Trabzon’da Kadını Giydiren Terziler; Terzi Kızlar Örneği
The Tailors who Dressed Women in Trabzon; on the Example of Tailor Girls

Summary/Abstract: Tailoring, one of the world’s oldest professions, had been occupied mostly by Non-Muslims during the Ottoman Empire. Behire Hakkı Hanım, a member of the Paris Tailoring Academy, founded Türk Kadınları Biçki Yurdu Derneği (the Turkish Women’s Tailoring School Association), in Istanbul in 1913. Many women made their living by learning how to seam in the Association, whose aim is to prevent the enormous fees paid for the sewing of clothing, which is the most basic need, from going to non-Muslims and foreigners. In the following years, the tailoring schools, besides being a place where a profession is taught, played a leading role in the modernization of women. Tailoring schools opened in 1925 in Trabzon for the first time and had become widespread circa 1930. The girls and women who took courses in tailoring schools met their family members’ clothing needs and contributed to the family budget. These women who had a profession gained an essential place in the family by doing the tailoring profession they learned at home. Even though they did not join the formal learning, these women had a chance to contribute to production, education, and the economy. In this research, the story and the clothes they sewed of the Sürel family, which migrated from Van to Trabzon circa 1800, are investigated in the context of the family’s daughters born in the 1930s, which are known as Terzi Kızlar (the Tailor Girls). With this paper, which was prepared by displaying the photographs in the family archive and the clothes they sewed, was tried to contribute to the history of Turkish textile, clothing, Trabzon, and clothing culture. In order to carry out this study, it was ensured that the study was placed on a scientific basis by doing a literature review, field research, in-depth interview, and on-site observation techniques were used, and the research was documented with photographs.

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