خیاط

What it means

خیاط (khayyât) means “tailor.” The word is borrowed from Arabic خ-ی-ط (kh-y-t), the root for “thread, sewing.” A khayyât makes, alters, and repairs clothing. Both menswear and womenswear use the same word, sometimes with a qualifier (خیاط زنانه, khayyât-e zanâne, “women’s tailor”) when needed for clarity. The trade itself, and a tailor’s shop, is خیاطی (khayyâti).

How to use it

• کت‌و‌شلوار رو خیاط دوخت (kot-o-shalvâr ro khayyât dukht) “The tailor sewed the suit”
• خیاط محله (khayyât-e mahalle) “the neighborhood tailor”
• پیش خیاط (pish-e khayyât) “at the tailor’s”
• خیاط زنانه (khayyât-e zanâne) “women’s tailor”
• خیاط‌باشی (khayyât-bâshi) “master tailor” (the older title)
• اندازه‌هام رو گرفت (andâzehâm ro gereft) “He took my measurements”
• برم پیش خیاط لباس بدوزم (beram pish-e khayyât lebâs beduzam) “I’ll go to the tailor to have clothes made”

Cultural context

Bespoke tailoring is alive in Iran in a way most Western countries lost decades ago. A combination of pressures keeps it going: off-the-rack imports are expensive, custom is sometimes cheaper, the body-shape variety in the population is wide, and tradition runs deep. Many Iranians still own at least one piece of custom-fitted clothing, and weddings, work suits, and graduation outfits are routinely made by a khayyât rather than bought from a shop.

Tehran in particular has well-known menswear-tailoring streets, with shops that have run for two or three generations. Men returning from abroad sometimes have an Iranian khayyât make a year’s worth of suits during a single visit, because the price-to-quality ratio still beats much of what is available in Europe and North America. Women’s manto coats (the long outer coat worn under hijab) are heavily customized; the manto khayyât is a separate specialist trade in many neighborhoods.

The trade has its own hierarchy. خیاط‌باشی (khayyât-bâshi) is the older Persian-Turkish honorific, “master tailor,” a holdover from the Qajar court guild system. Today it survives as a family name and as an honorific used for senior tailors. Inside the bazaar (especially in Tehran’s Bazaar-e Bozorg, in Tabriz, in Isfahan), entire alleys are dedicated to fabric and tailoring, with separate specialists for men’s suits, women’s manto coats, and traditional ceremonial dress.

Related

خیاطی (khayyâti) the trade of tailoring, or a tailor’s shop. دوختن (dukhtan) to sew. پارچه (pârche) fabric. اندازه گرفتن (andâze gereftan) to take measurements. مانتو (mânto) the long coat for women. کت و شلوار (kot-o-shalvâr) suit jacket and pants.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab