Ethiopian Costumes

Ethiopian costume
Ethiopian costumes
Overview
Estifanos M.
Bahir Dar University
Ethiopian፡ costume
Ethiopian costumes
• Highland costume
• Lowland costume
@estifanostes Myestifanos@gmail.com
Introduction
Briefly, in dress as in political, cultural, and religious traditions, the

Ethiopians follow a heritage that is vital, colorful, and unique.
The centers of arts and crafts developed in widely separated areas-

Gonder, Ankober, Adwa, and Jimma. The fine cloth produced at Harar
and at Gonder has long been renowned, the coarse cotton fabric for
which Adwa was noted was “unrivalled” in any other part of the country.
Today Ethiopian spinners and weavers practice their ancient occupation in

much the same manner as their forebears.
Highland costume
• Northern highland costume ( tigrai)

• Central highland costume
• Eastern highland costume
• Western highland costume
Highland costume
Highland costume
In all regions of Ethiopia, dress styles have evolved and changed over time
due to shifting economic conditions, access to new materials, and outside
demands.
The basic outfits of the highland Ethiopian is the shamma, a length of
cotton that doubles as a body and head covering and is often worn in
addition to modern dresses.
Highland dress has historically consisted of white or off-white hand-spun
cloth made from long handwoven strips sewn together. This dress,
familiar to all highland women and to many outside Ethiopia as the
official country dress.
Highland costume Highland costume
In central and northern Ethiopia the Amhara and Tigrean

women's are usually seen wearing a long gown of soft cotton
called a kemis, a long full sleeved that is often embroidered at
the neck ,cuffs and hem.
Some kemis styles are very simple, with a fitted bodice and full
skirt; others are more elaborated, with overall pleats and
gathering about the waist.
Highland costume
Colorful decoration
is reserved for the According to the area, the kemis may be adorned with cotton
hem, sleeve and thread embroidery in the cross symbol, or studded about the
neckline of the neck, and cuffs with small silver beads.
kemis.
Highland costume
Over the kemis goes a shemma, or light cotton length, usually

with a border that matches the trimming on the dress. The
shemma is draped over the head and shoulders in a graceful
fashion and sometimes held by the wearer over nose and
mouth.
The border of the shemma and kemis may be richly woven

with vivid silk or cotton threads to form a border called a
tibeb, which lends richness and dignity to the humblest
costume.
With her kemis and shemma the Amhara or Tigrean may wear
sandals, heelless slippers, or high-fashion shoes, though in the
countryside bare feet are usual.
Highland costume
Highland men wear a white, cotton tunic(shirt) with the full

shawl(called kuta ) and jodhpur style trousers.
In cold weather a heavier Shemma, or kutta, may be worn, or a
conical cape called a bernos.
Highland costume
Jewelry of silver and gold is widely worn by Amharas and

Tigreans. Heavy earring in pendant, loop, and button style are
popular.
Highland infant and toddler boys wear their heads shaved

with a tuft left in front. boys wear a wool blanket and warp a
sheepskin cape around their torso.
Perhaps because Amhara and Tigran influence was so widely

diffused the dress of the two nationalities has been accepted
in many areas.
Highland costume
In the cities a sweater or coat

may replace the traditional
kutta or Bernos.
Umbrellas used for protection from both sun and rain, are
seen everywhere among rich and poor.
Highland costume
Men of Debre Marqos/gojjam 1928

Highland women 1920
Highland costume
Ethiopian Jewish women in the beta Israel community also

wear the kemis but with the embroidery of the star of David.
Northern highland costume Ethiopian፡ costume
Tigrai
Highland costume
I . Old man from Tigrai with wife. He wears
5 the typical old style black woolen cloak. 2.
1 Woman from Tigrai with silver jewellery and
4
leather charms. Her dress is embroidered
with the cross motif typical of the Christian
highlands. 3. Digni- fied farmer priest from
7 the Semyen area. 4. Jodhpurs, introduced
by Menilik at the end of the nineteenth
3 century, worn under a hooded bernos
which protects the rifle. 5. Two young Tigrai
girls dance at a religious procession. Their
new dresses are of factory-made cloth, but
the hairstyle is traditional. Tattoo of the
cross of the forehead is quite usual.
2
6. Fantastic hairstyle reminiscent of ancient
Egypt.7. Enbroidered kemis and Shemma
6
with the coloured woven sash which is
typical of Tigrai.
Central highland costume Ethiopian፡ costume
Shoa, Gojjjam, gonder, wollo
Highland costume
6
4 7
1
1. The Amhara farmer winnows the grain with a
laida. 2. Amhara mother and baby. His head is
shaved except for the tuft on the top. 3. Musician
playing the embilta wears pure white netela over
jodhpurs and tunic. 4. Amhara women in black wool
cloak over a full length embroidered dress usually
worn in the evening. 5. Typical highland shepherd
3 boy - thick woven blanket plus sheepskin cape and a
woolen, woven cap with Gelada baboon hair tassel.
6. Umbrellas for rain or for shade are universally
carried. 7. Male festive garb: netela, tunic and
jodhpurs. 8. Gondare wearing the woven straw
topee, mounted on a white mule.
2 8
5
Eastern Highland costume
Highland costume
Women in the eastern highlands in and around the ancient

trade center of Harar live as traders, wood carriers,
shepherds, weavers, and agriculturalist.
Yet these same women, both young and old adorn

themselves with an elaborate array of body modifications and
supplements.
Harar served as the import/export locus for trade goods,

those who become had the most direct access to new kinds of
ornaments and textiles. This is clearly seen today in the
expensive imported silk dresses of the Harari women.
Beautiful Hahari women 1968 G.c
Highland costume
As it true with much of the imported materials in Harar, trade

records tell us that cloth was often named after the place
from which it originated ;
Bombay (geganafi) - women's embroidered trousers with

threads from India,
Amerikati - American sheeting,
kutch - cotton from western India,
Calicut or calico - patterned, plain woven cotton cloth from
calicut,
Gujarati cloth from Gujerat,
jiddawi - black cloth from jiddah
Highland costume
The Egyptian eleven year occupation had a profound effect on

the aesthetic expressions of the Oromo, Harari and Somali in
the eastern Hararghe.
Harari informants claim that the Egyptian soldiers were also

notorious for raping local women. As Harari tradition states
these violations caused women to begin wearing tight-fitting
pants during the Egyptian occupation that would make such
forceful assaults less easy to execute.
Vogue magazine 1968

Highland costume
Oromo informants claim that some women were

forced into slavery and prostitution during this eleven
years period. In order to make themselves less
attractive and less likely to become captives, oromo
women spoke of their great grandmothers disfiguring
their faces with deep scars and tattoos.
Among the somali, wearing repelling leather and

metal amulets to ward off the harmful intentions of
the intruders was on the increase among women and
girls.
All these body art practices are still carried out today.
Highland costume
A woman's dress is layered with messages that communicate

her social and biological position in society, impart
information about her political and spiritual beliefs, and
visually indicate her ethnic identity.
Harari women's dress a long cotton robe, indigo dyed, with

large inverted triangle of scarlet upon the chest and the
shoulder.
30 years later, the dress become as a long, low cut red tunic
of cotton, tied around the waist with sash. The edges of the
neck opening is embroidered with colorful decoration.
Highland costume
Harari women pass in knee length, pleated dresses of

sumptuous material gathered at mid torso that reveal finely
embroidered pants beneath.
The tight lower leggings that take several minutes to pull off
coupled with the plain or ugly upper cloth of the ge ganafi
was thought to have deterred soldiers who might lift the skirt
of a Harari girl.
Men of all cultures in Harar usually wear western-style pants

or Arabic wrappers with long-sleeved button shirts and are
virtually indistinguishable by dress.
Highland costume

Highland costume
Somali Oromo Harari

@estifanostes Myestifanos@gmail.com (1888-96)
Eastern highland costume Ethiopian፡ costume
Harari, Somali, Oromo, Argoba
Highland costume
1. Somali girls wear gay gauze veils. 2. Harari women

7 wear trousers, sometimes intricately embroidered,
4
1 3 under short dresses. 3. Oromo woman carries a basket
on her head. Other produce for the market is hidden
in the folds of her dress. 4. Group of Oromo women
with amber necklace is a particularly fine piece of
8
Harar jewellery. 6. The long graceful skirts of the
women of Harar are fashioned in many different ways.
9 7. Dress in silk is enormously wide and long. Worn
caught up at the waist, inside pockets in the
voluminous folds conceal smug- gled goods. 8.the
strength-giving leaf chewed by many Harari males is
6 traded by the. women. 9. Oromo girl from the
2
countryside near Harar wearing her silver finery to go
10 to market. 10 Old Argoba woman wearing an unusual
gold-trimmed fotta with a black shash
Western highland costume Ethiopian፡ costume
Kefa, Gurage oromo, Gibe
Highland costume
1. Gurage women wear heavy handwoven cotton

8 dresses and black head shash. Gurage land is
5
famous for its peppers which are trucked into the
3 capital city. 2. A farmer from Kefa has full
jodhpurs and a cummerbund. 3. Kefa girl wears
2 the shash in the fashion of the area. She carries a
8 6 wooden butter pot. 4. One of the many fantastic
hairstyles worn by the women of the Gibe - but
rarely seen today. 5. Wolayta in leopard skin
dances at a funeral.6. Dorze woman in two- piece
cotton robe, leather charm cases her only
1 jewellery apart from the small wooden haircomb.
7 7. Gurage children often wear flowers in
9 their hair. 8. Gurage man in typical heavy cotton
4 gabi. 9. Colobus monkey fur cape is worn on
festive occasions by men of the Dorze nationality.
Highland costume
Fantastic hairstyles worn by the women of the Gibe, jimma

Lowland :costume
In general, the peoples of areas far from large population centers wear
simple clothing ingeniously decorated. Near the Sudan Ethiopia frontier, the
Koma women wear bark aprons trimmed with ostrich egg shell discs, while
their chiefs may sport leopard skins slung about the shoulders, often over an
Arab shirt.
The Ingassana nationalities of southern Ethiopia go almost naked; the men
may wear a belt covered with small pieces of iron, and the women a small
apron of leather strips. The Suri chiefs wear colobus monkey fur hats; and
young men, though usually necked may deck themselves out in a white bark
belt leather strap ornamented with notches, and short skin garment.
Lowland costume
Lowland :costume
Clothing for both men and women is usually reserved to a waist wrap that
covers the public region.
The Nilotic groups who live along the Baro river in the Gambela region
decorate their skin with fine keloid scars and attention to the articulated
parts of the body with strands of beads.
Lowland costume
Southern cultivators
(Erbore, konos gamu gofa Sidama, Shoa, Gamo
Gofa-Gurage,, konso) Lowland :costume
3 8 1. Young girl's apron is made of leather and cowrie shells. 2. A
5 6 cloth of heavy handwoven cotton is worn by women of the
10 Erbore. 3. Konso women wear leather hats to the fields or to
1 fetch water to protect their heads from snakes. The skirt is
split goat Skin partially leather cloak. The fur is left on the
border but the main part is shaved and stained dark brown to
make the pattern. 4. Gamu Gofa woman in a long leather cloak.
The fur is left on the border but the main part is shaved and
9 rubbed with a stone until as soft and pliable as chamois, and is
decorated with small glass beads. 5. Gurage chief leads
ceremonial danc- ing wearing a grass cape over his everyday
clothes of tunic and jodhpurs. 6. Sidama woman with cowrie
shells on the ends of her hair has the brightly coloured trousers
and shirt of the region worn under a leather cape. 7. Sidama
2 man wears trousers of the same cut but tied and turned over
at the waist. 8. Two young Sidama girls in cotton dresses and
leather capes. 9. Gamo Gofa girl has a small leather cape
7 which is used to cover the breasts. Made of smooth and
11 softened skin it is worn with a leather apron and bead belt.10.
4 Shorts are often worn by the Sidama men. 11. Ceremonial
skirt from Gamu Gofa of leather and cowries with a few
coloured beads, and trimmed with half gourds.
Lowland :costume
SIDAMA
Southwest lowland (ilubabor)-
(Anuak, Nuer, Mejengir )
Lowland :costume
4
2
7 1. Anuak woman from Gambela carries a gourd vessel on her

head and a woven grass basket in her hands. 2. Anuak girl
1 6 superimposes on her unusual haircut, a headdress of beads
and Colobus monkey hair. 3. Children wear necklaces and
bracelets and leg decorations. Anklets have dum palm nuts. 4.
Man of the Nuer nationality decorates his upper arm and
forehead with deep scars. 5. Anuak woman with necklace of
3 giraffe tail, beads and leather charm cases, and huge ivory
bracelets. 6. Anuak dancer at Gambela wears imported cloth
9 skirt, traditional ivory bracelets and feather headdress. 7 Nuer
woman beautified with body scarification. Her apron is made
of bark fibre and decorated with beads': 8. Girl of the Majangir
with bead headband and earrings. The hair is dressed with
8 red clay to achieve the unusual texture. 9. Majangir girl with
adornments and anklets of beads and metal.
Southeastern pastoral Ethiopian፡ costume
kefa- (Boran, Geleb Surma)
Lowland :costume
2 7 1. Man of the Geleb people. The necklaces are made
4
from light-weight alu-minium beads. 2. Women of the
Surma nationality still wear lip plates and ear plugs of
10
1 wood or clay. 3. Boran cowherds, usually women, wear
simple leather or cotton clothes, and little jewellery. 4.
Bumi airl with elaborate bead and button decoration on
leather. 5. Young woman of Gidole in central Gamo Gofa;
6 8 the hair is tipped with bamboo or horn ornaments. 6.
Muslim sheik from Borena travels from place to place. He
holds wooden two-pronged sticks. 7. Leather skirted
Borena women. The decorative motifs are done with
oxblood. 8. Young girl of Surma, who may later wear the
lip plate, carries water in a gourd. 9. Girl from Borena
with elaborately plaited hair and dozens of metal
9 necklaces. 10. Hamer woman wears a headdress with a
metal plaque over the forehead and leather side flaps
5
plus feathers for added decoration. The edge of her
3 leather skirt is decorated with bent nails which make a
pleasant sound when she walks. Heavy metal bracelets
@estifanostes Myestifanos@gmail.com and anklets are always worn by women.
Southern pastoral - Ethiopian፡ costume
Sidamo, Arsi, Bale -(sidamo, Oromo, Guji)
Lowland :costume
4
1. A wife and husband in Sidamo make their way to
1 market. The umbrella is of woven enset leaves. 2. Arsi
girls wear leather cloaks decorated with beads. The
black and red striped shirts are locally produced. 3. Girl
3 from Bale, with typical black and white cotton
6
headdress wears leather cloak and imported fur-
trimmed boots. 4. Little girl from Sidamo in a dress of
the red and black cloth of the region. 5. Arsi girl with
bead-trimmed leather dress, bead and wire necklace,
8
holds a milk pot decorated with cowrie shells. 6. Bale
women ride or walk to market, straw hats over their
standard black cloth head coverings. 7. Young girl from
Bale wears a mass of jewellery of wire and beads,
9 5
leather and silver. 8. Water is carried either in large
earthenware pots or in leather water containers. The
bead design on the dress would probably use the cross
2 motif if she were a Christian, but the people of Arsi are
7 also Muslims or pagans. 9. Head decoration of silver
coins worn by a Bale girl.
Lowland :costume
Aris women costume

Eastern pastoral -
Kereyu, Somali, afar, Issa
Lowland :costume
3
7
1. Somalis normally wear colorful cotton cloth-calf

1 length wrap-around skirts and turbans against the
6 blazing sun. 2. A Young girl with nose ornament. 3.
Old Afar woman still covers her face. The heavy silver
bracelets are probably from Harar and are found
commonly on the coast. 4. Camel girl, with silver and
9 leather necklace cotton headcloth. 5. Afar man
5 carrying a staff and wearing his huge curved knife.
They frequently carry guns and Spears. 6. Camel girl
of the Issas wears imported colourful cloth skirt
instead of the usual leather. 7. Kereyu man with body
scarification. 8. A sheik wears an embroidered shirt
under his netela. 9. Afar girl with a finely, tanned
4
leather skirt.
8
2
“
Hamer women’S
Hamer women wear smooth and softened leather skirts

embroidered with cowry shells and seed beads. The bottom
edge of the skirt is sewn with metal ornaments like bent
nails that jingle at the knee with each step.
They use ocher to decorate their leather, their skin, and

their hair so that the entire body takes on the appearance of
a dark sienna shape from a distance.
The distinctive hairstyle of hamer women includes rows of

straight, plaited strands, cut short at the top of the head to
frame the forehead and the face.
BODY DECORATION
Lowland :costume
young men from the karo tribe

,Omo Ethiopia
In the Ethiopia southwest, near the

omo river in the great rift valley, live
several seminomadic cattle –herding
and seasonal farming societies where
men and women engage in a pastime
of body adorning.
Women and men in this region wear a
striking variety of beads.
BODY DECORATION Ethiopian፡ costume
• “Surma,Ethiopi
a. Barchini,
with his
surma and
chiseled
mursi ,omo
features and
valley dody
long elegant
decoraton
body, was one
of the
handsomest
and most
seductive men
we met in
Surmaland.”
Omo valley -Different tribes body painting and decoration

Head wear
The women of Amhara and Tigray wear dozens of plaits (sheruba),

tightly braided to the head and billowing out at the shoulders.
The women of Harar part their hair in the middle and make a
bun behind each ear.
Hamer, Geleb, Bume and Karo men form a ridge of plaited hair and clay
to hold their feathered headwear in place.
Arsi women have fringes and short, bobbed hair. Bale girls have the same,
but cover it with a black head cloth, while young children often have
their heads shaved.
Head wear
By; Estifanos M.
Myestifanos@gmail.com
Head wear
Head wear
By; Estifanos M.
Myestifanos@gmail.com
Head wear
The Geleb’s hairstyle Sidamo’s hairstyle

Arsi, wollo and Majangir girls hairstyles Ethiopian፡ costume
THANKS!

Ethiopian Costumes

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Ethiopian Costumes

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Ethiopian costume

Briefly, in dress as in political, cultural, and religious traditions, the

The centers of arts and crafts developed in widely separated areas-

Today Ethiopian spinners and weavers practice their ancient occupation in

• Northern highland costume ( tigrai)

In central and northern Ethiopia the Amhara and Tigrean

Over the kemis goes a shemma, or light cotton length, usually

The border of the shemma and kemis may be richly woven

Highland men wear a white, cotton tunic(shirt) with the full

Jewelry of silver and gold is widely worn by Amharas and

Highland infant and toddler boys wear their heads shaved

Perhaps because Amhara and Tigran influence was so widely

In the cities a sweater or coat

Men of Debre Marqos/gojjam 1928

Ethiopian Jewish women in the beta Israel community also

Women in the eastern highlands in and around the ancient

Yet these same women, both young and old adorn

Harar served as the import/export locus for trade goods,

As it true with much of the imported materials in Harar, trade

Bombay (geganafi) - women's embroidered trousers with

The Egyptian eleven year occupation had a profound effect on

Harari informants claim that the Egyptian soldiers were also

Vogue magazine 1968

Oromo informants claim that some women were

Among the somali, wearing repelling leather and

A woman's dress is layered with messages that communicate

Harari women's dress a long cotton robe, indigo dyed, with

Harari women pass in knee length, pleated dresses of

Men of all cultures in Harar usually wear western-style pants

Eastern Highland costume

Somali Oromo Harari

1. Somali girls wear gay gauze veils. 2. Harari women

1. Gurage women wear heavy handwoven cotton

Fantastic hairstyles worn by the women of the Gibe, jimma

7 1. Anuak woman from Gambela carries a gourd vessel on her

Aris women costume

1. Somalis normally wear colorful cotton cloth-calf

Hamer women wear smooth and softened leather skirts

They use ocher to decorate their leather, their skin, and

The distinctive hairstyle of hamer women includes rows of

young men from the karo tribe

In the Ethiopia southwest, near the

Omo valley -Different tribes body painting and decoration

The women of Amhara and Tigray wear dozens of plaits (sheruba),

The Geleb’s hairstyle Sidamo’s hairstyle

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