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Traditional Arab dress

📖 In short

Traditional Arab dress is the clothing Arabs have inherited from their ancestors, a beautiful part of our heritage. Every Arab country has its own traditional clothes, suited to its climate and showing its people's taste and customs.

🤩 Did you know?

Long ago Arabs wore a long robe tied with a belt, with a cloak of wool or camel hair over it.
Traditional footwear includes sandals and soft leather boots called khuffs.
People often wear traditional dress at Eid and on national occasions.
Arab museums have sections displaying old traditional clothing.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 Men's dress in the Gulf

In the Gulf men wear the long white thobe, with a ghutra or red-checked shemagh on their head, held by a black igal. On special occasions they wear a gold-embroidered bisht over the thobe.

🔍 The djellaba and kaftan

In Morocco people wear the hooded djellaba and leather babouche slippers, and women wear colorful embroidered kaftans at weddings. In Egypt people wear the loose galabeya.

💡 The embroidered dress

In Palestine, Jordan and Syria women wear black or white dresses embroidered with colorful stitches, and every region has its own patterns. In Sudan women wear the colorful wrapped tobe.

🎯 Suited to the weather

Arab clothing suits the hot climate: it's loose to let air through, light-colored to reflect the sun, and the head covering protects from sun and dust.