The traditional costume of Turkey

Asia is our destination of the day, where we will go to discover the traditional turkish costume. If the ottoman empire is far behind us, he has left traces in memories and costumes. Fez, caftan, saroual (hareem), cap on Turkey where traditional garments whisper to us ottoman stories.

What remains of the Ottoman empire?

Except in some remote villages, turkish men today are dressed in the western way. Baggy trousers and colored vests that were worned by turkish at the ottoman era left room for jeans, pants clip, tight shirts. It is at weddings or traditional festivals that one can see parading the beautiful old traditional costumes.  Wide style Sarouel trouser, short jacket, turban and/or Fez, wide belts, thus were dressed the turks at the ottoman time.

The old caftan

Almost all arab countries lived under the ottoman umbrella, with the exception of Morocco. The  caftan was imported by the andalousian who left their land to the Maghreb. If the moroccan caftan has known influences and changes, the ottoman caftan  remainded monotous. Those moorish caftans  brought from Andalusia  were  reserved to an elite. Turkish officials,tunisian or algerian notables, they were the only ones to wear caftan. So we can not define it as a component of the traditional ottoman costume.

The saroual, the shirt, the Fez and the turkish jacket

Under the Ottoman empire, most of the men were dressed in a traditional garment composed of a waistcoat ("yelek" in turkish), a shirt called "gomlek", a fez and a sarouel also called salvar ( pronounced "chalvar"). Some were wearing a kind of cassok akin to today qamis.

Source : https://www.dubretzelausimit.com/article-15567103.html

The sarouel and cassok were both decorated  by a piece of tissue as a pocket or a belt, called "kusak" pronounced "kouchak"). We can note that at the time, each social class was wearing   a different costume according to  that if one is close to the Sultan, basic citizen, peasant or scholar.

The chief usher to the grand seignior

A greek sailor in the service of the Sultan

Higher administrative official of the Ottoman State

Source : https://world4.eu/costume-of-turkey/

Today we still can see the old turkish men wearing  the wide trouser. They never left anyway their shirt. The embroidered waistcoat in "serge" (a kind of tissue) left room to a western waistcoat of wool.

The inevitable fez

The fez, this red headgear, is part of the traditional turkish costume. It is  hat in felt with a rigid and conical shape, dressed by a black tassel screwed above with black strings who are hanging. Also called "Tarbouche" in arabic, it  has known a great succes in the different populations of the Ottoman empire.

Source : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fez_(coiffure)

The origins of Fez

It  is hard to determine the true origin of the fez. For some, the famous red hat comes from Greece and would have been adopted by the inhabitants of the ottoman empire. What we know is that its name comes from the moroccan city of Fez where was producted the tissue  of red felt with wich this "tarbouche" is made.

If you venture into the villages of Turkey, take time to admire their inhabitants and their traditional costume. And with the few words of vocabulary that we have slipped to you, impress your interlocutors near the Bosphorus.