This style of hat, which was worn from at least the beginning of the 16th century and lasted until it was replaced by short, conical hats at the end of the century, has no name. Yeah. I know. Goddamned Ottomans. They name the hell out of everything else, but they…
When pillbox hats were in fashion, women wound a folded band of fabric around the brim, either to add a touch of decoration or to hold their hat veil on. This band of fabric was called a çember or çenber. Sometimes the band was embroidered instead of folded. There are…
The shirt or shift that all Ottoman Turks wore next to their skin was called a gömlek.
The gömlek was a cotton, linen, silk (if you were female), or occasionally woolen shift worn by both men and women next to the skin. Women’s gömleks were usually shin-length to ankle-length, depending on the fashion. Men also wore long gömleks with their full-length kaftan, or a hip-length version of the gömlek with…
What did they look like? What were they called?
Like arakçın, “arakiyye” started as a generic word for any hat, especially for the type of hat that could be used as a base for a turban. By the end of the 16th century, it had become a generic word for a woman’s hat, regardless of style.
In mid-16th-century sources, “arakçın” is simply a word for any hat. By the end of the century it appears to have attached to women’s hats in particular, but it describes the pillbox hats of the 16th century, the small cones of the turn of the century, and the sugarloaf hats…
The ferace is an unfitted full-length overcoat with loose full-length sleeves. It was extremely popular with both men and women–for women as a modesty covering, and for men as a less stylish, but less expensive and more practical, alternative to the coat with hanging sleeves. In modern scholarship men’s ferace…
The short-sleeved full-length overcoat is worn by a wide variety of people, from court officials to women going to the bath. It’s worn by women as a replacement for the ferace, and may have simply been called a ferace. Based on this, men’s short-sleeved overcoats may have been called feraces…
Is the robe worn under or over the belt? If it’s worn under the belt, it’s a kaftan. If it’s worn over the belt, are the sleeves short, full-length and loose, or as long as the garment and hanging behind? If the sleeves are short, the robe is an overcoat…