Post-1948
Widad Kawar was among the first to recognize the new styles developing after the Nakba.
New styles began to appear the 1960s. For example the "six-branched dress" named after the six wide bands of embroidery running down from the waist. These styles came from the refugee camps, particularly after 1967. Individual village styles were lost and replaced by an identifiable "Palestinian" style.
The shawal, a style popular in the West Bank and Jordan before the First Intifada, probably evolved from one of the many welfare embroidery projects in the refugee camps. It was a shorter and narrower fashion, with a western cut.
Prior to the First Intifada the wearing the Palestinian colours, red, green, black & white could lead to unwelcome attention from the Israeli occupying forces. The use of these colours became a demonstration of dissent.
Income generating projects in the refugee camps and in the Occupied Territories began to use embroidery motifs on non-clothing items such as accessories, bags and purses. With the evolution of the different groups distinct styles are beginning to be appear. Sulafa the UNRWA project in the Gaza Strip has exhibited work at Santa Fe in America. Atfaluna, also from Gaza, working with deaf people, sells its products through the internet. West Bank groups include the Bethlehem Arabs Women's Union, Surif Women's Cooperative, Idna, the Melkite Embroidery Project (Ramallah). In Lebanon Al-Badia, working in the Refugee Camps, is known for high quality embroidery in silk thread on dresses made of linen. The Jerusalem based Fair Trade organisation Sunbula, recognised under Israeli law as a charity, is working to improve the quality and presentation of items so that they can be sold in European, American and Japanese markets.
Read more about this topic: Palestinian Clothing