Breeches

Turkish Cypriot men’s breeches (vraka, turk dizlik) made of ready-fabricated black cloth. The body part consists of two pieces which also continue to form the back. To either side of these are stitched the leg pieces which are folded lengthwise and end with an opening 16cm wide. These openings have four series of stitches at the edge. The seams are made with a sewing machine. All parts have the same length, 68cm, reaching down to the knee. At the waist a black girdle runs through a hem 3cm deep, and in the middle of the front, below the waist, is a vertical opening 19cm long. The total width of the dizlik is 2.00m. It is worn, repaired with patches, and the colour is faded.

Man’s baggy trousers (vraka, turk. dizlik) made of thick black cloth woven on the loom. The seams are machine-made. The body part consists of two pieces (86x86cm), which also form the back. At the waist the cloth is folded to a hem 4cm deep, through which runs an off-white girdle (turk. uçkur/uşgur). Below the waist in the middle of the front there is a vertical slit 24cm long, and another one of the same length on the back side. The body part is heavily pleated and baggy, extending to a length of 86cm, while the side parts are knee-length, 62cm long. They each consist of a single piece 40cm wide, which is folded lengthwise and ends with an opening of 20cm for the legs. The total width of the trousers is 2.12m. They are worn and repaired with patches. The garment comes from Kormakitis, a Maronite village. The fact that the middle baggy part is longer than the leg parts distinguishes it from the Turkish Cypriot dizlik, which has all its parts equally short, reaching to the kneeAvgousti, A.
(2020).  biblio test.
(Andreou, marios., Ed.).New Journal. 3(10), . 

Turkish Cypriot men’s breeches (turk. dizlik) of factory-made black cloth. The body part, 72cm long, is composed of two pieces stitched together (lengthwise) in the middle of the front side and continuing at the back with the same seam. Each part of the legs, 70cm long and with a total width of 30cm, is folded and stitched lengthwise. At the extremi­ties the cloth is sewn together for 15cm, leaving an opening of 15cm. At the waist it is supported by a black strip of cloth (turk. uçkur/uşkur), which runs through a hem 2.5cm deep. In the middle under the girdle is a vertical opening 20cm long. The breeches have been repaired with patchwork, and the black colour is faded.

Turkish Cypriot men’s breeches (vraka, turk. dizlik) made of white, loom-woven cotton cloth. Two equal pieces form both the front and back of the body part. At the waist they are gathered with pleats and held in place by a plain white girdle (turk. uçkur/uşgur) which runs through a hem 5cm deep. Below the waist, on both sides, is a vertical slit 17cm long. The total width of the breeches (turk. Dizlik) is 2.16m and the total height 70cm. The leg parts, which are folded lengthwise and stitched to the body piece, have the same height and reach down to the knee (turk. diz), according to the meaning of the term dizlik. At the extremities they have openings 20cm wide for the legs. The edges of these openings are reinforced and orna­mented with three series of machine stitches. At about the middle of the height of the leg piece, is a decorative horizontal band consisting of a zigzag line bordered by a series of stitches. This dress item is very well preserved.

Wide, heavily pleated breeches (No. 087) (Turk çufa şalvar/çuha) made of blue broadcloth. The gar­ment consists of three pieces, the middle part and two side parts for the legs. The middle part is one piece from the front to the back and is the broadest, measuring 115cm. The length is 140cm (70cm in front and 70cm at the back). Each side piece is 60cm broad and has an opening 16.5cm wide. An additional strip of cotton cloth (7x2cm) is sewn to the waist to make a casing for the belt (Turk: uçkur), which passes through it to gather the pleats. In this case the original was replaced with a black ribbon. In the middle, where the belt was tied, there is a 15.5cm long opening in front and another opening of the same length at the back. The seams and the edges of the leg openings are decorated with black braids (gaitania turk. Gaytan or kaytan, cotton or silk cord, braid)and cords (Turk: şerit), 2cm wide, made of black silk thread. The outside of the leg pieces are decorated with twisted applied silk threads, forming a wickerwork pattern and solid curv­ing motifs ending in spirals. This schematized vegetal motif extends up the sides from the bottom almost to the top. At the top of the design is a bird. The leaves of the main motif are covered with embroidery in red, purple and green. The black designs are filled with a wickerwork pattern. The curved leaves recall the tulip flower (lale). The decoration seems to have been inspired by Ottoman designs. The breeches are lined with white cotton ma­terial. They are old and worn.