What the characters are wearing

Pakol

The wool cap called a pakol, worn by many Pashtun men, is believed to have been brought to the region by the Macedonian soldiers of Alexander the Great, in about 330 B.C. The statue at left, from the time of Alexander, shows a Macedonian boy wearing what was then called a kausia.

Photo at left from the British Museum.

Shalwar Kameez

In the Pashtun culture, the long-shirted pajamas called shalwar kameez, shown here with a vest, are everyday wear for boys, girls and men. Women wear them too, indoors or, often, outdoors beneath a burqa or chador.

Photo by Kai Hendry, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5826341

Djellaba

The djellaba is a traditional men’s garment from Morocco.

Photo by Daderot.

Chadors

Young women wear chadors in Herat, Afghanistan.

Photo by Marius Arnesen from Oslo, Norway [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]

Burqas

Women wear burqas in a market in central Afghanistan.

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons: [1] [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)].