2.Just as celebrities of modern times tend to create fashion fads, the Abbasid caliphs and the women of the harem were also key trendsetters during the ancient Islamic era. The caliph Mu`tasim (r. 833-842) was notable for his desire to imitate Persian kings by wearing a turban over a soft cap. The populace emulated their ruler by adopting this headgear, calling it "Mu`tasimi" in his honor. Additionally, one of the most notable female trendsetters was Zubayda (d. 831), the wife of the caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 786-809). She was the first to introduce the fashion of wearing sandals embroidered with gemstones.
3.textile production was a major industry during the period. Clothing was extremely costly in comparison with other common goods. Fine outfits for men in Iraq during the Ninth Century varied in price from five to thirty dinars. (In comparison, a skilled laborer at the time was paid between one half and one and a half dinars per month). Textiles and garments were imported to Baghdad from foreign lands.
4. The caliph would often present a robe of honor, called a khil`a, to a man that the government wanted to esteem. The practice of giving robes of honor is described in many books from the time period, notably in the popular Thousand and One Nights. Members of the royal entourage wore the special robes of honor on official occasions.
5.Black became the official color of the Abbasid people, who were acknowledged in China and Byzantium as the "black-robed ones." High-ranking military officers were clothed in every kind of black. Instead of using dissimilar colors, the men were distinguished by the style of military belt and sword that they wore. Honorific garments, royal flags, and official document cases were all black, and usually made of silk.
6.The clothing of the working class was commonly shorter than the clothing of members of the court.
7.There is less recorded information about the attire of the general populace than there are descriptions of elegant and courtly dress.
8.written by Abu al-Tayyib Muhammad al-Washsha (d. 936) who described clothing worn by fashionable people in his book On Elegance and Elegant People. Washsha provided detailed information about elements of fashion and vogue attire. Elegant people should not wear clashing hues or distasteful colors, such as saffron. It was improper to wear dirty outfits, new clothes together with washed ones, or linen with certain cottons. Fashionable men wore clothes perfumed with scents such as powdered musk or rosewater solution. They should never smell of ambergris, the perfume of slave girls. Men's shoes and sandals could be made of various leathers and have different colors and designs. Examples of footwear included East African sandals, thick shoes from Cambay in India, Yemeni furry shoes, and Hashimi boots. Elegant women would not wear black, green, pink, or red, except for fabrics that were naturally those colors, such as red silk. Women's clothing would be perfumed with musk, sandalwood, hyacinth or ambergris, but no other scents. Footwear included furry Cambay shoes, boots of the style of Persian ladies, and curved shoes.
1.required that Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians wear yellow shawl-like head-cloths, called taylasans, and a distinguishing belt, called a zunnar. If they wore turbans, then those were also required to be yellow in color. The slaves of non-Muslims also had to wear identifying clothing.
2.during the Abbasid period, the notion of fashion as an indicator of class and status was significant. Clothes served as a marker of social position, whether distinguishing between Muslims and non-Muslims, courtly elite and commoners, or the rich and the richer.
3. fashion was a thriving industry during the Abbasid period that was also strictly regulated either by law or through the accepted elements of style.
Whitney Mitchell
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