Moroccan Djellaba

The djellaba is the clasic Moroccan garment with a long sleeves and loosely fitting hooded. Although traditionally a outer robe. The light summer djellaba can be worn seperatly . Djellabas come in a variety of styles, patterns and colors, with equaly as many different materials.Typically, men traditionally wear a hat (kufi) or a red fez hat (tarboosh) and soft yellow leather slippers (babouche) with a djellaba.Women also wear djellabas. The hood is of vital importance for both sexes as it protects the wearer from the sun and in earlier times was used as a defence against sand being blown into the wearers face by strong desert winds. It is not uncommon for the hood to be used as an informal pocket during times of nice weather, and can fit loaves of bread or bags of groceries. Djellabas are made of a wide variety of materials, from cotton or rayon for summer-time djellabas to coarse wool for winter djellabas. The wool is typically harvested from sheep living in the surrounding mountains, sometimes goat or camel hair is added especially in the heavier winter djellabas. Then a long process of turning the wool into yarn is carried out (normally by hand). It is then woven in the fabric to create the garment. The djellaba is worn by both men and women; the men's style is generally baggier while a women's djellabas is generally tighter and can sport elaborate decorative embroidery in a variety of colors. Women normally add a head scarf. Almost all djellabas of both styles include a baggy hood called a 'cob' that comes to a point at the back. Traditionally Djellabas reach right down to the ground but nowadays they are becoming slimmer and shorter.