Textile Research Centre Exhibitions 2013-2014 1 Table of Contents 1. Beyond the chador 3 2. What is embroidery 20 3. Silhouette from Africa 39 4. Weaving the world 54 5. What is lace? 72 2 BEYOND THE CHADOR Dress from the Mountains and Deserts of Iran (TRC Gallery: January - August 2013) For many Westerners, Iranian dress is made up of black chadors for women and shirts with no ties for men. Yet there is much more, very much more in fact, to Iranian dress than this image may give. Iran is a large and ancient country that lies at the crossroads between Central Asia and the Middle East. Over the centuries numerous different peoples have crossed the country and settled down. As a result there are currently about 100 different ethnic and religious groups (both Muslim and non-Muslim) living in Iran. The country’s diversity is reflected in many aspects of Iranian culture, notably its literature, architcture, as well as its traditional dress, especially that worn by women. Although rapidly vanishing in some areas due to national pressures and globalisation, many aspects of these dress traditions can still be found in the regional forms found throughout the country. Dress often is an ethnic marker, indicating which ethnic group the wearer belongs to. There is a huge difference between, for instance, the traditional clothing of the Shahsavan in the northwest of the country, and the Baluchis in the southeast. Differences in clothing, such as the quantity or the type of material used, can sometimes also be used to indicate a special status within one particular group. This difference in status may reflect personal wealth, or a person's political, religious or social standing. Or, on a more obvious level, clothing marks the difference between the genders: In most societies there are significant differences between female and male clothing. But within that there can be differences in marital status within the same gender, thus different and specific garments or headdresses may be worn by unmarried, married, divorced, or widowed women. Another aspect of status identification is the use of colour. Within the context of Iran, for instance, an unmarried girl will often wear bright colours, while married women tend to wear more subdued hues. Women who are past child bearing age usually wear even more sombre colours, often black, dark blue or dark purple. So, dress can be used to indicate a person's age and gender, their status within a family or regional group, as well as their 'ethnic' identity on a national and international Two Bakhtiari women from Southwest of Western Iran level. (2003, photo: Ien Rappoldt). Another factor which has to be taken note of is that of religion. Most Iranians are Shi'te Muslims. However, in Iran there are other religions, or different branches, such as 3 that of the Sunni Muslims, especially in the southeast of the country. There are also various groups of Christians (such as Assyrians, Armenians and Nestorians), as well as the followers of Zoroastrianism, the pre-Islamic religion of Iran. The exhibition includes over sixty outfits for men, women and children, in addition to individual garments. It presents regional outfits from all four corners of the country, including garments for Arabs, Bakhtiaris, Bandaris, Baluchis, Gilanis, Kurds, Luris, Qashqai, Shahsavan, Sistanis, various Turkmen groups, Zoroastrians, as well as for people from the picturesque and traditional village of Abyane in Central Iran. map of Iran The majority of these garments were collected during research in Iran between 1999- 2003 and are housed in the TRC collection. CASPIAN COAST Along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, in the north of the country, stretch the coastal plain and mountain slopes of what is generally called Gilan. The traditional dress for men in Gilan consists of a short tunic (pirahan) or, more commonly, a Western style shirt. On top are worn waistcoats, which are often made of sal, which is a locally made woollen cloth, and a Western style jacket (kut). Many men used to wear a type of trousers (sal-shalvar) made of sal or thick cotton, which reaches to the ankles. At the end of the twentieth century, however, it is usually only the shepherds who wear such trousers. Similarly, puttees made from bands of cloth (patava) used to be wrapped over the trousers up to the knees and were regarded as a distinctive feature of Gilani male costume. The puttees were necessary as a protection against the thorny bushes, which abound in this region. Nowadays, however, few men wear patava, as their protective function is now being filled by thick, hand knitted socks (jurab), which cover the trousers up to mid-calf height. At the end of the twentieth century, the basic outfit of a Gilani woman consisted of close-fitting, ankle length trousers (bapare), over which are worn a full skirt (tuman), gathered at the waist. Women normally wear two or three skirts together, one on top of each other. The length of the skirt is often used to indicate the age of the wearer: a younger woman will have a calf-length skirt, while an older woman’s version may reach the ankles or the ground. In addition, in the eastern parts of Gilan, the skirt reaches to the thighs or even to the knees, while in the west it may come down to the ankles. 4 Over the skirt is worn a tunic (shiy). There are two slits at either side of the garment to allow for the fullness of the skirts. A waistcoat is normally worn over the shiy. As a generalisation, dark grey or black waistcoats are worn on a daily basis, while those for special events are normally in bright colours and ornamented with braids, beads and coins. Another distinctive regional garment is the sash (charshu), which is a rectangular piece of cloth folded into a triangle and worn knotted around the waist with the point at the side or back. At home a woman may wear a scarf (lachak), which covers only the top of the head. In the eastern part of Gilan these tend to be made of plain black cloth, folded into a triangle. Elsewhere the scarf may be white or with a plain, lightish colour. Outside the home, women normally wear a white shawl (dasmal). It is made from a square piece of material, folded into a triangle and then knotted or crossed under the chin. The traditional shoes (chumush) from the region, for both men and women, are made from cow's leather and basically consist of soles that are large enough to envelop the lower part of the foot. They are kept in place with a system of thongs that are pulled tightly, so bringing the leather upward and enclosing the foot. View at the exhibition (TRC collection) NORTHWESTERN IRAN In the northwest of Iran lies Azerbaijan. The region is comparable to its Turkish neighbour in the west and the modern republic of Azerbaijan to the north, with respect to ethnic origins, culture and local language. In addition to the large settled groups of the local people, the so-called Azeris, there are also a number of nomadic and semi-nomadic groups living in this part of Iran. The most important are the Shahsavan. Azeri dress In general, older men tend to wear suits made up of waistcoats, jackets and trousers, with either a skullcap or a flat cap of some kind. In contrast, younger men tend to wear pan-Iranian style clothing, notably, a light coloured shirt with trousers and a belt, and no headgear at all. The garments worn by Azeri women usually consist of narrow under trousers, which tend to be black for older women and a darkish blue or brown for younger women. Girls, in contrast, often wear bright and colourful under trousers. Skirts and a top of some kind, or in the case of older women a mid-calf length dress, are worn over the trousers. The most distinctive feature of these outfits is the headscarf fastened in what is locally regarded as the Turkish manner, namely, with the knot at either the top of the head, or at the nape of the neck, rather than in front as is common in the pan- Iranian way. 5 Shahsavan dress The name Shahsavan is given to various tribal groups who mainly live in northwestern Iran. Most are descendents of Turkish Oghuz or Ghuzz people who came to Iran from Central Asia about 1,000 years ago, together with other Turkic groups, some of whom settled further west in what is now called Turkey. At the end of the twentieth century there were about 300,000 Shahsavan, most of whom are settled, although there are about 6,000 families who remain nomadic. A distinctive item of men's clothing are their hats. Indeed the Shahsavan hats are generally regarded to set them apart from non-Shahsavan. There are two types. The official Iranian dress reforms of the 1930's meant that men had to adopt to western style clothing, including western styles of headgear. As a result, Homburg hats (shapo, compare the French chapeau) became fashionable among the Shahsavan. After the Second World War (1939-1945), younger men began to wear the peaked jamshidi-style cap, while older men continued to wear homburgs. The jamshidi is now regarded by the Shahsavan as the tribal hat. A woman’s outfit consists of five main elements: a full-length tunic (kuynak), a tailored waistcoat, several wide full-length underskirts (dizlik) gathered at the waist, and a small skullcap, and two headscarves (yaylik and kalayagi).