How Do the People of Jordan Dress?
The people of Jordan, both male and female, dress more conservatively than their Western counterparts. The less traditional women wear modern yet still modest clothing, while the more religious women wear floor-length, long-sleeved dresses called jilbabs. The men always wear trousers, never shorts, and they usually wear buttoned shirts.
Women are not allowed to wear tight-fitting clothes, sleeveless tops, shorts, miniskirts or any clothing that shows too much skin. The more religious women even cover their hair with scarves, and they take extra care in covering their napes, as napes are considered to be erotic body parts that should not be exposed. Wearing transparent or see-through shirts and leggings is considered taboo. Women who don’t wear headscarves rarely let their hair hang lower than their shoulders. Sometimes, the women wear their traditional costume, which is an embroidered dress carrying the pattern of the wearer’s region of origin.
The men never wear scruffy-looking and messy attire, and are very strict in their grooming. Their trousers are usually plain in color, never flashy or provocative. T-shirts or upper clothing that don’t cover the shoulders or the upper arms are considered underwear. Jordanian men opt to wear long-sleeved and high-necked shirts and never walk around shirtless.
