A Study on the Embroidery of Palestinian Costume

Today's advanced transport and mass media enables people to access easily and frequently to traditional costumes from different countries in the world. Consequently, fashion designers who are fascinated by the variety and beauty of traditional costumes, tend to adapt them to modern fashion design. The continuous study of traditional costumes at such time contains a meaning as a source of inspiration for the creation of a new fashion design. Therefore, among various costumes of the world, this study will focus on the costume of Palestine, that is situated at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Afria and has exchanged various historical cultures with other cultural regions. It, especially, expects to provide a unique idea in the material modification field of today's fashion design by examining mainly the embroidery ornament which is the most distinctive feature of Palestinian costume. The conclusion was revealed that Palestinian women's costume largely consists of embroidered silk and cotton garments with a V-slitted square panel (gabeh) attached to the chest part. And a variety of luxurious embroidery was employed to emphasize different parts of the dress. These embroideries differ from area to area. Especially the embroidery from Bethlehem was well-known in many places and influenced those of other regions.