Fashion and Women in the Istanbul of the Armistice period, 1918-1923

This thesis examines women’s changing fashions throughout the Armistice period to understand the transformation of Istanbul women before the foundation of the Turkish Republic exploring mainly articles published in popular women’s periodicals. The hypothesis is that Turkish women in Istanbul experienced a relative liberty most explicitly in their clothing due to the extraordinary conditions of the Armistice period that would later contribute to their emancipation movement after the foundation of the Republic. Throughout the occupation the coexistence of the extreme poverty and excessive wealth due to wartime speculations increased the moral degeneration in the city, but at the same time forced women to work outside. Many Muslim women entered into prostitution to survive and this increased the importance of girl’s education in a profession as a protection for times of privation. Working life, making lower-class women more visible in the street, also encouraged upper-class women to make more radical changes in their appearance. Russian refugee women served as models in this transformation. The expenditures of upper-class women on European fashions would be criticized in diverse ways in the popular periodicals of the time and in the literary works. As opposed to Anatolian women, who were idealized as “mourning nurses” of the nation, Istanbul women, with their fondness for fashion and the new entertainments, were despised and were accused in the writings of many intellectuals of being indifferent to moral, economic and national concerns.

Atatürk Ilkeleri ve Inkilâp Tarihi Enstitüsü’nde yüksek lisans derecesi için Ikbal Elif Mahir tarafindan Haziran 2005’te teslim edilen tezin kisa özeti

Mütareke Dönemi Istanbul’unda Moda ve Kadin, 1918-1923

Bu yüksek lisans tezi, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin kurulusundan önce Istanbul kadinlarinin yasadigi dönüsümleri anlayabilmek amaciyla, öncelikle popüler kadin dergilerinde yayimlanan makaleleri arastirarak Mütareke döneminde degisen kadin modalarini incelemektedir. Tezin ana iddiasi Istanbul’daki Türk kadinlarinin, Mütareke döneminin olaganüstü kosullarina bagli olarak, kendini en belirgin sekilde kadin kiyafetlerinde gösteren ve Cumhuriyet'in ilânindan sonra onlarin özgürlesme hareketlerine katkida bulunacak olan, göreceli bir özgürlük yasadiklaridir. Isgal yillari boyunca savas dönemi vurgunculugu nedeniyle ortaya çikan asiri yoksulluk ve asiri servetin bir arada bulunmasi sehirdeki ahlaki yozlasmayi arttirmis, fakat ayni zamanda da kadinlari evlerinin disinda çalismaya zorlamistir. Birçok Müslüman kadin hayatta kalmak amaciyla fahiselik yapmaya baslamistir. Buna bagli olarak, yoksunluk döneminde kötü yola düsmelerini engellemek amaciyla, kizlarin meslek sahibi olabilecekleri bir egitim almalarina verilen önem artmistir. Çalisma hayatinin alt sinif kadinlarini sokaklarda daha çok görünür kilmasi, üst sinif hanimlarini da görünüslerinde daha köklü degisimler yapmak yönünde cesaretlendirmistir. Bu degisimde ayni yillarda