The caftan is truly timeless

The caftan is truly timeless: dating back more than 5,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia, it came in and out of vogue through Greco-Roman times, stopping off in medieval Tsarist Russia, cruising through sub-Saharan Africa and up to the Berber markets of Marrakesh. Raiment for royals and simple shifts for serfs, the caftan beats the heat for both men and women.
It was French couturier Paul Poiret who conjured the modern caftan at the start of the Deco period, trimming it with fur and baubles. Then in the ’50s, the fabulous Diana Vreeland, longtime editrix of Harper’s Bazaar, began to haul gilded gowns out of Morocco and preach their glamour to a prim American public.
There is no designer more associated with the caftan than Yves Saint Laurent, who became Morocco’s most famous expat in the ’60s, and was himself of North African descent, hailing from the French Algeria. His Rive Gauche caftans found their way to royalty (Princess Grace), Hollywood (Elizabeth Taylor, whose caftan collection was unrivalled) and haute hippie trustifarians (Talitha Getty, who swanned around Marrakech rooftops in them while high).

Despite a brief ’70s schlockey period, the sophisticated caftan continues to captivate, gracing the closets of Kardashians, Katy Perry and Angelina Jolie — and the runways. Nearly 50 years after the ankle-grazing cloaks hit the catwalk, the look is as fresh as ever.

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