Palestinian Costumes

Foreign travelers to Palestine often commented on the rich variety of costumes among the Palestinian people, especially among the village women. It was possible to identify which village a woman came from by the embroidery or cut of her dress. Towns-people and bedouin also had distinct styles which gave clues as to their identity.

Physically and socially men were far more mobile than women. This was reflected in the clothing; men's clothing are rarely unique for one area, instead for men there was a more uniform style over most of Palestine, indeed, over most of the Middle East. For women the situation was completely different. The village and town women rarely travelled, and their clothing therefore developed into very distinct styles according to where they lived.

Traditionally, the society in Palestine has been divided into three groups, all with quite distinct clothing:

Woolen fabrics for everyday use were produced by weavers in Majdal, Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Jerusalem. The wool could be from sheep, goats or camels. In 1870 there were ten dyeing workshops in the Murestan quarter of Jerusalem, employing around 100 men. Blue, from indigo, was widely used; other colours being black, red and green. Finer cloths such as silks where imported from Syria with some from Egypt. Fashions in the towns followed those in Damascus. Some producers in Aleppo, Hama and Damascus produced styles specifically for the Palestinian market. Weavers in Homs produced belts and some shawls exclusively for export to Nablus and Jerusalem. Cotton was not widely used until the end of the 19th century when it began to be imported from Europe.