Moroccan Caftan

In Morocco, the caftan refers to a long robe, slit or not, ornate, worn by women at ceremonies — wedding, religious feast, official reception. Its history has been written since the 12th century in the Almoravid and Almohad courts. Its technique mobilises several crafts: the seamstress, the embroiderer, the maâlma of sfifa and aâkad (passementerie), the maâlma of randa (metallic-thread embroidery).

i. History

The first mentions of the Moroccan caftan appear in the Almoravid then Almohad chronicles in the 12th and 13th centuries, in the form of a ceremonial robe, masculine and feminine, worn at the court of Marrakech. Under the Marinids (13th–15th centuries), Fès became the main centre of production: the medina workshops specialised in gold- and silver-thread embroidery, known as sqalli or terz fassi. In the 18th century, the King's seamstresses in Rabat developed their own school, distinct in its more sober palette and its rectilinear randa embroidery.

ii. Regional varieties

The caftan comes in several schools: the Fès caftan, the most embroidered, the most laden with passementerie; the Rabat caftan, more structured, with narrow sleeves; the Tétouan caftan, marked by the Andalusian heritage, with floral motifs; the Marrakech caftan, freer in its contemporary cuts. The takchita, a two-piece variant that appeared in the 20th century, layers a plain inner caftan under an open outer caftan, fastened by an embroidered mdamma belt.

iii. Related crafts

Making a caftan mobilises a chain of crafts: the weaving of brocade, the cutting by the maâlma khayata, embroidery with crochet or frame, passementerie for the sfifa (decorative border trims) and the aâkad (hand-braided buttons), the making of the gold-thread belt. A ceremonial caftan commonly requires between 80 and 300 hours of work, sometimes more for haute-couture pieces.

iv. The caftan today

The caftan remains, in 2026, the reference garment for Moroccan ceremonies. About a hundred contemporary Moroccan stylists and designers — Albert Oiknine, Fadila El Gadi, Zineb Joundy, Tamy Tazi among the best known — have since the 1990s undertaken to modernise its lines without betraying its vocabulary. The annual Caftan festival, created in 1995 by the magazine Femmes du Maroc, draws more than 50,000 spectators each year.

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