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During Ottoman times, a great distinction was made between the garments that women wore indoors and outdoors. Around the beginning of the 16th century, women's outdoor clothing consisted of ferace (overmantle), yaşmak (light-colored veil), and peçe (black veil). Winter overmantles were made of wool while those worn in summer were of silk. They had full sleeves and wrapped the body very loosely. Opening in the front, their lengths reached the ground. During the 18th century, trimmed collars were added to the overmantle. Over the years, the lengths of the "collars" varied, sometimes reaching as far as the lower hem as during the reign of Mahmud 11. During the second half of the 19th century skirt fronts were cut round and were fastened with a single button. Edges were embellished with pleating. Overmantle colors played an important role during Ottoman times: Muslim women wore red, blue, or green feraces while those worn by non-Muslim women were of paler shades.
Yaşmaks were made from a fine, soft, white fabric and consisted of two parts: one that was wrapped about the head covering it to the eyebrows and another that covered the lower part of the face to just the bridge of the nose.

The çarşaf, a baggy outer garment, is a fairly late addition to the Ottoman woman's wardrobe, having been introduced from Syria after 1872. Made from two long pieces of cloth joined together and fastened in pleats at the waist with a drawstring, it was worn together with a transparent veil over the face. This innovation did not always meet with approval; Sultan Abdiilhamid 11 for example expressly forbade the women of his palace to wear it. The baggy Çarşaf was in some cases replaced by a two-piece affair consisting of a skirt and cape.

Within the home, Ottoman women of the 16th and 17th centuries dressed in ankle-length trousers called şalvar, long-sleeved shifts of a seersucker gauze that reached down to the heels, long-sleeved cardigans, and robes known as kaftan. Open in the front and lacking any trimming, the fullness of the skirts of these robes was increased by the addition of narrow godets from the waist down. This style is common in skirts until the 19th century.

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