Turkish Cypriot Townsman

The costume of the Turkish Cypriot townsman consists of the following dress items: ypokamison (chemise), vraka (breeches), ttalapolouzi (sash), yileko (waistcoat), fez, and skarpinia (shoes). The chemise is made of silk-cotton material with yellow, pink and black stripes. The back and front are made of a single piece of material, and the front has a vertical opening fastened by eight brown wooden buttons. There is a small pocket on the right side. The sleeves, which are sewn vertically to the body, end in cuffs fastened by two buttons. The upright collar, the cuffs, and the vertical opening at the front are strengthened by an additional piece of material, the stripes of which are set obliquely, and decorated with stiching forming curves and straight lines. The chemise is lined with white cotton fabric.   A wide heavily pleated vraka made of blue (veneto) felt is worn with the striped chemise. An additional strip of red cotton material is sewn to the waist for the belt (vrakozoni), which is decorated with a fine, twisted braid in three colours. The stitching and the edges of the leg openings are decorated with seiritia of black silk thread. The outside of the podinaria have decorative twisted silk threads sewn to them, forming a wickerwork pattern and solid curving motifs ending in spirals. Two lahuri motifs are filled with red velvet. At the top of the design is a bird, its outline worked in black twisted silk thread, filled with bright red and yellow silk thread. The podinaria are lined with white cotton material, and have a decorative white seiriti at the edges. Around the waist is worn a wide, multi-coloured silk sash, the ttalapoulouzi, which has fringes at the ends. It is made of a fabric with checked stripes in different shades. The sash is made of two pieces of cloth sewn together with orange twisted silk thread. The crossed yileko worn above the chemise is made of red and blue (veneto) felt, like that used for the vraka. The front is made of two pieces of blue felt of the same size, and can be cross-fastened on either side by means of eight knitted buttons made of black twisted silk thread with large loops. The back is made of red felt, with a vertical slit cross-fastened by two laces, one blue and one red. The sides consist of two pieces of red felt, sewn together horizontally, and have outer pockets made of red velvet with decorative twisted metal wire sewn to them, forming abstract curving patterns. The yileko is richly adorned with elegant patterns of Islamic inspiration, similar to those engraved on bronze utensils of the 18th and 19th centuries. Every part of the yileko has multi-coloured braids, silk threads or twisted metal wires sewn to it, forming spiralling floral motifs, wickerwork pattern lozenges, lahuri patterns, scrolls and spirals. The yileko is lined with white cotton material, with blue felt used at the edges of the crossed opening at the front. The inside of the neck opening has a striped woven seiriti, similar to that used in the vraka. On the head is worn a tall bright red felt fez with a tassel made of black twisted silk thread. The costume is completed with black leather skarpinia, which have sharp, turned up toes. The heel is formed of several pieces of thick leather, and an iron horseshoe is attached to the underside with komodromisima, blacksmith’s nails. Wooden nails are hammered into the sole, and can be seen around the edge of the underside. The upper part of the sole has a leather tongue, which is overlapped by the edge of the side pieces. These edges are not stitched, but are fastened by a separate piece of leather in the shape of a bow with a wavy outline, with metal buckles fastened to it.