Egyptian cultural dress
Ancient Egyptian dress can broadly be divided into types of tunics, robes, skirts, and shawls, typically made of linen.
This dress varied in design from a tube of fabric that ended before the bust and was held up by straps, to a more modest T shaped tunic style.
[1] Materials for jewelry included gold, silver, turquoise, jasper, garnet, amazonite, agate, amethyst, feldspar, carnelian, obsidian, lapis, and faience.
[13] Women wore, in addition to these basic items, mantles, face veils, and scarves over their hair which were kept in place with fillets called 'isaba.
[14] Evidence from the Cairo Geniza indicates Jewish and Muslim women dressed similarly, and that ghiyar wasn't particularly enforced, with the exception of al-Hakim and restrictions on color that later became the norm under the Mamluks.
[13] Ghiyar was a set of sumptuary laws meant to distinguish dhimmis from Muslims, which had slightly different statutes depending on time, and varied in how strictly it was enforced.
[13] Robes of honor (khila') and garments with tiraz bands were given as signs of royal favor, but common people such as merchants would give these out as well to friends and to their betrotheds.
[23] The wealthy and middle-class men's shift of the time was white, had full sleeves, and made of linen, cotton, muslin, silk, or silk-cotton stripe.
[23] The tarboosh was implemented in Egypt by Mahmud Khan II's promotion of it in the Ottoman Empire as modern dress, and by Mohammed Ali, who initially mandated its use in military uniforms.
[29] The common clothing for 19th century Egyptian women included a yelek or entari (anteri), a close fitting caftan derived from Turkish dress of either floor, hip, or waist length, vests, a shift, a sash, baggy pants (shintiyan), and outer garments for going out in public.
[26] Shintiyan were worn over underpants and made roughly one and a half times the length of the wearer's leg, then folded under and tied at the knee to give a poofed out look.
The tarha was of embroidered white muslin, colored crepe with gold embroidery and spangles, or dark blue cotton or linen for poor women.
The face veil was black or deep blue, and sometimes decorated with gold or silver pieces, false pearls, coral, and chain tassels.
The many layers provide modesty, material that can be picked up and folded to carry things in, and protection for dirt, lice, and scratches from plants.
Most of Egypt at one time in the previous two centuries has or had a traditional nose piercing, regardless of region or ethnicity, with the exception of Siwi Amazigh women.
[11] Amulets in Egypt often take the form of shoes, scorpions, and fish, as well as eyes, turtles, hands,[42] teeth, breasts (in Nubian jewelry), and celestial symbols.
Over time, new dyes were formulated, allowing black fabric to be made cheaply, and women wanting to emulate the upper class fashions were increasingly able to do so.
[29] Much like how most galabiya bi sufra were patterned after western fashion, a few surviving Delta telli dresses were modified from their T shape and made to have an emulation of mutton sleeves, tight chests, and flared hems.
This style of dress is recorded as early as the Description de l’Égypte from the very beginning of the 19th century, and it is the family to which the tob sebleh belongs.
The neck opening and seams are embroidered with red cotton or acrylic thread, and additional lines of embroidery decorate the sleeves and sides.
[50] An interesting oddity is a dress of this predecessor type, but with telli embroidery added around the neckline and a lozenge at the bottom of the slit, and pyramids with descending sprays on the upper arm.
A photo of a galabiya bi sufra worn by a Black woman with Nubian jewelry and buttons sewn on in a similar pattern to the Fafara dress potentially supports this.
[31] The square necked tunics are decorated with ṭowq teltawayn, a black inset embroidered with green silk and accents of red, yellow, or orange.
Dresses of a very similar style with a maidens neckline also exist, as do even smaller tunics for little girls, with simpler embroidery or reused panels.
There are ḥātem motifs on the ankles, vertical lines of embroidery with crosses and suns on the sides of the legs, and elaborate tassels on the drawstring (called a dekket).
The fabric is dark blue or green with red, yellow, orange, or white stripes, and was made in Kirdasa, though it stopped being produced there by the end of the 20th century.
The fabric was also exported to Libya, and sometimes was embellished with telli motifs woven in, in a star pattern, combs, perpendicular stripes, or a passenger train.
Sometimes the side panels have an inset called letshinab nagel ilḥirīr, which is a red, black and white striped handwoven fabric from Kirdasa.
A similar tob of two tone blue stripes was also worn by urban Egyptian women in the mid 19th-century, though it was made of wool instead of cotton.
The train was created by the neck opening being set slightly pas the halfway point, making the back hem longer than the front when worn.
