102 CultureShock! Egypt
Dress
What Egyptians wear and what you will feel comfortable
wearing depends to a large extent on where you are and who
you are with. In other words, this is another one of those ‘look
around and see what is happening’ kind of topics.
The most visible piece of clothing seen in Egypt is the
traditional cotton galabea (jalabaya). A galabea is an ankle-
length, loose garment worn by men or women. Many of the
galabeas sold in tourist areas have short sleeves, but long
sleeves are preferred throughout Egypt by most people.
Men usually wear white, beige, grey or light blue galabeas.
More prominent men usually wear business suits or casual
European- or American-styled pants or blue jeans with knitThis worker from Beni Suef (south of Cairo) is dressed in the traditional
ankle-length long-sleeved cotton gelebea.