The "chapan" is a robe or coat, ethnically Uzbek, worn over clothes, usually during the cold winter months. In ancient Uzbekistan the higher classes wore chapans made of silk or a mixture of silk and cotton. Research on silk robes from Uzbekistan indicates that they have been worn for more than a millenium. Uzbek craftsmen and artists extracted the natural dyes, created the fantastic designs and spun and wove the silk and cotton thread. Robes with ikat patterns are among the most beautiful.
Outside of Afghanistan, robes were made in different styles. In Turkmenistan, theirs were often covered with fine embroidery. Readers may also be familiar with the Afghan chapan cape worn by president Hamid Karzai.
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