Palestinian Syrian, Palestine, Bethlehem

The Arabic word thōb refers both to a man’s shirt and to a loose, ankle-length, collarless dress worn by women. In rural areas of the Islamic world, women’s dress revolves around this minimally constructed garment, which provides ample space for modesty and for personalized and regionally specific embellishment.

Exquisitely embroidered Palestinian versions of this basic garment are some of the most impressive examples of Middle Eastern regional dress. The quality of workmanship and distinctions in motif, stitch, color, pattern, and design arrangement have created a lexicon of types that can be easily deciphered to place a woman according to both status and region or town. The Bethlehem woman who created and owned this trousseau garment would have worn it first at her wedding and thereafter as ceremonial dress, with a jacket of felt or broadcloth and a distinctive felt hat embellished with silver or gold discs, coins, and coral beads.