Bridal costume, Bursa

Upper half of an urban wedding dress in ‘bindallı entari’-style, adorned with gold thread embroidery on silk. (You’ll find the lower half on another picture). First half of the 20th century.
‘Bindallı entari’ means: ‘robe with thousand branches’, because the decorative motifs on the robe consist mainly of branches with leaves and flowers.

The headscarf integrated in the quite exuberant headgear is adorned with ‘telkırma’ (or: Bartın işi = work from Bartın, referring to a city near the Black Sea). This old embroidery technique folds thin silver slat into a fabric and results in two identical sides.
The silver glitter festoons hanging down from the headgear is a local Bursa City addition (20th century, I guess), only used for brides (not for other festive costumes). Since its introduction, it has been adopted in villages of the province too.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Sources: The Kavak Collection of Anatolian Costumes, Antwerpen/Belgium.