Чепкен

The Azeris. The Turkic dress of Azerbaijan has much in common with clothing in the Caucasus. That of women is based on a full-sleeved shirt (könyäk) with straight-cut shoulders and a breast opening fastened with a clasp, worn over a full lower garment reaching the ground; this consists either of very wide cotton drawers (tuman, jüt-tuman) of six layers of cloth, cut as a skirt divided by a gusset and gathered with a drawstring, or of much narrower drawers (darbalaq), also cut straight. Undergarments are thus called tuman-köynäk. Over these drawers are worn one or more full skirts (tuman), of equal length and cut; there might be four or five underskirts (ara tumanı), each of ten to twelve widths of material. In the Nakhichevan (Naḵjavān)-Ordūbād region skirts are only calf length. Normal clothing is completed by a jacket, again cut with straight seams at the shoulders. The čäpkän, lined throughout, is close-fitting to the waist, where there is a rounded projection (čapıq) over each hip, forming a vent down to the hem some 20 cm below the waist; the sleeves, attached only to the upper parts of the armholes, hang behind the arms as loose flaps to the wrists (sometimes with buttons), where they end in spade-shaped extensions (äḷčäk), as if to cover the hands. The two sides of the čäpkän are cut to converge as a V to the waist. In the arḵalıq, once the most widespread form of jacket (see xxvii, below), there are true sleeves, either cut plain, or plain to the elbow and then slit as far as the wrist, or, in the type called lelüfär (Pers. nīlūfar), flared from the elbow like the bell of a lily and trimmed with an extra 4 cm of lining from the inside. The sides of the jacket are generally cut to form a wide opening over the breast, displaying the shirt, and are then buttoned to the waist, though they sometimes button from the neck down. In most instances the short skirt of the arḵalıq is gathered or pleated, but in some it is plain, with the same rounded projections at the hips. Other types were formerly known as nimtänä, don, and zıvın. All were belted with a frequently elaborate girdle (kämär) of gold, silver gilt, or silver-mounted leather. Occasionally the arḵalıq is cut as a full-length coat. The range of materials used reflects the former wealth of the textile crafts in Azerbaijan, in wool, silk, and cotton. Sometimes jacket and upper skirt would be of matching brocade, and others would contrast. Cut velvet (güllü mäḵmär), gold brocade (zärḵara), and a striped woolen twill cloth (tirmä) were characteristic of the finer garments, all trimmed with decorative braids (bafta) and often with silver or gold lace (zänjirä, šahpäsänd) at the cuffs. Velvet is still popular for jackets, though lurex and other artificial silks have replaced brocades and satins.