The Ottoman state arose in 1299 in Anatolia, on the territory of modern Turkey. After the conquests in Africa, Asia and Europe in the 15-16 centuries. this Turkic state was called an empire. The final collapse of the Ottoman Empire took place in 1922.
In the space of the Ottoman Empire during its heyday, various cultural traditions were mixed: the Muslim East and the Christian West, India, Persia, China. This confusion formed a bizarre culture, one expression of which was the costume, in particular the hats.
Fez
One of the most common headdresses in the Ottoman Empire was the fez - a small red woolen cap of a cylindrical shape, decorated with a black or blue silk tassel intertwined with silver or gold thread. Initially, such headdresses were made in Fez, a city located in Morocco, hence the name of the headdress.
Even under Sultan Mahmud II (1808-1839), when the fashion for European clothing spread, the inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire did not abandon the fez, because it was more in line with Muslim traditions than the western hat with brims. Only in the last years of the empire's existence did the "hat revolution" take place: the Turks switched from fez to hats, and fez became fashionable in Italy.
Turban
Unlike the fez - an exclusively male headdress - both men and women wore turbans. It was associated with the culture of the Arab East. According to legend, the turban was worn by the Prophet Muhammad himself, and devout Muslims should do the same.
A turban is a piece of cloth that is wound around the head around a fez or skullcap. The length of the simplest turban was 6-8 m, but the most luxurious reached 20 m. At the Sultan's court, noble and wealthy people wore multi-layered white silk turbans decorated with precious stones, because this fabric was associated with luxury.
Turbans were tied in different ways, for example, the janissaries knew at least 20 ways. For a long time, the turban was the uniform headdress of officials and soldiers in the Ottoman Empire, but in 1826 it was replaced by a fez.
Military headwear
The warriors of the Ottoman Empire used two types of helmets - the turban helmet and the Turkish shishak.
The turban helmet was worn over the turban to soften the blows. It was forged from a single piece of steel or iron and was domed. The height of the helmet was 31-32 cm, and the diameter was 22-24 cm.
The Turkish shishak had a conical or cylindro-conical crown, which could be smooth, faceted or with bulges. Some shishaks were equipped with a visor, earplugs and a head-piece or a sliding nose piece.
