Object Note
Linda C. McConnell gifted two beautiful and rare Bahraini dresses, which she acquired in the early 1980s, to the Zay Initiative’s Collection. One of them is red with heavy gold embroidery in geometric designs (ZI2018.500703.2 BAHRAIN). The other is black with scattered patterns of gold, silver, and turquoise embroidery and two large peacock motifs (ZI2018.500703.1 BAHRAIN).
Object History
Linda moved from America to Abu Dhabi in 1984, after her marriage to an Emirati diplomat in 1982. When she first arrived, her husband’s sisters held a henna party. The tradition of wearing a green dress on the night of the (hinnah) party had recently entered into the UAE wedding rituals from neighboring countries, and so, they dressed Linda in a green Bahraini (thawb nashil) made with gold threads.
A similar fabric decorated the wall in the party room, creating a lush ambiance, and the music and gaiety among the audience made Linda fall in love with those around her, as well as their culture.
Subsequently, she asked her family to help her find a dress similar to the one she borrowed on her henna night. Her mother-in-law gave her two very long thawb nashil, suitable for Linda’s height. The black dress was extra-long, yet the beauty of the embroidery reaching the bottom edge deterred her from shortening it.
The red dress fit perfectly and she wore it twice, layered over a long red undergarment that she had specifically made. Since Linda appeared comparatively pale in the striking thawb, she wore lipstick, her friends told her that she looked like a movie star. Linda believes that any woman wearing that dress would too.
Linda is an Abu Dhabi-based American writer. She holds a BA cum laude and MA in French Literature from George Washington University. After three years working in Tunisia as the governess of the US Ambassador’s daughter, she returned to Washington, DC, to work at America-Mideast Educational and Training Services (AMIDEAST), then at the Middle East Institute (MEI), where she was the director of educational programs. Linda studied Arabic at MEI, as well as in non-degree Arabic programs at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. In 1984, she moved with her Emirati diplomat husband to Abu Dhabi, where she has lived for 37 years. A novelist who writes about the Gulf and collects traditional silver jewellery from Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and North Africa. Linda has a deep love and appreciation for Arab culture and the richness of its art, architecture, literature, music, dress, jewellery, and adornment.
Object Features
The black Bahraini overgarment (thawb nashil) was sewn in the traditional T-shape from silk chiffon with heavy embroidery in a simple chain stitch of gold and silver threads (zari) and decorated with shiny gold sequins. The embroidery patterns on the thawb are unusual. They include combinations of geometric shapes, floral, and animal motifs.
The embroidery fully covers the front area in a rectangular shape, starting from the shoulders to just before the bottom of the dress, where there are two peacocks facing each other, the tail of each extends in a triangular shape (bat) that reaches below the sleeves.
Above the peacocks, there is a large peacock tail made of longitudinal feathers. The embroidered rectangle is surrounded on each side by a ribbon of repeated roses. Additionally, the embroidery covers all the seams of the dress on the front and back, the underarm area, the circumference of the two cuffs, and the lower edge. A repeated diamond shape is embroidered over the entire area of the thawb. Turquoise silk thread highlights the neckline, the circumference of the peacock tail as well as the lower wings of the two peacocks.
Such a garment is customarily worn over underpants (sirwal) and a tunic dress (dara’ah). It is reserved for special events and social gatherings.
More details
Thawb nashil is a popular traditional dress across the Arab Gulf region. Known to have been manufactured in Bahrain as early as the 1940s, before then, it was imported from India on demand.
Materials such as chiffon silk and silver gilded straw (khus zari) were first imported from Gujarat, India, to be sewn and embroidered locally in Bahrain. Finer versions later came from Europe, mainly, from Germany and France.
The name of the dress is borrowed from the word (mnshal), used to describe brightly colored and heavily adorned fabrics that cover ceremonial passenger-less litter (mahmal) which were carried by camel, among pilgrim caravans, to Mecca on their way to (Haj). (Mnshal) was also used on the compartment (hwdaj) that transported women on camel back draped in a tent form with exquisite textiles.
Historically, the bride would wear this robe in Bahrain and most other Arab Gulf regions on her henna or wedding night.
Thawb nashil is customerly, sewn in T-shape, and the fabric is cut in the form of longitudinal and cross sections. The neck opening be it circular, triangular, or square can have a front slit reaching the middle or end of the chest area, and along this slit, ball buttons made of zari are added at times with loops to fasten it.
Large oval-shaped necklines, be it plain or embellished, are characteristic of the early 1920s-1970s overgarments (athwab) worn in Iraq, Kuwait, and by the Bedouins of the levant as well as Egyptian peasants. Bahraini overgarments (athwab) are recognised by their fitted round neckline with a central slit that soon became widely imported by most of the Arab Gulf region from as early as the 1980s. While in the UAE, overgarments (athwab) are distinguished by their square-shaped neckline.
The embroidery is carried out before the neckline opening is cut open, for added support during the embroidery process and to show the garment is new. This is significant to note as embroidery is commonly reused.
Muhammad Saleh Ahmad Zari is considered one of the oldest and most famous thawb nashil makers in Bahrain. He follows in the footsteps of his forefathers Saleh Zari and Mohammed Adul Qadir Zari. After sewing dresses and embroidering them with zari threads by hand, they all typically knocked and burnished the embroidery until it became polished, smooth, and shining.
In time, the sewing of this dress evolved becoming machine sewn and embroidered from several colors of natural or synthetic chiffon silk. Moreover, metallic thread (zari) rather than silver or gold plated coil renderings were incorporated, making it more affordable to the masses.
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