Portal:Textile Arts/Selected article/3
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Palestinian costumes are the traditional clothing worn by Palestinians. Foreign travelers to Palestine in late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries often commented on the rich variety of the costumes worn, particularly by the fellaheen or village women. Many of the handcrafted garments were richly embroidered and the creation and maintenance of these items played a significant role in the lives of the region's women. Most experts in the field trace the origins of Palestinian costumes to ancient times, though there are no surviving clothing artifacts from this early period against which the modern items might be definitively compared. Influences from the various empires to have ruled Palestine, such as Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome and the Byzantine empire, among others, have been documented by scholars largely based on the depictions in art and descriptions in literature of costumes produced during these times. Traditional Palestinian costumes reflected a woman's economic status, whether married or single, and the town or district of origin. Until the 1940s, a knowledgeable observer could glean such information from the fabric, colours, cut, and embroidery motifs (or lack thereof) in a given woman's apparel. Dresses generally had a loose-fitting cut that allowed for considerable freedom of movement.
