---
node: garment_chador
type: garment
slug: chador
title: "Chador"
lead: "The chador is the full-length open cloak of Iranian women, a semicircle of cloth wrapped around the body and head and held closed from within. Usually black today, it is the most traditional form of Iranian women's covering."
published: 2026-08-10
updated: 2026-08-10
image_file: chador.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iranian_alone_woman_-_sited_near_Mohammad_Al_Mahruq_Mosque_-_Nishapur_1.jpg"
image_author: "Sonia Sevilla"
image_license: "CC0"
---

## Overview

A chador is a single large half-round of cloth with no fastenings, thrown over the head so it envelops the wearer from crown to foot, its front edges gathered and held shut by the hands or tucked under the arms. It leaves the face open and is worn over ordinary clothes.

## How it is worn

It is draped over the head and drawn around the body, held closed at the front by hand, by gripping an edge in the teeth when the hands are busy, or with a small clip. Patterned, coloured chadors are worn indoors and for prayer; the plain black one is usual on the street.

## History

The wrapped veil has deep roots in Iran, worn in various colours and cloths through the Safavid and Qajar eras, when it was often patterned. The plain black chador became the standard public form in the twentieth century and a potent symbol during and after the 1979 revolution.