---
node: garment_kaftan
type: garment
slug: kaftan
title: "Kaftan"
lead: "The kaftan is the long front-opening robe of the Islamic Near East, worn in Safavid Persia as the principal dress of men of rank. Of figured silk and belted with a sash, it was the courtly robe seen throughout Persian painting."
published: 2026-08-10
updated: 2026-08-10
image_file: kaftan.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_falconer,_Safavid_Iran,_middle_or_second_half_17th_century.jpg"
image_author: "Christies.com"
image_license: "Public domain"
---

## Overview

A kaftan is a full-length coat-robe open down the front, with long sleeves, worn over a shirt and trousers and closed with a sash or belt at the waist. In Safavid Iran it was cut from richly patterned silk and velvet, sometimes with a shorter over-robe above it.

## How it is worn

It is put on like a coat and wrapped or belted at the waist, the skirts falling long over the trousers and soft shoes, and topped by a turban. The quality of the silk, the pattern, and the sash marked the wearer's standing at the Safavid court.

## History

The kaftan was worn across the Persian, Ottoman, and wider Islamic world and reached a height of luxury under the Safavids, whose silk industry clothed the court and supplied Europe. Its front-opening coat cut lies behind much later Persian and Central Asian outer dress.