18th Century Ottoman Court Women's and Men's Clothing in the Ottoman Empire from the Pen of Lady Mary Montagu

 In the early 18th century, Lady Mary Montagu, the wife of the British ambassador to Istanbul, travelled to Ottoman/Turkish lands. In Edirne and Istanbul, she made contact with the court circle and visited households, baths and mosques. Lady Montagu provided detailed information about the men's and women's clothing, the ageing and hair ornaments, the priceless jewellery, the fabrics, materials and colours used in the palaces of the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, she recorded that she was not only a visitor to the palace and harem, but also that Ottoman/Turkish women wandered the streets of Istanbul, covered by their headscarves, and made observations like a true traveller.

Clothing has been one of the most basic needs of people for centuries. Initially used to protect the body from natural influences, clothing has gained features such as adornment, fashion following and status determination over time. Clothing is an important symbol in human culture and is associated with personality development and change.

Montagu wrote his observations about Turkish culture in his diaries and letters. After his return to England, he compiled these writings into a book. However, Montagu's daughter, Lady Bute, tried to destroy the diaries after her mother's death and prevented the letters from being published.

In her letters, Montagu described in detail the dress of high-ranking men and women, the head and hair ornaments, the headscarves and the colours and fabrics of the Islamic headscarves. In this way, he provided information with his own rich experiences and interpretations and became a source for future travellers, historians and researchers.

Montagu stated that the clothes of men of high culture were made of expensive and colourful fabrics, while the clothes of the sultan and palace aghas were decorated with precious stones. In his letter dated 1 April 1717 and numbered XXVIII to Countess B, he wrote that he and the French ambassador had left Beyoğlu with the sultan's visit to the mosque and watched the ceremony with excitement. She described the men's dress she saw during this time as follows: "A lot of janissaries with big white feathers on their heads are going... The gardeners are dressed in colourful and elegant dresses. From a distance they look like a tulip garden. Behind them is the janissary agha, dressed in red velvet with a silver lining. Two ornately dressed servants are coming with their horses. Then comes the eunuch. She has a dark yellow fur-covered dress to match her dark skin. Finally comes the Sultan. Behind him is a green dress and a cloak made of black fox fur."

In the following years, due to the interest in Ottoman clothes in Europe, Octavien Dalvimart, under the instruction of William Miller, made a collection of engravings of the Ottoman Palace clothes and these engravings were published in London in 1802 as a book containing information about the people wearing the clothes and their professions.

Montagu accompanied her husband to the Ottoman lands on a diplomatic mission and thus had cultural interaction with the court circle. At the same time, she travelled to gain knowledge and experience, as men of the noble class did, and increased her intellectual knowledge. She went beyond her role as a housewife, she took to the streets as a traveller and visited Ottoman houses and buildings.

In her letters, she conveyed to her relatives and friends the splendour she had seen, describing in a literary way the dresses made of silk and velvet, the hair adorned with pearls and precious stones, the waist adorned with gold belts, the shoulders covered with rare furs and the shoes embroidered with laces. His aim was to satisfy their curiosity about these lands.

For these reasons, Montagu is described by many authors, such as Pardoe (2010) and Davis (1982), as the first female traveller in the Ottoman lands. Montagu presents the structure, status and culture of the upper class Ottoman/Turkish society to the reader through her descriptions of clothes and the art of letters. In this way, she records the tangible and intangible cultural heritage features produced by the Ottoman/Turkish society in the historical process like a historical document and shares them with her readers not only in her own country but also all over the world.