Bedouin is a term that is commonly used in the Middle East to indicate people who live outside the urban centres and who mainly live a nomadic or semi-nomadic existence, or directly descend from these people. The term is derived from Arabic badiya, which refers to the desert and the term badu, which refers to a person living in the desert. The Bedouin refer to themselves as Arabs and more specifically identify themselves with a particular tribe, many of which originated from what is now Saudi Arabia.

Most of the Bedouin, also those who have adopted a settled life, retain much of their Bedouin culture, which includes traditional music, story telling and poetry, dances and their specific dress. These often show their tribal background. Bedouin can be found from Morocco in the extreme west (the Maghreb) of the Arab world, far to the east to the deserts of Syria, Iraq, and the Arabian Peninsula. Most Bedouin eke out a livelihood, or at least used to, by herding goats and dromedaries. These animals were used for their meat, milk and wool, while dromedaries were also used for transport.

Photograph of a group of Bedouin men from Kuwait, 1950's (TRC 2017.1683). Click the illustration for the TRC catalogue entry.Men’s dress

As a generalisation, many Bedouin men wear a basic outfit made up of trousers (shalwar, serwal), a long gown (thob, galabiya, dishdasha), a belt, a cloak (aba, bisht), a coat (furwah) or jacket in the colder weather, and a head covering of some kind, often made up of a large headcloth (ghutra, hatta, kufiya, shemagh) and a headrope (aqal). There are, of course, a number of different variations upon this theme. Many Bedouin men wear Western-style clothing, especially when visiting urban centres.

Bedouin woman's dress from the northern Sinai, Egypt (TRC 2013.0297). Click illustration for TRC catalogue entry.

Women’s dress

A much wider range of attire is worn by Bedouin women than men, and many items are related to specific tribes, or at least they were up to about fifty years ago, when transportation and communication services between various parts of the world started to facilitate long-distance contacts. Basically, women’s attire is based on a chemise (qamis, thob) of some form, a long dress (thob), a sash, coat or jacket (jubba) and a headdress of varying degrees of complexity. The latter is often made up of a cloth (shaal, usaba) and a headband (asba). Within some groups, married women wear a face covering of some kind. Sometimes trousers (libas, serwal, shalwar) are worn, but these were not widespread until comparatively recently.

Often the decoration (generally embroidered) on the main dress and the head covering indicates which tribe a woman belongs to and where she lives. The embroidery on the dress can also indicate whether it is worn by an unmarried girl, a married woman, a widow or, in some cases, a woman looking for a new husband.

Burqa style face veil from the southern Sinai, Egypt, l1970s (TRC 2015.0584). Click illustration for the TRC catalogue entry.

Face veils

There are various types of face veils associated with the Bedouin living in southern Palestine and the adjoining Sinai peninsula. These types are based on a 'classic' burqa type with a head band and a connected veil section. In the deserts close to Palestinian villages, the traditional veils are short and often decorated with two rows of tightly packed coints.

Bedouin versions from the northern Sinai have much longer veil sections, which are made from red or dark orange cloth. These veils are often covered with embroidery and have attached chains, pendants, beads, etc., down the long sides. The southern Sinai Bedouin face veils are usually yellow or light orange in colour and again have numerous attached chains, pendants and beads.

Each tribe in the Sinai used to have its own type of face veil, but over the years the distinction between one group and another has faded. In addition, more and more married women are wearing plain black veils that show the influence of their Saudi Arabian neighbours.

Thob ubb from Jordan, mid-20th century, 3 x 2.6 metres (TRC 2005.0248). Click illustration for TRC catalogue entry.Thob ubb

One of the most spectacular of the Bedouin dresses is the thob ubb, which was worn until quite recently in parts of Jordan, Palestine and southern Syria. The version from the Salt region of Jordan is about 3 by 3 metres in size and is worn with a huge pleat in the skirt section and with the sleeves acting as a head covering.

Group of Bedouin women just outside of Jericho. They are wearing the thob ubb, c. 1910. Library of Congress LC-DIG-matpc-01273.One story associated with the dress is that in the late nineteenth century the Ottoman tax collectors were increasing the amount that the Bedouin had to pay, so women hided small valuables in their garments because the (male) tax collectors would be reluctant to search them. Allegedly the dresses grew in size as the quantity of items carried by the women increased.

Followers of the British comedian Tommy Cooper, who died in 1984, will instantly recognise the bright red cap that became his trademark, but what exactly is he wearing? Is it a fez or a tarbush? Does it actually matter, especially as for many people the two words are synonymous?

There are subtle differences between the two forms and these can be seen as reflecting the massive social, cultural, economic and political changes that took place in the Middle East and the West in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is not simply something worn by a crazy comedian. It has a history. The origins of this bright red headgear, whether a fez or a tarbush, date back to the medieval period in the Levant, and possibly earlier.

It was always regarded as important for men to wear some form of headgear, especially when in public. One of the most widespread forms within the Islamic world was the turban (imama), which was regarded as one of the main symbols or badges of the wearer’s Islamic faith. The turban was wrapped around a cloth or a felt cap.

Early 20th century postcard showing a Turkish gentleman and his lady in a carriage, both of whom are wearing Western style clothing. The man is also wearing a fez. TRC 2015.0432Fez

In the early nineteenth century the Ottoman sultan, Mahmud II (1785-1839), decided that the wearing of traditional style clothing was to be generally banned, including the turban, but the head should be covered. This decision created the problem of what to wear on the head, especially during prayers, when the forehead should touch the ground. Following various discussions a red, felted cap with no brim and worn without a turban was adopted in 1826 and this became known as the fez. In 1827 a further detail was added, namely the silk tassel,

The new headwear was made out of a base (made from basketry or card). This was covered with a knitted tube (this was often made in Hungary and what would later become Czechoslovakia) and shrunk to the required size and shape and felted to create a smooth, flat surface. An official decree in 1827 ordered the addition of a silk tassel, which was seen as symbolically representing the hair by which a devout Muslim would be raised to Paradise by Allah. It was worn to the right, left or back, but never to the front as associated with Tommy Cooper.

Woman's fez from Egypt, late 20th century (TRC 1997.0258). Click the illustration for the TRC catalogue entry.

Some wealthy (Turkish) women were also wearing a fez, as for instance in Ottoman Egypt. Their headdress had a decorative metal disc (kurs) on the crown, and a multi-coloured tassel, to differentiate it from the male form.

Tarbush from Egypt, bought in 1997 (TRC 1997.0071). Click illustration for TRC catalogue entry.

Tarbush

The idea of wearing the Ottoman fez (without turban) was regarded with distaste by many Arabs in the Ottoman Empire, and many men chose to ignore this regulation and continued to wear a cap and turban combination. In due course, and influenced by the ‘official’ fez, this cap developed into the tarbush. Because tarbushes were worn with a turban they are normally taller and with straighter sides in comparison to the Ottoman fez. The official tassel was black, but religious leaders could wear a blue tassel.

Modern fezz and tarbush

The wearing of the fez (by men) was banned in Turkey in 1925 as part of the so-called ‘Hat Law’ and its use died out among many groups. The wearing of tarbushes in Egypt was officially discontinued in 1956, when Nasser assumed power in Egypt.

Nevertheless, the use of blue tasselled tarbushes by Egyptian religious leaders (sheiks) has continued to the present day, and various groups outside of Egypt still wear fezzes and tarbushes as part of their ‘traditional’ dress, notably the Druze and the Samaritans. Fezzes can also be found among various Kurdish groups in Turkey, for example in Adiyaman, where the women’s headgear is based upon a red fez, which is covered with coins and several scarves.

The modern fez, as worn for instance by waiters in tourist restaurants in Turkey, is relatively short, with slightly sloping sides, with a black tassel. Reports have surfaced recently that with the revival of Ottoman culture and history some men in Turkey are starting to wear a fez again.

From the 1970s onward Western-style clothing has become more widely available to all layers of Middle Eastern society. T-shirts and jeans, suits and sweaters are worn next to local-style garments and adapted to fit local tastes. These Western-style garments are produced locally or in the Far East and are part of a global phenomenon. In addition, since the 1980s an international Islamic-style fashion has developed, that combines modesty with modern stylishness.

An Egyptian lady wearing Western style clothing and a transparent face veil locally known by the Turkish word yashmak. Early 20th century (TRC 2017.1841). Click illustration for TRC catalogue entry.There are many local versions that betray the wearer’s nationality, but also styles that cross borders, such as ‘Islamic chic’. The TRC houses a group of garments created by the Lebanese fashion designer, Elissar W. Hikal. She uses men's kufiyah's, the traditional local headcloth for men, to make women's garments and textile jewellery.

In addition to global fashions, local dress traditions still play an important role, whether worn on a day-to-day basis or as part of folklore. This exhibition shows just a snippet of the great diversity of religious and ethnic groups in the Middle East, and the ways in which they display their identity.

The Middle East is known to many as the ‘Cradle of Civilizations’, and indeed, agriculture and settled life quickly developed in this part of the world from ca. 9,000 BC onward. The region saw the subsequent rise of towns and cities and the first attestations of the use of a script and written language, sometime in the third millennium BC.

Great civilizations, such as those of the Babylonians, Hittites, Assyrians and, in neighbouring Egypt, that of the Pharaohs developed here, but the region was also coveted by outsiders and at successive times occupied by Greeks, Romans and Turks, and more recently the British and French. Moreover, it functioned as a gateway between East and West, with goods such as silks and precious dyestuffs travelling through its ports and towns.

The history of dress in the Middle East is defined by its cultural, ethnic and religious diversity, and by the outside influences that came with foreign occupiers and international trade. After the Arabs conquered a large part of the region in the seventh century, a Middle Eastern dress tradition developed out of an amalgam of local and external styles. Important new elements that subsequently became popular include the turban and tailored garments.

Photograph of a street in Port Said, Egypt, late 19th century, showing people wih Arab, Turkish and Western styles of dress. TRC 2017.2287.The rise in power, some thousand years ago, of the Central Asian Turks under the Seljuqs, the Mamluks and finally the Ottomans, who dominated the lands from the early sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries, caused another important shift in dress traditions. Dress was increasingly institutionalized and various garments and outfits were restricted to certain groups. Ottoman Turkish modes of dress included layered shirts and coats, worn open or closed with a row of ties or buttons, as well as wide sleeves and various types of head coverings. Aspects of Ottoman costume, such as the kaftan and the yelek coat, can still be spotted in local dress to the present day.

In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, European fashion, in their turn, had a significant impact on what was worn by the Middle Eastern elite. Upper-class women travelled to Paris for the latest fashions, and photographs from the period show men wearing three-piece suits and women in Victorian gowns. Often these were combined with local elements, such as the fez for men and veil for women.

After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, the Middle East came under the control of the French and the British and the influence of European dress forms became more pronounced. Moreover, several independent governments, such as those of Turkey, Egypt and Iran, stimulated and even imposed Western-style (but locally made) garments for government employees, as part of an effort to modernize the newly fledged nations.