Dejellaba’s appellation is claimed to come from the word jilbab, the name given to women’s religious dress in Islam. Jilbab is found in Qu’ran and refers mainly to traditionally long garments worn by Muslim women to cover the features of their beauty. It is sometimes used interchangeably to refer to Hijab, as long as it fulfills the Quranic demands for Muslism women’s religious screening.

Since there are no visual representations of the 7-century’s Jilbab, it is difficult to claim that contemporary Jilbab (or Moroccan traditional Djellaba) are similar to it. However, some anthropologist claim that today’s Jilbab dates back to the 19th century since pictures of it show commonalities between the one worn at that time and the one worn today by Muslim women.

Traditionally, djellabas are made of wool in different shapes and colours, but lightweight cotton djellabas have now become popular. Among the Berbers, or Imazighen, such as the Imilchil in the Atlas Mountains, the colour of a djellaba traditionally indicates the marital status (single or married) of the bearer: a dark brown djellaba indicating bachelorhood.

Traditionally, djellabas reached down to the ground but lightweight djellabas are somewhat slimmer and shorter. Men often wear a light-coloured djellaba sometimes along with a traditional Arab red fez hat and soft yellow babouche slippers (balgha in Arabic) for religious celebrations and weddings.

Almost all djellabas of both styles (male or female) include a baggy hood called a qob that comes to a point at the back. The hood is important for both sexes, as it protects the wearer from the sun, and in earlier times, it was used as a defense against sand being blown into the wearer's face by strong desert winds. In colder climes, as in the mountains of Morocco, it also serves the same function as a winter hat, preventing heat loss through the head and protecting the face from snow and rain. It is common for the roomy hood to be used as a pocket during times of warm weather; it can fit loaves of bread or bags of groceries.

Traditional djellabas are generally made of two types of material, cotton for summer wear and coarse wool for the winter. The wool is typically obtained from sheep in the surrounding mountains. Buttons for djellabas are made in the town of Bhalil.

Modern Moroccan Djellaba is emphatically different from 20 century Dejellaba. The way it is now designed and worn is also clearly distinct. While most Moroccan women used to wear the scarf as an indispensable companion of the Djellaba in the past, Djellaba is worn today without the scarf.

Moroccan Djellaba is also no longer that simple traditional dress with very consistent and conservative design features. While the traditional Dejellaba of the 1960s remains intact and conserves its significance among Moroccan women, modern Djellaba has become so famous that it has become almost difficult to recognize one by a person not familiar with the mutations it has undergone.

According to en.wikipedia; moroccoworldnews.com