A kaftan or caftan (; , ; , ; ) is a variant of the robe or tunic. Originating in West Asia, it has been worn by a number of cultures around the world for thousands of years. In Russian usage, kaftan instead refers to a style of men's long suit with tight sleeves.
It may be made of wool, cashmere, silk, or cotton, and may be worn with a sash. Popular during the time of the Ottoman Empire, detailed and elaborately designed garments were given to ambassadors and other important guests at the Topkapı Palace.
Variations of the kaftan were inherited by cultures throughout Asia and were worn by individuals in Russia, the Middle East, and North Africa.
Styles, uses, and names for the kaftan vary from culture to culture. The kaftan is often worn as a coat or as an overdress, usually having long sleeves and reaching to the ankles. In regions with a warm climate, it is worn as a light-weight, loose-fitting garment. In some cultures, the kaftan was a symbol of royalty.
History Kaftan is described as a long robe as far as the calves sometimes or just under the knee, and is open at the front and the sleeves are slight cut at the wrists or even as far as to the middle of the arms.
The word kaftan is attested in Ottoman Turkish as ḳaftān, denoting a long robe or tunic. The term is generally traced to Persian ḵaftān.
Some linguists, notably Gerhard Doerfer, have argued that the Persian and Arabic form may itself reflect an earlier Turkic loanword. "kap-ton" meaning "bag garment". "Doerfer, Türk. und Mong. Elementen im Neupersisch p. 3:185 , suggesting that the term entered Persian and Arabic from Turkic before spreading more widely. Nişanyan Dictionary "kaftan"
Abbasid era During the Islamic golden age of the Abbasid era, the cosmopolitan super-culture spread far and wide to Chinese emperors, Anglo-Saxon coinage, but also in Constantinople too (current day Istanbul). They were mimicking and imitating Baghdad culture (capital of the Abbasids).
In the 830s, Byzantine Emperor Theophilus, who fought the Abbasids on the battlefield and built a Baghdad-style palace near the Bosporus, went about in kaftans and turbans. Even as far as the streets of Ghuangzhou during the era of Tang dynasty, the Abbasid kaftan was in fashion.
The kaftan became a luxurious fashion, a richly styled robe with buttons down the front. The Caliphs wore elegant kaftans made from silver or gold brocade and buttons in the front of the sleeves. The Caliph al-Muqtaddir (908–932) wore a kaftan from silver brocade Tustari silk and had his son one made from Byzantine silk richly decorated with figures. The kaftan was spread far and wide by the Abbasids and made known throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
Types Turkic kaftan The caftan appears to be the oldest Turkish dress; this costume can be traced as far back as the Hun and Göktürk periods.ABDYYEVA, Gulruh (2020). "Clothing Culture in the Hun Period and Hun Reflections in the Gokturk Period: Traces on the Clothes of Today’s Central Asian Folks". International Turkish Culture and Art Symposium 29–30 October 2020 ETIMESGUT / Ankara. The kaftan was the favourite garment worn in Turkic states of Central Asia, the Turkic Empire in India, the Seljuk Turks and the Ottomans. It was the most important component of the Seljuk period and the oldest known examples of this robe are said to have been found in Hun tombs. The costume of the Gokturk period consisted of long kaftans that are closed with a belt at the waist, these kaftans can be observed in Gokturk statues.AYHAN, Fatma. "TÜRKLERİN GİYİM KUŞAMINDA KÜRK." 38. ICANAS: 189
The Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar who ruled from 1097 to 1118 gave 1000 red kaftans to his soldiers. In 1058 as well as the period of the Seljuk Sultan Malik-Shah I, the Seljuk Turks wore kaftans and excavations discovered a child's kaftan dating back to the reign of Sanjar-Shah who ruled from 1185 or 1186 to 1187.
The tiles in the Kubadabad Palace depict Turkish figures dressed in kaftans. The palace was built for Sultan Aladdin Kayqubad I who ruled from 1220 to 1237. Furthermore, typical Seljuk depictions from the 11th to the 13th century depict figures dressed in Turkish style kaftans. The kaftan was also worn by the Anatolian Seljuks who had even gifted kaftans to the first Ottoman Sultan, Osman I. In connection with the inheritance of Osman I, the historian Neşri described a kaftan in the list of inherited items: "There was a short-sleeved kaftan of Denizli cloth".
In an excavation in Kinet in Turkey, a bowl dating back to the early 14th century was found with a depiction of a man wearing what appears to be a kaftan.
Kaftans were worn by the sultans of the Ottoman Empire. Decoration on the garment, including colours, patterns, ribbons, and buttons, indicated the rank of the person who wore it. In the first half of the 14th century Orhan Ghazi captured Bursa and made it the Ottoman capital. One of the chief specialties of Bursa was gold embroidery among other weaving related specialties, an archive notes that two kaftans made of the finest Bursa gold-brocaded velvet were prepared for the circumcision of Geliboulu Bey Sinan Pasha's two sons in 1494.Velvet and Patronage: The Origin and Historical Background of Ottoman and Italian Velvets. S Okumura. 2016.
Ibn Battuta who had visited Anatolia witnessed that a mudarris was wearing a gown embroidered with golden pieces and that a Seljuk Bey gifted a kaftan that was embroidered with golden threads.BAHAR, T.; N. BAYKASOĞLU (2017). "Embroidery in Turkish culture". Developments in Social Sciences. From the 14th century through the 17th century, textiles with large patterns were used. By the late 16th and early 17th centuries, decorative patterns on the fabrics had become smaller and brighter. By the second half of the 17th century, the most precious kaftans were those with yollu: vertical stripes with varying embroidery and small patterns – the so-called "Selimiye" fabrics.
Most fabrics manufactured in Turkey were made in Istanbul and Bursa, but some textiles came from as far away as Venice, Genoa, Persia (Iran), India, and even China. kaftans were made from velvet, aba, bürümcük (a type of crepe with a silk warp and cotton weft), canfes, çatma (a heavy silk brocade), gezi, diba (), hatayi, kutnu, kemha, seraser () (brocade fabric with silk warp and gold or silver metallic thread weft), , zerbaft (), and tafta (). Favoured colours were indigo, kermes, violet, pişmiş ayva or "cooked quince", and weld yellow. Silk or wooled vests embellished with couched gold thread or silk embroidery probably represent the introduction of a Turkish feature into an Arab aesthetic.Jirousek, Charlotte A., and Sara Catterall (2019). Ottoman Dress and Design in the West: A Visual History of Cultural Exchange. Indiana University Press.
Nearly 2,500 caftans and other garments belonging to subsequent sultans from the 15th to the 19th century are preserved in the Topkapı Palace museum. The Topkapı Palace houses 21 kaftan that belonged to Mehmed II, 77 kaftan that belonged to Suleiman the Magnificent, 13 that belonged to Ahmed I, 30 that belonged to Osman II and 27 that belonged to Murad IV.Moore, Jennifer Grayer (2019). Patternmaking History and Theory. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Algerian kaftan
The kaftan has been historically documented to have been worn in Algeria in the beginning of the 16th century. Its presence in Algeria dates far back to the Rustamid period, and is also attested during the Zirid period in the 10th century as well as the Zayyanid period in the 13th century. The latter witnessed an important role of the kaftan in the dress culture of the Zayyanid court. The Zayyanid king Abu Hammu Musa II would gift luxurious gold embroidered kaftans to his aides and couriers. In the Zayyanid court wealthy women wore gold embroidered jackets that featured a golden braid and wore a short-sleeved embroidered kaftan over it.
Following the Ottoman tradition, the male kaftan, known as the kaftan of honour, was bestowed by the Ottoman Sultan upon the governors of Algiers who, in turn, bestowed kaftans upon the Beys and members of distinguished families. In his Topography and General History of Algiers, described it as a coloured robe made of satin, of damask, of velvet and silk and having a form that reminded him of the priests' cassocks. The Dey wore the kaftan with dangling sleeves; the khodjas (secretaries) wore a very long cloth based kaftan, falling to the ankles; the chaouchs (executors of the justice of the dey) were recognized by a green kaftan with sleeves either open or closed, according to their rank. The kaftan was also worn by the janissaries in the 17th and part of the 18th century. It continued to be worn by male dignitaries well into the 20th century.
The female kaftan, on the other hand, evolved locally and derives from the , a mid-calf jacket that combined Morisco and Ottoman influences, but which evolved following a very specific Algerian style from the sixteenth century onward. Between the sixteenth and seventeenth century, middle-class women started wearing the . The use of brocades and quality velvet, the profusion of embroidery and gold threading were not enough to satisfy the need for distinction of the wealthiest Algerians who choose to lengthen the all the way to the ankles to make a kaftan that became the centrepiece of the ceremonial costume, while the was confined to the role of daily clothing. The introduction of gold thread embroidery into North Africa itself is reputed to have been introduced through Turkish rule.Prussin, Labelle (2006). "Judaic Threads in the West African Tapestry: No More Forever?" The Art Bulletin, 88:2, 328-353, DOI: 10.1080/00043079.2006.10786293.
In the Ottoman era, the textile production significantly contributed to the traditional economy of Ottoman Algeria. Garments such as the kaftan, djabadouli, karakou, djellaba and the burnous were produced. These garments were crafted using bright coloured silk threads or would feature gold or silver embroidery.
In 1789, the diplomat Venture de Paradis described the women of Algiers as follows: Several types of kaftans were developed since then, while still respecting the original pattern. Nowadays, the Algerian female kaftans, including the modernised versions, are seen as an essential garment in the bride's trousseau in cities such as Algiers, Annaba, Bejaia, Blida, Constantine, Miliana, Nedroma and Tlemcen.
The wedding costume tradition of Tlemcen, known as chedda of Tlemcen, which features an Algerian caftan type from Tlemcen, was inscribed to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2012, in recognition of its cultural significance.
On December 4, 2024, UNESCO inscribed the ceremonial women's costume of the Eastern region of Algeria: know-how and skills related to the making and ornamentation of the "Gandoura" and the "Melehfa" on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This element concerns the "Communities of seamstresses, embroiderers and jewelers of the eastern departments of the country specializing in the Gandoura, the Melehfa, the Caftan, the Quat, the Lhef and the ceremonial officiants". On December 11, 2025, the title of the element was updated as follows: The ceremonial women's costume of the Eastern region of Algeria: knowledge and skills related to the making and ornamentation of the Gandoura, the Melehfa, the Caftan, the Quat and the Lhef.
Moroccan kaftan
According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the kaftan was introduced into the Barbary States by the Ottomans and spread by fashion as far as Morocco.
According to art historian Rachida Alaoui, the kaftan in Morocco dates back to the end of the 15th century and goes back to the region's Moorish history, which represents the medieval heritage of Al-Andalus. However, the first written record of the garment being worn in Morocco is from the 16th century, she states.