Ferace

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 are often associated with religious figures, but don’t overemphasize the association. 16th-century religious figures were indeed often drawn wearing ferace. However, a wide variety of men from all walks of life also wore them. The ferace was a humbler garment than the fashionable, worldly coat with hanging sleeves, so Muslim religious figures wore it to underline their rejection of materialism, in imitation of men who couldn’t afford fancier coats.

There’s a ferace-like garment that differs only in having short sleeves rather than wrist-length sleeves. One modern scholar claims it’s a ferace variant called a dolama. I haven’t found enough to support or reject this identification, although I’m leaning toward rejecting it. In any case, on this site I list short-sleeved ferace-like garments as short-sleeved full-length overcoats.

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