Dirac (dress)

The dirac (also: dera, dirá, sheed, diria or shiiti) is a Somali garment worn by women that is long, usually ankle length, loose-fitting and usually has at least two colors. There are many different designs of this garment varying from region to region.

This article is about the Somali dress. For [1] other uses, see Dirac (disambiguation).

History

The dirac originated from the coast of Somaliland, in the mid 1950s. It was made with colorful fabric imported from china,India and Japan and some locally made.[1] Its popularity increased in the 1960s and 1970s, and during those decades the dirac began replacing the guntiino in terms of popularity among women because it was seen to be too revealing and not modest enough. It was then adopted by neighboring communities such as the Swahili of Kenya, Zanzibar and Tanzania, women of Aden, Yemen, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, Oman and other parts of subsaharan Africa.

Outside Somali culture

The dirac is now worn in all parts of Eastern and Southern Africa, the Middle East and many other surrounding regions. The garment became a way for Somali immigrants across the world especially in Minnesota, London and Scandinavia to assert their cultural identity.[1]

See also

References
  1. Akou, Heather. Fashioning Africa: Power and the Politics of Dress. Indiana University Press. pp. 50–63. ISBN 978-0-253-11104-3.


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