The fez, as well as its equivalent, the tarboosh, is a felt hat of two types: either in the
shape of a truncated cone made of red felt, or a short cylinder made of kilim fabric,
both usually with a tassel attached to the top. The tarboosh is of ancient Greek origin
and the modern fez, which is similar, owes much of its development and popularity to
the Ottoman era.
Origin and history
In 1826 Sultan Mahmud II of the Ottoman Empire suppressed the Janissaries and began sweeping
reforms of the military. His modernized military adopted Western style uniforms and, as hats,
the fez with a cloth wrapped around it. In 1829 the Sultan ordered his civil officials
to wear the plain fez, and also banned the wearing of turbans. The intention was to coerce
the populace at large to update to the fez, and the plan was successful. This was a radically
egalitarian measure which replaced the elaborate sumptuary laws which signaled rank, religion,
and occupation, allowing prosperous non-Muslims to express their wealth in competitions with
Muslims, foreshadowing the Tanzimat reforms. Although tradesmen and artisans generally
rejected the fez, it became a symbol of modernity throughout the Near East, inspiring similar
decrees in other nations. To meet escalating demand, skilled fez makers
were induced to immigrate from North Africa to Istanbul, where factories were established
in the neighborhood of Eyup. Styles soon multiplied, with nuances of shape, height, material, and
hue competing in the market. The striking scarlet and merlot colors of the Fez were
initially achieved through an extract of cornel. However, the invention of low-cost synthetic
dyes soon shifted production of the hat to the factories of Strakonice, Czech Republic.
The 1908 Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina resulted in a boycott of Austrian goods which
became known as the “Fez Boycott” due to the near monopoly the Austrians then held
on production of the hat. Although the hat survived, the year-long boycott brought the
end of its universality in the Ottoman Empire as other styles became socially acceptable.
Initially a symbol of Ottoman modernity, the fez over time came to be seen as part of an
"Oriental" cultural identity. Seen as exotic and romantic in the west, it enjoyed a vogue
as part of men's luxury smoking outfit in the United States and the UK in the decades
surrounding the turn of the 20th century. The fez had become traditional to the point
that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk banned it in Turkey in 1925 as part of his modernizing reforms.
The fez was initially a brimless bonnet of red, white, or black with a turban woven around.
Later the turban was eliminated, the bonnet shortened, and the color fixed to red. Praying
while wearing a fez—instead of a hat with brim—was easier because Muslims put their
foreheads on the ground many times during the prayer sessions.
Military use
A version of the fez was used as an arming cap for the 1400–1700s version of the mail
armour head protector. 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. During World War I the fez was still worn by some naval
reserve units and occasionally by soldiers when off duty.
The Evzones regiments of the Greek Army wore their own distinctive version of the fez from
1837 until World War II. It now survives in the parade uniform of the Presidential Guard
in Athens. From the late 19th century on the fez was
widely adopted as the headdress of locally recruited "native" soldiers amongst the various
colonial troops of the world. The French North African regiments wore wide, red fezzes with
detachable tassels of various colours. It was an off-duty affectation of the Zouaves
to wear their fezzes at different angles according to the regiment; French officers of North
African units during the 1930s often wore the same fez as their men, with rank insignia
attached. The Libyan battalions and squadrons of the Italian colonial forces wore lower,
red fezzes over white skull caps. Somali and Eritrean regiments in Italian service wore
high red fezzes with coloured tufts that varied according to the unit. 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 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.
While the fez was a colourful and picturesque item of uniform it was in several ways an
impractical headdress. If worn without a drab cover it made the head a target for enemy
fire, and it provided little protection from the sun. As a result it was increasingly relegated
to parade or off-duty wear by World War II, although France's West African tirailleurs
continued to wear a khaki-covered version in the field until about 1943. During the
final period of colonial rule in Africa the fez was seen only as a full-dress item in
French, British, Belgian, Spanish and Portuguese African units; being replaced by wide-brimmed
hats or forage caps on other occasions. Colonial police forces, however, usually retained the
fez as normal duty wear for indigenous personnel. Post-colonial armies in Africa 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 Italian Arditi in the First World
War wore a black fez that later became a uniform of the Mussolini Fascist regime. The Spanish
Regulares Tabors stationed in the Spanish exclaves of Céuta and Melilla, in North Africa,
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 Frontier Force,
although not a colonial force, wore fezzes until the 1940s.
The largely Muslim 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar, which was recruited from
Bosnia, used a red or field grey fez with Waffen SS cap insignia during the latter half
of World War II. Bosnian infantry regiments in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire had
also been distinguished by wearing the fez until the end of World War I.
Two regiments of the Indian Army recruited from Muslim areas wore fezzes under British
rule. 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. International use
The fez is a part of the traditional clothing of Cyprus, and is still worn by some Cypriots
today. Traditionally, women wore a red fez over their heads, instead of a headscarf,
whilst men wore a black or red cap. The fez was sometimes worn by men with material around
the base. In his 1811 journey to Cyprus, John Pinkerton describes the fez, "a red cap turned
up with fur", as "the proper Greek dress". In the Karpass Peninsula, white caps are worn,
a style considered to be based on ancient Cypriot Hellenic-Phoenician attire, thus preserving
men's head-wear from 2,700 years earlier. The fez was introduced into the Balkans, initially
during the Byzantine reign, and subsequently during the Ottoman period where various Slavs,
mostly Bosniaks and Serbs, started wearing the head-wear.
Among the Muslim aristocracy of South Asia, the fez is known as the Rumi Topi. It was
a symbol of Islamic identity and showed the Indian Muslims’ support for the Caliphate,
headed by the Ottoman Sultan. Later, it became associated with the Muslim League, the political
party which eventually created the country of Pakistan. The veteran Pakistani politician
Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan was one of the few people in Pakistan who wore the fez, until
his death in 2003. In Sri Lanka the fez was used as frequently
by the local Muslim Sri Lankan Moor population. Despite its use declining in popularity, the
fez is still used in traditional Moor marriage ceremonies.
A variation of the fez has been commonly worn in Maritime Southeast Asia since the 19th
century when it was introduced by Muslims from South Asia. Known as a peci in Indonesian
and songkok in Malaysian, this variant is black in colour with a more ellipse shape
and sometimes decorated with embroideries. The Philippine varieties tend to be colorful
and highly decorated. A variation of a black soft fez was used by
Italian blackshirts under the Fascist regime. This was in imitation of the red soft fez
worn by bersaglieri units. In Libya, a soft black fez, called the checheya,
is worn by the rural population with or without a long tassel. In the east, a red one called
a chenna is worn. In tourist hotels in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco,
porters and bellhops often wear a fez to provide local colour for visitors.
In the last era of the Ottoman Empire, a purple fez was used as a symbol of revolt by eshkiyas.
In popular culture Shriners are often depicted wearing a red
fez. International Order of Alhambra wear a white
fez. Tommy Cooper, a British magician, famously
wore a red fez. Several Disney Parks characters are depicted
wearing fezzes, including Harrison Hightower of Tokyo Disney Sea's Tower of Terror attraction
and Albert, the monkey, of Hong Kong Disneyland's Mystic Manor attraction.
Will Ferrell's character Mustafa in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and The
Spy Who Shagged Me was recognized by his hat as Austin Powers once remarked "Your Fez is
familiar". The Eleventh Doctor frequently wore a fez
on Doctor Who, saying, "Fezzes are cool." The video game Fez features a main character
named Gomez who dons the titular hat. See also
Smoking cap Kalpak – a similar Turkic head cap
Gandhi cap Turban
Keffiyeh Taqiyah
Shriners Moorish Science Temple of America
Turkish cap References