History of Women's Dress and Clothing in Egypt

18. Modes and Codes “ The return of the veil, with a venom, in contemporary Egypt speaks volumes. Western visitors mistakenly assume that the female Islamic dress code is the traditional dress of Egyptian women. While historically, the Islamic dress code has influenced fashion in Egypt, there is no such thing as a universal Islamic uniform. Head-covering, the hijab, as a form of resistance to Western cultural hegemony is a relatively new phenomenon. It gave an entirely new meaning to identity politics. The niqab has also become a symbol for communication, or lack of it. An increasing number of urban women now shroud themselves in shapeless gowns in muted colours or severe black.” No question of costume, Gamal Nkrumah, Al Ahram Weekly, September 2002

22. Ababde girl from the mountain area near the Red Sea. Nicholas Biegman, 1991 Cairo. Randa Sheath, 2002 A street scene in Siwa. Jean-Dominique Dallet, Méditerranée Magazine, 2001 Nubian women wearing their characteristic transparent black over-dress over a colourful under-dress. Rick Strange and Steve Day, 1990s Going to work, Cairo. Kristie Burns, MERIP, 1994

26. Detail of drawing of 1824 showing family in courtyard drawn by long term resident, 1824. Robert Hay, British Library MSS Detail of painting by visiting artist/traveller, 1842. William Prinsep, Martyn Gregory Gallery

27. Postcard photo c.1895 – some young and older local women earned money by posing for tourists. Women visiting – not posing for tourists, postcard c.1910.

28. Women happy to be photographed by an anonymous tourist, 1959.

31. Mother, daughter and other relatives. Sabah at her home working with her husband. Being the only daughter and eldest child her father did not let her attend school. She now has four children and has not got the time to go to the special school for local women.

32. Sabah in black over-dress and scarf visiting her parent’s house. Her mother, Fatima, in house dress and scarf casually tied showing her hair at home – also no formal school and not literate, mother of eight children.

33. Mother, daughter and other relatives Fatima, in best blue dress covered by black over-dress visiting her deceased mother’s house at her holeiya (one year after death commemoration). The female relative on the right now lives in Isma’iliya (Suez Canal) and wears a style never seen on a local women. Waida, Fatima’s sister-in-law, wears her best, new house dress and casually tied scarf to entertain her women relatives. The photo shows: The relative from Isma’iliya is dressed top-to-toe in white. Her head cover is very tightly drawn under her chin and around her face and drapes over her shoulders like a large cape. Waida with cousins who live near by. Waida is at her home, thus showing some hair – while the visiting women have tighter headscarves and wore black over-dresses to come to the house. The photo shows: Three women wearing brightly coloured house dresses.

34. Photos to add to the family album. Three sisters (relatives of Sabah’s father) in their house high on the hill. The two resident sisters left and right (who seldom go out) are in typical, but best, house dresses and have put on borrowed lipstick, the middle one is just visiting and has taken off her black over-dress. The photo shows: Two women wear bright house dresses that button from foot to neck. The third dress is a smock dress and only buttons to the chest. All dresses have long, full sleeves tightening at the wrist.The two resident sisters have brushed out their hair for the photo.

35. Hajja Namit, her daughter-in-law, two grandchildren and the pigeons. The Hajja wears the plaits and headscarf of the older women. Neither of these women often goes outside the family property – only on customary visits connected with births, deaths and close family weddings.

36. In the family courtyard. Hajja Hera – housewife, mother of five, wife of senior monuments’ restorer, 2 years primary education – and her daughter Amal and two sons. Amal – secondary education, student at local college.

37. Fatima’s sister Amina, married to Fatima’s brother in law, a land-owner and driver for tourists (first cousin marriages are very common). Amina also did well at secondary school and is literate in Arabic and partially also in English. She usually wears simple t-shirts and blouses with trousers or skirts in the home. She occasionally visits local family houses, but is not allowed to go to the local market. Her husband says she can do that when she is old if she wants to. The photo shows: Amina with her arms around two of her sons, wearing a white t-shirt and a simple headscarf is tied at the back of her neck. Amina brushed her hair out specially and put on her smart shoes and skirt so she could have a nice picture for the family album, (1998). The photo shows: Amina is indoors, in her main sitting room, wearing black high heel shoes and a mid-calf length patterned skirt on a black background.

38. Nadjua, unmarried, University graduate, teaches English at a local school. She put on her work clothes specially to have this photo taken. Normally she changes into more casual, simpler clothes at home, (1997). She is now married to a local pharmacist, has two children, and no longer works as a teacher.

39. Hajja Sayeda and her two daughters-in-law and the two new grandchildren. The Hajja has her hair in plaits brought to the front with a black scarf in a style of the older Qurna women. They keep a small general shop at the side of the house and asked me to call to take this photo for the family collection.

40. The sister and sister-in-law of Abd e’Ja’alan, the wood-carver, live low down the hill and often call tourists in to see their house and their brother’s work. It would be inappropriate for them to just wear house dresses. The one on the left wears a black working dress, while the other has on an over-dress with buttons all down the front – both very typical of lower-class and working women.

41. Fatima in her garden - secondary education, literate in Arabic and partially also in English. Daughter of learned Sheikh, hotel-owner and land-owner. Wife of land-owner and hotel manager. (1996) Before she had children Fatima wore western-style shirts with skirts or slacks (as here), now with two children she normally wears a variant of the typical Egyptian house dress worn by most other local women. Fatima would like to have an office job over in Luxor, but her husband insists she stay at home.

42. Coptic weaver. There are no visible differences in dress for working Coptic women in the old part of Qurna. Over in Luxor, and for the younger, educated generation, styles have changed with the times.

43. The camera doesn’t lie, but …… These two photos of local school children show the ‘problems’ of using single images to tell a story. Every image has to be contextualised, and there is more than one person’s version of context per image. The two pictures could be used to ‘prove’ very different things about school children and Islamic observances in Qurna. One morning I was waylaid with my camera by a groups of kids I knew slightly as they were on their way to school. They wanted a photo of themselves, as a group of friends and relatives, for themselves, and knew I would give them copies later. They do not come from rich or conformist families and they are wearing a typical informal lot of clothes they normally wear to school.

44. This other photo was taken by a professional French, male, photographer especially for a book of photos about the village. They had dressed up for this photo, as every group of school-children does for the annual School Photo. The girls who are neatest and most conforming in dress have been moved to the front, and clean head-scarves must have been handed out specially. However, in the book it appears as a typical photo of local girls in school.