Haik (garment)

English anthropologist Thomas Athol Joyce describes women's attire of Algeria in his book, Women of all nations, a record of their characteristics, habits, manners, customs and influence (1915): The dress of Arab women usually consists of a white striped shawl, called a haik, made of coarse or fine stuff according to the social position and wealth of the wearer, which is thrown over the head, and completely veils the user from head to feet.

The costume of Berber women is simpler than that of the Arabs, and consists chiefly of a long tunic-like garment fastened with a girdle round the waist, and a coloured shawl or cloth worn over the shoulders.

Their ornaments consist chiefly of necklaces, bracelets, chains of gold or beads, ear-rings, and sometimes nose-rings.

The haik mrama appeared at the end of the nineteenth century and was worn by urban women of Algiers and its suburbs.

[10] A variation on the haik called the huik was worn from the 14th until the late 19th century in the Netherlands and Belgium, usually black and made of wool or silk.