Colors of the Kingdom: Saudi Apparel

Non-stop sequins, kaleidoscopic colors and vivid, geometric embroidery rarely spring to mind when most Americans think of Saudi Arabian dress. Most Americans must be misinformed.

Arab garb goes far beyond billowy black shrouds. It’s as varied as the kingdom’s climate and geography, a fact that’s brought to the fore with 30 complete outfits, contemporary and historic, in “Palms and Pomegranates: Traditional Dress of Saudi Arabia.” The exhibit is at the Craft and Folk Art Museum.

“People don’t realize the diversity of terrain in Saudi Arabia,” said Johara Alatas, the exhibit’s curator. “The image is primarily one of desert.”

But cold, rainy highlands as well as hot, arid plains and two other distinct regions make up the vast peninsula, and clothes vary accordingly.

Certain needs do unite Arabian dress. Across the continent, sweltering days and frigid nights call for loose-fitting layers that protect against temperature extremes and wicked desert winds. Pillows used for seating necessitate long and loose garments that provide freedom of movement and the modesty required of both male and female followers of Islam.

The common articles of Arab clothing for men and women alike consist of thawbs , ankle-length kaftans with long sleeves, worn over sirwaals , long pants or pantaloons. Headdresses and outer cloaks, such as a bisht , or man’s floor-length mantle, are also worn.

However, the similarities stop there, as the variety of these garments and others on view proves.

Flamboyant design, opulent decoration and brilliant color distinguish the clothing of Najd, Arabia’s dry, starkly landscaped central plain and the site of its capital, Riyadh. Representing the region is a bukhnug , a dress typically worn to a wedding, with green, gold and fuchsia sequins from head to toe.

“The people of Najd tend to like things that glitter,” said Alatas, walking through the exhibit recently. “It was probably in defiance of the area’s starkness.”

A pomegranate tree perched atop crossed swords adorns the front of this dress. The design is a mix of traditional Saudi Arabian motifs and explains the exhibit’s title: The Qur’an, or Koran, promises dates (an important part of the Arabian diet) and pomegranates in heaven. Palms joined with crossed swords form the country’s national symbol.

Clothing styles of Hijaz, the site of the country’s oldest cosmopolitan centers including Makkah and the Red Sea port of Jeddah, were influenced by trade and religious pilgrimages that historically attracted people from all over the world.

A nomadic Bedouin villager’s dress, or durra’ah , with bright geometric embroidery on a black background, has colorful African appliques, possibly brought to Arabia by the slave trade. Thimbles, buttons and even a zipper also enliven the garment. “They use anything they can find to embellish a plainer costume,” Alatas said.

Materials are generally lighter in this area, which has a relatively mild climate. One woman’s ensemble is complete with a milaaya , a sheet-like mantle that, combined with a gauzy burga , or face mask (still worn by some today), leaves nothing but eyes exposed.

The country’s Eastern Province, which contains its vast petroleum resources, is an important trading center too. A dramatic black net thawb encrusted with gold sequins shows that its flamboyant fashions are similar to those of Najd.

More than half of Saudi Arabia is desert, but its arable southwestern Asir region of mountains and high plateaus can be windy and freezing cold. Farmers’ colorful outfits incorporate wide embroidered wool scarfs used for warmth. One ensemble includes a long panel of leather and fur.

“They get snow on the mountaintops,” said Alatas, who formerly worked for the Saudi Arabian information office in Washington.

Sponsored by the U.S. Committee for Saudi Arabian Cultural Heritage, the traveling exhibition is here through Oct. 2. It also includes jewelry and practical objects such as weaponry, coffee utensils and a water vessel fashioned from a camel’s udder.

Most of the clothing on view belongs to Princess Haifa bint Faisal, a niece of Saudi Arabian King Fahd ibn Abdul Aziz.

“Eventually the princess wants to open a museum,” Alatas said. “The idea is to teach a new generation of Saudis to do the same type of workmanship.”