Qatari Traditional Wear
By Fahad Alobaidly
Fashion Designer
Introduction
Traditional dress is the most main indicator of cultures, Since the dawn of history , dress served as means
of identity of the people of one country distinguishing them from other nations . That identify has come to
represent the personality of any individual whether that individual is male , female , child , young or old.
In Qatar , there is a wide range of traditional clothes for men , and women . A number of these have
change over time , others are becoming less used , the therefore , less known , while other have totally
dropped out of use , and out vision, thought still remembered by old men and women. !
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Women’s Clothes
Women’s traditional clothes are widely diversified and divided into several classes
In general , women's costumes are tailored to be long and modest . They are made from luxurious
materials and when intend to be for special occasion , are heavily decorated with embroidery . with
genuine gold and silver threads called Zari and tally. as well as colourful silk and cotton called Ibrisam .
Other materials may be used for decorations , including gemstone and beads . Everyday clothes have less
decorations. , Also they are made of luxurious textiles mostly made of natural silk that came in lively plain and attractive
colours with a great deal of embroidery. There were also silk and cotton threads of different colours. Those
dresses were quite often inlaid with precious stones, beads, metal flakes and coins.
In general the women's clothes decorated into the following types of decorations:
1-Hand Embroidery - Naqdah
- Tally - Curar
2-Machine embroidery There is aspecial machine for metal thread embroidry used to com from India very heavy duty . there is
one inQatar in good woorking condition. the tailer used it for embroidering : Thaubs ,Diraa;as ,Bukhnuqs
and surwals.
Dappling and Embroidery
Popular embroidery is made by three main means: alkoraar , alnaqdah and alkali
1- Alkoraar is hand-made stripe and is used as an clothes accessory to adorn the hems of clothes, Two or
more women are needed to prepare alkoraar , which is also available ready-made and is fixed directly to
the dress.
2- Alnaqdah is type of dress ornament made of palm leaves to the cloth which is embroidered with tali
threads in geometrical shapes that are pressed with the hand to fix the dress ornament in place.
3- Altali are stripes made of metal threads call knows set as ornaments in geometrical shapes and placed on
the thawb or the fringes of the sirwaal.
4- Alqaitaan are threads that that are woven with the five fingers and fixed as an accessory to the bight.
they are allowed to flow down loosely on the hem of the bisht.
5- Alsirmais a technique of highly artistic embroidery by means of metal wires , used to ornament luxurious
clothes . The cover of the kaabah used to be made in this style .
6- Men's ornaments (Alzeenah al rijjahliah ) this is ornaments for scabbards , daggers holders and sword
handles. There are also men’s belts ornate with pieces of antique coins ( lariaat) and gold silver stud bolts.
7-Added ornaments : these include metal flakes ( faulk and terter) , dantella stripes ( shash) old coins
( nairaat) and precious metals.
Women’s Clothes
Women’s Clothes
Characteristics
Featuring traditional clothing for women in Qatar with special features made it a nationally
uniform as follows:
- It's long, loose overlaps characterized by growing Islamic influence.
- They are made of natural and synthetic silk transparent and non-transparent than the
Chinese, French and others materials.
- The use of attractive colors.
- Frequent embroidery covering embroidery clothing events are all full. - Everyday clothing
with less but at the same traditional style.
- - - The per piece or type of clothing the name or term called either for decoration or for a
way to wear them .
- There is a unity in its general form
- Comparative studies with ancient Islamic art: originality and depth of historical and ancient
.past
Men’s Clothes
When he goes out of this house, a men out his house , a man wears abisht , which a cloak usually of a wool
. The main dress is al-thawb which is similar to the European - style shirt but much longer , In the past , man
wore a thawb made of light wool, without a collar. It was called thawb alshadd. There was also thawb
ashalhaat which was made of white cotton and had long , wide flowing sleeves , triangular in shape.
Jewellery
No traditional women”s is complete without jewellery , decorations and ornaments in gold , silver and
others , Like the traditional clothes themselves , traditional jewellery are quite varied in number and
ornament , Jewellery was a means of ornament and had a value of their own .
Silver jewellery came to be knowing before gold jewellery in the desert , but gold gradually stared to gain
ground until it totally replaced , silver as jewellery material , for this reason we find many similarities is gold
and silver jewellery in terms of names , shapes , multiplicity and variation.