Straddling the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, Yemen was an attractive conquest for the Ottomans and later the British, who sought to control access to its lucrative trade routes. Throughout centuries of imperial rule, Yemen’s distinctive clothing traditions survived, including elaborately embroidered indigo-dyed garments like this dress in The Textile Museum Collection.
Worn in the hot and humid coastal areas along the Red Sea, these voluminous dresses feature large sleeves and a wide neck opening for ventilation and ease of dressing. Festive styles were heavily embroidered with overlapping rectangles and triangles using bands of cotton and metal threads that are couched down onto the material of the dress. Even the poorest women incorporated decorative embroidery, silver threads and lucky charms to counteract the evil eye. The back is often very plain, with only two narrow bands of embroidery covering and strengthening the seams.
To complement their indigo dresses, women also wore indigo-dyed headdresses and “sirwal” trousers with embroidered pieces that showed beneath the hem.
Blue dresses were widespread throughout Yemen with regional variations. The indigo dye originates in the town of Zabid, but it also existed in Sana’a, Tihama and Wadi Bayham further north. Once dyed, the cloth is finished with a coating of starch (gum Arabic) and beaten with heavy wooden mallets. In some cases, the fabric also burnished with a special stone in a locked room to prevent invisible spirits called “djinns” from spoiling the work. The assembled tunic is then embroidered with silk, cotton, copper sequins and mother-of-pearl elements.
The long history of Yemeni men and women wearing indigo-dyed garments essentially died out by 1930s. Recently, however, Yemeni women have taken to social media to publish images of themselves in colorful traditional dress, defying Houthi clothing restrictions and the militia’s escalating crackdown in regions under their control.
Researched by Sandra Hoexter
Sandra Hoexter has been a docent with the museum since 2004 after retiring from a career as a federal software engineer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Foreign Agricultural Service.