DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22262#0100
Milena Vitkovic-Zikic
described the giubba as a sleeveless coat worn by women and girls of the Middle East
over shirts and conspicuously flared, with the edges freąuently decorated with
a scrolling design in fine braid.
Turkish fashion of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries continued to dominate
in the Balkans. It was favoured not only by the army but also by rich merchants and
members of local courts in Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Serbia and Wallachia,
which all closely followed the style set by the Ottomans. This tendency can be seen
especially in the many variations of long and short jackets, with or without sleeves.
These jackets were made of fine broadcloth or velvet, trimmed with couched em-
broidery in silver and gilt braids with knotted buttons featuring corals and tur-
ąuoises. Fashions usually spread within no time from Istanbul across the Empire to
the most distant cities, between the Moslem population, later between Christians,
both Orthodox and Catholics, as well as Jews.
The jube, however, was different, simply because there was no such item in histori-
cal Turkish women's dress. In Turkey's museum collections it is known as ustluk and
is described as 'a Thracian woman's dress', or is named Rumeli isi or kolsuz cubbe. In
Turkish, the word cubbe comes from Arabie gubba and it is not part of the traditional
Turkish costume from Anatolia. Actually, in south-eastern Europę there were two
types of the Turkish coat: a wide, sleeveless giubba and one with long, ornate shoul-
der flaps. The former was women's festive jacket with fuli skirt and the latter, usu-
ally a three-ąuarter-length coat with non-functional, open sleeves was worn by men
and women in the Empire, particularly by the nobility and officials. Both are of the
exactly same cut except for the flaps. Held at the Historical Archive of Serbia, the
correspondence between Prince Milos Obrenovic and his wife Princes Ljubica and
their tailor contains detailed instructions concerning the materiał, length, sleeves
and ornamentation oijubes for both of them. The jube is documented to have been
an obligatory part of a bride's dowry at that time in Serbia, and of the Serbian City
Costume.
Unfortunately, there are no paintings depicting the jube, but there are photographs
from the second half of the nineteenth century, mostly of women dressed in the jube.
A collection of watercolors by Nikola Arsenovic recorded the cut and ornaments of
the jube as well as of different other garments. The ornaments are mostly floral but
there are also birds, dragons, the motif of bote etc, lavishly embroidered with costly
threads. The jube was made of felt or velvet and embroidered around the edges, the
patterns occasionally covering most, or all, of the surface.
Gold embroidery has a long tradition throughout the Byzantine era. During the
time of Turkish domination on the Balkans, terzijas - tailor and embroiderer in one,
organised guilds with large membership. The best known were located in Janina,
Krusevo, Bitolj, Prizren, Pec, Skadar and Nis. The tailors were Moslem, Christian
98
described the giubba as a sleeveless coat worn by women and girls of the Middle East
over shirts and conspicuously flared, with the edges freąuently decorated with
a scrolling design in fine braid.
Turkish fashion of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries continued to dominate
in the Balkans. It was favoured not only by the army but also by rich merchants and
members of local courts in Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Serbia and Wallachia,
which all closely followed the style set by the Ottomans. This tendency can be seen
especially in the many variations of long and short jackets, with or without sleeves.
These jackets were made of fine broadcloth or velvet, trimmed with couched em-
broidery in silver and gilt braids with knotted buttons featuring corals and tur-
ąuoises. Fashions usually spread within no time from Istanbul across the Empire to
the most distant cities, between the Moslem population, later between Christians,
both Orthodox and Catholics, as well as Jews.
The jube, however, was different, simply because there was no such item in histori-
cal Turkish women's dress. In Turkey's museum collections it is known as ustluk and
is described as 'a Thracian woman's dress', or is named Rumeli isi or kolsuz cubbe. In
Turkish, the word cubbe comes from Arabie gubba and it is not part of the traditional
Turkish costume from Anatolia. Actually, in south-eastern Europę there were two
types of the Turkish coat: a wide, sleeveless giubba and one with long, ornate shoul-
der flaps. The former was women's festive jacket with fuli skirt and the latter, usu-
ally a three-ąuarter-length coat with non-functional, open sleeves was worn by men
and women in the Empire, particularly by the nobility and officials. Both are of the
exactly same cut except for the flaps. Held at the Historical Archive of Serbia, the
correspondence between Prince Milos Obrenovic and his wife Princes Ljubica and
their tailor contains detailed instructions concerning the materiał, length, sleeves
and ornamentation oijubes for both of them. The jube is documented to have been
an obligatory part of a bride's dowry at that time in Serbia, and of the Serbian City
Costume.
Unfortunately, there are no paintings depicting the jube, but there are photographs
from the second half of the nineteenth century, mostly of women dressed in the jube.
A collection of watercolors by Nikola Arsenovic recorded the cut and ornaments of
the jube as well as of different other garments. The ornaments are mostly floral but
there are also birds, dragons, the motif of bote etc, lavishly embroidered with costly
threads. The jube was made of felt or velvet and embroidered around the edges, the
patterns occasionally covering most, or all, of the surface.
Gold embroidery has a long tradition throughout the Byzantine era. During the
time of Turkish domination on the Balkans, terzijas - tailor and embroiderer in one,
organised guilds with large membership. The best known were located in Janina,
Krusevo, Bitolj, Prizren, Pec, Skadar and Nis. The tailors were Moslem, Christian
98