For Saudi Arabian males, the selection of clothing and accessories is very much shaped by a long and rich history in which adherence to traditional values, customs, and norms is prominent (Ross, 1981). Saudi males wear a multi-part headdress or head covering that can be dated to Persian antecedents observed as early as 700 B.C. and employing soft materials able to provide protection to the head and face from climatic vicissitudes.
Ryder (The functional history of clothing - 1, 2000) has pointed out that there are two different strategies available to protect people against the effects of heat in tropical or desert climates. One is to wear as little as possible as is the case with the Dinkas of the Sudan. The alternative approach is to wear multiple layers of relatively loose fitting clothing as is the case with the people of the Sahara Desert. The extreme temperature variations of Saudi Arabia has called for a layering of clothing to provide thermal insulation in conditions of extreme cold and heat.
The Ghutra has been worn by Arab males since the era in which the Prophet Muhammad lived and codified Islam (Ross, 1981). The Ghutra is made of 100 percent cotton fabric and is worn as both a symbol of the heritage of the Saudi and other Arabic/Islamic peoples and as a means of protection from a harsh physiological environment.
The headdress worn by Saudi males consists of three parts. The taqiyah is a skullcap, which is generally white and often embroidered. A voile square head cloth (the ghatta al rass) is folded diagonally, forming a triangle. This piece of fabric is available in either solid white or a red and white check pattern. The ghatta al rass is worn over the taqiyah. The plain white ghatta al rass is known as the Ghutra. The headdress of the early Arabs was intended not only to provide protection against the climate, but to identify its wearer as part of a specific social, cultural, and religious ...