The Turban

Unravel the fascinating history of the turban, from its origins to its religious uses and its appearance in contemporary fashion and culture.

A turban is a strip of cloth folded and wrapped around the head; however, this description includes multifarious forms across space and time. The Turban follows the turban as it moves from the Arabian Peninsula through the Ottoman Empire to Europe and the Americas. It directs the reader's gaze from traditional and religious uses of the turban into the realms of international trade, Renaissance art, and contemporary fashions. Turbans, as this book shows, have moved in and out of Western culture, at times considered archaic and forgotten, then noticed and reinstated as major accessories. Today, Sikh men are recognised by their distinctive headwraps, and the turban remains an important part of Black culture. This book explores the turban's many adaptations worldwide.

I'm impressed by the scope of this study, from the turban as a marker of religious affiliation to a prop for Rembrandt to a distinctive fashion for women. Headgear off to Filstrup and Merrill. — Gay Talese, journalist and author