Caftan, Originally the cremonial wrap presented by Turkish sovereigns to distinguish people whom they wanted to honour, and especially to foreign ambassadors. It is the prototype of all garments with filled backs and open fronts which were current in Orient long before their introduction into the West.

Over almost ten millenia of history, the manifold creations of costume, stripped of all accessory elements, can be reduced to five archetypes and one of them is the caftans. Steppe costume possesses a characteristic element whose appearance in the Middle East constitutes an innovation of capital importance.   

In place of the Meditereanean and primitive Chinese gown, the Scythians adopted the pointed hood, the jacket, the tunic and trousers which were better adapted to their native climate and their way of life and fighting: to this they added the long, and long-sleeved garment, fastened with a belt, which survived for over three thousand years to become the caftan. 

With various modifications of detail in cut and decoration, this type of semi-fitted costume – in some cases derived from the cloak – then spread throughout Asia, developing into the caftan, a loose, backed costume, simply cut, characterized by sleeves and an arrangement of two panels crossing front, slit to facilitate riding.

In the twelfth century Byzantium similarly transformed the loose caftan worn by Persian soldiers into an elegant garment. A new coat, buttoned down the front, was in fashion. The imperial crown was then completely closed, in the shape of a small dome: the camelaukion.

In the thirteen century, the head-dress of empresses became an oval tiara, following the Sassanian model. This was become the skiradion worn by dignitaries in the fourteenth century.   

There are certain obscurities and contradictions in the texts, but it seems that the skaramagion derived from the caftan of horsemen to become an official court garment, sometimes imposed and sometimes allowed as an honour It Finally became the gold-brocaded skaranicon, a riding garment.   

In the early ninth and tenth centuries the Bulgarians probably wore Avarian costume. As usual, we know well only the costume of the aristocracy. Its main element was the tunic reaching to the knees or feet, decorated with braids and pearls. Fastened on the right shoulder and worn as in Byzantium. The loose caftan or skaramangion, which could be long or short, had tight sleeves and was trimmed with a fur collar and braid edging. Sometimes it was slit in fornt to the waist, where it was belted, and it was decorated with plaiting, like the Presian, Bulgarian, Turkish and Russian caftans worn throughout the Middle Ages.   

Finally, we must make particular mention of garment which appeared in the last years of fourteen century, the caban, an open, crossed outer garment, with long sleeves, a hood and often a belt. All historians of costume have mentioned its appearance, but without emphasizing its importance; yet this was the first European garment with fitted back, and it was clearly derived from the Orient caftan introduced to Europe through Venice and Italy, where crossed garments appeared towards the thirteen century. This garment is still worn today and is the basis of everthing that since then has been called ‘coat’ in the sense we give the word today.   

The Mongolian and later Turkish waves which thus covered all Asia and the whole of Eastern Europe for two centuries naturally brought their civilization, and Asiatic elements appeared at different periods in the costume of Slavs, the Hungarians, the Greeks and the Latins, who finally fell under Ottoman domination in the fifth century. The preponderant type of costume introduced was the Asiatic caftan, a long, long-sleeved garment generously crossed in front. Varying in its details, it left durable traces in Europe costume.   

The Golden Horde had gradually mastered the whole of European Russia. Then, abandoning the Byzantine tunic for the costume of the invaders, the Boyars wore a shirt and, over it, a caftan with a straight or slanting open collar and, on top, a second, long caftan with full sleeves tightly fastened at the wrist, or slit and hanging loosely. They kept this costume even after Ivan III had reconquered the country.   

One wonders if the Poles borrowed the caftan from their Russian neighbours or from the Tartar Khans of Crimea and the Turks, copying the ceremonial caftans captured in battle. From the thirteen century to the fifteenth, they wore the outer caftan or zupan, buttoned to the neck and trimmed with frogged braid.  

Refferance:  Edited from a book : A History of costume in the west, François Boucher,reprinted in 1997