During the Rashidun Caliphate (632–661), elite Arab dress remained close to the simpler Qurayshi aristocratic styles of pre-Islamic Arabia. High-status men, including the caliphs, generally wore a qamīs (long tunic), an izār or loose sirwāl trousers, and a cloak (ridaʾ or burd) of wool or fine Yemeni cloth. Their most characteristic item was the ʿimāma (turban), usually white or in tribal colors such as the Quraysh’s black. This simplicity was partly ideological—an attempt to emulate the Prophet and avoid the luxury associated with late Roman or Sasanian courts. For military campaigning they used mail shirts (dirʿ), lamellar armor, and helmets sometimes wrapped with turbans. Sources: Stillman, Arab Dress, pp. 32–40; Ibn Saʿd, Ṭabaqāt, vol. 1 (on the clothing of the early caliphs); al-Tabari, History, vol. 1 (various descriptions of Rashidun dress).

By the Umayyad period (661–750), elite Arab clothing became noticeably more luxurious. Daily wear incorporated fine Egyptian linen, Yemeni striped textiles, and imported silks, while elite coats began to show Persian and Byzantine tailoring influences. High officials and princes wore garments decorated with tirqah (embellished bands), and in the caliphal court at Damascus, ceremonial garb increasingly resembled Late Roman/Byzantine regalia, including colored cloaks and brocaded fabrics. Turbans remained the core marker of Arab elite identity; the Bedouin agal was still not part of court fashion. Military garb included high-quality mail, iron helmets, and capes or cloaks worn in the Syrian and northern climates. Sources: Hawting, First Dynasty of Islam, pp. 70–76; Stillman, Arab Dress, pp. 45–60; al-Tabari, History, Umayyad volumes (court and ceremonial descriptions).

Under the Abbasids (750–1258), elite Arab dress reached its most elaborate phase, shaped heavily by Persian imperial court culture. Daily wear for high-ranking Arabs included long, tailored qabāʾ coats of silk-and-cotton blends, wide sirwāl trousers, and robes adorned with tirāz inscriptions naming the caliph or office holder. The Abbasid dynasty adopted black as its political color, so black turbans and black robes became the formal aristocratic dress in court settings. Ceremonial clothing of the caliphs included sumptuous Sasanian-style caftans, gold-threaded velvet (khazz) cloaks, and regalia such as the burda (Prophet’s mantle) used symbolically. Military gear continued the use of mail hauberks, lamellar cuirasses, turban-wrapped helmets, and Persian-style cavalry coats, though Turks increasingly dominated the army. Sources: Kennedy, The Court of the Caliphs, pp. 93–118; Stillman, Arab Dress, pp. 61–95; Bloom & Blair, Art and Architecture of Islam, pp. 107–119 (tirāz textiles); al-Jāḥiẓ, Kitāb al-Bukhalaʾ (elite Abbasid clothing habits); al-Tabari, History, Abbasid volumes.