Middle Eastern & Near Eastern Clothing

An overview of the type of Middle and Near Eastern garb you see in the SCA tips on how to take some pieces from your own garb closet and make them more historical ly accurate. Includes suggestion s for constructi ng garments, including fitted coats.

Simple, classic clothing that is suitable for any time period in the Middle East.

Includes articles on Maghribi and Andalusi costume; Persian and Ottoman clothing patterns; Mamluk textile and costume items; some 9th-14th century Islamic textiles; and medieval Egyptian knitting.

An online exhibit of Arabic books and manuscripts.

A brief history of the Mamluks, with good photos of caps and fragments of embroidered textiles.

On almost any level, the attempt to codify period clothing from the regions best-known as the Middle East is a tough undertaking. There are a multitude of styles and clothing concepts, and if it is not as diverse as the range of European fashion in period, it is more than complex enough to defeat any simplistic analysis, to point to one clothing style and say it represents all Middle Eastern clothing in period. This document can only server as the most basic of overviews for this topic. Not only is the topic broad, but my knowledge is limited. However, so many people have the impression that there is such a thing as "Generic Middle Eastern garb," that I present this document to you as a short introduction to the topic, by way of two very basic frameworks, the Maghreb and Central Asian clothing styles.

Discusses some prevalent (and erroneous) beliefs about the clothing and cultures of the Near East.

I've heard people with Near Eastern personae in the SCA say that clothing that looks historically accurate is too difficult or too expensive to make, or that expecting people to make historically accurate Near Eastern clothing is elitist, and besides, historically accurate clothing is ugly.

I've heard people who want to enjoy the clothing, food, and music of the Near East but were uncomfortable portraying someone whose religion was different than their own.

I've heard people come up with really bizarre persona stories to explain why they are a pale-skinned and light haired Near Easterner.

Well, folks, it doesn't have to be that way ...

Guidance & advice for clothing; mostly line-drawing patterns for medieval garments, including shirts & tunics, a hood, hose, doublets, and a few Middle Eastern garments.

by Sergey A. Yatsenko, partial Abstract
"Two periods in the history of the Sogdian costume can be singled out: Heptalitian (5th -6th cc.) and Turcic (7th - the beg. of the 8th c.). Thrown-open clothes were worn more often than non-thrown-open ones. Grown-up men's kaftans usually had two lapels in Turcic manner, but youths sometimes had only one. Female long sleeved coats were worn thrown over shoulders. Dresses on shoulder straps and a wide collar used to be worn; female-dancers often wore short dresses accomplished with trousers. The upper part of the trouser-legs of both male and female trousers were of different color...."

A searchable catalog of surviving garments from Europe and the Mediterranean from the dawn of time up through approximately 1500.

Instructio ns with step-by-st ep photograph s.