OTTOMAN COURT
A robe. A reward.
Receiving a kaftan could be a public honour: luxurious robes were given to courtiers and foreign ambassadors. Quite a step up from a gift card.
The story behind it ↗PAST / PRESENT
Ottoman to Contemporary Fashion
Power dressing. Wild patterns. A table that became a skirt.
Six things to know. No history exam at the end.
OTTOMAN TEXTILESCONTEMPORARY FASHION
HÜSEYİN ÇAĞLAYAN / 2000
Your table looks great on you.
For Afterwords, Turkish Cypriot designer Hüseyin Çağlayan turned furniture into clothing. The coffee-table skirt explored displacement and what we take with us. Packing light, taken literally.
The story behind it ↗PATTERN SPOTTING
Animal print, before the runway.
Three dots and a pair of wavy bands: meet çintemani. Its elements are also described as leopard spots and tiger stripes. Ottoman power dressing had a wild side.
The story behind it ↗HÜSEYİN ÇAĞLAYAN
Is the remote in your handbag?
Yes, this is a remote-control dress by Çağlayan. Experimental fashion can be closer to engineering than a sewing pattern. The future does not always come with pockets.
The story behind it ↗DRESSED TO BE SEEN
Made for the back row.
Those huge motifs were no accident. Bold, oversized designs on 16th-century parade garments could be seen from a distance. Long before the close-up, there was the grand entrance.
The story behind it ↗ISTANBUL, REIMAGINED
A city you can wear.
Dice Kayek’s Istanbul Contrast won the V&A’s Jameel Prize 3 in 2013. The Ege sisters translated Ottoman robes, domes and Byzantine mosaics into clothes. Architecture, with a dress code.
V&A / Istanbul Contrast ↗Meet Dice Kayek in our selection →The past is a reference.
The attitude is yours.
The small print: photographs & sources
Real garments and textiles, real photographs. The Ottoman examples are court and luxury textiles, not a picture of everyone’s wardrobe. Çağlayan is a Turkish Cypriot designer working internationally; contemporary fashion here includes experimental work from 2000 onward.
Dice Kayek: existing product photograph reused from KONSEPT’s Dice Kayek selection; Signature Sleeveless Mini Dress. This contemporary product illustrates sculptural silhouette and is not presented as one of the 2013 prize-winning garments.
Ottoman photographs: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access / public domain. Kaftan, 2003.416a–e (Purchase, Sakip Sabanci Gift and Rogers Fund, 2003); silk velvet, 08.109.23 (Rogers Fund, 1908); kaftan back, 52.20.15 (Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1952).
Çağlayan photographs: Manuelarosi, via Wikimedia Commons. Coffee-table skirt: CC BY-SA 3.0. Remote-control dress: CC BY-SA 4.0. Photographs resized and compressed for the web; no content removed. Each photograph retains its linked license; no endorsement is implied.
The Met / Silks from Ottoman Turkiye ↗ · Design Museum / Hussein Chalayan ↗ · V&A / Dice Kayek ↗