Coats and Over-Coats
Over the shirt and pants is worn a long tunic that I’m choosing to call a coat. Sometimes there are two layered coats and an over-coat, but three layers total seems most common. This coat can be open exposing the undershirt beneath, partly opened to the waist, fastened at the neck or completely buttoned or tied closed. Some have very visible rows of fasteners down the front. Many depictions show coats that have been pulled back or allowed to hang open with a contrasting lining or in some cases lined in fur.
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As there are very few images of two layers being worn alone and no extant coats from the 16th century remain (that I’ve found) the exact cut of this garment is open to debate. My theory is that it is cut very similarly to the over-coat and/or shirt. There are extant Turkish garments from the time which, due to the extensive trade between the Safavids and Ottomans, may provide an idea of what the Persian coats may have been like 1. One notably 17th century Turkish coat pictured right in the Freer-Sackler exhibition has a patterned fabric which makes the stair-step style sleeve shoulder seam very clear. This is similar to our extant 14th century shirt discussed on the shirt page. This style of sleeve also matches my observations of illuminations and other earlier garments. I’m inclined to believe this construction method existed for garments produced in the centuries between the two garments. |
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| A Turkish coat in the Freer Sackler Gallery |
If the under-shirt is loose fitting as we’ve speculated it is, then this coat would be the support garment if any of the garments is supportive, however since it is frequently worn open exposing the undershirt its use as a support garment is questionable. There is a tell-tale wrinkle at the armpit which leads me to suspect a t-tunic style sleeve.
I made my under coat with a fold at the shoulders in keeping with the pattern used for the shirt. A The neck hole was cut last of all. For the coat I chose to cut the neck hole only to the level of my belly button in keeping with some images which appear to have this sort of neckline rather than a full opening.
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Pictured left is a photo of an extant 13th century coat I found on line2 (This item saved from the ravages of time because it was reported to belong to the famous 13th century poet, Rumi.) Note that the earlier time period featured a roomier cut, but otherwise is not terribly different from the cut of 16th century Turkish coats and my guess of how the 16th century Persian coats were made. Note the seam along the arm where a gusset has been placed and the round, reinforced neckline. Round necklines like this appear on both mens and womens coats, the crossover neckline sometimes seen is only used on male coats during the Safavid period. |
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Pictured right is my coat pattern. The top of the shoulders is a fold, not a seam. Making one long narrow strip of fabric for the front and back of the coat. For the over-coat I cut the neckline last and cut the slit all the way to the hem; for the coat worn under it I tried cutting the neckline only to the navel. (Some illuminations appear to have coats that are sealed below the waist, though this may be just an artistic convention not drawing in the seam for a tightly closed coat.) There are a great many options for details of the coat such as the style of the sleeves, hem length, what sort of closure to use and other decoration which I chose to discuss on separate pages. |
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1Several excellent examples are pictured in The Age of Sulyman the Magnificent, all unfortunately male kaftans.
2http://rubens.anu.edu.au/turkey/konya/mevlana_tekke/museum/textiles/clothing/ 13th century extant Seljuk garments, very little information other than the photos.