Traditional Clothing

Traditional Arab dress is a practical response to climate that developed into one of the most recognisable visual identities in the world. Loose, layered and full-length, it shades the body, allows air to move and protects against sun, sand and cold nights.

The men's thobe or dishdasha varies by country in collar, cuff and cut — the Omani dishdasha with its tassel, the Emirati kandura with none, the Saudi thobe with a shirt collar. The headdress is equally regional: the red-checked shemagh, the white ghutra, the Omani embroidered kuma and massar, the Maghrebi fez and the Levantine keffiyeh, each held or wrapped in a way that marks its wearer's origin.

Women's dress carries the richest craft traditions. Palestinian thobes are embroidered in cross-stitch patterns specific to individual villages; Gulf garments use zari and talli metal-thread work; Moroccan kaftans combine Andalusian silk weaving with hand-stitched sfifa braid.

Much of it is still made rather than bought. Weavers, tailors, embroiderers and metal-thread workers continue to supply garments for weddings, Eid and national days across the region.