.
Norwegian handcraft is famous for two-color pattern knitting. Each region had
distinctive colors and styles of knitted gloves and mittens, hats, sweaters, and other
accessories. Perhaps the most familiar Norwegian knitted item is the lusekofte of
the South Lands valley of Setesdal. This “lice-patterned sweater” is named for the
distinctive pattern of white stitches scattered on a black ground.

Norwegian everyday and special-occasion dress were similar, but everyday
clothing was made of sturdier fabric without embellishment. Men throughout Nor-
way wore a work shirt called a busserull of wool, linen, or cotton. It was constructed
Norway | 563
of square pieces of sturdy handwoven

fabric, often striped, with a narrow
banded neck and cuffed full sleeves.
The busserull was often worn as a pro-
tective jacket over a shirt and vest.
In Norway, a type of folk dress that
fell between everyday dress and spe-
cial-occasion dress was church dress.
Church dress was worn for Sunday ser-
vices and for special occasions involv-
ing members of the parish. Accessories
such as embroidered mittens and gloves
and silk scarves were received as
gifts at confirmation, engagement, or
marriage.
Children, who typically dressed
as small adults after infancy, had spe-
cial clothing when they were chris-
tened. Christening garments included Wedding of Gudrun Kløve Juuhl and Tarjei
handwoven blankets and swaddling Johannesen Vågstøl,Voss, Hordaland, Nor-
bands, embroidered wraps, buntings way, 2004. (Courtesy Marta Kløve Juuhl)
and caps made of imported silk, and
tiny brooches.
Young people were confirmed at approximately 14 years of age, at which time
they received new church clothing. A young girl often participated in the making
of her own confirmation ensemble, which served as a means of showing off her
textile skills.
The most elaborate costume was reserved for a woman’s wedding ceremony.
The bride wore jewelry intended to surpass all others attending the occasion, and
in many regions her display included a silver or gold-plated crown. After the cer-
emony, attendants would dress the bride as a married woman. An important aspect
of the transformation was the covering of her hair, when the crown was replaced
by a married woman’s headdress distinctive to her locale. A bridegroom appeared
in his best church-going clothes.
Component Parts
The function of folk dress in communicating group membership and socio-
cultural standing was more important than communicating economic levels within
society, as the Norwegian population never included a significant aristocracy. The
garments and accessories of previous generations could be used in combination

with new components. Thus, the significance of dress for individuals included
family associations as well as signals that were understood community-wide.
A woman’s headdress was the most important garment of symbolic communi-
cation. Unmarried women and girls wore handwoven bands wrapped in their hair.
A kerchief, cap, or headdress that completely hid the hair signified that the wearer
was married. An example is the pure white headdress from the Hardanger region,
which, once pleated and arranged over a frame, extended from the head as much
as five inches to either side, creating a silhouette that could be instantly recognized
from a distance.
As long as church rituals were observed and the social structure remained
static in a region, these distinctions continued to be important. By the latter part of
the 19th century, the ubiquitous use of the headdress declined.
Jewelry
Jewelry was an integral part of Norwegian folk dress and Norwegian folk cul-
ture. Along with its function for closures, silver showed the wealth and prosperity
of the wearer, was easily portable, and could be sold in times of economic hard-
ship. Silver jewelry also had important spiritual functions, including protecting
against evil spirits. Each time it was worn in church or was handed down to the
next generation, it became even more powerful.
Men’s jewelry was in the form of collar pins, vest and coat buttons, and shoe
buckles. Women wore brooches called søljer (singular, sølje), collar pins, jacket
and purse clasps, belt clasps and ornaments, finger rings, and shoe buckles.
One feature common to many pieces of Norwegian jewelry has been dangling
ornaments. Dangles took the shape of bowls, rings, even-sided crosses, cut-out
“sun wheels,” or diamonds. An early belief was that the dangles reflected the light
and thus reflected away the evil forces.

Folk dress is used in Norway today in a more standardized form called bunader
(singular, bunad). Where traditional folk dress served symbolic functions in the con-
text of family structure and communities in rural Norway, the bunad has evolved to
serve symbolic functions in the context of changing Norwegian national society and
in the global context. The development of this revival form began just after the mid-
19th century. An intense national consciousness found expression in the use of rural
folk dress symbolizing Norway’s aspiration to be an independent nation. Public
Norway | 565
events required a recognizable costume, which resulted in a Norwegian “national

costume” inspired by the festive dress from Hardanger (Hordaland county).
The Hardanger-style national costume was widely used for folk dance. Hulda
Garborg (1862–1934), a leader in the folk dance movement, wished to promote a
variety of Norwegian regional dance styles. She redesigned a number of regional
folk dress styles to make them either more to her taste, or easier to use as dance
costumes. Her enthusiasm for reviving folk dress and the simultaneous political
achievement of Norwegian independence in 1905 served to propel the use of the
bunad into the 20th century.
The steady increase in the use of bunader since the 1960s has been accom-
panied by a desire to preserve handwork techniques and to maintain standards
for high quality. In the 21st century, young people commonly receive their first
adult bunad at confirmation. Supplemented with jewelry or accessories inherited
from family, the new bunad can be worn by an individual throughout his or her
lifetime.
A bunad is considered appropriate for Norwegian formal and festive events.
Urban and rural Norwegians choose the costume of a region that represents their
family background. In North Norway among the Sami, where the dress also sym-
bolizes their status as indigenous people, traditional dress can be seen daily. One
of the key times bunader are worn is on Norwegian Constitution Day (May 17).
Norwegian bunader came into the international spotlight when Norway hosted
the Winter Olympics in 1994. The opening and closing programs were performed
in bunader from all the regions of Norway. Since that event, Norwegian bunad
makers have had a steady stream of customers, and an increasing cross section of
Norwegian families show pride in their heritage through this form of dress.

Bunad [Magazine]. [In Norwegian.] www.bunad-magasinet.no.
Bunad and Folk Dress Council website. [In Norwegian.] www.bunadraadet.no.
Charbonneau, Claudette, and Patricia Slade Lander. The Land and People of Nor-
way. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.
Fossnes, Heidi. Folk Costumes of Norway. Trans. Elizabeth S. Seeberg. Oslo:
J. W. Cappelen Forlag, 1995.
Gilbertson, Laurann. “To Ward Off Evil: Metal on Norwegian Folk Dress.” In Folk
Dress in Europe and Anatolia: Beliefs About Protection and Fertility, ed. Linda
Welters. Oxford: Berg, 1999.
Haugen, Bjørn Sverre Hol, ed. Norsk Bunadleksikon. 3 vols. Oslo: N. W. Damm
& Søn, 2006.
Libæk, Ivar, and Øivind Stenersen. A History of Norway: From the Ice Age to the
Age of Petroleum. Trans. Jean Aase. 3rd ed. Oslo: Grøndahl og Dreyers Forlag,
1999.
Noss, Aagot. “Rural Norwegian Dress and Its Symbolic Functions.” In Norwegian
Folk Art: The Migration of a Tradition, ed. Marion Nelson. New York: Abbeville
Press, 1995.
Skavhaug, Kjersti. Norwegian Bunads. Trans. Bent Vanberg. Oslo: Hjemmenes
Forlag, 1982.
Ugland, Thorbjørg Hjelmen. A Sampler of Norway’s Folk Costumes. Oslo: Bok-
senteret Forlag, 1996.
Pakistan
Tracy Buck

The nation of Pakistan was created on August 14, 1947, coinciding with the moment
of the Indian subcontinent’s independence from British colonial rule. British pres-
ence in the subcontinent became established in the mid-18th century with the East
India Company. Following the Indian Rebellion (also known as the Sepoy Mutiny)
of 1857, the areas today known as Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh (originally East
Pakistan) were under British rule until independence and partition in 1947.
The desire for a Muslim state separately governed from Hindu-majority India
was first expressed by poet Muhammad Iqbal; the concept was more clearly solidi-
fied in the 1930s and promoted by the All India Muslim League during the early
1940s. Initially seen as politically impractical and largely unnecessary, interest
in the creation of Pakistan grew during the struggle for independence, spurred
by fears of underrepresentation of Muslims in political matters. The concept of a
separate Muslim nation, to be created from the single but regionally diverse sub-
continent that was loosely unified under British rule, was promoted by Muham-
mad Ali Jinnah. Jinnah was leader of the Muslim League and later known as the
founder and first governor general of Pakistan, serving in this role from August 15,
1947, until his death on September 11, 1948. British judge Cyril Radcliffe devised
the border dividing Pakistan and India, referred to as the Radcliffe Line. The split-
ting of the Indian subcontinent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority
Pakistan is known as partition, and this act ushered in the single largest episode
of displacement and migration in modern history as between 12 and 14 million
people left their homes to take up residence across the border. The scars of parti-
tion continue to run deep. An estimated 1 million people died during the migration,
largely due to the communal violence that occurred as a direct result of partition,
and an estimated 50,000 Hindu and Muslim women were abducted and separated
from their families and religious affiliations.
Pakistan today comprises the provinces of Balochistan, East Bengal, the
North-West Frontier Province, Sindh, and West Punjab; the latter state was split
567
between India and Pakistan at the time of partition. Bangladesh—originally known

as East Pakistan and part of Pakistan—became a separate, Muslim-majority inde-
pendent country in 1971. Kashmir, originally a princely state that acceded to India
in late 1947, today is overwhelmingly Muslim and remains a source of conflict
between Indian and Pakistan. Pakistan borders Afghanistan, China, Iran, and India.
With a population of approximately 190 million in 2012, its capital is Islamabad,
with Karachi its largest and arguably most culturally active city. Although sev-
eral regional languages are recognized (most notably Pashto, Punjabit, Balochi,
Saraiki, and Sindhi), the two official languages of Pakistan are English and Urdu,
a language grammatically similar to Hindi but written in the Persian script (nas-
taliq) and influenced by Persian, Arabic, and Turkish. The geography of Pakistan
is varied and features some of the world’s highest mountain peaks in the northern
highlands, the Thar Desert to the east, and expansive plains along the Indus River.
The climate of Pakistan reflects the varied landscape and is characterized by a
monsoon season, which entails a summer rainy season from approximately June
to September.
People and Dress

Dress became a particularly important symbol of Pakistani and Muslim identity
during the period immediately prior to and following independence, due to the
efforts of nation building. It continues to be significant in establishing identity and
regional and/or religious affiliation today. The national dress of Pakistan, for both
men and women, is the shalwar kameez, which consists of a long tunic-length shirt
and long pants, and the sherwani, or long coat, and Jinnah cap, both worn by men.
Other common types of clothing traditionally worn in Pakistan include the kurta,
or long-length shirt worn over either loose or tightly fitting long pants, and, for
women, the lehenga, a long, full skirt typically worn with a choli, or blouse, and
a scarf or veil.
Traditional clothing is today typically worn to most festival celebrations, as
well as to religious and ceremonial functions, such as weddings. In addition to
ceremonial or festival use, traditional styles of Pakistani clothing, particularly the
shalwar kameez, are commonly worn on a daily basis throughout the country, par-
ticularly by women, while men may be more readily seen wearing Western-style
trousers and shirts.
The Shalwar Kameez and the Kurta

The shalwar kameez is a style of suit that consists of a long, loosely fitting
tunic-like shirt (shalwar) and long pants, which are loose-fitting with a drawstring
Pakistan | 569
Pakistani women wear shalwar kameez, Lahore, Pakistan, 2009. (Art Directors.co.uk/
StockphotoPro)
or elastic waist, and straight-legged or tapered to the ankle (known as kameez).

Alternatively, the shalwar may also be worn with long pants that are tightly fitted
(known as churidar). The shalwar kameez suit is worn by both men and women,
with gender variation in color, cut, and embellishment. Shalwar kameez for
women generally feature more embroidered or lace embellishments and brighter
colors than those for men; the garment for men is generally black, white, navy, or
of a similarly neutral, solid color. Embroidery work is, in general, the most com-
mon decorative element to the shalwar or to the kurta (the tunic worn by men,
generally). Shalwar for women may be long- or short-sleeved or sleeveless and
for men they generally have long sleeves. The length of the tunic for either gender
may fall to mid-thigh, knee, or calf-length, with a slit (chaak) at either side to the
hip or waist. As part of the suit, women also typically wear a dupatta, also called
a chador, or long scarf, generally in a matching or coordinating fabric and color.
The dupatta is worn across the collarbone with the ends over the shoulders, so
that the center of the scarf drapes over the chest. It may also be worn over one
shoulder. In addition to its style element the purpose of the dupatta is in part to
serve as a modest covering. It can also be used to cover the wearer’s head in social
situations requiring increased modesty or reverence, or for religious reasons. It

has been considered by some to be a less stringent means of adapting the hijab in
function.
The shalwar kameez was originally worn in Afghanistan and in the Punjab
region of India and Pakistan. Shalwar kameez is sometimes viewed as a tradition-
ally Muslim style of clothing. Because the suit was traditionally associated with
the region of Punjab, it is sometimes referred to today as the “Punjabi suit.” Fol-
lowing Indian partition and the creation of the Muslim country of Pakistan in 1947,
the shalwar kameez came to be associated with Islam more generally as it became
the national dress of the newly formed country. Today, throughout India and espe-
cially in the northern regions and in larger cities such as Delhi, the shalwar kameez
is worn frequently by Muslims and non-Muslims alike; the style for women has
been widely adopted as an alternative to the sari and to Western clothing, particu-
larly by college-age and unmarried young women. Although some styles are more
fitted and some fabrics more revealing than others, in general the style is viewed as
being modest while also practical and functional.
Worn generally for formal occasions and similar in style to the shalwar, the
pishwas or anarkali for women is a long dress, sometimes worn over churidars,
often heavily embroidered and embellished with beadwork. The design of the pish-
was varies from the shape of the shalwar in that it is more fitted at the waist and
flares into a skirt, is generally of longer length, and does not feature side slits or
chaak. The pishwas is associated with the Mughal Empire of the 17th century
and is sometimes called anarkali after Anarkali, the legendary court dancer from
Lahore who was said to have been involved romantically with Prince Nuruddin
Saleem. Pishwas during the Mughal period were associated with court and palace
life; today they are worn largely for such events as wedding ceremonies.
The lehenga, a long skirt worn by women, is paired with a short, fitted blouse,
or choli, and a veil or scarf that typically drapes over one shoulder or over the head.
The lehenga choli is today worn less frequently than the shalwar kameez, most
often for formal occasions, and is as a result typically heavily embellished with
beadwork or embroidery. In appearance, the lehenga, choli, and scarf or veil worn
together create a look similar to that of the Indian sari.
The kurta for men is similar in form and style to the shalwar kameez. The
kurta, or tunic-length shirt, is collarless or has a mandarin- or Nehru-style collar.
The garment falls in length to above or below the knee. It often has a V-neck with
embroidered edges, which may or may not close with buttons or ties; the opening
may be at the garment’s center or to one side. Sleeves are traditionally long and fall
straight—that is, do not taper to the wrist or end in cuffs. The kurta may be worn
with pajama or shalwar (loose-fitting, drawstring waist pants), churidar (fitted
pants), or, as is sometimes seen today, particularly in urban areas, Western-style
Pakistan | 571
jeans. The shorter kurti is worn by

both men and women, with traditional
styles of pants and, today, with jeans.
Commonly worn by men with
the kurta, the sherwani is a long coat
with button closure at front to waist
level, mandarin- or Nehru-style col-
lar, and long sleeves; it generally falls
to approximately knee-length. It is
most commonly made of a heavy fab-
ric, such as wool, in a dark color such
as gray or black. Originally associ-
ated with Muslim aristocracy during
the period of British rule, the sher-
wani’s connection to Pakistani iden-
tity and nationalism was established
by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Although
today more common, the garment
was first worn frequently by early
politicians in Pakistan in opposition Young men wear kurta in Karachi, Pakistan,
2006. (Dmitry Pichugin/Dreamstime.com)
to Western-style dress and it accord-
ingly became a symbol of nationalism,
similar to the manner that clothing made from khadi cloth became a symbol for
Indian identity and self-rule during the same period. The achkan is a coat similar
in appearance to the sherwani but generally made of lighter fabrics.
Equally evocative of Pakistani identity is the Jinnah cap, worn by men. The
Jinnah cap is a style of karakul (qaraqul) hat, which is worn throughout Central
and South Asia, and, in particular, Afghanistan. The Jinnah cap is named after
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan at the time of independence from
British rule and partition from India in 1947. The Jinnah cap, much like the sher-
wani, was worn by early nationalists and politicians of Pakistan as an indication of
national identity and pride. Traditionally the hat is made from the wool of the Per-
sian lamb, or qaraqul. The hat is flat and rectangular in shape and peaked at front
and back when worn. Similar to the Jinnah cap is the Rampuri cap, made of velvet
and made popular by the first prime minister of Pakistan, Sahibzada Liaqat Ali
Khan. Because of its associations with independence from the British Raj, the cap
is often connected to independence from colonial powers in general, as in Africa.
The shalwar kameez and the similar kurta are commonly worn on an everyday
basis throughout Pakistan, particularly by women, and, by incorporating various
fabrics and styles, has been adapted for formal, work, and casual wear. Fashion
styles vary in sleeve length and cut, tunic shape, as well as other variations in fabric
type and design. Seasonal styles may vary largely in regard to fabric—breathable
fabrics such as silk or cotton for the hot summer months; for winter, the garment
may be constructed of a thicker cotton or wool. Ready-made shalwar, kurta, churi-
dar, and kameez are widely available but are often tailor-fitted to the wearer. For
more formal occasions the garments are often custom-made.
For Pakistani weddings, events heavily associated with traditional costume,
the groom typically wears a sherwani and a sehra or turban; the sehra may be
decorated with garlands of marigolds or other flowers. The bride wears a shalwar
kameez, lehenga, pishwas, or gharara, which is similar in form to the shalwar
kameez suit but with pants that flare dramatically and feature ornate embroidery
or other embellishment at the knee. The color of the bride’s outfit, as in India, is
typically red but may also be of a similar bright color.
The burqa is less commonly seen throughout Pakistan today than in the past,
but is currently present in some areas, particularly the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(Northwest Frontier Province) and also in the bordering areas of Punjab in the
central east and Balochistan in the southwest. The burqa is worn by some Muslim
women outside of the home in accordance with their cultural and religious beliefs
regarding the covering of the female body in public. It is a body-covering garment
with an opening for the eyes or face and hands. A common style of burqa in the
parts of Pakistan where it is worn features a net face opening (called the “shuttle-
cock” burqa).
Regional Styles
The shalwar kameez and kurta are worn widely throughout Pakistan, with
regional variation in design elements. Accessories or additional garments and
styles, as well as patterns and materials, vary according to region.
Arjak, a style of block-printed shawls, is closely associated with the southeast
province of Sindh. The shawl is generally constructed of a cotton fabric decorated
with a trefoil, circular, or similar repeating pattern that is printed using a wood-
block. Commonly used colors are dark reds and blues, as well as black and white.
The garment is worn as a shawl or, by women, as a dupatta; men also tie the arjak
around their waists or wear it as a turban or head covering.
The jamavar, a type of shawl, is associated with the northern regions of South
Asia and particularly Kashmir. Traditionally handmade of Pashmina wool in Kash-
mir, jamavar are also made on a larger scale and by machine in cities such as Lahore.
The pakol (sometimes referred to as khapol) is a type of hat worn in the Khy-
ber Pakhtunkhwa (Northwest Frontier Province). The hat, worn by men, is round
in shape and typically made from wool; the sides are rolled to create a band. The
Pakistan | 573
hat is worn on the top of the head in the style of a beret. It is associated with the
Pashtun tribes and is seen by these groups as an alternative to the traditionally
worn turban.
The taqiyah, sometimes called simply the topi (“cap”), is a style of short,
rounded hat commonly worn by Muslim men in Pakistan with shalwar or kurta.
The taqiyah or topi may be in any color, sometimes with embroidered embellish-
ments, or may reflect regional designs and styles. More broadly, the taqiyah is
commonly worn by Muslim men throughout the world.

Bachu, Parminder. Dangerous Designs: Asian Women Fashion the Diaspora Econ-
omies. London: Routledge, 2004.
Hay, Stephen, ed. Sources of Indian Tradition, Volume Two: Modern India and
Pakistan. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.
Khan, Yasmin. The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.
Pandey, Gyanendra. Remembering Partition: Violence, Nationalism, and History
in India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Tarlo, Emma. Visibly Muslim: Fashion, Politics, Faith. New York: Berg Publishers,
2010.
Textile Institute of Pakistan. www.tip.edu.pk. 2010.
The Palestine Region and Jordan
John A. Shoup

Both the Palestinian region and Jordan have been influenced by their long histori-
cal, economic, and cultural connections with Syria, Egypt, and the Arabian Penin-
sula and the newer nation of Israel, established in 1948.
Jordan and the region of Palestine are located in the Arabian Peninsula. The
borders of these countries have varied throughout their long and complex his-
tories. The present borders of Palestine (not officially recognized as a nation by
the UN, the United States, Israel, and other Western countries) in particular have
been under violent dispute since they were implemented in 1947 with the United
Nations’ partition plan allowing Israel to have its own state in the region. Jordan
is a neighbor of the Palestine region and also is bordered by Saudi Arabia, Iraq,
Syria, and Israel. Jordan’s population was estimated at 6,508,887 people in 2012.
The population of the Gaza strip, the land east of the Mediterranean Ocean where
Palestinians and some Israelis live, was estimated at 1,710,250.
Dating back as far 8000 BCE there was organized village life in the city of Jer-
icho with kingdoms including Ammon, Edom, and Moab in this region. Frequent
invasions from Egypt, Babylon, Persia, and Assyria peppered the history of this
region with different leaders implementing different religious and societal pres-
sures on the people. The north and south of Jordan have significant differences in
their heritage with the south having been ruled by Arabs and the Romans influenc-
ing culture in the north until the early Christian period. After the seventh century
Muslim Arabs established the Ummayyad caliphate at Damascus, thus promoting
a long-lasting tradition as an Islamic land. Ottoman Turks conquered in 1517 and
dominated the region until the early 20th century and the Great Arab Revolution
against the conquerors. The Turkish Ottomans were defeated in World War I and
Jordan, under King Faisal, however briefly, became a Syrian kingdom. The French,
though, defeated Faisal and the Emirate of Transjordan was incorporated in the
League of Nations Palestine Mandate. Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan
were created when Britain divided the region in 1922. The Jordan River was the
574
The Palestine Region and Jordan | 575
border between the two. The head of the Hashemite family, known as Abdullah,
was adamantly opposed to the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel in Pal-
estine, as was pledged by Britain in the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Nine years
later, however, he signed the declaration that essentially established separate terri-
tories in the British Empire. Abdullah was a unique leader in the region and during
World War II, he remained an ally of Britain fighting against the Nazis. After the
war ended, Great Britain acknowledged the independence of Jordan and its ruler,
Abdullah I, in 1946.
When it came time to partition Palestine, Jordan was opposed to the idea and
the Arab League joined together to fight against the establishment of the Jew-
ish state in what is known as the Arab-Israeli War of 1948. The partition plan set
boundaries with the West Bank, Golan Heights, and Gaza as Arab. Modern history
continues to see disputes over the borders of these countries, especially troubled
relations between Palestinians and Jews in Israel.
People and Dress

Men’s clothes in Jordan and rural Palestine areas were less influenced by Western
and Turkish dress than in the urban centers. Women’s dress in Palestine, starting in
the second half of the 19th century, greatly changed with some areas abandoning
the time-consuming hand-embroidered items to wear those commercially avail-
able from off-the-rack Western/Turkish fashions. Following the 1948 war and the
establishment of Israel, Palestinian embroidery took on a new life as an aspect of
distinct regional and “national” identity.
Dress in Palestine
Women
Palestine was a region with a large number of village communities linked by
trade to a number of small- and medium-sized towns found throughout the coun-
try; and, from them, to larger centers such as Damascus, Beirut, and Cairo. In
the larger urban centers, dress was influenced by Ottoman Turkish and European
dress, particularly among the Palestinian urban elite.
Palestinians developed a complex set of regional and local styles primarily
for women’s dress using the color of the main dress cloth (usually locally woven
white or black cotton and/or linen, or multicolored silk from Damascus) as the
first division. Generally, Palestinian women preferred black or dark indigo blue
for their dresses (usually called thob or thawb), but around Jaffa and Bayt Dajan,
both in present-day Israel, and in Ramallah, women preferred to use dress mate-
rial that was white or natural off-white. Bethlehem women preferred using green,
red, yellow, or gold silk cloth sewn together lengthwise in strips of varying widths.
Women heavily embroidered the front chest panel, the sides, the sleeves, around
the bottom, and up the back panel in different colors of silk or cotton floss. Differ-
ent designs, types of embroidery stitch (cross-stitch, couched stitch, satin stitch,
etc.), and colors differentiated specific villages as well as Muslims and Christians.
In addition, different types of caps and head veils also helped distinguish regions
and villages. Head veils were left white or cream, the off-white (natural) color of
the fabric, among Palestinian village and urban women while Bedouin women
preferred black veils.
Women’s fashions in the region of Palestine responded to international wom-
en’s fashions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries as well as to cultural codes
of modesty. Palestinian women’s clothes fit into regional styles. The main regions
were Nablus and Janin, the Galilee, Jerusalem and the nearby towns of Bethlehem
and Ramallah (each with its own specific colors and styles), Hebron, Gaza, the
southern and central coastal plain of Majdal, Isdud, Jaffa and Bayt Dajan, and the
Negev and Sinai.
The northern areas of Nablus and Janin and Galilee are known for women’s
clothes that were undecorated and where embroidery was seen as an indication that
the woman had little real work to do. Women in the region were engaged in heavy
farm work alongside their men and embroidery was considered to be “frivolous”
work. Professional dressmakers were employed to make a bride’s dress, but in gen-
eral, dresses were plain and color was provided by using different-colored cloth.
Small embroidered stripes were used in wedding dresses or those for major feasts.
Majdal cloth was given by the groom to the bride to make her trousseau. Celebra-
tion dress included a wide sash or zunnar of white and blue silk stripes used as a
belt. A Majdal cloth outer dress belted with the silk zunnar was called khamsat
alaf wa khamsa mi’ah or “five thousand, five hundred” by women of the region to
indicate how expensive the cloth was to buy.
Women in Galilee wore embroidered dresses and long coats until around the
middle of the 19th century, but by the 1860s, most had abandoned them in favor
of the Turkish styles of baggy pants, long shirt, and long coats. Women made and
wore the Galilee wedding coat or the jillayah into the early 20th century before
they were also abandoned in favor of Western styles. The jillayah is an outer coat
worn over a plain white shirt or thob and pants or sirwal underneath. The jillayah
was of dark blue cotton on the outside, but had an inner lining of atlas silk. The
coats were made to fit fairly close to the upper body with long, straight sleeves.
The coats were worn open from the waist down and made to flap open while walk-
ing to reveal the inner lining. There was minimal outside embroidery that followed
the lines of securing the inner lining and the seams, along the row of buttons from
neckline to just above the waist, and around the collar. The cuffs of the sirwal
were richly embroidered as were hats/caps that included gold and silver coins. The
woman’s costume was completed with a bolero-style jacket or taqsirah heavily
embroidered in gold and silver thread, often made in Damascus.
Women from Nablus wore a horseshoe-shaped hat decorated with rows of sil-
ver or gold coins called a samadah. These went out of fashion in the early 20th
century and were replaced with another style of hat called a taqiyah. The taqiyah
was slightly pointed and made of atlas silk from Damascus. Most sources note that
the taqiyah were made by professional hatmakers and not by the women them-
selves. The hatmakers embroidered the hats with silk floss in mainly reds and yel-
lows. The taqiyah was held in place by two long cords attached to both sides and
tied under the chin. The cords were usually black and ended in an Ottoman gold
coin or a khamasiyah, taking the name from the fact that the coin was a Turkish
five-lira gold piece.
Women’s clothes from the central region of Palestine were, and remain, in
sharp contrast to those of the north. They are richly embroidered and display a
good deal of wealth in the materials used and the urban/urbane lifestyle of the
people. Women heavily embroidered dresses not only for festive occasions, but
also for everyday wear.
In the 1930s, women from other parts of Palestine stopped making their dresses
and bought ones made in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was a primarily Christian Arab
town and exerted its influence over the nearby villages of Bayt Jala and Bayt Sahur.
Generally, women in Bethlehem preferred to use silk for their dresses; reinforce-
ment areas, such as the shoulders, were in velvet, making them very expensive.
Women used locally woven silk and cotton blends or imported hermesy silk for
the main body of their dresses, called Thawb Malaki Abu Wardah (meaning royal
dress with flowers) or Thawb Akhdari (meaning green dress, from the use of green
silk cloth in the body of the dress), or in ghabani cloth from Aleppo or Damascus.
Bethlehem was famous for its use of couched stitching in metal threads, mainly
gold and silver, which is different from the types of stitching used by other Pales-
tinian women. Couched stitching is done by laying the thread on the surface and
then using another needle and thread to sew it to the surface. This is done on the
qabbah or front panel, on the sleeves, and on the main body of the dress. Beth-
lehem’s Christians embroidered crosses into the patterns on the dresses to mark
their religion. Other patterns include flowers, flower pots, tree of life, and song-
birds, among others. Some of the embroidery designs are ancient and are shared
with other art forms while others are new. Palestinian women were exposed to
a number of European embroidery books starting in the second half of the 19th
century that came along with shipments of silk floss from France. Companies sent
books with embroidery designs along with the shipments of threads and merchants
gave out the books to the women who wanted them. This introduced a number of
Street market in Bethlehem on the West Bank. Palestinians use national dress as a means
of identity and men wear the kuffiyah and ’aqal and women wear traditional embroidered
dresses. (Courtesy John A. Shoup)
new designs to the existing corpus, and in some cases, new designs replaced older
ones. European designs tend to be more representational of flowers, trees, and even
people than the more geometric and stylized representations in more traditional
Palestinian embroidery. The older dresses have large, long, wide sleeves, though
not as big as the sleeves worn by most Bedouin women. The large, open sleeves
needed to be pushed back up the arms or tied together behind the woman’s back
while working in order to keep them out of the way and prevent them interfering
with her tasks.
A distinctive head covering in Bethlehem, today only worn at special occa-
sions, is the shatwah. The shatwah is a conical hat made of stiffened material and
covered in a red cloth that is heavily embroidered in colored silk thread. The front
of the shatwah is encrusted with rows of gold or silver coins, red coral pieces, and
charms or hijabs. Photos from the 19th century show women wearing rather short
versions of the shatwah, but in the first half of the 20th century they grew in size
into tall hats that prevented the wearer from carrying loads on her head. The shat-
wah was held in place by a metal chin strap that attached to side flaps. The chin
chain was often made of fine silver and weight was added by silver or gold coins
suspended along the sides and at the bottom of the chain. These chin chains were
common to many Palestinian women’s hats, but they disappeared by the 1950s
and were replaced by simple black ribbon. As a head veil over the top of the shat-
wah, women wore a white, off-white, or cream-colored cloth of cotton or cotton
and linen called a ghudfah or khirqah embroidered on the sides and on the back
in bright reds, yellows, and greens. Women from Bethlehem frequently included
figures of birds similar to the ones found on their dresses in their head veils.
The women from the villages around the town of Ramallah preferred to wear
white or off-white dresses made of locally woven cotton or cotton and linen blend.
The white background was used to set off cross-stitch embroidery in mainly dark
red and black silk floss with highlights in yellow, blue, purple, and green. During
the winter months, some women changed to dark black or indigo blue dresses,
again heavily embroidered in red. The older dresses, like those of Bethlehem, had
large, wide, open sleeves sometimes with cloth ties at the bottom tips of the sleeves
that could be used to tie them at the back of the wearer. The women wore a sama-
dah of atlas silk with rows of silver coins along the front. Over the samadah women
wore a ghudfah or khirqah of white cotton or cotton and linen heavily embroidered
in red silk floss. One of the most common patterns used on both the back panels of
the dresses and on the head veil is what is called the nakhlah ‘ali or tall palm tree.
Women from Jerusalem, like those from Bethlehem, liked to wear dresses
made up of strips of red, green, and yellow silk sewn together and then heavily
embroidered with couch stitched gold and silver thread. Sleeves were long, open,
and wide until the second half of the 20th century when closer fitting long sleeves
became the fashion. Other women from the region preferred black cotton dresses
with finely embroidered chest panels. Women wore simple embroidered caps with
little other decoration, over which they wore a white ghudfah or khirqah with mini-
mal or no embroidery. Jerusalem’s urban elite stopped wearing such clothes in the
19th century, and by the middle of the 20th century such dress was for the urban
poor or recent migrants from rural areas. Urban women had abandoned such tradi-
tional clothes for modern styles from Europe or North America.
The women of Hebron and its nearby villages developed some of the most
elaborate styles of clothes in all of Palestine. The dresses were usually black
in color with shoulder yokes in atlas or hermesy silk. The sleeves were heavily
embroidered from shoulder to wrist cuff; the front panel or qabbah was also heav-
ily embroidered as were both the front, side, and back panels of the dress. Unlike
most other dresses in Palestine, the front panel also included strips of silk appliqué
that were embroidered to nearly the waist of the wearer. Nearly the entire dress
was covered in appliqué or embroidery. Sleeves, even in many of the early dresses
found in museum collections, tend to be long and straight with tight wrists.
Hebron’s women wore several different types of head veils or shawls. A milaya
was long enough to fall to the ground, then gathered up around the waist and
brought back up over the head, similar to urban dress in Damascus. The Hebron
version of the ghudfah was known not only for the fine quality of the embroidery
in dark reds, but also for the finished tassels. Women of the region wore a shambar
or veil made of black crepe material either dyed red or, more frequently, heavily
embroidered in red. The shambar was worn over the head and around the neck and
shoulders. It could be brought up over the nose and mouth easily when a woman
met a stranger. The shambar was once worn by nearly all women in Syria, Pales-
tine, and Jordan, but is now mainly worn by Bedouin women.
The southern and central area was influenced by the cloth-producing center
of Majdal and the fine embroidery done by the women of Bayt Dajan. Bayt Dajan
was particularly known for the fine work done by its women and the influence
exerted by their work on the region. Women of the region borrowed embroidery
techniques from Bethlehem; and like styles from Hebron, used silk appliqué as
well as embroidery on the body of the dress. Certain designs, such as the Zahra
al-Burtugal (orange blossom), were influenced by the number of orange groves in
the area. Women wore dresses in white, black, and indigo blue and the chest pan-
els, backs, sides, and sleeves were heavily embroidered in shades of reds, blacks,
blues, and yellows. Women generally wore a shambar in red or black with a strip
of red; but in the late 19th century, red silk copies of Chinese or Spanish shawls
with floral patterns became popular as head veils. By the 1930s, women in Bayt
Dajan had abandoned their unique styles for those they could buy from Bethlehem,
though the older styles did not totally disappear from memory. Women from Bayt
Dajan have kept their unique traditions alive among the refugees in camps in Jor-
dan where they have recently revived the traditions of Bayt Dajan dresses.
Gaza, like Majdal, has long been a center of cloth weaving; the term gauze
derives its name from Gaza. Gazan women wore a distinctive dress made of black
cotton cloth with stripes of yellow and red the length of the dress. Very little deco-
ration was used other than short stripes of embroidery called musht or combs. The
dress has three-quarter-length sleeves that are form fitting. Other dresses from the
region also make use of the same type of cotton cloth—usually woven in Majdal—
with embroidery running along the sides, the front chest panel, and down the
sleeves in red and yellow. Designs are geometrics and are shared with those used
by local Bedouin. The head was covered with a long, white cloth with minimal or
no decoration.
Bedouin women in the Negev wore styles that relate more to the Bedouin in
Sinai and can be considered an extension of Sinai dress. Bedouin women’s fash-
ions have been influenced by Palestinian women in changes about sleeve shape
and size and embroidery designs. Bedouin women make use of large geometric
patterns, but do include humans, animals, and flowers. In general, the major col-
ors chosen are codes about the women: Blue embroidery indicates an unmarried
Older Bedouin woman wearing a face veil of gold coins, Sinai, Palestine. (Courtesy John
A. Shoup)
woman; use of lots of colors, but especially red, indicates a married woman; while
blue with minimal use of color indicates the women is a widow. Sleeves are large,
long, and wide and are called Abu ‘Irdan and are tied behind the woman’s back
as she works. More recent ones are made with the long straight sleeves that have
become fashionable with Palestinian women. Bedouin women wear a black sham-
bar or a qun‘ah in black with mainly red embroidery. In addition, similar to the
Sinai Bedouin, many women wear a burq‘ah or face veil. The burq‘ah are made of
an embroidered head strap to which a piece of red cloth is attached. The cloth is
lightly embroidered in red and the whole is decorated with silver and gold coins.
Side pieces are attached that are often combinations of silver or white metal chains
that end in silver bells or triangles. The side pieces can be long chains of white
immature sea shells. Unmarried women wear a cap called a wuqqiyah made of
atlas or hermesy silk decorated in front with silver coins, but having a long tail
heavily embroidered and ending in long silk tassels.
A special piece of cloths worn by Bedouin women in the Negev, Sinai, and
parts of Jordan is a decorative short coat called a kibber. The kibber is made from
black cotton cloth and is heavily embroidered, especially in the back. In Sinai and
the Negev, women line the bottom with small silk tassels ending in white glass
beads. The kibber has unusable tight sleeves and is worn over the shoulders rather
than with the arms and hands going through the sleeves. In addition, Bedouin
women in Sinai and Negev make woven and plaited belts that mark their marriage
status. Certain ones with red in them, decorated with cowrie shells and coins, are
worn only by married women. In the past the woman made her own belt, and long
tassels in plaited red wool could be added as separate parts to the belt.
Men
By the middle of the 19th century most Palestinian urban men had already
abandoned traditional clothes for Turkish and Western styles they could buy ready
made. Dark three-piece suits became fashionable with only rural men keeping to
older traditions. Most traditional men’s clothes were very similar to those of Jor-
dan, Lebanon, and Syria. Men wore plain cotton sirwal, a cotton or linen shirt, a
wide belt made of different types of cloth (depending on the wealth of the owner),
and a vest or jacket made of atlas or hermesy silk. Until the 1930s, most village
and urban men wore the red Turkish tarbush sometimes wrapped in ghabani cloth
or wore a turban also made of ghabani cloth. The black and white kuffiyah, more
commonly called a hattah in Palestine, appeared with the 1936–1939 revolt against
the British as a means to hide rural fighters among the general population. By the
1940s, the kuffiyah had replaced the turban. More rural men wore a plain thawb
over the shirt and pants and belted it on the outside with a wide leather belt or used
a cloth sash. For festivals and events, men like to wear a qunbaz or outer coat or a
thawb made of atlas silk from Damascus.
Dress in Jordan
Women
Jordanian women, like those in the Palestine region, liked to wear dresses
with elaborate embroidery. Jordanian women, unlike those in Palestine, were not
influenced as much by Turkish or Western fashions until after the 1940s. Jordan’s
people were more rural in comparison to those in Palestine and preserved tradi-
tional fashions longer. Women’s clothes were basically divided between those of
settled village women and the Bedouin. Until the early 20th century many Bedouin
women wore the extra-large dress called a thob ‘ob. These are massive, being three
meters (nine feet) in length with equally massive sleeves. To be worn, the dress
was folded over a belt and fell back to the ground, giving the woman lots of cloth
to be used for storage. The sleeves were so large that one could be folded over the
head and tied in place with a cloth headband. It was noted that a woman could use
the other sleeve to keep an infant near her while working. While these went out
of fashion by the first decades of the 20th century, subsequent Bedouin dresses
maintain the idea of needing to tie the sleeves out of the way behind the wearer’s
back, even if there is no real sleeve left on the dress.
Another such oversized dress was made in the town of Ma‘an in southern Jor-
dan and is still worn for holidays. The dress is made of red and green silk in large
strips, not unlike the Bethlehem ikhdari dress. The difference, though, is that the
Ma‘an dress has little to no embroidery on it and the colors of the strips of cloth
make the design.
Today in Jordan Bedouin women embroider their dresses with special empha-
sis on the chest panel. Bedouin women like bright colors such as yellow and red
in addition to the geometric and floral designs. Bedouin and village women in
northern Jordan prefer to use silk brocade cloth from Syria as their headpiece,
which they tie over a black shambar. Those that cannot afford the costly silk use
the cotton black and white or plain white kuffiyah.
Men
Jordanian men, both settled villagers and Bedouin, tended to wear more or
less the same pieces of clothes. The main item of clothing was the thawb or dish-
dashah, usually in plain cotton cloth, though different colors can be used. Today,
men can have a three-piece suit usually
made from a British wool and cotton
blend, the dishdashah, a vest, and coat.
In the past, Jordanian men, like Pales-
tinians, wore a long outer coat or qun-
baz in Damascus-made silk. Jordanian
dishdashah are distinctive with small
side slits up the sides that allow better
ease in walking. The main headwear
is the kuffiyah with those that are red
and white being more popular than the
black and white ones. Many men wear
fully white ones in the summer, and the
red and white checked in the winter.
The better ones are called shamagh in
Jordan and are of cotton and silk made
in Syria, though today many are made
in Japan or Korea. The Jordanian vari-
ety has tasseling added along the sides
and each end has longer sets of tassels
in white cotton thread. The headpiece Jordanian man in dishdashah and kuffiyah,
is held in place with a black ‘aqal made 2010. (Eliaviel/Dreamstime.com)
of woven and wrapped goat hair. In Jordan, men prefer ones that end in a number
of long tassels that hang down the back and distinguish Jordanians from others who
wear them. Young unmarried men often wear the ‘aqal in a jaunty manner low to
one side while married and older men wear it straight on the head.
In winter men tend to wear dishdashahs made with heavier cloth in darker colors
than for the summer. There are short coats in blue, red, green, or brown wool cloth
decorated with dark strips of cloth in geometric designs that were worn in the winter.
While these are sill made in Damascus, they are mostly purchased by tourists. A
somewhat larger version of this with a lining of lamb’s fleece is still made in Damas-
cus and worn among the wealthier Bedouin and villagers. Cheaper ones with syn-
thetic wool linings or a plain woven wool interior are also worn by many Bedouin.

In the Palestinian Territories and Jordan today, most men and women wear
Western styles that they can buy at any local store or, for Islamic women, modern
Islamic dress. More traditional clothes are worn at special occasions and holidays.
Among Palestinian women, embroidery traditions are passed on to daughters as
part of preserving national identity. Palestinian women have adapted their embroi-
dery to a wide variety of household items including computer cases, backpacks,
and cell phone cases, as well as more traditional items such as headscarves, pillow-
cases, and the like. Traditional dress has also adopted new features such as close,
tight-fitting sleeves for women’s dresses and frangi or European-style collars for
men’s dishdashahs.

Dickson, H. R. P. The Arab of the Desert. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1983.
Granqvist, Hilma. Portrait of a Palestinian Village. London: The Third World Cen-
tre for Research and Publishing, 1981.
Jabbur, Jibrail. The Bedouins of the Desert: Aspects of Nomadic Life in the Arab
East. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1995.
Rajab, Jehan. Palestinian Costume. London: Kegan Paul International, 1989.
Shoup, John. Culture and Customs of Jordan. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007.
Weir, Shelagh, and Serene Shahid. Palestinian Embroidery. London: British
Museum Publications, 1988.
The Philippines
Laura P. Appell-Warren
The history of the Republic of the Philippines is divided into four distinct peri-
ods: the pre-Spanish period (before 1521), the Spanish period (1521–1898), the
American period (1898–1946), and the postindependence period (1946–present).
Philippine prehistory begins with Negrito, proto-Malay, and Malay people migrat-
ing to the Philippines via land bridges from Borneo and Sumatra. A 2010 archeo-
logical find of a metatarsal bone in the Callao Caves north of Manila indicates that
the Philippines may have been settled much earlier than previously thought, and
uranium series dating of the bone indicates that it is 67,000 years old (Henderson,
2010). Archeological, linguistic, and genetic evidence also strongly suggests that
successive waves of migrants came from Taiwan using rafts or boats. Mainland
Chinese merchants and traders arrived and settled in the Philippines during the
ninth century, sometimes traveling on the ships of Arab traders. It was these Arab
traders who introduced Islam to the southern part of the Philippines. The Malayo-
Polynesians remained the dominant group in the Philippines until the Spanish
arrived in the 16th century.
On March 16, 1521, Ferdinand Magellan was the first Spaniard to sight the
Philippine archipelago. Magellan landed on the island of Cebu, claimed the land
for Charles I of Spain, and was killed shortly thereafter by a local chief. Spain sub-
sequently sent several expeditions to the Philippines, but the first settlement was
not established until 1565. Spain had three objectives in the Philippines. The first
was to acquire a share in the spice trade, the second was to develop contacts with
China and Japan in order to further Christian missionary efforts there, and the third
was to convert the Filipinos to Christianity.
The long rule of the Spanish was marked by many Filipino uprisings. How-
ever, it was in 1896 that the final uprising against Spain began. Under the lead-
ership of Emilio Aguinaldo the revolt continued until the Americans, during the
Spanish-American War, defeated the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay on May 1, 1898.
Aguinaldo then declared independence from Spain on June 12, 1898, but Spain
585
ceded the Philippines to the United States under the Treaty of Paris (September 10,
1898), and the United States began its occupation of the Philippines.
Undeterred, Aguinaldo continued his war of resistance against the United
States, and thousands of Filipino and American soldiers died between 1898 and
1901 when Aguinaldo was captured. The United States Administration of the Phil-
ippines was declared to be temporary, and efforts were made to develop institutions
and a system of education that would encourage a democratic government.
In 1935 the Philippines, under the Tydings-McDuffie Act, became a self-
governing commonwealth with Manuel Quezon elected as president. The goal was
to prepare the country for independence after a 10-year transition period. However,
World War II broke out and Japan attacked the Philippines, placing the island under
Japanese control. On October 20, 1944, General Douglas MacArthur landed on
Leyte and fought the Japanese until they surrendered in September 1945. Despite
the disruption of the war, plans for the independence of the Philippines proceeded,
and the Philippine Islands officially became the independent Republic of the Phil-
ippines on July 4, 1946.
The postindependence period in the Philippines was marked by continued
unrest, including the communist-led Huk Rebellion (1945–1953). President Ramon
Magsaysay (1953–1957) successfully suppressed the Huk Rebellion, and the suc-
ceeding administrations of presidents Carlos P. Garcia (1957–1961) and Diosdado
Macapagal (1961–1965) sought to expand Philippine ties to other Asian countries,
to implement domestic reform programs, and to develop and diversify the econ-
omy. President Ferdinand Marcos (1965–1986) initially governed the Philippines
in accordance with the transitory provisions of a new constitution. However, in
1972 Marcos declared martial law as a result of a perceived communist rebellion.
His actions served to suppress the democratic institutions and to restrict civil liber-
ties, and he began to exert his power to rule by decree. Marcos’s presidency was
marked by human rights violations and corruption.
On August 21, 1983, Marcos’s chief rival, Benigno Aquino Jr., was assassi-
nated when he returned to the Philippines. Bowing to political pressure, Marcos
called for a presidential election in 1986 and Benigno Aquino’s widow, Corazon,
was elected president. As president, Corazon Aquino oversaw the creation of a new
constitution, which limited the powers of the presidency and established a bicam-
eral legislature. Her administration also emphasized civil liberties and human
rights. At the end of her term, in 1992, Fidel V. Ramos was elected president.
During his six years in office, Ramos was credited with revitalizing and renewing
international confidence in the Philippine economy.
In 1998 Joseph Estrada, a former actor, was elected president. His presidency
was marked by allegations of corruption and, facing an impeachment trial, he left
office in 2001. In 2001 Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, daughter of former president
The Philippines | 587
Diosdado Macapagal, was elected to be the 14th president of the Philippines. Her
tenure as president was plagued by political unrest and threats of terrorism. In 2010
Benigno Aquino III, son of former president Corazon Aquino, was elected president.

The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands, and has three main geographi-
cal divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The Philippines is located in South-
east Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To the southwest, across the Sulu Sea, is the
island of Borneo. The Celebes Sea separates the Philippines from Indonesia to the
south. On the east the Philippines is bounded by the Philippine Sea, to the west the
Philippines is bounded by the South China Sea, and to the north, across the Luzon
Strait, lies the island of Taiwan.
Situated in the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippine Islands are subject to earth-
quakes and typhoons. The climate of the Philippines varies depending on the geog-
raphy and elevation; generally speaking, however, it has a tropical marine climate.
There is a monsoon season in the summer, from May to October, that brings heavy
rains to most of the islands, and a winter season, from December to February, that
brings cooler, drier air to the islands. Much of the lowland areas, including Manila,
are hot and dry from March to May. The average year-round temperature is 78°F
(26.6°C), and annual rainfall measures as much as 197 inches (5,000 mm) in the
mountainous east coast section of the country, but less than 40 inches (1,000 mm)
in some of the sheltered valleys.
People and Dress

The Philippine Islands are home to more than 100 different ethnic groups,
each with its own language, culture, and religious practices. The total population
is estimated at 103,775,000. It is the 12th largest country in the world in terms of
population. The indigenous peoples are descendants of the original people of the
Philippines. Perhaps the most well-known ethnic group in the Philippines is the
Tagalog people. The Tagalog group is represented in a large geographic proportion
of the Philippines (13 provinces) but are just over a quarter of the total popula-
tion. Other provinces with significant Tagalog populations include the provinces of
Palawan, Tarlac, and Zambales. There are about 22 million speakers of the Tagalog
language, and Tagalog became the official national language of the Philippines in
1930. While larger in number, the 33 million Visayan people are mainly found in
the Visaya region and in some parts of the Mindanao region of the Philippines. The
Visayans speak a large number of dialects that are collectively referred to as the
Bisaya language.
Although the members of the indigenous ethnic groups practice their own form
of religion, Christianity, having been introduced by the Spanish in the 1500s, is the
majority religion in the Philippines with 91 percent of the population belonging to
a Christian religion, primarily Roman Catholicism or Protestantism. Islam is the
oldest recorded monotheistic religion in the Philippines, having been brought there
by Arab traders in the 12th century, and the Muslim minority in the Philippines
hovers between 5 and 9 percent of the population.
In revolting first against Spanish rule and later against the United States, the
indigenous peoples became increasingly conscious of a national unity transcend-
ing their original ethnic identities. The Philippine national identity emerged when
lowland Christians, originally belonging to a variety of ethnic groups, called indios
by the Spaniards, began referring to themselves as “Filipinos.” This categorization
excluded Muslims, upland tribal groups, and ethnic Chinese who had not been
assimilated by intermarriage (Dolan, 1991).
History of Dress
The national costume in the Philippines for men is the Barong Tagalog and for
women the terno. Both of these costumes have their origins among the Tagalog peo-
ple and were initially popularized by the Spanish during their rule of the Philippines.
In the Tagalog language baro means dress and ng means of, hence the name of
the national costume for men is Barong Tagalog, which can be directly translated
as the “dress of the Tagalog.” This national dress for men is based on the traditional
ethnic dress of the Tagalog men, who wore a tunic that reached just below the
waist and was called a canga. This tunic was made of rough material. It had long
sleeves with no cuffs, an opening in the front, and was worn untucked. Covering
their legs Tagalog men wore a richly colored cloth, edged with gold, wound around
their waists. The material was brought up between the legs to form trousers. Under
the influence of the Spanish and Chinese the Barong Tagalog underwent many
changes. The collar would at times be in a mandarin style and other times would be
a ruffled affair, reminiscent of an Elizabethan collar. Embroidery would embellish
the entire shirt, rather than just the front of the shirt, as it had originally. Legend has
it that the Spanish declared that all Filipino men should wear the Barong Tagalog
as a way of distinguishing them from the Spanish colonizers, and that the baro
must be sheer to ensure that the men were not carrying hidden weapons.
During the presidency of Manuel L. Quezon nationalism was high, and he
declared the Barong Tagalog to be the official national dress of Filipino men. The
Barong Tagalog of this period and of the post–World War II period was embellished
with the flag of the Commonwealth

of the Philippines and with scenes of
Filipino life. There was also a pocket
on the left side of the baro. However,
U.S. influence on the Philippines was
strong, and during the 1950s most
men rejected the Barong Tagalog for
American-style suits and, for formal
wear, tuxedos.
The Barong Tagalog regained
favor when President Ramon Magsay-
say wore a Barong Tagalog at his inau-
guration and subsequently at all official
functions. Within a decade the Barong
Tagalog was worn by bridegrooms at
their weddings and several new, more
casual, styles were introduced. The
short-sleeved version, called the Polo
Barong, became extremely popular
and soon became the unofficial uni-
form of Filipino men. However, it was
Ferdinand Marcos who was responsi-
ble for the true resurgence of the Bar- Philippine foreign secretary Alberto Romulo
ong Tagalog as the national costume wears the traditional Philippines’ barong
of the Philippines. In 1975 Marcos tagalog, 2007. (AFP photo/Jay Directo/Getty
declared the week of June 5 to June Images
11 as Barong Tagalog Week, and at the
same time he decreed that the Barong Tagalog would once again be the national
attire for the Philippines. According to historians of the Barong Tagalog the presi-
dential act was meant to focus nationwide attention on the Filipino national dress
as an incentive for more Filipino men to wear the national costume. In addition,
Marcos wanted to enhance the export potential of the Barong Tagalog. Marcos
initially popularized the Pierre Cardin tapered Barong Tagalog, then in the 1980s
Ferdinand Marcos and his cabinet ministers all wore Barong Tagalog designed by
J. Pitoy Morento. The Barong Tagalog worn by Marcos and his cabinet ministers
was made of linen or voile, was long-sleeved, and was beige or light blue.
The original national dress in the Philippines for women was the baro’t saya,
which is a contraction of the words baro at saya; baro meaning blouse and saya
meaning skirt. Traditionally the women of the Tagalog ethnic groups wore a saya,
a long wraparound length of cloth covering only the lower half of the body, with
the torso being covered with a baro, a short-sleeved, collarless blouse. During the
period of Spanish colonization this basic style of clothing was embellished and
evolved into a many-layered ensemble. Another variation of the baro’t saya was the
Maria Clara gown, which takes its name from the female protagonist of the national
epic Noli me Tangere written in 1890 by José Rizal. Based on the baro’t saya, the
terno, from the Spanish meaning “to match,” has been called a masterpiece and a
national treasure. In the 1950s a Filipino designer, Ramon Valera, simplified the
women’s national costume by removing the pañuelo and the overskirt, then joining
the bodice and the skirt. The development of the terno, however, was not only the
work of Ramon Valera, but also the melding of the innovations of, among many,
designers Pacita Longos and Juanita Roa. The name terno alludes to the matching
of the blouse and skirt, which is joined at the waist to form a one-piece dress, as
opposed to the original many-pieced baro’t saya. In addition, the terno was influ-
enced by the American evening gown. Designer Juanita Mina-Ross created a two-
in-one terno that featured detachable sleeves so the terno could be transformed into
an American-style evening gown. In addition to being seamless, the terno has sev-
eral other innovations. These include the hallmark feature of the terno, the upright
sleeves that rest flat against the shoulder like butterfly wings (and which draw
their inspiration from the stiff pañuelo), the low neckline, and the nipped waist
that allows the slightly full skirt to fall
gracefully. Like the Barong Tagalog
the terno fell out of favor during the
period of Americanization. The terno
was revived and made popular by First
Lady Imelda Marcos in the 1970s. It
has been argued by Roces that Imelda
Marcos, like her husband, manipu-
lated her use of the terno in an attempt
to equate herself with the body politic.
As the most powerful woman in the
Philippines she popularized the mod-
ern terno, which does not feature the
pañuelo, and was seldom seen wear-
ing anything else. Her use of the terno
led to her satirization in political car-
toons as “The Iron Butterfly,” a refer-
ence to the oversized butterfly sleeves
she favored.
Imelda Marcos wearing a terno, 2010. (AP During the American colonial
Photo/Aaron Favila) period, when the wearing of the Barong
Tagalog and the terno was at an all-time low, the women of the Philippines were
considered the embodiment of national identity through the wearing of the terno.
The terno, however, has, in recent years, been relegated to special occasions while
the Barong Tagalog, and the men who wear it, have become the symbol of the Philip-
pines and of national pride. Some argue that this is because of Imelda Marcos’s close
association with the terno: When Corazon Aquino became president she did not want
to be associated with the Marcos regime and therefore only wore the terno on the rare
occasions when politicians are expected to appear in Filipino dress.

The finest Barong Tagalog are traditionally made from piña, jusi, or banana
fabric, all of which give the Barong Tagalog its sheer qualities. Piña fabric is hand-
loomed from pineapple leaf fibers in a process that takes up to four months to
produce 22 yards (20 meters) of fabric. Because there are fewer and fewer skilled
weavers of piña, the scarcity of this delicate cloth makes it used only for special-
occasion Barong Tagalog. Banana fabric is handwoven from the fibers of the
banana leaf. This material is another sheer fabric used for formal-occasion Barong
Tagalog and is native to the islands of the Visayas and Negros. Banana fabric is
known for the geometric design details woven into the fabric. Jusi refers to a silk
organza fabric made in China that is primarily used for special-occasion Barong
Tagalog. Everyday Barong Tagalog are made from polyester organza fabric—a
synthetic fabric with a sheen or shiny appearance—or linen. The terno is most
commonly made of jusi or polyester organza, but it can also be found in piña.
The Barong Tagalog is perhaps most well known for the embroidery that covers
the material. When making a Barong Tagalog out of piña the embroidery process
is as painstaking as the process of making the fabric. The pattern is first chalked
onto the fabric; the fabric is stretched on a wooden frame called a bastador; and
the embroidery is done with thread that is of a slightly contrasting color. Because
hand embroidery is tedious and time consuming, Barong Tagalog made from jusi
or polyester can be machine embroidered. The process of embroidering the terno
is similar to the process of embroidering the Barong Tagalog.

While each ethnic group in the Philippines wears a different type of clothing
that is indicative of the ethnic group to which they belong, the majority of Filipino
people wear Western dress. However, the Barong Tagalog continues to be worn by
many men for everyday wear. Designer Barong Tagalog can be ordered for special
occasions, and many grooms wear the Barong Tagalog when they are married.
The terno, however, is no longer favored by women when they are getting mar-
ried, a shift that occurred in the 1990s; instead Filipino women prefer to wear a
Western-style wedding dress. In 2009 a new line of contemporary ternos, marketed
as evening and special-occasion wear, was introduced by designer Raffaela. These
ready-to-wear terno celebrate the traditional terno with butterfly sleeves and use
indigenous fabrics, such as piña, as well as the more traditional jusi.
Component Parts
Historically, the baro’t saya consisted of an inner shirt (made of a sheer
embroidered material) called the kimona, an outer shirt called the baro, a shawl
called the pañuelo (which was starched to achieve a raised look), a petticoat called
the naguas, and a skirt called the saya. The terno, by contrast, consists of a single
dress with no separate component parts. The terno is characterized by the “butter-
fly” sleeves and by embroidery and beading primarily on the bodice but sometimes
on the skirt. The skirt of the terno is generally long. The Barong Tagalog has either
a stand-up, mandarin-style collar, or a European-style collar. The shirt falls to mid-
thigh and can have side slits. The sleeves are long and feature a cuff. More modern
variations of the Barong Tagalog include the Polo Barong, which features short
sleeves and is considered informal.

While the indigenous people of the Philippines are known for a variety of body
modifications, including the puberty ritual of the sharpening of the 14 top front
teeth among the Manobo peoples of Mindanao, there are no instances of jewelry,
body paint, or body modification being an integral part of Filipino national dress.

Today the Barong Tagalog is worn by government employees and many corpo-
rate employees, and it is the uniform of the male Philippine Airlines domestic flight
attendants. It is also the formal wear that is recommended for men traveling in the
Philippines, to be worn in lieu of a coat and tie. By contrast the terno has been
relegated to special occasions and celebrity television events only. For example,
in 2008 the television show Project Runway Philippines featured an event entitled
“The Terno Challenge.” During this event the designers were tasked with creating
a 21st-century version of the terno. The designers listened to a history of the terno
delivered by Imelda Marcos and then pitched their sketches to her, further linking
the terno to Imelda Marcos and to the Marcos regime.

Arcilla, José S. An Introduction to Philippine History. 4th ed. Manila: Ateneo de
Manila University Press, 1999.
Cruz, Eric V. The Barong Tagalog: Its Development and Identity as the Filipino
Men’s National Costume. Quezon City: Office of Research and Publications,
College of Home Economics, University of the Philippines, 1992.
Cruz, Eric V. The Terno: Its Development and Identity as the Filipino Women’s
National Costume. Quezon City: College of Home Economics, University of
the Philippines, 1982.
Dolan, Ronald E., ed. Philippines: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the
Library of Congress, 1991.
Fox, Robert B. The Tabon Caves: Archaeological Explorations and Excavations
on Palawan. Manila: Monograph 1, Manila National Museum, 1970.
Henderson, Barney. “Archeologists Unearth 67,000-Year-Old Human Bone in
Philippines.” The Daily Telegraph (London), August 4, 2010.
Go, Kitty. “A Question of Identity: A Terno Is More Than Just a Fashion State-
ment, Finds Kitty Go.” The Financial Times, April 10, 2004:8.
Quizon, Cherubim A. “Costume, Kóstyom and Dress: Formulations of Bagóbo
Ethnic Identity in Southern Mindanao.” Ethnology 46(4), 2007:271–288.
Roces, Mina. “Gender, Nation and the Politics of Dress in 20th Century Philip-
pines.” ITAS Newsletter 2008.
Roces, Mina. “Women, Citizenship and the Politics of Dress in Twentieth-Century
Philippines.” NIASnyyt 1(2004): 8–9.
Roces, Mina, and Louise Edwards. The Politics of Dress in Asia and the Americas.
Sussex, UK: Sussex Academic Press, 2010.
Poland
Pamela Smith
The borders of Poland have been drawn and redrawn numerous times over the
centuries, and there have been periods when it ceased to exist altogether as an
independent state. In the mid-20th century it suffered occupation and the carving
up of lands at the hands of both Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union, but this
was only the most recent of many changes in its territorial and national unity. The
Poles are a Slavic people, descended from tribes who settled in central and eastern
Europe around the 5th century CE, adopting Christianity at the end of the 10th
century. The period considered to be the golden age of Polish culture was the late
15th to late 16th centuries, when kings of the Jagiellon dynasty were in power, the
nobility were strong and prosperous, cities grew, arts flourished, and living condi-
tions improved for much of the population. Expansion of territory occurred when
the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was established in 1569.
From the mid-17th century the huge state entered a period of decline caused by
deterioration of its system of government and catastrophic wars, including many
confrontations with the Ottoman Turks. The Commonwealth’s independent exis-
tence ended in 1795, following a series of invasions and partitions by the other
great European powers of the day—the Kingdom of Prussia, the Austrian Haps-
burg monarchy, and the Russian Empire. Poland did not exist again as a separate
state until the end of the First World War in 1918, by which time these powers
had dwindled. The new Republic of Poland survived only until 1939, when it was
invaded by Nazi Germany. After World War II, Poland was a satellite state of the
Soviet Union until the breakup of the Communist bloc in the 1990s. Poland has
since been established as an independent parliamentary democracy. Today, its pop-
ulation is estimated at more than 38,400,000.
Despite all these upheavals, the development of dress in Poland matched that
in other central European countries, with the nobility and wealthy townspeople
wearing fashionable dress influenced by the styles and materials favored in the
West. Meanwhile the rural population retained their traditional ethnic dress. As
594
Poland | 595
the 19th century progressed, changes appeared in peasant dress, but at different
periods according to when they achieved emancipation from serfdom and were
granted the right to own and cultivate their own land. This led to greater prosper-
ity and villagers chose to express their wealth through ever more decorated and
elaborate clothes for festive wear. Emancipation occurred over a period of time as
different parts of Poland came under different jurisdictions. For example, the Prus-
sian Empire abolished serfdom in 1807, while Polish peasants under Russian rule
did not benefit until 1864. As well as increased income, the growth of industry and
transport links were factors that enabled the rural population to obtain machine-
made fabrics and accessories, such as ribbons and braids. The periods showing the
most creative decoration in festive dress were from 1850 to 1870 in the north and
west, and from 1870 to 1890 in the east and south.

Most of Poland is flat, being part of the great plain that stretches uninterrupted by
rising land between north Germany and the Ural mountains, at the eastern limit
of European Russia. It is bordered to the north by the Baltic Sea. This terrain has
allowed for ease of movement over the centuries, for both peaceful settlement and
hostile invasion. It also dictates the climate of short hot summers and long severe
winters, when there is little protection from icy conditions coming from the east
and north. The soil and climate are suitable for growing hemp and flax (from which
linen is made). These were originally the most commonly used materials for every-
day clothes, being cool and flexible for ease of working in the fields.
In the south of the country, along its borders with the Czech Republic, Slo-
vakia, and Ukraine, rise the Carpathian Mountains, where sheepherding was the
traditional way of life. Ethnic dress here featured woolen cloth, leather, and sheep-
skin, as well as home-woven linen.
Variations in ethnic dress developed in the different regions of Poland accord-
ing to the wealth of the wearers, their ability to obtain new manufactured materials,
and their exposure to ideas of fashion from the higher classes. An early influence
was the Hanseatic League, a trading system that operated throughout northern
Europe, including through Danzig (now the Polish port of Gdansk) from the 13th
to the 17th century. Its activities facilitated the spread of luxury goods and ideas of
fashion, which made an impact first on the dress from northern and western Poland.
Villagers from these areas were the first to abandon the use of homespun textiles for
their festive dress in favor of factory-made materials and to embrace urban fashions.
Poland can be divided into a number of regions for the purpose of examin-
ing differences in styles of dress. These include Wielkopolskie (“Greater Poland,”
in the west), Pomerania (in the north, on the coast), Mazovia (central Poland),
Podlasie (in the east), Malopolskie (“Lesser Poland,” in the south, including the
mountains), and Silesia (also partly mountainous, in the southwest).
People and Dress

The form of dress for everyday wear was the same as that for festive wear, but
made from poorer materials and without embellishment. Variations in color and
choice of garment, such as type of headwear, denoted the age, marital status, and
social status of the wearer. When worn out, adult clothes were cut down and used
to dress children. Winter and summer clothes were not essentially different. In
summer people would still wear their sheepskin coats and jackets as a display of
wealth, and in winter they put on several layers of the same clothes they would
wear in summer. The most elaborate clothes were reserved for weddings, for the
bride, groom, and best man. As in other Slav countries, the custom was for unmar-
ried girls to keep their heads uncovered, except for a headband or arrangement of
ribbons in their plaited hair, until their
wedding. At the ceremony the bride’s
headband would be removed, her hair
unbraided and hidden under the mar-
ried woman’s headdress. She would
keep her hair covered in public with a
scarf or other form of headwear from
that time on.
Men’s Dress
All over Poland men wore the
sukmana—a long, rustic-style coat
made of homespun woolen cloth.
The most common colors were black,
brown, or gray, though in the area of
Krakow they were white. They were
often decorated with applied braid,
embroidery, or edging in cloth of a
contrasting color. Under the coat the
Young couple from Krakow. He wears a white
man wore a linen shirt, often embroi-
sukmana, wide leather belt, and four-cornered
hat with peacock feathers. Her skirt is of dered on the front and sleeves for
calico, and long woven ribbons adorn her festive wear, and a waistcoat or short
headdress. (Courtesy Pamela Smith) jacket with decorative buttons. Either
Poland | 597
the jacket or the outer coat would be pulled into the waist with a belt. Woven
belts, typically found in Mazovia, Podlasie and Malopolskie, were very long and
wound round the body many times. Highlanders and men from Krakow wore
spectacular wide leather belts, decorated with embossed patterns, metal studs,
and buckles. The cut of trousers varied according to the fabric. Natural-colored,
brown, or black linen trousers had wide legs that were tucked into high leather
boots. Highlanders wore closely fitting woolen trousers and kierpce, simple
shoes made out of a single piece of leather.
Men’s headwear took various forms. Peaked caps were popular throughout
Poland. Felt hats were sometimes made to resemble the top hats of urban fashion.
In winter, especially in the mountains, fur caps with flaps covering the ears and
nape of the neck were worn. Four-cornered hats made of woolen cloth were wide-
spread in Malopolskie; some had a pom-pom at each corner. The Krakow version
was very distinctive, in red and decorated with peacock feathers.
Women’s Dress
The cut of women’s shirts was sim-
ilar to the men’s, but for special occa-
sions they were more highly decorated
with embroidery and often had elabo-
rate collars trimmed with lace. The
bodice (gorset), worn over the shirt,
was made of an attractive fabric such
as silk or velvet and embellished with
embroidery and beadwork. Usually
the skirt was a separate garment, but
in some regions it was attached to the
bodice. All over Poland, except among
some of the highlander groups, the
apron was an essential part of festive
dress, and much time and effort was
lavished on decorating it, especially
with beads and hand- or machine-
made lace. In Mazovia and Podlasie
Unmarried girls from Łowicz, wearing
striped woolen material was used for
the distinctive striped woolen skirts and
the whole outer dress, with the colors aprons of their region. Their linen shirts are
or width of stripes on the apron con- embroidered and they wear strings of coral
trasting with those on the skirt. beads. (Courtesy Pamela Smith)
Headwear also varied according to locality, and some forms were specific
to a particular community. There were different ways of arranging and fasten-
ing scarves or shawls over the head. Unmarried girls from the Biskupizna group
in Wielkopolska wore impressive tulle bonnets constructed of several parts, tied
under the chin and with quantities of white tulle arranged in a concertina shape
on top of the head. In the Kaszuby area of Pomerania, where fashionable dress
affected ethnic dress quite early, the most striking element of the married woman’s
outfit was the złotnica. This was a type of bonnet richly embroidered in gold or
silver thread, with motifs in Renaissance or baroque style. It is thought that the
designs were influenced by church embroidery done in the local nunneries, where
young girls from the gentry and from wealthy peasant families would learn to sew.
Jewelry was an important part of festive dress, especially for young women
and girls. Most popular were necklaces of natural coral beads, which had to be
imported and were very expensive. The red color was believed to have the power
to protect the wearer against evil charms and disease. The quality and number of
beads indicated her social and economic status. The most valued were those of the
most intense red color, polished smooth into spheres or cylinders. Sometimes the
largest bead, placed in the middle, was set into a silver or brass mount, or a cast
metal cross was suspended from the necklace. There were superstitions concerning
the number of strings of beads worn. In some areas an even number was considered
essential, in other areas the opposite. Especially in southern Poland they formed
part of the dowry—the collection of household textiles and items of dress that
every girl collected from a young age in advance of her wedding. She would make
many of the textile items herself, but money was needed for jewelry. To earn it,
girls from poorer families often took jobs in service to wealthier families or went
abroad to work on a seasonal basis when not needed at home for farm labor.
Amber necklaces were also worn, predominantly in the north of Poland, as
amber was found along the Baltic coast. Gdansk has long been a center for the
production of amber jewelry. The women of Łowicz, who wore the colorful striped
outfits, tended to wear coral beads with predominantly red woolen dresses, and
amber with the orange-colored ensembles that became popular at a later date.
At the turn of the19th century a set of imposing silver jewelry was adopted
into the ethnic dress of Cieszyn in the region of Silesia (near the border with the
present-day Czech Republic). This style of embellishment was borrowed from the
fashion of the local wealthy merchants’ wives. It comprised an elaborate belt made
from cast or filigree silver, chains worn as necklaces or attached to shoulder straps,
and hoczki, a set of clasps used to fasten the bodice, which were cast in shapes such
as mermaids or mythological beasts.
Many examples can be found of the way influences coming from outside a
community or locality can affect its dress. In the early 18th century a number of
Poland | 599
villages near Poznan, in Wielkopolska, were depopulated due to war and chol-
era, and the local authorities invited Catholic inhabitants of an overpopulated area
around Bamberg in southern Germany to settle in the villages and farm the land.
The immigrants were given favorable terms, and later generations became very
prosperous. They brought with them their own style of dress, which was at first
rather modest, but developed by the end of the 19th century into an impressive
outfit full of decorative detail, combining elements of the ethnic dress of both south
Germany and Poland, and also of fashionable urban dress. This distinctive “Bam-
berg style” was meant to convey the affluence of the wearer and the community.
The women’s outfit included many items of clothing and accessories, exaggerated
in terms of cut and decoration. A very full skirt made from expensive silk or fine
wool was arranged over three quilted and several other petticoats. Other elements
were richly embroidered muslin and tulle aprons, and white shawls arranged over
the shoulders and cross-tied on the back. The most spectacular item was the festive
kornet headdress worn by unmarried girls and brides. This tall structure was made
on a base of cardboard and wire, which was covered with lace, ribbons, artificial
flowers, glass baubles, and tissue paper. As late as the 1920s, on Sundays and feast
days, trailers were hitched to trams in Poznan to accommodate Bamberg women in
their voluminous outfits on their way to church.
The Bamberg men gave up wearing traditional clothes quickly after settling
in the area. Their work brought them into contact with the townspeople of Poznan
and, to fit in, they quickly adopted the urban style of dress.
Highland Dress
In the mountains of southern Poland, where the climate and terrain were harsh
and communities could be isolated, a distinctive form of dress developed and
remained in use longer than most other varieties of Polish ethnic dress. Highland-
ers had to be self-sufficient and create their clothes from the materials close at
hand. They processed linen and wool, using homemade looms to weave cloth. The
woolen cloth that was the basis of men’s dress was treated by fulling—a process
whereby wet wool was pounded with wooden hammers, creating a dense and
hard-wearing material. Some types of garment were made and decorated by arti-
sans in village workshops, such as sheepskin coats and jackets. Making trousers
and coats from the heavy woolen cloth was hard work and done by male tailors,
who stitched by hand with linen thread. Home-processed cow hides were used for
shoes and belts.
Typically trousers were close-fitting and made of the fulled woolen cloth in
white. During the 19th century the way these were decorated for festive wear became
increasingly elaborate. Young men returning from duty in the Austro-Hungarian
army brought home their uniforms

with their embroidered jackets and
braided trousers. It is thought that the
distinctive parzenica design, which
became an indispensible element of
Polish highland dress by the beginning
of the 20th century, also originated in
Hungary. The parzenica motif was
embroidered in colorful woolen thread
on the trousers, beneath the waistband,
and down the thighs. Different com-
munities favored specific forms, such
as loops or heart shapes.
The iconic man’s headgear was
the round black felt hat with a brim.
These were obtained from markets,
embellished originally with small ani-
mal bones strung on a thread around
the crown, and later with cowrie shells
Dress from the highland region of south-
sewn to a red leather band. The shells
ern Poland. The man’s woolen trousers are
embroidered with the parzenica motif. The came from the Adriatic coast and were
woman wears an embroidered bodice fas- brought to the highland villages by
tened with ribbons. (Courtesy Pamela Smith) traveling salesmen. Young unmarried
men wore an eagle- or grouse-feather
in their hats, and when they married, as the bride gave up her maiden’s headdress,
so the groom had to give up wearing the bachelor’s feather.
The women wore linen shirts and skirts, which they made themselves at home.
During the later 19th century, ideas of fashion began to arrive from Krakow, and
bodices decorated with embroidery, sequins, and beads, tied in front with red rib-
bons, became part of highland dress. But the Krakow fashion of wearing glass
beads was not adopted, as highland women and girls preferred their traditional
coral necklaces.

By the end of the 19th century, while the wearing of ethnic dress was waning
as an integral part of village life, its beauty and significance as a national symbol
was being recognized and romanticized by artists and intellectuals from the Polish
urban elite. Painters such as Stanisław Wyspiański depicted peasants from the pic-
turesque highland regions in traditional dress. The Podhale area of Malopolskie,
Poland | 601
in the Tatra range of the Carpathian mountains, became a tourist destination and
center for the display of Polish folk culture, including dress.
Three varieties of particularly striking and decorative regional dress began to
be thought of as the most typical of Poland, and so emerged as types of national
costume. These were the Podhale highlander dress, the Łowicz-area dress, with its
distinctive striped materials, and the Krakow-area dress. In the 21st century new
versions are being made for wearing at folk festivals and by dance troupes. They
also appear at local and national celebrations and at solemn religious occasions,
such as the Corpus Christi procession in Łowicz. There are fine displays of histori-
cal ethnic dress in Polish museums, notably the ethnographic museums in Warsaw,
Łodz, Poznan, and Krakow.

Bartlett, Djurdja, ed., and Pamela Smith, asst. ed. Berg Encyclopedia of World
Dress and Fashion—Vol. 9: East Europe, Russia, and the Caucasus. Oxford:
Berg, 2010.
Frys-Pietraszkowa, Ewa. Folk Art in Poland. Warsaw: Arkady, 1988.
Gadomski, Stanisław. Strój Ludowy w Polsce. Folk Dress in Poland. Warsaw: Fun-
dacja Kultury WSI, 1990.
Gutt-Mostowy, Jan. Podhale: A Companion Guide to the Polish Highlands. New
York: Hippocrene Books, 1998.
Piskorz-Branekova, Elżbieta. Polskie Stroje Ludowe. Polish Folk Dress (3 vols.).
Warsaw: Sport I Turystka—MUZA SA, 2003, 2005, 2006.
Rosinska, Iwona. Suknia Wydaje Ludzkie Obyczaje. Dress Gives Away People’s
Customs (Folk Dress from Wielkopolska in the Collection of the Ethnographic
Museum). Poznan: Muzeum Narodowe w Poznaniu, 2005.
Turnau, Irena. History of Dress in Central and Eastern Europe from the Sixteenth
to the Eighteenth Century. Warsaw: Institute of the History of Material Culture,
Polish Academy of Sciences, 1991.
Portugal
Sara M. Harvey
Portugal, officially known as República Portuguesa, is located on the westernmost
edge of the Iberian Peninsula and borders Spain. Its capital is Lisbon and Portu-
guese is the official language. The population of more than 10,700,000 people
is mainly homogenous with small percentages of African and Eastern European
minorities. The vast majority of the population is Roman Catholic and there is a
very high literacy rate. The Portuguese are very proud of their heritage and assert
their autonomy both culturally and genetically from the rest of Europe, especially
Spain. The country is one of the oldest states in Europe, having secured its inde-
pendence from Castile in Spain in 1140 CE. The modern borders of Portugal were
set in 1249 by King Alfonso III. Throughout the following centuries, Portugal
proved itself to be a formidable naval power and settled colonies across the world
including Brazil, Macao, and outposts along the west coast of Africa. The finest
sailors of the Renaissance were Portuguese and the country had early trade rela-
tions with Japan, which created an exchange of culture that still resonates in the
languages and foods of both countries.
The outlying island territories of Madeira and the Azores were both encoun-
tered during Portuguese exploration. Madeira and its sister island of Porto Santo
were discovered by accident by sailors blown off course in 1419. King Henry the
Navigator ordered the islands to be colonized at once. The Azores were discovered
by other ambitious explorers in 1427, starting with the islands of Santa Maria and
São Miguel. São Miguel was the first island to be regularly populated in 1444.
Terceira, Graciosa, and São Jorge were discovered and subsequently populated
later in the 15th century with the four remaining islands developed in the early
16th century.
In 1580, succession issues brought Portugal back under Spanish control under
King Phillip II of Spain. But after a revolt in 1640, the House of Braganca took
and held the Portuguese throne until 1910 when the country abandoned the monar-
chic system in favor of forming a republic. The new republic was unsteady and
602
Portugal | 603
collapsed into a military state in 1926. Economist Antonio Salazar came to power
as prime minister in 1932. He and his handpicked successor held Portugal in an
authoritarian state until 1974. Although Portugal was basically a dictatorship dur-
ing this time, it was still active on the world stage and joined the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO). Portugal did not participate in World War II.
By the 1960s, agitation and unrest in Portugal’s many and far-flung colonies
were putting an extraordinary economic and political strain on the country. A clan-
destine force calling itself “The Armed Forces Movement” formed in 1973 and
sought to change the course of the government through the military; they took
control of the country the following year. The transition from a dictatorship to a
parliamentary democracy was rocky and a provisional military government sat for
nearly two years. But in 1976, Portugal ratified its constitution. It brought the mili-
tary and presidential powers under greater civilian control and allowed for priva-
tization of previously nationalized industries. Portugal was awarded entry into the
European Union in 1986 and has become very well integrated into the politics and
economy of Europe.
The islands of Madeira and the Azores are recognized as Autonomous Regions
of Portugal. Although Portugal still has some control over Madeira and the Azores,
it has relinquished all claims to Brazil, Macao (back to China), and its African col-
onies. Cultural ties and influences still remain in many of these colonies, however.

Portugal has a landscape suitable for farming and raising livestock, as well as an
expansive coastline. There are mountainous regions to the north and rolling fields
in the central and southern areas. The Tagus River creates a natural border not only
between the north and south of the country, but also between the mountains and
the fields. The country is very long and narrow with the Atlantic coast making up
all of its western and southern borders. The average temperatures are between 41ºF
(5ºC) to 77ºF (25ºC).
Although Portugal is a very modern country, its economy still relies heavily on
traditional export industries. One of the largest Portuguese exports is cork. Portu-
gal also produces textiles, clothing, footwear, porcelain, glass, glazed earthenware,
and wine. Portugal had also been attractive to the automotive and durable goods
industry for its ability to offer competitive bids and lower salaries compared to
elsewhere in Europe. But as the European Union continued to grow and include
more Eastern European countries, Portugal saw that particular economic edge dis-
appear. Portugal has once again focused on its lucrative export trade.
Textiles and shoes are two Portuguese exports rising in popularity. Portugal
grows cotton and has created a strong market for cotton textiles, especially fine
percale and flannel bed linens. Portuguese leather shoes are also in high demand
across Europe and the United States. Both of these industries are integral to the
southern economy. Mining is done in the mountains to the north and Portugal is
able to produce iron ore, copper, zinc, tin, tungsten, silver, gold, and uranium.
Traditional porcelain and earthenware handicrafts are also perennial favorite
exports. The symbolic rooster is a very popular item for tourists to bring home
as a memento. The rooster has come to be symbolic of Portugal from a folkloric
tradition of a falsely accused man in Barcelos who swore his innocence on the
rooster being eaten for the magistrate’s supper. The man said that, by all the saints
in heaven, the roasted rooster would sit up and crow to proclaim his innocence.
The magistrate sent the man to the gallows and sat down to dinner, only to have his
chicken dinner sit straight up off the plate and crow. The magistrate immediately
stopped the hanging and set the man free. Since that day, the rooster has been a
national symbol of luck, justice, innocence, and the power of faith. Roosters are
made from the dense reddish clay found in the region and then painted in a tradi-
tional pattern. Although the rooster in the original tale was dead and cooked, the
rooster figurines are painted in imitation of a live bird. Called the Galo de Barce-
los, the body is painted black, red, or white, with red hearts and yellow, white, and
blue swirls and dots applied in a stylized manner.
The islands of Madeira and the Azores have their own unique geography.
Madeira and its sister island, Porto Santo, are located about 620 miles (1,000 km)
southwest of the mainland in the Madeira Archipelago. The two islands are sur-
rounded by small and rocky uninhabited island groups called the Ilhas Desertas
and the Ilhas Selvagens.
The Azores are a system of nine islands located about 930 miles (15,000
km) off the coast of Portugal. The exact date of the discovery of the islands is
unknown, but the islands of Santa Maria and São Miguel were found circa 1497.
Over the next 150 years the remaining islands were settled. The Azores (Açores)
were named after the hawks seen circling above them. Because the Azores are so
far from the mainland, the inhabitants developed a rich heritage of handicrafts.
The geography of the Azores as a whole is quite varied. People of the Azores also
created their own styles of textiles made from the fibers and dyestuffs available to
them and reflecting motifs from the islands.
People and Dress

The Portuguese people possess a strong national spirit and are generally thought
of across the rest of Europe as a happy and energetic people. Religious, agricul-
tural, and historic festivals called festas happen regularly. The dress of the Portu-
guese also reflects this joyful free-spiritedness with its simplicity of form and rich
Portugal | 605
color and detail. Throughout most of

Portugal’s history, the population was
primarily poor farmers. Because many
rural areas are very isolated, tradi-
tional costume remained the primary
mode of dress well into the late 20th
century. The artistry in Portuguese
dress comes primarily from the col-
ors and patterns used in the weaving
of textiles and in their surface decora-
tion of embroidery. While there is an
overall conformity of dress across the
country, many of the districts exhibit
very specific regional styles.
Red and black are the two most
popular colors, and across the country
from the coastal areas to the mountains
black felt hats in a variety of styles
are worn by both men and women.
Women’s hats are short through the Girls from Barcelos, Portugal, wear tradi-
crown and have a “porkpie” shape tional dress and hold Galo de Barcelos, 2004.
and a small brim. Men’s hats can be (Richard Klune/Corbis)
small-brimmed or wide-brimmed in
the Spanish style. Women primarily wear their hats over a simple headdress of a
scarf draped over the top of the head. Women often wear contemporary men’s hats
as well as traditional women’s hats. When the ubiquitous black felt hat is not worn,
Portuguese women might instead wear a pad beneath the scarf known colloquially
as a “mother-in-law.” These head shawls come in a wide variety of styles and col-
ors and are worn with the ends hanging down or tied beneath the chin or behind the
neck under the hair. Even at the turn of the 21st century, older women, especially
widows, still wear plain black headshawls. Rural Portuguese women are famous
for carrying a variety of items balanced on the tops of their heads. Women carry
baskets of fruit, vegetables, or fish; jars of wine or water; bundles of laundry; and
even cages or baskets containing chickens, ducks, or other small livestock perched
on the top of their heads. If a load is too heavy or precarious to balance alone, a
coiled pad of fabric is worn for extra cushioning and support.
Skirts are generally full and worn with petticoats. Overskirts can be drawn up
to show the layers beneath, but unlike in other countries, the Portuguese women do
not tuck their skirts up from the hem, but rather pull them up over the hips, creat-
ing a puffed look at the hips. Those living in coastal areas do not wear shoes. For
formal or festival occasions, women wear backless mules or clogs called chinelas.
Men in coastal areas prefer sandals if any footwear is to be worn. Elsewhere in the
country, soft leather boots or shoes that lace are preferred.
The basic Portuguese man’s dress consists of breeches or trousers worn with a
simple shirt or possibly a waistcoat. Men also wear black felt hats, but in the 20th
century, the “newsboy” hat became increasingly popular. By the late 19th century,
men had adopted a more modern style of dress and had almost left off traditional
styles entirely except for fishermen, ranchers, and others whose occupations dic-
tated their attire.
The traditional wedding ensemble for Portuguese brides is a long black velvet
dress worn with an embroidered apron. These aprons are worked with exquisite
detail in gold thread and jet beads. A white lace mantilla is worn draped over the
head and the bride is adorned with dozens of gold necklaces.
Although Portuguese traditional dress is relatively homogenous across the small
country, there are areas of unique and specialized costume. One of the iconic tra-
ditional costumes in Portugal is in the northern province of Minho. The women of
Minho are renowned throughout the country for their beauty, charm, and stylish
dress. Like the rest of the Portuguese, the people of Minho love the color red, espe-
cially paired with black or deep blue. The costume of Minho is one of the most col-
orful and detailed of continental Portugal. The blouse is made with long, full sleeves
and usually in white cotton or linen. Other colors are acceptable, but white is the
most popular. Many women decorate the neckline and cuffs of the blouse with a con-
trasting color of embroidery similar to the Spanish style of blackwork embroidery.
A snug, sleeveless bodice of black or red wool that laces up the front is worn over
the blouse. Colorful, woolen embroidery in geometric or floral patterns decorates the
bodice. Skirts are worn very full and gathered to the waist to fall in deep drapes over
the hips. Skirts are made of cotton, wool, or linen and generally worn to the top of
the ankle or slightly shorter. Red, black, pink, and yellow are popular skirt colors and
vertical striped and other woven designs are widely used in the region. A wide red or
black sash is tied around the hips to puff the skirts up below the waist and add full-
ness in the hips. Women also wear a richly embroidered wool pouch or pocket hung
from the waist. Simple black leather slippers are worn with white stockings.
The true artistry in the dress of Minho is found not only in the embroidery,
but in the accessories themselves. All Portuguese women are fond of gold, but the
women of Minho take wearing their myriad chains and pendants to a new level of
stylist display. Crosses, hearts, coins, figures, and filigree charms hang from chains
as various as the pendants from fine to heavy, both linked and twisted. The head-
dress of the north favors a scarf alone instead of a scarf and hat combination. The
shawl is colorful, wide, and fringed and often worn with the ends wrapped over the
head in an almost turban-like style.
Portugal | 607
In Esposende, a seaside town in the province of Minho, the women often walk
to the shore to meet their menfolk and help with the day’s catch off the fishing
boats. They use their traditional dress in a more everyday manner, wearing older,
mismatched, or mended garments to work down at the shore. The women mend
nets and clean the fish, carrying the bounty home to their kitchens and to the town’s
markets. Their costume consists of a light-colored cotton skirt—pink is very popu-
lar—worn with a white blouse and a knitted wool shawl, usually in red or green. A
second wool shawl, this one black, is worn tied around the hips. The women cover
their hair with a silk head kerchief and wear a black felt hat with a narrow brim tilted
toward the front atop it. What makes the hats of Esposende and neighboring areas
special is that they usually include a small mirror on the brim. The mirror glints in
the sun and the reflections can be seen out at sea. Traditionally, it lets the fishermen
know when they are near to shore and that the women are there waiting for them.
The men of Minho often wear a black suit with a jacket that curves away from
the center front to the hips. The jacket can be trimmed in white or red and often
has white buttons on the sleeves. A red sash is worn at the waist beneath the jacket.
Minho has several of Portugal’s most unique men’s costumes. In Apulia, a city on
the coast, special attire is worn by the sargaceiros, the seaweed gathers. The har-
vest is done in July and it is only during this harvest time that this costume is worn.
It consists of a white wool tunic or coat with long sleeves and short trousers. The
tunic is worn long to the knee and belted with a wide leather belt so the trousers
beneath are barely seen. The headwear for this ensemble is a leather hat shaped
like a Roman helmet.
In the province of Tras o Montes, the inland neighbor of Minho, the men of
Miranda do Douro, a city very near the Spanish border, wear a lavish dance cos-
tume. A three-tiered skirt with frilled and embroidered edges is worn and belted at
the waist with a brightly colored scarf with long trailing ends. Men wear a black
waistcoat over a long-sleeved white shirt and drape a fringed shawl over their
shoulders. A black felt hat is worn and decorated with ribbons and flowers. The
ensemble is completed with black ankle boots and stockings knitted with horizon-
tal stripes. The dance associated with this costume is not unlike the Morris dances
in England.
The town of Nazaré lies on the central coast of Portugal, well north of Lis-
bon. The women of this fishing city are famous for their unique dress. Like the
women of Esposende, they wait by the shore and clean fish and mend nets while
the menfolk of the town are out fishing. The boats in Nazaré are unlike any in all
of Portugal with high prows covered in Phoenician glyphs. Traditionally, they were
dragged up onto the fine sandy beaches by oxen, but in modern times they lie at
anchor in the harbor so that tourists may enjoy the beach. Nazaré was in contact
with many cultures, not only the Phoenicians, but also the Scots and the Britons
who introduced plaids to the area. The women and men both enjoy wearing as
much tartan plaid garments as possible.
What makes the costume of Nazaré so unique is the sete saias or “seven skirts.”
This is the tradition of wearing seven petticoats, although as few as five or three
may also be worn. The idea was to allow women freedom of movement and skirts
short enough that they would not become bogged down in the sea, but still let the
women remain modest and decent while they went about their work, or danced
when they were finished for the day. The order of petticoats is very particular. The
first is white, followed by two or three flannel petticoats, often of plaid. Next was
a set of pockets and over that another petticoat in cashmere or lightweight wool.
Another pocket would follow and the crowning layer was a very wide apron. The
petticoats are usually decorated with pinked or scalloped edges or with a trimming
like lace or rickrack. For festival days, the petticoats are starched and only the fin-
est ones with the most eye-catching edge treatments are worn. The festival apron
is black or red satin embroidered with rich floral motifs. The blouse for everyday
wear is simple, white, and has long sleeves, but for festival days it is made of floral-
printed cotton and has wide lace sleeves in a bell shape. Stockings are only worn
during festival times; most other days women go bare-legged in their varnished,
backless, clog-like chinelas. Headwear for women in Nazaré is predominantly
black. In its simplest form it is a black or floral kerchief tied over the hair. The
hat for Nazarene women is a short, cylindrical felt cap with no brim and a thick
wool pom-pom at the front. This is worn over the head kerchief. Gold chains and
gold hoop earrings are as important as accessories in Nazaré as they are elsewhere
in Portugal. They tend to be more subdued in Nazaré, with fewer pendants and
complicated filigree patterns, but they are just as important for showing wealth and
were traditionally used to show a girl’s dowry. In modern Nazaré, many women
are still fond of the traditional dress and wear it regularly, especially older women,
those that sell fish at traditional fish stalls, and others who interact with the many
tourists that visit the city. Women do like to keep up with the times and fashion-
able skirt lengths, colors, patterns, and fabrics are often seen in modern Nazarene
petticoats. All the local women enjoy dressing in their festival finery for Carnival,
which is celebrated in Nazaré from February 3 until Shrove Tuesday.
Men wear wide-legged cotton trousers woven into plaids and will often wear a
plaid shirt that may or may not match. Black or plaid waistcoats are also popular.
Men’s traditional dress has not held onto as much popularity as has that of wom-
en’s. Men do wear their traditional clothing during festival times, but modern dress
has become more popular among Nazarene fishermen. They still, however, wear
the wool stocking cap that has been popular for generations. The cap is black and
made in a long, triangular shape with a tassel or pom-pom on the end. A combina-
tion of properties of both the knitting and the wool used in the cap make it fairly
Portugal | 609
water repellent and able to cling well

to the head. This is a great boon during
the frequent Atlantic storms.
In the central region of Portugal,
south of the Tagus River that bisects
the country, the main industry is not
fishing, but ranching. In Ribatejo,
the campinos are Portuguese cow-
boys who are renowned for their bull
breeding. These men are masterful
riders and wear distinctive costumes
of black or brown knee breeches. The
side seams at the knee and hip pockets
are decorated with gold buttons. They
wear a short waistcoat over a full,
long-sleeved shirt in cotton or linen
and a bright red sash wrapped around
the waist with the ends tucked back
under the sash. Although they are far
from the sea, the long knit stocking Fishermen from Nazaré dressed in plaid and
caps are favored here in the center of wearing the cap typical of the area, 1936.
the country. Called the verdegaio, it is (W. Robert Moore/National Geographic
made from green and red wool. Dur- Society/Corbis)
ing festival days the waistcoat is made
from fine red wool and worn with a wool jacket.
The women of this region wear a long chemise under their full skirts, but
for festival days a shorter and more structured blouse is worn. Aprons and head
kerchiefs are very common in this area of Portugal and are very fine and highly
decorative during festive occasions.
In the central regions, sheep and goats are also an important livestock com-
modity. Shepherds wear heavy, loose trousers in black, blue, or brown and quilted
coats and jackets for warmth. They are also fond of carrying thick woolen blankets
lined with checked cotton flannel that functions as a cloak and a bed in the field.
The area in the far south of Portugal, Algave, is an extremely popular tourist
destination. As in Nazaré, many locals retain their traditional dress for the benefit
of the tourists. The women’s costume consists of a blouse worn long to the hips
and not tucked into the skirts. The apron is then tied snugly around the waist, caus-
ing the hem of the skirt to flare over the hips. Women wear a rounded black felt
cap over the floral head kerchief. Men sport a very dashing attire entirely of black:
trousers, waistcoat, stockings, shoes, and hat offset by a crisp white shirt.
Portugal is more than the mainland, however, and some of the country’s very
unique attire belongs on the islands of Madeira. Madeira is known as the Pérola
de Atlântico, the Pearl of the Atlantic. In a country known for its lush flowers and
vegetation, Madeiran costumes are very colorful, but also simple, much like the
island’s flora. Women prefer a full, colorful skirt of red wool striped vertically with
yellow, green, blue, white, and black. The hem is often bound with yellow, red,
or black trimming. A white blouse is worn with the skirt that has puffed sleeves,
often short, but can also be worn long and very full. A front-lacing corselet made to
match the skirt is worn over the blouse and a red wool cloak is a popular accessory
for the occasional chilly island weather.
But the most remarkable aspect of the traditional dress of Madeira is the hat.
Called a carapuça, it is a brimless wool cap that fits closely to the head and has
a long pigtail that dangles from the center of the crown. The hat is made in either
black or red and is worn by both men and women. Both genders also wear the same
style of shoes, the ankle- or shin-high botacha boots. Botachas are white, beige,
or pale yellow and made from goatskin. These soft boots are usually worn without
stockings and were thought to have been introduced to Madeira by Baltic sailors
that traded the oak used for wine casks. The soft boots were easily duplicated by
Portuguese leatherworkers and were both comfortable and versatile, going easily
from the coast to the mountains.
Men in Madeira wear voluminous shirts made from either cotton or linen,
paired with full linen or wool breeches in black or white. They wear the breeches
tucked into the top of the botacha boots or fastened with buttons below the knee.
Men’s carapuça caps are almost exclusively black, whereas women often choose
red instead. The splash of color for the male costume comes from a brilliant red
sash with long fringes tied around the waist.
In the Azores, the costumes are similar in cut and style to those in Portugal
and in Madeira but with a distinct regional flavor. The Azores is quite far from the
mainland and from its neighbor, Madeira. The climate is generally warm but with
quite chilly nights. Wool and linen are very popular textiles and the color scheme
is primarily in dark or navy blue and white.
Although regional clothing differences do occur among the Portuguese, there
are many stylistic constants such as cut, fit, materials used, and color. The overall
silhouette is much like that found in the rest of Europe following a centuries-old
example of a bound torso and nipped-in waist coupled with full skirts, often worn
in layers. Although the cultural dress in Portugal is being rapidly replaced by mod-
ern clothing, much of the country’s rural areas were so isolated for so long that
traditional modes of dress are still worn, often mingled with modern elements, on
a daily basis. With tourism a large part of the Portuguese economy, many popular
destinations utilize traditional dress as part of the vacation experience.
Portugal | 611
Lisbon is emerging as a world-class capital city and is the home of a bud-

ding couture fashion industry. Traditional dress is almost never seen in the bustling
modern city of Lisbon, but just a few miles into the country skirts and head ker-
chiefs become the normal mode of dress. In some areas, far from the tourists and
the traffic, farmers still walk alongside their oxcarts in their traditional, ancestral
clothing.

ford Press, 1999.
Lick, Sue Fagalde. Stories Grandma Never Told: Portuguese Women in California.
Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 1998.
Município da Nazaré (Official Website of the Municipality of Nazaré). The Tra-
ditional Dress of Nazaré (English version). http://www.nazare.oestedigital.pt/
custompages/showpage.aspx?pageid=a59db9ff-bf9c-4397-91f0-56036f9b95d8
&m=b79. 2012.
Tyson-Ward, Sue. Portuguese Language, Life, and Culture. Lincolnwood (Chi-
cago): Contemporary Books, 2002.
Romania
Christina Lindholm
Historic Background
Mention Romania and the images that leap to mind are of Dracula and Gypsies,
both of which are surrounded by centuries of myth and misinformation. While
Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (1431–1476), known as Vlad the Impaler, was born
in Sighişoara, Transylvania, Romania, there is no evidence that he was a vampire,
and it has long been proven that the wandering people known as Roma or Romani
(Gypsies) originated in India, not Romania. Bucharest, the capital city located on
the Danube, still has numerous spectacular, though often crumbling, Art Nouveau
buildings harkening back to a more opulent past.
Romania has a long and varied history with evidence of human presence back
to prehistoric times. In 440 BCE, the Greek historian Herodotus described the
Gatae tribes living north of the Danube as “most brave and honest’” (Herodotus
[Beloe], 1859). Gold and silver ore attracted the Romans in 88 CE, leading to an
influx of Roman colonists. After their third-century departure, tribal invaders such
as the Huns, Goths, and Cumans invaded the area that is now Romania.
The regions of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania emerged as principali-
ties, gaining and losing independence, before ultimately becoming part of the Otto-
man Empire in the 17th century. Several wars followed in the 19th century with
Romania finally gaining independence in 1877. Although initially neutral during
World Wars I and II, Romania eventually joined the Allies in World War I and the
Axis in World War II before changing sides to fight with the Allies. This resulted in
a military occupation of Romania by the Soviet Union, which lasted from 1944 to
1958. Nicolae Ceauşescu came to power in 1965 and his harsh and autocratic lead-
ership led to dire poverty for many Romanians. He was overthrown and executed
in 1989. Romania is now recovering socially and financially and has established a
democracy; however, the yearly average income remains very low.
612
Romania | 613
Geography and Environment

Romania is a country of great beauty and contrast, with a varied topography of
mountains, hills, and plains in almost equal amounts. Thirty-one percent of the
country is mountain, hills and orchards comprise 36 percent, and plains account
for 33 percent. The crescent-shaped Carpathian Mountains bisect Romania into
north and south and provide tourists and residents with myriad outdoor activities
such as hiking, skiing, and climbing. Moldoveanu Peak is the highest peak at 8,349
feet. The Transylvanian plateau is nearly surrounded by the arc of the Carpathian
Mountains and is home to many charming villages, which have changed very little
despite influences of Soviet rule and modern democracy. The Danube River runs
from the Black Forest in Germany and forms the Danube Delta in Romania, a
2,200-square-mile area of rivers, marshes, lakes, and canals, before emptying into
the Black Sea. There are approximately 150 miles of coastline along the Black Sea,
a major tourist area that draws vacationers in the summer months from all over
Eastern Europe.
Romania enjoys four distinct seasons and has a climate similar to that of New
York, although there are significant temperature differences between the capital of
Bucharest, the Black Sea region, and central Romania.
People and Dress

Romania has a population of around 20 million with roughly half living in
rural areas. The vast majority, upwards of 90 percent, are Romanian, with a small
percentage of Hungarians. Romani people, nomadic travelers, account for less
than 2 percent of the population. The majority of the population practice Eastern
Orthodox Christianity with Roman Catholics and Protestants each making up only
around 5 percent (BBC News World Profile, 2012).
History of Dress
Various records from diaries, travelers’ tales, trade documents, paintings, and
murals indicate that Romanian dress has changed little over time. It was influenced
by available materials and many external influences including the Ottomans, the
Hapsburgs, and the Germans.
Men
The basic element in men’s dress is a traditional white shirt. It is cut very geo-
metrically using the full width of cloth, so nothing is wasted. It has long, straight
sleeves, side panels, and one length forming the front and back. Variations of this
garment are seen not only all over the Balkans, but all over the world. It pulls on
over the head and features a front neck slit. One style has underarm gussets that
allow greater ease of movement, while another style has panels that flare out at the
hem. A 20th-century version of the shirt features a yoke and a collar. The shirt can
be fairly short, ending below the waist, or much longer, to mid thigh. It was worn
over trousers and held close to the body with a wide cloth belt.
Traditional trousers are also often white, and may be close fitting or very loose.
The tighter style is constructed of a rectangle for each leg with a third panel running
from the waist, between the legs, up to the small of the back. The top edge of this
garment was folded down and stitched
to form a casing for a belt or cord. The
looser trousers were made from entire
widths of cloth and somewhat resemble
modern culottes. They range in length
from just below the knee to ankle length
and were also held up with a drawstring
cord. Dark colored trousers with a defi-
nite Turkish silhouette appeared in the
19th century from the south. This gar-
ment is wide and gathered in at the
waist, like the loose trousers, but tapers
to a close fit from the knee to the ankle.
Animal skins and hides provide
much needed protection in the colder
and mountainous regions. Sheepskin
coats, cojoc, have been worn through-
out much of this region. In some areas,
the fleece is worn to the outside, and
in others, the fleece is worn next to the
body. In Romania, they are worn with
the fleece to the outside and usually
extend to the ankle or calf. They may
have a straight silhouette or flare out
wider at the hem.
Romanian peasants in traditional dress. There are two styles of traditional
(Library of Congress) men’s outerwear made from cloth. The
Romania | 615
shepherd’s cloak is a sleeveless vest made from felted wool. It is a simple design
and widely found in the region. The fabric is woven in neutral-colored geometric
stripes or checks. A hooded version of the cloak provided shepherds with addi-
tional warmth and could be used as a coat, but also as a sleeping bag, and the hood
could be used for carrying food. Decoration is minimal on garments intended for
service and hard use, while those meant for special occasions are lavishly embroi-
dered and appliquéd.
The second type of outer garment is a fleecy jacket called a gubă. It is worn by
both men and women in the winter in colder climates and is made from natural-
colored white, grey, or black wool. The fluffy effect was created by either adding
additional yarns into woven wool or by vigorously brushing wool cloth to draw up
the fibers for a fuzzy effect on the surface. The jacket is cut in a square shape and
extends to the hipline. It is frequently lined with a patterned cloth and often has the
edges bound with dark velvet.
Căciulă is the men’s hat worn all over Romania. This hat is constructed from
either fur or felt for winter and made of straw for summer. There are regional dif-
ferences in the shape of the hat, from a brimless or small-brim hat to a wide brim.
A remnant from Hapsburg days is the green trilby hat, still seen in many parts
of Romania. Hats may be plain or decorated with embroidery, ribbons, beads, or
feathers.
Women
Women also wear a geometrically cut garment, similar to the man’s shirt. It
differs from the men’s shirt in length, extending past the knees or to the ankles.
There are two basic styles. The cămaşă has a front/back made from a single piece
of cloth with a head opening. Long sleeves are added at the sides and may be left
straight or gathered at the wrist. This garment seldom has a collar but is buttoned or
tied at the neck opening. An alternate style of the cămaşă features a gathered neck-
line, sometimes by means of a decorative drawstring, or with colorful smocking.
The gathered garments usually have an A-line shape to the body with underarm
gussets added for extra fullness.
Aprons are worn over the cămaşă, but the term apron is misleading. Only the
catrinţă is a straight apron, which is tied around the waist. It is a flat piece of cloth,
usually worn in pairs, with one in the front and the second in back, so that the white
cămaşă shows at the sides. Another apron style called the fotă resembles a sarong
and is wrapped around the hips and tied or fastened. Oddly, the fotah of a similar
style is the predominant men’s garment in southwest Yemen and is also found in
Indonesia as women’s wear. Pleated or gathered aprons are called şort and they
are worn only in front. A final alternative is a seamed skirt, worn over the cămaşă.
While the catrinţă tends to be black with woven horizontal or vertical stripes, the
rest of the aprons feature colorful woven stripes or are embroidered with bright
patterns.
Most women wore a kerchief over their hair. It could be square, triangular, or
rectangular and was tied in different ways depending on local traditions. They also
wore hats of either felted wool or straw, depending on the season. Hats were often
highly decorated with embroidery, ribbons, beads, and flowers. Many older women
still wear some type of headscarf in Romania today, though it is seldom seen on
young women.
Women’s outerwear consists of the same fleecy jackets as men. They also wear
sheepskin jackets as well as the sleeveless sheepskin or felted vests. As with men’s
outerwear, those garments meant for work remained fairly plain while those made
for festive occasions were highly decorated with embroidery.
Men and women both wore opinci, a simple sandal made from a single piece of
leather. The rectangular shape was pierced along the edges and had a cord threaded
through to draw up the leather around the foot. This was worn over either foot
wraps or knitted short socks. These socks are almost always knitted by hand in
the round from white wool and feature fancy pattern stitches. Opinci may still be
purchased today, but are worn more as part of special-occasion dress than for daily
wear. Mass-manufactured shoes are more commonly worn now with the opinci
worn with folk dress for holidays.
Upper-class members of society were allowed to wear the boots that became
popular during Ottoman times, but this luxury item was not available to the major-
ity of the population. Like so much else from the West, boots are now readily avail-
able and worn by men and women alike.
Children
As in so many societies, children were traditionally dressed in smaller versions
of adult clothing. Today, however, babies and small children almost entirely wear
Euro-American–style garments. An interesting aspect to this is the specific gender
identity practiced by most Romanian parents, even on the tiniest infant. Girls are
dressed in pink, lace, and ruffles and often have pierced ears and wear earrings and
bracelets. Boys wear tiny jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers. Little girls have long hair
with ribbons and bows, while boys have masculine haircuts similar to that of their
fathers. There is no mistaking the gender of a small child.

Traditional cloth was made from cotton, hemp, wool, and leather. Fur was
used for making some styles of hats. The cloth used for traditional clothing was
handwoven on small looms with either two or four heddles. Wool fabrics were
Romania | 617
intentionally shrunk (felted) to produce a thicker and warmer cloth for trousers
and jackets.
Leather could be made from the hides of sheep, cattle, goats, or pigs, animals
found in great numbers in Romania. Processing skin into useable leather initially
occurred in the home, but was eventually taken over by craftsmen. Mineral and
vegetable materials were used to attain colors from red to yellows and browns to
grays and blacks.
Like leatherwork, tailored garments were relegated to the skillful hands of
craftsmen. By the 19th century, entire villages devoted to making overcoats existed
in Moldavia to supply both individual customers and the greater mass market. The
cut of an overcoat was largely identical throughout the region, with villages estab-
lishing local identity by the use of color and placement of embellishment.
Embroidery is one of the most beautiful features of Romanian folk dress. As
the most basic garment is white, colored thread, often in red, is used to create elab-
orate patterns. The patterns might be geometric or organic in shape or a mixture of
both. The techniques of embroidery used included cross-stitch, where contrasting
thread uses multiple Xs to form a design, freehand or organic designs, and drawn
thread. Drawn thread requires that some of the woven threads of the base cloth be
carefully removed and the remaining threads fastened together to form an open,
lacy appearance. Cross-stitched designs are frequently seen around the neck, front
chest, sleeves, and cuffs. Freehand designs seem to have an Asian influence and are
more organic in shape, depicting flowers and birds. Queen Marie (1875–1938) was
frequently pictured in colorfully embroidered peasant dress, and this set the trend
for upper-class women to adopt embroidered traditional folk dress.

There was little difference in the cut of everyday and special-occasion dress.
Special-occasion dress was made from finer cloth and generally featured more
embroidery and lace. It was often more colorful and had greater complexity in the
weaving patterns. The basic style and construction of the garments were the same.
Jewelry
Jewelry is not as prevalent in Romanian costume as it is in other areas. Men wear
almost no jewelry, beyond the beads and feathers used to decorate their hats. Metal
jewelry made from brass or copper is sometimes part of women’s dress. Women
have a traditional necklace made from coins. A short version is popular in Molda-
via, while a larger and longer version is common in Transylvania. Wealthy women
would sometimes wear these necklaces made from gold coins as an expression
of wealth and status. Some women

wore belts with metal stud trim, small
chains, and metal rings.
Contemporary Use
of Ethnic Dress
Folk dress is still commonly worn
in rural areas for weddings and reli-
gious holidays. Simple versions, such
as plain trousers and traditionally cut
shirts for men and long skirts, head
kerchiefs, and aprons, especially for
middle-aged or older women, are not
uncommon for daily dress.
Many of the traditional weavers
and garment makers have retired or
died. Several of the craft cooperatives
that opened after World War II have
Young dancers wearing traditional clothes closed, but a number of craftsmen
participate at a wedding in Sancraiu, Roma- operate businesses providing custom-
nia, 2005. (Salajean/Dreamstime.com)
made traditional dress for individuals,
folk groups, and souvenir hunters.
Authentic traditional garments can easily be purchased. In Bucharest, new ver-
sions can be bought off the rack or custom-made. The Folk Museum has racks of
vintage, primarily women’s, dress for sale.
Although many people have adopted factory-made Westernized styles, rem-
nants of traditional styles appear in combination with modern dress, with a belt
here, a hat there, or traditional vests or overcoats.
Modern Dress
Euro-American fashion is easily available in Romania, especially in the larger
cities. Numerous secondhand clothing dealers offer a vast amount of both used and
factory seconds clothing. Brand infringement is rife and knockoff fashions exist
side by side with authentic designer-logoed garments.
Contemporary dress in Romania is highly gendered. Young women are care-
fully dressed in specifically feminine styles, regardless of location or time of day.
From cities to villages, women dress in skirts or dresses ranging in silhouette from
Romania | 619
Euro-American to more traditional styles. Whether close fitting, revealing, and

provocative, or conservatively pretty, the Romanian women dress only in female
attire. Unisex styles borrowed from male dress such as tailored shirts, suits, tai-
lored jackets, or even slacks are almost completely absent in a woman’s wardrobe.
Waist-length hair is common among girls and young women, especially in smaller
towns. Careful attention is paid to appearance. Footwear is also highly feminine
with nary a sneaker in sight on a female foot.
Men, on the other hand, have adopted Euro-American styles almost com-
pletely. In the cities, suits and other types of work clothes prevail, while in the
smaller towns, casual dress of a shirt and trousers is the usual attire. For leisure
wear, jeans, T-shirts, and rubber footwear (flip-flops) or sneakers are widely worn.
It is not uncommon to see a carefully turned out young woman with makeup, styled
hair, and fashionable clothing walking with a young man who looks as though he
grabbed the first two articles of clothing he found in his wardrobe. A possible
explanation of this is that men have better jobs and incomes and therefore do not
have to make as much of an effort to attract a suitable mate.

Bâtcă, M. The Romanian Folk Costume. Bucharest, Romania: National Centre for
the Preservation and Promotion of Traditional Culture, 2006.
BBC News World Profile. “Romania.” 2012. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/
country_profiles/1057466.stm.
Carey, Henry F. Romania Since 1989: Politics, Economics and Society. Oxford:
Lexington Books, 2004.
Cook, Bernard Anthony. Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia. London: Rout-
ledge, 2001.
Eliznik Romania Pages: Traditional Folk Costumes, Dances, Music from the Eth-
nographic Regions of Romania. http://www.eliznik.org.uk/.
Hancock, Ian. We Are the Romani People. Hertfordshire, UK: University of Hert-
fordshire Press, 2002.
Herodotus. The Ancient History of Herodotus by Herodotus [William Beloe]. New
York: Derby & Jackson, 1859.
Jianu, Angela. “Romania: Urban Dress, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.”
In Joanne Eicher, ed. Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion. Vol. 9.
Oxford: Berg, 2010.
Jianu, Angela. “Women, Fashion and Europeanisation in the Romanian Principali-
ties 1750–1830.” In Amila Buturović and Irvin C. Schick, eds. Women in the
Ottoman Balkans—Gender, Culture and History. London: I. B. Tauris, 2007.
Mellish, Liz. “Romania: Ethnic Dress.” In Joanne Eicher, ed. Berg Encyclopedia of
World Dress and Fashion. Vol. 9. Oxford: Berg, 2010.
Queen Marie of Romania papers. [Finding aid for her papers.] http://speccoll
.library.kent.edu/women/marie/queen.html.
Victoria’s Grandchildren: Queen Marie of Romania. http://www.tkinter.smig.net/
QueenMarie/MammaRegina/index.htm.
Russia
Tanya Williams Wetenhall

Russia is the biggest country in the world with a huge landmass that covers the
whole northern part of Eurasia. Russia borders many countries including Finland,
Norway, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Georgia, Ukraine, Belerus, China, Mongolia,
Azerbaijan, and North Korea. Alaska in the United States is very close to Russia
and shares a maritime border in the Bering Strait.
Such a big country has many different climatic and topographical character-
istics, with notoriously cold areas such as Siberia and warm vacation spots in the
south of the country. Moscow is the capital city from which the now democrati-
cally elected government is run (though there has been recent unrest about election
procedures that favor certain candidates, such as President Vladimir Putin). The
population in 2012 was estimated at more than 138,000,000, with Moscow esti-
mated to have more than 10,500,000 people.
Russia is rich in natural resources and has mineral and gas reserves that are
exported all over the world. There are hundreds of lakes, and Russia possesses one-
quarter of all the freshwater on the planet.
Russia adopted the Orthodox Christian religion from Byzantium in the 10th
century CE, and now many Russians practice Russian Orthodox Christianity with
its own calendar. The majority of the land now encompassing Russia was unified
after the Mongol invasion with the Grand Duchy of Moscow attaining indepen-
dence in the 14th century. By the 1900s one of the largest empires in the world
emerged. The Russian Empire bordered Alaska in the east and Poland in the west.
The czars were brutally overthrown in the revolution of 1917, whereupon Rus-
sia became the Soviet Union, a socialist state and eventual superpower that com-
peted with U.S. interests for much of the 20th century. When communism failed
in Europe in 1990, the Soviet Union was dismantled and former Soviet countries
became independent.
621
People and Dress
History of Russian Dress

Embroidered linen, bright colors, and sumptuous fabrics cut and sewn into
voluminous forms worn multilayered are familiar characteristics of Russian dress.
In tracing the history of Russian dress, historians are often challenged as visual ref-
erences to the traditional dress worn prior to the 18th century is limited due to two
reasons: Russian painting was largely concerned with religious subjects, rendering
secular subjects absent from depiction until the end of the 17th century; and in
1701, Emperor Peter I (reigned 1682–1725) issued a decree forbidding his subjects
to wear regional dress at court, therefore when Russian individuals do appear in
portraits, they are usually dressed in Western fashions.
In 1700, Peter I completed a European tour that better acquainted him with
the culture of Western Europe. Upon returning home, Peter was struck by the
non-Western and somewhat backward nature of Russia. Peter set out to change
everything about Russia; dress did not escape his sweeping reforms. Prior to 1700,
members of the Russian court appeared in long flowing caftans, jackets of sumptu-
ously adorned silks, and sheepskin hats and coats. These lengthy and capacious
garments hailed from various regions of the empire, a land so vast that both Asiatic
and European influences were present. Peter saw the indigenous dress worn by
his subjects as an obstacle to attaining the social, political, and economic reforms
needed to boost the Russian Empire’s standing with other European nations. He
also understood that the cumbersome nature of regional dress hampered the wear-
er’s productivity. Impressed by the tailored cut and unobtrusive nature of Western
European dress, Peter instructed his male courtiers to wear short coats in the “Ger-
man style” and to cut their beards. In 17th-century Russian “German” had come
to refer to “foreigners” as well, so essentially the directive was for foreign dress
to be worn at court and in major cities by nobles, courtiers, and city dwellers. The
czar’s decree, one of many aimed at dress reform, was intended to visually unify
the appearance of his court in line with Western tastes. Asiatic influences in Rus-
sian dress were eradicated as they were perceived by 18th-century Westerners as
backward or barbaric.
The abandonment of many forms of ethnic dress through the period of Rus-
sia’s turn toward the West has left scholars and historians of Russian culture with
very little to study. Eighteenth-century monastic forms of dress and the dress of
Russia’s upper classes and court have survived. Articles of clothing worn by other
classes of Russian society have been mostly lost with the exception of 19th- and
early 20th-century examples of holiday or festival dress.
Russia | 623
Regional Dress
Russia has been divided into administrative regions or oblasts since the early
Empire. Each region had its own particular set of dress elements that over time
melded with fundamentals of dress from neighboring regions. Dress that has dis-
tinct elements deemed “Russian” hails from the northern and southern regions of
Russia, including significant items from Archangelsk, Yarolslavl, Vologda, Tver,
Ryazan, Tambov, Orlov, and Voronezh.
Extant dress examples from the 19th and 20th centuries are generally the prod-
ucts of women that arduously spent whatever free time they had available to sew
and embroider articles crafted of homemade fabrics or acquired via trade with
neighbors. Accessories, such as headdresses, were also made at home with materi-
als bought from peddlers or at various markets that specialized in selling beads,
sequins, yarns, and silk threads, as well as silver and gold galloon. The display of
such dress at various harvest festivals and holidays, such as Easter, verified the
worth of the girls and women that made the garments: Accomplishments in sew-
ing and the possession of artistic skills needed to create such items signified that
a woman was a good and productive wife or possessed the desirable traits of a
promising and prospective bride.
The Southern Provinces: Oryol, Kursk, Ryazan,

Tambov, Tula, Kaluga, and Voronezh
The oldest Russian dress forms hail from the southern regions of Russia—
Oryol, Kursk, Ryazan, Tambov, Tula, Kaluga, and Voronezh. These areas from the
ninth to the 12th centuries were collectively known as Kievan Rus, the predeces-
sor to the czardom of Muscovy and the modern-day states of Russia, Ukraine,
and Belorussia, settled by Scandinavian traders known as the “Rus” in the ninth
century. The dress of these regions displays elements of ancient Russian dress and
undoubtedly shares components of dress common to all of Europe, such as the
chemise.
The long or short chemise, rubakha (рубаха) in Russian, was the basic compo-
nent of dress throughout the Russian Empire for both men and women. It is most
closely associated with the dress of Russia’s southern regions, perhaps because it
was suitable for warmer climates if worn alone, yet in the colder climes of the north
it could be layered with other elements of dress for warmth. Donned for work and
festivals, the chemise was generally the unique creation of the wearer and was made
from homespun linen, although versions in cotton and wool are found. The long
version when worn by itself was belted and was the dress uniform of young girls.
Married women could also wear the chemise in this manner, but only if they were
working the harvest. A married woman’s chemise was usually covered with a wool
dress component—a skirt or sarafan—for propriety. The chemise of a woman dif-
fered from a young girl’s in its construction. In fact, dress of women and girls consis-
tently differs in Russia, indicating a woman’s marital status. Younger women wore
chemises that were understated in their decoration. The chemise of a married woman
was elaborate not only in its decoration, but also in its construction. It was com-
prised of varied shapes of cut cloth pieced and sewn together. In diagramming the
construction of chemises of the northern and southern regions, Russian costume his-
torian Irina Nikolayevna Saval’yeva notes that women’s chemises, although made
of numerous components, were remarkably similar in very far-reaching regions of
the empire, attesting to the chemise’s longevity as a basic of dress. Ornamentation
of the chemise was important and the parts intended for public view were heavily
embellished. Along the neckline, shoulders, back, hem, and cuffs, women embroi-
dered geometric patterns incorporating ancient propitious or zoomorphic motifs.
The depiction and placement of symbols representing the sun, fire, goddesses, frogs,
and birds indicate a strong belief in a garment’s ability not only to provide protec-
tion to the wearer, but also to promote fertility. Embroidery stitches placed at vul-
nerable areas, such as the wrists and neck, acted as folkloric talismans against evil
spirits attempting to enter the body via its susceptible points. These embroidered
designs were executed with red cotton thread or thick red cord. Embroidery author-
ity Sheila Paine in her studies notes that the use of the color red is ubiquitous in all
folk embroideries as it is symbolic of life itself. In many of the chemises of Russian
districts, red embroidery is most certainly present, but examples of black and poly-
chrome embroidery can be found in the southern provinces as well.
Since the 17th century, the southern regions of Russia experienced a signifi-
cant influx of Ukrainian settlers. The influence of vividly colored Ukrainian cos-
tume most certainly affected southern Russian dress, which shows a propensity
for bright, polychromatic garments. The chemises of girls and young women had
full, billowing sleeves decorated with geometric embroidery in black or red. The
voluminous silhouette was the result of gathering the top sleeve panels around the
neckline and inserting gussets of kumacha (кумача)—a red calico—in the under-
arm area. Many sleeves terminated in large, frilly cuffs trimmed with pieced fabric
and lace. Chemises worn by a bride at her wedding had extremely long sleeves that
hid the hands. To expose the hands, the sleeves were pushed up and braced in place
with wide bracelets. For important church holidays and festivals, the chemise was
adorned with extra embellishments of gold-wrapped threads, sequins, beads, and
ribbon. An upper garment, the navérshnik (навершник), could be worn over the
chemise and skirt or dress ensemble. Trapezoidal in shape and sleeveless, it was
made of linen and embroidered to harmonize with the ornament of the chemise.
Russia | 625
Unless working in the fields, married women were obliged to cover their che-
mise with a second garment. The dress-like sarafan (сарафан)—worn in both the
south and north—was one option, but it was the skirt-like garment, the ponyóva
(понева) that was preferred in the south. Researchers believe this skirt or apron-
like garment is derived from Neolithic forms of dress. In its most basic state, the
ponyóva was made of black or dark blue wool cloth woven with a striped or check-
ered pattern. Left unadorned, it was suitable for older women. For festival days,
younger women richly adorned the back and lap of their ponyóvas with vividly
colored, cascading rosettes of ribbons, beads, and bells.
There were three distinct styles of ponyóva. The first was made of three pieces
of rectangular panels of cloth. These panels were either sewn together and attached
to or hung separately from a cord tied around the waist. A fourth panel of dark
fabric was inserted or suspended over the front opening, appearing as an apron.
This variant could also incorporate strips of fabric—often of richly ornamented
red-colored cloth—pieced between the panels or placed as a decorative border
along the hem. A second style used the same rectangular panels, but instead of the
panels hanging straight to the ground, the wearer could hitch and drape the skirt
around her backside by opening and lifting the side panels from the front edges and
then tucking those edges into the waistband. A third style worn as late as the 20th
century used the same fabrics, but instead was constructed and sewn as a skirt from
four or more rectangular panels of cloth. The ponyóva was often accessorized with
a multicolored woven belt of wool.
Over the chemise and ponyóva, a perednik (передник; plural, peredniki) was
sometimes worn. This pinafore-like garment was sleeveless and was left open in
the back or fastened. An alternate version, a zabórnaya zanavéska (заборная зана-
веска), was long in the front with a shorter back ending just below the shoulder
blades. Generally made from homespun and handwoven cotton and linen fabrics,
the perednik was white or a combination of white and colored fabrics and was
left unadorned for everyday wear. For festivals, peredniki were richly decorated at
the armholes, sleeves (if present), and hems with patterns that complemented the
chemise.
Another article hailing from the southern regions and worn over the chemise
and ponyóva was a shushpan (шушпан). Common to Voronezh and Ryazan, as
well as many southeastern districts including Tambov, Tula, Kaluga, and Penza,
the shushpan is a short, jacket-like garment made from white or sometimes brown
smooth, light woolen cloth. It could also be made of coarse white linen. Like the
ponyóva, the shushpan is derived from ancient Russian dress. It was worn open
without a front closure and was not belted. Other versions of the shushpan appear
as a tunic passed over the head, or as an open-front garment worn with the right arm
passed through one sleeve, the other sleeve passed under the left arm. Shushpan
Russian women wearing a pinafore-like garment called zabórnaya zanavéska, between

1880 and 1924. (Library of Congress/Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection)
sleeves were generally elbow length, but could also be wrist length. The length of
the shushpan on the body could be to the knees or slightly shorter. Younger women
generally wore shushpans, and when worn at festivals such as Easter or Whit Sun-
day, they were brightly decorated on the borders and hem with red and green braid
or strips of calico fashioned as ribbon. A woman in mourning wore a shushpan
edged with black braid. Older women in society also wore this variety, as well as
undecorated shushpan.
The Northern Provinces: Vologda, Tver,

Yaroslav, and Archangelsk
The element of dress strongly associated with Russia is the sarafan (сара-
фан). Historians are uncertain of the origins of the sarafan: like the ponyóva, it
too could have originated from ancient apron-like garments or from dress found
in Eastern lands. Linguists believe the word sarafan is possibly derived from the
Persian word sarapa meaning “the entire body, from head to toe.” Mentioned in
Russian texts since the 14th century, where it was often referred to as the long dress
Russia | 627
of men, the sarafan, since the 16th century, has described a woman’s long or “tall”
skirt garment with button closures, suspended from straps. Since the 17th century,
the sarafan worn over a long-sleeved chemise has constituted basic dress in most
of the northern provinces, as well as in the south. During the Petrine reforms, the
sarafan, previously worn by the nobility, was relegated to being the dress of peas-
ants only. By the 19th century, it was adopted by many of the southern provinces
of Russia as a more modern form of dress preferred to the ponyóva. Most forms
of sarafan consist of a long, slightly flared dress with wide or narrow straps, the
latter depending on the preferences of the region. The front of the sarafan could
be unadorned or with a button-front opening that ran the length of the garment. A
woven or braided belt was often placed just below the bustline. Sarafans were worn
for both daily wear and for festivals until the 20th century. Richly patterned luxury
fabrics such as brocaded silks and velvets were also used, but for daily use, the
sarafan was made of printed and plain types of cotton available on the market. The
rules of fabric and pattern used in sarafans of the north were often set according to
the preferences of each region, although it is hard to find an exact formula for what
colors were used and on which occasions. What is generally agreed upon by many
historians is that the light of the north was not as bright as in the south, therefore
northern dress can be identified by its softer colors and patterned fabrics. Many
19th- and early 20th-century artists and photographers illustrate these preferences
in their works.
An additional northern article of dress worn over the chemise and sarafan
was the dushaygréya (душегрея). Made of rich fabrics such as velvet or brocaded
silk, the dushaygréya was made in sleeveless and long-sleeve forms. Generally it
was worn open at the front with a closure at the top. It skimmed gracefully away
from the upper body, falling to the hip. The back could be flounced or gathered in
barrel pleats. Dushaygréya often translates into English as “body warmer.” When
trimmed with fur, it undoubtedly gave the wearer an added layer of warmth on the
upper body needed in the colder climes of the north. Not solely limited to northern
districts, the dushaygréya was also worn in districts located along the middle and
lower Volga River and in Siberia. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the dushaygréya
was a documented part of Russian dress and was worn in particular by the married
women of the boyar (advisors to the grand dukes of Kievan Rus from the 13th to
17th centuries) and merchant classes. By the 18th and 19th centuries, the dushay-
gréya was seen little and was worn mostly by village peasants. In the early 20th
century, it was an important component of the wedding dress worn by wealthy
peasant brides-to-be, particularly in northern provinces such as Archangelsk and
Vologda. The dushaygréya as an element of ceremonial wedding dress is often
found in Russian museum collections today. The epanеch’ka (епанечка), a similar,
Peasant woman’s sarafan from the northern Russian province of Archangelsk, second half
of the 19th century. (Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia/The Bridgeman Art Library)
Russia | 629
but shorter garment than the dushaygréya, was also worn over the chemise and
sarafan ensemble. Suspended from wide-set straps, its stiff conical shape floated
on the upper body with its lower edge hovering away from the natural waistline. It
too was made of sumptuous materials or wool. The back of an epanеch’ka is fre-
quently barrel pleated or folded; its front, worn completely closed, is often richly
embroidered and trimmed with galloon or lace. When laid flat, the epanach’ka
almost forms a circle.
Headwear
Each province in the north and south, and even some villages, had its own
form of headdress. In Russia, the manner in which the head was covered provided
information about a woman’s marital status. For this reason, scarves and shawls
are strongly associated with bridal traditions even today. In the 17th and 18th cen-
turies, a young bride-to-be was often presented with a scarf or shawl known as a
kanavat (канават), which would cover her head once married. The importance of
head coverings in Russian dress is linked to a pre-Christian belief that the uncov-
ered head of a woman was considered inappropriate and linked to bad luck. If a
married woman left her head uncovered, she could bring misfortune to her village
in the form of poor crops, famine, and disease. Young unmarried women were
allowed to leave their hair uncovered, their hair plaited into one braid. Headdresses
worn for festivals and special occasions continued the rule, clearly distinguishing
for suitors the unmarried from the married.
The most basic head cover and ornament for both married and unmarried
women at all times, whether they were working in the fields or attending church,
was the scarf. Since the 17th century, the headscarf, referred to as an ubrus (убрус),
was a cloth made of linen and embroidered on the ends. Married Russian peasants
often tied their headscarf to enclose their entire skull and forehead, so no hair could
be seen. A maiden also wore a scarf, particularly if working in the field. Her scarf
was folded oblong and secured only around the crown and then was tied at the nape
of the neck; the loose ends were left to hang down the back or they were returned
to the top of the head and knotted. In this manner, the back of the head was always
visible, advertising that the young girl was unmarried.
A more elaborate form of headdress that was worn throughout European Rus-
sia and was reserved for young, unmarried women was the perevyazka or povyazka
(перевязка or повязка). The headdress comprised of a crown made of bent bark
was covered with fabric that continued around to the nape of the neck where it was
tied in a bow or knotted and left to hang down the back. The fabric-covered crown
was usually embellished with gold and silver threads and seed pearls. The hair of
the wearer was visible.
An ancient form of headdress

influenced by Finno-Ugric settlers in
the southern regions of Russia in the
10th to the 13th centuries was the
keech’ka (кичка). A small head cov-
ering reserved for married women, it
covered the top of the head completely
as well as the sides of the hair with
various attachments. Often made from
two to three pieces of fabric, such as
calico, velvet, or silk, it was fashioned
into a hat with wings or other various
forms. This form was then attached
to a crown piece. Depending on the
province, it was worn with the wings
oriented side-to-side and folded and
tucked down or oriented toward the
front and back with one or both wings
Russian peasant girl wearing perevyazka folded and tucked. Beaded fringe was
headdress, 1909. (Library of Congress/
often added to the sides to cover the
Prokudin-Gorskii Collection)
hair completely. The keech’ka could
also be placed with the wings facing side-to-side and pointing in an upward posi-
tion resembling horns or bird wings. For special occasions accessories to the
keech’ka were pom-poms of down or feathers. Suspended from the inside of the
headdress, one pom-pom was worn next to each temple.
Perhaps the best-known headdress of Russia is the kokoshnik (кокошник),
which has been recorded in paintings since the 17th century. Worn in the north, but
ubiquitous throughout European Russia, it too in its many forms was reserved for
married women.
The kokoshnik appears in many shapes, but mainly the following: crescent
moon with points that curve to extend below the ears toward the shoulders; high
triangle decorated with small cones covered in seed pearls—this shape often
exposes the full forehead, but covers the ears; tall conical form swathed with a
scarf or shawl crossed under the chin and tied at the back of the neck or left to hang
loose over the shoulders; diadem with crown piece with flat top cloth insert, often
with applied flaps to the side and back, covering the hair. The idea behind the high,
almost floating profile of the kokoshnik was to provide ample room for the head
and upper body to be covered, as often a scarf was tied over the kokoshnik to hide
a married woman’s hair. The kokoshnik was the headdress of merchants and upper
classes for festivals and weddings.
Russia | 631
Men’s Dress
Since the Petrine reforms clothing for men was more homogeneous through-
out Russia. The common elements were the shirt or chemise (рубаха), trousers
known as porti (порти), and braided belts. The shirt was ornamented with similar,
but more modest decoration when compared with the ladies’ version. Longer in
length, it extended to the mid-thigh and was belted. The most common version
of the male shirt, the kosovorota (косоворота), had a slit placed to one side of
the neckline and fastened with a button. The trousers of plain or striped wool or
other home- or factory-made fabrics were long or ended just below the knee and
were generally tucked into boots. Woolen caps trimmed with fur or with a peak or
brimmed hats constituted men’s headgear.
Footwear
For the most part, footwear of men and women in Russia was similar. Dark
leather shoes or boots with low heels were typical. Often the leather was orna-
mented with studs in geometric patterns or the leather itself was worked by emboss-
ing. Knitted wool stockings provided extra warmth in cold weather. A shoe hailing
originally from the central provinces and worn by peasants was the lapti (лапти).
Woven of bast fibers, lapti were worn over leg wrappings of linen and held to the
foot and legs by long ropes that crisscrossed and wrapped the calves.
Jewelry
Women adorned themselves with earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and rings.
Seed pearls, rock crystal, and semiprecious stones were worked into lacy con-
figurations for earrings. Necklaces of amber, semiprecious stones, and glass beads
could be worn close to the neck or in long strands that ended at the chest. In the
south, men and women wore long necklaces past their waistlines of silk braid with
medallions of wool fringe and beads.
Outerwear
In the winter, both men and women wore coats of fur or wool trimmed with fur.
A variation was a coat of fur worn with the hide “out” and the fur “in.” In the fall or
spring, coats of wool and other heavy materials were worn and generally followed
the lines of the dress underneath. For men the caftan was the most common silhou-
ette. For both men and women, outwear extended to the knee; when overlapped it
generally closed to the left; and for men, it was held closed with a belt or sash.

Aleshina, T. S. History of Russian Costume from the Eleventh to the Twentieth
Century: From the Collections of the Arsenal Museum, Leningrad; Hermitage,
Leningrad; Historical Museum, Moscow; Kremlin Museums, Moscow; Pav-
lovsk Museum: Catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977.
Anawalt, Patricia Rieff. The Worldwide History of Dress. New York: Thames &
Hudson, 2007.
Efimova, L. V. (Luiza Vladimirovna), and T. S. Aleshina. Russian Elegance: Coun-
try and City Fashion from the 15th to the Early 20th Century. London: Vivays
Pub., 2011.
International Folk Art Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico. www.internationalfolkart
.org.
Artifacts of Russian dress, including garments and accessories, are included in the
collection’s 20,000 items of international folk dress.
Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg, Russia. www.ethnomuseum.ru.
Russian and English websites provide an overview of the collection, which includes
articles of dress from the various peoples of Russia.
Saval’yeva, Irina Nikolaevna. Relationships of Harmony in Dress of the Rus-
sian People (Zakonomernosti garmonii v kostium’e narodov Rossii). Moscow:
RosZITLP, 2002.
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. www.hermitagemuseum.org.
Russian and English websites provide an overview of the Russian Culture collec-
tion, which includes costumes, textiles, and tapestries.
Russian Federation Republics
Pamela Smith

The vast territory of the Russian Federation includes 21 autonomous republics
representing areas of non-Russian ethnicity and named after their indigenous eth-
nic groups. The groups do not necessarily make up the majority of a republic’s
population as Russians have also settled in these areas, but many of the original
peoples remain culturally apart from their Russian neighbors, not least because of
their distinctive dress practices, some of which are still apparent in rural areas in
the 21st century.
There have been secessionist movements in most republics since they were
first subsumed into the Russian Empire, later the Soviet Union, and now the Rus-
sian Federation, but only a few still hit the headlines in the international press,
notably for conflicts in Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Ossetia in the Caucasus region,
along the border with Georgia. The desire for ethnic autonomy often manifests
itself in adherence to the traditional dress of the group. During the Soviet era, that
is, most of the 20th century, the traditional culture of all minority ethnic groups,
including their dress practices, was suppressed and Western-style clothing univer-
sally adopted. In some of the more peaceable republics, such as Yakutia in Siberia,
a resurgence of interest in ethnic dress followed the breakup of the Soviet Union
in 1991, since when it has been increasingly seen at cultural festivals and events
aimed at tourists.
The areas where many of the republics are situated—the Ural and Caucasus
mountain ranges and Siberia—are particularly rich in natural resources such as
gold, silver, copper, and minerals, which have often been incorporated into dress.
The jewelers of Tatarstan and of Dagestan were celebrated throughout Russia and
beyond for their skill in working with these materials. Semiprecious stones mined
in the Urals were widely used to adorn ethnic dress. Garnets and carnelians were
especially prized. Being the talismanic color red, they were considered to have heal-
ing and protective qualities. The Tatars from Kazan on the Volga were renowned
for their use of topaz, aquamarine, turquoise, amethyst, and jasper set into silver.
633
Their pieces were valued as part of dress not only locally but also in Kazakh-
stan and Central Asia. Jewelry in the Caucasus often incorporated nephrite (jade),
which was worn as a charm against heart disease, lightning, and earthquakes.
People and Dress
The Volga Region: Mordovia, Mari El, Chuvashia, Tatarstan,

Udmurtia, Bashkortostan, Komi Republic
In the east and southeast of European Russia, along the banks of the rivers
Volga and Kama and in the area of the Urals, several ethnic groups have lived
together with the main mass of the Russian population but with their own individual
cultures and dress. These included the Mordovians, Komi-Zyrians, Udmurts, and
Mari, who spoke Finnish, and the Chuvash, Bashkirs, and Tatars, whose language
was Turkic. From ancient times this area was settled by tribes coming together
from both east and west. A number of common features evolved in their dress.
Poorer people wore home-woven linen, wool, or hemp, while from the late 19th
century the wealthy, especially among the Tatars and Bashkirs, used only bought,
factory-produced materials such as silk, velvet, fur, and woolen broadcloth.
Men’s dress lost its original features before the women’s dress, which survived
into the early 20th century. Women wore a tunic-shaped shirt trimmed with red
embroidery on the chest, sleeves, and hem, together with an embroidered apron
and woven sash decorated with pendants and tassels. An open caftan was added
on top in cooler weather or for festive occasions. Lavish embroidered or woven
ornamentation in geometric patterns was important on both men’s and women’s
clothes, especially among the Mordovians, Mari, Chuvash, and Udmurts. Mordo-
vian embroidery was worked in terracotta red and blue woolen thread, with outline
stitchery to accentuate each element in the design. Applied decoration on women’s
clothes included tassels; beads of glass, pearl, or coral; buttons, coins, and cowrie
shells, especially on headdresses and chest-pieces. The most colorful and lavish
effect was reserved for brides and young married women. It was said of the Mordo-
vian bride that she could be heard before she was seen, on account of the quantity
of rustling and rattling decorations hanging from her clothes.
The Tatars and Bashkirs were Muslims, unlike most of the other groups who
had become attached to the Russian Orthodox faith. Tatar women’s headdresses
were embroidered with symmetrical compositions of realistically depicted bou-
quets of flowers worked on velvet or silk, reminiscent of designs prevalent in the
Turkish Ottoman Empire. Both men and women wore rings engraved with Koranic
verses, and on holidays women wore sashes diagonally across the body on which
were attached amulets or Koran cases.
Russian Federation Republics | 635
Women from Tatarstan,Volga region. Their fine silk clothes, embellished with embroidery
and jewelry, indicate their wealth and status, c. 1900. (Library of Congress)
The Caucasus Region: Adygea, Kalmykia, Karachay-

Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia–Alania,
Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan
Over 50 ethnic groups inhabit the region of the Caucasus Mountains, the north-
ern part of which is within the Russian Federation and includes eight republics. In
Dagestan alone there are 10 distinct peoples, apart from those originally from Rus-
sia and neighboring states, and over 30 languages are spoken. Of all the regions
of Russia the Caucasus has the most dramatic scenery. Climatic zones range from
polar at the top of the mountains, temperate in the shelter of the valleys, to semi-
desert on the Caspian Sea. But despite the diversity of terrain, climate, and ethnic-
ity there are elements of cultural unity because of the peoples’ many centuries of
economic and social ties.
A common feature on women’s traditional dress was gold thread embroidery,
which was famous far beyond the Caucasus in the 18th and 19th centuries. Wom-
en’s outfits generally consisted of a cotton or silk shirt, calico or silk trousers, a
skirt, and an outer dress or caftan. Luxurious fabrics for festive wear had long been
imported along the Silk Road, one strand of which ran to the south of this area
along the fringes of Azerbaijan and through neighboring Uzbekistan and Tajiki-
stan. The region itself supports the growing of cotton, hemp, flax, and mulberry
trees for silkworm breeding, as well as sheep- and goat-breeding, producing skins
and wool for broadcloth, felt, cashmere, and mohair.
Traditional headwear varied according to the wearer’s ethnic origin, age and
social status. When Kabardian and Cherkessian girls were considered old enough for
marriage they put on a golden cap, which they continued to wear after their wedding
until the birth of their first child. On festive occasions Dagestani women wore a kind
of turban constructed of a large number of kerchiefs embellished with coins, beads,
and gold braid across the forehead or silver niello discs at the temples. Women and
girls of all ages in Dagestan wore much locally made silver jewelry, including rings,
bracelets, earrings, and belts, and various types of amulets attached to their clothes.
Necklaces, pendants, bibs, and aprons were made of medallions and coins.
Men’s dress in the Caucasus
evolved to suit their way of life. In a
wild and often hostile mountain envi-
ronment, they were warriors and horse-
men but also herdsmen and tillers of
the land. Their clothes had to be con-
venient and protective in many differ-
ent circumstances. They wore a shirt
and caftan, and over the top the char-
acteristic Caucasian garment, the cher-
keska. This was an open topcoat with
rows of pouches across the breast dis-
playing gaziri—decorative caps, origi-
nally of gunpowder cartridges, which
became purely an embellishment. The
cherkeska was usually made of home-
woven woolen cloth, but those made
from expensive factory-made broad-
cloth or from camel’s wool were espe-
cially valued. Camels are still bred near
the Caspian Sea.
Couple from Dagestan, Caucasus region. Mountain shepherds wore sheep-
Image by Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii, who took
photographs throughout the Russian Empire
skin coats with the fleece inside, the
for the last tsar. The man wears a cherkeska outside being left plain or covered
coat. The woman’s garments are made of with broadcloth. They were close fit-
cotton and silk. (Library of Congress) ting and tightly fastened for protection
from wind and cold, and short for ease of movement on horseback. The bourka,
a type of cloak, was thrown over the shoulders and shielded the wearer against
extremes of temperature in summer and winter. It could also serve as bedding
or a tent during the nomadic herding of animals, leading to the local expression
“a bourka is a home away from home for a man.” Men and boys wore hats all
year round, especially the cylindrical papakha, made of the tightly curled pelts of
lambs, or the long shaggy type of sheepskin. In severe winter weather in the moun-
tain villages, both men and women wore the shuba—a long sheepskin overcoat,
sometimes with false hanging sleeves.
Even at the beginning of the 21st century, many Caucasian women remain in
their villages and retain some of the traditional styles of dress in all their ethnic
variants, while men travel more and have adopted Western styles.
The Northwest: Karelia

In the northwest of the Russian Federation, the republic of Karelia borders
on Finland. The border has shifted back and forth over history, with conflict
and treaty in the 1940s leading to most of the territory known as Karelia being
handed from Finnish to Soviet rule. Karelians, like the Finns and Estonians, have
Finno-Ugric ethnic origins, distinct from the Slavic ethnicity of Russians, but
Karelian peasant dress bore many similarities to that of Russians of the northern
climes, with the basic garments for girls and women being a long linen shirt,
covered with a sleeveless dress known as a sarafan. Counted-thread embroidery
on the sleeves and hems of women’s shirts and aprons featured stylized goddess
figures, sacred trees, horsemen, and birds, and particularly deer. The married
woman’s festive headdress (soroka) covered her hair and was decorated with
metal spangles and gold thread embroidery. Summer footwear was woven from
strips of lime or birch bark; in the long harsh winters fur or reindeer skin coats
and boots were worn by all.
Siberia: Yakutia (also known as Sakha), Altai,

Khakassia, Tuva, Buryatia
The Yakut live in the largest republic of the Russian Federation, in the north-
ern part of Siberia, along with smaller ethnic groups such as the Evenk and
Chukchi. For centuries they made their living by breeding horses and were thus
known as “the horse people.” In the past their dress reflected this way of life,
with horsehide garments being commonly worn. Hats were made of horsehair,
and a key accessory was the deibyr, a long switch of tail or mane, which was
carried hung over the arm and used to ward off mosquitoes, which plague people
and animals in the Siberian summer. Both men and women wore long coats or
caftans made of cloth in summer and fur in winter. Garments and footwear were
decorated with beads and embroidery worked in reindeer hair or horsehair. The
Yakut woman’s festive dress included a fur coat or jacket with a tall fur hat
and soft horsehide high boots with pointed toes. A leather belt decorated with
engraved metal plates had useful objects attached to it and featured in both male
and female dress.
Altai, Khakassia, Tuva, and Buryatia are a collection of republics in southern
Siberia, bordering Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Many of the ethnic groups living
here and in Yakutia follow archaic beliefs through the practice of shamanism. The
priests, or shamans (male or female), were regarded as intermediaries between the
natural world and the spirit world, and the ritual clothes they wore when entering
into a state of trance or meditation were highly decorated with objects believed to
enhance their power. The coat was made of animal skins, with fringes along the
sleeves and down the back. Many metal pendants and braids woven from pieces of
fabric, birds’ wings, and feathers hung from it. The use of metal was significant as
this material was believed among some peoples to be inhabited by the spirits who
aided the shaman.
Metal jewelry was important to all the women of the southern Siberian repub-
lics. Buryat women wore metal chest-pieces, belt ornaments, and pendants fixed to
their braided hair. More long pendants hung down the chest, attached to a beaded
headband at the temples. Pieces of turquoise, blue lazurite, coral, and amber were
also applied to festive headdresses.
A few practical elements of traditional Siberian dress such as reindeer-skin
boots remain in use, alongside the homogenized Western clothing, which has
almost entirely overtaken it. Fabrics and garments developed by new technologies
often provide better insulation against the extreme cold than what was worn in the
past. The Yakut have devised a reconstructed national costume for special occa-
sions, featuring bead decoration and embroidery in traditional designs.

Dress and Fashion—Vol. 9. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Chenciner, Robert. Daghestan: Tradition & Survival. Richmond, UK: Curzon
Press, 1997.
Kalashnikova, N. M., and G. A. Pluzhnikova. Odezhda narodov SSSR. National
Costumes of the Soviet Peoples. Moscow: Planeta, 1990.
Kelly, Mary B. Goddess Embroideries of the Northlands. Hilton Head Island, SC:
Studiobooks, 2007.
Paine, Sheila. The Golden Horde. London: Penguin, 1997.

Sidorenko, V. A., et al. Narodnyi Kostium Penzenskoi Gubernii. National Costume
of Penza Province, Late 19th–Early 20th Century. Penza, Russia: Pelican, 2005.
Torchinskay, Elga, and Galina Komleva. Jewellery (from the Museum of the Eth-
nography of the Peoples of the USSR). Leningrad: Aurora, 1988.
Rwanda and Uganda
Christina Lindholm
Rwanda
Evidence shows that the area that is now Rwanda has been inhabited by a hunt-
ing and gathering pygmoid group as far back as 35,000 years. Agriculture flour-
ished in the 7th to 10th centuries under the Bantu-speaking Hutu peoples while the
Tutsis, a pastoral people, arrived in the mid-14th century. A Tutsi dynasty emerged
that ruled the country until the late 19th century. Europeans explored the region
starting with J. H. Speke in the late 1850s. The Germans assumed rule of Rwanda
in 1899 and soon afterward Catholic missionaries arrived to convert the popula-
tion. German rule gave way to Belgian administration after World War I and a
concerted effort began to Westernize the country.
Rwanda and Burundi formed an administrative union with the Congo in 1925,
and Rwanda-Burundi became a UN trust territory under Belgian administration in
1946. A Hutu-Tutsi conflict occurred in 1959 and lasted sporadically until 1964,
during which Rwanda gained independence in 1962. Corrupt politics led to years
of economic struggle and political strife, and the Hutu-Tutsi division ultimately
led to the genocide during which Hutus are reported to have slaughtered 800,000
Tutsis in three months in 1994. The current government, the Rwandan Patriotic
Front (RFP), seeks to provide a multiethnic idea of Rwandan national identity by
promoting equal rights for all Rwanda citizens. The current population estimate for
Rwanda is 11,689,700.
Uganda
The Kingdom of Buganda had a well-developed, centuries-old political system
when it was “discovered” by Arab traders in the 1830s. The traders were followed
in the 1860s by British explorers and then by Christian missionaries in the late
1870s. A charter granting control of the area was assigned to the British East Africa
640
Rwanda and Uganda | 641
Company in 1888 and later acknowledged by an 1890 Anglo-German agreement,

which confirmed Britain’s management of Uganda. The kingdom became a British
protectorate in 1894. This arrangement was changed in 1961 when Britain permit-
ted internal self-government. Benedicto Kiwanuka of the Democratic Party was
elected as the first chief minister, although Uganda retained its membership in the
Commonwealth. Full independence was achieved in 1962.
Competing ideologies began to create strife soon after. Citizens in favor of a
centralized state competed with those in favor of an informal coalition of locally
based tribes. Prime Minister Milton Obote ousted the ceremonial president and
vice president and declared the country a republic in 1967.
January 1971 saw a military coup led by Idi Amin Dada who declared him-
self president and amended the constitution to obtain absolute power. The ensuing
eight years saw the expulsion of various ethnic groups, massive economic decline,
and outrageous human rights abuses. The International Commission of Jurists esti-
mates that at least 100,000 people were murdered during Amin’s reign, while oth-
ers estimate a much higher figure.
Kampala, the capital of Uganda, was captured in 1979 by Ugandan exiles
backed by Tanzanian armed forces. Amin fled and Yusuf Lule established the short-
lived Uganda National Liberation Front. Years of political upheaval followed with
various factions assuming control and ruling in a wide manner of political systems.
In 2011, Yoweri Museveni was elected as Uganda’s fourth president with 68 per-
cent of the vote. The current population estimate is approximately 35,873,250.
Rwanda
Rwanda is known as the “land of a thousand hills.” About the size of Maryland,
Rwanda is surrounded by Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda,
and Tanzania. It is a country of steep mountains, volcanoes, and high plains with
most of the country at least 3,300 feet above sea level. It has few natural resources
and the economy is agriculturally based, accounting for about 41 percent of the
GDP (2010). It is estimated that 90 percent of the working population is engaged
in some type of farming. The major cash crops are coffee and tea, which grow well
on the steep mountain slopes. Lake Kivu, the Ruzizi River, and the Kagera River
are the major bodies of water. The high altitude provides a consistent and moderate
climate. Major shifts in temperature occur when traveling from the lowlands to the
mountains, the highest of which, Mt. Karisimbi, is snowcapped. There is a long
rainy season from February to May and a shorter one in November and December.
Rwanda’s silverback mountain gorilla tribes, found in the Virunga Mountains, are
a popular tourist attraction. The film Gorillas in the Mist, depicting the life and
work of Dian Fossey, was filmed here. Hotel Rwanda, a film about the genocide,
was also produced in Rwanda.
Uganda
Uganda is a small, landlocked country roughly the size of Oregon. It is rich
in natural resources with hydropower and deposits of copper, cobalt, limestone,
and salt. It is basically a plateau rimmed with mountains and it enjoys a mild cli-
mate with plenty of rainfall. About 25 percent of the land is arable and agriculture
accounts for about 23 percent of the gross domestic product. Export crops includ-
ing vanilla, vegetables, fruits, cut flowers, and fish have been steadily increasing,
while traditional exports such as cotton, tea, and tobacco continue to be mainstays.
Uganda is the second largest African producer of coffee and agriculture employs
more than 80 percent of the workforce. About 45 percent of the country is grass
and woodland, and roughly 13 percent is set aside as national parks, forests, and
game reserves. Four of East Africa’s lakes are either on or within Uganda’s borders.
These beautiful lakes and mountains make Uganda a popular tourist destination.
Rwanda
All three of the early settler groups of Rwanda are still present today. About 1
percent of the country is Twa, also known as Pygmies; 15 percent are Tutsi; and 84
percent are Hutu. The small number of Tutsis is a reflection of the above-mentioned
genocide and it also accounts for the very young median age (18.7 years) of Rwan-
dans. There is also a very high incidence of AIDS, which further impacts rates
of life expectancy. The official languages are Kinyarwanda (a Bantu language),
French, and English, although Swahili is widely spoken in the commercial centers.
Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa by size. Its 11,370,425
residents are predominantly Christian. Roman Catholics account for 56.5 percent,
Protestants 26 percent, and Adventists 11.1 percent. Muslims make up only 4.6
percent of the population, and there is a tiny percentage of people who either still
hold indigenous beliefs (0.1 percent), or express no religious belief (1.7 percent).
Uganda
Uganda currently has a population of about 34.6 million people, composed of
more than 30 ethnic groups. The Bagada are the largest group, representing about
17 percent of the population, and the Bunyoro and Batoro are the smallest with
about 3 percent each. The official languages are Swahili and English, although
many local languages are still in daily use. The population is largely rural, with the
largest concentration of people in the southern region and the capital city, Kam-
pala. Life expectancy is approximately 53 years.
Christianity is practiced by 66 percent of Ugandans and is equally divided
between Catholics and Protestants. Muslims account for 16 percent of the popula-
tion while indigenous beliefs are still held by 18 percent.
People and Dress
Rwanda
The study of traditional dress in Rwanda has benefited greatly by early Euro-
pean explorers who arrived armed with cameras and a desire to document what
they saw. Thus photographs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries depict
Rwandans wearing softened animal skins, hides, and elaborate headdresses. These
garments tended to have two or three pieces; men wore a wrapper at the waist
extending to the knees or ankles and a rectangle covering the upper body tied
like a toga at the shoulder. There was
an additional skirt for adult women,
worn under the wrapper. This under-
skirt, the inkanda, was the most costly
of the garments as it was made from
cowhide and marked the wearer as a
married woman. The two men’s gar-
ments were generally made of sheep,
goat, or antelope hide for the upper
body piece, with the belt or wrapper
made from the skin of a male calf.
After World War I, Rwanda was
ceded to Belgium and Western-style
dress with a strong French influence
became more popular. A hybrid tradi-
tion evolved for women that reflects the
shape of the early skirt, top and cloth
tied toga style at the shoulder. This style Rwandan woman wears a combination
is still popular today and called a bazzin of traditional and western dress, 2010.
or a pagne. These may be constructed (Dreamstime.com)
of imported lightweight silky polyester jacquard weaves or of heavier printed cloth,

usually cotton, from western Africa. Whether wearing traditional style or Western-
ized dress, women almost always wear skirts or dresses. Trousers on a woman are
almost never seen, but when they are worn, it is almost always by a younger, trendy
woman in the city. Women in rural parts of the country wear a top and skirt with the
additional cloth wrapper tied either around their waist over the skirt or tied higher up
under their armpits.
For men, a Western shirt and trousers are the usual dress. Appearance is impor-
tant, so suits and jackets are common for professional men. Any type of Western
fashion is considered desirable, so wealthy, educated, upper-class men are usually
well turned out in starched shirts, silk ties, and tailor-made suits.
Children wear uniforms to school, but are otherwise dressed in Western chil-
dren’s styles of T-shirts, shorts, and jeans. These, along with a plethora of adult
clothing and accessories, are readily available at the markets where a lively trade in
both new and secondhand Western clothing provides much of the clothing for the
country. Literally, any type of merchandise might be found at the markets: under-
wear, casual wear, business attire and even white Western-style wedding dresses.
Jeans are popular as are branded athletic team wear. One of the results of prizing
Western dress is that printed T-shirts are worn by people who possibly have no idea
what the saying means. Two examples of these T-shirts were seen in the summer
of 2011 in rural Rwanda. One T-shirt was printed Wrigley Field 1914, referencing
the baseball home field of the Chicago Cubs, while another stated “Fat People are
Harder to Kidnap.”
The markets also offer an abundance of cloth cut into 6.5-yard (6-meter)
lengths in a wide variety of colors and prints. Much of the cloth is cotton with
batik wax print designs, but Western synthetic cloth is also available in the market
stalls. Tailors are on hand with their sewing machines to make small repairs or to
take orders for custom-made garments.
Footwear varies by occasion. Bare feet are common in rural areas, and for
informal activities, Western thongs, flip-flops, and rubber sandals are inexpensive
and quite common. Athletic shoes and sneakers are also available. Dressier events
require more formal Western dress shoes for both men and women.
Prisoners are a common sight in Kigali, the capital city. Their two-piece uni-
forms of pullover tops and loose trousers indicate something about their crime and
sentence. Prisoners in green are usually being transported from one location to
another and still have a significant amount of time left to serve. Prisoners dressed
in blue are nearing the end of their sentence and are seen working in public on
community service projects. Those prisoners dressed in pink have been found
guilty of participating in the genocide and are serving a lifetime sentence.

Early Rwandan clothing was made entirely by hand of skins, pelts, and bark
cloth, but with the arrival of European explorers and the resulting intrusion of colo-
nialism, cotton cloth became available and was quickly adopted into dress practices.
Bark cloth was used early, but disappeared almost entirely after contact was made
with Europeans. A 1907 photograph of King Musinga portrays him in an ankle-
length sarong of white cloth with what appears to be an imported belt. Eventually,
imported sturdy cotton cloth would replace nearly all other materials for dress.
Jewelry and Adornment

Jewelry and adornment in Rwanda was worn in the form of protective amulets.
A married woman would tie a multitude of charms onto her belt throughout her
life and it was common for children to wear similar amulets. These were made
from various natural materials including teeth, horn, claws, seeds, and roots. The
amulets were fastened to the body with strong grass, string, leather, and even wire.
Adults also wore charms as protection against illness, injury, and magical and nat-
ural spirits. Amulets, particularly those worn by adults, were often concealed.
Other adornment conveyed status, such as the mother’s headband announcing
her role as a fertile female and an adult. Men from southern Rwanda occasionally
wore a wide wooden bracelet, which protected the hunter from the backlash of the
hunting bow. Tattooing and scarification were evident and often on the chest and
arms. Glass beads and cowrie shells were highly valued items available only to the
king and the very wealthy.
Hair is usually worn short by both men and women; however, in Kigali it is not
uncommon to see the occasional woman with hair extensions. Printed cloth tur-
bans are popular in Kigali and are usually coordinated with the print of the dress.

Ethnic dress has entirely disappeared from Rwanda. Echoes of early skin and
hide garments are seen in the shape of the women’s three-piece dress of top, skirt, and
wrapper. For formal occasions, the wrapper is always tied over the right shoulder. The
head wrap or turban is the only non-Western item seen consistently in the country.
Uganda
The large number of Uganda’s ethnic groups makes a uniform discussion of
Ugandan dress impossible as each group had a particular style of dressing. There
was no singular Ugandan national dress.
Prior to Western contact, dress in

Uganda was achieved through wear-
ing animal hides, skins, bark cloth,
and feathers. Various types of hide,
such as leopard and lion, and certain
feathers were reserved for the lead-
ers as visible declarations of status
and power. Ordinary men wore sheep
or goat hides. Women wore two skins
fastened around the waist, covering
them to the ankles. Female children
were dressed only in a narrow beaded
belt, while prepubescent males wore a
goatskin cloak around their shoulders.
The arrival of Christian missionar-
ies in the 1800s started a trend toward
Westernized dress. Embarrassed by
Woman wears a gomesi in the Nakasongolo nudity, the missionaries encouraged
district of Uganda, 2007. (Andy Aitchison/In the local population to adopt more
Pictures/Corbis) covering garments. This resulted in
an ankle-length, Victorian-style dress
called gomesi or busuti. This garment typically has a square neckline set into a
square yoke, which usually has two decorative buttons on the left side. The body
of the dress is stitched into the yoke and falls freely to the ankles. It is tied around
the hips with a contrasting wide sash whose ties also reach the ankles. A notable
characteristic of the gomesi is the highly peaked, gathered sleeves, which extend to
the elbow. The dress is made from industrially manufactured cloth, often a brightly
printed cloth or a shiny satin-type cloth. It requires about six yards of cloth to make
a gomesi. While it is always worn at celebrations, it is not uncommon to see the
gomesi worn for daily use. For ceremonies women spend time carefully arranging
the left side of the gomesi into pleats that fall directly under the decorative buttons.
The kanzu is the preferred ceremonial garb for men. It was introduced by
Arab traders and is now worn for all special occasions including the introduc-
tion ceremony (a prewedding ceremony), weddings, and last rites. The kanzu is
a hand-sewn tunic reaching to the ankles. Occasionally, long trousers are worn
underneath. Originally constructed of bark cloth, the modern kanzu is made from
cotton, linen, or other natural-colored cloth. It may be plain or decorated around
the neck and down the entire front with maroon-colored Omulela patterns. Kanzus
are an important part of the wedding ceremony. The groom’s family is required to
dress in kanzus and to present kanzus to the bride’s male relatives.
Both genders may wear a kitenge outfit. This suit is cut from a brightly colored
six-yard length of cotton cloth imported from West Africa. For women, this popu-
lar outfit is comprised of a wrapper worn sarong style as a skirt, a wide-necked
blouse, and a one-yard turban. Men wear kitenge cut as a pair of loose trousers and
a long tunic.
Children are dressed entirely in Westernized children’s wear.

Approximately 300 years ago, the Baganda tribe developed the ability to beat
the bark of the fig tree into a fibrous semiflexible cloth. It was worn by the royalty
of Baganda until the 19th century. Animal skins and hides were used as well as nat-
ural grasses. All early work was done by hand. With increased trade and Western
religious influence, imported industrially produced cloth replaced skins and hides.
Jewelry and Adornment

Adornment varied widely by region. It included necklaces made from beads,
earrings, nose and lip ornaments, and bracelets. Materials used were ivory, cop-
per, iron, brass, grass, and seeds. As in most other aspects, Western-style jewelry
has largely replaced traditional jewelry. Other nonjewelry decoration featured tat-
toos, piercing, scarification, body painting, decoration with ghee (clarified butter),
and headdresses. Tribal initiation or medicinal rites may include the removal of
selected teeth. Adornments were sometimes interspersed with charms and herbs,
which served to protect the body as well as beautify it.

Twentieth-century communication in the forms of Internet, television, and
print media as well as increased international travel have introduced Ugandans to
global fashion. Traditional dress of all ethnic groups is now rapidly being replaced
by Western attire. Uganda offers a large market for secondhand clothing imported
from Europe and the United States. It has become a profitable business and com-
petes equally with new garments and textiles. Many Ugandans who cannot afford
entirely Western dress combine kitenge and other parts of local dress with pieces
of imported clothing to present their unique and individual fashion style.
Further Reading
Allen, Tim. “Understanding Alice: Uganda’s Holy Spirit Movement in Context.”
Africa 61 (3): 37–39, 1991.
Bernt Hansen, Holger, and Michael Twaddle, eds. Developing Uganda. Athens,
OH: Ohio University Press, 1998.
Bernt Hansen, Holger, and Michael Twaddle, eds. Uganda Now: Between Decay
and Development. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1988.
Bukenya, Jude. “‘Kansu,’ a Traditional Costume.” Ultimate Media, 3 April, 2007.
Carr, Rosamond Halsey, and Ann Howard Halsey. Land of a Thousand Hills: My
Life in Rwanda. New York: Plume, 2000.
Des Forges, Alison. Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan, 1999.
Geary, Christraud M. In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa, 1885–
1960. Washington, DC: Smithsonian National Museum of African Art; London:
Philip Wilson Publishers, 2002.
Jennings, Christian. Across the Red River: Rwanda, Burundi, and the Heart of
Darkness. London: Phoenix, 2001.
Nakazibwe, Venny, and Sylvia Nannyonga-Tamusuza. “Uganda.” Berg Encyclope-
dia of World Dress and Fashion, Vol. 9. Oxford: Berg, 2010.
Otiso, Kefa M. Culture and Customs of Uganda. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
2006.
Trowell, Margaret, and Klaus Wachsmann. Tribal Crafts of Uganda. Oxford:
Ugandans at Heart. “Gomesi” as a National Dress of Uganda? http://ugandansat
heart.org/2009/01/08/gomesi-as-a-national-dress-of-uganda/.
Wagner, Michele D. “Rwanda and Uganda.” Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress
and Fashion, Vol. 9. Oxford: Berg, 2010.
Slovenia
Pamela Smith

Situated at the center of Europe, Slovenia is a country of 7,827 square miles (20,273
square kilometers), sharing borders with Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia.
Its diverse terrain includes a coast on the Adriatic Sea and inland a landscape of
mountains, valleys, and forest, with climate types ranging from sub-Mediterranean
on the coast, continental with hot summers and cold winters inland, and Alpine in
the uplands. It is a popular tourist destination, particularly for its mountain scenery
and beautiful lakes, such as Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj, and winter sports.
Slovenia has had a complicated political history, being subject in turn over the
last 250 years alone to many different power structures—among them the Holy
Roman Empire, the Habsburg monarchy, the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy,
the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, and the Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia. Slovenia became an independent republic in 1991, after the breakup of
communist Yugoslavia. Its current population is nearly 2,000,000.
It was only after the First World War in 1918, as part of the new state of
the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, that the Slovene people achieved
a degree of autonomy. Previously the territory of Slovenia had been part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. This explains why the development of Slovenian dress
styles relates more to those of Western and Central Europe, rather than Slavic East-
ern Europe, even though the Slovenes and their language have Slavic origins. For
example, close-fitting bodices and caps were, historically, important components
of women’s dress in Slovenia, as they were in countries such as Germany, Austria,
and Hungary.
Historically the peasantry was almost exclusively ethnically Slovene, while
the upper-class families often originated from other parts of the ruling Austro-
Hungarian Empire. A common factor across all classes was adherence to the
Roman Catholic Church. The custom of married women modestly covering the
head was a religious and social norm.
649
People and Dress

For much of its history the development of dress in Slovenia was clearly defined
along two distinct paths. Urban dress rapidly absorbed influences from beyond
Slovenian borders, facilitated by the social and trade links that spread throughout
the various larger political structures of the region. The dress style of the nobil-
ity and bourgeoisie was not prone to provincial or regional particularities, being
shaped by the current European fashions.
In contrast, the peasants’ way of life in the countryside, including their dress,
remained relatively static until the mid- to late-19th century, though regional dif-
ferences were evident. Slovenian ethnic dress of the 18th and 19th centuries has
been defined by ethnographers as falling within three basic regional types: the
Alpine, the Primorska, and the Pannonian. The differences between them arose
from influences coming from the ethnic dress of neighboring countries.
Alpine Dress
This style of dress was common over most of northern and western Slovenia,
apart from some areas along the Adriatic coast. In design, it closely resembled
peasant ethnic dress found throughout Central Europe.
The men’s dress consisted of relatively tight-fitting, three-quarter-length trou-
sers of woolen cloth, dyed linen, or leather, fastened below the knee. For festive
wear these were decoratively quilted. Linen shirts with an open front were often
collarless. Over these, vests of woolen cloth or velvet were worn, often featuring
a row of large metal buttons. The vest was an indispensable item of both festive
and work attire. Headwear included wide-brimmed felt or straw hats and fur or
dormouse-skin caps in winter. The common types of footwear were leather shoes
or knee-high boots with the tops folded over, worn with or without stockings.
Wooden clogs were worn at work. For festive occasions colorful silk, cotton, or
woolen scarves were tied around the neck, and in some places wealthy peasants
wore a wide red belt. Winter outerwear for peasants consisted of jackets, rather
than long coats. Prosperous farmers might wear fur coats decorated with wool
embroidery or leather appliqué.
Women’s dress of the Alpine type was of several varieties, noticeable in the cut
of the shirts, the length and folds of the skirts, and the forms of headwear. The most
common basic garment was a short, white linen collarless shirt with long sleeves,
over which was worn a sleeveless bodice, fastened or tied across the breasts to sup-
port them, and sewn to the ankle-length skirt. The bodice was usually of a different
fabric from that of the skirt; brocade bodices with decorative velvet ribbons were
Slovenia | 651
particularly prized. Long, wide, gath-

ered aprons were part of both festive
and work wear. In the early 19th cen-
tury these were white, later more often
black, blue, or multicolored. Women
wore leather shoes or short boots, and
clogs for everyday and work use. Their
warm outerwear was a short-waisted or
longer jacket, rarely a fur or cloth coat.
Primorska (or
Mediterranean) Dress
This type was commonly worn
in the coastal region of Istria and
neighboring Brkini, and some vil-
lages around Trieste. Men’s dress
was close to the Alpine type, but the Postcard illustration by Maksim Gaspari
three-quarter-length trousers were (1883–1980) depicting the style of dress
wider. Peasants’ winter trousers were from Gorenjska, adopted as the “national
long and tight-fitting, made of white costume.” Lake Bled can be seen in the
cloth with a decoration of applied blue background. (Courtesy Pamela Smith)
cords, while vests and short and long
jackets were of coarse brown cloth with applied edgings in different colors. Towns-
men wore long-sleeved jackets of fine woolen cloth. Their vests of factory-made
fabrics had double rows of buttons. Men of all classes wore low shoes fastened
with laces or a clasp. In Istria and Brkini both men and women also wore opanke
(soft-soled leather sandals with ankle straps)—a type of footwear found in many
of the warmer parts of Eastern Europe.
Women wore long loose garments in layers, unlike the very fitted bodices and
skirts of the Alpine style. The first layer was a straight linen undergarment with
long, wide sleeves decorated with colorful ribbons or inset lace. Over this they put
on two long sleeveless garments, open down the front; the first of white linen or
cotton and the top one of white, brown, or black cloth. The festive versions were
embellished with parallel folds running down from the breast and from halfway
down the back. With these dresses women wore a wide apron (dark-colored for
married women or light for girls), and the outer dress was tied with a woolen belt.
The most common type of headwear was a white embroidered headscarf, together
with a similar shoulder scarf.
Pannonian Dress
This was worn in the eastern part of Slovenia, with both men’s and women’s
dress differing considerably from the Alpine and Primorska types. Until the 1870s
the principal material used for garments of both sexes was undyed linen, leading to
this type often being referred to as the “white dress.” In fabric and cut it was closest
to the dress of neighboring Hungary and the northern part of Croatia, but also had
similarities to that of Czechs, Slovaks, and southern Poles.
Men’s dress comprised a shirt and long trousers, both of linen. In winter trou-
sers were tight-fitting, made of white woolen cloth decorated with colored cords.
A waistcoat of white, dark red, green, or blue cloth and a wide leather belt were
common elements. Winter outerwear included various types of white cloth jackets.
In parts of northeastern Slovenia cloth coats inspired by Hungarian and Croatian
fashions were worn, as well as black or white fur coats. Headwear included black
hats or red cloth caps without a brim.
Women’s dress consisted of a shirt and a skirt of white linen. Variations
occurred in Štajerska (Slovenian Styria), where peasant women also wore col-
ored linen or woolen skirts. Outfits were completed by a white linen apron and a
brightly colored or black woven belt.
Headwear
The most distinctive element of Slovenian ethnic dress was women’s headwear.
From the 15th century onward the most common type for married women of all
classes and regions was the white headscarf, the peča, arranged in various ways. In
the 17th and 18th centuries it was usual to wear a close-fitting bonnet underneath.
Scarves were folded on the head or tied to it, covering the hair and neck. For festive
occasions the fabric chosen was either brightly colored or as white as possible. The
undyed linen cloth originally used for everyday wear was whitened to some extent by
sun, dew, and frequent washing, but this was gradually replaced by cotton, especially
for those wealthy enough to afford the fine, soft, and very white fabric imported
from the west. While the wearing of headscarves linked Slovenian dress with that of
other Slavic nations, the Slovenian white scarf evolved along its own path, with form
and decoration becoming increasingly elaborate. Scarves were often embroidered or
trimmed with lace, in black or gold for the wealthy and white for peasants—decora-
tive features attributed to rococo fashion trends coming from western Europe.
From the 1870s onward industrially manufactured headscarves of white mus-
lin or tulle became common in central Slovenia, worn on festive occasions. These
large cloths were tied in a knot on the top of the head, with the tail ends decorated
with gathered starched lace and fixed upright by means of pins, wire, or stitching.
Slovenia | 653
The style was known as the “cock’s

comb.” This way of tying a scarf is
today often erroneously said to be the
most Slovene, but it was not worn all
over the country. Because of its con-
spicuous appearance it became an ele-
ment of the ensemble considered as
the national costume.
Another form of headwear that has
survived into the 21st century for folk-
lore events and performances is the
richly decorated high bonnet (avba)
of the type originally worn in the 16th
century by prosperous women, par-
ticularly in the Gorenjska area around
Lake Bled. It consists of a voluminous
crown of gathered white fabric with an
attached wide band covered in gold-
thread embroidery framing the face.
A large ribbon covers the nape of the
neck, its ends falling down the back. Woman at the Kamnik Folk Festival wearing
Unmarried girls wore the zavijačka, a a modern creation of the avba headdress,
white, triangular scarf with a similar from the Gorenjska region, 2009. Long
woven ribbons are attached to the back.
embroidered band. The gold decora-
(Courtesy Pamela Smith)
tion on both represented the wealth
and status of the wearer.
Jewelry
The use of jewelry was rare among the majority peasant population until the mid-
19th century, when it became more affordable due to new techniques and cheaper
materials. Peasants were able to buy imported mass-produced jewelry and the prod-
ucts of domestic metal craftsmen from traveling peddlers and at fairs. The most pop-
ular items were earrings, pendants, clasps, decorative buttons, and metal belts.
Peasants regarded wearing jewelry as appropriate only on feast days and spe-
cial occasions, whereas the nobility and the bourgeoisie used expensive items daily
to indicate their status.
The clasp is the item of jewelry most associated with the style of dress that
evolved as the Slovenian national costume. Wire clasps decorated with glass beads
were used to fasten shirts and scarves across the breast all over Slovenia until the
mid-19th century, when they survived only in Bela Krajina in the southeast. Gilded
or silvered clasps, made of thin sheet metal, silver with a stone, or silver coins,
were also worn in the 19th century.
Gilded metal belts (sklepanec) were worn by the upper classes in the Middle
Ages and were later adopted in simplified forms, and cheaper materials such as
brass, in the dress of peasant women. The original practical purpose of such belts
was to carry attached keys, useful tools, and so on, but they subsequently became
a purely decorative item and an element of the national costume.

During the last decades of the 19th century, many peoples of Central and East-
ern Europe, who were subjects of the great empires of the day, began to assert their
individual national identities. Educated Slovenes expressed this by promoting the
use of the Slovenian language in public life and literature over the dominant Ger-
man. A form of dress was established as a representative national costume, sym-
bolizing the new ideas and aspirations.
It was modeled on early-19th-century
peasant dress, because the rural popu-
lation was of Slovene ethnicity, unlike
the nobility and bourgeoisie. The
chosen style imitated only the most
luxurious Gorenjska variety of the
Alpine type, developing over time
with increasing stylization, richer
materials, and accessories into a more
or less static form, such as had never
existed in peasant life. This costume
was worn at events such as national
awakening meetings, celebrations to
welcome visiting dignitaries, and reli-
gious processions. Between the two
World Wars, the Gorenjska dress was
joined by others, such as Bela Krajina,
Primorska, and Carinthian dress. All
in stylized forms of the original 19th-
Participants in the Kamnik Folk Festival,
century ethnic dress, these assumed
2009. They wear dress of the Alpine type.
Note the woman’s metal belt (sklepanec) equal status as national costumes.
and man’s three-quarter-length trousers. In the 21st century the clothes
(Courtesy Pamela Smith) worn in Slovenia are generally indis-
Slovenia | 655
tinguishable from the Westernized style seen anywhere in the developed world. It
is only on occasions such as folk festivals, events aimed at tourists, and regional
or national celebrations that traditional ethnic dress may be worn to express a par-
ticular Slovenian identity.
Every year in September a festival of folk culture takes place in the small
town of Kamnik, not far from the capital city, Ljubljana. Established in the 1970s,
the highlight of the event is a parade of people from all over Slovenia wearing
the traditional dress from their particular locality. Both rural and urban styles are
represented. Many of the participants belong to groups who meet regularly to pre-
serve and celebrate their traditional culture, often through folk music and dance,
and wearing the appropriate form of dress is an important part of any performance.
At events such as the Kamnik festival there are opportunities for the enthusiast to
buy either original or recreated items of folk dress, such as elaborate pleated head-
dresses, intricately woven shawls, or leather boots with decorative stitching.

Dress and Fashion, Vol. 9: East Europe, Russia, and the Caucasus. New York:
Slovenia—Board of Tourism. “Days of National Costumes.” http://www.slovenia
.info/en/prireditve-festivali/Days-of-national-costumes.htm?prireditve_
festivali=66337&lng=2. 2012.
Žagar, Janja. Pokrivala. Headwear. Ljubljana: Slovenski Ethnografski Muzej,
2004.
Somalia
Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi

Somalia is located right on the Somali peninsula in the northeastern Africa that
gave rise to the name Horn of Africa. On its northern side are the Gulf of Aden
and the Republic of Djibouti, on its eastern side is the Indian Ocean, on its west is
Ethiopia, and on its south is Kenya.
The Somali people, after whom the country is named, have lived for millennia
in this part of the world. Islam arrived early among the Somali; thus, Somalis have
been part of the Muslim world for over a thousand years.
Climatically, the land is mostly semiarid to arid, although it cannot be described
as a desert, except in some areas near the shore. In the north, the main land feature
is the Golis range of mountains, which runs east and west, and is close to the coast
in the east. There are two main rivers, the Shabelle River and the Juba River, which
rise in Ethiopia. The Juba reaches the Indian Ocean near the town of Kismayo
in the south, while the Shabelle ends in a marsh near the town of Baraawe in the
south. Temperatures are moderate to high depending on elevation; for example, the
climate in the Golis range is temperate, while it is hot in coastal areas.
For millennia, Somalis have been pastoralists for the most part, because of the
dry climate; but they have also been farmers in areas where agriculture is possible.
Many people are also seafarers and traders, traveling to places such as Arabia,
India, and the Indonesian islands.
Along the coasts and in some inland places, after the arrival of Islam, they devel-
oped sultanates and city-states. As a result, in the Middle Ages, they had numerous
wars with the Christian Abyssinians to their west. In recent times, the land of the
Somalis was divided into five regions. Great Britain took the northern areas; France
took the northernmost part that would become the Republic of Djibouti; Italy took
the southern region; Great Britain again took the southernmost part that would
become today’s northern Kenya; Abyssinia, renamed Ethiopia, took the western
region. This division of Somali territory is symbolized in the five-pointed star of
Somalia. After independence, the Italian territory and the British territory of the
656
Somalia | 657
north united in 1960 and formed the Somali Republic, known popularly as Somalia.
After nine years of civilian regime, in 1969, the army led by General Mohamed Siad
Barre seized power; thus began the Barre dictatorship whose errors of justice and
governance led to popular revolts, and ultimately to its collapse in 1991. However,
instead of a return to civilian rule and democracy, Somalia entered a continuing
period of turmoil, characterized by a prolonged civil war, warlords, religious fun-
damentalists, and piracy on the high seas. Only in the ex-British Somaliland to the
north has a semblance of order and governance been restored. However, that part
has declared secession on the basis of its different colonial history as well as injus-
tices suffered under the union, in particular during the regime of Siad Barre. Today,
it calls itself Somaliland, but it has yet to be recognized as a separate country.
Because of past history, Somali culture, including dress, shows strains from
the different cultures that Somalis had come into contact with over millennia. In
2012, the population of Somalia was estimated at 10,085,640.

Somali clothing in the past was locally produced; the fabric was made from woven,
mostly cotton textiles using traditional looms. In the 14th century Mogadishu was
Somali man makes traditional cloth called allendi in Mogadishu, Somalia, 2010. (AP Photo/
Mohamed Sheikh Nor)
a textile-producing center and exported its products to places such as Egypt. How-
ever, the textile industry started declining after the introduction of cheap American
cotton textiles in the 19th century. Still, traditional Somali weaving has persisted to
this day, in particular in southern areas such as Mogadishu, where artisans produce
woven fabric used mostly in the production of traditional clothes. After the weaving
process, the fabric is dyed in bright colors and is sold to merchants and consumers.
This type of fabric is known as allendi. It must be said that most fabrics and dresses
are imported and ready made, making the styles of dress more homogenous.
People and Dress

Somali traditional dress is not worn often these days, and for some younger peo-
ple, the traditional dress styles are completely unknown. Traditional dress is often
worn only for ceremonial purposes or as an expression of authentic Somali cul-
ture. The decline of Somali traditional dress is largely due to two factors: adoption
of European-style dress and adoption of Arab-style dress. In particular, since the
1990s, Arab-style dress, assumed by some to be synonymous with Muslim dress,
has become widespread for both men and women. However, these garments actually
originate from Arab Bedouin tradition and not Arab urban civilization, which for a
long time has known the shirt and trousers, as well as the Arab embroidered jacket.
Men’s Traditional Dress

Traditionally, men’s dress consisted of three pieces. The first piece is the loin-
cloth (go in Somali). This is a blanket that is either wrapped around the waist or
sometimes worn in the manner of the Roman toga. When it is worn in the latter
manner, it is a large blanket wrapped around the body and tied at the shoulder,
leaving the arms bare. Sometimes instead of tying the ends of the cloth at the
shoulder, the extremities of the blanket are left to hang from the shoulders facing
the back. This loincloth is accompanied by a shirt or more recently by a European-
style shirt. The third piece is another blanket that is draped around the upper torso
in a loose manner when it is cold and carried on the shoulder when it is hot. This
second blanket (also called go) is particularly useful when sleeping out in the open
as it covers the top of the body and keeps away the biting insects. That is why even
today, men in the countryside still carry a blanket on the shoulders even when they
are dressed in trousers and a shirt.
Another type of traditional dress for men is a wraparound, loose-fitting sarong
called the ma’awis. The ma’awis, wrapped around the waist, is often similar to the
brightly colored cloth used in some Asian countries. Somalis adopted it a long time
ago, because of their trading relationships with places like Indonesia, Malaysia, and
Somalia | 659
southern India. Nowadays, in the urban areas the ma’awis has totally replaced the
go, which is associated with the countryside. The ma’awis, still mostly imported
from Indonesia, comes in various styles and fabrics. Better styles and fabrics are
more expensive than the ordinary ones, and wearing these higher quality garments
symbolizes a man’s social standing and wealth. With the ma’awis, one wears a
shirt, sometimes accompanied by a blanket thrown over the shoulders.
Traditional style headwear is either a turban (umaamad) or a skullcap (koofiyad)
that comes down to the ears. The skullcap, usually worn by older men, has geometric
embroidery. The more complex the embroidery, the more expensive the cap is.
For footwear, Somali traditional style means a pair of Somali sandals, called
jaangari. These are sturdy sandals made from leather; the front tip is curved and
tipped slightly upward. Today, the jaangari are rarely worn, but are sometimes
worn for cultural demonstrations.
Women’s Traditional Dress

Women’s clothing styles vary more than men’s do. The most elaborate gar-
ments are called gareys. This is also of a cotton fabric and is also formed from a
simple blanket, several yards long, which is wrapped around the body in a way that
allows both movement and grace. Finally, the ends are tied together at the shoulder.
The arms and parts of the shoulder are
left bare. Sometimes, a fold that falls
to the back is fashioned out of the same
blanket wrapped around the body.
This fold is used as a hood when sand
blows or when the weather turns cold.
At other times, a shawl or a scarf (in
Somali garbo-saar, literally “shoulder
wear”) is worn with the gareys. Some-
times a yarn belt comes with the gar-
eys. Such a belt with a bright-colored
tassel hanging down is called a boqor
and is worn by girls who have come of
age. A modern version of the gareys is
the guntiino (literally “knot”), which
is also wrapped around the body in the
manner of the Indian sari; the main
difference between the gareys and Somali women wearing gareys greet each
guntiino is the volume of the cloth. other, Mogadishu, Somalia, 1951. (Studio
A guntiino is less voluminous than a Patellani/Corbis)
gareys. Today, it is rare to see a gareys worn by women except at ceremonies.

Instead, in the south, sometimes a jacket of cotton cloth is worn by women with
the guntiino, instead of a shawl.
A second type of traditional dress for women is a long robe with short sleeves,
usually made of patterned cotton. This is called a toob in Somali (from Arabic
thawb). A shawl can be worn with the toob.
Another traditional dress for women is a type of a short robe reaching just
above the knees and a long skirt, accompanied by a shawl wrapped around the
shoulders.
Women wear a kerchief (called masar) over the hair and tied in the back. This
headwear is made of brighter colors for young women and more somber grays for
older women. Traditionally, nubile girls often went without a kerchief and wore
their hair plaited (braided). Female children do not have to wear anything on the
head, although this is changing now, due to current trends in religion. In the old
days, after the hair of a young girl was shaved off, a portion was left on the top of
the head in the manner of the tonsure of European monks.
Among women, traditional dress is usually accompanied by traditional jewels
and ornaments. These include necklaces of silver, gold, or amber, with earrings and
bracelets from these same materials. A particular heavy necklace is called a muri-
yad. The muriyad consists of metallic beads, usually of gold or silver, on a string.
Another necklace made of gold is the hersi. The hersi, always made of silver, is a
necklace with a box as the pendant. Sometimes the box contains a piece of paper
inscribed with some verses from the Koran to ward off the evil eye.
Traditional footwear for women means the female version of the jaangari,
described above, which is a lighter version also with some decorative patterns.
Children’s Traditional Dress

In the past, children’s dress was just reduced versions of adult dress. However,
younger children, without regard to gender, used to wear a tunic, much like a col-
larless shirt, that reached down to their ankles. This tunic for young children is still
used in the countryside.
Men’s Modern Dress

Among Somalis of today, men’s dress is either Western style or Arab Bedouin
style. In Western style, this means trousers and a shirt. The shirt is usually not
tucked into the trousers among ordinary folk. A tie and jacket/coat is also some-
times worn by government officials, businessmen, or Somalis from the diaspora
visiting their hometown.
Somalia | 661
The Arab style, wearing long robes (called khamiis in Somali), is often accom-
panied by a skullcap or a turban, sometimes worn in the Afghan style. Although
wearing the khamiis was a style of dress known among Somalis, its current popu-
larity is a reflection of the increasing religious fundamentalism in Somali society.
Women’s Modern Dress

Sometime in the 1970s, a loose-fitting tunic with bright colors, approximately
pronounced as dirih, came into being and became the universal Somali woman’s
dress, so much so that the young people may think that it is part of the traditional
Somali garments. With the dirih comes a bright-colored shawl wrapped over the
shoulders or sometimes over both shoulders and head.
While the dirih is still popular, there is an increasing use of clothing deemed
Islamic by some sections of Somali society, in particular those of the fundamentalist
persuasion. This Arab-cum-Islamic women’s dress (called the jalabeeb) consists also
of a large tunic, but in a gray color and of much tougher material than a dirih. It is
accompanied by an equally gray coverall called a dalad (literally “umbrella”), which
covers practically the whole body; however, shorter versions that reach only to the
waist or knees also exist. Sometimes a third piece accompanies the previous two; this
small sheet, called shareer or niqaab (the veil), is usually black in color. The shareer
is placed just below the eyes on the face and then tied at the back of the head; there
is a version that covers the head and face and has slits for the eyes. Sometimes, the
jalabeeb contains the veil itself, and there is no need for a separate one. This type of
dress has spread widely since the 1990s. Certainly, the veil was not totally unknown
among Somalis, as it was used by some minority communities of non-Somali origin,
in particular in the Mogadishu area; but this was more as a mark of ethnic heritage
than as anything else, as these minority communities claim an Arab heritage instead
of the African heritage of the Somalis. However, the generalization of the veil among
Somali women, who barely a few decades ago wore the guntiino that left the arms
uncovered, let alone the face, is certainly in line with the rise of religious funda-
mentalism among Somalis in the last two decades. Never before in Somali history
were Somali women veiled, with the exception of the above-mentioned minority
communities.
Children’s Modern Dress

In line with the decline of Somali traditional dress, today dress for children
means mostly of the universal European type, since children’s clothes are imported,
and people buy what is available in the market. However, for young girls the jala-
beeb (the coverall cloth) and the niqaab (the veil) have become commonplace.
Religious Dress
In the old days, the clothes worn by men of religion consisted of a ma’awis
(loincloth), a shirt, and a turban—that is to say, traditional Somali clothes. Today,
the long Arabian robe is the norm for a man of religion, accompanied by the skull-
cap or a turban.
Elder Dress
Traditional leaders, chiefs and elders, usually differ only by the presence of a
piece of cloth rolled into a broad strip, hanging from the shoulders. This is known
as the umaamad. This piece can also serve as a turban if needed. However, tra-
ditional leaders usually use the more expensive types of ma’awis (sarong) and
carry a bakoorad (cane), usually with some ornate decoration, as a symbol of their
position.
Bridal Dress
For weddings, Western bridal attire is usually worn by both the bride and
groom. However, traditionally, a bride wore the same dress that was traditionally
worn by girls who have come of age, augmented with necklaces and bracelets,
while the groom wore the traditional men’s dress described above.
Further Reading
Akou, Heather Marie. The Politics of Dress in Somali Culture. Bloomington: Indi-
ana University Press, 2011.
Diriye Abdullahi, Mohamed. Culture and Customs of Somalia. Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press, 2001.
Loughran, Katheryne, John Loughran, John Johnson, and Said S. Samatar,
eds. Somalia in Word and Image. Washington: Foundation for Cross-Cultural
Understanding, 1986.
South Pacific Islands
Christina Cie
The term “South Pacific” refers to an assorted collection of islands in that area
with an independent yet shared history, reaching up to and around the equator.
There is also some relationship with Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New
Guinea. Countries considered in this area and in this entry include the follow-
ing (populations in parentheses): New Caledonia (260,166), Fiji (890,057), Tonga
(106,146), Niue (836), Samoa (194,320), the Cook Islands (10,777), the Feder-
ated States of Micronesia (106,487), French Polynesia (274,512), Easter Island
(5,000), the Pitcairn Islands (48), Vanuatu (227,574), Wallis and Futuna (15,453),
Tuvalu (10,619), Tokelau (1,368), the Solomon Islands (584,578), Nauru (9,378),
and Kiribati (101,998). This represents a wide spread geographically as well as
socially, historically, and politically, and space prevents the consideration of indi-
vidual countries. However, the relatively small scattering of populations fall rea-
sonably into three recognized, related, but distinct groupings due to centuries of
migration, which makes a group entry for these island nations a feasible proposi-
tion. Specific countries merit in-depth, specialist research.
The islands were probably settled by migration occurring gradually from the
mainland and islands of Southeast Asia progressively outward across the South
Pacific, although there are differing theories on this. Migration likely progressed
successively, away from the larger landmasses to the islands, reached by humans
like a series of stepping-stones across the southern area of the Pacific.
Fiji and New Caledonia, along with Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, lie in
the area known as Melanesia. Peoples from this area generally fall into a particular
ethnocultural group and may differ genetically from other peoples from the Micro-
nesian and Polynesian areas of the South Pacific.
Kiribati (often pronounced “Kiribas”) and Nauru are the northernmost island
nations considered in this entry. They lie in an area commonly designated as
Micronesia, which also includes the nation named the Federated States of Micro-
nesia. Islands in this area came under European dominance quite early, beginning
663
with Spain reaching out from the Philippines in the 17th century. By the early 20th
century, the area had largely been divided into colonies shared between the United
States, Germany, and Britain, although Japan continued to have influence.
The area known as Polynesia covers a significant area of the Pacific, roughly
triangular in shape from Hawaii in the north, down toward New Zealand in the
south, and out toward Easter and Pitcairn Islands. The Pitcairns, however, have
their own distinctive history of settlement, being largely populated by Tahitian and
English descendants after the mutiny on HMS Bounty in the mid-18th century.
This area also includes Tonga, Niue, Samoa, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia,
Wallis and Futuna, Tokelau, and Tuvalu, as well as many other small islands, coral
atolls, and territories. This area was largely colonized by France and Britain, and
Hawaii remains part of the United States.

Encircled by a “Ring of Fire” of vigorous, even violent volcanic activity and earth-
quakes, the Pacific Ocean is the largest of the world’s oceans. Landmasses include
islands that are volcanic, most notably New Zealand, and even created by volcanic
activity; others may be coral atolls. An atoll is essentially a coral reef, often ring-
ing a lagoon. While most of the reef may be underwater, some areas may project
above the water and are large enough to begin to sustain terrestrial or land-based
life, including human life. Such low-lying flat lands are said to be at the earliest
risk of global warming, due to rising sea levels.
The climate is tropical or subtropical, typically ranging from hot and humid to
warm and wet, allowing coral to grow as well as a wide range of bird, plant, and
marine species. Most people have moved away from fishing and subsistence farm-
ing, with tourism being a significant factor in the economy of some nations. Some
areas benefit from mineral deposits. Remittances from family members working
overseas are often a significant contribution to many family incomes.
People and Dress

While the indigenous population still makes up the majority of the popula-
tion of these areas, there have been some significant migrations from outside the
area, which have affected the culture and customs of a few of the island nations.
In Melanesia, for example, Fiji experienced a significant influx of mostly Hindu
workers from India during the latter part of the 19th century. These were brought
in by the British to work particularly on sugarcane plantations, moving labor from
South Pacific Islands | 665
one part of their empire to another. Tension remains between the indigenous and
Indian communities. The European colonial powers’ most significant legacy has
been Christianity, which has displaced previous indigenous, often animistic reli-
gions. Various forms of Christianity are now practiced by very large sectors of the
populations.
History of Dress
One defining feature of many forms of Christianity is a notion of modesty
coupled with a strong distaste for nudity. In a tropical or subtropical climate, how-
ever, cultivated land was given over to food crops as there was little need for fabric
or clothing, in the European sense of the term, for protection or trade. Protestant
missionaries from northern Europe, particularly Britain, brought clothing defined
by that climate and culture as well as their religious concepts. This clothing was to
cover the colloquially termed “half-naked savages,” yet in fact these missionaries,
like other travelers before them, were encountering entirely different concepts of
nudity, clothing, and morality, and the assumptions that they consequently made
were not always correct.
It is difficult to trace historical dress forms in this situation because the cli-
matic conditions lead to rapid degradation and disintegration of fibers, and few
garments are left to examine. Unfortunately, the moai or massive statues of Easter
Island (or Rapa Nui) give us little clue as to what was worn. Pictorial records
exist, both painted and photographic, from the mid-19th century, but for these to
exist, the subjects in view must have had contact with European settlers with this
technology. It is difficult to know, therefore, how much their dress style has been
influenced by this contact.
Throughout the South Pacific, physical decoration not only reflected per-
sonal worth, but also family or tribe status, conveying both the individual but also
the collective value. Society is stratified throughout the South Pacific to varying
degrees, with movement between levels possible to varying degrees, and high or
low status reflected in more or less elaborate dress. Historical images of ordinary
people on islands in Polynesia can be difficult to source, but generally, the lower
half of the torso and genitals was covered to approximately the knee for both men
and women. Both men and women may have worn the “grass skirts” of long dried
grasses hanging like fringing from waistband to knee or lower, with men particu-
larly supplementing these for ceremonial and formal dress with shorter grass fring-
ing wrapping around and hanging down from above the bicep and also from above
the calf and sometimes ankles. Necklaces were often worn to decorate the other-
wise naked torso. Feet were bare, but hair was often a distinctive feature, maybe
decorated with flowers, feathers, or headdresses made from these as well as shells
Young women in Fiji wearing native dress and accessories, c. 1881. (Gerrard Ansdell
Collection/Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand)
and woven grasses. Across the region, however, the differences that have evolved
within this general framework are what define the dress of a particular area.
In Melanesia, New Caledonians may wear longer, fuller grass skirts so no
underskirt is necessary. Necklaces with large single pendants of distinctive shell
or tusk (pigs accompanied early Pacific Islanders on their migrations as an ongo-
ing food source) decorated the upper half of the body. Hair was often combed to
stand out from the head and to carry decoration. Solomon Island women may wear
multiple strings of small shells or beads as long necklaces, with a corresponding
headdress strapped across the forehead. High-ranking Fijians may have worn the
wasekaseka, a collar-style necklace of carved whalebone reaching out to the shoul-
ders and down to the chest. A grass skirt, bare top and lower legs, with adornment
at the neck and simple decoration with flowers, feathers, or grasses in the hair to
emphasize height and width may be assumed.
A reclining Samoan woman of great beauty, c. 1900. (State Library of South Australia)
Micronesia as an area includes several small distinct nations, and styles of

national dress show elements also seen in both Melanesia and Polynesia. Kiribati
women may match woven headdresses with one or several woven grass necklaces
draped across the shoulder, echoing the crosswise-slung beaded necklaces seen in
the Solomon Islands, with necklaces draping to form a cross between the breasts.
Styles from the Federated States of Micronesia may include multicolored full-
length grass skirts with an additional short full layer of fringing hanging to hip
length. This is particularly seen in costumes for traditional dance performances,
also seen in Tahiti and the Cook Islands in Polynesia, where visual emphasis on
the hips enhances the style of dance. It must be noted, however, that costumes for
dance may draw on traditional dress forms, but the emphasis is on performance
rather than historical accuracy.
In Polynesia, moving farther away from large landmasses, and in some cases
farther south resulting in a relatively cooler climate, the grass skirt translates into a
fine, close-woven mat, perhaps giving greater warmth. Tapa, a nonwoven material
formed from bark beaten, is sometimes worn as a skirt. Grass may also be woven
into a high, elaborate headdress as seen in French Polynesia (including Tahiti),
although simpler headdresses made of fresh dark green grass or flax, instead of the
dried blond form, may also be seen.

Fine mats can take many months to weave from prepared grasses, and are often
woven collectively. Due to the narrow width of the grass used, the mats are fine and
pliable, and are not used on the floor. Instead they are worn at ceremonies, particu-
larly by the chiefly class, and given as gifts or exchanged as a form of currency.
They are an integral part of status and ceremony, and many are treasured and very
highly valued. Tongans will often wear a fine mat over their clothes, wrapped high
on the waist or even over the chest, tied with a dark-colored narrow tie belt, when
attending church.
Tapa, also known as bark cloth, sits somewhere between paper and cloth.
It is made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry or breadfruit tree, stripped
and beaten intensively to flatten and soften into strips, and later joined together.
This is physically demanding, often communal work done by women, who may
help the work pass by beating rhythmically rather than randomly. The sheets of
tapa are often large, stretching several feet in length, and decorated in local styles
by dyeing or smoking, and rubbing, painting, stenciling, or stamping with a pat-
tern often drawn from local surroundings, flora and fauna, usually in a black or
rust-brown color. There are strong regional differences in the style of tapa and its
decoration. Like the fine mat, it is worn at ceremonies and given as a highly val-
ued gift. Patterns used to decorate tapa are now also used to decorate fabric and
clothing sold locally.

Many populations in this region have now adopted European-style clothing
for everyday use. As seen in other areas, however, this has been adapted to suit the
local climate and conditions, and may be mixed with elements from earlier styles
of dress. European-style dress worn by women is often accessorized with a fresh
tropical flower tucked behind the ear. While the missionary introduction of Chris-
tianity was responsible for significantly altering the indigenous styles of dress, the
clothing that it introduced has now evolved and hybridized into distinct regional
styles. As dress customs have moved on in Europe, these styles of dress are now
often unique to a particular area.
The “Mother Hubbard” dress, much like an old-fashioned nightgown, worn
buttoned high to the neck and cuff, and draping loosely to cover the ankle, was
introduced by Christian missionaries in an attempt to cover as much skin as pos-
sible. Now often featuring short sleeves, lower necklines, and sitting above the
ankle, the various versions from different countries often feature brightly colored,
locally derived patterns, particularly flowers such as hibiscus and frangipani.
Similar fabrics can be seen in brightly colored men’s “Hawaiian” shirts. Local
designers continue to adapt and evolve the styles.
Another significance of the widescale adoption of Christianity in contempo-
rary times has been that churchgoing provides a regular occasion for the wearing
of a contemporary but traditionally informed style of dress, featuring fine mats,
tapa, woven grass hats, and garments featuring patterns drawn from traditional
iconography. As such, it could be argued that the church has been inadvertently
responsible for preserving some of the traditions that its efforts almost eradicated.
Component Parts
Throughout Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia in the South Pacific, there
are shared elements in traditional dress, with variations in length, volume, color,
and so on used to define national and regional differences. Accompanying this will
be some idiosyncratic elements unique to the individual, as physical decoration
reflects personal worth, as well as family or tribe status, conveying both the indi-
vidual but also the collective unit.
Generally, the lower half of the torso and genitals are covered with a fringed
or woven grass skirt to approximately the knee or lower for both men and women.
An underskirt will be worn as necessary. This may be supplemented, particularly
for dance, by shorter grass fringing wrapping around and hanging down from
above the bicep and also from above the calf and sometimes ankles. Necklaces
feature large single pendants of distinctive shell or tusk to decorate the upper half
of the body. Women traditionally went bare-breasted, but now cover themselves
in various ways, from modern blouses to woven grass bras, and the practical and
resourceful use of two halves of a coconut, stripped, polished, and strung into a
bra, often worn by dancers from the Cook Islands. A woven grass fan may be car-
ried for the heat, and woven hats or headdresses worn. Feet are still often bare, but
glossy, abundant long hair and shiny skin is a distinguishing feature, with particu-
larly Polynesians using coconut and fragrant oils. In many cultures, the cutting of
hair continues to have ritual significance.

While body and face paint may be used particularly toward the eastern area of
the Pacific in Melanesia and Micronesia, further travels to the west and south see
an increase in tattooing for body adornment. In climates too warm and humid to
make clothing necessary for comfort, it is common for the body itself to be deco-
rated. This can be in a nonpermanent form, with items such as flowers or feathers
worn in the hair, necklaces, and paints made to pattern the body, particularly for
ceremonial events. Adornment, particularly indicating status, may also occur in a

more permanent form such as piercings or tattooing. The word tattoo in English
is derived from a Polynesian word. The act of tattooing was highly ritualized, par-
ticularly due to the pain involved and the risk of infection. Both men and women
might be tattooed from puberty onward, but the patterns and areas were often gen-
der specific. Above the knee up to and including the buttocks and lower waist were
common areas for tattooing, as opposed to the current popularity of upper arms
and shoulders. The face was rarely included, with New Zealand Māori being a dis-
tinctive exception. Ritualized tattooing appears to periodically rise in popularity,
particularly as a way of expressing cultural identity for those living in European-
based societies away from the South Pacific.

Necklaces, with large single pendants of distinctive shell or tusk, often feature
for men or women to decorate the upper half of the body. These are sometimes
worn formally with European dress, resting outside the garment, perhaps over the
tie when worn with a suit. Another common form of decoration worn at the neck
is commonly known in English as the “lei.” Known by various terms in the differ-
ent languages, this is a necklace of flowers, leaves, or shells, but in contemporary
times may also include brightly wrapped candies and money. These are given to
recipients on arrivals and departures from journeys, and also at celebrations such
as birthdays and graduations.
For everyday wear, many populations in the South Pacific wear European-style
clothes, but there remain some vestiges of traditional clothing styles. Some soci
eties, particularly Polynesian, have adapted the grass skirt into formal wear made
from cloth, known by various regional names such as lava lava, pareo, or sulu.
Worn by men with a jacket or dress shirt, this straight wrapped garment, hanging
to just below the knee, may be seen on churchgoers as well as officials such as
government ministers and the police. Women often wear a version that reaches to
the ankle.
The principle use now for traditional dress is in performance. Tourism is a
significant industry in the area, and there is a correspondingly high demand for
cultural performances in local hotels and restaurants. Costumes for such perfor-
mances may be derived from traditional costume, but this will be altered for stage
effect. There are also local and regional festivals, such as the Pacific Arts Festival,
where costumes as well as performances must satisfy an exacting local crowd. The
migration of people overseas, often for economic or educational opportunities,
has also led to the creation of cultural performance groups as a means of asserting
cultural identity in a foreign land.

The British Museum. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection
_database.aspx. Colchester, Chloë, ed. Clothing the Pacific. Oxford: Berg, 2003.
Kuchler, Susanne, and Graeme Were, ed. The Art of Clothing: A Pacific Experi-
ence. London: UCL Press, 2005.
Museum of New Zealand. Te Papa Tongarewa. http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/
search.aspx.
National Library of Australia. http://www.pictureaustralia.org/apps/picture
australia.
National Library of New Zealand. http://www.natlib.govt.nz/collections/types-of
-items/photographs.
Southern Africa: South Africa,
Botswana, Namibia, and Angola
John G. Hall
The indigenous people of southern Africa, including the countries of South Africa,
Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are commonly referred to as “Bushmen.” In
South Africa, for example, they are officially referred to as the San. Traditionally
they were hunter-gatherers but, beginning in the 1950s, they gravitated to farming.
The San are one of the 14 extant ancestral populations from which modern-day
humans supposedly evolved. The San are the oldest inhabitants of southern Africa.
However, through physical and linguistic characteristics, they are related to the
Khoikhoi or Khoi, which, together, are part of the Khoisan ethnic group. Unlike
the San, the Khoi were part of a pastoral culture.
After the Bantu-speaking peoples, like the Zulu and Xhosa, migrated into
the region, the Khoisan people remained predominantly west of the Fish River in
South Africa. With intermarriage with the Bantu and the arrival of Boer farmers of
Dutch descent, the Khoisan population began to diminish. During the colonial era,
the Khoisan survived in South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. A similar scenario
occurred in Angola.

Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably
defined by geography and geopolitics. Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa are
three of the five countries that constitute southern Africa. The other two are Leso-
tho and Swaziland. Although Angola is not part of southern Africa proper, it is,
however, one of those countries that is included in the Southern African Develop-
ment Community (SADC), which was established in 1980 to facilitate cooperation
in the region.
The terrain of southern Africa is varied, ranging from forest and grasslands
to deserts. The region has both low-lying coastal areas and mountains. Angola is
about the size of Texas, bordered by the South Atlantic Ocean, Namibia, and the
672
Southern Africa: South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola | 673
Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is semiarid in the south along the coast,
while the north has a cool, dry season from May to October and a hot, rainy season
from November to April. Its population is estimated at 18 million. Botswana, on
the other hand, is flat and up to 70 percent covered by the Kalahari Desert. It is
bordered by Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. It has a population of just over 2
million, making it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. It is
also one of the poorest countries in Africa.
Namibia is a landlocked country bordered by Angola, Botswana, South Africa,
and Zambia. The Namib Desert is along the coastline and the Kalahari Desert to
the east. The climate is hot and dry with sparse and erratic rainfall. Namibia’s
population is estimated at 2.2 million.
South Africa is located at the southernmost tip of Africa. It has over 1,700
miles of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans. The country is bordered to
the north by Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe to the east, and Mozambique and
Swaziland, while Lesotho is an enclave surrounded by South African territories.
South Africa is twice the size of Texas, with a climate that is semiarid, subtropi-
cal along the coast, with sunny days
and cool nights. The population is esti-
mated at 48.8 million people, with 3.6
million people living in its largest city,
Johannesburg.
People and Dress

Khoisan San and Khoikhoi or Khoi
were the earliest inhabitants of south-
ern Africa, with the San (Bushmen)
being the most prominent. They were
hunter-gatherers, while their coun-
terparts were cattle, sheep, and goat
herders. While the Khoi lived in fairly
stable, small communities, the San
were constantly on the move in search
of the hunt and the nearest water sup-
ply. The women gathered while the
men hunted for game such as the eland.
Judging from the detailed rock and Hunter in Botswana prepares to go hunting.
cave engravings, as well as oral his- He has with him his bow and quiver full of
tories, San people had a sophisticated poisoned arrows, late 20th century. (Peter
religious worldview. All forms of life Johnson/Corbis)
held meaning for them. They revered the animals they killed for food by offering
their gratitude for the sacrifice they made. Although Khoisan wore very few clothes,
the women adorned themselves with beads made of ostrich shells. All adults scarred
their bodies, not just for decoration, but to bring them luck during the hunt.
Changes leading to the 21st century were dramatic. A group of Bantu-speaking
Africans migrated into the southern region of Africa: Angola, Botswana, Namibia,
and South Africa. They arrived between the 7th and 15th centuries. These immi-
grants entered southern Africa several centuries before the first Europeans. This
might not have happened simultaneously but it did happen over time and the origi-
nal inhabitants were displaced. Some were absorbed into the new culture and some
retreated into distant, safer lands.
The precolonial people of Angola built states and kingdoms. These states, at
least in part, possessed a centralized political authority in which a ruler exercised
power and legislated for the people, assisted by chiefs. Over time there were rival-
ries and some rulers created armies to either extend or maintain their power. The
Ndongo Kingdom of Angola had several queens that ruled the province.

The first European explorers to arrive in Angola were the Portuguese. Follow-
ing the explorers were the missionaries whose goal it was to convert the people to
Roman Catholicism, which was widespread before the end of the 15th century. The
slave trade was rampant in the beginning of the 16th century when an estimated 4
million people were exported from Angola between 1500 and 1850. Then colonial-
ism began in earnest with other Europeans including the British, French, Dutch,
and Belgians claiming parts of Africa for their own.
Although this process took different routes in other countries, the outcome was
nearly the same. At present, the majority of the countries in southern Africa are
multiethnic and predominantly Christian, although some traditional religions exist.
The countries are populated with a mix of white and black people with different
histories, but all call themselves African.
Botswana has a variety of ethnic groups with the largest being the Tswana or
Setswana. Although the largest portion of the population speak Setswana, the offi-
cial language is English.
Namibians are 87 percent black, with a 6 percent white population. English
is the official language even though Afrikaans is the most commonly spoken lan-
guage. With a population of a little over 2 million, 80 to 90 percent are Christian.
Ten percent still practice their traditional religion.
South Africa, with a population of nearly 50 million, is the most populous
country in southern Africa. Zulu, Xhosa, and Afrikaans are the dominant languages,
with Zulu being the official one. Along with its myriad ethnic groups there are also
a variety of Christian dominations, Protestant, Zionist Christian, and Methodist.
Islam is also included.
History of Dress
It appears that the people of southern Africa were remarkably self-sufficient
prior to the arrival of Europeans, especially when it comes to the creation and
embellishment of national dress. Instead of needing imports from around the
world, southern Africans used resources that existed in their natural environment.
All clothes were made from plants, animal skins, and other indigenous fibers and
held particular significance for the wearer.
For African people, attire defines the individual. Dress reveals a person’s age,
gender, status, and ethnic affiliation. From birth until death, dress distinguishes the
roles of men and women.
South Africa
Traditional dress in South Africa was originally made from plants, beaten bark,
animal skins, and brayed hides, but the advent of woven and manufactured cotton
and other fabrics revolutionized the use of materials and styles. The indigenous
industry evolved over time and by the end of the 20th century, South African attire
had gained the attention of Westerners.
Early dress for many women in South Africa consisted of an apron, cloak, or
shirt. The apron was often short and fringed with strings of beads or cords of rolled
gazania leaves. This was particularly common among the southern Sotho.
Initially, the skirt was made from animal skins but over time woven fabrics
were used and the style of skirt varied. It consisted of a large wrapper wound
around the waist, with a small apron hanging over the top. The cloak could also be
fashioned into a full skirt as worn by the Zulu and Tsonga people. Women did not
always cover their breasts and most women went topless until after they were mar-
ried. This seeming lack of modesty was difficult for European missionaries, who
made it their goal to teach women that it was wrong to have a bare chest.
The Xhosa bore the brunt of missionary indignation because they were one of
the first groups of South Africans to have direct contact with Europeans. Perhaps
as a partial concession, Xhosa women wore a breast covering tucked under the
arm, tied at the back or around the neck with a beaded panel with fringes of beads
attached and hanging loosely or tightly over the breast.
Generally, men wore loincloths or a type of apron, which usually wrapped
around the waist. On top of the loincloth or wrapper, Swazi men used two aprons,
one in the front and the other in the back, both of which were tied at the right hip.
To keep warm, men usually covered the top of their torsos with a skin cloak, which
is called sinokoti when made from antelope or cattle hide, or siphuku when made
from goat hide.
On becoming adults, Zulu men wear a frontal apron. If they have the resources
they will acquire the qubulo dress, which was worn at weddings and the annual
festival of the first fruits.
Ceremonial dress and costumes varied according to age, gender, and some-
times by ethnic group. These types of dress are still sometimes used for ceremo-
nial purposes. Young boys going through initiation wore costumes of palm leaves,
grass, or other plants to conceal their identity. Bantwane and Pedi females shed
their clothing before entering their initiation lodge. This was a symbolic gesture
of leaving their childhood. Their elaborate grass garment, rings, wristbands, and
other ornaments represent fertility and their roles as future wives and mothers.
Sotho girls had their seminude bodies whitened with clay or powdered sand-
stones. They wore beaded masks, clay beads, and rings of plaited and bound grass
waistbands.
Ornaments and adornments are important and great attention is paid to the
hair. Often, the hair is shaved except for a small patch in the front that grows into
a thick mass. Hair can also be twisted into long pigtails. Greasing and dressing the
hair in long strings, and winding fibers around the greased and plaited hair are also
considered fashionable.
Cosmetics are used by various groups. Among the Xhosa, Thembu, Sotho,
Venda, and Zulu, butterfat is mixed with red ocher to form not only a protective
balm, but as a body beautification and for certain rituals. A mixture of sour milk
and red ocher, fat and aloe leaf ash, soot, charcoal, antimony, and white and yellow
ocher are some of the many cosmetics used for body and hair.
Before the introduction of glass beads, a variety of other materials were used
for adornment. Some of these include reeds, wood, and roots for necklaces and
bangles. There were also a variety of metal objects like copper and iron. Almost
anything that was available in the environment was turned into something useful.
By the 19th century, traditional dress was influenced by Western fashions and
styles. But even with the changes there was something distinctively African about
the clothes that were worn.
A Zulu bridal procession consists of the richly beaded bride and more than 12
of her friends who escort her to the kraal of her future father-in-law. An Ndebele
bridal procession is not so elaborate. The bride, with a decorously beaded blanket
A Zulu mother puts the finishing touches on her daughter’s wedding costume, near
Melmoth, South Africa, c. 1990–2000. (Roger De La Harpe; Gallo Images/Corbis)
and garments that she made, is escorted by her bridesmaid, usually a niece or the
eldest daughter of her eldest sister.
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, traditional dress made from indigenous
fibers sufficed, but the advent of woven and manufactured cotton and other fabrics
brought about unforeseeable changes. The permanent settlements of Europeans
and their fashions caused some Africans to step away from their traditional dress.
Some, but not all Africans adopted European fashions and began to wear shirts and
trousers for men, and skirts, blouses, and gowns for women.
Botswana
In Botswana it was the close contact with Christian missionaries that helped
break down that bearer between traditional African dress and the latest European
fashions. Missionaries here also disapproved of the indigenous dress, and clothing
and bodily adornments became two fronts along which early missionaries mea-
sured their success of trying to convert the Tswana people of Botswana. They
reached an unsettling compromise. While some wealthy and important Tswana
adopted Western clothing as a sign of status or evidence of their conversion to
Christianity, others, just as fervently, clung to their traditional beliefs and dress.
This uneasy truce gave birth to what some observers refer to as the traditional
“folk” style of clothing.
The Herero women of Botswana are the most visible example of this clash of
cultures. The Herero are a minority living in exile in Botswana since the German-
Herero War in 1904 when the German army nearly decimated the entire popula-
tion of men, women, and children. Their distinctive high-bodice, neck-to-ankle
dresses, are made from brightly colored patchwork fabrics and worn over numer-
ous petticoats (even in hot weather). They also wear triangular headscarves folded
to resemble cattle horns. Like the Tswana folk costumes, the colorful Herero and
their scarves are projections of identity and used to reinforce memories of an ear-
lier period of their history and to reclaim some of what has been taken from them.
In a quiet but highly visible way their dresses became acts of rebellion.
Namibia
In most cities in Namibia, most people wear Western clothes. Women wear
dresses, pants, and skirts. Men wear business suits. Both men and women wear
uniforms based on their occupations. However, there are two ethnic groups, the
Herero and Himba, who wear their traditional dress throughout their lives.
Himba Dress
The Himba have intricate deco-
rative styles, adorn themselves in
jewelry and red ocher, and have very
elaborate hairstyles along with tradi-
tional dress. Himba children do not
wear clothes when they are very young
and are simply adorned with a beaded
necklace. As they age, children are
dressed in the traditional apron made
of leather or goatskins treated with
a mixture of butter, ash, and ocher,
smeared all over. Young girls have
their hair braided at the front of their
heads and boys have one braid at the
back of their heads. The beads they
wear are much like their parents’ and
Young girl in the village of Himba in northern are often made out of distressed cop-
Namibia, 2009. (Thoron/Dreamstime.com) per or shells.
When Himba children reach puberty, the girls begin wearing smaller plaits
covered with otjize, while males are given two plaits at the back of their heads.
A married man wraps his head in a turban. This is removed only in mourning for
his wife.
Typically, both men and women wear adornments. Men’s ornaments are made
from large white shells. Women wear large beads carved from the nut of the maka-
lani palm.
Herero Dress
Herero women in Namibia wear the same voluminous dresses and petticoats,
but also add the required shawl, which dates back to a time before the missionaries.
The shawl is also a component of many other ethnic groups in Namibia, includ-
ing the Nama, Damara, and Baster. Herero women also sometimes wear an apron,
which predates the missionaries.
Angola
Like Namibia and the other countries in Southern Africa, the culture of Angola
is enriched by its traditional dress even though it is distinguished by different styles,
designs, and a variety of fabrics and other materials. Dress in Angola is symbolic
of an individual’s preferences and character, and the way a person dresses for for-
mal or ceremonial occasions defines his or her social status, level of education,
religion, ethnic group, and marital status.
Even with the predominance of Western clothing in Angola, traditional dress
continues to retain its cultural and symbolic importance even when some form of
Western influence is involved. For example, it is not uncommon that traditional
Angolan clothes are made from handwoven cotton fabrics, although animal skin
wear is worn by some ethnic groups.
Traditional dress takes on heightened importance during cultural festivals and
ceremonies such as initiation rites. During the initiation ritual for boys between
ages 8 and 12, the makishi, masqueraders, wear a variety of complex attire for the
mukanda, rites of passage. Among some ethnic groups the body costume, from
shoulders down, is made of vegetable fiber or beaten bark. The mask is made of
designed wood or resin.
Although the aim of mukanda is to transform boys to manhood, it is also of
singular importance because it is a means of passing heritage and cultural values
from one generation to the next. Parents pay fees for their sons to participate.
People who have moved away return in an effort to keep the tradition alive.
Mukanda begins with circumcision and continues for three months. The ritual
serves as a rite of passage. Its unifying theme is death and rebirth. An individual
enters mukanda as a child, and following its conclusion the participant reenters the
world as an adult.
Although Angolans have a rich dress culture, it has become significantly mod-
ernized. After centuries of colonialism, Western and European styles have a long
history in Angola. Christian missionaries and Portuguese colonial policy strongly
discouraged indigenous African culture, regarding it as “uncivilized.” This meant that
to be educated and “civilized” Angolans were encouraged, in some cases forced, to
abandon their traditional African dress and adopt European styles. However, regard-
less of their manner of dress, Angolans tend to take great pride in their appearance.
Many people are not able to dress in expensive clothing, but neatness is emphasized.
Jewelry, body modification, and other forms of adornment are important in
traditional dress. The practice can be traced back to the original inhabitants of
southern Africa.
In Angola, elaborate body adornment and scarification have always been part
of the culture. Men wear tattoos that are sometimes representative of status and
prestige and other times for a particular festival or to participate in a sacred ritual.
Women and young girls usually adorn themselves as a sign of beauty. They
can wear elaborate hairstyles that might include weaving or braiding extensions
that hang to the shoulder. Necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and beads are other forms
of adornment. Ovahimba women, who lived in southern Angola and northern
Namibia, used red ocher and fat as a protection against the heat. The makishi adorn
themselves with a variety of materials. It is usually woven vegetable fiber or beaten
bark made into aprons and loincloths.
Among the Zulu and Swazi, married men wear a head ring made from a circle
of plant fibers or roots. Then honeycomb black wax is applied and left to dry before
the ring is greased and polished with pebbles and leaves. The ring is worn indefi-
nitely, only to be removed when the man is mourning the death of his wife.

Many people in southern Africa have adapted to more Western styles of cloth-
ing, whether they be jeans and T-shirts, or earlier versions of Western-style dress
introduced by Europeans who lived in Africa. Original indigenous dress can still
be seen on tribespeople in different parts of the continent, with some women
continuing to bare their chests, despite the best efforts of Christian missionaries.
Modern African dress using woven cloth is still distinctly African, although it was
influenced by Western technology in that the clothing is not made from bark or
animal hides. African block-patterned fabrics, wrapped around the body in artful
ways, are often seen on women in the region even today. While these may be worn
with T-shirts, the wrappers are still distinctly African. In full dress, the wrapped
head and torso make an extraordinary impact of bright cheerfulness. Ceremonial

dress is most often more formal and traditional, but some women are starting to
adopt Western-style white wedding gowns, rather than wearing traditional dress
from their region.

Afolayan, Funso. Culture and Customs of South Africa. Westport, CT: Greenwood
Press, 2004.
Biko, Steve. I Write What I Like: Selected Writings. Chicago: University of Chi-
cago Press, 2002.
Denbrow, James, and Phenyo C. Thebe. Culture and Customs of Botswana. West-
Ejikeme, Anene. Culture and Customs of Namibia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-
CLIO, 2011.
Mandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela.
New York: Back Bay Books, 1995.
Oyebade, Adebayo O. Culture and Customs of Angola. Westport, CT: Greenwood
Press, 2007.
Thompson, Leonard. A History of South Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press,
2000.
Traditional African Clothes. http://www.rebirth.co.za/traditional_african_clothing
.htm. Accessed January 27, 2012.
Spain
Lucy Collins

Spain is located on the Iberian Peninsula in Europe. The country is bordered by
Portugal on the west and France to the north. Spain is a particularly mountainous
country with the Pyrenees mountain range serving as the border between Spain
and France.
Historically, Spain was populated by the Basques, Celts, and Iberians. For
many years, the country was controlled by the Moors from North Africa. After the
Moorish reign ended, as Columbus discovered America, Spain become a world
power and exerted a major influence over Europe and the developing world. This
period during the reign of Isabella and Ferdinand is known as the golden age of
Spain. Then various wars including the Napoleonic invasion and the Spanish Civil
War shook Spain’s position as a world power and left the country in a slightly
diminished position globally. However, Spain is still regarded as a major player in
European and world politics.
Madrid is the capital of Spain. Spain is a fairly affluent country with high living
standards. Roman Catholicism dominates the country. The Spanish tourism indus-
try is the second largest in the world, with most tourists visiting the lovely beaches
and coast. The population of Spain in 2012 was approximately 47,043,000.
Although Spain is a rich and diverse country, it’s the southernmost region
of Andalusia that defines the image many have of Spanish culture. Andalusia is
separated from the rest of the country by the Sierra Morena mountains and has
nurtured a distinct culture influenced heavily by the Moors and Gypsies (gita-
nos). In the south, the Strait of Gibraltar, a sea channel connecting the Atlantic
Ocean on the west with the Mediterranean Sea on the east, separates Andalusia
and Spain from Morocco. At the strait’s narrowest area, Spain and Morocco are
separated by only eight miles. Music, dance, and costume are an important part
of Andalusian culture, so it became an important spot for European visitors and
tourists to see while visiting Spain. As this area became more and more popular
682
Spain | 683
it began to exemplify how others around the world envisioned Spanish culture.
The Andalusian influence is especially demonstrated through dress.
People and Dress

Spanish clothing is very rich and distinctive. The influence of Spanish styles of
dressing can be found throughout fashion history and across the globe. In fact,
during the 16th century Spain was the center of fashionable dress. The Moorish
influence in Spain accounted for the detailed embellishments on Spanish clothing
including gold and silver embroidery and the pearls and jewels accentuating the
fabric. The austere elegance, stiff fabrics, and ornate decoration of Spain influ-
enced fashion across Europe and beyond.
Although much of what is perceived as classic Spanish dress is actually limited
to the Andalusian region in the south where clothing is much more colorful and dra-
matic, several particular items stand out as traditionally Spanish. Because of Spain’s
rich Roman Catholic heritage, feminine modesty has been an important value, so
it makes sense that the mantilla, a lace headscarf, is one item considered to be
uniquely Spanish. A mantilla is a lace or silk veil worn over the head and shoulders.
Women wearing mantillas take part in procession during Holy Week in Cordoba, Spain,
2012. (Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)
This head covering made it possible for women to enter Roman Catholic churches
abiding by the dictate that women cover their heads. The mantilla is long and can be
either circular or triangular. A mantilla is still worn by traditional Spanish women
during rituals and celebrations as well as by brides during their weddings.
The mantilla is held in place by a tortoiseshell comb called a peineta. The pei-
neta is intended to enhance the height of the wearer and is worn directly on the top
of the head. Spanish women brought the farthingale, or hoop skirt, into popularity
during the 16th century. Women also wore a high fan-shaped collar called a wisk.
Two particular Spanish cultural activities have influenced Spanish dress exten-
sively—flamenco dance and bullfighting. These two performance-based art forms
are arguably responsible for the flair and flamboyant nature of many Spanish gar-
ments. The costumes associated with each are, for many, equated most directly with
Spanish styles of dressing. Both flamenco and bullfighting are unique Spanish sym-
bols that speak to the sense of drama and adventure that define the Spanish people.
Flamenco
Flamenco describes a certain genre of music and dance originating in Andalu-
sia. Flamenco is very energetic and lively and is said to have evolved from Gypsy
music. Guitars are most commonly used in flamenco.
The costume of the flamenco dancer is almost synonymous with Spanish
clothing. The traje de flamenca or flamenco outfit is a long dramatic dress with
ruffles on the skirt and the sleeves. The dress is typically very brightly colored and
can be solid or patterned, black, red, or white, usually with polka dots. Female
flamenco dancers traditionally wear their hair in a bun with a flower or rose pinned
beside the bun. The flamenco dress evolved from the dresses worn by the Spanish
Gypsies and the female vendors who worked with livestock. The Seville Fair of
1929 marked the occasion when the dress became the official costume of flamenco
dance. The skirt length of the dress has varied over the decades, but most tradition-
ally the skirt of the traje de lunares has remained long or to the ankle. The dancers
also wear high heels.
A large shawl called a manton is also worn. The manton is embroidered with
floral designs.
Spanish men’s clothing is reminiscent of flamenco styles as men still dress in
high-waisted pants of black or blue with white ruffled shirts. They also may wear
red bandanas or hats on the head and maybe a red sash or belt.
Flamenco dresses have inspired fashion designers throughout the years, most
notably Yves Saint Laurent, John Galliano, and Valentino. Flamenco dresses are
themselves a fashionable item as Seville hosts the Salon Internacional de la Moda
Flamenca, a show to celebrate new designs in flamenco, every year.
Spain | 685
Bullfighting
The custom of bullfighting in Spain has a very rich history, although it is begin-
ning to lose its luster in present times due to concerns about animal cruelty as well
as the always-present danger to the bullfighters and to their ring companions. The
spectacle of the bullfight began in medieval Spain during the Spanish War of the
Reconquest. The allure of the Iberian bull, whose intelligence and ingenuity made
him a worthy opponent, initially led to the practice. The first bullfight, or corrida,
took place at the coronation of King Alfonso VIII. Bullfighting was historically an
activity limited to the nobility and associated with great status, but as common-
ers began excelling at the sport, bullfighting became a more democratic activity.
However, the ornate costumes of the bullfighter have always evoked the Spanish
aristocracy. For many Spaniards, bullfighting is not a sport, but rather a spectacular
art form similar to ballet.
The matador, or primary bullfighter, encounters the bull on foot in the ring.
The third and final stage of the bullfight is the most visually dramatic and involves
the most symbolic aesthetic elements of the spectacle. During this portion of the
bullfight, the matador faces the bull head-on with his muleta, or small red cape,
and a sword. The significance of the bullfighter’s red muleta has been misinter-
preted through history. It’s often thought that the color provokes the bull’s anger,
but in fact the cape is red to camouflage any of the bull’s blood that may damage
the cape.
The matadors’ or toreros’ traje de luces, translated as “suit of lights,” is one
of the most notable aspects of bullfighting. The red and gold of the suit is to sym-
bolize the blood and sand of bullfighting. The costume is highly detailed and the
torero even dresses in a specific ritual to ensure his good fortune in the ring. A
matador’s suit is composed of many sequins and metallic gold and silver thread,
which glint and glimmer in the bullring. It’s this sparkling effect that is responsible
for the name “suit of lights.”
The bullfighter wears a hat called a monetera. The slim black tie, typically tied
in a bow, is called a corbatin. The primary components of the bullfighter’s suit are
the jacket and the pants. The highly decorated and embroidered silk jacket, called
a chaquetilla, is short and stiff, reinforced at the shoulder, and only fastened at the
upper arm. He wears a white shirt underneath the chaquetilla.
The matador wears close-fitting tights called taleguilla that are worn with
decorated gaiters and tasseled cords to secure them. The taleguilla stop just below
the knee. Two pairs of medias, or long socks, are worn. The pair worn on the
inside is white and the outside pair is the flamboyant pink often associated with
matadors. On their feet matadors wear shoes similar to ballet shoes. The zapatil-
las or soft flat slippers are fastened with a bow. Historically, bullfighters wore
their hair in a bun that was then cut off when they left bullfighting. In contem-
porary bullfighting, however, matadors don’t always have long hair, so they use
detachable hairpieces.
Additionally, the bullfighter wears a highly decorated cape upon his entry into
the ring. The cape, or paseo, is for ceremonial purposes and is taken off before the
bullfight actually begins.
Other clothing customs affiliated with bullfighting are the white garments
worn in Pamplona by the city’s citizens during the Running of the Bulls. At this
time people wear the traditional white shirt and pants with a red bandana tied
around their necks. This costume evokes the image of those who work in the fields
with bulls.
The Maja
Traditionally, the most striking image of Spanish dress from the Andalusian
region was that of the maja. The maja were female dandies or street vendors whose
sense of clothing was exaggerated and especially dramatic. The maja and the gita-
nas, or gypsy women, were the two types of women who had a specific regional
costume for this area in Spain.
The maja costume that became a significant symbol of Spain consisted of tied-
on sleeves, an inner vest, and a functional or nonfunctional outer jacket, always
left open. The jacket has much decoration on the sleeve, possibly lacing to create a
tight fit across the forearm. A red sash was sometimes worn and a redecilla (hair-
net) or mantilla and comb was worn in the hair. Maja also often wore a montera, a
small black hat, cocked to the side with a flower.
Because the upper classes in many of the more urban areas tended to imitate
French customs or styles of dress, it was thought that the maja, or lower-class
women, represented what was more uniquely Spanish. The lower classes couldn’t
afford to imitate French fashion so their clothing tended to be more individualized
and original. Eventually, when the Spanish upper classes decided to once again
dress in a Spanish style, they turned to the maja look for inspiration. If Spaniards
throughout the country were imitating Andalusian styles, it’s no wonder that Anda-
lusia became as significant an image of Spanish style and dress as it did.
The dress of the maja was made especially popular by the paintings of Fran-
cisco Goya and other painters of the era. The many remaining portraits of aristo-
cratic women dressed in clothing of the maja give us a diverse and accurate record
of this particular style of Spanish dress. Although these paintings tend to romanti-
cize the dress of the maja, it is still a valid reminder of the importance of this style
for Spanish identity.
A Maja and Gallants by Francisco Jose de Goya, 1777. (Prado, Madrid, Spain/Giraudon/The
Bridgeman Art Library)
Men’s Dress
Andalusian men are traditionally perceived as either bandoleros (thieves)
or vaqueros (cowboys). These symbolic roles have determined male fashion in
the region. Vaqueros wear the traje corto, which is composed of high-waisted
pants with a colored waistband and a white shirt. Vaqueros also wear a wide-
brimmed sombrero. Bandoleros wear a similar outfit except with a red bandanna
on their head.
Spanish men are known for wearing a gilet. A gilet is a sleeveless fitted jacket
that was traditionally fitted and embroidered. Gilets are made to suit the occasion
as there are specific variations that work for warmth, fashion, and athletic activity.
Spanish Children
Spanish children dress as miniature adults. Because children are expected to
interact with adults and behave as respectful participants in any activity, their dress
code speaks to these expectations. Young girls in Spain even wear tiny mantillas
for special occasions and religious ceremonies. Andalusian boys especially wear
the short jackets adult men wear.
Contemporary Spanish Dress

Although the Roman Catholic Church has had less influence in Spain in mod-
ern times, Spanish dress is still considered relatively modest and conservative.
Spanish people are elegant and refined and don’t approve of flagrant or provoca-
tive clothes for the most part.
In north-central Spain, women still dress in traditional folk styles, wearing
aprons and wide bell-shaped skirts. They also wear comfortable wooden shoes like
clogs. Men in this region wear knee-length pants and short jackets.
One cannot discuss Spanish clothing without noting famed Spanish couturier
Cristobal Balenciaga. Balenciaga left a legacy of superb design and craftsman-
ship that has influenced designers such as Ungaro and Givenchy, among many
others. In many ways, Balenciaga continued the conversation between Spain and
France as his company often brought Spanish flair and expression to fashion by
way of France.
The contemporary filmmaker Pedro Almodovar has captured much of the
Spanish eccentricity and flair for the dramatic in many of his films, revealing the
colorful and idiosyncratic ways that Spanish people express themselves in their
clothing.
Spain | 689

Fashion from Spain. http://www.fashionfromspain.com. 2012.
Hajana, Milena, and Laura R. Bass. Spanish Fashion in Early Modern Europe.
Cambridge: Paul Holberton Publishing, 2012.
Leblon, Bernard. Gypsies and Flamenco: The Emergence of the Art of Flamenco in
Andalusia. Hertfordshire, UK: University of Hertfordshire Press, 2003.
Marbella Guide. “Traditional Spanish Dress.” http://www.marbella-guide.com/
traditional-spanish-dress/. 2010.
Vincente, Marta. Clothing the Spanish Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2006.
Worth, Susannah. “Maja Dress and the Andalusian Image of Spain.” Clothing and
Textiles Research Journal, vol. 12, no. 4, Summer 1994: 51–60.
Sweden
Located in the Scandinavian peninsula of Northern Europe, Sweden emerged as
a unified, independent nation as early as the Middle Ages. Though it expanded its
holdings as an empire throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, by the 19th century
Sweden was contained within the bounds of the peninsula with its neighbors Nor-
way and Finland. Today, the country is a constitutional monarchy, which supports
a parliamentary democracy. It had an estimated population of more than 9,100,000
people in 2012. In terms of national dress, Sweden is particularly interesting to
scholars and enthusiasts due to the early and vast documentation that exists regard-
ing the diverse forms of regional costume throughout the country.

Affinity in national dress among the Scandinavian countries is illustrated in the
costumes of Sweden. Geography is most certainly a factor in the development of
Swedish national dress, and the influences of the country’s neighbors can be seen
in details such as color, shape, and accessories.
Despite these common factors across regions, there is no unified national cos-
tume representative of Sweden. Each region has unique features and idiosyncratic
details that set it apart from the rest of Sweden. Though components might be
shared—such as aprons for women—their shape, color, and material varies. Most
identify the costumes from Dalarna (of which a description follows) as the arche-
type of Swedish national dress. This is most likely because the region has retained
the traditions of wearing regional dress long after other regions have abandoned
the practice. Despite the differences among regions, there are some generaliza-
tions that may be made about Swedish regional dress. What follows is a brief
description of these, with more detailed descriptions of regional costumes from
selected areas.
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Sweden | 691
People and Dress

There are many factors that go into shaping the regional dress of Sweden. One
factor that affected the appearance and retention of Swedish peasant dress can be
seen in the role gender and status play in society. The fact that a homogeneous style
was apparent in the peasant dress of women within any one region of Sweden can be
linked to the lack of mobility of women in society. Men were more likely to mix with
those outside their regions in the course of exchange of goods and services. With
these more frequent interactions, their style of dress was more likely to be altered
to suit a prevailing style. Therefore, men were quicker and more likely to dispose
of traditional forms of dress on a daily basis. Women’s costume, on the other hand,
remained static within a region because this kind of exposure and exchange of dress
elements was not available to them. Women were slower to adopt more “modern”
modes of dress because they were simply not exposed to them.
In terms of the role of religious practice in shaping regional or peasant dress,
this is seen most predominantly in regions such as Dalarna. Here, the requirements
of specific forms and styles of dress for specific Sundays and other holidays were
so taxing, and often so subtle, that a Costume Almanac was developed. This alma-
nac would provide guidance on which style of apron, for instance, was to be worn
on any given Sunday. Again, one sees how different elements of peasant dress
(among women in particular) were tied to religious holidays.
Sumptuary laws also affected peasant dress as much as fashionable dress in
Sweden. Just as the economy of any given region was a deciding factor in the
kind of materials used in the dress of that region, sumptuary laws most frequently
dictated the kinds of materials that members of each social strata might use. The
effects of other factors that influenced peasant dress, and therefore the national
dress, of Sweden are most frequently seen in the construction of different garments.
History of Dress
As early as the 18th century, Carl Von Linnaeus and others began collecting
information on the differences in peasant dress seen in the various regions of Swe-
den. This early interest was primarily spurred on by the “picturesque” quality of
these clothes when compared to contemporary fashionable dress. The use of color
and material in these peasant costumes differed so greatly from the more urbane
dress of Sweden’s city centers that Von Linnaeus and his contemporaries began
to regard the peasant costume as something more “genuine,” expressive of the
Illustration of Swedish national dress from History of Mankind, 1883. (Ivan Burmistrov/
iStockphoto.com)
national identity. Originally, their studies led to the adoption of peasant dress for
use in “fancy dress” and festivals by those in the upper classes.
By the 19th century, the motivation for studying and collecting examples of
Sweden’s peasant costume had changed slightly. At that time, peasant dress took
on the role of truly being a form of national dress when it was used in several inter-
national world’s fairs to express the national identity of Sweden. In Paris (1867),
Vienna (1873), and Philadelphia (1876), peasant dress from different regions of
Sweden was worn as a national dress in this country’s representative pavilions.
With this early interest in peasant dress as a form of national costume, the cloth-
ing quickly transitioned from being something that was worn on a daily basis to a
form of clothing reserved for special occasions and worn by even those who were
not residents of the region from which it originated. Swedish museums began col-
lecting examples of “authentic” peasant dress for preservation and display in the
mid-19th century, and with the foundation of the Nordiska Museet in the 1870s,
the importance of peasant dress in shaping the national costume of Sweden was
cemented. Cataloguing and preserving examples of peasant dress became a priority
as its role shifted from practical garment to ceremonial or special-occasion dress.
Sweden | 693

The materials used in peasant dress throughout the country reflect its agrar-
ian heritage. Regional peasant dress differed so drastically in appearance from
the clothing found in more cosmopolitan regions of Sweden because the peasants
retained a self-sufficient style of living in the primarily agrarian society. Natu-
ral fibers that could be grown or raised (through animal husbandry) locally and
processed in the household were predominant. Homespun linen, wool, and hand-
tooled leather were the primary components of Swedish peasant dress (though
store-bought fabrics occasionally appear). When store-bought materials do appear
in the peasant dress of any region, this typically reflects an economic upturn for
that region. For example, Skåne enjoyed a particularly strong economy during the
16th century, allowing the farmers of that region to adopt more fashionable forms
of dress. But the depression that followed this economic boom in the 17th century
caused the regional style to remain static. Therefore, Renaissance and baroque ele-
ments are more clearly seen in this region’s dress.

Men
Men’s regional peasant costume in Sweden was more often influenced by
the prevailing fashion than women’s. In Sweden, as in most other Scandinavian
countries, men’s traditional dress is made up of knee breeches, a waistcoat or vest,
a white shirt, knitted stockings, and leather shoes. These items may be adorned
with metal buttons, embroidery, and knitted trim, with the style and amount vary-
ing from region to region. The white shirt worn by the men of Sweden typically
features a great deal of embroidery as it was traditionally used as a canvas to
display the handiwork of the wearer’s wife or bride-to-be. The collar is low and
closes at the throat with buttons or a colorful ribbon. Waistcoats are frequently
constructed in red or green fabric and fasten down the front with metal buttons.
Headwear is also commonly worn and can vary from tight-fitting skullcaps to
wide-brimmed hats.
Women
Long-sleeved white blouses are common among most regions in Sweden. The
sleeves are typically gathered at the wrists and may feature a turned-down col-
lar trimmed with embroidery. Over this blouse, a tight-fitting (sometimes laced)
sleeveless bodice is worn. This bodice or corselet is usually made of red or black
fabric and may feature pewter or silver eyelets, referred to as snörmärlor. These
garments are worn with a long, full skirt, typically devoid of decoration. When the
skirt is trimmed, it is usually only at the hem. Over this, an apron is worn. The style
and material of the apron varies from region to region.
Accessories seen throughout Swedish peasant dress include braided belts,
from which an external pocket or reticule is suspended, caps or coifs, and shawls.
Metal jewelry, lace, and embroidery are noted features of Swedish national cos-
tume and much has been written about their embroidery in particular. It appears
most frequently on shirt collars, the hems of skirts, pockets or reticules, and on
some headdresses.
Children
Regional costumes for both boys and girls are often more reflective of regional
customs than their grown-up counterparts. Differences in costume between young
girls and their marriageable older sisters differ in areas such as headdress, embroi-
dery, and trim, for example.
The individual elements of costume do reflect, however, the style of their
elders. Where the men are dressed in breeches, so too are young boys. Where
women don two-piece dresses, so too do most of the girls. It is in the area of head-
wear where the most differences in age-specified dress can be seen. The shape of
the headdress is typically universal while its trim and color may designate the age
or marital status of the girl or woman wearing it.
Dalarna
Of all the regions in Sweden, Dalarna retained the custom of wearing tradi-
tional dress every day the longest. This may be why most identify the national cos-
tume of Sweden with the clothing found in this province. Dalarna is particularly
rich in variety, with styles varying from parish to parish. In the parishes around
Lake Siljan in the middle of the Dalarna province some of the oldest folk costumes
can be found and these will be described in greater detail below. The roots of these
costumes can be traced back to the 17th century. In many parishes, changes made
to the costumes date back only as recently as the 19th century. Scholars point to the
retention of centuries-old village structure when explaining the longevity of these
costumes. Unlike most of Sweden, the core parishes of Dalarna (the Siljan region)
were not affected by the land redistribution schemes of the laga skifte or agricul-
tural reform of the early 19th century. While other villages were split and long-held
social patterns were disturbed with this land redistribution, these villages remained
compact and clustered, retaining their social structures and costume rituals.
As is true throughout most of Swedish regional dress, the costume for men in
Dalarna is made up of breeches, a white shirt, and a waistcoat or vest. There is, how-
ever, some difference in what is worn over these pieces throughout the province. A
Sweden | 695
Dalarna women pose in their parish’s distinctive national costumes, 1928. (Gustav
Heurlin/National Geographic Society/Corbis)
leather or chamois apron is worn by the men of Mora, Orsa, and Våmhus. In Mora
and Våmhus, a long collarless coat in white homespun is worn over the apron while
in Orsa the outer garment is a short jacket of the same color homespun. In Rättvik,
Boda, and Leksand the men’s ensembles are executed in darker hues, primarily
blue with red trimming with the breeches, constructed in yellow fabric. Coats for
festival wear and special ceremonies (such as weddings) often feature embroidery
at the shoulders and pockets. Headwear varies within the region as well. In Rättvik,
it is used as a signifier of marital status. The short-brimmed wool hat is trimmed
with a braided band and wool balls, which are black for unmarried men and red
for men who are married. The same wool balls can be seen attached to garters in
this costume, worn with blue or black knit stockings. Black leather tie-shoes are
universally worn.
Throughout Dalarna, women consistently wear a white blouse and necker-
chief, often with delicate embroidery at the wrists or lace inserts at the shoulder
seams. Skirts are of black material and pleated, except in the parishes of Rättvik
and Boda where a blue skirt with a laterally striped panel inserted at the center
front (breddan) is worn. Aprons are worn over both styles of skirt and typically
feature striping along the hem or an inserted border of a contrasting color as the
only decoration. In Rättvik, it was only in the late 19th century that it became
fashionable to wear the skirt without an apron covering the laterally striped inser-
tion. Previously, aprons of different materials and colors depending on the day
and occasion would have been worn. A jacket is worn over the blouse and many
parishes, such as Våmhus, also feature a laced bodice worn over the blouse and
under the jacket. The colors and fabrics of which the jacket is made vary from
region to region.
Women’s costume in Leksand appears to be the most modern of the parish
costumes. Women’s skirts are black but much shorter than those in other parishes.
A striped and laced bodice is worn over the ubiquitous white blouse. A striped
apron (blåmadg) is worn over the skirt. Over this a green or black jacket is worn.
Headwear can be seen as an indicator of marital status among women as well. A
white cap trimmed with a black and white band is worn by married women while
single women may wear either a red wool or a printed muslin hood.
In other parishes, a white cap or bonnet is almost universally worn throughout
the province, with slight variations from parish to parish. A pocket, waist-bag, or
skirt bag is worn by most as well, and is frequently made from leather featuring
intricate cutwork or appliquéd designs. Stockings are usually red or white and
worn with low black leather tie-shoes.
Skåne
Skåne is of particular interest to those who study traditional or peasant dress
because it is one of the richest in terms of costume heritage. Here, the styles of
regional dress have remained static. This characteristic can be attributed to many
things, including the economy of the region as well as the political climate. Changes
in these two factors had a “retarding” effect on the dress, helping to retain an older
style while the dress in other regions evolved and changed with the influence of
fashionable dress. Because of an economic downturn in the 17th century, costume
traditions that had been established in the 16th century (during Skåne’s economic
boom time) became so deeply entrenched that the costume saw very little change
even when the economy improved again in the mid-19th century. Medieval fea-
tures can be seen in various elements of the traditional dress of Skåne. Another
interesting feature of Skåne is the cohesive quality of style seen across parish lines.
Variations from parish to parish may have existed but are not well documented,
and early-19th-century documents suggest that conformity between parishes was
encouraged (Berg and Berg, p. 52). When discussing the dress of this region, it
is easier to divide it into four distinct areas—northeast, northwest, southeast, and
southwest—noting that the areas in the south retain the most historic features.
For men, jackets or doublets with shoulder wings, a feature that reflects the
influence of Spanish fashionable dress of the Renaissance, were common in this
Sweden | 697
region until well into the 19th century. However, this fashion was dropped in favor
of the more common and simply constructed jacket and coat. A significant feature
of most men’s traditional dress in Skåne is a striped vest or waistcoat, usually con-
structed of homespun material. Breeches and long trousers are worn throughout
the region.
Women’s dress in Skåne is strikingly different from that in other regions of
Sweden. Here, it is highly ornamental and the use of metal-wrapped thread embel-
lishments as well as silver or pewter ornaments is very common. The basic ele-
ments of dress for women, however, remain the same with a costume made up
of a white blouse, a laced bodice worn with a full or pleated skirt, and an apron.
A jacket usually completes the ensemble. With this, an embellished sash may be
worn for special occasions and the embellishments are frequently of religious or
cultural significance. Jackets and sashes were heavily embellished with metal-
wrapped lace thread lacework.
The Klut or headrail/coverchief is another distinctive feature of Skåne, found
in the southern areas of the region. It is reserved for highly formal occasions and is
constructed of a starched linen kerchief draped over a light framework to create a
high-profile headpiece with the ends of the kerchief draping down the back of the
wearer. Black and blue stockings are also a distinctive feature of women’s dress in
Skåne (most traditional costumes for women in this country are worn with white
or red knit stockings) and seems to be a reflection of the region’s close connection
with Denmark, of which it was once a part.
Södermanland
Södermanland or Sörmland shows more urban influences than any other region
of Sweden. Paradoxically, the drive to preserve traditional dress in some parishes
of this region has a longer history than in most areas. The Vingåker woman’s cos-
tume is perhaps the most famous costume from this region, and community records
indicate that as early as the 17th century, efforts were being made to preserve the
custom of wearing it in this parish. It became the model for the early nationalist
movement at the turn of the 20th century and was frequently worn as the Swedish
national costume for women.
This form of dress is highly embellished with embroidery on both the main
garments and accessories. And unlike most Swedish traditional costumes, the bod-
ice and skirt are often made as one garment. This is worn over a white blouse and
belted with a wide embellished leather belt at the waist. Over this, an apron is worn
and a cloak is the preferred form of outerwear. Distinctive also is the headdress of
married women in Vingåker. Known as the huckel, it is a headdress with a high
profile, made of finely pleated cloth.
Hälsingland
Having maintained the tradition of
wearing folk costume until well into
the 19th century, Hälsingland can also
be seen as representative of the most
historic examples of Swedish regional
costume. The most distinctive features
are among the headwear for both men
and women from this region as well as
the construction of the main garments,
particularly in Järvsö.
In Delsbo, the women’s costume
is marked by the stiff, framed cotton
cap executed in printed material and
sometimes worn over a white lace-
trimmed cap. Another style, a black
cap made of waxed lace and velvet,
is also worn. For men, breeches and
An elderly man from the Delsbo village, short jackets of dark material (typi-
rests on a bench, 1928. (Gustav Heurlin/ cally blue) are frequently seen worn
National Geographic Society/Corbis) with colorful skullcaps while a more
historic style is also worn. In the older
style, the main garments are typically constructed of animal skin such as moose-
skin or leather or homespun fabrics. Brimmed knit caps in bright red are worn with
this style of dress.
In Järvsö, waistcoats for men and bodices for women are cut in a distinctive
style, with deep arm openings that extend almost to the center back. Women’s bod-
ices are cut long and worn over a black skirt and striped apron. This area is known
for its distinctive women’s headdress—a framed cap that is dome-shaped over the
crown of the head, made of black material and trimmed with blue.

Swedish national costume may be the best preserved in all of Europe. Because
of early scholarly efforts to capture and record regional customs in dress, this
country has a rich history from which to draw costumes for folk dancing, festival
days, and special occasions. The wearing of Swedish national costume in Sweden
and across the United States is a common trend, particularly for Swedish cultural
events in cities and towns in the United States with a large Swedish heritage.
Sweden | 699

American-Swedish Historical Museum. www.americanswedish.org. 2012.
Arnö-Berg, Inga, and Gunnel Hazelius-Berg. Folk Costumes of Sweden: A Living
Tradition. Västerås: ICA Bokförlag, 1985.
Mann, Kathleen. Peasant Costume in Europe. London: Adam and Charles Black,
1937.
The National Historical Museum (Historiska Museet). www.historiska.se. 2012.
The Nordic Museum (Nordiska Museet). http://www.nordiskamuseet.se/category
.asp?cat=187&CatName=English, 2012.
Black, 1939.
Sichel, Marion. Scandinavia—National Costume Reference. New York: Chelsea
House Publishers, 1990.
Switzerland
Lynne Potter Lord
Switzerland is a small, centrally located European country known for its neutrality,
banking, chocolate, cheese, clocks and watches, Swiss Army knives, and mountain
vistas. The picture-postcard impression of Switzerland with the Matterhorn in the
background, a Swiss cow in the foreground, and men in lederhosen playing the
alphorn is a stereotype of the people and costume. This type of national depiction
of dress can be seen in tourist destinations and at national festivals where the dress
traditions are kept alive.
Switzerland is unique in Europe in that the Swiss never had a monarchy. Today,
Switzerland is a democratic country, land-locked and bordered by Germany to the
north, Austria and Lichtenstein to the east, Italy to the south, and France to the
west. The Swiss have not joined the European Union, despite pressure from sur-
rounding countries and world economic pressures. Switzerland’s neutral stance
has also kept it from joining the United Nations. Democracy is expressed in Swit-
zerland with a greater influence from the average citizen. Frequent referendums
give individual citizens input into the day-to-day running of government and coun-
try. There are friendly relationships with all countries in Europe and strong ties
with those sharing borders, languages, and customs. Switzerland has four official
languages including Italian, French, (dialect Swiss) German, and Romansch (simi-
lar to Latin). All four official languages are taught in schools as is English. Modern
Swiss culture is a unique blend of German, Italian, and French cultures; however,
due to the mountainous terrain, many people historically have lived and died in
their own isolated village, canton, or province. The Swiss are known to be quite
homogenous with little in the way of immigration from other regions of the world.
The population is estimated at more than 7,600,000.
The Swiss have managed to remain out of World Wars I and II in the 20th
century and have a strong reputation for neutrality throughout the world. There is,
however, an active and sophisticated Swiss Army with elaborate systems of tun-
nels in the mountains. These house barracks, equipment hangars, hospitals, food,
700
Switzerland | 701
and ammunition stores in case of invasion. All men must serve in the army for
two years after graduating from high school and must participate in the military
reserves for three weeks out of every year, for their entire lives, while living in the
country. Men who are unable to serve in traditional army posts might train civilians
for preparing and living in bomb shelters. Every home and business in Switzerland
is required by law to have a stocked bomb shelter large enough to house those
occupying the building. Each Swiss reserve soldier has a uniform and rifle at the
ready in his home, should he need to bear arms. The idea is that the Swiss Army
can activate at a moment’s notice.
Switzerland consists of 26 cantons or provinces. It is the smallest federal state
in the world, but considering its size and the number of cantons, it is a very complex
country. Very democratic, voters are well versed in the issues and vote frequently
on large and small issues affecting their daily lives. The head of government is a
president, and this post is shared or rotated among the cabinet to encourage coop-
eration and to avoid too much of a concentration of power. The Swiss enjoy one of
the highest standards of living and lowest unemployment rates in the world.
Switzerland is a relatively young country, its confederation born out of a long
history of independent states and isolated communities. Over several hundred
years the states joined and formed conglomerates to eventually reach a federation
in 1848. It is a strongly patriarchal country; women received the right to vote rela-
tively late, in 1971.
Historically, women have played a very conservative and traditional role in
Swiss society. There is a strong sense of home and homemaking and an emphasis
on cleanliness in Swiss culture. In school, girls were taught to do things in the home
in very traditional ways. Cleaning and hanging and folding laundry were taught as
well as cooking, sewing, and other needleworking skills. Until very recently it was
quite unusual for women to work outside the home. As such, traditionally Swiss
women have been expected to defer to their husband’s wishes, stay home, and take
care of the family, home, and home life.
Switzerland is a small nation of only 41,288 square kilometers (15,940 square miles).
From north to south it is 220 kilometers (137 miles) long and from west to east it is
350 kilometers (217 miles). The country can be crossed from north to south or east to
west by car or train within four hours. Its geography and climate, however, are quite
diverse, ranging from arctic at high altitudes of the Alps to semitropical valley floors
within 18 or 25 linear miles (30 or 40 linear kilometers). This variety of geography
has had quite an effect on the diversity of climate, natural vegetation, and agricultural
crops grown as well as the culture of the people who populate these regions.
Approximately 70 percent of Switzerland is covered by the Alps. The moun-

tainous areas typically reach a high temperature of approximately 41ºF (5ºC) in
winter. This is in contrast to the adjoining valleys, which can reach 30ºC in the
summer months. The high temperatures mean diverse crops can be grown includ-
ing cherries, apricots, grapes (for wine), tomatoes, peaches, and kiwifruit. In the
southern cantons, palm trees grow at the lakesides, and stark contrast is offered
when snow dusts them in midwinter.
The Alps are a major boundary that has kept the adjoining countries parti-
tioned. The passes through the mountains have always been difficult to traverse but
also quite valuable for trading purposes.
Much of Europe’s water supply begins in the Alps, and the mountains, gla-
ciers, rivers, and meadows have been valuable in terms of supplying food and
water for millennia. Rivers begin in the Alps and flow down the mountains toward
the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and to various lakes and river tributaries
throughout Europe. With the downhill flow of rivers came the spread of trade,
language, culture, and technology. Over centuries, the spread of German culture
and language, for example, evolved from the Schweitzer-Deutsch of the Alps into
Dutch along the length of the Rhine River at the North Sea through trade along the
river’s length.
Mountains provide natural barriers between cantons and villages, making geo-
graphically proximate, yet distinctly different communities within short distances.
Because of these insular and protective communities, many unique community
traditions developed with respect to food, clothing, and shelter depending on the
types of resources and materials available in the region. For example, stone houses
in the south are common, whereas wooden houses are much more common in
wooded areas where trees suitable for building were more abundant.
Historically, village life was rural and life was closely tied to the seasons and
agricultural tasks. Small villages were almost self-sufficient and traded among
themselves as much as possible. Venturing out to the next village could be a major
undertaking, especially before automobiles and trains were commonly used. Rais-
ing dairy cows is common across the country. They can graze up and down the
mountainsides with the seasons and cheese production is done in huts in the field
as well as on a larger scale in villages. The Swiss diet traditionally revolved around
staples such as milk, yogurt, and cheese, and of course milk chocolate.
People and Dress

Western dress was similar throughout Europe especially as fashion and general
communication improved. People in the Swiss aristocracy wore similar clothing
to their contemporaries in high society in France, Austria, Germany, and Italy. For
Switzerland | 703
Women and men in traditional costumes dance at the Unspunnen festival in Interlaken,
2006. (Stefan Wermuth/Reuters/Corbis)
what is now commonly thought of as specifically Swiss traditional dress, it is not

the high-fashion aristocracy that we look to, but it is the peasantry who developed
distinct styles that reflected Swiss culture of the common people.
Clothing worn every day by peasants was more functional and suited to the life
of hard work in rural landscapes. Typically, people had far fewer clothes, as laun-
dering by hand was so labor-intensive. Each family member had work clothes and
also possessed a formal suit of clothes worn on Sundays or for special occasions.
The more functional garments were worn for daily working life. The styles varied
slightly depending on the person’s occupation and location, but typically were very
similar within each region. Clothing was most often made of homespun cloth—
cotton for warmer weather and wool for winter. Heavier weight fabrics were worn
for jackets, coats, pants, and skirts, while lighter weight fabrics were used for shirt-
ing, underclothes, and aprons. Clothing choices for men and women depended on
such things as marital status, social class, or age. It was easy for people to identify
whether someone was single or married and to which class they belonged. Not all
regions had the same clothing styles and colors did not mean the same things, so
regional differences existed in styles and accessories.
In order to maintain some semblance of a Swiss national dress, a concerted
effort was made in the early 19th century at the Alpine Cowherds’ Festivals of
1805 and 1808. These festivals were followed in modern times by festivals known
as the Unspunnen festivals in the 20th century. These are usually scheduled for
every three years and include traditional folk costume, folk music, and folk art.
The purpose of these festivals was to support a national consciousness of Swiss
popular culture. In 1946, right after WWII, both the Cowherd’s Association and the
Swiss Traditional Costume Association joined the Unspunnen festival for the first
time. With currently 20,000 members, the Swiss Folkloric Costume Association
allows traditions to be passed down through generations of Swiss people, preserv-
ing traditional Swiss culture. The Federal Traditional Costume Festival takes place
every three years, the highlight of which is a magnificent procession with costumes
from every part of Switzerland.

Textiles in Switzerland have a long history. The rural Swiss were very self-
sufficient out of necessity and produced most of what they needed themselves,
including food, clothing and shelter, resources and materials. Wool was harvested
from local sheep and flax was grown and retted to produce linen. Once spun and
woven, these fibers produced a plain homespun cloth used for making clothing for
working. Handmade woolen cloth and intricate embroidery became an industry
for the monks of St. Gallen as early as the 15th century. By the early 20th century,
St. Gallen produced more than half of the world’s lace and one-fifth of the popula-
tion worked in the textile industry. Hand- and needlework was traditionally done
by women until the invention of machinery for embroidery and lacemaking, when
men became more engaged in the industry. Simple embroidery could be found
on everyday costumes with elaborate and intricate details on formal, festive, and
bridal dress.
Cotton has also been manufactured in Switzerland since the 12th century. By
the 17th century, Geneva was a center of European cotton manufacturing. Swiss
cotton remains a high-quality fabric to this day. Cotton cannot be grown in Swit-
zerland. To create Swiss cotton, finest quality (long-staple fiber) Egyptian cotton
is used on the finest machinery in Switzerland to create tightly woven, soft, and
durable cotton yarns. These are used to weave and knit textiles known as some of
the best cotton products in the world.
Women’s Clothing
Women’s clothing revolved primarily around what is popularly known today
as the dirndl.
This basic outfit is defined by a very full skirt gathered at the waist, worn with
a vest or sleeveless dress, fitted very tightly on the bodice. The bodice and skirt are
often contrasting colors, typically red, green, or black.
The dress is worn typically with a white blouse underneath it, with stockings,
black slip-on shoes with a decorative metal buckle and flap on top, a shawl, and a
hat or headpiece.
Switzerland | 705
The bodice of the dress or vest is

typically closed with hooks and eyes
and is sometimes reinforced with bon-
ing inserted vertically to create shape
and support. The crisp white cotton
blouse usually has short puffy sleeves
that often are gathered from the shoul-
der and tighten around the upper arm
and directly under the bustline. The
blouse is typically trimmed with fancy
lace at the edge of the sleeves and often
around the gathered or scooped neck-
line. It can be decorated in the tradi-
tions of the region with embroidery,
appliqué, tatting, crochet, and so on.
Most often, a contrasting half apron is Illustration of the dirndl and its components.
worn around the waist and tied in the (Lynne Potter Lord)
back. The apron covers the front of the
skirt of the dirndl, protecting the skirt or dress front in the course of everyday wear or
for decoration. One might own several aprons but would rarely own several dirndls.
Variations of this basic outfit are reflected in the different dress of the 26 can-
tons and regions. Differences may be in color choices of the skirts, aprons, or the
cut of the blouse. Accessories including shoes, stockings or socks, shawls, scarves,
hats, and headdresses may also vary in design details from region to region. Varia-
tions may be in the style, color, or materials of the headdress, length or decorations
on sleeves, stockings, shoes, and/or accompanying bags. The variations depend
on the region, materials used for the clothing, or the age or marital status of the
wearer. The silhouette, however, remains basically the same no matter what region.
Changing aprons often kept the clothing clean underneath, so it made sense to
have several aprons for chores such as washing clothes, cleaning house, or carrying
produce or wood from the garden.
Color and Embroidery

Certain cantons and regions claim particular colors as their own, such as
Zurich using distinct blue and Watchwil using white. Color also indicated whether
a woman was married or single. In Appenzeller, for example, married women
add touches of gold in their aprons and décolleté inserts and wear gold jewelry
while single women are allowed only silver accoutrements. Single women in
Obwalden weave a white ribbon into their braided hair and fix it into place with
a traditional silver hair clip. When married, a woman wears a distinctive white
bonnet. In the canton of Schwyz, the only women allowed to wear red stockings
with their traditional dress are the women of Muotothal, and only while wearing
their Sunday best.
As women were traditionally trained in needlework from a young age, embroi-
dery and other types of embellishment was common on clothing and accessories
of all sorts. Classic motifs are embroidered and certain styles permeate the cul-
tures, including the rendering of edelweiss flowers, cows with cowbells around
their necks, snowcapped mountains, all very common themes across all regions.
Specific motifs indicate a particular region. For example, cherries are from Zug,
honeybees are from La Chaux-de-Fonds, grapes, grape leaves, and vines are from
the wine-growing regions. If a certain motif is used on a cap design, it will often
be repeated on an apron to be worn with it. Colorful embroidery on black shawls
and aprons stands out in stark contrast in Grisons canton costumes, and cross-stitch
embroidery is also common on plain aprons.
Men’s Clothing
Men’s clothing for everyday re-
flected the occupation of the wearer.
Often the components were made of
homespun cloth, heavier weight for
winter and lighter for summer. Basic
outfits included trousers, smock shirts,
and protective headwear.
Walking, climbing, or hiking is
a popular activity in Switzerland and
is reflected in the popularized leder-
hosen so often seen on postcards and
in stereotyped costumes in the mov-
ies. The short, knee-length pants worn
with suspenders were often made of
leather for durability and safety when
hiking or climbing. Shirtsleeves were
often short and cable-knit knee-high
socks were worn in heavy boots. Men
wore short-brimmed wool felt hats
Advertisement for a play about “picturesque with a bristled trim on the hatband to
Switzerland” depicts a man in traditional complete the outfit. In summer, wide,
dress featuring cummerbund and leder flat-brimmed straw hats are worn to
hosen, c. 1906. (Library of Congress) protect from the sun. The lederhosen
Switzerland | 707
were sometimes decorated with embroidery styles varying from region to region,
which also often appeared on belts, hatbands, and rucksacks.
Finer and more formal Sunday or special-occasion dress is often the dress of
choice when depicting the region’s typical traditional dress. Everyday wear would
often be covered in smocks for men while more elaborate suits of matching clothes
were worn for more formal wear. These would include accessories not found in
daily dress such as jewelry, trimmed belts and hats, and buckled shoes. Specifics
vary greatly from region to region or climate, and these variations can be seen in
the style or color of shirt, type of embroidery if any, the length of pant, the style of
jacket, cummerbund, hat, socks/stockings, and other accessories. Knitted clothing
such as socks and sweaters often have intricate details, such as cables and other
patterns. Color in men’s dress is significant and distinguishes people from region
to region as it does for women. Red, for example, figures prominently in the lining
of frock coats, waistcoats, or on the neckerchiefs of men from Schwyz.
Children’s Clothing
Very often children’s clothing is miniature versions of the clothing the
adults wear in the region. Differences appear in color choices used for the spe-
cific region’s costume. For example, in Zug, women wear mostly ecru- or cream-
colored costumes, while the girls wear light blue and white–striped dirndls with
yellow pinafores.

Eicher, Joanna, ed. Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Vol. 8. New York:
The Swiss Center of North America. http://theswisscenter.org/. Accessed January
2012.
The Swiss National Costume Association. http://www.trachtenvereinigung.ch/ws/
tr/front_content.php?changelang=10. Accessed September 16, 2010.
Swiss National Museum, Zurich (Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum Landes-
museum). http://www.nationalmuseum.ch/d/sammlung/wissenschaft_und_samm
lungen/textilien_kostueme.php. January 2012.
Thailand
While there is much debate as to the origins of the Thai people, it is agreed that
the Thai people are descended from a larger group of Tai-speaking peoples, and
archeological evidence indicates that there were permanent settlements in what is
now known as Thailand at least 10,000 years ago. Some scholars argue that the Tai
came to Thailand from China, while others argue that they originated in northern
Vietnam around the Dien Bien Phu area. Regardless of their origins, it is clear that
the early inhabitants of Thailand settled in the river valleys and were subsistence
rice farmers who also had domesticated animals, such as chickens, pigs, and water
buffalo.
By the 13th century the Tai had moved southward and come into contact with
the Mon and Khmer peoples. In order to establish a presence in what is the pen-
insula of modern-day Thailand, the Kingdom of Sukhothai was established in the
upper Chao Phraya basin. This early kingdom remained small through the reign
of two rulers. However, the third ruler, Ramkhamhaeng, who ruled from 1279 to
1298, extended control farther south, to the west as far as present-day Myanmar,
and to the northeast as far as present-day Laos. The Sukhothai period, which lasted
from the mid-13th century to the mid-15th century, was renowned for its graceful
bronze sculptures and celadon pottery.
The Ayutthayan period in Thai history lasted from 1351 until 1767. During
this period the Tai people became a leading power in the area that is known as
present-day Thailand as well as throughout the peninsula region. It was during
this period that Thailand became known as Siam and the Tai people as Siamese,
based on what the neighboring countries called the area and people. In 1431 the Tai
kings conquered the Khmer capital of Angkor and brought Khmer captives back to
Ayutthaya. The Tai soon adopted many of the Hindu ideas and practices followed
by their Khmer captives. It was also during this period that Theravada Buddhism
took root throughout Siam. The Buddhist monasteries played an important role
in society, as they were often the focal point of village life, providing education
708
Thailand | 709
for the young men. Early European visitors characterized the city of Ayutthaya as
a cosmopolitan city of great wealth. Early traders from the Netherlands, Spain,
England, and France as well as China, Persia, and India came to the city and estab-
lished settlements.
While Thailand has the distinction of being the only Southeast Asian country
never to have been colonized, it was periodically under threat from the Burmese
kingdoms. In both 1569 and 1767 Ayutthaya was subjected to attacks by Burmese
forces. Following the sacking of the city in 1767 the king and his family, as well
as many captives, were captured and taken to Burma. The city, its records, and its
works of art were all destroyed.
In 1767 a great military leader named Taksin came into power and within a
decade he recovered the territories that had been captured by the Burmese and
established a new capital in Thon Buri, across the river from Bangkok. Subse-
quently, the Chakri dynasty was founded by Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke. Chulaloke
was considered a great military leader and was originally from the Kingdom of
Ayutthya. The term “Chakri” comes from King Chualaloke’s title, Chao Phraya
Chakri, an honorific title that was given to Ayutthyan generals for illustrious acts
in battle. The referential name Rama derives from Hindu and Indian traditions and
is the name of a deity. From this time forward all Chakri kings would be referred to
as Rama X, with X signifying their position in the Chakri dynasty.
The first king of the new dynasty, Rama I, moved the capital across the river
to Bangkok, where it remains today. Conflict between Burma and Siam continued
until 1820, when British encroachment on Burma forced the Burmese to focus on
their own borders. The focus of the early Chakra kings was the rebuilding and resur-
gence of the Ayutthaya culture. Temples and palaces were built in Bangkok that
were reminiscent of those that were destroyed. Court rituals were reestablished and
a great literary tradition was begun. Western influence on Siam continued. Perhaps
most well known worldwide was the introduction of Western advisers to the court
by King Rama IV. One of those Western advisers, the Englishwoman Anna Har-
riette Leonowens, who was tutor to the king’s children, published a romanticized
account of her time with the king. This memoir became the basis for the novel
Anna and the King of Siam, written by Margaret Landon, and later the Broadway
show and movie The King and I.
In 1932, there was a bloodless coup organized by foreign-educated Thai stu-
dents and a new constitutional order was established. By 1938, with a very strong
military, the military budget tripled and the country became allies with the Japa-
nese before World War II. December 1938 saw the military dictator Phibun Song-
khram take power, and it was in 1939 that he changed the name of the country
from Siam to Thailand. The focus of the postwar years was on restoring Thailand’s
international reputation.
The postwar years were also characterized by dissent and unrest, and Thai-
land’s foreign policy was based on anticommunism and a strong relationship with
the United States. By 1980, however, Thailand’s system of government was one in
which the military coexisted with a parliamentary system and a monarchy.
On September 19, 2006, the Thai army staged a coup d’état against the interim
government of Thaksin Shinawatra. The result of the coup was the suspension of
the constitution and the dissolution of the Parliament and the Constitutional Court.
Martial law was declared and one of the king’s privy counselors, General Surayud
Chulanont, was appointed prime minister. On August 19, 2007, a new constitution
was approved and on December 23, 2007, a democratic general election was held.
In April 2009 Thailand was again the scene of political unrest. The so-called
“red shirts,” protesters loyal to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, inter-
rupted a meeting of Asian leaders. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state
of emergency, and demonstrations, both pro- and anti-Thaksin, continued through-
out that year. In March 2010, a protest of 100,000 red shirts demanded that Prime
Minister Abhisit dissolve Parliament and call new elections. Abhisit refused to dis-
solve Parliament, but agreed to call new elections. In May 2010, Abhisit decided to
hold early elections in exchange for the protesters calling off the demonstrations.
The red shirts rejected the offer, but in a counteroffer agreed to negotiate with the
government. The red shirts were rebuffed by the government and large-scale riot-
ing, looting, and the firebombing took place. The government cracked down on the
movement, and on May 19, the rioters dispersed and protest leaders surrendered.
Abhisit then introduced a five-point plan in June aimed at reconciliation. The Thai
government is currently a constitutional monarchy.

Thailand is situated in Southeast Asia. On the north it is bordered by Laos, to the
east it is bordered by Cambodia, to the west it is bordered by Burma, and to the
south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia. Thailand is the world’s 50th largest
country in landmass, and the 20th largest country in terms of population, with its
population estimated at 67,100,000.
The country of Thailand is divided into several geographical regions. The
north of the country is mountainous with the highest peak, Doi Inthanon, being
8,415 feet above sea level. The northeast part of the country is a plateau bordered
on the east by the Mekong River. The flat Cho Phraya river valley that runs into the
Gulf of Thailand dominates the central portion of the country. The southern part of
Thailand consists of the narrow Kra Isthmus that widens into the Malay Peninsula.
The small portion of Thailand that is on the Malay Peninsula is bordered by the
Andaman Sea.
Thailand | 711
The economy of Thailand is newly industrialized; however, Thailand is known

as the largest exporter of rice in the world. Despite this recent industrialization
many of the inland hill tribes continue to rely on a subsistence economy.
The climate of Thailand is tropical, typified by high temperatures, high humid-
ity, and monsoons. The southwest monsoon season is from mid-May to September
and the weather is rainy, warm, and cloudy. The northeast monsoon season lasts
from November to mid-March and the weather is dry and cooler. The southern
isthmus is generally hot and humid year round.
People and Dress

Thailand is home to more than 30 ethnic groups. However, the Thai major-
ity makes up about 75 percent of the total population of Thailand. These ethnic
Thai people are divided into four major groups and three minor groups. The major
groups are the central Thai, or Siamese, of the central valley; the eastern Thai, or
Lao, of the northeast; the northern Thai, or Lao, of north Thailand; and the southern
Thai, or Chao Pak Thai, of the Thai Peninsula. The minor groups are the Phuthai of
the northeast; the Shan of the northwestern corner of Thailand; and the Lue of the
northeast. Also living in Thailand are populations of Chinese, Malay, and Khmer
peoples. Thailand is also home to 20 small ethnic minority groups collectively
known as the hill tribes of Thailand. These tribes are diverse groups of people who
have migrated over the last 500 years from Tibet, China, Vietnam, Burma, and Laos.
The seven major tribes that are recognized as members of the hill tribes are the
Karen, the Hmong, the Yao, the Lahu, the Lisu, the Akha, and the Lawa. Each of the
tribes speaks its own distinct language and has its own unique cultures and religious
beliefs. The official religion of Thailand is Theravada Buddhism; however, follow-
ers of Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and Sikhism can also be found in Thailand.
History of Dress
The indigenous ethnic groups of Thailand have traditionally produced a wide
variety of handwoven textiles, with each group being identified by the distinctive
textile patterns used in their clothing. While the combinations of fiber, color, and
technique distinguish the groups, there is a similarity in the structure of textiles
in Thailand regardless of where they are made. Although there is no official Thai
national dress, there are unofficial national costumes that have been designated
and given royal endorsement. These national costumes are based on the traditional
dress of the Thai elite. For women the national dress is called the phasin (also
Women wear the traditional phasin, or tube skirt at a beauty pageant during the
Songkran festival in Chiang Mai, Thailand, 2003. (Anders Ryman/Corbis)
rendered as pha sin), or tube skirt. The phasin is the traditional lower garment
for many of the ethnic groups in Thailand; however, it was King Rama VI who
introduced the phasin dress as the national dress for women in an effort to improve
women’s appearance and status.
In the 1960s, Queen Sirikit, wife of King Rama IX, traveled with the king to
America and Europe. For that trip the queen wanted to wear a modernized national
costume that was suitable for both everyday and formal wear. The queen thus com-
missioned research into the historical record of royal dresses and had eight official
designs developed for her wardrobe. It is notable that most of the designs incorpo-
rated the phasin. The first dress of Queen Sirikit is called the Thai Ruean Ton. The
Thai Ruean Ton is the most casual dress and is made out of a striped or plain-colored
silk phasin. The phasin has a patterned band at the hem and is sometimes folded
to one side. A collarless blouse with elbow-length sleeves and a front opening is
worn with this outfit. The second style of dress designed for the queen is called the
Thai Chakkri. The Thai Chakkri is for formal wear and is usually produced using
Yok weaving techniques. Yok techniques produce a fabric that has additional thick-
ness within the fabric without adding threads. Often gold- or silver-colored threads
are also woven into the fabric. The skirt is a phasin, with two pleated folds in the
front called na nang. The third form of dress in the queen’s wardrobe is the Thai
Thailand | 713
Boromphiman. This one-piece dress

is intended for formal evening attire.
The top of the dress looks like a long-
sleeved blouse with either a rounded
neckline or a mandarin-style collar,
and it is buttoned either in the front
or the back. The ankle-length phasin
has front pleats and is made of a rich
brocade. The fourth dress is the Thai
Chakkraphat. The Thai Chakkraphat is
a Thai silk dress that features a shawl.
The upper part of the dress has a
pleated shawl over a thicker shawl with
full embroidery on the upper shawl.
Number five in the queen’s wardrobe
is the Thai Siwalai. The Thai Siwalai is
also for formal evening occasions and
is quite similar to the Thai Boromphi-
man, but it has an over-the-shoulder
shawl. Dress number six is the Thai Pwo Karen man wearing traditional
northern Thai clothing, 2011. (Kevin
Dusit. The Thai Dusit is a wide-necked Landwer-Johan/iStockphoto.com)
and sleeveless brocaded dress. The
skirt and blouse can be sewn together.
It can be worn for evening ceremonies and is made of Yok silk. The seventh form
of dress is the Thai Amarin. The Thai Amarin is also evening attire and is made of
a rich brocaded fabric. The blouse is wide and round-necked. The sleeve length
sits just below the elbow. The eighth form of dress worn by the queen is the Thai
Chitlada. The Thai Chitlada is for daytime formal wear. There is a brocaded band
at the hem of the phasin, which is a casual wraparound. It can be worn with a long-
sleeved silk blouse, with the front opening closed with five ornamental silver or
gold buttons.
For men the national dress is called suea phra ratchathan. The suea phra rat-
chathan resembles a jacket and has a mandarin collar that is slightly tapered at the
side. The sides of the jacket may have vents or not. The jacket is fastened with five
round cloth-covered buttons. The jacket has two outer pockets at the front. The top
of the pocket sits at a level slightly higher than the bottom button. The jacket also
sometimes has a left-sided breast pocket. The suea phra ratchathan comes in three
varieties (from least to most formal): short-sleeved, long-sleeved, and long-sleeved
with a sash or cummerbund. The long-sleeved versions of the jacket all have cuffs.
When a sash is used it is knotted at the left side.

Thailand is renowned for its luxurious silks, which are soft with an uneven tex-
ture and slightly knotty threads. The women’s formal phasin is usually made from
Thai silk. The phasin can be of any color, but generally has a contrasting ornamen-
tal border. The suea phra ratchathan is made from Thai silk or cotton.

In rural areas everyday dress for men is a pair of shorts and a plain shirt. A piece
of checkered cloth, called the pha khao ma, is worn around the waist. The pha khao
ma is utilitarian and can be used as a towel, headcloth (for protection against the
sun), or even a hammock. Traditionally everyday wear for women in rural areas is a
variation of the phasin. Another traditional form of dress that was worn by both men
and woman is the chong kraben. The chong kraben was made out of a variety of
textiles, including imported Indian chintz. The chong kraben is a length of cloth that
is wrapped around the body and tied in a knot at the waist with the ends of the cloth
brought together, rolled from the top edge to the bottom edge, and the resulting roll
brought out between the legs to the small of the back where it is stuck behind the
belt. Traditionally men and women would not wear an upper garment; however,
with increased modernization in the 1930s and 1940s women were forbidden to go
topless. As a result a blouse was added to the dress for women. In the cities every-
day wear is Western-style clothing that is readily available and is manufactured in
Thailand. For formal occasions women wear the phasin with a colored silk sash
that runs from the left shoulder to the right side of the waist. For formal wear men
wear the suea phra ratchathan. While the suea phra ratchathan can be any color, it
is traditionally white so it contrasts with the black trousers that are usually worn. A
colored silk sash or cummerbund is worn for formal occasions.
Component Parts
The traditional phasin is a tubular piece of cloth about 3 yards long and more
than a yard wide. It is wrapped once around the body and then tied in a knot
in the vicinity of the navel. In nomenclature the phasin is divided into three sec-
tions: the hua sin; the head or the top; the tua sin, the body or midsection; and the
tin sin, the foot or border. This division or sectioning of the phasin is important
because the three sections of the phasin are either woven into one piece of cloth
(with patterns differentiating the three sections) or are made from different pieces
of cloth that are then sewn together. The top section of the phasin is made from
a plain-woven cloth of any color, although some groups prefer natural, white, or
Thailand | 715
indigo cotton. The midsection of the phasin is the largest section, and the different
ethnic groups use a variety of techniques to decorate this section, including ikat
(tie-dye) weaving. The border of the phasin is either plain for everyday or very
elaborate for special occasions.

Thai women wear a variety of gold and silver jewelry; however, Thailand is
perhaps best known for a particular form of body modification practiced by one of
the hill tribes known by outsiders as the Paduang, or “long-necked” people. The
Paduang are in fact one of the most recognized ethnic groups in the world, but
they should more properly be called the Kayan Lahwi. The Kayan Lahwi women
embrace a form of body modification and beautification that is perceived by out-
siders to be extreme. Starting at about age five, and as the girls grow, heavy brass
coils are added to their necks, pushing down their collarbones and shoulders to
create the illusion of a long neck. Traditionally this practice was followed for two
reasons. The first is that among the Kayan Lahwi the long neck in a woman is a
sign of great beauty. The second is that the brass used in the neck rings was a sign
of wealth. In recent years much controversy has arisen over the exploitation of the
Kayan Lahwi because many of their villages have been turned into tourist desti-
nations for people who have heard about and want to see the body modification
practices of these people.

The hill tribe peoples continue to wear their traditional clothing on a daily
basis. The phasin and the suea phra ratchathan are also worn regularly in Thailand.
In addition, the Thai dancers continue to wear traditional dance costumes.

Baker, Chris, and Pasuk Phongpaichit. A History of Thailand. London: Cambridge
“Clothing, Traditional—Thailand.” Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. David Levinson
and Karen Christensen, eds. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2002.
Conway, Susan. Thai Textiles. London: British Museum, 1992.
Delang, Claudio O. Living at the Edge of Thai Society: The Karen in the Highlands
of Northern Thailand. New York: Routledge, 2010.
Fraser, Thomas M. Fishermen of South Thailand: The Malay Villagers. Long
Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 1984.
Jones, Roger. Culture Smart! Thailand: The Essential Guide to Customs and Cul-
ture. London: Kuperard Publishers, 2006.
Jonsson, Hjorleifur. Mein Relations: Mountain People and State Control in Thai-
land. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005.
Landon, Margaret. Anna and the King of Siam. New York: Harper Trophy, 2001.
Leonowens, Anna. The English Governess and the Siamese Court. New York: Tom
Doherty Associates, 1999.
Kislenko, Arne. Culture and Customs of Thailand. Westport, CT: Greenwood
Press, 2004.
Paly, Amit K. “Paduang: Traditional or Exploitation?” The Washington Post. April
11, 2010.
Suchitta, Pronchai. “Mental Template: The Case of the Tai Lao Pha Sin.” Asian
Folklore Studies 48, 1989: 95–105.
Thosarat, Rachanie, Charles Higham, and Jeffrey Quilter. Khok Phanom Di: Pre-
historic Adaptation to the World’s Richest Habitat. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt
Brace College Publishers, 1998.
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Northern Thailand (Southeast Asian Modernities). London: Lit Verlag, 2008.
Tibet
Anne Hill
Tibet was a theocratic Buddhist state with His Holiness the Dalai Lama as its spiri-
tual and temporal ruler; it is generally agreed by scholars that a feudal system of
governance permeated every facet of Tibetan life until the time of the occupation,
in 1950, by the People’s Republic of China.
A remote and inaccessible culture with relatively few outside influences, Tibet
was sparsely populated with fewer than 2 million people, yet it was home to thou-
sands of monasteries in every precinct of the land; it was not uncommon for the
larger enclaves, such as Drepung, to house as many as 10,000 monks.
The unique nature of Tibetan society changed irrevocably when the People’s
Republic of China completed its takeover in 1959, and soon after the Dalai Lama
was forced into exile. In the push to reframe Tibet as a communist state, Chinese
authorities authorized the indiscriminate destruction of thousands of monasteries,
large and small, decimating the Tibetan way of life and culture.
Prior to 1950, the majority of Tibetans accepted the traditional order associ-
ated with the theocracy and a hierarchy that comprised four distinct classes: nobles,
traders, peasants, and nomads. The nobility were landowners, an aristocracy that
descended from the early monarchs and rulers of Tibet.
In the seventh century CE, during the height of trade along the Silk Road,
Tibetans were prominent dealers in goods, cultural wares, and ideas, and had great
success in the commercial traffic between India and China. Trade also facilitated
the spread of Buddhism outward from India to Tibet. As a class, traders ranked
between the landed gentry and peasant laborers. Peasants worked the land that
belonged to the nobility. Nomads, the fourth class of Tibetans, included herdsmen
and laborers who worked the higher elevations and grasslands, tending to their
sheep, yak, and goat herds, which were relocated seasonally. Nomads traded with
local settlements for goods, but were otherwise independent, renowned for their
hardiness and ability to sustain themselves on the land.
717

Tibet covers a vast plateau in Central Asia. Often described as “the rooftop of the
world,” its terrain ranges from approximately 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) above sea
level, with large areas in the north over 5,000 meters (16,000 feet) in elevation.
Tibet’s climate is unique and complex. With rare exceptions it is generally cool
during the short summers (although the capital city, Lhasa, can be quite balmy
with recorded highs near 86°F). The winter months are formidable (average tem-
perature a bone-chilling minus 7°F), with some areas reputed to be exceptionally
harsh. At higher elevations along the Tibetan plateau and mountains the air is thin-
ner with lower oxygen and lower barometric pressure. Winds race along endless
flat stretches of the plateau; the ever-present gusts make an already chilly climate
even more so. The sun’s ultraviolet rays are also much stronger at these altitudes,
which prompts the light to appear aesthetically brighter—especially during the
extended hours of daylight during the summer months. Lhasa is aptly referred to
as the “sunlight city.”
The Tibetan calendar is divided in two: the dry season (October to April) and
the rainy season (May through September). Humid air currents from the Indian
Ocean influence weather patterns in southern Tibet, making it more hospitable to
human settlement and agriculture; a majority of Tibetans live in the region, par-
ticularly in the valleys, which are warmer and enjoy plentiful rainfall. Elsewhere,
the climate of Tibet is difficult. Agriculture is usually limited to herding livestock,
which forms the basis of a trade economy in yaks, sheep wool, and goat fiber.
People and Dress

Traditional dress in Tibet varies according to region, season, rank, and position.
Tibetan society has four Buddhist lineage traditions, each having a different dress
grouping to identify a monk’s level of practice and status; to this day, robes are
used to identify their lineage, training, and level of Buddhist practice.
Tibetan dress is also used to discriminate regional differences in both clothing
and headdress style. Married women of central Tibet, for example, wore aprons
to signal their marital status; the barcode-like pattern of different colors also indi-
cated their social position within the community.
Government officials and military personnel, prior to 1950, also wore specific
dress to identify their position and rank within society. Government officials in
service to the Dalai Lama wore an earring in their left ear denoting their position,
while an official’s servant, such as a tax collector, wore wide and fringed headwear,
commonly called a sogsha or Mongolian hat.
Tibet | 719
Ngolok chief and his wife wearing chupas, Tibet, about 1930. (Library of Congress)
Both genders wore chupas, kimono-like garments tied with a sash at the waist.
Nomadic men stowed objects and supplies inside their chupa for a day’s journey
or lengthy expeditions. Traditionally, a nomadic man’s chupa hung to the knees,
unlike floor-length chupas worn by nomadic women, the nobility, or Lhasa gov-
ernment officials. Chupas, made of cotton, silk, or sheepskin, were complemented
with cotton or silk shirts. Traditional dress worn by noblewomen in Lhasa included
elaborate headdresses, jewelry adorned with precious stones, a gold or silver charm
box around the neck, and a wide band of pearls over the left shoulder. The amount
of ornamentation was dependent upon social class; for example, well-to-do Lhasa
women wore elegant Chinese silk chupas and multicolored striped wool aprons
with gold brocade on the upper corners.
Headdresses worn by nomadic women in eastern Tibet were less elaborate, but
nonetheless distinctive with colorful ribbons braided into their hair. In the Amdo
region of northeastern Tibet, for example, 108 braids (a religiously auspicious
number) were affixed to a massive headdress made of lambskin. The lower section
of the headdress, comprised of silver coins, amber, and coral beads, is in accor-
dance with the style of the region. While an Amdo women’s chupa was cut in the
same way as the men’s chupa, it was floor-length and constructed with more lavish
fabric. The inner robe was sheepskin lined with imported Chinese sateen silk, and
the outer robe was made from imported Chinese silk brocade.
Tibetan jewelry tends to be made of material acquired through trade such as
pearl, amber, turquoise, and coral. The double- or triple-size amulet box was worn
with necklaces of coral, turquoise, and amber. There is a rich lore of myth and
ritual associated with turquoise, and the Tibetan people accorded it great symbolic
significance. It was said that wearing a turquoise ring could assure a safe jour-
ney and finding a turquoise stone would bring the best of luck. Other adornments
typical of Tibetan jewelry include pearl and coral beads, which are highly prized
by Tibetans. According to tradition, one who wears red coral attracts success and
gains status. Moreover, the color red is considered auspicious and worn by Bud-
dhist monks.
Tibetan traditional dress traveled throughout nearby regions, altering into sub-
styles designed to communicate specific information. The Nyinba people, a rela-
tively prosperous group of Tibetans who migrated to Nepal in the 14th century CE,
wear more extravagant headwear, which contradicts the region’s reputation as one
of the poorest districts in the land.
Flamboyant ritual garments are made with expensive materials such as tie-
dyed wools with colorful appliqués and Chinese silks. The taikor headdress, as it is
known, is found in a handful of villages in the Simikot area of Nepal. The Nyinba
assert that the taikor came from Tibet and regard it as a supreme status symbol, a
visual statement by wealthy women proclaiming pride in their Tibetan ancestry.
The taikor with precious stones acts as a form of ritual protection for the head.
Ceremonial jewelry, festive garments, and the taikor are only worn during religious
festivals and weddings.

Historically, as a trading nation, Tibet depended upon Silk Road commerce
for imported silk and fruit and vegetable dyes to manufacture clothing and textiles.
Tibet’s ubiquitous herds of sheep, goats, and yaks also supplied ample yarn for
hand-spinning and cloth weaving. Yak hair and planted-pile textiles, woolen flat-
weaves, and twill fabric for garments of every sort were made on portable horizon-
tal frame and backstrap looms.
Upright vertical looms, by virtue of their heftiness, were less common in the
hinterland. They tended to be used by the more settled people in Tibet to make a
knotted-pile carpet called Drumtse.
Traditional garments such as aprons for married women were handwoven (sin-
gle women did not wear the garment). Aprons were usually fashioned with three or
four panels, set off by stripes (not unlike a barcode) in vibrant Tibetan colors. The
Tibet | 721
aprons were woven on a backstrap loom; the discriminating feature of a vintage

apron was a tigma, a cross-shaped pattern created with a hand dye.
The indigo plant is commonly used for dyes in Tibet and is sometimes mixed
with fir cones from young trees or chang beer made from barley. Madder red was
derived from rubia munjista and r. tictoria roots gathered in southern Tibet, as well
as mulberry trees. The color pink was produced from the roots of dog-rose shrubs.
Orange was made from saffron imported from India, while yellow was harvested
from wild rhubarb roots, buckwheat, bark from barberry, and turmeric powder.
Tibetan wool is obtained from animals that live at a very high altitude, and
consequently it is oilier. When dyed with local herbs, earth pigments, or imported
dyes sent from India, Tibetan wool conjures a pleasing patina of color, with indigo,
madder red, and saffron among the most popular. Wool products tended to be natu-
rally dark and brown, made even darker with walnut dyes. Shifts toward a yellow-
brown color were accomplished with imported myrobolum, a fruit that also was
utilized by practitioners of traditional Tibetan medicine. Green was created from
indigo, rhubarb, or henna.
Important events such as weddings and the Tibetan New Year known as Losar
determined styles of dress to reflect the prominence of the occasion. Richly embroi-
dered chupa robes and other elaborate garments were a vital component of New Year’s
celebrations. The robe of the annually
appointed Yaso General, a prominent
Losar official, is constructed with rich
metallic Russian brocade, illustrating
the costumed pomp and pageantry of a
Losar celebration. Brocade robes worn
by lay officials are believed to be Mon-
gol in origin. A historic photograph
taken during Losar depicts an entire
complement of government officials
dressed in rich brocade chupas. These
special-occasion costumes have richly
woven silk and metallic brocade chu-
pas, which could have been worn by
these lay officials.
Lavish state ceremonies performed Ceremonial cape. Chinese brocade, painted
in Lhasa typically coincided with a in Tibet, c. 18th century. (Newark Museum/
religious calendar of events. During Art Resource, NY)
the celebrations, it was customary to perform ritual dances in specific costumed

dress. Losar, the most important festival of the year, was held within the Drepung
and Sera monasteries near Lhasa. The ills of the old year were solemnly expelled
in lengthy religious dances, which were part of the cham, a prescribed repertoire of
formal dance that could only be performed by Buddhist monks and lamas.
Masks and their depiction of the macabre and grotesque were key compo-
nents of the year-end ritual to eliminate malevolent spirits. A cham costume in the
Newark Museum illustrates a fierce guardian deity’s mask and a rigs lnga, a tiara
comprised of multiple images of the Buddha. Monks can also wear headdresses
without masks; for instance, the Black Hat Dance is performed with painted faces
and a black hat. However, a majority of monk performers wore and continue to
wear masks to enact the ritual cycle of dances.
Tibetan Opera (Ache Lhamo)

Tibetans have a great fondness for Ache Lhamo, the traditional opera of Tibet,
which “evolved from a Buddhist storytelling genre,” whereby a traveling bard “pre-
sented tales by unrolling scrolls that depicted popular narratives.” Tibetan opera,
Ache Lhamo, is secular theater rich with costumed performance; it has been per-
formed virtually uninterrupted since the eighth century CE, giving it “the unique
distinction of being the oldest living theatre in the world.” Today, there are two
major companies of Tibetan opera, one in Lhasa under the auspices of the People’s
Republic of China, and the other in Dharamsala in northern India.
Lhamo means “goddess,” which understandably might presume female actors;
however, all-male troupes were the norm. The Ache Lhamo canon tells stories of
female entrapment and magical release, the principal character presided over by a
clowning hunter or trickster-like fisherman.
Ache Lhamo human characters generally are unmasked, with the exception
of the hunter and fisherman. They wear two-dimensional masks in the drama,
alongside characters depicting highly stylized animals and god-like demons with a
three-dimensional visage. In Ache Lhamo, actors wear opulent brocade costumes.
Female characters don Tibetan headdresses and jewelry, such as an amulet charm
box and coral and turquoise beads. Tibetan women’s dress includes a wonchu
blouse with long sleeves, the chupa overdress, and the apron with gold corners.
Nomadic dress is also a feature of Ache Lhamo. In the Doasammo, an oft-told
narrative in the Tibetan opera repertoire, there are comical scenes, which feature a
herdsman and his wife costumed in nomad-style clothing. Traditionally the role of
the nomad’s wife was played by a man, but after 1949 and the People’s Republic
of China’s “liberation” of Tibet, women could take to the stage and play female
characters.
Costume for Black Hat Dance, Tibet, 19th–20th century. Chinese satin, damask,
brocade; leather and brocade boots. (Newark Museum/Art Resource, NY)
There are 10 major stories in the Ache Lhamo repertoire. All are rooted in
Buddhist tales from India, as well as Tibetan historical and religious events.
The continuity of Tibet’s cultural history is a major concern. “Today, we are
going through a critical period of time,” the 14th Dalai Lama declared on his web-
site. “We are a nation with an ancient culture, which is now facing extinction.” His
Holiness’s statement reflects the Tibetans-in-exile preoccupation with cultural sur-
vival and the preservation of Tibetan culture through the arts and traditional dress.

As one of the first official acts of the Tibetan government-in-exile in
Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama established the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts
(TIPA) shortly after his arrival in India in 1959. Within months, steps were taken
to maintain the Tibetan culture by preserving Tibetan performing arts so that they
would not be lost nor forgotten. The primary intent of TIPA has been and remains
the accurate and faithful presentation of the Ache Lhamo. As cultural ambassadors,
TIPA has been the symbol of the official voice of Tibetan art and performance.
As a living tradition, however, Tibetan traditional dress is not immune to
change. Tibetans-in-exile modified women’s dress after 1959 by eliminating the
sash around the waist. They now use less fabric to construct the chupa dress. The
apron had narrower stripes before 1959 and was worn below the knee. After 1959,
the apron was shortened to above the knee, with some having wider stripes. The
old maxim to watch the length of women’s skirts to gauge the temperament of the
times, in this instance, has more to do with the extremes of hot and humid weather
in India.
Tibetans abroad are concerned about cultural preservation and conservation.
The Tibetan government-in-exile states its prime objective is both to protect and to
accurately present Tibetan culture to the world. The People’s Republic of China,
meantime, in its cultural exchange programs abroad, claims the authority to repre-
sent Tibetan culture as part of its Chinese ethnic minorities. The debate is ongoing
and is beyond a mere difference of opinion. Tibetans living in exile are suspicious
of the intentions of the Chinese government, just as People’s Republic of China
officials are wary of their counterparts in Dharamsala.

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David-Neel, Alexandra. Magic and Mystery in Tibet. New York: Claude Kendall,
1932.
De Riencourt, Amaury. Lost World: Tibet. Avon, England: Honeyglen Publishing,
1987.
Duncan, Marion. Customs and Superstitions of Tibetans. London: Mite, 1964.
Goldstein, Melvin. A History of Modern Tibet, 1913–1951: The Demise of the
Lamaist State. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.
Harrer, Heinrich. Return to Tibet. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1987.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Phil Borges, Jeffrey Hopkins, and Elie Wiesel.
Tibetan Portrait, the Power of Compassion. New York: Rizzoli International
Publications, 1996.
Myers, Diana K. Temple, Household, Horseback: Rugs of the Tibetan Plateau.
Washington, DC: The Textile Museum, 1984.
Norbu, Dawa. Tibet: The Road Ahead. New Delhi, India: HarperCollins, 1997.
Reynolds, Valrae. Tibet, a Lost World: The Newark Museum Collection of Tibetan
Art and Ethnography. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978.
Stein, R. A. Tibetan Civilization. London: Faber and Faber, 1972.
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Sacred Realm: Photographs 1880–1950 (3rd ed.). New York: Aperture Founda-
tion, 1997.
Thurman, Robert. Essential Tibetan Buddhism (paperback ed.). New York: Harper
Collins, 1996.
Tsering, Dhondup. “Of Wool and Loom: The Tradition of Tibetan Rugs.” Book
review by Dhondup Tsering, The Centre of Tibetan Studies. http://www.orchid
books.com/book_reviews/wool_loom_centre_tibetan.html.
Tucci, Guiseppe. To Lhasa and Beyond: A Diary of the Expedition to Tibet in the
Year MCMXLVIII. Rome: Instituto Poligrafico Dello Stato, 1956.
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doms: Gods, People & the Arts. New Delhi: Roli Books International, 1981.
Turkey
Charlotte Jirousek
Turkic tribes first emerged in history in the sixth century in the region north and
west of Mongolia, a region where Indo-European and Altaic nomads alternately
shared and competed for the grazing lands of the steppes and mountain valleys.
The first firm mention of Turks in the written record appeared in the sixth century
CE in reference to the emergence of a tribal confederation that had established an
empire north of the Great Wall. The essential features of this Central Asian horse-
riding nomadic culture were shared by the Uralic and Altaic Mongols, Turks,
Khazars, and Kirghiz, and also by Indo-Europeans such as the Iranians, Pashtun,
Kurds, and Tajiks, among others.
Turkic tribes gradually migrated west, where they served as mercenaries and
slave armies of the Byzantines and Arabs, and not infrequently ended up claim-
ing their conquests in their own name. By the 11th century the Seljuk Turks had
established empires that encompassed most of what is now Persia, Syria, Iraq, and
modern Turkey. Although the great Seljuk Empire would be broken up by the Mon-
gol invasions of the 13th century, lesser Turkic emirates and kingdoms emerged
thereafter throughout this region. One of these Turkish emirates, the Osmanli or
Ottomans, emerged in the 14th and 15th centuries to conquer the remains of the
Byzantine Empire, culminating in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, which established
Ottoman rule in the Balkans, and the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, which
ended the Byzantine Empire. By the 16th century the Ottoman Turks ruled an
empire that extended from North Africa to the Indian Ocean and surrounded the
Black Sea, reaching the gates of Vienna twice in that century. In 1923 the Otto-
man Empire was dissolved and its constituent parts became the nations that now
fill the map of the eastern Mediterranean, including the Republic of Turkey. To
this day Turkic populations inhabit large parts of the Middle East and Central Asia
from the Uighur regions of northwestern China to the Balkans. While all of these
regions share common elements of language, dress, and culture, it is the dress of
726
Turkey | 727
the Ottomans and particularly the region of the subsequent Republic of Turkey
(once known as Asia Minor) that will be the focus of this discussion. However, it
is also important to note that throughout this history the empires and nations ruled
by Turks have always been multiethnic in population.
Turkey is at the westernmost end of the legendary Silk Road, which is in fact
a complex web of land and sea routes that connected eastern Asia with the shores
of the Mediterranean. During most of the Ottoman era virtually all access to the
luxuries of the East passed through Ottoman ports. This profitable international
trade also led to the growth of a rich and varied domestic textile industry, build-
ing on older Turkish textile traditions. Traditional Turkish nomadic life, which
continued alongside settled urban and rural communities, had always depended
on home-produced textile arts for shelter and all the essential equipment of daily
life. Cotton was grown in Turkey by the later Middle Ages. A silk industry was
inherited from the Byzantines, and also brought by migrating nomads and trad-
ers arriving from Central Asia. Products made of leather, wool, mohair, and other
animal hair were the classic production of the Turkish herdsmen. Settled village
communities raised and wove cotton, hemp, and silk for local use, but were also
part of large-scale putting-out systems of production for domestic and interna-
tional commerce.
Turkey was historically a major source of the mordant alum and also of mad-
der (rubia tinctorum), used for red dyes. Turkey was so strongly associated with
madder dyeing that a complex method for dyeing cotton with madder in 19th-
century Europe was referred to as “Turkey red.” Indigo dye was created from the
indigo plant (indigofera tinctoria) and traded. In addition to rich regional dyeing
traditions, major dye commodities from further east such as kermes and lac were
the objects of trade. This diversity of materials is reflected in the rich variations of
dress that occur depending on climate and region.
In the 20th century, following the founding of the Republic of Turkey, poli-
cies of modernization and secularization helped to spread Westernization in dress,
initially in cities, but gradually throughout the country. Men’s dress rapidly shifted
to Western forms in most areas, even though in rural areas the Western suit was a
substitute for traditional modes of dress and did not acquire the Western meanings
intended by reform policies. Particularly following World War II rural traditional
dress forms began to alter and eventually disappear for women as well as men. In
more isolated areas it is still possible to find distinctive regional dress, although
materials used have generally changed as industrialization of textile production has
replaced traditional handmade goods. Therefore this discussion is mainly histori-
cal, and for the most part describes traditional dress as it was generally worn before
the Westernization of dress occurred in any given area.

Turkey enjoys a varied climate that ranges from semitropical to temperate. The
country is surrounded on three sides by water, with the Black Sea to the north, the
Aegean to the west, and the Mediterranean to the south. In the east Turkey borders
Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. The center of the country is separated
from the coastal regions by a ring of mountains, within which rises the Anatolian
Plateau. The coastal regions have seasonal rainfall and a milder climate, whereas
Anatolia is more arid and has extremes of seasonal heat and cold, with quite severe
winters in the east, where the plateau rises to higher altitudes. Anatolian farmers
raise wheat and other temperate crops and graze cattle, sheep, and goats. Histori-
cally the mohair goat was unique to Turkey and thrived in the arid, cooler climate
and austere pasturage of Anatolia. The mohair cloth (known as sof in Turkish and
camlet in the west) was a highly prized commodity in the 14th to 17th centuries.
Until the 20th century the mohair goat, also known as the Angora (Ankara) goat,
was not successfully raised outside of Turkey.
The mountains of the Black Sea region experience heavy snows as well as
summer rain and are a land of lush forests and meadows, with tea and rice grown
along the coast. Hemp was once raised in abundance in this region and also along
the south coast. Since the 1970s hemp production has been strictly regulated, but
some is still produced in the Black Sea region for industrial production and some
handweaving. The south and Aegean coasts are drier but warmer, growing oranges
and bananas as well as an abundance of produce of all kinds. Cotton has been an
important cash crop for centuries, particularly in the well-watered river valleys
south of Izmir and on the Adana plain on the south coast, and in the great valley
of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the southeast. Sericulture was widely prac-
ticed in the coastal regions and mountains until the early 1990s, when withdrawal
of subsidies and competition from Chinese silk brought an end to large-scale silk
production in Turkey. Cottage industry sericulture continues in more isolated vil-
lages, mainly producing silk for use in the weaving of silk carpets. The only region
where substantial local sericulture and silk cloth weaving can still be found is in
the region known as Hatay in the southeast of Turkey, near the Syrian border. Dra-
matic regional variations in climate have a significant effect on traditional dress.
People and Dress

Modern Turkey is 99 percent Muslim, but has significant minority groups, both
Muslim and non-Muslim. The population of Turkey as of 2012 was nearly
80,000,000. The estimation of ethnic minority size is not easy to ascertain since
Turkish census data only document religion. Some estimates suggest that as many
Turkey | 729
as 20 percent of Muslim Turkish citizens are of Kurdish descent. This population is

mainly found in southeastern Turkey, where they are mixed with the Turkish and a
smaller Arab population. However, many have migrated to western cities in search
of opportunity in the last 20 years. In addition, there are small groups of Laz and
Hemşin in the mountainous northeast, both groups that speak isolate languages.
Among non-Muslims, most are city dwellers and include Greeks, Armenians, and
Jews, and in total comprise less than 1 percent of the population.
During the era of the Ottoman Empire the population was quite diverse eth-
nically and religiously. The region most dominated by ethnic Turks and Turkish
culture was Anatolia, where Turkish tribes had begun to settle as early as the 10th
century. However, this region also included substantial Armenian, Greek, Jewish,
Syriac Christian, Muslim Kurdish, and Arab populations that were mingled within
any given region, but particularly in eastern Anatolia. The Ottoman provinces to the
south of Anatolia were primarily Arab with a similar mixture of other ethnicities,
and in these regions Arab modes of dress continued to dominate, although with the
addition of some Ottoman Turkish elements of dress in cities and in regions closest
to Anatolia such as Syria, Lebanon, and northern Iraq.
The dress of all of these minorities varied from region to region and for the
most part tended to resemble the dress of the dominant ethnic group in the region
where they found themselves. For example, there were also Greek villages as well
as Greek urban dwellers along the Aegean coast. Western Greece was not part of
the Ottoman Empire after the early 19th century. On the other hand, most of the
Aegean Islands and Thrace were ceded to Greece following the Treaty of Lausanne
in 1923. In addition, there was a mandatory exchange of populations at that time
that sent Greeks from western Turkey to eastern Greece and the islands in exchange
for Muslim Turks who left eastern Greece for Turkey. As a result, the traditional
dress of eastern Greece shares many elements with Turkish dress, since these people
lived longest and in closest contact with Turks, whereas western Greek costume
retains more purely Greek elements as well as exhibiting a stronger association with
European dress.
Following the exchange of populations under the Treaty of Lausanne, the only
Greek and Armenian populations allowed to remain in the new Republic of Tur-
key were those living in Istanbul, where dress rapidly Westernized. For this rea-
son, traditional Armenian and Greek dress essentially disappeared from Turkey at
that time.
The Turkish population is itself of quite varied descent. Although most are
Sunni Muslims, there is a substantial Alevi Muslim minority, and also follow-
ers of the various mystic orders, the best known of which are the Sufi Mevlevi
and Bektasi. Some of the distinctions relate to tribal ancestry. Most Turks claim
descent from the Oguz Turks, but there are also many tribal subgroups and clans
that carry other names; in many villages and among the remaining nomads, these
clan affiliations are still known. Since these nomadic groups often divided and
eventually settled in different parts of Turkey, the mapping of Turkish ethnicities
is extremely difficult.
Finally, absorbed into the population of modern Turkey are the myriad cultures
and beliefs that have existed in this land since the dawn of human history. Turk-
ish schoolchildren are taught that 40 civilizations have existed in Turkey over the
millennia; this is probably a conservative figure. Many ancient sacred sites and
customs have been absorbed into Muslim Turkish practice, and no doubt contribute
to some aspects of dress and embellishment.
Characteristics of Traditional Turkish Dress

The forms and aesthetic of Turkish dress can be traced back to the dress of
early Central Asian horse nomads. Life on horseback led to the development of
loosely fitted trousers (şalvar) to protect from chafing. Even after the end of the
Ottoman era more than 90 different styles of şalvar could be identified in Turkey
(Özel, 1992).
Also, since temperatures could be
quite variable within a short time, rather
than wearing garments that pulled over
the head, these people wore open-
fronted coats (most commonly termed
caftan or dolman) and jackets (cebken)
or vests (yelek) (Koçu, 1969) that could
be easily donned or doffed while on
the move, and also could be layered as
needed for additional warmth. Boots
protected the lower legs and feet, and
hats of varying styles covered the head.
Under the coats would be a shirt or
chemise. The garments were typically
arranged to display the layers of cloth-
ing, particular for formal dress. The
long coats may have the front corners
tucked up into the sash when engaged
Studio portrait of models wearing
in any physical activity, including rid-
traditional clothing from the province of ing, but may also be tucked up simply
Hodavindiguar (Hüdavendigar), Ottoman to display the various fabrics of the
Empire, c. 1873. (Library of Congress) underlayers. The wearing of multiple
Turkey | 731
layers also became part of Muslim modesty in dress for both men and women. The
ensemble disguised the form of the body by adding mass to it that projected an image
of substance, strength, and splendor. The use of such layered dress persisted even in
the extreme heat of summer. It is a widely held belief among Turks that thick layers
of clothing serve the purpose of absorbing perspiration, and that when perspiration
evaporates directly from the skin there is danger of catching a chill, even on hot days,
and so becoming ill.
The sleeves of outer layers might be arranged so that long, more fitted sleeves
of undercoats could be seen. A narrow long sleeve might have buttons from wrist
to elbow, and so could be allowed to fall from the elbow to reveal the chemise or
shirt sleeve; also the sleeve might be attached with ties or buttons and loops at the
armscye and could be partially released and allowed to hang down in back; or the
sleeves could be removed altogether.
Combinations of short and long vests and coats could be worn in various con-
figurations. Usually a vest was worn over the shirt and under a jacket and/or long
coat. A short, looser jacket might be worn over the coat, or a coat could be thrown
over the shoulders, allowing its sleeves to hang. The more layers worn, the more
formal the attire; and the richer the fabrics, the more elevated the status of the
wearer. Although coats often have buttons, the arrangement of layers is held in
place with large sashes and belts. These add bulk to the silhouette, which is con-
sidered a desirable effect, but they also serve as receptacles for weapons, tools,
purses, and other small personal items. Indeed, these accessory additions are con-
sidered an essential part of the complete dress ensemble.
Headgear was of particular importance as a marker of status, affiliation, and
gender. The Turks converted to Islam in the eighth and ninth centuries, but before
that an array of hats were worn, with persons of high status often wearing quite
tall headdresses. Such headdresses continued in use into the Ottoman era, but in
many cases with the addition of a Muslim turban wrapped around the base of the
hat. Ottoman turbans of high rank were quite carefully structured in their wrap-
ping, while the turban of a peasant could be a casual knotting of a scarf around the
base of the hat (taç or kavuk; later fez). These headdresses were so important in
Ottoman times that when a man died, his headstone would include a sculpture of
his headdress.
The types of garments worn were essentially the same for women and men,
but there were differences in arrangement, embellishment, accessories, and mate-
rials. Men’s attire usually involved a short jacket and a vest only for poorer men,
with longer coats for more formal wear and persons of higher status. Additional
layers of long coats or coats thrown over the shoulders would be worn by high-
ranking officials and imperial household members. The headgear would either be
the mandated headgear of public office in the Ottoman period, or the local or tribal
headdress, usually a combination of a distinctively shaped hat and wrapped head-

cloth that forms a turban. No man went bareheaded. The ensemble was completed
by the tools, swords, daggers, and pistols traditionally carried by Turkish men in
their sashes, along with purses, watches, and other personal articles. Weapons were
an essential part of a man’s dress.
For women the shorter coats might be the same in cut as the men’s but the
longer coats were more likely to be different. By the early 19th century many
women’s outer coats had evolved away from the caftans worn also by men to the
üç etek (three skirt), which had a deep open neckline, buttoned snugly to the waist,
and had slits at the side seams from the hem almost to the waist (Scarce, 1987).
Alternatively, a slightly flared sleeveless outer coat, often with a quilted lining,
might have been the outermost layer. The sleeves were often slit at the wrist and
had very long ends that were allowed to trail and reveal the embellished ends of
the chemise sleeve worn beneath. The front panels of the skirt were tucked into the
sash in back, revealing the underlayers of the ensemble. Married women added to
this ensemble an apron panel that both covered and called attention to the bifurca-
tion of the şalvar.
In traditional dress the head coverings of women were the most distinctively
female aspect of women’s traditional dress. They often included a hat (taç or takke),
which might be small and flat or quite tall. A scarf was wrapped over the top of
the head and hat and under the chin, to be tied on top of the head or at the back of
the neck. A second scarf was wrapped horizontally around the forehead over the
first scarf, in turban fashion; this is usually a particular mark of a married woman,
although all Kurdish women wear this turban. Note that neither of these scarves
covered the face, but only the hair, forehead, and neck. Turkish women did not veil
in the pre-Islamic period, and traditionally veiled less closely in general than most
other Muslim women. A larger scarf (çarşaf), reaching either to the elbows or the
floor, was thrown over all when the woman went out in public; the wearing of this
outer veil was usually seen in married women, and among the more conservative,
it may have been adopted by girls postpubescence or postbetrothal. The degree to
which the face was covered varied depending on the conservatism of the wearer.
This type of covering can still be seen today in modern Turkey.
Hair is a particular feature that in traditional dress it was considered necessary
to hide from public sight. A married woman’s hair was covered entirely, although
in the past young girls in many regions wore their hair in dozens of long plaits
that could be seen at the back below the scarf. In the Ottoman era men shaved
their heads, which was necessary when wearing the turban. All men old enough
to grow one wore mustaches, and mature men generally wore beards, particularly
those who had made the pilgrimage to Mecca. For both sexes, body hair was
removed.
Turkey | 733

In earlier periods most of the textiles used in traditional dress were locally pro-
duced, often within the household in the case of rural villages or nomadic com-
munities. However, as early as the mid-19th century industrially woven textiles,
particularly printed cottons, began to replace the handwoven cotton, silk, and hemp
fabrics, although these textiles were still in use in the early 20th century. For special-
occasion clothing, certain textiles might be purchased. The vests and coats of women
were usually made of purchased silk cloth, typically in striped patterns; men also
used these textiles for inner garments. Wool fabrics used for outer garments and
occasionally şalvar might be handwoven locally, or might be purchased cloth.
Most men’s clothing was made of wool, cotton, or linen, with embellishment
in silk embroidery not uncommon. The exceptions were the warp-faced striped
textiles known as alaca or medeniye (warp stripe rep weaves of differing quality)
and kutnu (warp stripe satin weaves with pattern and ikat). Both of these textiles
have cotton weft; therefore both were considered to be more acceptable for male
use (however, such garments were usually lined in cotton). In addition the kutnu
is weft (cotton) faced on the back, making it particularly proper. Kutnu, alaca, and
medeniye were also essential ingredients of women’s dress that were as pervasive
in traditional Turkish dress as plaid is in Scottish traditional dress. These fabrics
are made in a wide variety of color combinations and patterns, most once associ-
ated with particular regions or localities. However, color combinations that include
red, golden yellow, and black are most common.
The locally woven cotton and silk textiles varied from quite heavy to very fine,
transparent crepes made of overspun yarns, usually in plain weave. The lighter tex-
tiles were used for men and women’s shirts or chemises, and for women’s heads-
carves. These textiles were also used for aprons, napkins, and sashes. In some
cases discontinuous weft inlay was used to develop pattern; also weft-face kilim
weave techniques were used to create border designs. These crepe techniques, with
the inlay work, were also done in handwoven wools used for the long outer wrap
worn by many women in Eastern Turkey. Another variant on the inlay technique
was done in wool in 2/2 twill to make a large square shawl with a deep fringe,
folded into a triangle and worn over the hips by women in the Black Sea region.
Wool techniques associated with pile and flat woven rugs might also be incorpo-
rated into sashes, aprons, and other accessories. Embroidery is an important ele-
ment of embellishment for all aspects of dress.
Many of the headscarves once worn by women in all parts of Turkey are made
of a fine cotton printed (basma) or painted (yazma) in several colors. These scarves
were typically edged with needle lace (iğne oyası) or crochet lace (tığ oyası). The
needle lace is usually executed in the form of three-dimensional flowers, leaves,
or perhaps fruit, a style that appears to be widely distributed in Turkey and found
beyond the borders of modern Turkey only in regions formerly part of the Ottoman
Empire, notably in eastern Greece and the southern Balkans. In Turkish tradition,
the wearing of these scarves and the type of flowers or other embellishment found
on them were part of a code that identified the wearer’s age, marital status, and
affiliations. Certain types of oya were worn by men in some regions. Silk or yazma
scarves with ığne oya edging were an important part of the exchanges of gifts asso-
ciated with engagement and marriage.
Traditional Celebration Dress: Weddings

From the dowry to the wedding night textiles played a central role in traditional
Turkish courtship and marriage. When one family approached another to arrange
a marriage for their son, gifts were brought. These would include personal articles
for the bride and for her family, which included food, jewelry, and textile articles.
When the engagement was agreed upon, there would be a further exchange of gifts,
which would include personal gifts made by the bride for the groom; these might
include a scarf with oya embellishment, or an embroidered or oya watch case, and
a watch. The betrothed girl was expected to make additional articles as gifts for her
fiancée, to be presented on holidays at intervals during the engagement.
The marriage agreement includes arrangements for the contribution of each
family to the new household. The groom essentially provides shelter and means of
economic support (livestock, farmland, and/or training in a marketable skill); the
bride provides all the furnishings for the home, much of which would have been
textiles, including clothing for herself, her husband, and gifts for her new in-laws.
A particularly important prewedding gift for the groom is a special towel to be
worn by the groom during the ceremonial shave that takes place before the bride
is brought to her new home. This piece is on display as an example of the bride’s
embroidery skills. The groom, on the other hand, provides the wedding clothes and
dowry gold in the form of jewelry that becomes the personal wealth of the bride.
In the past, wedding apparel was similar to everyday dress except that better
materials were used. The bride was always completely veiled in red, with the head-
dress of the veil usually quite elaborate, but varying from one locality to another.
When the bride took leave of her home and parents, her father tied a red cord
around her waist as a sign of his guarantee of her virginity. Traditionally in many
places there was also a special wedding sheet, perhaps handwoven by the bride or
her family and embroidered by the bride, which would be hung out on display the
morning after the consummation of the marriage.
Following the consummation of the marriage, a final day of celebration occurs,
during which the bride and groom dance together to signify the acceptance of the
Turkey | 735
bride. Also, the female relatives of the groom wrap a scarf around the forehead of the
bride, the mark of the married woman. She will wear her gold daily during the first
40 days of her marriage, during which time she also pays calls on all her new kin.
In the modern era, while the ceremony remains similar, most brides, even in
villages, wear Western-style white wedding dresses, although in some regions the
bride may also wear traditional dress for some parts of the celebration. However,
the tying of the red cord around the waist by the father is still widely done, and a
red veil may be worn over the white dress. Modern grooms wear a Western-style
business suit.
Ottoman Court Dress

The essential structure of Ottoman court dress is the same as that described for
Turkish ethnic/traditional dress in general. The primary difference is, of course, to
be found in the choice of materials used, as well as the elaboration of layers and
accessories seen in this more formal dress.
Male dress in the court was strictly defined. Members of the imperial bureau-
cracy were, until the later 18th century, selected from non-Muslim slave boys who
were raised and educated in court schools, to be placed in positions that suited
their talents. While some might become gardeners, others would become soldiers,
military officers, household or government administrators, or even the prime min-
ister (vezir) to the sultan. Since the sultan was entirely responsible for their main-
tenance, clothing was issued in accordance with status and responsibilities. Color
and materials used in dress was therefore standardized for all court functionaries,
including the army. The spectacle of the Ottoman army in the field made a great
impression on the Europeans who faced them in the 16th and 17th centuries and
inspired the introduction of similarly uniformed national armies in the West by the
end of the 17th century.
Headgear was a particularly important marker of position and status. Very spe-
cific and sometimes quite fantastic forms marked each office and branch of ser-
vice, whether civil or military. For persons of highest rank, particularly those who
personally served the sultan, the wearing of plumes was a distinct mark of honor.
Court officials would wear several layers of jackets and coats topped with long
outer caftans. These outer coats were silk, and for the highest ranks could be made
of quite elaborate fabrics. Caftans were presented at court receptions as a sign of
honor to court officials and persons singled out for special recognition. They were
also part of the ceremonial reception of foreign ambassadors. The robe was pre-
sented prior to the audience with the sultan, worn into the sultan’s presence, and
varied in richness depending on the regard in which the recipient or his govern-
ment were held. The most sumptuous were made of cloth of gold and lined with
The Sultan granting an audience to Jacopo Soranzo, the Venetian ambassador to

Constantinople, miniature from an Arabic manuscript, seventh century. (DeAgostini/
Getty Images)
fur. Clothing was also a common part of the diplomatic exchange of gifts between
heads of state (Gervers, 1982).
The sultan himself wore the most elaborately layered ensemble for state occa-
sions, made of the finest of fabrics. Workshops in Istanbul and Bursa made the
most sumptuous of the brocades, velvets, and cloth of gold worn by members of
the imperial household; however, by the 17th century these luxury silks were also
being imported from Europe and elsewhere in Asia. Sultans often changed the
style of the imperial turban as a mark of their personal reign, so that the shape of
the sultan’s turban changed over time. A crest composed of spectacular jewels and
plumes (sorguç) was worn at the front of the turban as a mark of royal status. Apart
from the turban, the forms of the sultan’s dress changed relatively slowly over
the centuries until 1826, when dress reform was introduced in conjunction with
reforms in the army.
The women of the court also wore clothing that followed traditional forms
and was also made of the most luxurious materials available. Women’s garment
forms, more than men’s, did undergo some cautious changes in detail by the 17th
century, and more notable changes in the 18th and 19th centuries. The neckline of
Turkey | 737
the caftan opened up somewhat in the 17th century, but became wider and deeper
in the 18th century. The upper part of the caftan became snug to the body, not
unlike European corseted bodices. The fullness and layering of the lower part of
the caftan displayed an increasingly patterned array of fabrics and an amplifica-
tion of surface decoration, accessory sashes and veils, and delicate jewelry. This
tendency continued to accelerate into the 19th century when, following the official
dress reform for the army and bureaucracy, the women of the court also began to
adopt elements of Western dress. By the last quarter of the 19th century court dress
shifted to European forms.
Contemporary Use of Traditional Dress

Traditional dress in Turkey has been largely abandoned in most parts of the
country. However, there are significant exceptions, particularly in more isolated
areas in the northern mountains and in the east. Even so, in most places most of the
traditional materials used are no longer available, and so industrially made cloth is
usually substituted for the handwoven textiles once used. Thus most surviving tra-
ditional dress differs significantly from that of a century ago, and at best it includes
a mixture of traditional and modern materials used in a configuration that more or
less follows a traditional arrangement of the ensemble. However, the ubiquitous
international outfit of T-shirt, jeans,
sweat pants, and elastic-waist skirts
is fast replacing the şalvar, coat, and
jacket of the past for everyday wear,
even though women may continue to
wear a headscarf. In some places tra-
ditional dress does appear for special
occasions. Thus Turkey is well along
the path of transition from traditional
to mass fashion dress.
Meanwhile, traditional dress has
been preserved to a certain extent by
the folklore movement. Following
the founding of the Turkish Republic,
the establishment of a strong national
Turkish identity was seen to be very
important in a society that had always
been organized around tribal and clan
identities. Folk dance competitions Turkish folk dance group performs at an inter-
were organized within each region, national festival. (Cherydi/Dreamstime.com)
with a culminating national festival in which the best teams from each province
competed. During much of the 20th century these events were attended by enthu-
siastic crowds that cheered for their home teams. The costumes for these dance
groups became a very important marker of regional identity. Originally, traditional
dress would vary widely throughout a given province, with every village and town
identifiable by variations in the arrangement and materials of their dress. There-
fore, there were hundreds of variations of traditional dress in each province. There
were initially 67 provinces (now reorganized into 81 provinces or iller)—thus a
very large variety of Turkish regional dress. Since Westernization of dress was
encouraged in the name of secularization and modernization, the daily wearing
of traditional regional dress was disappearing. Therefore traditional dress of the
folklore dance teams became a stylized version of regional elements deemed to
be most colorful and interesting within the region. Often elements were combined
from different regions. This process of the homogenization of regional dress has
continued to simplify and standardize regional dress for ever larger sections of the
country. Folk dance festivals are now primarily organized for the entertainment of
tourists, although folk dance is a regular part of school events and national holiday
celebrations.
Since the 1980s religious conservatives in Turkey have been challenging the
secular constitutional structure of the Turkish Republic. Some Turks have always
worn the outward signs of Muslim faith (headscarves and varying degrees of veils
for women, combined with unfitted outer coats or jackets for street wear; and brim-
less caps, mustaches, and beards for religious men). However, official institutions
place restrictions on the devout in terms of their dress under certain conditions.
Under federal law, a woman wearing a headscarf or a man wearing a brimless hat
or beard may not enter a university, work in a government office, or sit in parlia-
ment. Some secularists find this emergence of Muslim activism a threat to Turkey’s
democracy. Secularist women in particular find the return to headscarves by many
women to be a challenge to the freedoms they have achieved. Others see the chal-
lenges to modern dress as evidence that Turkey may in fact be moving toward a
more open society that truly permits diversity of faith and speech. However, in
Turkey there has been a long tradition of the use of sumptuary laws to maintain
order and define status and identity. This practice dates back to the sumptuary
edicts of Sultan Suleyman in the 16th century, and it was widely accepted by the
general populace during the early centuries of the Ottoman Empire. To this day
there seems to be a general assumption that controlling dress will control behavior
and belief, and so the symbols of dress are taken very seriously by everyone. In
this period the social conflicts within a rapidly industrializing society are clearly
represented by the great differences in dress to be seen in any Turkish community.
Turkey | 739

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lian Woman, pp. 256–295. Istanbul: Ministry of Culture of the Turkish Repub-
lic, Topkapi Sarayi Museum, 1993.
Garnett, Lucy M. J. The Women of Turkey and Their Folk-Lore: Jewish and Mos-
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Gervers, Veronika. The Influence of Ottoman Turkish Textiles and Costume in East-
ern Europe. History, Technology and Art Monograph. Vol. 4. Toronto: Royal
Ontario Museum, 1982.
Goffman, Daniel. The Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Jirousek, Charlotte. “From ‘Traditional’ to ‘Mass Fashion System’ Dress Among
Men in a Rural Turkish Village.” Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 15
(1997): 203–215.
Jirousek, Charlotte. “More Than Oriental Splendor: European and Ottoman Head-
gear, 1380–1580.” Dress 22 (1995).
Marchese, Ronald T., ed. The Fabric of Life: Cultural Transformations in Turkish
Society. Binghamton, NY: Global Publications, State University of New York,
2005.
Ozdalga, Elisabeth. The Veiling Issue, Official Secularism and Popular Islam in
Modern Turkey. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies NIAS Report Series. London:
RoutledgeCurzon, 2002.
Özel, M. Folklorik Türk Kiyafetleri [Turkish Folkloric Costumes]. Istanbul: Fine
Arts Development Foundation of Turkey, 1992.
Quataert, Donald. “Clothing Laws, State and Society in the Ottoman Empire, 1720–
1829.” International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 29 (1997): 403–425.
Roxburgh, Donald J., ed. Turks: Journey of a Thousand Years. London: Royal
Academy of Arts, 2005.
Scarce, Jennifer. Women’s Costume of the Near and Middle East. Oxford: Oxford
Welters, Linda, ed. Folk Dress in Europe and Anatolia: Beliefs About Protection
and Fertility. Dress, Body and Culture. New York: Berg, 1999.
Woman in Anatolia: 9,000 Years of the Anatolian Woman. Istanbul: Ministry of
Culture of the Turkish Republic, Topkapi Sarayi Museum, 1993.
United States: Hawaii
Jennifer Ball
People and Dress

Native Hawaiian dress came to be associated with three main garments: the aloha
shirt for men; the mu’u mu’u, a short woman’s dress; and the holoku, a more for-
mal, floor-length dress. However, these garments did not develop as dress for eth-
nic Hawaiians until the 19th century. Furthermore, the evolution of these garments
was heavily dependent on styles brought by missionary and immigrant populations
to Hawaii, a reflection of the modern history of the islands themselves.
Kapa Cloth and Garments

Prior to the creation of the holoku and other garments, Hawaiians dressed
similarly to the peoples of Polynesia, as Hawaii was first settled by Polyne-
sians, probably from the Marquesas Islands, sometime in the third century BCE.
Polynesians wore clothing made of kapa, pounded bark of the mulberry tree,
often decorated with bold geometric patterns. The inner bark was stripped from
the rougher outside and was then repeatedly soaked, bleached in the sun, and
pounded out before being decorated, sometimes with bamboo stamps and some-
times painted freehand. Several yards of cloth would then be used to construct
the garments. Men wore loincloths called malo, often accompanied by a cape,
depending on their wealth. Women wore kapa pa’u, which was a wrapped skirt
that went to the knee.
The kapa garments were worn in layers, with a greater number of layers signi-
fying a higher status. So a queen, according to some descriptions, might have worn
as many as 10 layers of kapa, each four or five yards in length. Status for women
was also denoted by the placement of the garment. Royalty wore the pa’u just
beneath the breasts while nonelite women wore the garment at the waist.
Royalty in Hawaii were also known for their fantastic feather capes. The kings
wore capes of small red and yellow feathers secured to a web of netting, typically
in a trapezoidal shape. Later examples were cut in semicircles. Lesser chiefs also
740
United States: Hawaii | 741
wore capes, but with larger feathers of more common birds, often in neutral colors,
all of which made them less expensive. Feather capes were among the first things
traded with Europeans who came to the islands beginning in the 18th century.
Some royal women also wore feathered pa’u in addition to the cape.
Holoku
The introduction of Europeans and Americans to the Hawaiian Islands, begin-
ning with the landing of Captain James Cook in 1778, brought European fash-
ions to the people of Hawaii. When the first missionaries arrived in the early 19th
century, they reported seeing Hawaiian royal women donning European dresses.
Because the kapa cloth was very stiff and uncomfortable to wear, in addition to
being unwashable, Hawaiians traded for cloth, especially cotton calicos and linen,
which were used to make the malo and pa’u. Missionaries were appalled by the
immodest garments of the Hawaiians, as both men and women were bare-chested,
so the holoku evolved as a garment to be worn in front of the missionaries.
The first holoku were made after
the ship Thaddeus arrived in 1820
carrying missionary women wear-
ing high-waisted dresses with nar-
row, floor-length skirts and long fitted
sleeves. These European styles were
immediately coveted by the Hawai-
ian royalty who requested that the
same gowns be made for them. Royal
Hawaiians, however, were obese as a
sign of high status, making the slender-
waisted European dress difficult to
adapt. Thus a yoke was introduced
above the bust and the waistline was
removed from the dress, resulting in
a full skirt descending from the yoke,
with a high neck and fitted sleeves.
This dress came to be called the
holoku. The introduction of the sewing
machine to the Hawaiians coincided
with the creation of the holoku.
As the Hawaiians were converting
to Christianity, the women adopted A woman wearing holoku, c. 1910. (Lake
the garment in keeping with Christian County Museum/Corbis)
notions of modesty. Notably, most missionary women did not wear the garment but
kept their European and American gowns, thus the holoku became strongly associ-
ated with ethnic Hawaiians. The pa’u remained a status garment and was some-
times worn by Hawaiian royalty over the holoku. By 1840, the holoku had become
the standard dress of Hawaiian women, while by mid-century the use of kapa cloth
had all but disappeared. The making of kapa has been revived in Hawaii since the
1970s as part of a larger movement to preserve Hawaiian cultural heritage; some
craftsmen reported having to travel Fiji to learn how to make the bark cloth as the
knowledge had been lost in the Hawaiian Islands.
Like any garment, the holoku, which has remained a part of Hawaiian formal
dress, has succumbed to changing styles, though its basic form remains the same.
The silhouette of the dress became slimmer over time, as the Hawaiians them-
selves placed less emphasis on girth. In the late 19th century trim, buttons, and
eventually zippers were added. The dress was made with a train, which remains
even in most modern examples of the garment. Today holoku can still be found
for formal occasions such as weddings and at Hawaiian holiday festivities. They
celebrate Hawaiian heritage, despite their roots in European dress.
The Aloha Shirt

In the 19th century, Hawaiian men had many opportunities to see various types
of shirts worn by the many visitors and immigrants to the islands. Beginning with
the first sailors who came for trade, Hawaiians saw “frocks,” in the parlance of
the sailors, billowy shirts usually worn outside the pants. Hawaiians called these
palaka and they were quickly adapted as a work shirt, especially on plantations and
in mills. Palaka were generally solid-colored, sheer, and lightweight. They quickly
developed front buttons, influenced by the shirts seen on American traders. The
button-down business shirt was more tailored, and so too the palaka developed a
sleeker silhouette in the early 20th century.
By the 1920s plantations harvesting sugar and pineapples among other prod-
ucts became the primary economy in Hawaii. It was at this time that the palaka
took on a more official role as a uniform for plantation workers. The fabrics, largely
imported from Japan, typically had Asian prints, but were sheer, lightweight, and
worn hanging loosely over pants. As the native Hawaiians were for the most part
poor and working class, clothes, especially for men, were work clothes.
In the 1930s the manufacturing of palaka shirts expanded, with the companies
Kamehameha and Branfleet building large factories in Hawaii. While at first these
garment manufacturers supplied the plantations with their uniforms, these compa-
nies also began to produce shirts. The resulting palaka were primarily manufac-
tured for tourists and for export to the U.S. mainland as they were too expensive
Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra wear aloha shirts in a scene with Donna Reed in
From Here to Eternity (1953). (Columbia Pictures/Photofest)
for locals. By the late 1930s, another company, Shaheen, and in 1937 the Royal
Hawaiian Company also began producing the shirts. The sporty version of the
palaka had Asian-inspired designs most often, because the fabrics were largely
imported from Japan, and used just two or three colors.
It was at this time that the term aloha shirt first appeared. Ellery Chun
began seeking local artists to create Hawaiian prints. Artists were inspired by
local flora and fauna, in addition to local advertisemesnts and posters. Designs
sometimes included Hawaiian words. Chun trademarked the term “aloha shirt”
in 1936. Following that aloha came to be associated with many tourist goods, not
just shirts.
The real heyday of the aloha shirt came in the postwar period. During the war
servicemen wore the shirts when not on duty and also bought them in great quan-
tity for relatives at home. As one might expect, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor,
Asian-inspired designs became less desirable and the demand for Hawaiian prints
soared. After World War II, the shirts used many colors and prints that were bolder
and more varied. Air travel opened from the U.S. mainland to Hawaii, which
boosted the tourist trade. The popularity of surfing, the ancient sport of Hawaiian
kings, which was associated with aloha shirts, was also on the rise. In addition,
Hollywood became fascinated with Hawaii, shooting dozens of movies there with
actors clad in aloha shirts, most famously From Here to Eternity (1953). The 1950s
shirt was often made out of silk or a silk-feeling rayon, hence the nickname “silk-
ies,” which the shirts were often called. In the 1960s, aloha shirts became toned
down a bit in color, trending toward more minimalist designs. In the 1970s, many
new designs developed that celebrated Hawaiian culture, for example, patterns
inspired by Hawaiian quilts, in keeping with general reexamination of Hawaiian
cultural history that emerged in that decade. The 1980s saw a brief rise in popular-
ity of aloha shirts again as high-fashion European design houses took inspiration
from the bright fabrics of Hawaii.
Aloha shirts are still produced today for consumption by tourists as well as
by locals. Locals will tell you that they can spot locals by the type of aloha shirt
that they wear, with some patterns unofficially targeted at tourists while others are
reserved for locals. Interestingly, since the 1960s, the aloha shirt has been in use
as business wear. At first it was worn just on Fridays, and the “casual Fridays”
of American offices everywhere picked up on this custom, but now it is common
business attire for men on the islands. From a work shirt to a leisure shirt, it is once
again used in the workplace.
Mu’u Mu’u
The mu’u mu’u is a chemise that developed concurrently with the holoku in
the 19th century. Contrary to the more formal uses for the holoku, however, the
mu’u mu’u was originally used as sleepwear and swimwear. Despite its history, in
the popular imagination the mu’u mu’u is in many respects a women’s wear ver-
sion of an aloha shirt. One reason for this is that the fabrics used for mu’u mu’u
parallel those used for aloha shirts; that is, early mu’u mu’u used Asian fabrics and
in the mid-20th century, Hawaiian prints became standard for the dresses. Also like
the aloha, mu’u mu’u can be worn by tourists or locals. The holoku, by contrast,
is virtually unknown outside of Hawaii. While a short, loose, sleeveless dress best
describes the mu’u mu’u, today the term is used by retailers rather flexibly to mean
any summer dress that is made in a Hawaiian print.
The conception of Hawaiian dress centers largely on what was developed for
tourists: the modern mu’u mu’u and aloha shirt. Ethnic Hawaiians, however, place
greater importance on the specific patterns used for these garments, rather than the
garments themselves. The holoku stands alone as a dress reserved only for ethnic
Hawaiians. Hawaiian dress, after the kapa cloth garments disappeared, reflects the
many visitors to Hawaii throughout its rich history.

Arthur, Linda B. “The Aloha Shirt and Ethnicity in Hawaii.” Textile 4:1 (Spring
2006), 8–34.
Arthur, Linda B. “The Holoku as an Expression of Ethnicity.” Fashion Theory 2:3
(September 1998), 269–286.
Fullard-Leo, Betty, and Veronica S. Schweitzer. Various articles on Hawaiian cul-
ture and dress for Coffee Times Magazine. http://www.coffeetimes.com/past
.htm#hac (accessed March 2012).
Schweitzer, Veronica S. “Paintings of Paradise: The Hawaiian Aloha Shirt.” Fiber-
arts 24 (March/April 1998), 15.
Steele, Valerie T. The Hawaiian Shirt, Its Art and History. New York: Abbeville
Press, 1984.
University of Hawaii Virtual Museum. http://www.museum.hawaii.edu (accessed
March 2012).
United States: Hispanic West
David Rickman

The term “Hispanic West” may be used to indicate the lands lying west of the Mis-
sissippi River, once claimed by Spain and later Mexico but now part of the United
States. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California were the main areas of His-
panic settlement, though Spain originally claimed most of the West. The founding
population included Spaniards and other Europeans, blacks, Native Americans,
and every possible combination of these ethnic groups.
For more than 300 years, beginning in 1528 with the shipwrecked survivors of
the Narváez expedition at Galveston Bay, the clothing worn in the Hispanic West
was that of Spain and New Spain (Mexico). Though the popular image of these
earliest conquistadores (conquerors) shows them wearing high-combed morion
helmets and short, round breeches, this is a myth that reflects the arms and fashions
of the second half of the 1500s, a time when Spain, having failed to discover rich
empires or precious metals, largely abandoned these distant borderlands.
The first Spanish colonists arrived in New Mexico in 1598, led by Juan de
Oñate and wearing clothing that already included the basic elements of a future
national dress: men’s sombreros (hats with round brims), short doublets, and knee-
length breeches; women’s petticoats with separate bodices and the ever-present
rebozo (shawl). Settlers of every class but Indios (Native Americans) wore much
the same styles, but were distinguished by the quality of their materials and decora-
tions. This, too, became a hallmark of society in both New Spain and in what was
its northern frontier—a desire to distinguish oneself by wearing not only every
garment proper to a Spaniard, but of the best quality possible.
The settlements of the Hispanic West were never self-sufficient, remaining
dependent on outside supply throughout their history both for basic goods and the
finer things, especially clothing. New Mexico was the only province that manu-
factured its own cloth. Nevertheless, records show that such goods as linen from
France and Germany, silks from Italy and China, velvet, damask, lace, and even
shoes and stockings were imported over great distances and difficult conditions.
746
United States: Hispanic West | 747
People and Dress
Western Hispaniola Dress

Symbolized today by men’s flat-brimmed hats, decorated jackets and trousers,
sashes and serapes, and women’s ruffled skirts, high combs, and lace or fringed
shawls, the clothing of the Hispanic West has both a long history and continuing
influence.
Since every settler on the frontier relied on clothing goods imported from New
Spain, it is not surprising that people all across the region dressed much like those
in Mexico and, of course, one another. Descriptions of clothing worn in Texas
and Arizona, and pictures from Baja California, all made circa 1765, show that
nearly identical clothing was worn across a distance of more than 2,000 miles.
This costume, for women, consisted of a chemise with round neckline and elbow-
length sleeves, both gathered into a narrow ruffle, over which was worn one or
more petticoats of white linen or cotton. The overskirt was most often of wool. For
most women, these were all the clothes they owned, but those who could added an
embroidered jacket; those for feast days were of silk worn with a matching skirt.
Imported shoes were worn with buckles. Men’s dress started with a white linen shirt
and drawers, over which were worn
knee-length breeches and a sleeved
waistcoat. Over the waistcoat could be
worn another coat with skirts reaching
the hips and nearly always left unbut-
toned. Before century’s end they were
shortened to waist-length jackets.
Coats often preserved the ancient fash-
ion of sleeves left open down the front
seams and hanging from the shoul-
ders. Men always wore sombreros and
two styles of shoe were popular. The
first was a low slipper whose uppers
were decoratively slashed in a style
dating back at least 200 years. The
other was an ankle boot that laced up
the side. These were worn with knitted
stockings or with cloth hose gartered
beneath the knees. The hose covered Spanish-American couple, 1800s. Hand-
the foot no farther than the heel and colored engraving of Frederic Remington
could be worn with knitted socks or illustration. (North Wind Picture Archives)
cloth wrappings to cover the rest of the foot. Buckskin leggings made exactly like
the cloth hose and confusingly called botas (boots) were worn by horsemen. The
cape was worn by every class, but by mid-century so was a poncho-like garment
called a manga, made of broadcloth and decorated with tinsel braid and a circular
facing of fine cloth or velvet around the head hole. Sarapes were cut the same but
ranged in quality from coarse blankets to finely patterned tapestries.
By the second half of the century, both men and women wore their hair in
the same styles. Usually, this was in a long braid down the back, but some also
wore their loose hair gathered into hair nets. There is no evidence for men wear-
ing scarves over their heads and tied at the back of the neck in the 18th century.
Women only wore hats when traveling on horseback, when it would be difficult to
manage the rebozo.
From their first arrival in the New World, the Spanish recognized cloth and
clothing’s value in relations with Native Americans. For example, both were impor-
tant in trade with the Pueblo Indians in 17th-century New Mexico. To gain the sup-
port of the Yuma chief, Palma, Captain Juan Bautista de Anza gave him in 1775
linen shirts, jacket and breeches of yellow-dyed buckskin, and a cap like that worn
by Spanish dragoons. In California, where native peoples traditionally wore little
or nothing, Franciscan missionaries used clothing to gain converts. By the early
1800s, they were able to report that their Indians received from them blankets,
breechclouts, and petticoats of cloth. Both men and women wore a simple woolen
shirt whose name, coton, may be partly responsible for the mistaken belief today
that Mission Indian men wore pajama-like clothes of white cotton. The padres also
noted that they gave complete suits of Spanish clothing as a sign of rank to Indians
who helped them as officials or skilled workers, such as vaqueros. Finally, Span-
ish garments were copied and worn by many independent tribes in the West, such
as the Apaches and Caddos. Native American weavers in the Southwest imitated
Spanish sarape patterns in some of their own woolen blankets.
During the Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821), the national dress of
Mexico for men saw several changes. The braided queue was cut off, and for the
first time there is evidence of men covering their heads with scarves tied behind or
over the forehead. Breeches were replaced by side-buttoning trousers (calzoneras)
evidently inspired by the overalls worn by Spanish cavalrymen. These were left
unbuttoned to display loose white drawers underneath. With them was worn a new
form of bota that was a flat, semitriangular piece of leather forming a bell shape
from knee to ankle.
Women’s fashions also saw changes in the early 19th century. Gowns were
worn more frequently, though the use of petticoats and chemises continued, with
jackets appearing especially for fiestas. Braided hair was increasingly worn up,
either wrapped around the head or gathered in a bun at the back, often held by a
comb. For a short time in the 1820s through 1830s, high combs were fashionable.
These new fashions spread to Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona at almost the
same time as trade restrictions were lifting, allowing new people, products, and
fashions from the United States and elsewhere to flow into the provinces. In Texas,
this started with Stephen F. Austin’s small colony on the Brazos River in 1821. At
almost exactly the same time in New Mexico, trade goods from the United States
began to flow along the Santa Fe Trail.
California was the most distant province from New Spain and this isolation
affected the clothing worn there. For more than 10 years, revolution in Mexico left
California isolated and without the vital annual supply ships that had supported the
province since its founding. There was no tradition of home spinning and weaving
among the Hispanic families so they turned to the Missions, where Indian labor
provided the basic clothing necessities, and to illegal trade with foreign vessels for
finer goods. Yet clothing remained scarce and quite conservative until after 1834,
when the newest forms of national dress described above arrived from Mexico and
trade in cattle hides and tallow led to unexpected wealth.
In just 12 years, from 1836 to 1848, the Texas Revolution, Mexican-American
War, and California Gold Rush managed to sever the Hispanic West from its more
than 300 years of connection to Mexico and overwhelmed local clothing traditions
with waves of new immigrants, fashions, and manufactured goods. Nevertheless,
these traditions managed to linger for much of the rest of the century in areas most
isolated from foreign influences, that is, closest to the border with Mexico. The
Hispanic populations of these new states and territories continued to wear tradi-
tional clothing, or a mix of traditional and American styles, for work and especially
for celebrations. Increasingly, though, as the 19th century drew to a close, these
clothes were abandoned as changing fashions and mass-production and supply cre-
ated a unified American wardrobe.
Yet the dress of the Hispanic West did not die but evolved from daily wear
to fiesta costume and finally to symbols of a romanticized past. In Santa Fe, New
Mexico, for example, a yearly fiesta and parade to celebrate the resettling of the
Spanish colonists in the city in 1712 includes men dressing in conquistador styles
and women dressed in gowns accessorized with high combs, mantillas, and fans,
along with one young woman crowned as queen and one young man crowned as
Don Diego De Vargas, the Spaniard who is credited with leading the resettlement.
A continued interest in the Southwest in folkloric Mexican dancing featuring beau-
tiful, vibrantly colored costumes holds its appeal. Professional groups such as the
Ballet Folklorico de México and others hold well-attended performances. Some
Latino parents enroll their children in folklorico dancing classes.
Street scene in Santa Fe, New Mexico, mid-19th century. (North Wind Picture Archives)
Through literature, festivals, theater, movies, television, and musical perform-

ers, popular culture has revived and redesigned these clothes to suit changing tastes
and times. The so-called China Poblana style of highly decorated chemises and
petticoats was never an important influence in the Hispanic West; it was adopted
for fiestas and eventually worked its way into films, although the embroidered cot-
ton blouses of the China Poblano style have endured periodically for women in the
Southwest since the 1950s. High combs, lace mantillas, heavy embroidery, fringes,
spangles, and ruffles were all exaggerated to the point of caricature. Fringed and
embroidered crepe silk mantons (shawls) were even converted into sarong-like
dresses by the 1920s. And from the many versions of Zorro to Clint Eastwood’s
poncho and the Hispanic-influenced performance clothing of Elvis Presley and
Stevie Ray Vaughan to the spangled and embroidered suits worn by country and
western performers, something about the dress of the Hispanic West still fires pop-
ular imagination and keeps it alive.

Anderson, Ruth Matilda. Hispanic Costume 1480–1530. New York: Hispanic
Society of America, 1979.
Bancroft, Hubert Howe. California Pastoral, 1769–1848. San Francisco: The His-
tory Company, 1888.
Bernis, Carmen. Indumentaria Española en Tiempos de Carlos V. Madrid: Insti-
tuto Diego Velazquez, 1962.
Boyd, E. Popular Arts of Spanish New Mexico. Santa Fe: The Museum of New
Mexico Press, 1974.
Colligan, John B. The Juan Paez Hurtado Expedition of 1695; Fraud in Recruit-
ing Colonists for New Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press,
1995.
Hammond, George P., and Agapito Rey. Don Juan de Onate; Colonizer of New
Mexico, 1595–1698. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1953.
Hoyt, Catherine A. “Material Culture of the Spanish Explorers.” Bulletin of the
Texas Archeological Society 77 (2006): 7–26.
Katzew, Ilona. Casta Painting; Images of Race in Eighteenth-Century Mexico.
New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004.
Los Angeles County Museum. A Guide and Catalogue of the California Hall at the
Los Angeles County Museum. Russell E. Belous and Burton A. Reiner, eds. Los
Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum, 1964.
Perissinotto, Giorgio, et al. Documenting Everyday Life in Early Spanish Cali-
fornia; the Santa Barbara Presidio Memorias y Facturas, 1779–1810. Santa
Barbara: The Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, 1998.
Peterson, Harold L. Arms and Armor in Colonial America: 1526–1783. Harris-
burg, PA: Stackpole Press, 1956.
Trigg, Heather B. From Household to Empire; Society and Economy in Early
Colonial New Mexico. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2005.
United States: New England
Jennifer Swope
In New England, ordinary working people such as farmers, craftsmen, storekeep-
ers, and fishermen wore folk dress. Many folk were descended from the original
Puritan settlers of the 1600s, who, in transplanting their middling culture, fostered
an attitude toward dress that lasted long after their political dominance waned.
While many of New England’s wealthy merchants, landowners, and political and
military leaders shared this Puritan ancestry, these elites generally had larger ward-
robes of higher quality and more stylish garments, but many used the symbolic
power of folk dress to suit their own purposes. Because so little folk dress survives
compared to high-style clothing, historians have to use contemporary paintings,
portraits, and historical documents, such as account books, diaries, and probate
inventories, to understand what ordinary people wore. Like their occupations, their
dress changed in response to their circumstances. A farmer may have been a fish-
erman or a potter in the winter, and his wife might have been a midwife or tailor
when needed. She would have worn a functional short gown and petticoat dur-
ing the day for heavy work and changed into a printed cotton gown with a lace-
trimmed cap for afternoon visiting or Sunday best.
People and Dress

Starting in 1629, the groups of Puritan families that immigrated to New England
were mostly middle-class farmers and craftsmen from southeastern England.
Black, the stereotypical color of Pilgrim dress, was usually reserved for elders and
ministers—the spiritual and political leaders of these early New England settle-
ments. Most of these original Puritan settlers and their descendants continued to
wear “duds” (an English slang term for clothing, which persisted in New Eng-
land) in what they called “sad” (or deep) colors: muted reds, oranges, browns, and
greens. In Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 17th century, men typically wore linen
shirts, leather vests called jerkins or bodkins, wide-legged wool or leather trousers
752
United States: New England | 753
that came to the knee called breeches, stockings or hose that were tied with garters
above the knee, and simple tied shoes or brogans.

In the 18th century, although American colonists often imported yards of cloth
from Britain, many New England households made homespun linen and wool for
their everyday clothing. Several factors encouraged regional household textile
production. New England’s climate was good for growing flax, and 17th-century
emigrants from southeastern England and 18th-century emigrants from Ireland
came from areas with strong weaving traditions. While high-fashion clothing was
usually made from imported printed cotton or figured wool or silk, common work
clothing was made from homespun or plainer, coarser imported linen or wool.
While it was costly to purchase or trade locally made goods for imported tex-
tiles, the alternative of turning flax and fleece into linen and wool cloth at home
remained a time- and labor-intensive undertaking. Until the second quarter of the
19th century when industrially produced cotton cloth began replacing homespun,
many New Englanders participated in some aspect of textile production, with some
people weaving and most women and children carding and spinning.
Because all textiles were valuable, women used them sparingly in making
clothing for their families and devoted hours to patching, darning, and altering
clothing to pass on to other family members. A farmer might pay an itinerant or
local tailor to cut out and partially sew a man’s coat or woman’s gown, but his wife
or daughters would often finish it. Most clothing, high-style and folk, was simply
constructed with abutting or narrow seams and easily removed tucks and pleats,
which kept the material intact and eased a garment’s repair and reuse. Tape ties,
lacings, drawstrings, and metal hooks and eyes were used for closures and were
easily transferred between garments. Removable buttons, like modern cuff links,
were common. Molded wooden buttons with catgut loops were a modest alterna-
tive to those made of metal.

Long New England winters have always made wool outer clothing indispens-
able. Both men and women wore wool cloaks and felt hats with broad brims in the
17th and 18th centuries. Working-class men and boys wore knitted wool caps, and
women and children wrapped themselves in simple wool shawls for warmth. In the
19th century, homemade shag wool mittens kept hands warm. Women’s red riding
hoods were the quintessential articles of New England folk dress. Most surviving
examples are made of English broadcloth, the highest quality plain-woven wool
available in America. These durable

cloaks were prized and carefully
passed down from mother to daughter.
Rich or poor, men wore long
shirts and women wore shifts under
their clothes during the day and slept
in them at night. In New England, a
middle-class man might have owned
half a dozen shirts while a wealthy
landowner or “gentleman” might have
owned 20. The most expensive shirts
and shifts were made of finely woven
imported linen trimmed with even
finer linen ruffles at the neck opening,
while less costly versions were made
of homespun linen, osnaburg (coarse
unbleached linen cloth), or tow cloth
made from the distaff of combing flax
Riding hood, last quarter of the 18th cen- before spinning. Homespun woven
tury, wool plain weave. (Gift of Miss Ellen and knitted linen stockings were worn
A. Stone 99.664.16/Photograph © 2013 in summer and wool stockings were
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) worn in winter, while wealthier people
could afford finer imported stockings
made of cotton or silk. Women and girls, rarely bareheaded, wore simple caps
made of linen (and later cotton) that fit under bonnets and hoods.
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, a man or older boy would have worn a
vest, called a waistcoat, and a pair of breeches over his shirt. John Singleton Cop-
ley’s portrait of Boston silversmith Paul Revere shows him informally dressed in
a simple waistcoat probably of plain weave wool with unbuttoned shirtsleeves,
preparing to engrave a teapot. A woman or young child would have worn a pair of
stays (later called a corset) that laced up over her shift. Less expensive stays were
made of leather, and more expensive ones were made of wool, lined with linen,
and stiffened or “boned” with thin strips of baleen from whales. By the end of
the 18th century, lighter boned stays were made from cotton. One or two pockets,
which were flat bags with vertical slits at the top, could be tied around the waist.
A petticoat, or skirt, was worn over the shift and pockets. In cold weather, women
layered several petticoats and often wore quilted ones. Over a shift, stays, pockets,
and petticoat, women wore either a full-length dress, called a gown, or a loose
jacket, called a short gown, which was more common for daily work. For men, a
coat was the formal equivalent of a woman’s gown. Ordinary people wore outer
pieces made of different fabrics in

unmatched colors and rarely changed
all of their clothes at once. The aver-
age woman in New England owned
four or five gowns and petticoats, and
her male counterpart had a few coats,
waistcoats, and pairs of breeches.
Children’s Clothing
Until the mid-18th century when
childhood was recognized as a distinct
phase of life, children were dressed like
miniature versions of their parents. By
the 1780s, loose trousers and dresses
became the norm for boys and girls.
Girls and very young boys were dressed
in gowns and petticoats until age five,
when boys were “breeched”—dressed
in simple suits often made of tow cloth
or homespun fustian (a cotton and Child’s frock dress, early 19th century,
linen twill). These outfits, called skel- printed cotton. (Gift of Miss Ellen A. Stone
eton suits, included pants that buttoned 99.664.65/Photograph © 2013 Museum of
into the jacket around the waist. Girls Fine Arts, Boston)
often wore frock dresses that tied at the
back, instead of gowns like their mothers. Mothers cut their children’s clothing
generously and used tape ties, drawstrings, tucks, and pleats to adjust the size of a
garment for growth or to pass down to a younger family member.
Accessories
Ubiquitous neck cloths came in a array of shapes, sizes, and fabrics that varied
as much as their names—kerchief, neckerchief, tucker, fichu, cravat, bandanna,
and handkerchief. Men tied them around their shirt collars; Paul Revere is shown
wearing a plain one in his portrait. Women often wore large kerchiefs with the ends
tucked into the top of their gown or tied around the waist. Utilitarian checked and
plaid homespun kerchiefs of wool or linen were common, but printed cotton or silk
handkerchiefs from India, and later Britain or China, were a relatively affordable
luxury textile that allowed middle- and working-class people to incorporate exotic
colors, patterns, and materials into their dress.
As work was never done, work

clothes were essential to the New Eng-
land folk who wore them regularly and
a powerful symbol for those who did
not. Sailors and other workmen wore
loose trousers over their breeches, and
craftsmen wore leather aprons that
came to symbolize their status in colo-
nial America. In 1727, Boston native
Benjamin Franklin founded the Leather
Apron Club in Philadelphia. This civil-
improvement society, later called the
Junto, welcomed self-taught craftsmen
like Franklin, prominent merchants, and
only a single “gentleman,” who con-
tributed his library. To keep petticoats
clean, New England women donned
Paul Revere, 1768, by John Singleton C opley checked or striped blue-and-white
(1738–1815), oil on canvas. (Gift of Joseph W. aprons of linen or wool. Although fine
Revere, William B. Revere and Edward H. R. white aprons with floral embroidery
Revere 30.781/Photograph © 2013 Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston)
might have been worn for Sunday best
and short embroidered silk aprons were
fashionable earlier in the 18th century, plain utilitarian aprons and tyers (or coveralls)
were the norm for everyday dress. In rural areas, farmers’ frocks (or overshirts or
smocks) were as common for men as aprons were for their wives. Frocks of cotton or
linen were worn with or without a shirt underneath in summer, and wool frocks were
worn over a waistcoat or coat in cold wet weather. Although white frocks were tradi-
tionally worn at agricultural fairs, blue-and-white striped ones were most common.
The perceived virtue of plain folk dress persisted in New England, where it
thrived during the pre-Revolutionary period of political unrest through the early
years of the republic when consumer boycotts and much touted, but largely unsuc-
cessful, attempts to replace British imports with American-made textiles were com-
mon. Protesting the Stamp Act and Townshend duties, the Harvard and Yale classes
of 1768 and 1769, respectively, elected to wear homespun suits to commencement.
Although token gestures of self-sufficiency occurred throughout America, New
England was especially known for its spinning bees and household textile pro-
duction, which created the basic fabric for folk clothing. While most Americans
wore folk dress of some type, it had greater significance in New England, because
whether worn for practical or symbolic reasons it appealed to a culture that saw
virtue in necessity.

Baumgarten, Linda. What Clothes Reveal, The Language of Clothing in Colonial
and Federal America. Virginia: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in asso-
ciation with Yale University Press, 2002.
Earle, Alice Morse. Costume of Colonial Times. New York: Charles Scribner’s
Sons, 1894.
Fennelly, Catherine. The Garb of Country New Englanders, 1790–1840: Costumes
at Old Sturbridge Village. Sturbridge, MA: Old Sturbridge Village, 1966.
Fischer, David Hackett. Albion’s Seed, Four British Folkways in America. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Nylander, Jane C. Our Own Snug Fireside, Images of the New England Home,
1760–1860. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.
Trautman, Patricia. “Dress in Seventeenth-Century Cambridge, Massachusetts:
An Inventory-Based Reconstruction.” Early American Probate Inventories,
in Annual Proceedings of the Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife, 11
(1987), ed. Peter Benes. Boston: Boston University, 1987.
Wright, Meredith. Everyday Dress of Rural America, 1783–1800 with Instructions
and Patterns. New York: Dover Publications, 1992.
Vietnam
There is archeological evidence from Chau Can, in the Red River Valley (Sông
Hồng), of prehistoric human habitation of Vietnam. Bronze implements, wooden
coffins, and tools found at the site have been dated to 400 BCE. This evidence sug-
gests that the people of the Red River were among the first East Asians to practice
agriculture.
Much of the history of Vietnam is inextricably linked with periods of colonial
rule. As early as 221 BCE the Ch’in Dynasty in China took over the region now
known as Vietnam. Chinese rule was to continue for a thousand years. The first
Vietnamese dynasty, the Ly, was founded in 1010 and lasted until 1225. In 1407
China once again conquered Vietnam and the Ming dynasty attempted to reinte-
grate Vietnam into the Chinese empire. In 1428 resistance forces under the rule
of Le Loi defeated the Chinese and restored Vietnam’s independence, but by the
late 16th century the Le dynasty was in decline, further weakened by the arrival of
Christian missionaries and European powers.
In the 1880s France established itself as Vietnam’s colonial ruler. The impo-
sition of French colonial rule met with little opposition until the 1920s when
the nationalist party began demanding reform after years of poor conditions
for workers. In 1930 Ho Chi Min formed an Indochinese Communist Party but
met with little success. During World War II Japan received the right to place
Vietnam under military occupation, restricting French administration to figure-
head authority. When the Japanese surrendered to the Allies in August 1945,
the Communist Vietminh forces arose and declared the establishment of an
independent republic in Hanoi. The French were unwilling to concede indepen-
dence and drove the Vietminh out of the south. For more than a year the French
and the Vietminh sought a negotiated solution, but war broke out in Decem-
ber 1946. After a conflict lasting eight years the French agreed, in 1954, to end
the war.
758
Vietnam | 759
After the withdrawal of the French the Vietminh in Hanoi began to build a
communist society. In the southern capital of Saigon, Bao Dai’s French-supported
rule was soon replaced by a new administration under the staunch anti-Communist
president Ngo Dinh Diem, who had support from the United States. He refused to
hold elections and and tried to destroy the influence of the Communists in South
Vietnam, but by 1959, the failure of Diem’s social and economic programs led to
unrest. The Communists then resumed their revolutionary war.
In 1963, following the death of Diem, the Communists were on the verge of
victory and the United States, fearing a collapse of the Saigon regime, sent com-
bat troops into South Vietnam. After a decade of war, peace was in sight and the
United States was beginning the process of the removal of troops. However, on
April 30, 1975, Saigon fell to the Communists, and in 1976 the South was reunited
with the North in the new Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Despite the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the creation of the unified Socialist
Republic of Vietnam, the country did not enter a peaceful era. Continued conflict
with Cambodia and China led to two decades of slow recovery from years of vio-
lence. Now, in 2011, improved relations with the United States and increased for-
eign investments, along with recent treaties and trade agreements, have positioned
Vietnam for economic success.

Vietnam is located in Southeast Asia on the eastern side of the Indochinese Penin-
sula. Vietnam is bordered by China, Laos, and Cambodia, but for the most part is
separated from the neighboring countries by mountains. Vietnam has a long coast-
line that includes the waters of the South China Sea, the Gulf of Tonkin, and the
Gulf of Thailand. Vietnam is divided into several geographic regions from north
to south: the Red River Delta, the Highlands, the Central Highlands, the Coastal
Lowlands, and the Mekong River Delta.
The climate of northern Vietnam is humid subtropical with humidity averaging
84 percent throughout the year; however, given the variation in elevation and ter-
rain, the climate differs considerably from place to place, with the mountains in the
north sometimes having frost. In southern Vietnam the climate is tropical savanna
with high humidity and distinct wet and dry seasons. Annual rainfall ranges from
1,200 to 3,000 millimeters (47.2 to 118.1 inches).
The subsistence economy of Vietnam is traditionally based on slash and burn
agriculture, wet rice agriculture, and fishing. Since Vietnam’s entry into the world
market the export of fish and shrimp as well as a variety of manufactured goods has
contributed to economic growth in Vietnam.
People and Dress

The population of Vietnam was estimated at 91.5 million people in 2012.
While the Kihn (also referred to as the Viet) majority accounts for 87 percent of
the population, Vietnam is home to 54 recognized ethnic groups each with its own
language, religious beliefs, and dress. For example, the Thai tribe are known for
their skillful textile weavings, and the Dao wear brightly colored clothing deco-
rated with silver beads and coins. The hill tribes experienced terrible hardship dur-
ing the many years of conflict in Vietnam, but today they strive to maintain their
communities and traditions and wear their traditional clothing with pride.
History of Dress
The áo dài, pronounced ow-zai in the south and ow-yai in the north, has become
the national dress of Vietnam for both men and women, although it is the women’s
version that is most well known. The áo dài’s familiar style is the result of both Chi-
nese and French influence. In the centu-
ries between early Chinese colonial rule
and the Ming dynasty’s rule of Vietnam
the women wore an outfit consisting
of a skirt (vay) and a halter top (yem),
an outfit similar to that worn by many
Southeast Asian peoples. During the
Ming dynasty the Chinese condemned
the vay as immodest and immoral,
forced women to wear Chinese-style
pants, and prohibited them from show-
ing their feet (Leshkowich, 2003).
During the Nguyen dynasty the
vay was again banned and pants
became more popular among women
from the ruling Mandarin classes.
During this period a garment called
the áo tứ thân became popular. The
áo tứ thân consisted of a loose-fitting
shirt with a stand-up collar and a diag-
Young women wear áo dài, Hoi An, Vietnam. onal closure that ran along the side
(Bartosz Hadyniak/iStockphoto.com) from neck to armpit and down the ribs
Vietnam | 761
(Leshkowich, 2003, 90). While resembling the áo tứ than, the áo dài has some
prominent differences. These include the closure and collar that are inspired by
Chinese garments. Because of the inconvenience of wearing it for manual labor
the áo dài was worn primarily by the upper classes. Originally, women wore the áo
dài over a brightly colored yem, but for festivals and for warmth they would layer
three or more áo dài of different colors, leaving the upper closure open so that the
layers could be seen.
During the 19th century French-educated designers remodeled the áo dài into
what is worn today: a close-fitting, tailored garment with raglan sleeves, a manda-
rin collar and frog closures, and side slits that run from the hem to the waist. While
a variety of versions of the áo dài have come and gone over the years, such as the
áo dài mini, what started as dress worn only by the upper classes became the fash-
ion for modern Vietnamese women in the early 20th century. However, because
the garment is difficult to work in, upper- and middle-class women and adolescent
schoolgirls are still the only ones to wear the áo dài on a daily basis. Others, includ-
ing men, wear the áo dài for holidays and other special occasions. It is important
to note that upper-class women continue to wear designer áo dài as an indicator of
status and prestige.

The áo dài is made of printed cotton for everyday and summer use, of wool
for winter use, and of plain or embroidered silk for special occasions. The fabrics
are mixed with polyester to reduce wrinkling. The color of the áo dài is an indica-
tor of age and status. Thus, schoolgirls tend to wear white, symbolizing youthful
innocence and coming of age. Unmarried women wear pastel colors with white
pants, while older married women wear darker, vibrant colors with black pants.
The closure of the mandarin collar is done with frogs, and contrast edging may
appear on the collar, cuffs, and hem. The áo dài is generally custom made, which
accounts for the flattering fit that highlights the figure of the wearer. However,
because of the popularity of the áo dài, it is now possible to purchase a mass pro-
duced, untailored áo dài.

Currently everyday dress in Vietnam is Western garb, although many do
choose to wear the áo dài. However, as already noted, schoolgirls still com-
monly wear the áo dài. For special occasions the áo dài is preferred dress, and
both men and women are known to wear the áo dài at engagement parties and as
wedding garb.
Component Parts
The áo dài is made up of three ele-
ments. First, a long, close-fitting tunic
with mandarin collar and high slits up
the side seams, the áo dài, for which
the garment is named. Second, loose
pants called quần, generally made of
white, but sometimes of black mate-
rial. Third, a donut-shaped conical hat
called the khăn đóng.
Jewelry, Body Paint, and

Body Modification
There is no history of body paint
Traditional Vietnamese áo dài silk tunic, or body modification in traditional
made for U.S. president George W. Bush to
wear at the Asia-Pacific Economic Coopera-
Viet culture. The jewelry worn is
tion (APEC) meeting, is seen in Hanoi, 2006. minimal, especially when wearing the
(Adreees Latif/X90022/Reuters/Corbis) áo dài. However, there is a traditional
neckpiece, called a kiềng cổ, that is
worn with the áo dài. The neckpiece is a stiff circle of gold or silver, either plain
or engraved, modeled on indigenous jewelry originally worn by some of the hill
tribes. Upper-class women wear these neckpieces as a sign of status and wealth.
The traditional kiềng cổ is worn at weddings, and it is customary for the groom’s
family to give the neckpiece to the bride as a wedding gift.

The áo dài has a high profile today as civil servants, tour guides, hotel and res-
taurant workers, and flight attendants wear it. The 1995 Miss International Beauty
Pageant was a turning point for the áo dài. During that pageant Miss Vietnam won
the prize for “Best National Costume,” and for the people of Vietnam the prize was
for much more than a beautiful garment. The áo dài was described in the press as
symbolizing Vietnam’s national soul.
The áo dài continues to be featured in many beauty pageants, both in Vietnam
and abroad. In the United States, Vietnamese American beauty pageants all feature
the áo dài as a fundamental part of the pageant. For many of the Vietnamese dias-
pora “the áo dài conjures up romantic images of a Vietnamese past that is pure and
Vietnam | 763
untainted by war” (Lieu, 2000, 140). The beauty pageants thus provide a venue for
cultural preservation for the Vietnamese living in the United States.

“Ao Dai Reflects Beauty of Vietnamese Culture.” The Vietnam News Agency, Octo-
ber 19, 2011. General OneFile. Web. October 2011.
Fraser-Lu, Sylvia. “South East Asia.” In Sylvia Fraser-Lu, ed. 5000 Years of Tex-
tiles. London: British Museum Press, 1993, pp. 153–165.
Hemmet, Christine. Montagnards des Pays d’Indochine; Dans les Collections du
Musee de l’Homme. Ville de Boulogne-Billancourt, France: Editions Sepia,
1995.
Jonsson, Hjorleifur R., and Nora A. Taylor. “National Colors: Ethnic Minorities in
Vietnamese Public Imagery.” In Sandra Niessen, Ann Marie Leshkowich, and
Carla Jones, eds. The Globalization of Asian Dress. New York: Berg, 2003, pp.
159–184.
Kalman, Bobbie. Vietnam: The People. New York: Crabtree Publishing, 2002.
Levinson, David, and Karen Christensen, eds. Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. New
York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2002.
Leshkowich, Ann Marie. “The Ao Dai Goes Global: How International Influences
and Female Entrepreneurs Have Shaped Vietnam’s ‘National Costume.’” In
Sandra Niessen, Ann Marie Leshkowich, and Carla Jones, eds. The Globaliza-
tion of Asian Dress. New York: Berg, 2003, pp. 79–115.
BooLieu, N. T. “Remembering ‘the Nation’ through Pageantry: Femininity and the
Politics of Vietnamese Womanhood in the ‘Ha Hau Ao Dai’ Contest.” Frontiers:
A Journal of Women’s Studies 21 (2000): 127–151.
Nguyen, Van Huy. Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. Hanoi, Vietnam: Vietnam
Museum of Ethnology, 1998.
Nhuong, Dao Manh, and John R Schermerhorn Jr. “Vietnam Airlines’ CEO Dao
Manh Nhuong on Strategic Leadership.” The Academy of Management Execu-
tive 14:4 (2000): 16–19.
Shaw, Ian, and Robert Jameson. A Dictionary of Archaeology. Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley-Blackwell, 2002.
“Style-Designer Minh Hanh Brings the Ao Dai, Vietnam’s Traditional Costume,
Back into Fashion.” People Weekly, May 1, 2001: 66–72.
Tran, Ha P. Personal interview. October 11, 2011.
Yemen and Oman
Christina Lindholm

Yemen and Oman are independent countries located on the southern and eastern edges
of the Arabian Peninsula. Because of their location, both countries played historically
important roles in international trade within the Middle Eastern region. The south-
western Yemen strait, Bab El-Mandeb, links the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean and
allowed Yemen to become the intermediary for trade with Africa and India, as well as
a link to China. Luxury items such as incense, pearls, and silks passed through their
trading centers. Oman’s location on the eastern side of the Arabian peninsula and its
control of the Arabian Gulf via the Straits of Hormuz made that country powerful in
the international trade of Persian Gulf pearls and the African slave trade.
Yemen and Oman share many similarities as well as significant differences.
Both countries are populated by coastal settlements, which have long histories of
maritime activity, and thus have experienced international exposure and interac-
tion with European countries for many hundreds of years. Both countries also have
mountainous interiors, far less populated and largely isolated. Yemen and Oman
are both primarily Muslim, but differ in that Omanis practice Ibadhism, a sect
known for its moderate conservatism. Yemen’s Muslim population is nearly equally
divided between the two most well-known sects with Sunnis slightly outnumber-
ing Shi‘as. Politically, Oman is a hereditary sultanate, although Sultan Qaboos bin
Sa’id, ruler since 1970, has established a modern governmental structure with an
elected body that reviews all proposed legislation. He has successfully balanced
representation on his Council of Ministers in terms of ethnicity, tribal affiliation,
and region and rules the country far more like a democracy than a sultanate.
Yemen, however, has had a more divided history. The northern area gained
independence in 1918 with the demise of the Ottoman Empire and was then gov-
erned by religious leaders until the army seized power in 1962 and established the
Yemen Arab Republic. Southern Yemen remained a British protectorate until 1967
when the British withdrew from the region and it became the People’s Democratic
Republic of Yemen. The two Yemens united in 1990 as the Republic of Yemen,
764
Yemen and Oman | 765
although tensions between the north and south persist today based on both reli-
gious struggles and differences in political ideologies. The population of Yemen is
estimated at 24,771,800.
Economically, the countries are also quite different. Yemen is the poorest of
the Persian Gulf nations with an annual per capita income of only $2,600 per year.
It is still heavily dependent on declining oil reserves and has as yet been unsuccess-
ful in diversifying its economy. Oman previously experienced many of the same
difficulties as Yemen, particularly after the slave trade was outlawed. Forty years
of Sultan Qaboos’s reign, however, have seen major improvements in developing
income independent from oil, with a particular concentration on tourism. In 2010,
the per capita income was estimated at $25,800, nearly 10 times that of Yemen.
The population of Oman was estimated at 3,090,150 in 2012.
Despite these differences, other than regional specialties, the basic forms of
dress in Yemen and Oman bear great similarities. It is likely that the early origins of
these dress styles are based on silhouettes originating within the Ottoman Empire.
People and Dress

Women in both countries follow the Islamic directive to dress modestly. This has
been interpreted in many different ways and is often a reflection of the customs of
a particular region, but most commonly includes outer garments, which are worn
when out of the home or when around nonfamilial males. These garments are worn
over a woman’s indoor dress, typically cover her hair, and do not reveal the shape
of her body. Any type of head or face cover is generally not adopted until a girl
reaches puberty, but more conservative families may require girls to wear some
variety of head cover as young as age five or six.
Oman
In Oman, traditional women’s dress consisted of three separate pieces, often
brightly colored and heavily embroidered. The names vary from region to region,
as do details of embroidery and fabrication, which help to identify a woman’s spe-
cific home. In general, the thawb or dishdasha is a loose dress or tunic which either
extends to just below the knee or may be as long as to the ankles. This garment
usually has a round neckline, no collar, and a front opening. It has long sleeves and
a gentle A-line shape. Loose trousers gathered into a buttoned ankle cuff called
sirwaal are worn under the dress, and the ensemble is finished with a head covering
made of a light cotton cloth variously called waqaya, lihaf, al-laisu, al-ghadfa, or
kanga. These items may be wrapped in such a way as to merely cover the hair, or
fashioned to completely conceal a woman’s entire face.
The kanga is a particularly inter-

esting addition to Omani dress as it is a
printed cotton cloth with wide borders
and a central picture or motif, often
with a sassy saying in Swahili along
one edge. It originated in Tanzania and
is reminiscent of Oman’s historic con-
nections with Zanzibar.
The thawb and sirwaal are usually
made from printed or plain cotton cloth
with embroidery around the neck,
the cuffs, and the hem of the thawb,
although they may also be made from
velvet, satin, or silk. Embroidery is
prevalent on the sirwaal ankle cuff
and these cuffs are often reused when
the upper part of the trouser is worn
out. The embroidery is often of the sil-
Omani women in traditional dress clap dur- ver or gold metallic Indian style. Silk
ing a cultural performance in Al Qurayyat, embroidery may also be used as well
Oman, c. 1990. (Arthur Thévenart/Corbis) as lace or woven ribbon.
A popular outer garment in Oman
is a black cotton mesh over dress called a ghabah. In the early 21st century, though,
the abaya is replacing the ghabah as the most common woman’s outer dress in the
northern part of Oman and in the capital, Muscat. The abaya is a floor-length, col-
larless, dress-like robe of a black, silky cloth with long sleeves. It is worn with a
shayla, a two-foot-long rectangular scarf that wraps around the head roughly one
and a half times, covering hair and neck.
Jewelry is an important addition to an Omani woman’s wardrobe. Pieces are
large and intricate and are traditionally of silver, although modern pieces may be
gold. The work is intricate and features elaborate patterns and symbols, and may
even have engraved Qur’anic verses in calligraphy.
Yemen
Yemeni women also dress conservatively and they, too, have a history of a
three-piece suit of clothes. They also wear a long-sleeved, calf-length, loose dress
called a zinnah. Like Omani dress, the zinnah is colorful and the various compo-
nents are often of several different fabrics including silk, satin, velvet, and cot-
ton prints. Embroidery is popular, both by hand, but more commonly today by
machine. The zinnah usually has a round neckline, is knee to mid-calf length, and
is worn over sirwaals. The width of a zinnah differs throughout Yemen and is based
on the width of the available fabrics. The Yemeni sirwaal differs from the Omani in
that it may be loose and full and gathered at the ankle into a buttoned cuff, or slim
fitting up to the waist. Embroidery around the ankle cuff is important. The sirwaal
is considered an essential garment, indicative of a woman’s modesty. Like their
Omani sisters, Yemeni women cover their heads when in public, and previously
also covered their faces. Veiling is not required by law, and the women who choose
to veil do so to respect tradition.
Traditional dress began to be replaced in the 1960s by the sharshaf, a three-
piece black outfit consisting of an ankle-length pleated skirt, a triangular hood worn
over the head and shoulders, and a face veil. This garment is reputed to have come
from Turkey and began to be adopted by rural women to indicate their modernity
and sophistication. In the 1970s, a loose overcoat, the balto, appeared and has
become the most common form of women’s outer dress in cities. It is thought that
the balto originated in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or Lebanon and was brought back by
Yemen citizens who either vacationed or worked in those countries. The balto, like
the sharshaf, is worn over another set of clothing and while the sharshaf is black,
the balto is available in many colors. However, in the early 21st century, the black
abaya and shayla are also increasingly seen in the capital city. Given the income
level of the country, it is safe to assume that it will be a while before the abaya
completely replaces traditional regional dress.
Two distinctive Yemen women’s garments are the sitarah and the maghmug.
The sitarah is a large polished cotton rectangle with a small red and blue print.
These were imported from India in the late 19th century and commonly worn by
women in the capital city, Sana’a. The sitarah was worn over the head and cas-
caded down the body to the ankles. It was held closed by hand, under the chin,
completely covering a woman’s body when she was in public. Although no longer
as popular as it once was, sitarahs may still be seen in Sana’a in the marketplace.
The maghmug is a unique face veil seen only in Yemen. It is translucent, allowing
a woman to see out, but conceals her identity. The maghmug has a red background
and is decorated with large white-ringed black circles. It is usually worn only by
older, married women. Other face veils include the burqa, which covers all but the
eyes and is worn by nomadic women. The lithmah is a rectangle wrapped around
the face to expose only the eyes, and the khunna is an unpatterned cloth similar
to the maghmug. Whether a woman veils and covers her hair varies according to
community practices and personal preferences.
Yemeni women also wear large jewelry pieces made from elaborate silverwork.
Some of these pieces have small compartments where a verse from the Qur’an is
carried. In the past, silver jewelry was deconstructed and melted down to be recast
upon a woman’s death. Beads of amber, coral, and lapis lazuli were reused in new
designs. Most Yemeni silver jewelry is attributed to Jewish silversmiths, the vast
majority of whom emigrated to Israel after that country was established in 1948.
Their particular process of granulation—tiny beads of three-dimensional silver—
make Yemeni jewelry unique. Many older pieces are signed by the artisan, whose
Hebrew name is written in Arabic, an unusual practice at the time.
Although modern cosmetics are widely available, many Arab women wear
black kohl around their eyes and still use henna to create elaborate patterns on
their hands and feet. Traditional henna is plant based. The leaves are dried and
then pounded into a powder and mixed with water to create a thick paste. Modern
henna comes in small squeezable tubes and is easily applied. Once dry, the henna
is washed off, leaving a reddish brown design, which will last about a month.
Men’s Dress
Men’s dress is remarkably similar throughout the Arabian Peninsula. Like
women’s dress, most men’s dress consists of three basic components: a dishdasha,
an undergarment, and a head cover.
In moderate city climates, men in both Oman and Yemen wear the dishdasha,
a garment of the same name as the Omani women’s dress, but cut differently. The
men’s garment resembles a long Western-style dress shirt. It has long, straight
sleeves and side panels, which widen slightly toward the hem. It may or may not
have side pockets, and the lengths vary from below the knees to the ankles. Various
styles have either narrow band collars, such as are common on Western “grandfa-
ther” shirts, or Western dress shirt collars, similar to what men would wear with
a tie. The dishdasha pulls on over the head and has a center front button placket,
which extends to about the waist. It is usually made of cotton or a cotton/silk or
cotton/polyester blend for summer and wool for winter, although synthetic dishda-
shas are popular in Oman for their ease of care. The dishdasha is usually of a light,
solid color and is often pure white. A distinguishing feature of Omani dishdasha
is a tassel, called a furakha, sewn into the neckline. This may be used as a vehicle
for perfume.
Under the dishdasha, men wear a wizar, a wide cotton hip wrap measuring
about five feet by three feet. A wool wizar is often used in cooler climates, but men
in both Oman and Yemen most commonly use a plain white cotton wizar imported
from India. The wizar is wrapped around the hips, covering from waist to calf and
tucked in at the waist.
Male headwear in Oman and Yemen are similar and quite different from those
worn in the rest of the Arabian Peninsula. Men wear a small, stiff, all-over embroi-
dered skullcap called a kuma in Oman and an imamah in Yemen. A hand-embroidered
Two men wear the traditional jambiya in Hababah, Yemen, 2011. (Robert Paul Van Beets/
Dreamstime.com)
kuma or imamah is extremely expensive, costing into the hundreds of dollars, while
imported machine-embroidered caps cost relatively little. It is not uncommon to
see a man wear only the skullcap in public, but more often he will wear a masser
(Oman) or a sumatah (Yemen) over the kuma or imamah. This is a square woolen
scarf folded into a triangle, which is wrapped around the cap turban-style, with
the ends tucked in so that the ears and the neck are fully exposed. Some men wrap
the masser in such a way as to create a short tail that hangs down the back of the
neck. Hand-embroidered massers/sumatahs from Kashmir made from wool or cash-
mere are the most expensive and desirable, although less expensive cotton massers
are plentiful and affordable. The familiar black, red, or green checked scarf seen
throughout the Middle East is also common in Yemen.
Omani and Yemeni men traditionally carry elaborate curved daggers called
khanjars in Oman and jambiya in Yemen. The dagger is seen as a symbol of fer-
tility as well as a willingness to defend one’s honor. The daggers have decora-
tive sheaths and are worn at the waist, tucked into an elaborately embroidered
belt. Although Omani men generally only wear the khanjar at feasts and holidays,
Yemeni men wear them as part of their daily dress. The specific location of the
dagger—to the right, in the center, or worn to the left—is an indication of a man’s
social status. Historically, upper-class men wore the jambiya to the right, middle-
class men in the middle, and the lower class to the left. Currently, most men wear
their jambiyas in the center.
A practice solely limited to Yemen is the addition of a Western-style suit or
sports jacket worn over the dishdasha. These jackets are imports from Europe and
the United States, many clearly donations to charitable groups. Large piles of them
can be seen for sale at the central souq in Sana’a.
Significant differences exist between the dress worn in coastal areas and that
worn in mountain regions of Yemen. Practicality and climate are partially responsible
for this, but the international influences also are a factor impacting coastal areas. Men
in the colder mountainous regions wear the gossera, a short, sleeveless, fur-lined
jacket that features colorful appliqué and is closed with leather buttons and loops.
Men in the warm, humid coastal areas often wear a futa or fotah, a long rectangular
cloth wrapped around the hips, sarong style. They are often striped and may be fairly
colorful. The futa is practical for the climate and may easily be hitched up for conve-
nience when working near water. A Western-style front button cotton shirt is usually
worn with the futa, presenting an interesting cultural mixture of dress. Like the sports
jackets, the shirt indicates a long relationship with Western influences.
Nearly all men in both countries wear sandals, which generally consist of
leather or leather-like tops, but which expose the toes.
Outer formal wear includes the bisht or mishlah, a square-cut cloak worn over
the dishdasha or thobe. It is made from either wool or cotton in neutral colors such
as beige, black, or brown and often features embroidery around the neck and down
the front.
While men in Oman mostly retain their dress traditions, Westernization is
creeping in. Young men in particular are seen in typical blue jeans and a variety of
T-shirts and jackets. Baseball caps are a great favorite, as are athletic shoes. These
typically Western items are seen as marks of sophistication.
Children’s Dress
Children’s dress is widely varied in Yemen and Oman. For special occasions,
they are dressed in miniature replications of traditional adult festive dress, such
as their same-sex parent would wear. For everyday attire, what they wear depends
on the wealth and sophistication of the family. Families that can afford Western
clothing will often permit especially the boys to wear T-shirts, sport shirts, and
casual Western-style jeans or trousers. Those with more limited means will dress
their children in more typical Yemeni or Omani styles as this will be far less costly.
Girls will wear zinnah or dishdasha and boys will wear the dishdasha and a small
skullcap. Many European and American retail stores are being established in the
Middle East so that current children’s fashion is available; however, the compara-
tively high cost makes it unaffordable for most Yemeni.

Al-Hinai, Abdulrahman bin Ali. Ceremonies and Celebrations of Oman. Reading,
UK: Garnet, 1999.
Al-Zadjali, Julia. “Omani Dress.” Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion,
Vol. 5. Oxford: Berg, 2010.
Chatty, Dawn. “The Burqa Face Cover: An Aspect of Dress in Southeastern Ara-
bia.” Languages of Dress in the Middle East, ed. Nancy Lindisfarne-Tapper and
Bruce Ingham. Richmond, UK: Curzon, 1997.
Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook. Oman. https://www.cia.gov/library/
publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mu.html. 2012.
Garner, Ann. “Comments on the Jewelry of the Middle East.” http://www.mschon
.com/articles.html.
Hestler, Anna, and Jo-Ann Spilling. Yemen. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish
Benchmark, 1999.
Lindholm, Christina. “Yemeni Dress.” Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and
Fashion, Vol. 5. Oxford: Berg, 2010.
Moors, Annelies. “Fashionable Muslims: Notions of Self, Religion, and Society in
San’a.” Fashion Theory 11 2/3 (1997): 319–46.
Morris, Miranda, and Pauline Shelton. Oman Adorned. Muscat: Apex, 1997.
Stillman, Yedida Kalfon, and Norman A. Stillman. Arab Dress: A Short History.
Leiden: Brill, 2000.
Wikan, Unni. Behind the Veil in Arabia. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1982.
Wilcox, R. Turner. Folk and Festival Costumes of the World. New York: Scribner’s,
1965.
Museums with National Dress
and Textile Collections
United States and Canada

de Young Museum, Textile Arts, San Francisco, CA. http://deyoung.famsf.org/
deyoung/collections/textile-arts.
FIDM Museum & Galleries Online Collections,  Los Angeles, CA. http://fidm
museum.org/collections/introduction/. Has an excellent international collection
of clothing and textiles.
Fowler Museum at UCLA,  Los Angeles, CA. http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/
collections. Has collections from Asia, the Americas, and Africa.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA. http://www
.lacma.org/. Has an excellent collection of historical fashion costumes, as well
as rich international dress collections.
The Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. http://www.batashoe
museum.ca/index.html. Has a large collection of shoes from around the world,
as well as costumes and textiles.
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec. http://www.civilization.ca/
home/. Collections and information on Canadian dress and history.
Kent State University Museum,   Kent, OH. http://www.kent.edu/museum.
Houses excellent collections of American dress throughout history.
American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY. http://www.folkartmuseum.org.
The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
NY. http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/museum-departments/
curatorial-departments/the-costume-institute.
The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY. http://
www.fitnyc.edu/museum.
Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY. http://www.mcny.org/.
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
DC. http://www.si.edu/Collections.
Atlanta History Center,  Atlanta, GA. http://www.atlantahistorycenter.com.
773
774 | Museums with National Dress and Textile Collections
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts

Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, VA. http://www.history.org.
American Textile History Museum, Lowell, MA. http://www.athm.org.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT. http://www.wadsworth
atheneum.org, info@wadsworthatheneum.org.
The Textile Museum, Washington, DC.  http://www.textilemuseum.org.
Armenia
Armenian Library and Museum of America, Watertown, MA. http://www
.almainc.org/. Though this is in the United States, it provides good sources for
information on Armenian textiles and Armenian history.
China
Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, CA. http://www.pacificasiamuseum.org/rankand
style/index.stm. Site dedicated to dress in imperial China.
Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Shatin, Hong Kong. http://www.heritagemuseum
.gov.hk/eng/attractions/attractions.aspx.
Denmark
Nationalmuseet (Danish National Museum), Lyngby, Denmark. http://natmus.dk/.
Contains a costume collection (since 18th century) at the submuseum Brede Værk.
Finland
Kansallispukukeskus, Jyväskylä, Finland. http://www.craftmuseum.fi/english/
nationalcostumecenter/index.htm. The National Costume Centre of Finland.
International Finnish folk costume.
France
Le musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs, Lyon, France. http://www.musee
-des-tissus.com/. French historic costume.
Germany
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg, Germany. http://www.gnm.de/index
.php?id=384.
Museums with National Dress and Textile Collections | 775
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich, Germany. http://www.bayerisches

-nationalmuseum.de/.
Modemuseum im Stadtmuseum, Munich, Germany. http://www.stadtmuseum
-online.de/sammlungen/mode.html. This site is mainly in German, but there are
good images.
Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. http://www.dhm.de/
ENGLISH/sammlungen/alltag2/textilien/.
Schloßmuseum Jever, Jever, Germany.  http://www.schlossmuseum.de/gross
britannien.html. Mid-18th to mid-19th century clothing from a rural town.
Deutsches Textilmuseum Krefeld, Krefeld, Germany. http://www.krefeld.de/
textilmuseum. Emphasis is on textiles and less on costume.
Museum Weißenfels Schloß Neu-Augustusburg, Weißenfels, Germany. http://
www.museum-weissenfels.de/. Has collections of shoes from Roman times to
the 1970s.
Netherlands
Nederlands Textielmuseum, Tilburg, Netherlands. http://www.textielmuseum
.nl/. Collection of textiles.
Groninger Museum,  Groningen, Netherlands. http://www.groningermuseum.nl/
en/visit.
Great Britain
Fashion and Textile Museum, London, UK. http://www.ftmlondon.org/.
The Fashion Museum,  Bath, UK. http://www.museumofcostume.co.uk/.
The Victoria & Albert Museum,  London, UK. http://www.vam.ac.uk/.
Italy
Centro Studi di Storia del Tessuto e del Costume, Venice, Italy. http://www
.museiciviciveneziani.it/frame.asp?pid=1094&z=2&tit=Servizi%20scientifici.
Costume collection located in the historic patrician Palazzo Mocenigo.
Museo del Tessuto, Prato, Italy. http://www.cultura.prato.it/musei/it/?act=i&fid=
1952&id=20080407130843150. Textiles since the 5th century, textile processing
machines, documentation of dyeing since the 18th century. Changing exhibitions.
New Zealand
Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand. http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/
pages/default.aspx
776 | Museums with National Dress and Textile Collections
Norway
Norsk Folkemuseum, Oslo, Norway. http://www.norskfolke.museum.no/. Huge
open-air museum, exhibition of Norwegian costume.
Russia
The Ukrainian Museum, New York, NY. http://www.ukrainianmuseum.org/.
Museum contains collections reflecting dress worn by Ukrainians worldwide.
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. http://www.hermitagemuseum
.org/html_En/index.html. Textiles from 14th century onward, a large collection
of lace, and of course the fine collection of European and Russian art containing
a number of works depicting clothing.
Spain
Museo del Traje, Madrid, Spain. http://museodeltraje.mcu.es/. Features tradi-
tional Spanish costume.
Selected Bibliography
Adler, Peter, and Nicholas Barnard. African Majesty: The Textile Art of the Ashanti
and Ewe. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1992.
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About the Editor and Contributors
Editor
Jill Condra has taught in the area of clothing and textiles history at the University
of British Columbia, the University of Prince Edward Island, and the University of
Manitoba. Her costume research has been largely based on using material-history
models to study clothing in historical context, which has allowed her to conduct
research at exciting costume collections around the world. She has also cowritten
a book on textiles, Guide to Textiles for Interiors, third edition. She is the editor
of the three-volume Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through World History
(ABC-CLIO/Greenwood, 2007) and was coauthor with Anita Stamper of Clothing
through American History: The Civil War Through the Gilded Age, 1861–1899
(ABC-CLIO/Greenwood, 2009). She works at the University of Manitoba in Win-
nipeg, Canada.
Contributors
Lindy Allen is a senior curator in anthropology at Museum Victoria in Melbourne,
Australia. She has more than 30 years’ experience in the museum sector; under-
taken extensive fieldwork and fostered relationships with Indigenous communi-
ties, particularly across Arnhem Land and on Cape York Peninsula; and initiated
a focused cross-cultural research program on Indigenous collections. Her main
research focus has been on Aboriginal material culture and art, museum collections
and collecting, museology, museum anthropology, visual anthropology, memory
and memorialization, and use of new technologies in Indigenous communities to
access heritage collections. She was Partner Investigator on Australian Research
Council projects focused on The Donald Thomson Collection and has coedited a
book on collections (The Makers and Making of Indigenous Australian Museum
Collections, 2008) and coauthored a chapter in the recent volume Unpacking the
Collections: Networks of Material and Social Agency in the Museum (2011). She
has also curated over 30 major exhibitions.
783
784 | About the Editor and Contributors
Laura P. Appell-Warren is a researcher and teacher of anthropology at St. Mark’s

School, Southborough, MA. She is author of the forthcoming volume Personhood:
An Examination of the History and Use of an Anthropological Concept. She is also
editor of the volume The Iban Diaries of Monica Freeman 1949–1951: Including
Ethnographic Drawings, Sketches, Paintings, Photographs and Letters.
Jennifer Ball is an associate professor of art history at Brooklyn College and

the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She has numerous publica-
tions dealing with textiles and dress and is a frequent lecturer at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art.
Leyla Belkaïd is professor and director of the Master in Luxury Management

Program at the Geneva School of Business Administration, University of Applied
Sciences of Western Switzerland, and is completing research on the relation-
ships between traditional dress and contemporary fashion for her PhD in cultural
anthropology at the University of Lyon, France. She also conducts workshops and
lectures in Fashion Anthropology at the Basel Academy of Art and Design in Swit-
zerland. She was previously Professor of Fashion Theory and Head of the Fashion
Design Department at the Geneva University of Art and Design from 2004 to 2008.
Her work is featured in Gucci: The Making Of (2011).
José Blanco F. is an associate professor in the Textiles, Merchandising and Inte-

riors Department at the College of Family and Consumer Sciences and manager
of the college’s Historic Clothing and Textile Collection. He is originally from
Costa Rica and has a PhD in Theater from Florida State University. His current
research focuses on dress and popular culture in the second half of the 20th cen-
tury with an emphasis on male fashion. He is also interested in the fashion and
visual culture in Latin America and the application of Jungian archetypal analy-
sis to fashion. José is the vice president of education for the Costume Society of
America.
Marie Botkin is an assistant professor of Fashion Design and Merchandising at

California State University, Long Beach and has contributed to other books includ-
ing The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through World History.
Brenda Brandt has a PhD degree in history studies from Florida State University.
She has held faculty positions at the University of Arizona and Colorado State Uni-
versity in design programs as a researcher and educator. Past museum experience
includes curatorial and educator responsibilities in history and cultural museums in
the Phoenix area. Her research has centered on the relationships that people have
About the Editor and Contributors | 785
with material culture, specifically textiles, as well as the meanings and significance
of adornment worldwide.
Tracy Buck received an MA in South Asian Cultures and Languages from the Uni-
versity of Texas at Austin, and an MA in Museology from the University of Wash-
ington, Seattle. After completion of her MA program, she worked as Costumes and
Textiles Specialist at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle, Washington.
She is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of California, Los Angeles in the
Department of Art History with a focus on art and art institutions of India.
Keri Cavanaugh received her Master of Arts from the Fashion Institute of Tech-
nology, New York, in Museum Studies: Costumes and Textiles. Following graduate
school, she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger. She currently manages traveling
exhibitions at a natural history museum.
With a background in fashion and textile design as well as the media, Christina
Cie writes on both historical dress and contemporary fashion, alongside related
issues in this area. Christina is currently writing a book on ink jet printing for
textiles.
Chanel Clarke is of Māori descent and is currently the Curator Māori at Auckland
Museum, New Zealand. She is a graduate of the University of Waikato and Massey
University. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants including a
Fulbright New Zealand and the American Association of Museums International
Partnerships Programme. Her specific interests are social and cultural aspects of
dress in both traditional and contemporary contexts.
Carol Colburn is professor emeritus of Costume History and Design in the

Department of Theatre at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. Norwe-
gian American dress, dress in portraiture, and historical hand-weaving are current
research topics.
Dr. Lucy Collins teaches courses in fashion theory, ethics, and aesthetics at Par-
sons the New School for Design and LIM College in New York City. She holds a
PhD in philosophy from Temple University with specializations in phenomenol-
ogy, existentialism, and fashion. Dr. Collins’s research interests pertain to consum-
erism and personal identity.
Vishna Collins is a Sydney-based curator, arts writer, and designer specializing in

Wearable Art and Fashion Curation and Sartorial Display. She holds a Bachelor of
Education in Visual Arts from College of Fine Arts (COFA) The University of New
South Wales, and a Master of Museum Studies from Macquarie University. Her
research interests include ethnographic textiles and clothing, body adornment and
the art of dress, the convergence of art and fashion, the body as an exhibition site,
aesthetic dress, the tea gown, object-based research, women’s textile history, and
material culture. She is currently researching Body Adorned and the Art of Dress.
Artist and writer Geraldine Craig is associate professor/department head in the

Department of Art, Kansas State University. She has published more than 90 arti-
cles and reviews in periodicals such as Art in America, The Journal of Modern
Craft, Sculpture, Surface Design Journal, New Art Examiner, American Craft, and
Fiberarts, among others, and a monograph on the sculptor Joan Livingstone (Telos,
London). She was awarded the James Renwick Senior Fellowship in American
Crafts at the Smithsonian Institution for 1994–1995.
Marilyn Cvitanic is currently an adjunct professor of Fine Arts at Manhattan Col-

lege and the College of Mount Saint Vincent, both located in Riverdale, New York.
She has taught courses in studio art, art history, and costume history. Before enter-
ing a career in the arts she received her Doctorate in Policy Analysis at the Pardee
RAND Graduate School in Santa Monica, CA. Upon completing her education,
Marilyn began painting extensively and exhibiting her work in New York, Los
Angeles, and Croatia. Her most recent publication is Culture and Customs of Croa-
tia (Culture and Customs of Europe), published by Greenwood (2010).
Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi is an independent researcher on culture and immi-

grant experience and lives in Hargeisa, Somaliland.
Damayanthie Eluwawalage is an assistant professor at the State University of

New York, Oneonta. She is a professional historian who specializes in costume
history. Her research interests include design, design theory, costume history, and
fashion theory, especially philosophy of clothing and fashion, focusing on the
broader application and interpretation of fashion theory. She is currently research-
ing on projects titled “History of Costume: Fashion and Clothing in the State of
New York,” “The Human Cost of Space Missions,” and “History of Space Suits.”
She is passionate about preserving our social history and cultural heritage includ-
ing every aspect of clothing and textiles.
Michelle Webb Fandrich is a freelance fashion historian, writer, and editor. Her
published works include Clothing Through American History: The Federal Era
through Antebellum, 1786–1860 (ABC-CLIO/Greenwood, 2010, with Ann Bau-
ermann Wass) and What People Wore When (2008, edited by Melissa Leventon).
Her professional work includes stints in the curatorial departments of the Costume
Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum
of Art, as well as teaching as an adjunct professor in colleges and universities
throughout Southern California.
Laurann Gilbertson is Chief Curator at Vesterheim Norwegian-American

Museum in Decorah, Iowa, after serving as Textile Curator for 19 years. She holds
degrees in Anthropology and Textiles and Clothing from Iowa State University.
John G. Hall is a freelance writer who has written several articles about African
American history and culture. He lives in Hendersonville, NC.
Dr. Louise Hamby is an adjunct fellow in the Digital Humanities Hub at The
Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. She has been researching
Aboriginal material culture, particularly objects made from fiber, since moving
to Australia 30 years ago. Her PhD research and main research has focused on
fiber container forms and bodywear from the women of Gapuwiyak in eastern
Arnhem Land. She was a postdoctoral Fellow on the Australian Research Council
(ARC) grant focused on The Donald Thomson Collection and Chief Investiga-
tor on the ARC grant Contexts of Collections. She has coedited a book on col-
lections (The Makers and Making of Indigenous Australian Museum Collections,
2008) and coauthored a chapter in the recent volume Unpacking the Collections:
Networks of Material and Social Agency in the Museum (2011). Her most recent
book, Containers of Power: Women with Clever Hands (2010), accompanies the
touring exhibition “Women with Clever Hands: Gapuwiyak Miyalkurruwurr Gong
Djambatjmala.”
Michele A. Hardy is Curator of Decorative Arts at the Nickle Arts Museum, Uni-
versity of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She has conducted research in India on the
folk embroideries of Kachchh, Gujarat, and is currently conducting a compara-
tive study of Muslim craftswomen in India and Turkey. Her publications include
“Crafts and Knowledge,” in Owen and Fariello, Objects and Meaning in Late 20th
Century Art: Readings That Challenge the Norm (2004).
Sara M. Harvey holds a master’s degree in Visual Culture: Costume Studies from
New York University and currently teaches fashion design and history at the Inter-
national Academy of Design and Technology in Nashville, TN. She is also a free-
lance costume designer and a novelist.
Anne Hill is an independent scholar from Edmonton, Canada, with a special inter-
est in traditional Tibetan dance and costume.
Dr. Stephanie Ho is a public historian with extensive experience in education and

the heritage industry. A former history teacher and museum educator, she received
her PhD in public history from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). She
is co-founder of The History Workroom LLP, a research and editorial consultancy
with a focus on Singapore history and heritage. She has created and written chil-
dren’s books, educational materials, and adult nonfiction with a history focus. She
coauthored, with Jaime Koh, Culture and Customs of Singapore and Malaysia, a
college reference book published by ABC-CLIO in 2008.
Charlotte Jirousek is an associate professor in the department of Fiber Science

and Apparel Design at Cornell University, where she is also the Curator of the
Cornell Costume and Textile Collection. She has worked and traveled in all parts
of Turkey for more than 40 years. Her research is conducted primarily on tradi-
tional Turkish textiles and dress. She is particularly interested in the relationship
of Ottoman dress to the history of Western dress. She has also been documenting
surviving traditional textile technologies in Turkey and their relationship to dress,
social customs, and daily life.
Jaime Koh has worked in the media and cultural heritage industry in Singapore as
a newspaper journalist, a magazine editor, and an assistant curator in a museum. As
co-founder of The History Workroom LLP, Jaime continues to focus on research
and editorial work. Jaime continues to write and publish in other capacities. She is
the coauthor of Culture and Customs of Singapore and Malaysia, a college refer-
ence book published by ABC-CLIO (2008). Jaime has also authored several aca-
demic publications on issues of human security and North Korea. Currently Jaime
is completing her PhD in Cultural Studies at the National University of Singapore.
Malika Kraamer is an independent researcher, curator, and exhibition developer

in Leicester, UK. She is currently the lead curator of an exhibit for the Cultural
Olympiad Exhibition in Leicester. Malika is also an honorary research associate
at the School of Media and Communication (Humanities) and curator of World
Cultures at the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery.
Susan Lind-Sinanian is the textile curator at the Armenian Library and Museum
of America (ALMA) in Watertown, MA. In 1986, Lind-Sinanian established the
textile center at ALMA, which houses the largest collection of Armenian textiles
outside of the Republic of Armenia. The collection continues to grow and is acces-
sible to visitors and researchers. She promotes the cultural heritage of the Arme-
nians through programs, workshops, and exhibitions for children and adults, and is
the recipient of numerous grants from local and national organizations.
Christina Lindholm is associate dean in the School of the Arts, Virginia Com-
monwealth University. She was Dean of the VCU School of the Arts in Doha,
Qatar from 2002 to 2007 and has researched and written on the dress of Arab and
Muslim women.
Lynne Potter Lord (BHE, MSc, BEd) has taught in the area of textiles, cloth-
ing, and culture at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She
has lived and worked in Switzerland and developed an appreciation for all things
Swiss. She currently teaches in the Vancouver area.
Aleasha McCallion is a graduate student in the Fashion and Textiles Program at

the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia and specializes in cul-
tural clothing, specifically Korean textiles and paper art.
Timothy May is associate professor of Central Eurasian and Middle Eastern His-
tory at North Georgia College & State University. He is the author of The Mongol
Art of War (2007), Culture and Customs of Mongolia (2009), and The Mongol
Conquest in World History (2011).
Jennifer Moore is a fashion historian who lives and works in New York City.
Monica Murgia has an MA in Fashion & Textile Studies: History, Theory,

Museum Practice from FIT in New York. Monica has taught several courses in
design with a focus on historic dress as an adjunct professor at Fashion Institute of
Design and Merchandising (FIDM), Centenary College, and Berkley College and
is a contributor to Wornthrough.com and MonicaDMurgia.com.
David Rickman is a freelance illustrator, author, and historian. Past research proj-
ects include the first English-language study of the clothing worn in the Russian
colonies of North America in the 18th and 19th centuries, a book detailing the cloth-
ing worn by the many cultures present at Sutter’s Fort in California circa 1845, and
an article about the history of California Indian costume for the Berg Encyclopedia
of World Dress and Fashion (2010). He is currently working on a two-volume history
of costume during the Spanish, Mexican, and early American periods for California
State Parks. Rickman graduated in History from the University of California, Berke-
ley and has spent much of his life researching the clothing and other aspects of the
Hispanic West’s material culture, working as much as possible with original artifacts
and Spanish-language documents. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware.
Carolyn Scholz holds a Bachelor of Human Ecology (Clothing and Textiles) and
MSc from the University of Manitoba, where she received a University of Manitoba
Graduate Fellowship. Her areas of research include the clothing behavior of reli-
gious groups and the clothing-related consumer behavior of older women. She has
published in The Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management. She has been
employed as a researcher and data analyst for both the School of Rehabilitation
Science at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, and the Children’s Aid Soci-
ety of Brantford, Ontario.
John A. Shoup is a professor of anthropology at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane,

Morocco. He has conducted fieldwork in Lesotho, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia,
Morocco, and most recently in Mauritania on topics related to pastoralism, impact
of tourism on local communities, traditional land use systems, trans-Saharan trade,
and popular culture. He has authored and coauthored several articles and book
chapters and published Culture and Customs of Jordan (2007), Culture and Cus-
toms of Syria (2008), and coauthored Saudi Arabia and Gulf Arab States Today:
An Encyclopedia of Life in the Arab States (2009), all three with ABC-CLIO/
Greenwood Press.
Pamela Smith has a master’s degree in the History of Decorative Art & Design
from the University of Brighton, UK. She now works as a freelance speaker, writer,
and consultant on the arts of Russia and Eastern Europe. She was assistant editor
and one of the authors for the “East Europe, Russia and the Caucasus” volume of
the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, published in 2010.
Neal Sobania is professor of history at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA

where he is also Executive Director of the Wang Center for Global Education. He
has written extensively on ethnic identity and the formation of pastoralist societ-
ies in precolonial northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. His present research is
on visual culture in Ethiopia, especially the place of silversmiths and goldsmiths
and church painters in contemporary Ethiopian society, and the use of historical
photographs as a source for writing history.
Jennifer Swope has worked for the past 20 years in curatorial departments of
museums with American collections. She was introduced to 18th-century New
England dress while Associate Curator at Historic New England (formerly SPNEA)
after graduating from the Winterthur Program in American Culture. In her current
position at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, as Curatorial Researcher in the
David and Roberta Logie Department of Textiles and Fashion Arts, she specializes
in its renowned collection of American costumes and textiles. She presented her
research of this collection at the 2010 Dubin Seminar on New England Folk Life.
Her article, “We Need Your Work: Trade, Textiles, and Clothing of the Robbins
Family of East Lexington, 1780–1820” is published in The Journal of Massachu-

setts History (June 2013). She is also an instructor of the History of Textiles at Bos-
ton Architectural College, where she applies her knowledge of historical American
costume and textiles to the design, manufacture, and consumption of 21st-century
furnishing textiles.
Claire Townsend is a freelance costume designer and assistant. She graduated

from Central St Martins School in London in 2008 and worked in London, before
moving to the United States to design at PCPA Theatrefest, Shakespeare by the
Sea, Marin Shakespeare Festival, West Bay Opera as well as assisting for LA
Opera, Opera Pacific, Long Beach Opera, South Coast Repertory Theatre, and
Musical Theatre West. She was part of the Emmy-award–winning costume team
for the stop-animation television series Titan Maximum. She currently teaches at
Cypress College.
Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood is a dress historian and director of the Textile

Research Centre in Leiden, Netherlands. She has written on clothing in Iran and
Afghanistan and is co-editor of Khil‘a, Journal of Dress and Textiles in the Islamic
World.
Tanya Williams Wetenhall is an independent consultant, curator, and researcher

of costume and textiles. She is a graduate of New York University and the Fashion
Institute of Technology, SUNY, and teaches in the graduate costume and textile pro-
grams at both universities. She has worked in collection management and research
in ethnographic, design, and fashion museums in the United States and Belgium.
She served for 10 years at the American Embassies in Moscow and Rome and as
a cultural liaison to Russia, the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China, and
Cuba for an international exchange program. Previously, she worked for designer
Fernando Sanchez and as a fashion and textile writer. Her current research focuses
on Russian and Soviet dress and textile history and related cultural materials.
Index
Bold page numbers indicate main entries. Italic page numbers indicate photos.
aba, 65 Afro-Brazilian dress, 96–97

Abayaneh dress, 345 Aguinaldo, Emilio, 585–586
Abdel Aziz, Mohamed Ould, 472–473 ajrakh cloths, 318–319
accessories Albania, 11–18
See also jewelry contemporary use of ethnic dress, 17
Denmark, 182 ethnic and religious diversity, 11
Ethiopia, 207–208 historical and geographical background, 11
Greece, 271 history of dress in, 11–13
Greenland, 286–287 materials and techniques, 13–14
Korea, 414 men’s dress, 14–15, 15
Mauritania, 475–476 traditional dress, 13, 15
Native Americans, 516–517 women’s dress, 15–17, 16
New England, 755–756 Albert (prince), 55
Ache Lhamo, 722–724 Algeria, 19–28
adornment, x, 328–330 geographical background, 21
Angola, 680 historical background, 19–21
Māori, 533 Kabyli region, dress in, 25–26
Rwanda, 645 men’s dress, 24, 24–25
South Africa, 676 people and dress, 21–28
South Pacific Islands, 669–670 Tuareg region, dress in, 26–28
Uganda, 647 women’s dress, 22, 22–24
Afghan burqa, 2 Algerian War of Independence, 21
Afghanistan, 1–10, 570 allendi fabric, 658
Baluchi dress, 2–3 aloha shirt, 742–744, 743
Hazara dress, 3–4 Alpine dress, 650–651
historical and geographical background, 1–2 Alsace region, 227, 228
Kuchi dress, 5–6 Amenhotep I, 184
Nuristani dress, 4 Andalusian dress, 501–502
Pashtun dress, 4–5, 5 Andean culture, 133
Tajik dress, 6–7, 8 Angola, 672, 674, 679–680
Turkmen dress, 7–8 animal parts/skins, 48–49, 233, 285–286,
Uzbek dress, 8–9 511–512, 614
Africa Anoghiani dress, 164
See also specific countries anoraks, 281–282, 283–284, 287
southern, 672–681 áo dài, 760–762
793
794 | Index
appliqué, 143 Aukštaitija, 200

aprons, 17, 36–37, 39–40, 78, 104, 174–175, Australia, x
218, 235, 376, 615–616, 675–676, colonization of, 53
720–721, 756 contemporary clothing in, 58–60
Aquino, Benigno, III, 587 Australia, aboriginal, 44–52, 46
Aquino, Benigno, Jr., 586 component parts of dress, 47–50
Arab Bedouins contemporary use of ethnic dress, 50–51
men’s dress, 359–361, 436–437 geographic and environmental background, 44
women’s dress, 361–362, 433–435, 444–445, history of dress in, 44–45
580–582 materials and techniques, 45–46
Arabian Peninsula Australia, settlers, 53–61
children’s dress, 68 ethnic and religious diversity, 54–56
geographical and historical background, 62–63 geographic and environmental background,
men’s dress, 64–66, 65 53–54
modern uses of ethnic dress, 68–69 historical background, 53
people and dress, 63–69 men’s and women’s dress, 56–58
women’s dress, 66–68, 67 Austria, 231–236
Arab-style dress, 345–346 component parts of dress, 235–236
Aran sweater, 267 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 236
Armenia, 29–43 ethnic and religious diversity, 232
belts and sashes, 40 geographic and environmental background,
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 42–43 231–232
East and West, dress of the, 36–43 historical background, 231
ethnic and religious diversity, 31–32 history of dress in, 232–233
everyday dress, 37 materials and techniques, 233
geographic and environmental background, men’s dress, 234–235
30–31 women’s dress, 233–234
hats, veils, and mouth coverings, 38–40 Austro-Hungarian Empire, 87
historical background, 29–30 Awlad Hassan, 506–509
history of dress in, 32–34 Aztecs, 479–480, 480, 481
ancient period: Urartu kingdom, 32–33
classical period, 33–34 backstrap loom, 481
medieval period, 34 Bahrain, 62–70
modern period, 34 baju kurung, 464, 464, 465
jewelry, body paint, and body modifications, baju melayu, 465, 465
41–42 Bakhtiari dress, 346–347, 364
materials and techniques, 34–36 Baltic states, 191–203
men’s dress, 40–41 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 202–203
people and dress, 31–36 Estonia, 192–196
shoes and stockings, 41 historical and geographical background,
special-occasion dress, 37–38 191–192
women’s dress, 41 Latvia, 196–199
Armenian red dye, 31 Lithuania, 199–202
art, clothing as, xi people and dress, 192
Arvanites, 273 Baluchi dress, 2–3, 347
Asia. See specific countries banana fabric, 591
Index | 795
banana-stem fiber, 457 bernos, 206

Bandar dress, 348 Bethlehem, 577–579
bark, 243, 456 bisht, 65
bark cloth, 668 black dress, 107
Barong Tagalog, 588–592, 589 blanket coats, 117–118, 118
baro’t saya, 589–590, 592 block printing, 468
Bashkirs, 634 body modifications
bashlik, 39 Armenia, 41–42
Basque culture, 228–229 Bosnia and Herzegovina, 90
bast, 554 Ethiopia, 208–209
bata cubana, 123 Ghana, 247
batik, 338–342, 340, 421, 423, 467–468, Kenya, 403
538–539 Native Americans, 517–518
batula, 67 Philippines, 592
Bayeux Tapestry, 223 Thailand, 715
beads, 4, 42, 45, 89–90, 109, 246, 280, 286, body paint
402, 475, 512 Armenia, 41–42
Bedouins, 359–362, 360, 433–435, 436–437, Australia, aboriginal, 50
441, 444–445, 580–582 Bosnia and Herzegovina, 90
Belgium, 519–526 Ethiopia, 209
component parts of dress, 525 Ghana, 248
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 525–526 Korea, 414
ethnic and religious diversity, 520 South Pacific Islands, 669–670
geographic and environmental background, Bolívar, Simón, 131
519–520 Bolivia, 131–139
historical background, 519 component parts of dress, 136–138
history of dress in, 520–521 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 138–139
materials and techniques, 521 ethnic and religious diversity, 133–136
men’s dress, 523–525 geographical background, 132–133
women’s dress, 521–523 historical background, 131–132
Belize, 71–74 textiles, 138
belts and sashes “Bonny Prince Charlie” jacket, 261–262
Algeria, 23–24 Bosnia and Herzegovina, 81–92
Armenia, 32, 36, 40 component parts of dress, 89
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 86 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 90–91, 91
Bulgaria, 104, 109 ethnic and religious diversity, 82, 84
Crete, 161 everyday dress, 88
Croatia, 174 geographic and environmental background, 82
Mongolia, 497–498 historical background, 81–82
Morocco, 502 history of ethnic dress in, 84–88
Slovenia, 654 jewelry, body paint, and body modifications,
Somalia, 659 89–90
Syria, 431 materials and techniques, 84
Berbers, 19, 503–505 men’s dress, 96–97
beret, 226 rural dress, 88
Berlin Conference, 441 special-occasion dress, 88–89
796 | Index
Bosnia and Herzegovina (continued) burka/burqa, 2, 34, 67, 348, 572

urban dress, 87–88 Burkino Faso, 541–544
women’s dress, 83, 85–87 historical and geographical background, 536,
Botswana, 672, 673, 674, 677–678 541–542
boubou, 476, 476, 555 people and dress, 543
Brazil, 93–99 bushman’s clothing, 57
Afro-Brazilian dress, 96–97 Bushmen, 673–674
gaucho dress, 98–99 Bussell, John, 56
historical and geographical background, Byzantine costume, 271–273
93–94 Byzantine Empire, 19, 100–101, 162, 426, 621
indigenous dress, 94–95
Portuguese-Brazilian dress, 95–96 Cabral, Pedro Alvares, 93
breechcloths, 515, 748 caftans, 272, 502
Breton shirt, 226–227 Canada, x, 111–120
bridal dress component parts of dress, 117–120
Armenia, 37–38, 38, 42 coureurs de bois, 115–117, 116
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 89 geographical background, 113
Croatia, 175–176 historical background, 111–112
Estonia, 193–194 history of dress in, 114–120
Greece, 271, 276, 277 Native Americans, 510–518
Malaysia, 468 people and dress, 113–114
Norway, 563 religious and ethnic diversity, 114
Pakistan, 572 Capoeira, 97
Portugal, 606 card weaving, 36
Somalia, 662 Caribbean Islands, 121–130
South Africa, 676–677 Cuban dress, 122–123, 124
Turkey, 734–735 historical and geographical background,
Britain. See Great Britain 121–122
Buddhism, 408 Jamaica, 126–128
Bulgaria, 100–110 Lesser Antilles, 128–129
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 109 Puerto Rico, 124–126, 125
decorative techniques, 103–104 carnival costumes, 127–129, 128, 152–153,
folk costumes, 102–103, 103 156, 296–297, 301
historical and geographical background, cashmere, 495, 497
100–102 caste system, India, 314
jewelry, 108–109 Castro, Fidel, 122
materials and techniques, 103 Catholicism, 72, 222, 300, 481–482, 688
men’s dress, 106–108, 107 Caucasus region, 635–637
National Renaissance, 101–102 Celtic jewelry, 266
outerwear, 108 Central America
shoes, stockings, and legwear, 108 Belize, 73–74
women’s dress, 104–106, 105 El Salvador, 76–78
bullfighting, 685–686 European influences in, 71–73
bunader, 564–565 historical and geographical background, 71
buqnuq, 68 history of dress in, 71–73
burial rituals, 459 Honduras, 74–76
Index | 797
Nicaragua, 78–80 Central America, 71–72

Spanish conquest, 71–72 Cuba, 122
chadari, 2 Ghana, 237
chador, 2 Malaysia, 461
Charles Stuart (prince), 261 Mauritania, 471–472
charros, 485, 487 Mexico, 481–483
chemise, 104, 175 New Zealand, 527–528
Chile, 131–139 colpos, 270
component parts of dress, 136–138 communism, 102, 310
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 138–139 Confucianism, 409
cueca dance, 138 continuous warp loom, 553
ethnic and religious diversity, 133–136 Cook, James, 53
geographical background, 132–133 Cook Islands, 667
historical background, 131–132 Coptic Christianity, 209
huasos and huasas, 136–138, 139 Corfu, 277–278
national dress, 138 cosmetics. See makeup
China, 140–149, 416, 717 Costa Rica, 150–159
component parts of dress, 144–147 dress in, 152–154
historical and geographical background, 140 historical and geographical background,
jewelry and accessories, 147–149, 148 150–152
materials and techniques, 142–144 costume, x
people and dress, 140–142, 142 cotton, 243, 318, 339, 421, 456, 480–481,
chintz, 319 483–484, 521, 554, 704, 733
Chitrali cap, 4 coureurs de bois, 115–117, 116
chlaine, 271 cowboys
chlamys, 270–271 gaucho dress, 98–99
Chorotega, 78 huasos and huasas, 136–138
Choson dynasty, 411 Crete, 160–166
Christianity, 19, 29, 121, 209, 451, 463, 531, historical background, 160
549, 621, 665, 669, 674 history of dress in
chrong kraben, 714 ancient Minoan costume, 160–162
chupas, 719–720 national dress, 162–166
church dress, 563 Croatia, 167–176
Cleopatra, 183 festive clothing, 171–172
climate, xii headwear, footwear, and accessories, 172–175
cloaks, 50–51, 66, 108, 178, 223, 265–266, 307, historical and geographical background,
396, 502, 503–504, 506, 529–530, 531, 167–168
753 materials and techniques, 169–170
clothing, x men’s dress, 170, 171
as art, xi people and dress, 168–176
and identity, x–xi ritual of dress, 171–172
colonialism, xi women’s dress, 170–171
Australia, 53–56 cuaran shoes, 263
Brazil, 93–94 Cuba, 121–123, 124
Canada, 111–112 cueca dance, 138
Caribbean Islands, 121–122 cultural identity, x–xi
798 | Index
Dalarna, 694–696 men’s dress, 187, 189

Dampier, William, 53 people and dress in ancient, 183–187
dance. See folk dance women’s dress, 185, 188–189
dancehall, 127–128 elite dress, xi
Day of the Dead, 485 El Salvador, 71–73, 76–78
Dayton Peace Agreement, 82 embroidery
Debret, Jean-Baptiste, 95, 96, 97, 98 Armenian, 35
deel, 491–492, 492, 493, 495–497 Bosnia and Herzegovina, 89
Denmark, 177–182, 233 Bulgaria, 103–104
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 182 China, 143
ethnic and religious diversity, 178 Denmark, 181
everyday dress, 182 France, 225–226
geographic and environmental background, Germany and Austria, 233
177–178 Hungary, 309
historical background, 177 India, 319–320
jewelry and accessories, 182 Korea, 410
materials and techniques, 181–182 Pakistan, 569
men’s dress, 181 Palestine region, 577–578, 580, 580–581
special-occasion dress, 182 Philippines, 591
women’s dress, 178–180, 179 Romania, 617
department stores, 60 Russian Federation Republics, 635
dhoti, 315, 322 Sweden, 697
dir‘ah, 506 Switzerland, 704, 705–706
dishdashah, 359, 364–365, 436, 583, 583–584, Syria, 432–433
768 England, 252–254, 255–260
Dominican Republic See also Great Britain
dress in, 295–299 Estonia, 191–196, 195
historical background, 294–295 Estrada, Joseph, 586
dress Ethiopia, 204–211
and identity, x–xi accessories/ritualistic adornment, 207–208
study of, xi–xii contemporary use of ethnic dress, 210
Druze, 433, 436, 439 hairstyles, 210
Duga, 90–91 historical and geographical background,
dyes, 243, 265, 271, 285–286, 318–319, 204–205
332–333, 338–339, 388, 457–458, 474, jewelry, body paint, and body modifications,
506–507, 540, 721 208–209
Dzeron, Manoog, 34 people and dress, 205–207
Dzukija, 200–201 textile production, 207
ethnic dress
ear coverings, 109 abandoned to Western dress, xii
Egypt, 183–190 study of, xi–xii
contemporary dress, 187–190
historical background, 183 face coverings
jewelry, body paint, and body modifications, See also veils
185–187 Arab women, 67–68, 348–349
materials and techniques, 183–185 Faisal II, 358
Index | 799
Farmer, Caroline, 60 Hungary, 305–309, 310

fashion, x, 223–224 Italy, 375–385
feathers Netherlands and Belgium, 521–525
in Aboriginal dress, 47–48, 48 Norway, 562–563, 564–565
in ancient Egypt, 186 Portugal, 604–611
feis, 265 Romania, 614–618
felt, 494 Sweden, 691–698
felting, 135 footwear
female genital mutilation, 209 Arabian, 65
Ferdinand, Franz, 81 Armenia, 41
Fiji, 663, 666 Bedouins, 362
fila cap, 555, 555 Bosnia and Herzegovina, 87
Finland, 212–219 Bulgaria, 108
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 218 Canada, 119
ethnic and religious diversity, 214 China, 149
geographic and environmental background, 213 Croatia, 173, 173–174
historical background, 212–213 Germany and Austria, 236
history of dress in, 214 Greece, 278
materials and techniques, 215 Greenland, 283
men’s dress, 215–218 Iraq, 366–367
women’s dress, 215–218 Irish, 264, 265
First Balkan War, 102 Italy, 377
First Nations people, 111–112, 114–115, Japan, 392
510–518 Latvia, 197
fisherman’s sweater, 267 Libya, 443, 444
flamenco, 684 Mongolia, 496
flax, 529, 562, 704 Morocco, 504, 505, 506, 507
fly plaid, 262 Native Americans, 515–516
folk dance Netherlands, 522
Dominican Republic, 297–298 Romania, 616
England, 257 Russia, 631
Germany, 236 Russian Federation Republics, 638
Greece, 279 Scotland, 262, 263
Irish dancing, 265 Somalia, 659, 660
Italy, 382 France, 220–230
Morris dancing, 257 colonization of Canada by, 112
Scottish, 262 colonization of Hispaniola by, 295
Turkey, 737–738 colonization of Mauritania by, 471–472
folk dress, xii component parts of dress, 226–227
Bulgaria, 102–103, 103 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 227–229
Crete, 165–166 control of Algeria by, 20–21
Croatia, 167, 168–176 ethnic and religious diversity, 222
Egypt, 188 everyday dress, 226
Finland, 215–218 geographic and environmental background,
Germany and Austria, 233–235 221–222
Greece, 274–278 historical background, 220–221
800 | Index
France (continued) jewelry and body modifications, 246–248

history of dress in, 222–224 kaba, 241–242, 245, 249
jewelry, body paint, and body modifications, kente, 240–241, 245–246, 248, 250
227 materials and techniques, 243
materials and techniques, 224–226 production centers, 244–245
special-occasion dress, 226 special-occasion dress, 245–246
French Revolution, 224 ghutra, 65
fugu, 242–243, 246 Gilani dress, 349
funeral dress girdles, 174
Australia, aboriginal, 49–50 glazed fabric, 144
Laos (Hmong), 418 global trade, xii
Madagascar, 459 gognots, 39–40
fur, 494–495, 616 Gold Coast. See Ghana
fur trade, 115–117 gold thread, 12, 13, 14, 17, 23, 36, 169, 171,
fustanella, 274, 275 223, 272, 360, 467, 506, 606, 635
fustanellë, 14, 15 gomesi, 646, 646
futa, 17 grass skirts, 665–666, 669
Great Britain, 252–268
galabiya, 189, 189 aristocracy, 57
Galway shawl, 267 British Mandate in Iraq, 357–358
Garcia, Carlos P., 586 colonization of Australia by, 53
gareys, 659, 659 colonization of Canada by, 112
Garifuna dress, 73–75, 75 colonization of India by, 317
gaucho dress, 98–99 England, 255–260
Germany, 231–236 geographic and environmental background,
component parts of dress, 235–236 254–255
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 236 historical background, 252–254
ethnic and religious diversity, 232 Industrial Revolution, 60
geographic and environmental background, in Malaysia, 461
231–232 in New Zealand, 527–528
historical background, 231 people and dress, 255–267
history of dress in, 232–233 Scotland, 260–263
materials and techniques, 233 Victorian, 55
men’s dress, 234–235, 235 Wales, 263–264
women’s dress, 233–234, 234 Greece, 269–279
Ghana, 237–251 ancient Greek clothing, 270–271
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 248–250 Byzantine costume, 271–273
ethnic and religious diversity, 238–239 contemporary national dress, 274
everyday dress, 245–246 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 278–279
fugu, 242–243, 246 folk dress, 274–278, 275, 278
geographic and environmental background, historical and geographical background,
238 269–270
historical background Greenland, 280–288
early history, 237 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 287–288
independence, 238 ethnic and religious diversity, 281
slave trade and colonization, 237 geographic and environmental background,
history of dress in, 240–243 280–281
Index | 801
historical background, 280 Greenland, 283, 285

history of dress in, 281 Italy, 383
jewelry and accessories, 286–287 Lebanon, 438–439
materials and techniques, 285–286 Libya, 443
men’s dress, 283–284, 284 Mongolia, 494, 496
women’s dress, 281–283 Netherlands, 525
Guaimí, 155 Nigeria, 555–556
Guatemala, 289–293 Pakistan, 571, 572–573
children’s dress, 292 Poland, 600
component parts of dress, 290–292 Portugal, 608–609, 610
historical and geographical background, Romania, 615
289–290 Switzerland, 706–707
men’s dress, 291–292, 292 Hausu, 539–540
people and dress, 290 Hawaii, 740–745
women’s dress, 290–291, 291 aloha shirt, 742–744
guayabera, 122–123, 298–299 holoku, 741, 741–742
guaze, 580 kapa cloth and garments, 740–741
guntiino, 659–660 mu’u mu’u, 744
Gupta Dynasty, 316 Hazara dress, 3–4
head coverings/headgear/headdresses
hafayid, 507 Afro-Brazilian, 97
haik, 22, 23, 502, 505 Arabian Peninsula, 65, 67–68
hairstyles Armenia, 38–40
ancient Egypt, 186–187 Bedouins, 361
Croatia, 174 Belize, 73–74
Ethiopia, 210 Bosnia and Herzegovina, 87
Ghana, 248 bridal, 175–176
Greenland, 283 Bulgaria, 106, 107–108
India, 323 Canada, 118–119
Kenya, 402–403 Chile and Bolivia, 135
Mauritania, 475–476 China, 147, 149
Morocco, 507 Croatia, 172–173
Nigeria, 556 Denmark, 180
Rwanda, 645 Egypt, 189
Turkey, 732 Estonia, 193
Haiti Ethiopia, 210
carnival, 301 Finland, 218
Catholicism and Voodooism, 300 Germany and Austria, 235
dress in, 299–302 Ghana, 247
historical background, 294–295 Greece, 276–277
Hälsingland, 698 Hungary, 308
handirah, 505 Iran, 352, 355, 356
Hassani dress, 506–509 Italy, 376, 378, 379
hats Lebanon, 437–438
See also head coverings/headgear/headdresses Lesser Antilles, 129
Armenia, 38–40 Libya, 443
Ghana, 247 Malaysia, 468–469
802 | Index
head coverings/headgear/headdresses (continued) men’s dress, 305–307, 306

Mongolia, 493, 496 women’s dress, 307–309
Morocco, 504, 505, 506 Hussein, Saddam, 358
Native Americans, 517
Netherlands, 525 Iban culture, 467
Nigeria, 555–556 identity, and dress, x–xi, 420–421
Norway, 564 ikat, 319
Oman and Yemen, 768–769 Illyrians, 11–12
Palestine region, 578–579, 581 Imazighin peoples, 19
Poland, 597, 598, 600 Inca Empire, 133, 135
Romania, 616 India, 312–325, 570
Russia, 629–630 component parts of dress, 321–323
Russian Federation Republics, 636 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 324–325
Scotland, 262 ethnic and religious diversity, 313–315
Slovenia, 652–653 everyday dress, 320
Somalia, 659, 660 geographic and environmental background,
Spain, 683–684 313
Syria, 431, 434 historical background, 312–313
Tibet, 719 history of dress in, 315–317
Turkey, 731, 732, 733–734 jewelry, body paint, and body modifications,
for women, 2 323–324
hemp, 143, 305, 309, 421, 422, 457 materials and techniques, 318–320
henna painting, 42, 209, 475 Nagaland tribes
Herero dress, 679 textiles, 330–331
Herzegovina. See Bosnia and Herzegovina special-occasion dress, 320–321
himation, 270 indigenous peoples
Himba dress, 678–679 Bolivia, 131, 133–136
Hinduism, 314, 664 Brazil, 94–95
Hispanic West, 746–751 Canada, 111–112, 114–115
Hispaniola, 294–302 Central America, 76–77, 78
Hmong dress, 416–425 Chile, 131, 133–135
Ho Chi Min, 758 Costa Rica, 152
holoku, 741, 741–742 Hispaniola, 294
Honduras, 71–73, 74–76 India, 326–335
Hordern, Ann, 60 Malaysia, 462–463
huasas, 136–138, 139 New Zealand, 527, 529–533
huasos, 136–138, 137, 139 North America, 510–518
Hudson’s Bay Company, 115 Norway, 559
huipil, 484 Panama, 154–155
Hungary, 303–311 Philippines, 592
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 310 southern Africa, 673–674
ethnic and religious diversity, 304–305 South Pacific Islands, 664–665
geographic and environmental background, indigo dye, 243, 332–333, 474, 506, 540, 721
304 Indo-Aryans, 313–314
historical background, 303–304 Indonesia, 336–342
history of dress in, 305–309 batik, 338–342
materials and techniques, 309 design motifs, 340–341
Index | 803
historical and geographical background, Islam, 64, 440–442, 463

336–337 Israel, x, 367–371, 575
materials and techniques, 338–340 component parts of dress, 369–370
men’s dress, 338 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 370–371
people and dress, 337–338 historical background, 367–368
women’s dress, 338, 338 Jewish traditional dress, 368
industrialization, xii Italy, 372–384, 441
Industrial Revolution, 60, 220–221, 252 geographic and environmental background,
ionar, 266 374–375
Ionian Islands, 277–278 historical background, 372–374
Iran, 343–356 people and dress, 375–384
Abayaneh dress, 345 in central Italy, 379–381
Arab-style dress, 345–346 in northern Italy, 375–378
Bakhtiari dress, 346–347 Sicily and Sardinia, 383–384
Baluch dress, 347 in southern Italy, 381–383
Bandar dress, 348 izar, 505
Gilani dress, 349
historical and geographical background, jallabahs, 444, 503
343–344 Jamaica, 121–122, 126–128
Kurdish dress, 350–352 Japan, 385–394
people and dress, 344–356 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 392–393
Qashqa‘i dress, 352–353 footwear, 392
Shahsavan dress, 353–354 geographical background, 387–388
Shi‘ite face veils, 348 historical background, 385–387
Sunni face veils, 348–349 history of dress in, 390
Turkmen dress, 354–355 kimono, 390–392, 391
Zoroastrian dress, 355–356 materials and techniques, 388–390
Iraq, 357–366 jeans, xii
Arab Bedouin dress, 359–362 jewelry
Bakhtiari dress, 364 Armenia, 41–42
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 364–365 Bedouins, 445–446
geography, 358–359 Bosnia and Herzegovina, 89–90
historical and geographical background, Bulgaria, 108–109
357–358 China, 147–149, 148
Kurds, 362–363 Crete, 165–166
Lurs, 364 Denmark, 182
Ma’din, 362 Egypt, 185–187
people and dress, 359–366 Ethiopia, 208–209
special-occasion dress, 366–367 France, 227
Turkmen dress, 363–364 Ghana, 246–247
Ireland Greece, 271
geographic and environmental background, Greenland, 286–287
254–255 Hassani, 507–508
historical background, 252–254 India, 323–324
jewelry, 266 Irish, 266
people and dress, 264–267 Kenya, 401–402, 402
Irish dancing, 265 Korea, 414
804 | Index
jewelry (continued) ethnic and religious diversity, 397–398

Libya, 445–446 geographic and environmental background,
Malaysia, 469 396
Mauritania, 475 historical background, 395–396
Morocco, 507–508 history of dress in, 399
Netherlands, 525 jewelry, body paint, and body modifications,
Nigeria, 556 401–403
Norway, 564 men’s dress, 400, 400–401
Oman, 766 people and dress, 396–397
Poland, 598 women’s dress, 400–401
Romania, 617–618 Khoijhoi, 673
Russia, 631 Khoisan San, 673
Russian Federation Republics, 638 khurem jacket, 497
Rwanda, 645 kibber, 581–582
Sicily, 383–384 kiffa, 475
Slovenia, 653–654 kilts, 260–261, 262, 265
Somalia, 660 kimono, 388, 390–392, 391
South Pacific Islands, 670 Kiribati, 663, 667
Syria, 431, 434 kitenge, 647
Thailand, 715 knitting, 138, 175, 192, 223, 562, 608
Tibet, 720 knotted needle lace, 36
Uganda, 647 kohl, 475
Vietnam, 762 kokoshnik, 630
Yemen, 767–768 kolonato, 276
Jewish traditional dress, 368 Korea, 406–415, 497
Jinnah cap, 571 children’s dress, 412, 414
Jones, David, 60 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 414–415
Jordan, 434, 574–584 ethnic and religious diversity, 408–409
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 584 everyday dress, 411
historical and geographical background, geographic and environmental background,
574–575 407–408
men’s dress, 583, 583–584 historical background, 406–407
women’s dress, 582–583 history of dress in, 409
jewelry, body paint, and body modifications,
kaba, 241–242, 245, 249 414
The Kalevala, 212–213 materials and techniques, 410–411
kamiks, 283, 284, 287 men’s dress, 412–414, 413
kanzu, 646 special-occasion dress, 411
kapa cloth and garments, 740–741 women’s dress, 412
karabela, 302 kosode, 388, 389, 390–391
Karelia, 216, 637 koulouris, 276
kebaya, 338, 338, 464 kroplaps, 521–522
kemben, 338 ksa, 443, 443, 502–503
kente, 240–241, 245–246, 248, 250 Kuchi dress, 5–6
Kenya, 395–405 Kuna, 154–155
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 403–404 Kurdish dress, 350–352, 362–363
Index | 805
kurta, 568–572, 571 lithma, 67

Kurzeme, 198 Lithuania
historical and geographical background,
lace making, 225, 309, 704 191–192
lambas, 452–455, 453, 458 people and dress, 199–202
Laos (Hmong), 416–425 loincloth, 658, 675
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 424 Lönnrot, Elias, 212
cosmology and rituals in dress, 417–420 looms, 553, 554–555, 562, 720
historical and geographical background, lungi, 315
416–417 Lurex, 243
importance of dress, 420–421 Lurs, 364
materials and techniques, 421–424
Lascaux cave paintings, 223 ma’awis, 658–659
Latgale, 198 Macapagal, Diosdado, 586
Latvia Macapagal-Arroyo, Gloria, 586–587
historical and geographical background, MacArthur, Douglas, 586
191–192 Madagascar, 448–460
Kurzeme, 198 ethnic and religious diversity, 450–451
Latgale, 198 everyday dress, 459
people and dress, 196–199, 197 geographic and environmental background,
Selija, 199 449–450
Vidzeme, 199 historical background, 448–449
Zemgale, 197–198 materials and techniques, 455–459
leather, 374, 521, 617 men’s and women’s dress, 451–455
Lebanon, 426–439 special-occasion dress, 459
dress in, 429–430 Ma’din, 362
geography, 429 Magallanes, Fernando de, 131
historical background, 426–429 Magellan, Ferdinand, 585
men’s dress, 438, 438–439 Magsaysay, Ramon, 586
women’s dress, 437–438 Magyaros dress movement, 310
lederhosen, 706–707 maja, 686, 687
legwear makeup
See also socks and stockings See also body paint
Bulgaria, 108 ancient Egypt, 186
Finland, 218 India, 324
Switzerland, 706–707 Mauritania, 475
léine, 262–263 South Africa, 676
Lesser Antilles, 121–122, 128–129 malafas, 473–475, 474
Libya, 440–447 Malaysia, 461–470
geography, 442 children’s dress, 464
historical background, 440–442 component parts of dress, 468–469
Islam in, 440–442 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 469–470
men’s dress, 442–444, 443 ethnic and religious diversity, 462–463
Tubu/Teda, 446 everyday dress, 468
women’s dress, 444–446, 445 geography and climate, 462
linen, 196–197, 375, 521 historical background, 461–462
806 | Index
Malaysia (continued) Mongolia, 488–498

history of dress in, 463–466 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 496–498
jewelry, body paint, and body modifications, ethnic and religious diversity, 490–491
469 everyday dress, 495–496
materials and techniques, 466–468 geographic and environmental background, 490
special-occasion dress, 468 historical background, 488–489
mantillas, 683, 683–684 history of dress in, 491–494
Māori, 527, 529–533, 532, 533–534, 670 materials and techniques, 494–495
Mao Zedong, 140 special-occasion dress, 495–496
Mapuche, 135–136 Montrose jacket, 262
Marcos, Ferdinand, 586 moral values, xii
marriage dowry, 175–176, 419–420, 734 Morocco, 472, 499–509
Marsh Arabs, 362 Andalusian dress, 501–502
Martín, José de, 131 Awlad Hassan, 506–509
masks, 286, 296–297, 722 Berbers, 503–505
masquerades, 155–156 geographical background, 500–501
matadors, 685–686 historical and geographical background,
material culture, ix 499–500
Mauritania, 471–477 people and dress, 501–509
historical and geographical background, Salé men, 502–503
471–473 Morris dancing, 257, 258
national dress, 473–476 mourning dress
Mayas, 71, 74, 76–77, 78, 479 Australia, aboriginal, 49–50
Mazoji Lietuva, 201–202 Australia, settlers, 55
Melanesia, 666, 669–670 Denmark, 182
melaya liff, 189 mouth coverings, Armenia, 38–40
melting-pot populations, x Mughal Dynasty, 315, 316–317
merengue, 297–298 mukanda, 679–680
Mexico, 478–487 mulberry silk, 457
colonialism in, 481–483 museums, 773–776
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 483–487 Muslims
historical and geographical background, Arabian Peninsula, 62–70
478–479 Ethiopia, 206
history of dress in, 479–483 sumptuary laws, 31
materials and techniques, 481 Mussolini, Benito, 373, 441
special-occasion dress, 485–486 mu’u mu’u, 744
Micronesia, 663–664, 667, 669–670
military dress, 305, 307 Nagaland tribes, 326–335
Minoan costume, 160–162 adornment, 328–330
Miskitos, 75, 78 customs and beliefs, 327
mittens, 119, 192, 197, 494 historical background, 326–327
moccasins, 119, 515–516, 517 textiles, 330–334
modesty garment, 188, 365, 444, 502, 507 today, 334
mohair, 728 Namibia, 672, 673, 674, 678–679
mola textiles, 154–155, 155 nasij, 492, 495
Mongol Empire, 492–493 national costumes, xii
Index | 807
Native North American dress, 510–518 historical and geographical background, 536
body modifications, 517–518 people and dress, 538
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 518 Nigeria, 545–556
history of dress, 513 ethnic and religious diversity, 547–549
materials and techniques, 511–513 everyday dress, 555–556
men’s and women’s dress, 513–517 geographic and environmental background,
special-occasion dress, 517 546
Nauru, 663 historical background, 545–546
neck cloths, 755 history of dress in, 549–553
needlework, 89, 309, 704 materials and techniques, 553–555
Nefertiti, 186 special-occasion dress, 555–556
Netherlands, 519–526 niqab, 67
children’s dress, 523 Northern Ireland, 252
component parts of dress, 525 Norway, 557–566
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 525–526 component parts of dress, 563–564
ethnic and religious diversity, 520 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 564–565
geographic and environmental background, ethnic and religious diversity, 558–559
519–520 everyday dress, 562–563
historical background, 519 geographic and environmental background,
history of dress in, 520–521 558
jewelry, 525 historical background, 557–558
materials and techniques, 521 history of dress in, 559–562
men’s dress, 523, 523–525 jewelry, 564
women’s dress, 521–523, 522 materials and techniques, 562
New Caledonia, 663, 666 special-occasion dress, 562–563
New England, 752–757 Numidia, 19
accessories, 755–756 Nuristani dress, 4
children’s dress, 755
historical background, 752 obi, 391–392
materials and techniques, 753 occupational clothing, in England, 255–257
men’s and women’s dress, 753–755 O’Higgins, Bernardo, 131
people and dress, 752–753 Oman, 764–771
New South Wales, 55 children’s dress, 770–771
New Zealand, 527–535 historical and geographical background,
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 533–534 764–765
geographic and environmental background, men’s dress, 768–770
528 women’s dress, 765–766
historical background, 527–528 oni, 551
jewelry, body paint, and body modifications, opera, Tibetan, 722–724
533 Ottoman Empire, 12, 30, 63, 81, 101, 102, 162–
Māori dress, 530–533, 532 163, 272–273, 441, 574, 729, 735–737
materials and techniques, 528–530 Ottoman Turks, 20
Ngo Ding Diem, 759
Nicaragua, 71–73, 78–80 Pakistan, 567–573
Niger, 536–541 historical and geographical background,
component parts of dress, 538–541 567–568
808 | Index
Pakistan (continued) geographic and environmental background,

people and dress, 568–572 595–596
regional styles, 572–573 Highland dress, 599–600
shalwar kameez and kurta, 568–572 historical background, 594–595
Palace Guards, 257–259 men’s dress, 596–597
Palestine region, 574–584 people and dress, 596, 596–600
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 584 women’s dress, 597, 597–598
historical and geographical background, politics, of dress and identity, xi
574–575 pollera, 156–158, 157
men’s dress, 582 Polynesia, 664, 667, 669–670
women’s dress, 575–582 See also South Pacific Islands
Panama, 150–159 Portugal, 602–611
dress in, 154–158 in Angola, 674
historical and geographical background, colonization of Brazil by, 93–94
150–152 geographic and environmental background,
Pannonian dress, 652 603–604
parka, 119–120 historical background, 602–603
Pashtun dress, 1, 4–5 in Malaysia, 461
Patola fabric, 319 people and dress, 604–611
Paya, 75–76 “Priest King”, 316, 316
Pearlies, 259, 259–260 Primorska (Mediterranean) dress, 651
peasant dress. See folk dress “Prince Charlie” jacket, 261–262
Pech, 75–76 Puerto Rico, 121–122, 124–126, 125
peplos, 270 Puritans, 752–757
Persian Gulf. See Arabian Peninsula
Peter IV (czar), 101 al-Qaddafi, Mu‘ammar, 441
pha khao ma, 714 Qashqa‘i dress, 352–353, 353
phasin, 711–712, 712, 714–715 Qatar, 62–70
Philippines, 585–593 quadrille dress, 126–127
component parts of dress, 592 Quezon, Manuel, 586, 588
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 592 quinceañera, 485
ethnic and religious diversity, 587–588
everyday dress, 591–592 raddia, 455–456
geographic and environmental background, raffia, 554
587 Ramos, Fidel V., 586
historical background, 585–587 Rastafarian movement, 127
history of dress in, 588–591 rebozos, 482, 482
jewelry, body paint, and body modifications, reeds (sedges), 456
592 regalia, 247
materials and techniques, 591 Renaissance, 223–224, 372–373, 441
special-occasion dress, 591–592 resist dyeing, 144, 388
Phillip, Arthur, 53 ritualistic adornment, Ethiopia, 207–208
Pinochet Ugarte, Augusto, 132 Romania, 612–620
Pizarro, Francisco, 131 children’s dress, 616
Poland, 594–601 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 618
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 600–601 ethnic and religious diversity, 613
Index | 809
everyday dress, 617 Sandinistas, 80

geographic and environmental background, sans culottes, 224, 224
613 sarafan, 626–627, 628
historical background, 612 sarape, 482
history of dress in, 613–616 Sardinia, 383–384
jewelry, 617–618 sari, 314–315, 315
materials and techniques, 616–617 saris, 319
men’s dress, 614–615 sarong, 337–338
modern dress, 618–619 satin stitch, 36
special-occasion dress, 617 Saudi Arabia, 62–70
women’s dress, 615–616 saya, 106
Romans, 12, 19, 162, 271 scarification, 209, 247, 403, 680
Russia, 621–632 Scotland, 252, 253, 260–263
footwear, 631 Scottish dancing, 262
headwear, 629–630 Second Balkan War, 102
historical and geographical background, 621 Selija, 199
history of dress in, 622 Serbia, 82, 102
jewelry, 631 Setu, 191–192, 194
men’s dress, 631 Shahsavan dress, 353–354
outerwear, 631 shalwar kameez, 568–572, 569
regional dress, 623–630 shambar, 361
Russian Federation Republics, 633–639 shamma, 205–206
Caucasus region, 635–637 shandura, 506–507
historical and geographical background, shatwah, 578–579
633–634 shawls, 330–332, 572, 579–580
Karelia, 637 shells, 49
Siberia, 637–638 shibori dyeing, 388
Volga region, 634 Shi‘ite face veils, 348
Rwanda, 640–648 shoes. See footwear
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 645 Siberia, 637–638
ethnic and religious diversity, 642 Sicily, 383–384
everyday and special-occasion dress, silham, 503–504
643–644 silk, 35, 243, 318, 339, 457, 492, 553–554, 714,
geographic and environmental background, 733
641–642 Silk Road, 1, 374–375, 636
historical background, 640 silk weaving, 224–225
jewelry and adornment, 645 Skåne, 696–697
materials and techniques, 645 skin mosaic, 285–286
slavery
saffron dye, 265 Brazil, 96–97
Salé men, 502–503 Ghana, 237
Salonica, 272–273 Mauritania, 471–472
Salvado, Rosendo, 56 Slovenia, 649–655
Sami, 214, 216, 217, 559, 560 Alpine dress, 650–651
Samoa, 667 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 654–655
San (Bushmen), 673–674 headwear, 652–653
810 | Index
Slovenia (continued) contemporary use of ethnic dress, 670

historical and geographical background, 649 ethnic and religious diversity, 664–665
jewelry, 653–654 everyday and special-occasion dress, 668–669
Pannonian dress, 652 geographic and environmental backgroun, 664
people and dress, 650–654 historical background, 663–664
Primorska (Mediterranean) dress, 651 history of dress in, 665–667
smocking, 255–256 jewelry, body paint, and body modifications,
socks and stockings 669–670
Armenia, 41 materials and techniques, 668
Bulgaria, 108 Soviet Union, 30, 489, 493–494
Finland, 218 Spain, 499–500, 682–689
Germany, 233, 236 bullfighting, 685–686
Greece, 278 children’s dress, 688
Netherlands, 522 colonization of Cuba by, 122
Switzerland, 706–707 flamenco, 684
Södermanland, 697 Hispanic West, 746–751
Solomon Islands, 663 historical and geographical background,
Somalia, 656–662 682–683
bridal dress, 662 maja, 686, 687
children’s dress, 660, 661 men’s dress, 688
elder dress, 662 modern dress, 688
historical and geographical background, people and dress, 683–684
656–657 rule of Philippines by, 585–586
materials and techniques, 657–658 Spanish conquest
men’s dress, 658–659, 660–661 of Central America, 71–72
modern dress, 660–661 of Hispaniola, 294–295
people and dress, 658–662 of Mexico, 481–483
religious dress, 662 spinning, 481, 553
special-occasion dress, 662 spun bark cloth, 456
women’s dress, 659, 659–660, 661 srtanots, 39
soukman, 105 stockings. See socks and stockings
South Africa, 672–677 Sucre, José de, 131
southern Africa, 672–681 suea phra ratchathan, 713
Angola, 679–680 sumptuary laws, 31, 32, 135, 151, 273, 295, 385,
Botswana, 677–678 386, 388, 409, 411, 480–481, 691, 738
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 680–681 Sunni face veils, 348–349
ethnic and religious diversity, 674–675 Suvalkija, 201
geographic and environmental background, Sweden, 690–699
672–673 children’s dress, 694
historical background, 672 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 698
history of dress in, 675 Dalarna, 694–696
Namibia, 678–679 ethnic and religious diversity, 691
people and dress, 673–674 everyday and special-occasion dress, 693–694
South Africa, 675–677 geographic and environmental background,
South Pacific Islands, 663–671 690
component parts of dress, 669 Hälsingland, 698
Index | 811
historical background, 690 Guatemalan, 290

history of dress in, 691–692 Hungary, 309
materials and techniques, 693 India, 318–319
men’s dress, 693 Indonesia, 338–342
Skåne, 696–697 Irish, 266
Södermanland, 697 Italy, 374–375
women’s dress, 693–694 Japan, 388–390
Switzerland, 700–707 Madagascar, 451–459
children’s dress, 707 Malaysia, 466–468
color and embroidery, 705–706 Mexico, 480–481
geographical background, 701–702 mola, 154–155
historical background, 700–701 Morocco, 506–507
materials and techniques, 704 Nagaland tribes, 330–334
men’s dress, 706, 706–707 Native American, 512
people and dress, 702–704 New England, 753
women’s dress, 704–706 Niger, 538–539
Syria, 426–439 Nigeria, 549–550, 552, 554–555
dress in, 429–437 Norway, 562
geography, 429 Philippines, 591
historical background, 426–429 Somalia, 657–658
men’s dress, 435, 435–437 Switzerland, 704
women’s dress, 430–435 Thailand, 711, 714–715
Turkey, 733–734
Tahiti, 667 Thai Chakkri, 712–713
tail dresses, 514 Thailand, 708–716
Tajik dress, 6–7, 7 component parts of dress, 714–715
tallit, 369 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 715
tantur, 437–438 ethnic and religious diversity, 711
tartan plaids, 260–261 everyday and special-occasion dress, 714
Tatars, 634 geographic and environmental background,
tattoos 710–711
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 90 historical background, 708–710
Ethiopia, 209 history of dress in, 711–713
Greenland, 286–287 jewelry, body paint, and body modifications,
India, 324 715
Malaysia, 469 materials and techniques, 714
Nagaland tribes, 330 Thessaloniki, 272–273
Native Americans, 517–518 thob, 64, 65
South Pacific Islands, 670 Tibet, 717–725
terno, 590, 590–591, 592 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 724
textiles geographic and environmental background,
Albanian, 13–14 718
Bolivia, 138 historical background, 717
Croatia, 169–170 materials and techniques, 720–721
Ethiopia, 207 people and dress, 718–720
Ghana, 240–241, 244–245, 248 special-occasion dress, 721–722
812 | Index
Tibetan opera (Ache Lhamo), 722–724 Urartu kingdom, 32–33

tie-dye, 319, 433, 507 Uzbek dress, 8–9
tirqi, 14–15
Tito, Josip Broz, 81 Vanuatu, 663
tovaglia, 379 veils
trade, xii See also face coverings
treadle loom, 554–555 Armenia, 38–40
Trews, 261 Egypt, 189
trousers, 272, 282–283, 378, 491, 599–600, Greece, 271
608, 614 Iran, 348–349
T-shirts, xii Palestine region, 579–580, 581
Tuareg region, dress in, 540 vertical loom, 553, 720
Tubu/Teda, 446 Victoria (queen), 55, 261
tudung, 468–469, 469 Vidzeme, 199
tuque, 118 Vietnam, 758–763
turbans, 2, 321, 504, 506, 555, 659 component parts of dress, 762
Turkey, 726–739 contemporary use of ethnic dress, 762–763
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 737–738 ethnic and religious diversity, 760
geographic and environmental background, everyday and special-occasion dress, 761
728 geographic and environmental background,
historical background, 726–727 759
history of dress in, 730–732 historical background, 758–759
materials and techniques, 733–734 history of dress in, 760–761
Ottoman court dress, 735–737 jewelry, 762
people and dress, 728–730 materials and techniques, 761
wedding attire, 734–735 Vikings, 557, 559
Turkmen dress, 7–8, 354–355, 363–364 Village of Parchanj (Dzeron), 34
Volendam costiume, 521–525
Uganda, 640–648 Volga region, 634
contemporary use of ethnic dress, 647 Voodooism, 300
ethnic and religious diversity, 642–643
everyday and special-occasion dress, 645–647 Wales, 252, 263–264
geographic and environmental background, warp-ikat, 467
642 wealth, xii
historical background, 640–641 wearing blankets, 513–514
jewelry and adornment, 647 weaving, 244–245, 333–334, 410, 451–455,
materials and techniques, 647 550, 553, 580, 658, 668
umbrellas, 207–208 wedding attire
United Arab Emirates, 62–70 Armenia, 37–38, 38, 42
United Kingdom. See Great Britain Bosnia and Herzegovina, 89
United States, x, 472 Croatia, 175–176
Hawaii, 740–745 Estonia, 193–194
Hispanic West, 746–751 Malaysia, 468
Native Americans, 510–518 Netherlands, 522–523
New England, 752–757 Norway, 563
and the Philippines, 586 Pakistan, 572
Index | 813
Philippines, 591–592 xhubletë, 15–17, 16

Portugal, 606 xhybe, 17
Scotland, 261–262
Somalia, 662 Yanomami, 95
South Africa, 676–677 Yemen, 764–771, 768–770
Tibet, 721 children’s dress, 770–771
Turkey, 734–735 historical and geographical background,
weft-ikat, 467 764–765
Western dress women’s dress, 766–768
adoption of, xii Yoruba kingdoms, 550, 552
in Arab world, 68 Yugoslavia, 81
white dress, 106
wigs, 186 Zambia, 673
Wodaabes, 540–541, 541 Žemaitija, 201
wool, 264, 271, 318, 375, 494, 521, 562, Zemgale, 197–198
616–617, 704, 721, 733 Zene za Zene, 91
wool felt, 233, 494 Zimbabwe, 673
wool frieze, 181 Zoroastrian dress, 355–356
work clothes, 756 zubin, 41
World War I, 81 Zulu, 675–677

Encyclopedia of National Dress - Traditional Clothing Around The World (PDFDrive)

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Encyclopedia of

Jill Condra, Editor

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN: 978-0-313-37636-8 (set)

This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook.

This book is printed on acid-free paper

Entry Guide vii

Museums with National Dress and Textile Collections 773

Afghanistan, 1 Croatia, 167

Iraq, 357 Poland, 594

General Scope and Purpose

Identity and Dress

The Study of National Dress, Ethnic Dress, Folk Costume

About the Book

Our Raison d’Etre

Historical and Geographical Background

Although many Afghans, especially in the country’s capital, Kabul, tend to

it. The outfit is completed with a large,

Further Reading and Resources

Historical and Geographical Background

People and Dress

Ethnic and Religious Diversity

cummerbund and a tight, short waist-

Materials and Techniques

northeastern Albania before spreading

horizontal stripes. This skirt only sur-

the hand-knitted socks or çorapat used to signify distinctiveness between villages.

Contemporary Use of Ethnic Dress

Further Reading and Resources

People and Dress

Andalusian influence, such as in the

Dress in the Kabyli Region

Dress in the Tuareg Region

Further Reading and Resources

Geographic and Environmental Background

People and Dress

Ethnic and Religious Diversity

Ancient Period: Urartu Kingdom, 900–600 BCE

Classical Period, 600 BCE to 600 CE

Medieval Period, 600 CE to 1600 CE

Modern Period, 1600 CE to 20th Century

Materials and Techniques

Dress of the East and West

Everyday and Special-Occasion Dress

and the center front might also be

Costumes for a bride and groom from

Hats,Veils, and Mouth Coverings

A base component, which was similar in shape to a Jewish yarmulke (skullcap)

Belts and Sashes

Men’s and Boys’ Zubun (Robe)

Shoes and Stockings

Jewelry, Body Paint, and Body Modifications

Contemporary Use of Ethnic Dress

reproduction of a costume from historic Armenia is similar to a karate uniform.

Further Reading and Resources

Louise Hamby and Lindy Allen

Geographic and Environmental Background

People and Dress

Materials and Techniques

painted with ochred designs. Other stringybark constructions emerge in relation to

Component Parts of Dress

Apron made of emu feathers (front). (Museum Victoria/Photographer Rodney Start)

Contemporary Use of Ethnic Dress

Customers select fabrics at a textile store in Australia, c. 1900. (Cannon Collection/