Clothing styles in the Middle East vary from country to country, and from region to region. In Palestine, the embroidery of patterns using specific colours is called tatreez. The word means embroidery in Arabic but has come to represent the Palestinian style.
Hanan K Munayyer, a scholar specialising in Palestinian dress, identifies one of the earliest examples of tatreez-style embroidery as a geometric silk cross-stitch fragment from 11th-century Alexandria. The oldest complete garments featuring the embroidery were discovered in a 1283 CE burial in Lebanon and closely resemble the traditional attire of the Ramallah region.
Many tatreez patterns resemble mosaics and shapes found in Arabic architecture. The most prominent colours used are red and black but other colours have been used. Linguistically, the word tatreez comes from taraz, which means to pierce a piece of cloth with a needle, an action required to achieve embroidery.
Intricate patterns are stitched on to the chest panel of a woman’s dress, known as the qabbeh, as well as the back, or shinyar, and sides, banayek. The intricacy and shape of the patterns can convey the status of the wearer. The more complicated and crafted patterned pieces can imply that the wearer is of a higher stature in society. This was explained in a 2023 UK exhibition titled Material Power: Palestinian Embroidery.
“The thobe tells the story of a woman’s life,” says Rachel Dedman, curator of the show of Palestinian embroidered dresses. “It was a way for a woman to show her social and economic status, her village and, ultimately, social realities.”
Tatreez was added to Unesco's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2021. The patterns of embroidery – and even the shade of colours of the thread used – varied from village to village, serving as a marker of each person’s identity.
After the Nakba, tatreez became a part of the iconography of Palestine. During the First Intifada, from 1987 to 1993, it was illegal to raise the Palestinian flag, so women began incorporating it into their designs, with the flag’s red, black and green colours forming patterns up and down the thobe.
Today, streetwear brands like Ajdadi Collective incorporate tatreez patterns into modern clothing and shoes to keep the practice alive. Started by Zak Jarallah in 2021, the UAE-based brand often appears at cultural events to sell their products.
“In Arabic, ajdadi means ancestors. The premise of the brand is to celebrate our forefathers,” Jarallah says. “When I started putting those T-shirts up for sale and people said: ‘Wow, this is amazing’, it was the biggest validation of success.”
