Drip is forever!
Robes, kaftans, tunics – they’ve been with us for thousands of years. Long live the robe. By An Wentzel
Afew months into 2020, as the world found itself under lockdown, comfort wear became the focus of some fashion articles, seemingly scrambling for new looks to recommend as the globe stayed at home, with a much reduced need to dress to impress.
“Why You Should Be Wearing a Robe During Coronavirus Lockdown”, said insidehook.com; “Live your best quarantine life! As Emily Ratajkowski and Kate Hudson get comfy in robes, FEMAIL rounds up styles for every occasion”, commanded hollywoodlife.com; “20 Comfy Robes to Wear Around The House”, recommended vogue.com; and this questionable gendered gem from insidehook.com: “10 Robes for a Comfier (And Manlier!) Quarantine”.
One can hardly judge those who are consistently cynical about the fashion and celebrity media for sneering at that line-up of articles.
However, perhaps a more empathetic view could be that, as much as lockdown presented a crisis for many industries, it also created quite the quandary for an industrial complex built around listicles, the clothing choices of the famous, and an appetite for seasonal trends.
From religious robes to formal occasional styles such as those worn as part of academic regalia, to the variety of kaftan styles worn in various African countries, through to the common bathrobe, robes are a ubiquitous presence, part of our past, present and future, quarantine or no quarantine.
The mumu, kaftan, abaya (not to be confused with the niqab) and religious robes are garments that have endured through thousands of years.
Designed for practicality, they are still around today, having gained in popularity beyond the original cultural and religious frameworks from which they originated.
The road to “drip”. A history lesson
The very first garments created some 100,000 years ago were made from leather, animal furs and skins. It would be a while before humans graduated to woven fabrics, but there is evidence that sewing predates woven fabric.
Furs and leather were sturdy and offered weather protection in some climates. Evidence of sewing needles made from animal bone have been carbon dated to 30,000 years ago, proving that sewing – even of leather and furs – has been happening far longer than most people may have thought.
A few thousand years later, when woven fabrics started to be worn, the style followed much the same construction as that for leather – draped around the body, or the start of the tunic, which is to say, a hole for the head and two holes for the arms.
But early fabrics were expensive; ancient Greeks and Romans didn’t want to devalue the cloth by cutting it, so they favoured wide, unsewn lengths of fabric. Hence the toga, and statues dating back thousands of years depicting Romans and Greeks with fabric draped about their bodies, secured in various ways.
Ornamentation – style, swag, sauce, drip – in ancient Greek clothing came from the ornamental pins and belts that secured the linen or wool fabrics. The Romans, great admirers of Greek culture and fashion, adopted this as the toga, to be worn by free Roman males. It was normally made of wool; a simple tunic was worn under the toga made from two modest rectangles joined at the shoulders and sides. Roman women wore the draped stola or tunic that reached the ground.
Fashion changed, less in style than in ornamentation, during the medieval period as very richly patterned cloth was made and exported by the Byzantines. Expensive variants were woven and embroidered, while cheaper goods, intended for lower classes, were dyed and printed.
These went into the making of a shorter type of tunic or long cloaks.
Today, these are generally referred to as kaftans or caftans, with name and style varying from culture to culture. In West Africa, both men and women wear a kaftan that is a pullover robe. Men refer to it as a Senegalese kaftan and colloquially it is a mbubb or, in French, a boubou, and it reaches the ankles. The wearer usually has a matching drawstring pair of pants to create a kaftan suit. This clothing is considered formal wear in almost all West African nations.
There is an obvious stylistic relationship between the kaftan and the abaya, which is popular in some Muslim nations. The abaya is attributed to Koranic instructions that women should cover themselves, except for the face and hands. Covering the face is by choice, not mandated.
Kaftan-style garments have also defined different aspects of religious leadership, which can be seen in Catholic dress or higher orders of the priesthood and in older style garments often worn by nuns.
Fashion was most obviously class-related from around 14th century Europe. More complex designs were made, moving beyond tunics, capes and coats. The urban middle class reflected the choices of people with what today would be called disposable income – most likely merchants and traders – and royalty.
Today’s society has more celebrities than royalty, with celebrities deciding fashion trends rather than royals. And they are often looked to, to help us decide what we should wear, seemingly even while quarantined behind closed doors. But, to quote that classic 2008 award-winning Vodacom ad: “We’ve been having it”.