One of the cool things I noticed while I was in Egypt was the abundance of traditional clothing. Obviously, in America it's difficult to pinpoint a "traditional" type of clothing (a cowboy or pioneer, maybe? A native American? A lady in a hoopskirt? A man in a funny white wig?), but in Egypt it was like history intermingled with modern times all at once. A man in a traditional galibya robe would be sitting on a donkey and talking on a cell phone. A woman in an abaya robe and burqa face veil would be wearing beautiful pumps and walking onto a metro.
Granted, before any Egyptians get upset, many, many Egyptians wear Western-style clothing nowadays. However, in the more "baladee" areas of the country like middle and lower income neighborhoods, smaller villages, and rural areas, traditional dress is still common. How crazy awesome would it be to see lots of Americans walking around in hoopskirts, or in top hats, or more of us 1900s vintage lovers about? I think it would be amazingly fun!!!! What do you think?
Check out some of these old pictures from the late 1800s- early 1900s in Egypt, and compare them with the newer ones my sister and I took when we lived there:
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Shoe-black in Cairo, early 1900s.
Men in tarboosh, women in burqa (face veil), Cairo, 1920s
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| Cairo, 1870s |
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Near Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, 1934. Look at the similarities between this photo and the next one of a modern Egyptian street scene:
Pretty similar, huh? Of course, as I said, not all Egyptians wear traditional clothing, but a great many do! I guess you could say that, in some senses, lots of Egyptians dress vintage! They're wearing their 1940s styles, too! And 1840s..... maybe even 1740s.... how cool a thought is that?!
Compare these other modern photos (ones my sister and I took) with the old ones above:
        
If you could wear the traditional clothing of any country, which would it be and why?
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