Fez (hat)

[3] The word tarboosh is a variant of شَرْبُوش (šarbūš), borrowed from Persian: Sarpūš,[4][5][6] a compound of sar, “head” and puš, “cover” (meaning "headgear").

Some sources suggest that tarboosh is a Turkish word composed of two elements, ter ("sweat") and pošu ("a light turban cloth").

This was a radically egalitarian measure, which replaced the elaborate sumptuary laws that signaled rank, religion, and occupation, foreshadowing the Tanzimat reforms.

Although tradesmen and artisans generally rejected the fez,[31] it became a symbol of modernity throughout the Near East, inspiring similar decrees in other nations (such as Iran in 1873).

[15] To meet escalating demand, skilled fez makers were induced to immigrate from Tunisia to Istanbul, where factories were established in the neighborhood of Eyüp.

However, the invention of low-cost synthetic dyes soon shifted production of the hat to the factories of Strakonice, Czech Republic (then in the Austrian Empire).

[citation needed] The societal position of the fez as a symbol of tradition led to its ban in Turkey in 1925 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the Hat Revolution, part of his modernizing reforms.

[32] It was banned for similar reasons in 1958 in Egypt by Gamal Abdel Nasser government, with Cairo having been one of the most important centers of production of the fez up until then.

In semi-independent Montenegro, a client state of the Ottoman Empire that enjoyed complete autonomy, its Orthodox citizens wore their fezzes with a Greek cross on the front.

Supporters of the Illyrian movement among South Slavs, especially in Croatia, wore their fezzes with a star and crescent on the front irrespective of religion, believing that the symbol predated the introduction of Islam in the Balkans.

In 1850, regulations in the newly-autonomous Principality of Serbia concerning uniforms of ministerial officers specified the wear of red fezzes displaying the Serbian coat of arms.

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.

[40] The Evzones (light infantry) regiments of the Greek Army wore their own distinctive version of the fez from 1837 until World War II.

The French North African regiments (Zouaves, Tirailleurs, and Spahis) wore wide, red fezzes with detachable tassels of various colors.

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 colored tassels that varied according to the unit.

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 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.

During the final period of colonial rule in Africa (approximately 1945 to 1962), 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.

It is, however, still worn by the ceremonial Garde Rouge in Senegal as part of their Spahi-style uniform, and by the Italian Bersaglieri in certain orders of dress.

The Italian Arditi in the First World War wore a black fez that later became a uniform item of the Mussolini Fascist regime.

Filipino units organised in the early days of U.S. rule briefly wore black fezzes, and officers serving with Muslim personnel of the Philippines Constabulary were authorised to wear this headdress from 1909.

[46] They wore distinctive light blue or field grey uniforms,[47] with a buckle showing an arm with a scimitar inside a shield as the symbol of Bosniak ethnicity.

Prior to this, the Dutch East India Company had compelled Muslims in the Cape of Good Hope, mainly brought as slaves from what is now Indonesia, to hide their religious practice, with death as the punishment for practising their faith in public or for attempting to convert anyone.

[64] British comedian Tommy Cooper adopted the fez as part of his comic act while serving in Egypt during the Second World War.

[68] In the Disney animated series Gravity Falls, Grunkle Stan, a main character who has a persona "Mr. Mystery", wears a fez which sometimes features a Shriners symbol.