Circassian women’s dress and jewellery

Updated October 5, 2026 · 4 min read

The dress and the kaftan

Women’s clothing was varied and richly decorated, and it changed with region, family rank, occasion and tribe. The costume combined a dress, a kaftan, a shirt, trousers, headwear and shoes. The dress was long and open at the chest, with sleeves that were narrow or wide, reaching the wrist or only the elbow. Under it came a long shirt with narrow sleeves; girls from well-off families had theirs made of fine plain fabric in red, white or yellow, with sleeves long enough to cover the hands.

Over the dress, or instead of it, a woman could wear a short kaftan reaching just above the knee. Unlike the dress it had a closed chest with a dense row of silver clasps and a standing collar. It was sewn from heavy silk or velvet and often worn on its own as outer clothing. From puberty until her wedding, a girl also wore a tight leather corset.

Colours and gold embroidery

Festive dresses were sewn from bought silk, velvet or taffeta. The colours were restrained: blue, green and bright mixed tones were rare, and white, red, black and brown were preferred. The edges and seams were trimmed with galloon woven from gold and silver thread, the hem and sleeves were embroidered in gold, and long pendants richly embroidered with gold hung from the sleeves. This embroidery was done by hand and took a long time, because it was so intricate. In winter women wore quilted dresses of velvet or heavy silk, sometimes trimmed with fur.

Caps, shawls and braid covers

Headwear was especially varied: shawls, scarves, caps and ornaments for the hair. Girls from noble families wore a cap on a hard leather base until the birth of their first child. Its rim was trimmed with galloon or embroidery, its top was rounded or conical, and at the very top sat a silver ball, a crescent or a little bird. Over the cap went a light silk shawl or a braid cover: two long ribbons tied to the top of the cap, with cords at the back to pull the braids through, decorated with gold embroidery. Temple pendants hung from the cap, sometimes quite large but light and graceful.

The belt

Over the dress or kaftan a woman wore a belt drawn tight at the waist, with a massive silver buckle set with stones. By the 19th century buckles became finer and more elegant, often the work of visiting craftsmen. In the early 20th century new belts made entirely of silver links with shaped buckles spread, and they were worn until the 1930s. In Kabarda, women’s costume included belts and breastplates of silver and gold.

Jewellery

Circassian girls wore rings, silver chest pendants shaped like elongated almonds that ran along the neckline of the dress, and chains with pendants and lockets. Interestingly, beads and bracelets were not very popular among Circassian women.

Shoes

Shoes were made of leather or thin felt. Girls from rich families wore red morocco slippers decorated with embroidery and braid, and on festive outings they put on high wooden platforms over them, shaped like little benches and covered with velvet and silver.

Today

Today the traditional costume is worn for weddings, holidays and stage performances, from the Caucasus to the diaspora; in Syria, for example, some Circassians wear traditional dress at weddings and holidays. For the men’s cherkeska, the papakha and the rest of the wardrobe, read the guide to Circassian clothing; for the occasions, Circassian wedding traditions.

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Circassian women’s dress: questions