How did ethiopian royalty dress in the 10th centaury?

[akma]

Basically, I want to draw an historical figure, this woman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudit
I want the drawing to be somewhat authentic, but I can't manage to find out how did the royalty there dress back then (also, I know of at least two royal lines back then, and it is likely there were differences in how they dressed). Does anybody here knows?

[Aedilred]

I have to say I don't, but it's something that's likely to be difficult to find detailed information on (I assume you have already attempted Google and the like) especially given that some elements of the period (including the individual in question) are basically semi-legendary.

As a general rule I would expect royalty of the period (anywhere) to wear something similar to the rest of their people, but in better quality fabric and more expensive colours, and likely with more jewellery and the like. There was unlikely to be too much differentiation between different regions of what was broadly a similar culture, although religious differences may have played a role there.

Instinctively I would suggest looking to the nearby Arab-Muslim world as the major cultural influence on the region. It's likely that whatever was worn in Ethiopia would be something broadly similar to that, but it's hard to be too specific especially when it comes to things like headgear which would have been one of the most obvious differences between Arabia and northern Europe at the time anyway.

There's also the issue that Ethiopia has tended to have a strong native tradition which may have superseded any Arab influence or at least substantially modified it. Unfortunately I don't know enough about east African fashion of the period to make any real suggestions as to what that might have been. Drawing on western or southern African dress for inspiration is unlikely to be helpful, as the regions were quite culturally distinct.

If you can find art of the period that might be helpful. Most of it is likely to be in the form of icons and depictions of non-contemporary scenes but that isn't necessarily a problem, as there was often a tendency to depict historic scenes in contemporary (to the artist) dress, and it's a period when fashion apparently moved very slowly anyway.

[ngilop]

I have to concur that it was similar to the Abrabic style of dress, though not 100% identical.