A takye, takye, or tekke was a skullcap worn under a headdress to protect the headdress from sweat and grease. Poor men sometimes wore skullcaps as their only headgear. In the picture, the diner on the right has removed his turban (on the floor beside him, under a turban cover)…
An üçkur was a drawstring. Unlike European drawstrings, this was a substantial sash, often with embroidered ends. Üçkur were transferred between pairs of trousers or underwear, and were itemized separately in estate records.
Nemed is a generic word for felt. Also, like kebe, it’s a term for a variety of objects made from felt: blankets, mats, and a type of overcoat or vest worn by very poor men.
Tülbent was a superfine cotton cloth used for a variety of purposes, especially for making turbans. “Tülbent” can refer to the wrapping-cloth, or it may also be shorthand for the entire headdress. Destâr was an exceptionally fine type of tülbent that was also used to make turbans.
A hat worn as the foundation of a turban, or sometimes on its own.
Don was loose ankle-length or full-length underwear. Men wore it under their trousers. Women often wore it as their only leg covering. Learn more about Ottoman Turkish underpants.
When a woman wore her hair in a single braid down her back, she could tie a jeweled tassel of gold or silver chains, a saçbağı, to the end. (It’s pronounced “sach-baah-ih.”) The 17th-century poet Karacaoğlan hints at the evocative power of the saçbağı: As she wakes up in the morning, praises…
The “crown” some women wear around the base of their hats is called istefan, from the Greek word for “diadem.” Except at court, istefan were decorations, not status markers; a toddler wears one in a 1574 watercolor of her, her mother, and a servant in the street.
In the 16th century, the word dolama, literally “wrapping,” was an adjective that indicated the garment was intended to be worn on the outside of the outfit. It was used only rarely, probably because people generally used a garment’s specific name. For example, in Istanbul-area court records, kaftan refers to…