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History
During the reign of the Sultan Mahmud Khan II (1808-39), a European code of dress gradually replaced the traditional robes worn by members of the Ottoman court. The change in costume was soon emulated by the public and senior civil servants, followed by the members of the ruling intelligentsia and the emancipated classes throughout the Ottoman Empire. While European style coats and trousers were gradually adopted, this change did not extend to headwear. Peaked or broad brimmed headdresses such as the top hat did not meet the Islamic requirement that men should press their heads to the ground when praying. Accordingly the Sultan issued a firman (royal decree) that the checheya headgear in a modified form would become part of the formal attire of the Turkish Empire irrespective of his subjects' religious sects or milets.
Versions
The checheya had many names and shapes. In Istanbul it was called a fez, fezzi, or "phecy" while the modern Egyptian version was called a tarboosh, deriving from the Persian words 'sar' meaning head and 'poosh' meaning cover. It was basically a brimless, cone-shaped, flat-topped hat made of felt. Originating in Fez, Morocco, the earliest variety was in the form of a bonnet with a long turban wound around it which could be white, red or black. When it was adopted in Istanbul the bonnet was modified. At first it was rounded, then, some time later, lengthened and subsequently shortened. At some point the turban was eliminated and the color of the checheya stuck to red. The fez gets it distinctive red hue from a dye collected from the bright red berries of the Turkish kizziljiek (Cornus mas) - a cousin to the common American dogwood (Cornus florida).
The fez in military use
The red fez with blue tassel was the standard headdress of the Turkish Army from the 1840s until the introduction of a khaki service dress and peakless sun helmet in 1910. The only significant exceptions were cavalry and some artillery units who wore a lambskin hat with coloured cloth tops. Albanian levies wore a white version of the fez.
From the late 19th century on the fez was widely adopted as the headdress of locally recruited "native" troops in the various colonial armies of the World. The French North African regiments (Zouaves, Turcos and Spahis) wore high, red fezzes with detachable tassels of various colours. The Libyan battalions and squadrons of the Italian colonial forces wore lower, red fezzes over white skull caps. German askaris in East Africa wore their fezzes with khaki covers on nearly all occasions. The Belgian Force Publique in the Congo wore large and floppy red fezzes similar to those of the French Tirailleurs Senegalais and the Portuguese Companhias Indigenas. The British King's African Rifles (recruited in East Africa) wore high straight sided fezzes in either red or black, while the West African Frontier Force wore a low red version. The Egyptian Army wore the classic Turkish model until 1950. The West India Regiment of the British Army wore a fez as part of its Zouave style full dress until this unit was disbanded in 1928. The tradition is continued in the full dress of the band of the Barbados Regiment, with a white turban wrapped around the base.
Post colonial armies in African quickly discarded the fez. It is however still worn by the ceremonial Gardes Rouge in Senegal as part of their Spahi style uniform, and by the Italian Bersaglieri in certain orders of dress. The Bersaglieri adopted the fez as an informal headdress through the influence of the French Zouaves, with whom they served in the Crimean War. The Spanish Regulares (formerly Moorish) Tabors stationed in the Moroccan enclaves of Céuta and Melilla retain a parade uniform which includes the fez and white cloaks. Filipino units organised in the early days of US rule briefly wore black fezzes. The Liberian Army, although not a colonial force, wore fezzes until the 1940s.
One or two regiments of the Indian Army recruited from Muslim areas wore fezzes under British rule (although the turban was the nearly universal headdress amongst Hindu and Muslim sepoys and sowars). A green fez was worn by the Bahawalpur Lancers of Pakistan as late as the 1960s.
Many volunteer Zouave regiments wore the French North African version of the fez during the American Civil War.
The fez around the world
In India, the fez was known as the Roomi Topi. It was a symbol of Islamic identity and showed the Indian Muslims support for the Khilafat, headed by the Ottoman Emperor. Later, it became associated with the Muslim League, the political party which eventually created the country of Pakistan. The late veteran Pakistani politician Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan was one of the few people in Pakistan who wore the fez until his death in 2003.
Following the foundation of Turkey after World War I, Mustafa Kemal regarded the fez - which Sultan Mahmud II had originally introduced to the Ottoman Empire's dress code in 1826 - as a symbol of feudalism and banned it, encouraging Turkish men to wear European attire - thus, hats such as the fedora became popular.
In the Western world, the fez is frequently associated with the Shriners, and British comic Tommy Cooper. The Steely Dan album, The Royal Scam, features a song entitled "The Fez". The refrain is as such: "Never gonna do it without your fez on."
Western cartoons are known to use the fez as a symbol of relaxation. Characters are shown wearing a fez often while lying in a hammock on vacation or just relaxing after a hard day of work. This curious imagery is apparently a throwback to the late 19th century English practice of men wearing a loose fitting "smoking jacket" and braided fez-like headdress when relaxing informally in the evenings. Punch cartoons of the period frequently portray middle-class male figures dressed in this fashion. More recent examples are seen in the Tom and Jerry (MGM) and The Ren and Stimpy Show all featuring fezzes. Norm the Genie from the Fairly Oddparents wears a fez. The comic strip characters Akbar and Jeff from Life in Hell were known for sporting fezzes.
In his comic-strip religious tract against Freemasonry, Jack Chick records a story that the original fez was red as it was dyed in the blood of murdered Christians. Mr. Chick uses this as evidence that the fez is satanic supporting his claim that Shriners are part of an anti-Christian conspiracy.
A variation of black soft fez was used by Italian blackshirts. Today, a red soft fez is used by bersaglieri units.
The fez was introduced in Balkans during the Ottoman reign, where the converted Slavs, today Bosniaks, started using the fez. The fez was used by Bosniaks throughout the Ottoman period and can be seen notably in Sarajevo where elder Bosniaks use them.
The Ron and Fez show on XM Satellite Radio features Fez Whatley who once wore a Fez hat, thus gaining his nickname.
Hats | Islamic dress | Turkish clothing
فاس (طربوش) | Fez | Fes (Kopfbedeckung) | Fez (ropa) | Fezo | Fez (coiffure) | Fez (abbigliamento) | Fez (hoofddeksel) | フェズ (帽子) | Tarbush | Fes | Фес | Fez (mössa)
"Fez (clothing)"