i. A long-awaited inscription

For years, the Moroccan caftan was contested. Contested by other Mediterranean countries, copied without credit, presented elsewhere without mention of its origin. The UNESCO inscription in December 2025, under the title Moroccan Caftan: art, traditions and skills, marks a moment of international recognition.

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The candidacy, led by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Tourism and Crafts, took several years. It involved the guilds of tailors (khayyatin), embroiderers (ma'allma), passementiers (mâallem akaad), as well as the Moroccan design associations. The file was argued on technical specificity: the Moroccan caftan is not only a silhouette, it is a system — cut, lining, embroidery, buttons, belt.

ii. Anatomy of a caftan

The Moroccan caftan is made of three pieces, often layered:

• The caftan proper: a long robe, long sleeves, fastened by a vertical line of small buttons down the bust.
• The mansouriya or dfine: a transparent or semi-transparent over-robe, in muslin or organza, worn over the caftan. Weddings, grand ceremonies.
• The mdamma: a wide fabric or leather belt, embroidered with gold, that underlines the waist.

Four elements form the caftan's signature: the sfifa (trim sewn along the seams, in silk, gold or silver thread), the akaad (the passementerie button, handmade, which can number dozens on a single caftan), the embroidery (terz fassi or terz rbati, depending on the city), and the lining that makes the garment a two-sided object.

iii. Three schools, three styles

Fès — austerity

The Fassi caftan is sober. Plain or two-toned, discreet embroidery, fine sfifa, modest buttons. It is the caftan of the great bourgeois families. The favoured fabric is the mokhzania or the gold-thread Fès brocade.

Rabat — the court

The Rbati caftan is more generous: brighter colours, denser embroidery, plays of transparency. It is the court caftan, tied to the presence of the royal palace. The dfine rbatia is famous for its floral motifs embroidered with multicoloured silk thread on tulle.

Tétouan — the Andalusian

Tétouan, an Andalusian city of refugees after the fall of Granada in 1492, has its own vocabulary: the ntâa caftan, the zradkhana caftan, the cape (jbador) in metallic thread. Ottoman and Morisco influences are clearly visible. Tétouan embroidery is one of the finest in Morocco.

iv. The workshop and transmission

A haute-couture ceremonial caftan mobilises several specialised workshops:

1. The khayyat (tailor) cuts the fabric and assembles the piece.
2. The ma'allma (master embroiderer) sketches the motifs in pencil, and embroiders by hand on a frame, with silk or gold thread.
3. The maâlem akaad (passementier) makes the buttons by hand — each can take half an hour.
4. The mtaref (trim-maker) sews the sfifa along the seams.

A wedding caftan can take three to six months, for a cost ranging from a few thousand to several tens of thousands of dirhams. The craft is transmitted both within the family and in accredited schools (Casablanca, Fès, Rabat).

The caftan is not a dress, it is a worn architecture. It has its façade, its rooms, its roof. Aïcha Kabbaj, Rbati designer