Three costumes in late Ottoman urban style, worn in most Anatolian towns.

The dress of the young lady on the left dates from the first half of the 20th century. It consists in two parts: baggy trousers (‘şalvar’) and a blouse (‘işlemeli gömlek’) made of red silk and adorned with gold thread embroidery, of the so-called ‘Dival işi’-type.
This is a form of laid work or couching; that is, the gold/metal threads are held on to the surface of the fabric by a second thread, usually of fine silk. The ends of the thread, depending on type, are simply cut off, or are pulled through to the back of the embroidery and carefully secured with the couching thread.

The lady in the middle wears a similar silk two parts-costume, of which the blouse is named ‘sarka’. The front of this blouse, and the cuffs of both its long sleeves are adorned with gold thread embroidery, fastened in the so-called ‘kordon tutturma tekniği’ (= applied cord). Which means that the gold thread is laid down on the fabric in circular figures, and then fastened with a yellow silk thread.
This kind of dress, both the model (named ‘Bahriye’ = ‘Navy’) and the embroidery work, are still produced today (in Eskişehir, for example). The ‘Bahriye’-model appeared in the early 1930s.

The first two dresses are festive (or high-class) costumes, the third one (the lady in green) is not. It is also composed of baggy trousers and a blouse, but has no decoration. On her feet, she wears thick knitted woollen socks; these are village-type indoors footwear, since (in traditional culture) all shoes that are worn outdoors have to be left behind, when entering the living areas of a house, where the (generally wooden) floors are covered with carpets.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Sources: The Kavak Collection of Anatolian Costumes, Antwerpen/Belgium.
& ‘Giyim Süsleme Teknikleri’ (Orta Dereceli Kız Teknik Öğretim Okulları, 1984).