Plus Size Style - Caftans

By Author: Marie Wakefield
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So you are tired of searching for information on caftans? Don�t fret because your search ends here with this article for plus size looks..

DID YOU KNOW-The caftan in the US is typically called a muumuu.

Also spelled, Kaftan; it was originally a man's full-length garment of ancient Mesopotamian origin, worn throughout the Middle East. Caftan-like robes can be seen depicted in the palace reliefs of ancient Persia dating to 600 B.C. A number of the traditional garments were originally derived from ancient cultures in the region, particularly from Persia (Iran) and farther east in India, Mongolia, and Asian Russia.

The caftan was an open, coat like garment, termed in ancient Persia a candys or kandys. Also worn extensively in the cooler climates of Mongolia and China, the style extended westward to become, eventually, the fashionable wear of the late Ottoman Empire.

During the 9th and 11th centuries, the caftan had been adopted as European court dress in a richer motif than ever, encrusted with jeweled embroideries and dyed in deep colors, especially purples and reds. Open down the centre front, ...
... this coat like garment was shaped to fit at the back. For both sexes the caftan was accompanied by trousers, not full like the Middle Eastern types, but more elegantly and closely cut, especially on the legs where they were tucked into boot tops or worn over shoes.

By the thirteenth century, the style had spread into Eastern Europe and Russia, where caftan styles provided the model for a number of different basic garments well into the nineteenth century. The caftan tradition was particularly elaborate in the imperial wardrobes of the 16th Ottoman Empire in Anatolian Turkey. Caftans of varying lengths were made from rich satins, velvets and silks, shot through with metallic threads to be worn by courtiers to indicate status.

Caftan-style robes have been worn in many parts of the world where Islam has spread, particularly in North and West Africa. In parts of West Africa, the practice of layering robes to express the aesthetic principle of �bigness� in leadership dress and the giving of �robes of honor� is shared with the Ottoman tradition.

Subsequently, there were occasional vogues for Turkish dress in Italy, Germany, and England, and the caftan became the model for later Western garments featuring fitted backs and open fronts.

In Western culture, caftans became part of the international fashion scene in the mid-twentieth century. In the 1950s, French designer Christian Dior adapted the caftan style to design women�s floor-length evening coats. In the 1960s, the caftan as a unisex garment gained visibility as hippie trendsetters adopted ethnic dress. Largely through the influence of fashion maven Diana Vreeland, the editor of Vogue magazine, the caftan entered into the haute couture fashion scene.

With a long and elegant history- worn by emperors and kings, contemporary use of the term �caftan� can be broadened to encompass a number of similarly styled garment types. Today caftans may be worn with a sash or belt. Some caftans are open to the front or side and are tied or fastened with looped buttons running from neck to waist. Depending on use, caftans vary from hip to floor length. The choice of fabric is limitless, though silks and cottons are still the most used. Embellished, embroidered, bejeweled and other wise decked out, the caftan flatters any figure.

WIKIPEDIA SAYS-Fabrics for caftans had very specific characteristics and were named accordingly: there was velvet,aba, b�r�mc�k, canfes,gatma, gezi, diba, hatayi, kutnu and kemha to name a few.

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