You want to do Ottoman Turkish garb.1 But you don’t have time to make a complete outfit, or the money to order one from Etsy. Here’s a quick and dirty guide to throwing together a first outfit.
The Pieces • Colors • Making a Cheater’s Kaftan
The Pieces
Caksır (trousers): Pajama bottoms do nicely. Pin them discreetly at the ankle if their cuffs are loose. Avoid obvious flannels, obvious knits, and cartoon sheep.
Gömlek (shift): Any early medieval shift has the same basic cut as the gömlek. You want one that comes to mid-shin or lower and that has a small neck hole with a slit. If your shift is a later medieval version with a lower neckline, just button your kaftan high enough to hide it; I find that even a properly cut gömlek tends to pull out of view over the course of the day.
The shift’s tube-shaped sleeves won’t be quite right for Ottoman Turkish, but you have options. You can make a long-sleeved kaftan; you can make detachable sleeves and pin them inside a short-sleeved kaftan; or you can brazen it through and pretend tube sleeves were exactly what the Ottomans wore. That’s the method I use when I wear my Persian-style gömlek, whose crappy truncated tube sleeves I never got around to fixing.2
Alternatively, if you can’t beg, borrow, or scrounge a medieval shift, get yourself some white muslin and toss together an A-line shift with angel-wing sleeves. If your fabric is wide enough, you can even cut it in a single piece and sew up the side seams.
Zıbın (short underjacket): No woman would set foot outside her bed without being decently clothed in a zıbın, but for now, omit it. Even in period the zıbın often didn’t show under the kaftan.
Kaftan: I’m sorry, this is the one piece you can’t fake. Persian robes are kaftan-like enough to pass, but if you have a friend who can loan you Persian robes, you don’t need this guide.
If you want to buy a kaftan, search for SCAdian vendors who sell “entari.” It’s hard to find people who make kaftans with the authentic 16th-century cut, but you can get close. Look for an entari that’s full-length, with a neckline that’s ideally close to the throat or that mimics the lower-but-modest neckline of Ayse Sultan’s blue cintamani kaftan. The skirt shouldn’t have any slits except the one down the front. (Short walking slits at the side seams aren’t only okay, they’re period; but they’re also less than 10″ long.) Avoid skirts that are slit up the sides (late 17th century), deep decolletage (18th century), ghawazee coats (19th century), or entaris with buttonholes instead of buttonloops (oh hell no).
SilverTreeSouq makes lovely cotton entaris that meet all of these requirements. I’ve never bought from her, but I’ve seen her work in person, and her kaftans and zibins are excellent.
If you don’t want to buy a kaftan, or you can’t afford one, I have good news for you. Kaftans are easy to make. Kaftans are so easy to make that I, a self-taught seamstress who’s repeatedly been defeated by fitted sleeves, have made three. Eventually I will have advice for knocking together a kaftan, but in the meantime, the best premade patterns are the Ottoman Turkish Man and Woman patterns from Reconstructing History. Just be prepared to reduce the width of the sleeves–at 22″ around, they’re vast, flapping, ungainly things.
Belt: Raid your scarf collection.
Hat: Any unornamented pillbox cap. If you want to dress it up, pin a band of trim around the edge to replicate an embroidered hatband. The veil is unnecessary, but if you want one, use a fine white kerchief that’s just long enough to go over the hat and tie under your chin. (Dharma Trading Co. sells 30″ square silk scarves that are just about perfect. I recommend the chiffon; the habotai rustles constantly.)
Jewelry: Turkish jewelry has a classic, almost Roman or Greek look that’s easy to replicate with modern pieces. Look for a short gold or silver necklace or a short string of pearls, drop earrings, gold bracelets or bangles, plain or jeweled rings, and maybe anklets.
Avoid brooches (not worn in period), tribal jewelry (wrong culture, too unrefined), anything representational (hard to match traditional Turkish styles; stick with abstract designs), and anything that screams The Exotic Middle East (wrong culture, and also ew).
Shoes: Little slippers. If you want something more substantial, modern leather shoes that have a simple shape and don’t have any cut-outs, straps, etc. will produce a sufficiently Ottoman-oid impression. I’ve also had luck finding shoes with the right shape in the men’s house slipper department. Avoid curly toes, or anything else that’s reminiscent of A Thousand and One Nights.
Colors
All shades of red, madder orange, cool pink, salmon pink, golden yellow, light yellow, golden tan, pistachio green, olive green, all indigo blues from whisper-pale to navy, light purple, white. Dark purple and black are considered dull, sober colors best suited to overcoats and working clothes. Gray and dun are for the poor.
Think jewel tones and earth tones. Avoid hot colors (like hot pink), acid and neon tones (not possible with natural dyes), and soft pastels (not in fashion).
Go for contrast. Matching is boring. Match colors by tone, the amount of gray in the colors, rather than by the colors themselves.
- Congratulations! Permit me to compliment you on your excellent taste.
- Actual pirihans had extra-long sleeves that bunched up on the forearm. My pirihan did, too, but then I decided to convert it to angel wings. I cut off the extra length, procrastinated, finished the cuffs hurriedly for an event, and never got around to fixing the sleeves. The moral is: Don’t be me. Finish your garb.