What Type of Hair/clothes Did Jerusalem Jews Have During the Crusades?

Long or short? What type of hairstyle? Facial hair? Did it vary by age or status? I just wanna get a better image of what they looked like.

Answer:

In public Jewish women had to conform more to Muslim mores. They had to wear black in public and hide their face whenever they were in the presence of a man. Muslim women had their face covered all the time. To respect Muslim standards of modesty and dress differently, Jewish women would wear a scarf over the lower half of their face in public.

Jewish brides stood out among all other women. All Muslim restrictions on Jewish dress were lifted which resulted in Jewish brides dressing very similarly to Muslim brides. Brides wore a white undergarment with a red dress over it, that symbolized fertility. The bride wore a lot of gold jewelry and a very heavy headdress. This head dress formed a triangle on her head that was decorated with flowers and ornaments. Her hands were decorated with henna.

The clothing Jewish men wore was much simpler then what the Jewish women wore. They did not have as many variations in what they wore for special days and they had much less ornamentation.

The basic outfit for Jewish men was a knee length shirt with a longer dress over it. On the side there was a pocket that was embroidered with gold thread. The embroidery was left incomplete as a reminder of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. A long coat with one button was worn for going outside and for special occasions. On their heads men wore a plain felt cap, for halachic reasons and for stylistic reasons.

Most Jewish men wore tzitzit in some form. The garments that men wore their tzitzit with were similar to the ones one in Europe. The Jewish men wore payot that distinguished them from Muslim men.

The most decorative outfit a man ever wore was on his wedding day. The groom wore a white gown, with a coat over with metal bottons. On his head he wore a silk handkerchief. Around his neck he wore a triangle amulet to ward off the evil eye.
From:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Yemen.html#Men%27s%20Clothing

Here are some images (this was not an easy topic to research)

http://www.biblepicturegallery.com/Pictures/dress/Two%20women%20in%20traditional%20dress%20in%20Jerusalem%20An%20ea%20pa.htm
http://www.biblepicturegallery.com/Pictures/dress/Jewish%20gentleman%20in%20full%20dress%20la.htm
http://www.biblepicturegallery.com/Pictures/dress/Jewish%20male%20clothing%20la.htm
http://www.biblepicturegallery.com/Pictures/dress/Jewish working

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

They were probably olive skinned and dark haired, like people in the region are today. They more than likely had unkempt hair (unbrushed and uncut) because they often had little to do with their hair other than tie it.

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