---
node: garment_seljuk_dress
type: garment
slug: seljuk_dress
title: "Seljuk dress"
lead: "Seljuk dress is a Turkic riding wardrobe worn over a Persian court one: a long coat crossed at the chest, close trousers and boots, an inscribed armband, and a turban or a fur-trimmed cap. It is the dress in which a steppe dynasty presented itself as an Islamic empire."
published: 2026-08-17
updated: 2026-08-17
image_file: seljuk_dress.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Figure_of_a_Courtier_from_a_Palace_Frieze_(DIA_25.64).jpg"
image_author: "Detroit Institute of Arts — painted stucco courtier with inscribed armbands, Seljuk Iran"
image_license: "CC0"
---

## Overview

The evidence is mostly ceramic and painted: mina'i bowls, stucco figures from Rayy and Kashan, and manuscript painting just after the period. They show a coat, the qaba, closed across the body and belted, worn with narrow trousers pushed into soft boots — clothing cut for a horse. Over it sits the tiraz band, a strip of inscribed silk at the upper arm that came with the caliphal wardrobe and marked the wearer as a recipient of favour. The two halves of the outfit are the two halves of the dynasty's claim.

## How it is worn

The coat wraps left over right or right over left depending on region and period, and is held by a belt with metal plaques; the sleeves are long and close, and a second, sleeveless coat is often worn over it. Trousers are cut narrow and tucked in, because the alternative is a robe that rides up. On the head the choice is political: a wound turban for the settled and the religious, a tall fur-edged cap of Turkic type for the military, and the same man may be shown in either depending on what the picture is for.

## History

The Seljuk look outlived the Seljuk state. Their successors in Anatolia and the Jazira kept the belted coat and the arm-band, and the combination of steppe cut with Persian and Arabic ornament became the visual language of Islamic courts from the eastern Mediterranean to Central Asia. Later Persian painting draws its 'ancient' costume from this period as often as from any earlier one.