Etymology
Borrowed from French marocain (“Moroccan”), from Maroc (“Morocco”) (from Medieval Latin Marrochium (“the city of Marrakech, the former capital of Morocco”), ultimately from Berber Murt n Akush (“Land of God”)) + -ain (“suffix forming demonyms”).
Noun
marocain (countable and uncountable, plural marocains)
- A heavy crepe fabric of silk, wool, or both, having a cross-ribbed texture, used for apparel. [from early 20th c.]
[1917 February, Margaret Alice Friend, “Paris Fashion Service”, in W. B. Walker, editor, Silk: An Illustrated Magazine Published Monthly in the Interests of the Producer and the Buyer, volume X, number 2, New York, N.Y.: Silk Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 59:For summer tailored costumes it will be unequalled. "Toile Marocain," is a quite new fabric neither silk nor wool, but a special mixture of silk and goat's wool, that resembles the coarse stuff the native Arabs use in making their great burnouse—a hooded cape—and it comes in plain colors, particularly elephant gray, adapted to tailored costumes; and it is produced in chinè weaves with a Toile de Jouy effect, for little jackets and waistcoats.]
1922, Good Housekeeping, volume 74, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Magazines, →OCLC, page 35:Rodier's favored wool fabric this spring is Crêpella, a wool crêpe marocain. It is evident that crêpe gained such favor during the past season that Rodier now applies the same process to woolens.
1922 September, Daphne Carr, “Style Movements in Paris Silks”, in C. B. Clifford, editor, The American Silk Journal, volume XLI, number 9, New York, N.Y.: Clifford & Lawton, →OCLC, page 48, column 2:Bianchini Ferier are also showing a great variety of crêpes, Marocains of the heaviest and best qualities that sell for 85 francs a yard, and brocaded marocains that are more crêpe Romain, […]
1928, E[dward] Wheeler, “The Uses of Artificial Silk”, in E. Howard Tripp, editor, The Manufacture of Artificial Silk: With Special Reference to the Viscose Process (Monographs on Applied Chemistry; 1), New York, N.Y.: D[avid] Van Nostrand Company, →OCLC, page 114:There is now a very wide range in woven fabrics of cotton and artificial silk, which may contain percentages of artificial silk ranging from 5–60%. Thus we have cotton coatings, Bedford cords, cambric shirtings, lingerie fabrics, cotton marocains, poplins, […]
1932, Thomas C. Ballagh, “Market for Specific Textiles”, in Textile Market of Argentina (United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Trade Promotion Series; no. 132), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, page 89:France is by far the largest supplier of silk piece goods to Argentina. […] The types of cloth wanted are principally flat crepe, marocain, georgettes, lingerie silk, crepe de Chine, and satin.
2015, J. Hayavadana, “Crepe Surface and Crepe Weaves (Oatmeal)”, in Woven Fabric Structure Design and Product Planning (Woodhead Publishing India in Textiles), New Delhi: Woodhead Publishing India, →ISBN, page 124:Silk crepe yarns have been very widely used in the past for well-known fabrics such as crepe-de-chine, marocain and georgette.