Chapter 1 Introduction: Fashion of non-western clothing styles

Moroccan urban dress is one of the rare non-western clothing styles that is part
of a growing fashion industry fueled by mechanisms such as fashion designers,
fashion events, specialized media, processes of fashion democratization, the comercialization of local clothing styles and new patterns of consumption. One of the main
reasons for this phenomenon is that Morocco offers an interesting example of the
co-existence of two initially mutually exclusive clothing styles, western/modern
dress and Moroccan/traditional dress, which came to be associated with different
occasions and attributed with different values by the wearer.
Since the introduction of western dress on a large scale in the second half
of the 20th century, the Moroccan case has shown that these different clothing styles
do not necessarily threaten each others existence but rather serve to stimulate each
others development. Mutual influences and processes of hybridization have been
introduced in the last few decades and are a reflection of larger ongoing processes
of hybridization in Moroccan society.
The aim of this research has been to find an answer to the question: How did
the Moroccan fashion industry develop in the last fifty years, based on local clothing styles? Five
phenomena in Moroccan society are believed to have played a crucial role in this
process. First of all, Moroccan dress is considered as part of an ancient cultural
heritage by its wearers; it is considered as part of tradition. Secondly, three
generations of Moroccan fashion designers succeeded in adapting Moroccan clothing
styles to new circumstances in Moroccan society at crucial moments in time.

31

Third, the local media played an important role in the democratization

of Moroccan fashion while fourthly its commercialization was influenced by the
introduction of western confection brands at the turn of the 21st century. Finally,
there is the important cultural, social, political, economic and religious role that
Moroccan clothing styles continue to play in contemporary Moroccan society. Each
of these five phenomena and their impact on the development of Moroccan urban
dress will be amply discussed in the following chapters.
My interest in fashion of non-western clothing styles developed during my
research on local dress, baju adat, of the Minangkabau in Western Sumatra for my
MA thesis in 1999-2000. Before I went into the field I had read all the books
available on their impressive goldthread weaving, songket, and their beautiful gold
jewelry, but when I arrived in my research village I found hardly any of these
impressive objects. It soon turned out that most of the hand-woven goldthread
weaves and gold ornaments had ended up in museum collections and antique shops
while the majority of the garments worn were made in China. But after overcoming
my initial disappointment, it was my host-mother who made me reconsider my
conclusion that the Minangkabau no longer valued their local clothing styles. She
showed me that her people were still deeply attached to their local dress and that
although the garments themselves had changed, they continued to play an important
socio-cultural role in contemporary society. When she finally showed me some old
garments which used to belong to her mother and which were left to the mercy
of nature, I realized that she considered them as old(-fashioned) and no longer
suitable to wear. It seemed that I had become biased by the literature in thinking that
everything that is old is automatically more authentic and important while everything
that is new is necessarily less valuable and of no (anthropological) interest. I realized
that it was an ethnocentric point of view to value everything that is old, while
in non-western society the new is often associated with modernity and therefore
more desirable. My research ended up taking a completely different direction.
When I started my research on Moroccan urban dress in September 2000,
again I automatically began by studying old garments in private and museum collections since these were the garments I had once more become familiar with through
the literature available on the topic. But during my field research I was again confronted with new garments, so I became fascinated by this idea of change or the
fashion of so-called traditional dress. I started wondering if non-western dress
changed in the same way as western dress and if it was possible to speak of fashion
as such. I realized that through the literature available on dress and fashion I had
become biased by the point of view that traditional dress is fixed, while the very
essence of fashionable dress is its ability to change.

32

In the words of John Flgel (1950)

Fixed costume (anti-fashion) changes slowly in time, and its whole value depends, to some
extent, upon its permanence (). Modish costume (fashion) changes very rapidly in time,
this rapidity of change belonging to its very essence.3

Flgel continues by saying that anti-fashion is diverse and characteristic for

a certain group or region while modish costume is less diverse but is more dispersed
through space. Also, the first one is associated with non-western countries while the
second one is associated with the West; that is developed, industrial countries
structured by capitalist economies. But my impressions of Moroccan urban dress
made me question this dichotomy.
Another prejudice I developed through the literature on traditional dress
was that change in this type of dress is to be explained as a result of external influences rather than internal developments. The assumption is that the introduction
of western dress on a large scale would automatically lead to the disappearance
of local clothing styles. However, my field research in Morocco indicated that these
initially opposite types of dress were not only co-existing rather peacefully, but also
mutually influencing each others development.
That Moroccan urban dress continues to play an import role in contemporary society soon became clear through the frequency by which it is worn, the
amounts of money, time and energy that are invested in purchasing these (handmade) garments, even if they are doomed to run out of fashion, and the social rules
that regulate its wearing.
1.1 Scientific importance of fashion of non-western clothing styles
The main goal of this research has been to contribute to the understanding of why
some local clothing styles continue to evolve and even develop into successful
fashion industries while the majority of non-western dress folklorized that is, froze
in time or completely disappeared.4 With Moroccan urban dress as a case study,
I have wanted to identify the main factors that contributed to the continuity of its
development. When local clothing styles cease to evolve with the people by whom
they are worn, that is, stop reflecting historical, social, cultural, economic, political
and religious developments of that society, a gap emerges between the two, and
people no longer identify with these garments. However, the reasons as to why some
local clothing styles fail to evolve are diverse and case-specific, which makes regional
case studies and comparative research essential.
3

John C. Flgel, The Psychology of Clothes (London: The Hogarth Press, 1950), 129-130.
In this respect an interesting book is Robert Ross, Clothing: A Global History (Cambridge:
Polity Press, 2008).
4

33

There are roughly two groups of literature on dress. On the one hand, one
finds a body of literature focusing on non-western clothing styles, which is in its
majority characterized by a static approach, explaining change as a result of external
influences. On the other hand there is the literature dealing with western clothing
styles, which emphasizes its dynamic character and the phenomenon of (commercial)
fashion. In this research I reject this dichotomy, which characterizes traditional
dress as static and western dress as dynamic. Instead I focus on the interplay
of these two clothing styles.
When designing the theoretical framework, I focused on discussions
concerning the anthropology of dress, identity, the (misleading) concept of tradition
and phenomena of fashion, globalization, modernity and consumerism. First of all,
anthropologists agree that dress, as part of material culture, is the symbolic
expression of historical, political, social, religious and economic developments in
a given society. It therefore offers a window through which we might look
into a culture. As Linda Arthur (1999) puts it,
it visually attests to the salient ideas, concepts and categories fundamental to that culture.
Age, gender, ethnicity and religion help to define a persons social location and are made
visisble when cultures make dress salient ().5

By dress I refer to everything that people do to or put on their bodies,

including touch, smell, taste and sound. Ruth Barnes and Joanne Eicher (1992)
define dress as
an assemblage of body modifications and/or supplements displayed by a person
in communicating with other human beings.6

This communication, they say, is a non-verbal one through which a person

expresses ones individual and collective identity, including ones age, gender, social
status, nationality, religious and/or political convictions, ethnicity, sub-group, etc.7
However, the concept of identity has become more complex under the
growing influences of globalization and I agree with Loubna Skalli (2006) who insists
on the importance of conceptualizing identity as a construct rather than a given.
As a construct it is constantly shaped and remodeled through its repositioning within tradition, religion, national and transnational influences.8
5

Linda Arthur, Religion, Dress and the Body (Oxford: Berg, 1999), 1.
Ruth Barnes and Joanne B. Eicher, Dress and Gender: Making and Meaning in Cultural Context
(Oxford: Berg, 1992), 15.
7
Ruth Barnes and Joanne B. Eicher, Dress and Gender: Making and Meaning in Cultural Context
(Oxford: Berg, 1992), 15.
8
Loubna H. Skalli, Through a Local Prism: Gender, Globalization and Identity in Moroccan Womens
Magazines (New York: Lexington Books, 2006), 30 & 33.
6

34

Thera Rasing (1999), in turn, speaks of interacting identities. She explains

that people are dealing with processes that go on simultaneously: on the one hand
they adopt new ways of living under external influences, on the other they hold on
to old customs and beliefs. This is not contradictory, she says but shows
interacting identities.9 The dynamism and ease with which Moroccans switch between Moroccan and Western clothing styles is a good example of these interacting
identities. People do not feel the need to choose since both clothing styles fulfill
different needs.
While Western dress has become associated with modern contexts,
Moroccan urban dress became associated with traditional social and religious
circumstances. Therefore the most important value of Moroccan urban dress is that
it is considered as part of tradition. The term tradition however is ambiguous and
misleading since it often implies being ancient and static. In The Invention of Tradition,
edited by Eric Hobsbawm and Terrence Ranger (1983), six historians and anthropologists argue that traditions can actually be quite new and even literally invented
in a single event or over a short time period. The main characteristic of an invented
tradition is that the continuity with its historic past if there is one is largely
fictitious. According to Eric Hobsbawn and Terrence Ranger (1983), invented
traditions are responses to new situations which take the form of reference to old
situations, or which establish their own past by quasi-obligatory repetition.10 A quasiglobal revival of local traditions, such as the contemporary success of Moroccan
urban dress, can be explained as a reaction to these rapidly increasing new situations
under the influence of globalization.
However, these two types of clothing have more in common than is generally believed and traditional dress is no more static than fashionable dress is
arbitrary. The phenomenon of fashion is initially explained through social
competition and mobility. Due to economic growth, John Flgel (1950) explains,
new social classes emerge that challenge established prevailing dress codes by adopting the distinguished dress of the social classes they aspire to join, which in their
turn feel the urge to adopt new dress to differentiate themselves. 11 Once everybody
can wear the garments they wish, economic interests take over to stimulate this
renewal of clothing styles, resulting in commercial fashion. The phenomenon
of fashion has almost naturally been associated with capitalist countries prevailing
in the West, while changes in traditional dress have too easily been explained as results of external influences through the phenomenon of globalization.
9

Thera Rasing, Globalization and the Making of Consumers: Zambian Kitchen Parties,
in Modernity on a Shoestring: Dimensions of Globalization, Consumption and Development in Africa and
Beyond, ed. Richard Fardon, Wim van Binsbergen and Rijk van Dijk (Leiden, London:
EIDOS, 1999), 238.
10
Erich Hobsbawm and Terrence Ranger, The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1983).
11
John C. Flgel, The Psychology of Clothes (London: The Hogarth Press, 1950), 138.

35

Some scientists believe that globalization unavoidably leads to cultural homogenization through Western images, ideologies and products. Starting from a different perspective, anthropologists such as Arjun Appadurai (1996), Richard Fardon,
Wim van Binsbergen and Rijk van Dijk (1999), Jonathan Inda and Renato Rosaldo
(2002), Frank J. Lechner and John Boli (2008) as well as many others,12 have pointed
out that cultural flows are more complex and do not necessarily lead to greater
cultural homogeneity. Also, flows of images, ideologies and consumer goods do not
only move from the North to the South, but also in the opposite direction, while
simultaneously South-South flows have been increasing. Additionally, these same
anthropologists have been insisting on the fact that non-Western recipients are not
simply passive consumers and that local cultural notions have an impact on how they
employ and interpret these influences. For example, many non-Western countries are
on a quest for modernity, both on a material and philosophical level. But often their
local ideologies do not coincide with the introduced ideologies from the West, based
on elements of the Enlightenment worldview such as freedom, welfare, human
rights, democracy, sovereignty, separation of church and state and the relegation of
religion to the private sphere. Therefore, local types of modernity have been
emerging which might be inspired by Western ideologies, but adapted to local
circumstances.
Contrary to the idea that the introduction of Western dress on a large scale
unavoidably leads to the disappearance of local clothing styles, its arrival in Morocco
stimulated the development of Moroccan urban dress through the introduction
of new consumption patterns. Through the initiation of Western confection chains
on the Moroccan market, the Moroccan consumer has been increasingly confronted
with mass-produced, standardized and widely disseminated commodities, which has
been reflected in the consumption patterns of Moroccan dress.
Through a combination of theoretical approaches I hope to contribute
to a better understanding of how local clothing styles evolve in relation to social,
political and economic change. Furthermore, I believe a dynamic approach in the
study of non-Western clothing styles can contribute to the understanding of
contemporary dynamics in non-Western societies, especially in relation to identity
issues.

12

Arjun Appadurai, Modernity at Large (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996);

Richard Fardon, Wim van Binsbergen and Rijk van Dijk, Modernity on a Shoestring: Dimensions
of Globalization, Consumption and Development in Africa and Beyond (Leiden, London: EIDOS,
1999); Jonathan X. Inda and Renato Rosaldo, The Anthropology of Globalization: A Reader
(Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002); Frank J. Lechner and John Boli, The Globalization
Reader (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2008).

36

1.2 Moroccan urban dress as a case study

Moroccan urban dress provides an interesting case study for understanding the development of non-western clothing styles. Although it meets the criteria of traditional
as defined in the literature, it has proven to be remarkably dynamic and successful
in adapting to rapid changes introduced in Moroccan society in the last fifty years.
What makes it so interesting is the fact that it is one of the rare non-Western
clothing styles that is part of a successful (inter)national fashion industry and it continues to play an important social, cultural, religious and political role in contemporary Moroccan society.
Nevertheless, there is a lack of scientific research on the development
of Moroccan urban dress, especially in the last fifty years of rapid and volatile social
change, changes that were also crucial for the development of Moroccan urban
clothing styles. The most influential research on Moroccan dress so far remains the
work of Jean Besancenots (1990), Costumes du Maroc, which documented the majority
of Moroccan clothing styles between 1934 and 1939.13 Two decades later, E. Rachow
(1958) documented the material culture of Morocco in two volumes of which the
first ones, Beitrge zur Kenntis der materiellen Kultur Nordwest-Marokkos: Wohnraum,
Hausrat, Kostm, includes interesting information on Moroccan urban dress.14
Additionally, in the first half of the 20th century some important articles appeared in
the journal Hespris, describing in particular the production techniques of Moroccan
urban dress such as embroidery, couched plaited cord, brocade weaving and shoe
making.15 Before these publications appeared the only information available on
Moroccan dress was collected by European sailors, diplomats and travelers, including
artists like Eugene Delacroix who made a series of sketches and aquarelles on
Moroccan dress during his stay in 1832.16 In the second half of the 20th century a
series of museum catalogues were published, like Magisch Marokko and Les Trsors du
Royaume, which all provide a descriptive and historical documentation of Moroccan

13

Jean Besancenot, Costumes of Morocco (London, New York: Kegan Paul International, 1990).
E. Rachow, Beitrge zur Kenntis der materiellen Kultur Nordwest-Marokkos: Wohnraum, Hausrat,
Kostm (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1958).
15
Charles Buttin, Les poignards et les sabres Marocains, Hespris 26 (1939): 1-28; A.M.
Goichon, La broderie au fil d or a Fs: Ses rapports avec la broderie de soie, ses accessoires
de passementerie, Hespris 26 (1939): 49-85 and 241-281; Lucien Golvin, Le mtier a la tire
des fabricants de brocarts de Fs, Hespris 37 (1950): 21-48; Jeanne Jouin, Themes
dcoratifs des broderies Marocaines: Leur caractre et leurs origines, Hespris 21(1935): 149151; Jeanne Lapanne-Joinville, Les mtiers a tisser de Fs, Hespris 27 (1940): 21-92;
Prosper Ricard, Une ligne dartisans: les Ben Chrif de Fs, Hespris 37 (1950): 11-19; M.
Vicaire and Roger Le Tourneau, La fabrication du fil d'or Fs, Hespris 24 (1937): 69-87.
16
See for example Lee Johnson, The Paintings of Eugene Delacroix: A Critical Catalogue, 18321863 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987).
14

37

dress.17 In 1994 Ghita El Khayat published Le Somptueux Maroc des Femmes on female
beauty practices in Morocco, which also includes descriptions of female clothing
styles.18 In 2003 Rachida Alaoui published her book Costumes et Parures du Maroc on
Moroccan urban dress in the last few hundred years and was the first to include
some work of (Moroccan) fashion designers.19 Although well documented, Alaouis
work adopts a distinctly historical perspective rather than an anthropological view
of how Moroccan dress developed in relation to changes in Moroccan society. In this
respect, the MA thesis of Claire Nicholas (2005) is an interesting work addressing the
transition from the ayk to the jellaba for women and how this related to the emancipation process in Moroccan society.20 Nevertheless, it only focuses on this particular aspect and does not pay attention to the development of the Moroccan fashion
industry.
Furthermore, relatively little sociological and anthropological research (in
relation to clothing) has been done on contemporary Moroccan urban society in the
last few years. In 1989 Elaine Combs-Schilling (1989) published Sacred Performances
on the Moroccan monarchy as head of the nation and the faithful, which gives
an interesting perspective on the influence of the Moroccan royal family on the
Moroccan population.21 In his book on Moroccan Islam, Dale Eickelman (1976)
gives important insights on religious life in Morocco.22 Susan Ossmans research
(1994 & 2002) on the city of Casablanca, for which she did extensive field research,
offers insights on how Moroccan society has developed in the last few decades
from a social, cultural, economic and political point of view.23 A good study of the
political and economic liberalization at the end of the 20th century and its consequences for Moroccan society is Morocco: Globalization and its Consequences by Shana

17

Ivo Grammet, ed., Magisch Marokko (Paris: Editions Plume, 1998); Paris Muses, Maroc: Les
Trsors du Royaume (Paris: Editions Plume, 1999); Marie-Rose Rabat and Andr Goldenberg,
Bijoux du Maroc: Du Haut Atlas a la Mditerrane. Depuis le temps des Juifs jusqua la fin du XXe
siecle (Paris: Edisud/EDDIF, 1999); J. P. Berns, Maroc: Costumes, broderies, brocarts (Paris: ABC
collection, 1974).
18
Ghita El Khayat, Le somptueux Maroc des femmes (Sale: Dedico, 1994).
19
Rachida Alaoui, Costumes et parures du Maroc (Paris: ACR Edition, 2003).
20
Claire Nicholas, Du hak la jellaba: Anthropologie de lhabillement fminin dans
le Maroc du XXe sicle, (MA thesis, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales Paris,
2005).
21
Elaine Combs-Schilling, Sacred Performances: Islam, Sexuality and Sacrifice (New York, Oxford:
Columbia University Press, 1989).
22
Dale F. Eickelman, Moroccan Islam: Tradition and Society in a Pilgrimage Center (Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1976).
23
Susan Ossman, Picturing Casablanca: Portraits of Power in a Modern City (Berkeley, Los Angeles,
London: University of California Press, 1994) and Susan Ossman, Three Faces of Beauty:
Casablanca, Paris and Cairo (Durham, London: Duke University Press, 2002).

38

Cohen and Larabi Jaida.24 But Loubna Skallis (2006) work on the Moroccan
feminine press, Through a Local Prism: Gender, Globalization and Identity in Moroccan
Womens Magazines, is especially relevant, as an analysis of the perception,
interpretation and translation of global influences in contemporary Moroccan urban
society. Skalli looks at some important aspects, such as the increasing external
influences from both the West and the East, resulting in a sort of schizophrenia due
to opposing ideological influences. She also deals with the ongoing process of pull
and push between tradition and modernity within Moroccan society, which
continues to influence contemporary Moroccan urban society.25 Her research bears
some resemblance to my own by virtue of the fact that it demonstrates how external
influences may not necessarily lead to the disappearing of local realities and can even
stimulate their development. Where Skalli deals with the phenomenon of the press
and the influence of especially French lifestyle magazines, this research deals rather
with the impact of western confection brands on the development of Moroccan
dress.
This research contributes to the ongoing discussion on contemporary
Moroccan urban society through the extensive field research that was conducted in
Fez, Marrakech and Casablanca between 2005 and 2008. On a broader theoretical
level it participates in conversations concerning the fashion of non-Western clothing
styles, based on the case study of the Moroccan fashion industry. Finally, it contributes to an inter-disciplinary debate on the effects of globalization in non-Western
societies.
1.3 Methods of research
I started this research in September 2000 after obtaining my MA in cultural
anthropology at Leiden University. Although I had been to Morocco numerous
times from a young age onwards, it was my activities at the Textile Research Center
in Leiden that led me to do research on Moroccan urban dress.26
24

Shana Cohen and Larabi Jaidi, Morocco: Globalization and Its Consequences (New York,
Abinggon: Routledge, 2006).
25
Loubna H. Skalli, Through a Local Prism: Gender, Globalization and Identity in Moroccan Womens
Magazines (New York: Lexington Books, 2006).
26
Due to the lack of a research grant I have conducted my research part-time and simultaneously I have been taking care of the Morocco collection at the Textile Research Center
in Leiden (2000-2005), working as a research assistant at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced studies in Social Science and Humanities (NIAS) in Wassenaar (2001-2005) and
taking care of the press and cultural affaires at the Dutch Embassy in Rabat (2006-2008).
Furthermore, I was involved in several projects during this period, such as the celebration
of four hundred years of diplomacy between Morocco and the Netherlands in 2005, for
which I developed a museum exhibition on four hundred years of Moroccan urban dress

39

The most important reasons why I decided to focus on urban dress in particular were the lack of contemporary research on this topic, my fascination for its
dynamic character as a traditional clothing style and its development into a fashion
industry. For practical reasons I decided to focus on three cities in particular, namely
Fez, Marrakech and Casablanca. Although Morocco has several cities that
contributed to the development of urban clothing styles, I chose these cities because
of their different characters and the important roles they played in the development
of urban dress. Where Fez can be considered as its place of birth
in the sense
that it used to be the center of Moroccan culture based on an Arab-Andalusian
heritage, Marrakech is responsible for its 'amazi and later European in-fluences.
Founded by 'amazi rulers and located in the south of Morocco, Marrakech is more
influenced by rural Morocco and black Africa. With its growing foreign presence, it
has had a different impact on Moroccan urban dress. Finally, Casablanca, as the
economic metropolis of Morocco, attracts people from all four corners of the
country and beyond. Compared to Fez and Marrakech, it is a young city with the
least constraints set by tradition. Due to its economic activities, Casablanca is where
the fashion industry is based.27
Finally, as the research evolved, I found myself focusing increasingly on the
last fifty years, because this seemed to be the period where the most important
phenomena took place that had an influence on the development of the Moroccan
fashion industry. In my research I analyzed Moroccan clothing styles for men and
women of all ages, social backgrounds and religious convictions.
1.3.1 Terminology
Here I will elaborate on the definition of some significant concepts and how they are
used throughout this research, such as urban dress versus rural dress, local
clothing styles instead of traditional dress, Moroccan dress versus Western dress
and the idea of (commercial) fashion and a fashion industry. Although it has been
difficult to strictly define these terms, I have based these definitions in their majority
on the way they were used by the respondents.
First of all, I continuously insist on urban dress in this research as a category
distinct from rural clothing styles. There are considerable differences between
Moroccos urban centers and its rural areas, based on different origins and levels of
external influences over time as well as economic development. First of all,
Van Harem tot Catwalk for the World Museum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands (which
unfortunately could not take place due to a lack of funding). In Morocco, I worked on an exhibition on the production process of Moroccan urban dress entitled De fil en Aiguille
in November 2006 in the Muse Batha in Fez, for which I wrote the catalogue. In June 2007
I was involved in the organization of the second edition of a Moroccan fashion event
FestiMode in Casablanca, for which I also wrote the catalogue. Furthermore, I wrote several
articles and gave some lectures.
27
I elaborate on these three cities in chapter 2.

40

considerable parts of the rural regions are populated by the original inhabitants
of present-day Morocco, the 'amazi, while the majority of the city centers were
founded and populated by foreign invaders such as Arabs, Spanish and French.
Secondly, the rural areas were more protected against external influences throughout
history because of their remoteness, while the city centers attracted external
influences due to their economic activities. According to Frieda Sorber (1998), the
clothing traditions of the 'amazi are characterized by rectangular and half-round
garments, which are draped around the body and fixed with fibulae, while the Arab
clothing traditions consist of cut and sown garments.28 However, after centuries
of cohabitation, there have been mutual influences between the different clothing
styles and some rural garments have become part of urban dress like the jellaba and
the selham.
Also, I frequently use the term clothing style, which refers to a set of garments and accessories that form a union and can be characterized as such. A more
commonly used term in the literature is costume, but I find this term to have too
much of a static connotation. The term clothing style, in my opinion, leaves more
room for change.
Additionally, I have a preference for the use of local or Moroccan clothing
styles instead of traditional dress, a term that is commonly used in the literature
to denote non-Western dress that is characteristic for a region or society and believed to change little in time.29 The term local or Moroccan clothing style also
refers to dress that is characteristic for Morocco but does not imply a static character. It defines garments that are considered as local by the respondents.
Fashionable dress, on the other hand, is generally described in the literature as coming from the West that is, industrial, developed, capitalist countries which is not
characteristic for a specific region or society and which is believed to change rapidly
in time. In this research it refers to garments that are considered foreign by the
respondents. Simultaneously, respondents associated Moroccan dress with tradition while Western dress was associated with modernity, even if the second
changes just as little as the first remains the same. Also, there was the general idea
amongst the respondents that influences in dress come in its majority from the West,
although influences from India and the Middle East are just as present in Morocco
through television, movies and the importation of clothing. The only time respondents would speak of the influence of the Middle East was through the
influence of religious dress, which is dress that is consciously worn to express ones
Muslim identity such as long black head and face veils for women and which is not
considered Moroccan. In chapter 6 I will elaborate on these different categories
of dress and the introduction of new hybrid categories as a result of mutual
28

Frieda Sorber, De kleding, in Magisch Marokko, ed. Ivo Grammet (Paris: Editions Plume,
1998): 152.
29
John C. Flgel, The Psychology of Clothes (London: The Hogarth Press, 1950), 129-130.

41

influencing. I will also discuss on what criteria the unconscious process of categorization is based.
Finally, I frequently use the term fashion, which I use to describe changes
in dress under the influence of changes introduced in society. With fashion industry
I refer to the (commercial) mechanisms that stimulate the changes in Moroccan
urban dress such as specialized media, specialized professions, specialized stores, etc.
It was important to define these terms in relation to the way they were used
by the respondents in this research for they were the most important source of information on the development of Moroccan urban dress and the Moroccan fashion
industry. It is only through extensive field research, participant observation and interviewing that the subtlety of these terms became clear.
1.3.2 Research techniques
This research has a strong qualitative character and the research methods I used
to collect the data consisted of the study of literature and images in libraries, archives
and personal collections, magazines, journals, television and the Internet, collection
research in private and public collections and fieldwork, including participant
observation and semi-structured and unstructured interviewing with experts, keyinformants and respondents.
Literature study was used in all stages of the research, from private and
public library collections to archives and the Internet. I used scientific literature for
historical research and the theoretical framework, while the press and Internet
provided me with data on the development of Moroccan urban clothing styles and
the development of the Moroccan fashion industry, such as (fashion)magazines,
newspapers, journals and homepages of designers. In addition, I studied images from
private and public photo collections as well as private and public video material. The
collections I documented and analyzed were both from private and public museums,
antiquaries, collectors and private collections, which provided me with information
for the study of changes in Moroccan urban clothing styles as to fabrics, cuts, colors
and decoration techniques. Furthermore, over a period of eight years (2000-2008)
I conducted several periods of field research in Morocco, varying in duration,
frequency and focus of research.
Starting in December 2000, my early field research focused on the garments
worn during wedding ceremonies and therefore I documented several weddings
in Morocco and Moroccan weddings in The Netherlands. In the fall of 2001 I made
a six-week trip to Morocco by car, as a first broad introduction to the country,
its people and its regional differences. The goal of the trip was to collect, document
and catalogue two hundred objects for the Morocco collection of the Textile Research Center in Leiden, The Netherlands. The next year I spent two weeks with
a traditional tailor in Essaouira to document the production techniques for a caftan.
In 2003 I made a special three-week field trip to Morocco to study the Moroccan

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fashion industry and visited the influential yearly fashion event Caftan in
Marrakesh for the first time.
Finally in 2005-06 I spent one year in Morocco to do extensive field research
in Fez, Marrakech and Casablanca. The first six months were spent with a host
family in Fez, of which the father was a traditional tailor and the mother an embroiderer. The first three months included an intensive language course in Moroccan
Arabic (darija) after I had been studying standard Arabic (fuh) for a year at the
Arabic Publication House in Rotterdam. The next three months I spent working
in my host fathers shop to learn and document all the production techniques used
in Moroccan urban clothing and with women at home to learn about the production
of buttons, needle lace, embroidery and hand braided bands. After six months
in Fez, I spent three months in Marrakech, living and working with the renowned
contemporary fashion designer Noureddine Amir and following the preparations of
his collection for Caftan 2006. The last three months I lived in Casablanca and
focused on the Moroccan fashion industry in the economic capital. After this intense
period of field research I settled in Casablanca, where I have been living since.
During the fieldwork periods I frequently employed the technique of participant observation, which implied making observations by participating in daily
activities. Participant observation as part of the fieldwork was crucial in my research
approach. Spending time in the field, and especially with my host families, gave me
access to behavior that was generally not discussed in interviews because
of its
unconscious nature. Although it is a rather time consuming activity it allowed me to
collect information I could not have collected through other research techniques.
In addition, I collected data through semi-structured and unstructured
interviewing with respondents, key-informants and experts. For the interviews with
the respondents I used a list of preset semi-open questions (see appendix), which
provided me with data on the way Moroccan dress is perceived, purchased and worn,
as well as ideas on and influences of the Moroccan fashion industry. The
questionnaire also included ten pictures of womens and mens clothing styles
to record reactions and opinions on what is considered Moroccan dress, differences
between old and new garments and Moroccan fashion. The interviews generally
lasted between thirty minutes and one hour and were recorded on my iPod with the
consent of the respondents, so they would not feel intimidated by the fact of me
taking notes. After a few minutes they would forget that they were being recorded
and would speak freely. For the interviews that were conducted in Arabic,
a translator was always present to translate when needed. Finally, at the end of each
interview I would ask the respondents to show me pictures and garments to supplement the interview questions. The advantage of semi-structured interviewing
is that it allows one to make generalizations and perform statistical analyses through
codifying the answers, but at the same time it is limited in the collection of data.
Furthermore, I selected the respondents through the snowball technique,
starting with my host family, their family and friends, people from the neighborhood

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and through people I met through my research, based on age, gender, religion, social
status and place of residence (mdina or ville nouvelle) to get the most representative
group as possible. My research group consisted of ninety respondents, with thirty
in each city.30
Finally, for the interviews with key informants and experts I used unstructured interviewing, leaving the freedom to choose the topic and the direction of
the interview related to the expertise or position of the person being interviewed.
Again these interviews were recorded and no notes were taken during the interview.
More than sixty of this type of interview were conducted in Fez, Marrakech and
Casablanca with merchants, artisans, fashion designers, editors, journalists, photographers, models, textile industrialists, antiquarians, private collectors, artists, historyians, sociologists, anthropologists and conservators. This type of interviewing gives
more freedom than structured interviewing, but is very time consuming to analyze.
It is important to notice that with the majority of these qualitative research
techniques, the researcher as a person plays an important role in the gathering of the
information as well as the circumstances. Therefore I wish to devote a section to the
problems encountered during the research.
1.3.3 Problems
Although the problems mentioned in this paragraph are common in anthropological
fieldwork and have been extensively discussed in a large body of methodological
literature and literature about ethnology, it is important to mention them briefly for
they have had an influence on the collected data presented in this research.
The first problem encountered during my research was related to collection
research, going from a difficult access to public collections to more practical
limitations like a lack of permission to touch the objects, which made the study
of garments difficult. The difficulty with private collections, on the other hand, was
often a lack of time. Collection research is time consuming and respondents, after an
hour of interviewing, did not always have the time or patience. This often limited the
collection research to taking pictures under poor conditions and no structured
analysis. Also the interviews did not always take place at home, which made access
to private collections limited. When the respondents were requested an additional
appointment for collection research, they would often evade the question or come
up with excuses and apologies. Therefore the research objective to document and
describe the evolution of Moroccan garments, for both men and women, for both
young and old, in the last fifty years was not reached to my satisfaction.
A second difficulty was related to the selection of the respondents. The areas
and social environments in which I was living turned out to have an influence on the
selection of the respondents. For example in Fez, where I was living with a relatively
30

See chapter six, table 6.1 for an overview of the respondents related to age, gender, social
status and place of residence.

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poor family in the old mdina, my network of potential respondents included much
more people of the lower social classes, living in the old mdina. In Marrakech, on the
other hand, I was living with a family of the upper middle class in the new city,
which led to an extensive network of middle class respondents in the new city and
difficult access to respondents living in the old mdina. Finally, in Casablanca, where
I was living alone, my network was mostly consisting of upper middle class relatively
young friends, living in the residential areas. An additional problem was that by the
time I was conducting research in Casablanca summer had begun and it was hard
to find respondents for the interviews since many people were on holiday. Also
it was often hard to determine the social class of the respondents, which I related
as best I could to the persons living conditions, neighborhood, school education and
occupation. This allowed me to only roughly categorize the respondents in three
social categories.
Thirdly, I encountered problems during the interviewing. Not all respondents
had the same level of enthusiasm for the interview or invested the same effort
in answering the questions thoroughly. This was either by disinterest or simply bad
timing and could not be foreseen in advance. Also, an hour of interviewing seemed
long for some, which had especially an influence on the second part of the interview
and the willingness to show pictures or garments afterwards. During the interview,
questions were sometimes misunderstood or interpreted differently and it was
difficult to judge when to intervene without influencing the answer. For example,
when asked if social status played a role in the choice of dress, some respondents
would relate that question to themselves, while others would speak in general. In
such cases, I would ask the question once, await an answer and only then explain or
reformulate. As for the language, ninety percent of the interviews were conducted in
French, for the majority of the urban Moroccan population speaks French.
However, for those interviews conducted in Moroccan Arabic (darija) there turned
out to be a problem of terminology. Many words, especially related to fashion,
simply do not exist in Moroccan Arabic and by using related words, confusions
or misunderstandings occurred. The fact of not speaking French was related to a lack
of education, a low social status or high age, which also played a role in the way
respondents misunderstood the topics or questions.
Finally, the influence of the researcher as a person on the data should not be
underestimated. As an unmarried female researcher in a Muslim country I experienced both advantages and disadvantages in obtaining information. The world
of female artisans was more accessible while male informants sometimes had different intentions and expectations than myself. As a foreigner and a scientist, people
might have had more respect for me, but at the same time it made some people
suspicious and insecure, thinking that I would use the collected information for my
own benefit or that they would not live up to my expectations. Especially the artisans in Marrakech and to some degree those in Fez have become suspicious toward
foreigners, convinced that they will take over the market by starting their

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own businesses based on their knowledge, which has occurred to some degree
in Marrakech.
1.4 Content
The book is divided into seven chapters describing the five phenomena that played
crucial roles in the development of Moroccan urban dress and its fashion industry.
After this introductory chapter, chapter two describes the most important historical,
political, social and religious developments in Moroccan society over the last fifty
years and the way they influenced the development of Moroccan urban dress. These
different developments are part of a common cultural heritage, which play an important role in the notion of a collective identity.
The third chapter focuses on the roles three generations of Moroccan
fashion designers have played in the develop-ment of the Moroccan fashion industry
based on local clothing styles. It includes theoretical debates on the distinction
between traditional and fashionable dress in the literature, the phenomenon of
fashion, the role of fashion designers and the concept of fashion trends. In its
different sections it describes the shift from the traditional tailor to the introduction
of fashion designers and the most important differences between the three
generations of Moroccan fashion designers as well as the impact foreign designers
have had on the Moroccan fashion industry.
Chapter four concerns the role the specialized media played in the
development of the Moroccan fashion industry. Besides theoretical debates on the
impact of new technologies
of communication and their role in the process of
globalization, the chapter focuses on the rise of the Moroccan media, their role in the
democratization process of both Western and Moroccan fashion and their
contribution to the spread of commercial fashion in Morocco.
The next chapter, chapter five, deals with the comercialization process of
Moroccan urban dress at the turn of the 21st century under the influence of western
confection brands. It includes theoretical debates on the phenomena of
globalization, consumerism and commercial fashion. This chapter focuses on the
impact the introduction of Western confection brands has had on the development
of Moroccan urban dress and especially its consumption patterns while paying attention to the most important differences between the commercialization of Western
dress and Moroccan dress. However, the commercial success of the Moroccan
fashion industry would not have been possible if Moroccan dress did not continue to
play an important cultural, social, economic, political and religious role in contemporary Moroccan society.
Therefore chapter six focuses on the role Moroccan clothing styles continue
to play in Moroccan society and is based on data collected during an extensive year
of field research in Fez, Marrakech and Casablanca between September 2005 and

46

August 2006. Since the political, religious and economic roles have already been
explained in chapter two, this chapter concentrates on the cultural and social role of
Moroccan urban dress.
The final chapter, chapter seven, summarizes the findings of the research
and includes the answers to the research questions. It also elaborates on suggestions
for further research.

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48