A caftan is a long, loose robe. In its home regions — the Middle East, North Africa, and neighbouring parts of Asia and West Africa — it is a full-length garment, often of cotton or silk, worn by men or women depending on place and period. Western fashion borrowed the word in the twentieth century for a woman’s long, loose dress or beach cover-up, sometimes only loosely related to those clothes. It hangs from the shoulders; it is not cut close to the body. Formality lives in the cloth, not the cut: silk can be ceremonial, cotton can be house clothes. Also spelled kaftan; both are used.