Charshaf in Istanbul

The charshaf may also be made of

two pieces of cloth in order to secure a better fit, and although the garb

might seem to defy artistic arrangement and effect, it is often very becoming

and graceful It would appear that the charkha was the original dress of Turkish

women, with the important difference from the present fashion that the veil

could not be thrown back, and was furnished with two holes for the eyes, as

among Moslem women to-day in Persia and India.

The yashmak, it is said, came into vogue at

the time of the Conquest, being an adaptation of the veil worn then by women of

the Christian peoples of the land. Its abandonment for the sake of a style

which permits greater freedom is a sign of progress. But the change, which was

made some thirty years ago, roused considerable opposition. Merchants in the

bazaars objected to it, because a charkha required less material to be made up

than a feuded, and consequently injured trade.

Others found fault with it simply because

it was an innovation; while others feared that when worn with the veil down it

might facilitate disguise in carrying on social or political intrigues. Nay,

imperial tirades denounced and forbade the new mode. But all was in vain, for

even in Turkey it is possible for women to have their own way.

Turkish hanuman reclined

Nor is it only in their out-door dress that

Turkish women have introduced alterations. They have done so likewise in their

dress when at home. The baggy trousers, the embroidered vest and jacket, which

constituted the costume in which a Turkish hanuman reclined upon her divan, have

been replaced, in the progressive section of Turkish female society, by

garments after European fashions.

A Turkish bride belonging to a wealthy

family wears a wedding dress like that which adorns a young lady under similar

circumstances in Western lands, the only difference being that the former

allows her hair to hang down, and decorates it with long narrow streamers of

tinsel, pieces of which she presents to her young friends for good luck.

Elegant tea-gowns and the latest Parisian

robes are worn in wealthy harems. Turkish ladies, indeed, have yet to adopt the

low-necked dress, but, not to be altogether behind the times, they make their

servant-maids don that attire on great occasions. When the maids are

dark-skinned daughters of Africa, the effect is not flattering to the costume.