Figure 1.--The photo was taken in 1939 in front of a hotel in Port Said, Egypt. It shows two tourists with an Egyptian man and boy who are wearing traditional clothing, styles datign back millenia. We think the Egyptians are fezes. The European couple have bought 1 each. The lady is wearing hers. The man is holding his. There would have been some bargaining going on."

Egypt is the most populace country in the Arab world. Traditional clothes appear to be still widely worn in Egypt, especially in rural areas. Early photographic images of Egypt in the 19th century suggest a country where fashion was little chnaged for centuries. The earliest Egyptian image we have was taken by Wilhelm Hammarschmidt, a German photographer in the 1860s. It shows a little boy in white brimless cap and robe buying water. We only begin to see European garments (19th century). We see this in the Ottoman court and among Egyptian officials and elite, especially after the establishment of the Protectorate. Civil servants and members of the ruling intelligentsia could be seen wearing European style clothing. This seems to have been a very small part of the population. Outside Cairo and other large cities, however, traditionl garments persisted. We seen increasing numbers of Egyptians weating Western garments, especially after World War I, at least in the cities. This trend continued after World War II especially into the 1950s and 60s. Then there was a change and we see an increasing Islamization of society. We see more Islamic dress, espcially at the universities that had opened to women. This was especially true for women who had begun wearing Western dress. Egypyian women acquired a reputation for stylish dress. We see them beginning to return to traditiona garments (1970s). Interstingly, Western dress for children and young men, even Islamicists, continues to be fairly common. We see less of the expensive tradutional/Islanic dress that we we see in Saudi-Arabia and the Gulf states. We suspoect that a factor here is economic. Saudi abd the Gulf states have the immense oil wealth. Egypt in contrast has little oil and has had difficulty creating a prosperous economy, in sharp contrast to neigboring Israel which also does not have an oil resource.

Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Smocks] [Long pants suits] [Knicker suits] [Short pants suits] [Socks] [Eton suits] [Jacket and trousers]
[Blazer] [School sandals] [School smocks] [Sailor suits] [Pinafores] [Long stockings]

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Created: 10:19 PM 6/18/2021
Last updated: 10:19 PM 6/18/2021