Turkish folk dress is a traditional style of varying folk clothing worn primarily in the rural parts of Turkey throughout the seven geographical regions of the country. Within the folk style of clothing are many variations and references that may be based on region, gender, ethnicity, the class of the wearer, culture and to a less extent religion.
Similar features that are present in most of these folk dress styles throughout of Turkey include the colorful stripes, baggy floral clothing, multiple layers, poulaines (çarık) and overall vibrant colors differing on the region. Heavily implied elements in these folk styles include nature, romance, folk music and patriotism.
History and influences
Influences
Traditional folk clothing throughout Turkey today is heavily influenced by Ottoman fashion and based on the developments that occurred during and after the Empire’s reign. The borders of the Ottoman Empire encompassed the numerous individual cultures, people, religions and traditions that existed throughout Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, the Middle East, Central Europe, and Anatolia. Ottoman culture, and particularly Ottoman fashion evolved as an amalgam of these separate cultures and religions that had interacted over the past centuries of Ottoman reign.
“Ottoman culture” was used to define and generalize all present cultures and traditions within the empire, not the present or ruling Turkic culture specifically, though Turkic culture within the empire had ultimately embodied itself with other present Ottoman cultures and inherited many of its aspects, creating the basis of Turkish culture and diverse identity today. These set the stepping-stone for further developments of the Turkish culture that would continue on until the collapse and dissolution of Ottoman reign, and even after the establishment of the republic; Following several migration waves occurring into the country from Southern Europe (Albania and Greece), Eastern Europe (particularly Romania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia), the Caucasus, and presently from the Middle East, Russia, and Ukraine.
History
Ottoman fashion had not disappeared following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire; as it remained as part of daily use and continued on to evolve within the several nations that emerged from the empire before and after the dissolution, including the newly established Republic of Turkey. Some notable features and dress of Ottoman fashion included the mintan, a heavily embroidered chainse or vest; a şalvar, embroidered baggy pants; the sarık, a large, wrapped headpiece usually differing from a traditional turban and region-to-region; and the entari, a long flowy embroidered dress worn typically by women in the empire.
Although the notable Fez was also used by non-Muslim communities within the empire without religious intend, it was one of the earliest to fall out of fashion in these regions following the collapse with the sarık, including Turkey, after the official ban of the headwear in 1925. Though the sarık remained in-use by Muslim communities in former Ottoman lands and the rural areas of Turkey.
Modern Turkish folk dress throughout Turkey today lacks most of the religious aspects of these dress due to governmental pressure and restrictions applied throughout the 20s and late 30s, though has inherited a significant portion of other features with small modifications to a lesser extent. Similar features of modern Turkish folk dress throughout Turkey include: the mintan, şalvar, entari, gömlek/bluz (blouse), çarık, kuşak (similar to a girdle, cloth waist-wrap, or cincture), mendil (similar to a neckerchief) and yelek (a vest).
Turkish folk styles
Folk clothing in Turkey embodies the crossing over and interaction of the various cultures in and around Anatolia, and the fashion of each region in Turkey tends to reflect the nature of its people, their interactions and their traditions.
Eastern Anatolia
Eastern Anatolian fashion reflects elements of the neighboring Kurdish, Armenian, Persian, and to a lesser extent Azeri cultures, such as overall clothing with floral prints, stylish head and face coverings for women, alongside the wide belts for men with floral baggy trousers. Such Turkish fashion styles are mostly influenced by the Kurdish, Armenian, and Persian cultures, but rather distinct from the cultures themselves.