This class will look at a series of exchanges and influences between women's fashions of the Ottoman Empire, primarily Istanbul, and the Euro-American fashion world. Why did European women wear Ottoman clothing at fancy dress balls in the 18 th and 19 th centuries? What was the appeal of French silks to discerning Ottoman women? How did Ottoman women learn about European fashions and why did they choose to wear them? By centering on the Ottoman fashion story, broadening the typical narrative to look beyond elite clothing to the dress of working women, and bringing in considerations of race and ethnicity we will understand a fashion history very different than the standard histories of women's dress in this period. Through an examination of relevant garments, visual documents such as photographs and manuscript paintings, and primary texts (traveler's accounts, fashion media), students will learn how fashion history is constructed and what it means to decolonize that history.
Image captions:
