The Druze are a monotheistic, Abrahamic religious group numbering around one million adherents. Most live in Syria and Lebanon, but smaller numbers reside in Israel, Jordan and outside of the Middle East.

The Druze religion developed out of Ismaili Islam in the eleventh century and was heavily influenced by Gnosticism and Greek philosophy. Despite their origins, the Druze consider themselves Unitarians rather than Muslims and see their religion as a continuation of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Some of the aspects that characterize their religion are their esoteric interpretation of religious teachings and their belief in reincarnation.

Being a religious minority, the Druze sought to protect their faith and community by following the principle of taqiya – adapting one’s appearance and practices to the local environment, while shielding one’s inner faith. Historically, the Druze have blended in very well with local populations and have openly adopted local religious and social customs. At the same time, they are one of the most secretive and cohesive religious groups in the Middle East; their scriptures are secret, marriage outside the faith is not permitted and apostasy is equally forbidden.

A Druze from the Lebanon, with his tarbush and turban. TRC 2000.0077 for the cloak, and TRC 2000.0065 for the tarbush. Click the illustration for the TRC catalogue entry for the cloak.

The initiated and uninitiated

The Druze community is divided into the initiated (uqqal), who have access to the sacred scriptures, and the ‘ignorants’ or uninitiated (juhhal). The latter form the largest part of the community (about 80%). They are not given access to scriptures and generally do not concern themselves with religious issues.

This differentiation is also visible in the way they dressed. The ‘ignorants’ could wear colours, while the initiated wore black and white. Apart from that, their manner of dress did not stand out colourwise from that of other neighbouring communities – in line with the concept of taqiya. Today, uninitiated men often wear Western-style clothing, while the initiated generally maintain the more traditional style.

Men’s dress

For the largest part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the male outfit of both the initiated and uninitiated consisted of baggy trousers (sirwal), a waistcoat (jubba or sidriya), a girdle, an overgarment (qumbaz) and a wide cloak (abaya).

Uninitiated men typically wore a skullcap (taqqia) covered with a head cloth (kufiya), kept in place with the aid of a round cord. The initiated shaved their heads and wore a tarbush with a white turban cloth (laffa) wrapped around it. The exact head cover depended on seniority, and special forms of these turbans were worn by the religious leaders.

Outfit for an initiated Druze woman, consisting of black jumper and skirt, with a white veil. TRC 2000.0052 (veil), TRC 2000.0064 (jumper), and TRC 2000.0071 (skirt). Click the illustration for the TRC catalogue entry for the white veil.

Women’s dress

The customs related to colour equally apply to women. During the nineteenth century, the main components of female attire were the baggy trousers (shintiyan), a long, fitted shirt (qamis), a skirt (tannura), a robe (qumbaz), an overgarment (sabakana) fastened with a belt (shala) and an apron (mamluk).

Especially eye catching was the headdress, which consisted of a cap (tarbush) with a long metal cone (tantur) placed on top and fastened with ribbons. The ensemble was covered with a white veil (mandil or futa).

The tantur was gradually abandoned over the last part of the nineteenth century in favour of the tarbush (without tantur) and veil. The tarbush continued to be worn during much of the twentieth century, decorated with silver and gold coins along the borders. At present, most Druze women, initiated or not, wear only the white veil.

The Copts are members of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt, which developed as a separate Church in the sixth century AD, in the wake of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. They are the largest denomination of Christians in Egypt and the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.

The Copts are very proud of their orthodox tradition, which they feel is very close to the original Church. Martyrs play an important role in the Copts’ history and sense of identity. Their calendar even starts with the Anno Martyrum ('In the year of the martyrs'; 284 AD), to commemorate the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Diocletian. They also have their own language and alphabet, Coptic, which is related to both ancient Egyptian and Greek, although it is now only used during the liturgy.

Headdress for a Coptic woman for when in church, with an illustration of Mary and Child. Bought in Cairo, 2001 (TRC 2001.0245f) ). Click illustration for TRC catalogue entry.

Coptic secular dress

In general, ordinary Coptic men do not dress in a distinctive way, but Coptic women stand out in Egypt because they do not wear a headscarf, commonly worn by Muslim women. In the past both Muslim and Christian women used to wear some type of headscarf, like the colourful sharb or the elegant, sheer black tarkha. From the 1960s these traditional head covers were increasingly thought backward and were abandoned by many women, both Coptic and Muslim. However, from the 1980s the Islamic headscarf started to rise in popularity. Today, most Muslim women outside of Cairo wear some type of headscarf, while Coptic women do not – although some women still wear the traditional scarves. They only cover their heads while praying and in church, often with special prayer scarves that look very different from the Islamic hijab.

In contrast to women, Coptic men are difficult to recognize as they do not dress differently from their Muslim neighbours. There is, however, one thing that distinguishes Coptic men and women alike: the cross tattoo. Most Copts have a small cross tattooed on the inside of their right wrist. These tattoos are often set at a very young age. In the past this was done at home or by local tattooists, using a needle and a paste of crushed green leaves. Today tattoo artists set up small booths in the monasteries during festivals. The tattoos function as an indelible marker of their Christian identity.

Liturgical dress of a Coptic bishop, worn at Christmas and Easter. TRC 2012.0143 (cope) and TRC 2012.0136 (bishop's headwear). Click the illustration for the TRC catalogue entry for the cope.Coptic religious dress

Priests are important figures within the Coptic community, not only as prelates, but also as representatives. They are recognizable by their distinct outfit, consisting of a black gown, similar to the local gallabiya, a black felt cap (amma), cross necklace and their beard. They wear a more ornate outfit to celebrate the liturgy, including a white overgarment (tonya), special oversocks (talliq), a stole (sadra), a mitre (taylasan) and a special mantle (bornos) for Christmas and Easter. Bishops are recognizable by their more elaborate cap and their staff. Ordinary

Coptic men also participate in the celebration of the liturgy as deacons, for which they put on the white overgarment (tonya), the same as the priest, and a stole (badrushil) wrapped in a manner that indicates their rank.

Hood for a Coptic nun (qalansuwa) (TRC 2006.0218d). Click illustration for TRC catalogue entry.Monks and nuns also play an important role as spiritual role models. As novices the monks wear a blue and subsequently a white robe, while the nuns wear a grey outfit. They change to wearing black garments after their initiation, in order to show that they are ‘dead to the world’.

Both nuns and monks wear a qalansuwa, a hood embroidered with thirteen crosses that represent the apostles and Christ – although nuns wear it underneath their veil. They are also girded with a leather belt underneath their gown to remind them of their vows. The qalansuwa and the rest of their outfit are said to protect the nuns and monks from attacks by devils.

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.