I found four coats or ‘qapa-t’ (pl) purported to be from Morocco, in the online gallery of Réunion des Musées Nationaux. The top is from unknown provenance, just like the other two, but the lower qaba is from Ida Oultit, Taroudant.
And I just couldn’t place them. I haven’t seen these styles being showcased, or displayed, or even referenced (though obviously I haven’t read every report ever). In my eyes, they seemed completely unique to Morocco. I almost doubted they were Moroccan at all, because they looked more Egyptian or Syrian to me. Though they’re not Egyptian or Syrian in style either, as they’re just a bit too loose and the trimming doesn’t fit. The trimming is somewhat Ottoman-by-way-of-Algeria in style but missing the typical motifs, and hadn’t seen Algerians wear these.
Because of how much more tailored they were, I compared them with other tailored fashions from Morocco’s history and ethnic groups. So taking their construction into account, they had to be either from the pre-18th c., when depending on the fashion at the time, [wealthy] Moroccan men sometimes wore very fitted kaftans (which is not likely as both of these are dated to the 19th c.) oooor! they were Sephardi/Jewish Moroccan and I simply wasn’t familiar.
I vaguely remembered seeing a photo taken in the 1930′s by Jean Besancenot, that showed a gentleman in southern Morocco in fitted clothes.
And what do you know, biiiiiiii
Rabbi David Ben-Baruch Cohen Azogh, Mogador (Essaouira). Head of the corporation “Amine” of goldsmiths.
The same buttoned-sleeves, and more fitted cut. It looks like the exact same style, but without the buttons in the first extant coat, though he is wearing similar buttons on his jabador underneath. I actually think the green coat probably wasn’t worn as an everyday item, because it seems rather ornate, but who knows. Rabbi David Ben Baruch is also from the same region the second coat is purported to be from.
And then I found more examples of this type of button-less, fitted coat, worn by Jewish men in the early 20th c in Taroudant. It’s essentially part of a jabador (ensemble clothing worn in northwest Africa, influenced by Ottoman-Algeria), but the style is it’s own.
I don’t have their names unfortunately, but it’s good to recover this part of Moroccan history. Just because I didn’t know, doesn’t mean others didn’t. I mean, more people have seen these photographs in exhibitions and what not. But I don’t think people take the time to really look, so even in the gallery of Réunion des Musées Nationaux they were not tagged as Jewish or Sephardi Moroccan, and I think they should be. That is the culture.
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