Traditional Persian clothing or traditional Iranian clothing is the historical costume of the courtly and urban population of Iran (Persia), before the Pahlavi dress reforms of the 1930s. Clothing in Iran can be divided into several historical periods, however little is known about its earliest history. The exact date of the emergence of weaving in Iran is not yet known, but it is likely to coincide with the emergence of civilization. There are historical discoveries in northern Iran from about 6,000 BC that refer to wool weaving at the time. Other discoveries in central Iran dating back to 4200 BC have shown that the animals' skin has not been the only clothing worn on the Iranian plateau since those years. The clothing of ancient Iran took an advanced form, with the fabric and color of clothing becoming very important, and over time Iranian civilization accepted various influences on its clothing from other cultures.Pourbahman, Fereydoun. Pūšāk dar Īrān-e Bāstān. Tehran: Amirkabir, 2006, p. 176. Depictions of Iranian clothing can be found in Persian miniature and other artistic traditions across history in vivid or muted colors, though these pigments often do not match utilized dyes. Traditional Iranian clothing is seldom worn in urban areas in modern times but has been well preserved in texts and paintings throughout history. The earliest period of Iranian history from which a substantial corpus of garments survive to the present is Safavid Iran
Clothing from Achaemenid period is known from reliefs, glazed bricks, statues, seals, and coins, as well as Greek textual and visual sources. Clothing varied depending on social status, eminence, the climate of the region, and the season, while generally consisting of headgear, overgarment, shirts, tunics and trousers, and could be generally divided into a Perso-Elamite court dress, and cavalry costume primarily of Median origin, with headgear being the most well documented. As for the Arsacid dynasty most historical evidence originates from abroad, particularly in ancient Mesopotamian cities and vassal Kingdoms of the Parthians such as Hatra. In this period shalvār or trousers are the most common and distinctive feature, coupled with tunics fastened at the belt. The foundational elements of clothing in the subsequent Sassanian period were the continuation of Arsacid and Median traditions.Gheybi, Mehrasa (1385 ). *Hašt Hezār Sāl-e Tārikh-e Pošāk-e Aghvām-e Irāni* [Eight Thousand Years of the Clothing History of Iranian Peoples]. Tehran: Hirmand.
Following the Arab conquest, Iranian dress remained notably conservative for several centuries, retaining Sasanian and Central Asian forms despite the introduction of Turkic fashions and a gradual shift toward more androgynous styles. Under the Umayyads, Sasanian-style fitted coats and trousers gained favor at court alongside Byzantine influences, contrasting with earlier untailored Arab robes.Shea, Eiren L. (2020). Mongol Court Dress, Identity Formation, and Global Exchange. New York: Routledge. . doi:10.4324/9780429340659. Evidence for costume under the Iranian dynasties of the ninth and tenth centuries is comparatively scarce, especially for women.Schlumberger, Daniel. “Le Palais ghaznévide de Lashkari Bazar.” Syria, vol. 29, nos. 3–4, 1952, pp. 251–270. https://doi.org/10.3406/syria.1952.4789. By the late Seljuk and post-Seljuk periods, ceramics, metalwork, wall paintings, manuscript illustrations, and stucco sculpture provide a much fuller picture of elite dress, in which newer Turkic fashions were combined with older Iranian forms and patterned textiles became especially prominent.Pope, Arthur Upham, and Phyllis Ackerman, eds. A Survey of Persian Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present. Vol. V: Plates 511–980: Architectural Ornament, Pottery and Faience, the Art of the Book. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1938.Atıl, Esin. Ceramics from the World of Islam. Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1973. 225 pp. https://doi.org/10.5479/sil.40198.39088016672487 Court ateliers consequently provide much of the surviving visual evidence for costume. Under the Ilkhanids, court dress was further shaped by extensive exchanges of khilʿat with the Mamluks and by centralized textile production, with artisans from Varamin, Nishapur, and Tus attached to princely workshops, while Tabriz, Kerman, and Yazd emerged as major textile centers supplying the Mongol court.Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl Allāh. Rashiduddin Fazlullah’s Jamiʿu’t-Tawarikh: Compendium of Chronicles: A History of the Mongols. Translated and annotated by Wheeler M. Thackston. 3 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1998–1999.Polo, Marco. The Travels. Translated with an introduction by Ronald Latham. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1958. 384 pp. .
Iranian attire from the Safavid period onwards generally consisted of a pirāhan (shirt) and thick shalvār (trousers) worn beneath a long qabā, over which wealthier individuals wore fur lined outer garments such as kaftāns, kātebis and kolijehs, secured at the waist with a shāl or kamarband. Distinctions between social classes were expressed chiefly through the quality of textiles, embroidery, and ornament rather than through different garment forms. Women's dress likewise followed many of the same structural principles, differing primarily in head coverings such as the dastār and rūband, while many underlying garments remained closely comparable in construction, while for the most part, many women in this period would use male clothing articles. Following the collapse of the Safavids, clothing under the Afsharid and Zand dynasties remained largely a continuation of late Safavid fashions, although contemporary observers described it as less luxurious and characterized by greater practicality and restrained elegance.Chardin, Jean. Voyages de monsieur le chevalier Chardin, en Perse, et autres lieux de l’Orient. Amsterdam, 1711. The most visible changes occurred in headwear, as Safavid turbans gradually gave way to the Afsharid kolāh-e Naderi, the Zand shāl-kolāh, and eventually the tall black Qajar kolāh.Hanway, Jonas. An Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea, with a Journal of Travels from London through Russia into Persia and Back Again through Russia, Germany, and Holland. 2nd ed. 2 vols. London: T. Osborne and others, 1754, vol. 1, pp. 228–229. By the early Qajar period, this continuity was still evident in both men's and women's clothing. Men retained the established layered costume, while women increasingly distinguished between andarūnī dress worn within the household and bīrūnī dress worn in public.Jangiou Gholenji, Shahnaz. “Investigating the Process of Changing in Men’s Clothing Styles during the Qajar Era.” Scientific Quarterly of Culture Studies Communication 26, no. 69 (Spring 2025): 237–265. doi:10.22083/jccs.2025.468016.3893. In larger cities, public dress came to consist primarily of the black chādor, a long rūbandeh, and chāqchur, whereas rural and smaller urban communities preserved more colorful local traditions such as Arkhāleq and Shaliteh.Kalantar, Ali Asghar, and Solmaz Hatami Dehlaghi. “An Analytical Study of the Impact of Safavid and Qajar Governments’ Cultural Policies on the Development of Women’s Clothing.” Tourism of Culture 3, no. 11 (Winter 2023): 40–53. doi:10.22034/toc.2023.374694.1103.
Achaemenid Period
Court Dress
The pleated robe is formed from a rectangular cloth, typically with a width of about 120–150 cm and a length exceeding the wearer’s height. It is tailored with two main components: the pleated outer garment and a lower skirt or underpiece. The main cloth is pleated in the chest and shoulder areas, leaving the arms free and forming a flowing drape down the body.غیبی، مهرآسا. تاریخ پوشاک اقوام ایرانی. تهران: نشر هیرمند، ۱۳۸۴. . It is usually tied at the waist and gathered in the back, where it creates tiered waves or ridged folds, giving it both volume and shape. Some depictions suggest a front-slit design or a V-shaped neckline, while others show it as completely wrapped. The lower section consists of either one or two additional pieces that wrap around the waist and hips, often secured with a leather belt or cord, resulting in a skirt-like appearance underneath the pleated top layer. In some cases, the robe may be worn in a single-piece configuration, but it also appears as a combination of upper and lower garments, creating a layered effect. Achaemenid Persian clothing was a structured and symbolic extension of the wearer’s rank, function, and geography. The garments varied in color, fabric, and cut based on social class, region, climate, and the season. Clothes were made from fine materials such as silk, linen, or wool, and were often dyed in vibrant colors like saffron, white, purple, and orange, each signifying different social or symbolic meanings. Notably, purple was reserved for royalty and those of elevated rank, often decorated with golden threads.پوربهمن، فریدون؛ ترجمهٔ هاجر ضیاء سِکارودی، ویرایش علمی دنیا مملکتدوست، پوشاک در ایران باستان، تهران: فرهنگستان هنر، مؤسسه تألیف، ترجمه و نشر آثار هنری (متن)، چاپ دوم، ۱۳۸۶،.
The structure of the robes are contested in various sources, with some describing them as one piece and others as two piece, but Mehrasa Gheibi gives the following description of the garments:
"It is my opinion that Achaemenid robes were likely made from a single rectangular cloth, sewn closed at the sides except for an underarm opening. The sleeves and pleats were shaped by structured stitching and tucking, creating layered folds similar to those seen in stone reliefs. Horizontal pleats on the chest do not indicate a two-piece garment but rather a continuous design with added front panels."غیبی، مهرآسا. تاریخ پوشاک اقوام ایرانی. تهران: نشر هیرمند، ۱۳۸۴. شابک: ۵-۰۵۰-۴۰۸-۹۶۴.
Despite the existence of their own distinct costume, the Persians frequently wore Median attire.Herodotus, Histories, Book 1, chapter 135; Book 7, chapters 61–62.
Achaemenid court headwear could consist of simple, twisted headbands, displayed on the heads of the royal guard in the reliefs of Persepolis, a circlet or fillet commonly dawned by Elamites or Persian soldiers, with a wider variant decorated with floral designs and embroidery, a round cap used to distinguish the Medes, a long scarf of wool, silk or linen wrapped tightly around the head and neck, with only the facial center exposed, often worn in reliefs by royal towel bearers and various stairway attendants and servants, and cylindrical hats of smooth or fluted construction, with the former associated with royalty and the latter with Persian dignitaries, both referred to as "mitra" by Herodotus. The mitra was the primary royal crown of the Achaemenids, a tall, cylindrical or fluted symbolic headdress often referred to as a “semi-crown” or “helmet-crown.” It resembled a stylized cylinder with 18 to 22 vertical flutings or ribs and was secured with a cloth band (ribbon or turban) tied around it. Though appearing ceremonial, this structure was tightly bound and firmly seated on the wearer’s head. In artistic depictions, especially on reliefs from Persepolis—the cylinder is often shown worn by the Shah and high-ranking individuals during official ceremonies. In wartime, a sturdier version was fashioned for the king, functioning like a helmet or protective headgear, distinguishing it from general noble headwear. This war-version was likely made of bronze or hard leather, showing durability and symbolic authority.