Professor Doris Behrens-Abouseif: Men’s fashions in Medieval Cairo

While dress code in medieval societies was largely defined by religious, political, and social rules, personal preferences could still play a significant role in shaping dress culture. Focused on Mamluk Cairo, this lecture documents the involvement of sultans and emirs in the design of uniforms and ceremonial outfits to convey their political image, while at the same in pursue of a refined lifestyle, individuals of the elite created fashions and designs that were named to them.  Commoners created fashions as well, but they remained mostly nameless. Combined with social and economic developments over more than two and a half centuries, such initiatives led eventually to significant transformations in the dress culture of medieval Cairo.

Doris Behrens-Abouseif (Research Professor at SOAS) is the former Nasser D Khalili professor at SOAS. She is an art and culture historian with numerous publications on Islamic architecture and culture, urbanism, aesthetics, the decorative arts, mainly in Egypt and Syria, from the early period to the 19^th century.