The daily form has a minimum amount of embroidery, around the neck opening and in a similarly decorated panel down the back of the garment. The festive Zabid dress is in the more voluminous thob style with large sleeves. It is normally heavily embroidered using cotton and metal thread bands that are couched down onto the ground material of the dress (form of passementerie).
The Zabid festive dress is comparable in appearance to the festive dresses from the al-Hudaydah area. The Zabid garment, however, does not have the striped satin (atlas) edging on the sleeves or around the lower edge, and the ‘skirt’ section is longer than that from Al-Hudaydah.
Sources:
- MAURIÈRES, Arnaud, Philippe CHAMBON, and Éric OSSART (2003). Reines de Saba: Itinéraires Textiles au Yémen, Aix-en Provence: Édisud.
- RANSOM, Marjorie and Gillian VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD (2016). 'Embroidery from Yemen,' in: Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood (ed.), Encyclopedia of Embroidery from the Arab World, London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 520-559, esp. p. 550.
- STONE, Francine (1985). Studies on the Tihamah: The Report of the Tihamah Expedition 1982 and Related Papers, London: Longman.
TRC online catalogue (retrieved 17 April 2017).
GVE