Żupan

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For "Z(h)upan", the homophonic title of the leader of a "župa", see that article.

Jan Zamoyski in crimson delia and blue silk żupan, and tied with pas kontuszowy. Right hand holds a buława.

Żupan (pronounce /'ʒupan/) was a long, often colourful male garment worn by szlachta (Polish class of nobility or gentry) in the Polish Kingdom and later in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The name has origins in Italian word giuppa (gown) which in turn comes from Arabic. According to Irena Turnau, the first mention of Żupan was in 1393 but it was adopted by the Polish nobility as its basic garment only in the mid-16th century. It was a long robe-like garment, always opened in the front, with long sleeves and a row of buttons (later very often decorative buttons called guzy) and since the 1570s also a collar. Its design had not changed much but for the size and cut of the collar and type of fabric used. Until 1660s the collars were high, then gradually they became lower and with open, rounded corners. Also at first Żupan served as outer garment made from sturdy cloth or wool and lined with fur and worn with a belt from which a sword was hung. Only gradually it became a lighter garment to be worn underneath the Bekiesza, Delia, Kontusz, Ferezja, Szuba and Burka, while the belt became a colourful affair.

The żupan naturally served as the garment worn immediately beneath armour, so it might be called an arming coat, especially in its padded and shorter military/cavalry version, the żupanik. After 1680s, it was typically worn beneath a kontusz and in such union those two garments became the Polish national costume until mid-19th century.

Żupans were made of many fabrics as were available to the szlachta or the lower classes. Magnates generally wore żupans sporting golden or jewelled buttons, and tailored from the most expensive fabrics of their times such as the very expensive Persian fabric known as crimson, which won their wearers the name, karmazyni or "crimson men", then from various expensive silkbased fabrics like satins, brocades and damascs. Richer szlachta emulated the magnates with cheaper versions of silk-and-linen fabrics while the lower levels of szlachta usually wore żupans made out of cheaper white linen (summer) or duller in colour varieties of wool (winter), hence their nickname, szaraczkowie--grey men".

Other social classes tried to emulate szlachta. Townsfolk wore yellow żupan made from hemp, which resulted in them being nicknamed 'łyczki'. Polish Jews wore black żupan, and peasants just like poor nobility wore simple, greyish żupan from wool or simple cloth.

In 18th-century Poland, the żupan became even lighter, with long and narrow sleeves, while the unseen back was tailored from some inexpensive fabrics as linen or cotton.It then assumed its final version (when worn with the kontusz and wide, colourful, made out of fabric belt) and survived into the 19th century as a part of the "national dress" and integral to regional male costumes, including those of peasants.