Woman and the Evolution of Fashion

People in every corner of the world will go on doting on fashion... for it is the road to elegance, and so to beauty... and God Himself loves beauty!

A witty man of letters — I think it was Amin Nakhle — said: 'And they went forth from Paradise, whereupon Eve hastened to the nearest dressmaker in the street to have a gown cut... as for Adam, he went off to plant apple trees in the garden of the house; and it was said on that day: Praise be to God.'

I do not know in what street Eve found her dressmaker... but what I believe is that she sat fastening fig leaves together with pins made of pomegranate thorns until she had fashioned something quite unlike what Adam wore... and when her man went out some days later and caught the first striped-skinned animal, Eve had an elegant gown in which she strutted before him, and she bent over the pool of water to see, in this her first mirror, the measure of her beauty.

Fashions have turned and turned again since that time, and in this turning and changing alone lies the greatest proof of woman's love of renewal and her desire to bring out her charms... indeed, of man's desire for the very same thing — else why did he approve... and why did he invent...?

Woman's care for her elegance goes back, perhaps, thousands of years. A thousand years before Christ, the Egyptian woman wore beautiful garments of which the historians say that they were of spider's weaving, so soft and sheer were they... And in the pyramids are discovered mummies five thousand years old whose clothing we cannot see because of the embalming and the wrapping, but buried with them were perfume, the kohl pot, and other accessories of elegance.

We notice from the old pictures representing the figures of the Bible — the oldest historical book — that men and women wore similar clothing: a robe reaching to the ground, bound at the waist with a broad sash, embroidered at the breast and the sides for the women... As for the covering of the head, it was the kufiyya, with something like the iqal, for the man — and for the woman, the large kerchief covering her head and her shoulders, and above her head her ornaments of gold or silver.

Then the peoples went their separate ways, and each country came to have its own taste, formed by the nature of its land... and every country began to show its art in devising costumes of its own; and the traditional dress of the Greeks, the Spaniards, the Romans, and others, worn at national celebrations, still testifies to the diversity of tastes.

Then the world drew closer together, thanks to modern inventions, and Paris with its artistic taste came to rule the world, and people were drawn to everything the city of art devised; so most nations laid their own costumes away in their museums and cupboards and came to use them only on national occasions — apart from certain strong personalities who, enamored of their homeland, went on taking pride in everything in it...

Yet it is only fair to those ancient countries to mention that the great fashion designers of Paris turn to them whenever their spring runs dry or they need renewal... Only last year those great artists turned to Greece and climbed to the villages nestled on its mountains to study the kind of clothes the inhabitants wear there and borrow from them for their models... And so we often see in what Paris sends out an ancient stamp — like the piece of the dress that wraps around the neck and hangs down to the waist, like the sari of the Indians; or the hats that so often resemble the Egyptian headwrap known as the turban; and the like.

And the Arab woman has kept pace with this evolution of fashion... After she passed from the stage of bedouin life to the civilization of the town, she began to show art in her dress... and when she reached Andalusia and was influenced by what was there, and exported this influence of hers to the Arab lands, there were the splendid pantaloons gathered at her hips, with the anklet over them; then what was worn on the upper part of her body, resembling the blouse to a very great degree, with an elegance of embroidery not to be denied... this besides the strings of pearls, or enchanting jewels, that she arranged upon her hair.

Man's dress has visibly kept company with this evolution... from the long robe with the sash at the waist and the kufiyya, to the qunbaz open in front and the turban... to the trousers big as an aviator's parachute, with the ghabani sash above them and the Moroccan tarboush with its tilted button and its tassel... Then the trousers narrowed gradually until at last the Italian called Pantaloni fitted them close to the body; he wore them and visited England in them, and the English admired them and copied them and gave them their owner's name — and so it was the pantalon... Then George the Fifth turned up their cuffs so that the mud should not touch them, and forgot to let down what he had turned up at the party; the princes thought it a fashion and imitated him — he was then Prince of Wales... And at this costume men have set down their baggage and halted — apart from the riding dress of the horsemen of Europe in its several kinds, and the clothes for horseback and other occasions.

And finally, who knows how fashions will evolve after today, when man opens up the world of the stars, and the line of travel runs between us and the moon and Mars and the rest, and we are obliged then to lay down the foundations of our fashions according to what travel there requires, in keeping with the climate and the condition of the country where we shall alight?!