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Fashionable connections
Many traditional Sudanese garments have been tailored and designed for practical reasons to help cope with the hot climate, work needs and even as at times of war.
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Many traditional Sudanese garments have been tailored and designed for practical reasons to help cope with the hot climate, work needs and even as at times of war. Many of the clothes we associate with the Sudanese national dress are also worn in other areas in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially the women’s sari-like garment, tob, and the men’s gown, jallabiyya.
The jallabiyya, a wide, A-shaped gown is popular all around Africa including countries with Arab influence. Worn extensively around Sudan, there are minor differences in the style of jallabiyya according to the geographic location. One distinctive type of jallabiyya is the ansariyya which was popularized during the period of the Mahdiyya as a garment that can be donned at haste when there was a call for battle. The front and back of this jallabiyya are identical, with sides having a pocket sewn on. The garment’s A- shape was ideal for horse-riding and participating in combat.
Varieties of the Sudanese women’s tob can also be found throughout Sudan and in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa; everywhere from Mauritania, Nigeria and Chad, to southern Libya and have names such as laffaya, melhfa and dampe. There are a variety of ways in which the tob is worn in these different countries; from the length of the fabric to how it is wrapped around the body. This is the same in Sudan where ways of wearing the tob vary with styles being influenced for example by the women’s work whether it is farming, herding or just everyday housework.
Today the tob has become the object of fashion statements with artists in all these countries competing with new design ideas and European factories producing these designs, and new fabrics, every year. However, these slippery, silky and heavily sequined designs have rendered this type of tob completely impractical for everyday use and they are only worn on special occasions by married women. Cultural connections between the residents of the sub-saharan sahel region was generally thought to be the main reason for the popularity of the tob here however, academics point to the practical adaptation of the garment to the heat, strong sunlight and dry air that characterises the region’s climate. Wearing long, flowing, light-coloured gowns that cover the head, and which produce air pockets around the body, is an ideal design to keep both men and women cool in the heat.
Another versatile item of clothing is the leather shoe, markoob, worn predominantly by men in most parts of Sudan. The type of markoob depends on what leather is available and can include the skins of anything from rock pythons and leopards to humble cow hide. This traditional type of footwear is also seeing a resurgence and makeover with young Sudanese entrepreneurs creating colourful designs of the markoob for both men and women.
Cover picture: Three sets of men's jallabiyya, 1. Traditional men's wear with front and back pockets (Ansariyya). 2. Traditional men's wear consists of four pieces (Jiba, Aragi, Sirwal, Taqiya). 3.Traditional men's wear of the Baggara tribe (Bagariyya) © Darfur Women’s Museum
Many traditional Sudanese garments have been tailored and designed for practical reasons to help cope with the hot climate, work needs and even as at times of war. Many of the clothes we associate with the Sudanese national dress are also worn in other areas in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially the women’s sari-like garment, tob, and the men’s gown, jallabiyya.
The jallabiyya, a wide, A-shaped gown is popular all around Africa including countries with Arab influence. Worn extensively around Sudan, there are minor differences in the style of jallabiyya according to the geographic location. One distinctive type of jallabiyya is the ansariyya which was popularized during the period of the Mahdiyya as a garment that can be donned at haste when there was a call for battle. The front and back of this jallabiyya are identical, with sides having a pocket sewn on. The garment’s A- shape was ideal for horse-riding and participating in combat.
Varieties of the Sudanese women’s tob can also be found throughout Sudan and in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa; everywhere from Mauritania, Nigeria and Chad, to southern Libya and have names such as laffaya, melhfa and dampe. There are a variety of ways in which the tob is worn in these different countries; from the length of the fabric to how it is wrapped around the body. This is the same in Sudan where ways of wearing the tob vary with styles being influenced for example by the women’s work whether it is farming, herding or just everyday housework.
Today the tob has become the object of fashion statements with artists in all these countries competing with new design ideas and European factories producing these designs, and new fabrics, every year. However, these slippery, silky and heavily sequined designs have rendered this type of tob completely impractical for everyday use and they are only worn on special occasions by married women. Cultural connections between the residents of the sub-saharan sahel region was generally thought to be the main reason for the popularity of the tob here however, academics point to the practical adaptation of the garment to the heat, strong sunlight and dry air that characterises the region’s climate. Wearing long, flowing, light-coloured gowns that cover the head, and which produce air pockets around the body, is an ideal design to keep both men and women cool in the heat.
Another versatile item of clothing is the leather shoe, markoob, worn predominantly by men in most parts of Sudan. The type of markoob depends on what leather is available and can include the skins of anything from rock pythons and leopards to humble cow hide. This traditional type of footwear is also seeing a resurgence and makeover with young Sudanese entrepreneurs creating colourful designs of the markoob for both men and women.
Cover picture: Three sets of men's jallabiyya, 1. Traditional men's wear with front and back pockets (Ansariyya). 2. Traditional men's wear consists of four pieces (Jiba, Aragi, Sirwal, Taqiya). 3.Traditional men's wear of the Baggara tribe (Bagariyya) © Darfur Women’s Museum
