What to wear in Morocco

What to wear in Morocco


What to wear in Morocco???,,
I'm sure this has been done before but I couldn't find a post dedicated to it alone.

There seems to be quite a bit contradictory information about how to dress. This is what I have gathered...

Men
Should dress smart & not show skin (no sleeveless tops, shorts and flipflops).

Closed shoes?

What about T-shirts - are they ok?

Women
It's less strict in cities but to avoid unwanted attention...

No low cut tops - but how low is low? Is it ok to show some skin if no cleavage is show?

No tight clothing - but hw tight is tight? Must it be baggy?

No arms or legs on display at all.

What about sandals - if worn with long skirt ankles will show...

No make-up - how bad is to wear it then?

However then it gets confusing because it says
Quote
Despite the stigmas, many "modern" Moroccan women will wear "western"-style clothes. Go out into any street of a large Moroccan city and you will see many women wearing tight shirts that reveal anything from the shoulder to the belly-button, short skirts and very close fitting jeans. Make-up and blond hair are very much in fashion


What about covering the head with a shawl? Some sites (& posters here) say yes you should especially if you have blond hair. Others say it is completely unnecessary.

How different is how a woman is treated if she is with her husband (which is what I will be), alone or with a girlfriend?

I went with my 17 year old brother, in Djema el Fal I was amazed at the difference it made having him with me from the times I was wandering around alone, in other cities I didn't really wander around alone so I am not sure what that would have been like. Generally though the hassle wasn't major and I usually just ignored it, my brother found it more stressful than I did.

Clothes wise I wore t-shirts, my boobs aren't tiny so t-shirts are never really loose on me, but they weren't really clingy and 3/4 trousers. If I was going to a religious site I wore full lengh trousers (many people weren't) and maybe a kaftan type top (but again lots of people didn't bother). In Marrakech I was quite shocked at what a lot of tourists were wearing (think tiny skirts and low cut vest tops) so I think they are more relaxed in what they expectto see touists wearing there.

I wore a bit of make up on an evening, didn't feel it affected the way I was treated.

As for blokes I don't think tshirts would be a problem, bro wore sandals but he does look quite young so not sure ifhe gets away with more than others?

Only time I felt uncomfortable was in the hotel bars as most women in there are prostitutes so I got a few sleezy looks but no worse thanI get in my local nightclub here at 2am!

Okay, Ria, wherever you got your information - you ought to write them a letter of complaint, because some of that is quite absurd.

Men should not wear sleeveless shirts (don't show their armpit hair), and shorts are debateable (only young urban Moroccan men, 20s and under, might wear them), but flip flops are absolutely fine, as are other sandals. Moroccan men tend to be well-dressed, so if you look sloppy, the only problem is standing out as a tourist. That said, you will not offend anyone with sloppiness.

Women should avoid the following: cleavage, shoulders (although I show mine in the summer, and so do many Moroccans), and legs above the knee or mid-calf (skirts should go PAST the knee, not to it). That stuff is the only stuff I personally consider to be necessary.

Ankles are fine, feet are fine, lower arms are fine. Neck is fine, but the lower-cut the shirt is, the more attention you will get (in my opinion, as long as you don't see breast at all, it's okay).

It's best to wear looser tops, as Moroccan men will of course (like men in most places) stare at the outline of breasts, and some women find it prudent to wear shirts that cover their bottom if wearing tight pants, but again, it's not necessary.

Make-up is FINE. FINE! Almost all Moroccan women over 16 years old wear makeup in some form. Lipstick is much less common, but kohl around the eyes is practically a rite of passage. Just don't overdo it (but seriously, why would you?)

DON'T cover your head unless it's with a bandanna or hat. There is absolutely no need to cover your hair; you are not Muslim and no one expects you to dress like a strict Muslim woman. I suppose if you're visiting some very conservative small village and all the women there are wearing it, you may want to, but in any sizeable city, I'd say 50% of women do, 50% don't.

As for being with a man, well...your husband will be addressed if he's with you, you will not. 9 times of 10, anyway. You won't get as many stares (particularly if you're obviously together, e.g. holding hands), but some men will still take it too far and try to harass you. I was with my husband once and a man cupped imaginary breasts toward me and said "niiiiice." By the time I got my husband's attention, the guy started pretending he didn't speak English.

Ria, I think you are worrying too much. You will see a little of everything, depending on which town you are in. Makeup certainly is o.k. and you do not need headcovering. But yes, I do think shorts for both men and women are inappropriate, as are sleeveless blouses for women...but I am sure alifbaa and the other regular female posters will chime in with suggestions.

Ria, thanks for posting this. And alifbaa, thanks for answering. I've been wondering much the same things -- it seems like the guidebooks are totally contradictory on the clothing for women question. It's nice to hear a straight answer from someone.

Why you all complicate things , You can wear what ever you want , Morocco is a country of Freedom and Democracy there's no Harm if you didnt wear the same as people do :)
But if your a fan of moroccan clothes then u will be excited where ever u go u had to change ur clothes , maybe from the north to the south coz so many tradition and cultures , Berber , Aouribiya , Jebala , Doukala , Sahraoui and more so u have to be ready lol


Alifbaa i dont think so all of our country men treat all the womens this way but only some of them , they need little bit to get sexual teaching in life thats all , step by step :)
So if some do treat women wrongly so that mean u have to change ur clothes ? Strange ! LOL , everyone has his personnality so if yours strong enough to convice that men or help him out to understand that could help and if u think u have to wear what we are wearing then go ahead :)
Peace & Love .Of Course we got freedom and democracy :) just u cant feel it if u are a stranger thats all :)

I've just come back from a week in Marrakech and Essaouira and found that when I was with my (female) friend I had virtually no hassle, when we went out on our own we both had quite a few blokes come up and whisper things to us while we were walking, usually along the lines of "hi how are you" but one did say something rude. On the whole, neither of us had hardly any hassle and thought all the reports are ridiculously overblown. We both wore long sleeved shirts and long trousers or skirts all the time and wore a little make up as well - as other posters have said it's really hard to imagine why you would wear skimpy tops and things. Tourists who were wearing skimpy clothes seemed to get hassled constantly in the Medina, whereas we didn't at all.
 that's a nice thought, but having lived here for awhile, I can tell you that despite the fact that some Moroccan women can get away with wearing whatever they want, foreign women are subject to harassment ten times stronger. And of course it's not all Moroccan men who perpetrate this, but if we assume that at least half do (and it sure seems that way in Meknes), then that's a lot of harassment.

I can't feel freedom and democracy because I'm not Moroccan? Gee, I'll bet the Nichane journalists, who are Moroccan, aren't feeling it so much right now either. Neither is Aboubakr Jamai, who has apparently just left this free country.

I love Morocco, my friend, but please consider the fact that tourists are coming to Morocco to enjoy their time, not fend off hordes of Moroccan men.

I wore long trousers or skirts at all times and usually vest/thin strapped tops but with a loose cotton shirt over the top and always had a pashmina/scarf at hand. If I was on top of the tourist bus, at a rooftop terrace restaurant or somewhere quiet I would strip down to the vest top to soak up the gorgeous heat of the sun. When on the streets I'd wear the loose cotton top over the vest, and if I felt I was being particularly looked at I would wrap the pashmina around my shoulders. There were other women wearing a lot less and looked quite comfortable but I also saw women who were walking around hunched with arms crossed across their chests and looking very uncomfortable - I can only imagine they were on their first walk through the Medina.

I wasn't unduly harrassed, none of the men touch, but I found that some them can give a look that is so penetrating it feels like they're more than touching. It's quite unpleasant, paticularly when coupled with whispered comments or even just a sort of "tsk" sound. Unfortunately it's all done so slyly , softly and quickly that my boyfriend never saw it happen and for a time he thought I was being silly and over-reacting by wrapping myself up in layers and layers!!

Hope this helps!

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