Eastern Kurdish dress
In the area of Khorasan, in the northeast of Iran, around the towns of Bojnurd and Quchan, are various Kurdish groups. The history of these people is not clear, but it would appear that their ancestors were forced to migrate from the west to the eastern regions of the country, sometime in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. By the end of the twentieth century it was believed that there were about 17,000 nomadic Kurds in the region and an unknown number who were semi-nomadic
In the 1960s, the typical male costume included trousers of calico or other cotton, which were constructed with a gusset. This was worn with a shirt of red or white silk, without a collar and with either a front opening or a slit on the shoulder, fastened with buttons and loops. Over it was worn a jacket (panjak) or, for wealthier men, an ankle length over coat (kot) made of brown or black lamb’s wool with a wide collar and an opening in front. The headgear included a tasselled black cap, around which a shawl was wrapped, or an expensive type of hat made from lambskin. By the end of the twentieth century most of these garments had virtually vanished and men, especially the younger ones, were wearing a mixture of Iranian and Kurdish style garments or pan-Iranian style clothing, with trousers, belt and shirt.
The basic female outfit of the Eastern Kurds consists of a plain cloth tunic (shalita), with long sleeves, the front of which is decorated with zigzag patterns. In addition, some women will also wear a waistcoat. Under the tunic is worn a knee-length skirt, which may be made from up to ten metres of cloth. A variety of materials are used for the skirt (tomban), depending upon age, status and clan. For instance, an unmarried girl from the Topkanlu tribe wears a velvet skirt decorated with seven colours, while an older woman would wear a plain, red skirt. Among the Sifkanlu tribe, however, an unmarried girl will not wear velvet at all, but cotton decorated with flowers. Nowadays, white socks or stockings are often worn with the skirts.
The headdress consists of three elements: a cloth (bonhani) directly covering the hair; a white shawl (charqad) consisting of a piece of unsewn cloth, and a kerchief, which is worn on top of the head over the charqad. All married women normally veil their mouths by pulling part of the white charqad across the lower part of their face.
Kazakh dress
Small groups of Kazakhs live in northeastern Iran especially around the cities of Bojnurd and Gurgan. The Kazakhs are said to be related to the people from Kazakhstan in Central Asia, but their style of dress is quite different from that found there and has more in common with the traditional dress of people from southeastern Russia. Their origin thus remains a moot point, and their ancestors may be linked to the Kozaks from southern Russia. The basic outfit for a woman consists of a pair of baggy trousers, a white, embroidered dress and a white headdress with matching embroidery. By the end of the twentieth century this style of outfit was usually reserved for special occasions, such as weddings,
Turkmen dress
The Turkmen form a separate ethnic group living in northeastern Iran, northwestern Afghanistan, and in the modern republic of Turkmenistan. They are Sunnites, and speak their own, Turkmen language. Traditionally they are divided into many tribes, and there used to be a considerable difference between the dress worn by male Turkmen from the various groups living in Iran. This difference, however, is virtually gone, as major changes have taken place in men's clothing since the mid-twentieth century. The daily outfit for most men is based on the pan-Iranian style of dress. On special occasions, however, a more traditional form of clothing is adopted. This consists of a shirt with the front opening coming from the right shoulder, a long robe or gown (don), and a small, embroidered skullcap (bark). The cap may be covered by a neat turban, which is made out of a square of cloth, folded diagonally and then wrapped around the head. Another form of headgear associated with the Turkmen is the telpek. This is a large, fluffy cap made from black or white sheepskin. It would appear that it is now mainly worn on special occasions.
The basic dress of a Turkmen woman consists of under trousers (balaq), a dress (koinak), and a headdress of some kind. In addition, some groups have a face veil (yasmak), a sash (shal qusaq, bil qusak), an indoor coat of some kind (chabit or kurti), and for outdoor wear, a second coat (chirpi), which is often worn over the head. Some Turkmen women wear a broad, cloth sash around their indoor coats in order to keep the garments from opening, especially while they are working.
Various forms of headdress are used by married Turkmen women, depending upon which group they belong to and whether it is a daily or more formal occasion; for the latter they tend to wear an elaborate headdress decorated with various scarves, while on a daily bases the head covering is much simpler. At the end of the twentieth century, for example, a Yomut Turkmen woman's headdress tended to be based upon a headring (aldarij, alan dangi) covered by a large shawl (yagliq or chargat), which was folded diagonally in half and then draped over the head and upper body of the wearer. In contrast, Turkmen Tekke and Goklan women often wear a headdress which is c. 20 cm high and made up of a cloth (qiniach uchi, yasmak) wrapped around a framework. The framework may be made out of a variety of materials, such as rushes, twisted cloth, leather, felt, or cardboard. Sometimes the cloth is used as a veil to cover the lower part of the face.
One of the main features of the dress of a Turkmen woman used to be her jewellery, as it played an important role, namely that of 'life insurance' giving financial security. The jewellery included diadems (ildirgich); tiaras (igme); temple pendants (adamlik); earrings; necklaces and collars (boquw); collar studs (gol yaqe, guliaqa); armbands and bracelets (bizilik); and finger rings. These are usually worn en masse and can weigh a considerable amount; a young bride, for instance, may wear up to seven kg in silver jewellery during her wedding festivities. By the end of the twentieth century, however, smaller quantities of more expensive, gold jewellery were rapidly replacing the older, silver forms.
