Only the very coolest among you will know why I'm so happy to have procured for myself a fez, but the reason is simple: Fezzes are cool. Just ask this guy:
And can I just say that this is not just any old fez I have found. This is a super duper old fez, apparently. At the Value Village Last Wednesday of the Month Half Off Sale (sorry, but yes, I do have to capitalize it. It's a holiday, like Big Trash Day), I spotted some nice men's vintage hats behind the counter and bee-lined in their direction because, as you know if you've been playing along at home, I can't keep them in the booth. Now, I am thrilled with the two non-fez hats I got as well, but the fez... well, first of all, it was way cheaper. At half price, I paid $2.95 for the fez. I feel good about telling you this because, like my favorite vintage dress, I will be keeping this little red gem for myself. It already looks jaunty hanging on my wrought iron lamp, don't you think?
What's interesting is that while someone decided to donate his fez to a thrift store, he also left a little note inside:
It's a little moth-eaten in a few spots, but I think that just adds to the character. It's felted wool stretched over a woven straw form with a band of leather inside where it would touch your forehead, and a silk tassle attached to a sort of "tail" of the wool in the center of the top. The "ceiling" of the inside of the hat is a very cool sort of blue-green woven fabric - you can kind of see it above, along with one edge of a label in the center: a sort of eight-sided star with arabic writing inside across the top and across the bottom it says "Tarbouche Zawati". In between the words is a heart. Being the curious sort that I am, I asked old man Google what he knew about my fez, and it turns out that "tarbouche" is the name of the (shh!) not-quite-fez kind of hat this actually is. From dictionary.com:
tarboosh , tarbush or tarbouche (tɑːˈbuːʃ)
— n
a felt or cloth brimless cap resembling the fez, usually red andoften with a silk tassel, worn alone or as part of a turban by Muslim men
By this I have inferred that Zawati was the name of the maker of said tarbouche. I also found one reference in a buyer's ebay feedback to some 'advert labels' for Tarbouche Zawati from 1922, a 5 year old sale page for a 'fez' just like mine on Worthpoint where the seller thought they had a Mason's or Shriner's hat, and this, from the website of a graphic designer:
And last, and most excellently, a really crummy picture and a good description of a sadly squashed version by the same maker, apparently from 1918, on the website of the Marlborough Museum (in New Zealand!)'s Collection of Hats, Gloves and Handbags.
So what I think I know is that in 1947, someone went to Cairo and got a fez that was made either at that time or previously, by a maker who was making them as far back as 1918, and no longer exists except in 4 (now 5, including this one right here!) references on these here interwebs. And some time recently, that person or a descendant/loved one thereof, donated his beloved fez, including in it a note that was either written to the future buyer (me!), or written at some point in the past for a kid's show-and-tell or some other random reason and left inside for me to find.
 |
| Thanks to http://anothermoviegeek.blogspot.com for the image! |
And can I just say that this is not just any old fez I have found. This is a super duper old fez, apparently. At the Value Village Last Wednesday of the Month Half Off Sale (sorry, but yes, I do have to capitalize it. It's a holiday, like Big Trash Day), I spotted some nice men's vintage hats behind the counter and bee-lined in their direction because, as you know if you've been playing along at home, I can't keep them in the booth. Now, I am thrilled with the two non-fez hats I got as well, but the fez... well, first of all, it was way cheaper. At half price, I paid $2.95 for the fez. I feel good about telling you this because, like my favorite vintage dress, I will be keeping this little red gem for myself. It already looks jaunty hanging on my wrought iron lamp, don't you think?
 |
| Check it out - my very own fez! |
What's interesting is that while someone decided to donate his fez to a thrift store, he also left a little note inside:
 |
| Note reads "Genuine Fez Hat from Cairo Egypt 1947". |
It's a little moth-eaten in a few spots, but I think that just adds to the character. It's felted wool stretched over a woven straw form with a band of leather inside where it would touch your forehead, and a silk tassle attached to a sort of "tail" of the wool in the center of the top. The "ceiling" of the inside of the hat is a very cool sort of blue-green woven fabric - you can kind of see it above, along with one edge of a label in the center: a sort of eight-sided star with arabic writing inside across the top and across the bottom it says "Tarbouche Zawati". In between the words is a heart. Being the curious sort that I am, I asked old man Google what he knew about my fez, and it turns out that "tarbouche" is the name of the (shh!) not-quite-fez kind of hat this actually is. From dictionary.com:
tarboosh , tarbush or tarbouche (tɑːˈbuːʃ)
— n
a felt or cloth brimless cap resembling the fez, usually red andoften with a silk tassel, worn alone or as part of a turban by Muslim men
By this I have inferred that Zawati was the name of the maker of said tarbouche. I also found one reference in a buyer's ebay feedback to some 'advert labels' for Tarbouche Zawati from 1922, a 5 year old sale page for a 'fez' just like mine on Worthpoint where the seller thought they had a Mason's or Shriner's hat, and this, from the website of a graphic designer:
 |
| This is definitely the label in my hat! |
And last, and most excellently, a really crummy picture and a good description of a sadly squashed version by the same maker, apparently from 1918, on the website of the Marlborough Museum (in New Zealand!)'s Collection of Hats, Gloves and Handbags.
So what I think I know is that in 1947, someone went to Cairo and got a fez that was made either at that time or previously, by a maker who was making them as far back as 1918, and no longer exists except in 4 (now 5, including this one right here!) references on these here interwebs. And some time recently, that person or a descendant/loved one thereof, donated his beloved fez, including in it a note that was either written to the future buyer (me!), or written at some point in the past for a kid's show-and-tell or some other random reason and left inside for me to find.
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