Uçetek Entari

This entari, or robe, was a very fashionable garment in its time. The key element in the dress of an Ottoman woman, worn with a chemise, called gömlek in Turkish, and baggy trousers, or şalvar, the entari was open down the front with long sleeves and, in this case, trailing skirts. The exaggerated length of the skirts and sleeves signal the interest in current fashions on the part of the garment’s owner. Another fashionable detail is the pair of small, circular pockets in the bodice of the garment, known as watch pockets and intended to display the small pocket watches which became status items when they began to be imported into the Ottoman Empire.

The entari is made from a silk brocade with alternating vertical bands of floral motifs composed of extra weft silk thread and a herringbone design executed in gold metal-wrapped thread. The bands are separated by very thin black and white checked stripes. This kind of fabric, known as savai, was associated with workshops in Üsküdar, an Istanbul neighborhood on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The long sleeves were open to the elbow, and when worn would have fallen open revealing the dark red lining, a dramatic contrast to the garment’s fabric. The original lining of the main body of the entari was removed at some point, and bands of a dark green cotton were sewn around most edges, perhaps after the garment had entered the museum’s collection. Apart from the luxurious fabric and elegant proportions, the main ornamentation of the garment is the decoratively cut edging of the front opening, skirt edges, hem, and sleeve openings. Meticulously executed, the edges are all finished with twisted gold cord outlining the elaborate contours.