Yellow Chirpi (19th Century)

This yellow chirpi was made by a Tekke Turkomen woman in the 19th century.

Women wear these robes (chirpi or chyrpy) over their heads and shoulders like a cloak, with the vestigial sleeves hanging down their backs. Tekke Turkomen women tend to embroider them with floral designs, especially tulips, using a lacing stitch (kesdi). Women tend to wear different colors of chirpi depending on the life stage they’re in. Young women usually wear dark blue or black, married women wear yellow, and widowed women wear white.