Wednesday, April 28, 2021

The well dressed Turk, circa 1865

Click any image to enlarge

These watercolors from the 19th century show clothes that were current fashions in the Ottoman empire. The works, likely a copy from earlier paintings, were given to Tsar Alexander III when he was a young man as part of his education. 

Theses images, and those after the jump, are from Public Domain's post 19th-Century Album of Ottoman Fashion, which has more examples, as well as a discussion of how Ottoman fashions influenced European dress and costumes back in the day. 



2 comments:

Borepatch said...

That first picture was interesting - the Ottomans conquered the Roman Empire in 1453 and look like they took some Roman fashions. The red boots were part of the Imperial regalia: only the Emperor could wear them. The Ottomans look like they took that over for the general well dressed turk.

ambisinistral said...

I hadn't thought of that, but you're right. The Public Domain post talks about these fashions influencing Europe -- through Opera and costume balls that eventually bled into the haute couture of the time -- but of course they had their own history as the Turks adopted looks from the earlier Byzantium Empire.

Little cultural diffusion chains like this show just how stupid and divorced from reality the current cultural appropriation brouhaha is.