Even if his splendid mustachios were his defining feature, many European travellers reported on the clothes that Shah Abbas wore.
Many of the visitors specifically noted the Shah’s simple costume. Gouvea (visiting between 1602 and 1613) “had to have the King pointed out” as his seat (on the ground), his turban and his dress were not distinctive. Herbert (1628) wrote that the grandeur of the “Pot-shaw . . was this: circled with such a world of wealth, he clothed himself . . in a plain red calico cloth quilted with cotton . . having no need to steal respect by borrowed colours or embroideries”.
But the Shah wasn’t always so modest. Members of Robert Shirley’s party, visiting in 1598 (when Abbas was only 27 years old), saw a quite different picture. Pinçon described Abbas as wearing “short garb without a robe . . a gold brocade doublet and tight breeches of the same material. On his head was a turban, adorned with many precious stones and bright plumage. In his hand he carried a battle-axe”. Parry commented on how Anthony Shirley was given the Shah’s “own girdle from about him . . which was all of some golden stuff, very curious and costly, three yards long and an ell broad”. Manwaring explained that “The King’s disposition is noted by the apparel which he wears that day; for that day which he weareth black, he is commonly melancholy and civil; if he weareth white or green, yellow or any light colour, he is commonly merry; but when he weareth red, then all the court is afraid of him, for he will be sure to kill somebody that day”. I’m not sure if it’s orange or red that Abbas is wearing in Bishn Das’ 1613-19 portrait.
The Polish carpet merchant Muratowicz (1601) first saw the Shah “sitting on a chair of gilded silver, under which stretched a carpet of precious brocade, he was wearing a long padded satin robe and a sable coat”, though he also says that Abbas – sensibly – put on a “simple robe and shoes” when he started the thousand kilometre walk.
Do these different accounts actually reflect a true change over time? The Carmelite Father Simon wrote of how the Persian nobles in 1608 copied the Shah’s plain dress “whereas formerly they used to go out in brocade with jewels and other fopperies: and if he [the Shah] sees anyone who is overdressed, he takes him to task, especially if it be a soldier”.