The Ottomans arrived in Egypt in 1517 as part of Sultan Selim I’s (r. 1512–1520) campaign against the Mamluk sultanate which had maintained control of the area encompassing Egypt and Syria in the Eastern Mediterranean since 1250. Egypt became a province of the Ottoman Empire, and Ottoman administrative and military elite were sent with their families to rule over the former Mamluk domains. In Egypt, they established themselves in the large urban centres, initially Cairo and Alexandria, bringing with them Ottoman traditions and fashions in vogue in the court circles of the Topkapi Palace and among the wealthy subjects of the imperial capital city of Istanbul. Thus, it is in the urban centres that the influence of Ottoman Turkish dress on Egyptian costume can best be studied.

Contemporaneous sources tell us about the moment in history where the transition to Ottoman-style dress happened in Egypt. Chroniclers such as Ibn Iyas recount the story of how Khayer Bey, the new Ottoman governor of Egypt, initially forbade Mamluks from dressing like Ottomans, but later forced Ottoman dress on them. In his book Egyptian Society Under Ottoman Rule 1517–1798 (1992), author Michael Winters describes this tumultuous transition: ‘In September 1517, just before Selim’s departure from Egypt, the Mamluks were pardoned. They came out of their hiding wearing fellahin’s clothes; they were destitute and without horses. The Ottomans apparently could not make up their minds how to treat them. At first, the Mamluks were forbidden to wear Ottoman dress, and were ordered to wear red “zamt” and “maluta”, the traditional Mamluk costume. But in 1521 the order was reversed.’ Chroniclers of the day do not give a clear reason for the reversal, but it was likely meant to reduce distinction between the two as Mamluks and Ottomans were reportedly in constant, bloody rivalry, often committing crimes disguised as each other.

The More Things Change…

The new trends spread quickly throughout the major cities. As early as 1547, women of the urban upper classes were described by Pierre Belon du Mans, a French traveller, as wearing Ottoman-style dress: close-fitting, multi-layered outfits composed of coat, waistcoat, baggy trousers, shirts, and sashes. It is safe then to assume that the urban upper class had begun dressing in Ottoman fashion by the mid-16th century.

The rural population mostly continued to wear garments derived from the tunic but sometimes combined with more recent introductions such as trousers. The distinct regional styles appear to still have predominated, but there were minor differences in cut and not-so-minor differences in decorative details such as embroidery, colour, fabric pattern, fastenings, and trimmings, rather than changes in basic garment types or their constructions.

Al-Shirbini, a minor 17th-century religious scholar and one-time weaver, penned a satirical text where he compares the lives of urban Egyptians with the more traditional rural inhabitants. In it, he sheds light on their habits, characteristics, food, and also on their clothing:

'There are two types [of jubba]: the rural and the urban. The rural type is of thick, coarse wool, closed in front like a thawb. They make the sleeves wide, especially those of poets. Indeed, they are known for the excessive width of their sleeves [...] As for women, their sleeves are wide enough to accommodate a man, who can go in through one and come out by the other.

The urban sort is the one used by the people of the cities, especially scholars and sophisticates. It is of soft, fine wool and they make it tight at the armpits, and open in front. They call it jubba mufarraja because it has been open at the wearer’s front and what is beneath may be seen. They add a (sic) silk or other trimming […]'

 Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Shirbini. Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abu Shaduf Expounded. (H. T. Davies, Trans.), vol. II. New York University Press, 2019

In terms of both visual and textual sources, the documentation for the 19th century is the most plentiful as not only do we have surviving examples of the costumes themselves, but there are also detailed paintings, written descriptions, and even photographs provided by the increasing number of Europeans who chose to live in Egypt or take up employment there as teachers or technical experts. This means that historians usually interpret early Ottoman influence on Egyptian urban costume through the lens of 19th-century images and descriptions, relying on the fact that traditional clothing forms remained essentially unchanged or changed only very gradually over centuries.

Designed to Reveal …

A very distinctive feature of the Ottoman Turkish style was the idea of layering and of showing off these layers in advantageous areas in the costume. The garments were constructed to reveal—through necklines, sleeve openings, and front openings—the varied and rich materials of the multiple layers of garments worn underneath. The simple garment constructions were altered and adjusted to allow the wearer to display these layers. Cuffs of the robes had long slits to display the shirtsleeves worn underneath. The long slits caused the sleeves of the robes to fall back and trail to allow a glimpse of colourful linings at the sleeve ends. The front hems of robes were tucked up into the sash to display both the linings and the garments worn underneath. Sometimes robes with elbow-length or shorter sleeves were worn over other robes or shirts to show the layering.

In the Ottoman style, both men and women wore three fundamental garments: trousers, shirts, and robes. The distinctions between gender, age, community, or social or political status were indicated by differences in quality and quantity of fabric used for construction, as well as in accessories, jewellery, embellishment such as embroidery, and finally, headwear. Additionally, the particular combinations and layering sequence of garments could be indicative of social, economic, and political differences.

A typical man’s outer garment was a robe, often called qiba’a or kaftan (Turk.) and closed either straight down the front or crossing the chest in a diagonal. The inner garment was an undershirt, called qamjun or ghilala depending on the period, and worn over trousers. A belt or shawl-like band was wrapped around the waist over the coat or trouser. The longer and more ample the cut and the more sumptuous the fabrics and materials used for construction and decoration of garments, the higher the wearer’s status and standing in society. The man’s headgear or turban was an important component indicating the position and rank of officials in the Ottoman government hierarchy. Its shape and size were prescribed by the Ottoman government. Called kavuk, it was made by sewing many layers of stuffed cloth and attaching them to one another. Once sewn, a kavuk was never dismantled. In 1829, however, the central Ottoman government passed new laws making 'modern' dress compulsory for all Ottoman officials except clerics. With these new laws, officials started to wear jackets and trousers constructed in the European style and replaced their kavuk with the tarboush (or fez), the short cylindrical red felt hat with a tassel attached to the top. This new style of clothing was adopted, and also adapted, in many urban parts of the Ottoman Empire.

… And to Conceal

The costume of upper-class Egyptian women closely resembled that of their contemporaries in Istanbul during the first half of the 19th century with some differences in accessories and nomenclature. Although construction did not change, many Turkish names for garments were adopted alongside the traditional terms common in Egypt.  

The Egyptian woman, like her Ottoman Turkish counterpart, arranged her elaborate costumes in many layers. The undershirt was very full and cut like a man’s shirt, but it was shorter, reaching above the knees. It could be made of linen, cotton, muslin, silk, or a cotton and silk mixture, and was generally white, but could be coloured as well. The loose sleeves of this undershirt were often edged with silk or gold lace. Its construction and material were similar to the Ottoman woman’s shirt called gömlek. Women wore baggy pants called shintiyan or sirwal (Turk.: shalvar) worn over the underpants, which were called dişlik in Turkish. Although there appear to be no surviving Ottoman-period examples of them in Egypt, there are references to a pair of knee-length underpants called mi’zar in the Mamluk period. In Egypt, baggy pants were generally tied under the undershirt instead of over it as in Istanbul. These pants were constructed using extremely long fabrics and had drawstrings at the end of each leg opening. These were tied just below the knees to make the fabric fall voluminously and create a bouffant effect around the wearer’s ankles. Fabric used for the pants ranged from light cotton muslins to heavier brocaded silks.

A robe was worn over the undershirt and baggy pants. It was similar in cut to a Turkish robe called üçetek (three skirts), but it was called yelek in Egypt. This long robe had elegant, slender proportions with a fitted upper part and trailing skirts that had deep slits on both sides up to the hip creating three separate panels (two in the front, one at the back). The front panels were often lifted and tucked in the belt. The equally long sleeves of this robe had deeply slashed cuffs which fell back over the wrist revealing the lace-edged sleeves of the undershirt. Similar to the baggy pants, a wide range of fabric was used for the construction of this type of robe, including velvet. Occasionally they were embroidered with gold thread. Over this long robe, a short-sleeved jacket called anteri could be worn. Women also wrapped a shawl-like sash around the waist. If the occasion warranted, more layers in similar construction to the yelek and anteri but plainer in colour and often in velvet or broadcloth were worn. Headdresses shared the same foundational pieces as the Ottoman Turkish ones. A cap was the main piece in the headdress and then scarves of different types were wrapped around the cap and head. Sometimes a sheer, plain-weave, gauzy white scarf which fell to the shoulders was thrown over the headdress. Flat, embroidered yellow or red mezz (slippers) completed the indoor costume.

Outdoors, women wore a large, loose gown called variously thob, thawbI, or sebleh. The sleeves of this tunic-like garment were nearly equal in width to the whole length of the garment. The fabric used for the garment changed based on the social, environmental, and financial circumstances of the wearer. Women also put on a face veil called a burqa, which was a long strip of white muslin concealing the face except the eyes. It often reached below the knees. This long strip of muslin was tied to the band wrapped around the head. Then the woman covered all these with a garment called hibra, made out of two lengths of fabric sewn together and worn horizontally, resembling today’s chador. Mid-calf length boots called khuff or juff completed outdoor wear.

Winds of Change

The influence of European fashion, especially on women’s costume, intensified in the 19th century. After the 1829 laws were passed to make 'modern' clothing compulsory, at least for Ottoman government officials, European-style garments started appearing more frequently on the streets of urban Egypt. The late 19th-century photographs of the Egyptian court show women attired in long dresses in fashionable European cuts; at home, many most likely wore their traditional clothing, a beautiful product of cultural mixing in Egypt over millennia.

Dress is a complex system that reflects the aesthetic, social, and political patterns in a given time and place, thus it is hard to fully elaborate on it in a short article like this one. Clothing, regardless of it being fashionable or otherwise, also involves economic factors, and textile manufacture and trade was vital to both the Ottoman and Egyptian economies. The acceleration in change happening in Egyptian clothing in the 18th and 19th centuries is in large part also due to Egypt being a critical part of a larger, rapidly changing global economy.