Ja'far (Magi) - Historical/Regional Accuracy?

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  • I've been trying to research the type of costume Ja'far wears, but I am not sure of the names of the articles of clothing. This limits my googling to "arabian clothing historical accurate" or "bible costume historical accurate" - kind of tough.

    This is because I feel like using light broadcloth/cotton in bright colors would make me look more like an escapee from a Christmas pageant, which I'd like to avoid. =P So I'm going to use as many accurate, textured fabrics as I can, as well as age/weather and mute the colors for added depth.

    I'm aware that the character design is not historically/regionally accurate by any means, but looking at some sources should give me some ideas on what to work with! (I'm also hoping that a regionally accurate costume will make wearing it in the summer climate of southern California a bit more bearable; if it's intended for a desert it should wear decently in SoCal, lol!)

    Are there any costume design majors around who could recommend some books or websites that have information relevant? I'm looking at about 600-900AD, which wikipedia has termed the [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age"]Golden Age of Islam[/URL] where the original Arabian Nights stories originated.

    Even just some names for the articles of clothing would help me narrow down the googling. Specifically I'm interested in the headscarf (Magi wiki calls it a keffiyeh), the jewelry on top of the headscarf, the detailing on the undershirt or underrobe around the neck, and the general shape of the top robe.

    Thanks!

  • It would help immensely to put in a reference picture. I'm not familiar with the series or character at all and had to look it up. You also say you want it to be regionally accurate, but I have no idea what region you actually want information on. I'm kind of assuming somewhere on the Arabian Peninsula? Because I found information on the Medieval Muslim West, but that is more about Mauritania to Libya (the Maghreb region) . [URL="http://home.earthlink.net/~lilinah/Costuming/MaghribiCostume.html"]I'll link it here just in case.[/URL]

    [URL="http://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/clothing-around-world/middle-east-history-islamic-dress"]And here is general information on the history of Islamic dress.[/URL] That MIGHT be of help even if it is a bit of a read. It might at least be a place to start. I'm no expert myself.