So, I got me this Fez see.....

[V.C. Brunswick]

Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion as a law student at the University of Istanbul in 1912

 

[B.J. Hedberg]

I just had to get a fez. Feel positively authoritative in it. Too much fun.

 

[Cattus Petasatus]

How did I miss this thread?

My son bought me a fez a couple years ago for my birthday. It was the result of one to many scotchs and a sudden flash of inspiration. I'll try to dig up a photo.

Yours looks great B.J. Did it come with the tassel?

 

[esteban68]

Looks like Sir Anthony is doing his "just like that" impression!

 

[mingoslim]

Turkish Officers, circa 1917

Cheers!

Dan

I do not think those are Fezes . . . I think they are Kubankas.

 

[B.J. Hedberg]

Yours looks great B.J. Did it come with the tassel?

Thanks. It came with the tassel, good for fun but that’s about it!

 

[steur]

The last posting in this thread dates back to 2013. Not much going on with fezzes then at the lounge. However if one starts to collect hats at one time or another you start to look at fezzes and well, one thing leads to another. I'll post all of the fezzes I have at once and be done with it. I do want to recommend Jeremy Seal's book "A fez from the heart" again first, which is a very entertaining read. Enough introduction. First one is the most recent one I bought. Branded Rex from the souk (market) of Old Medina Casablanca. This one is everything a fez should be: deep maroon felt over a palm straw body. Nicely finished. Fairly low for a fez.

 

[steur]

The second is a fez made by Lamrani Freres, the supplier of the fezzes comedian Tommy Cooper used to wear. By the colour, which is more of a brighter red you can see it is produced for a wider public and not as traditional as the Rex. The finishing is of a lesser quality than the Rex. The tassel was supposed to represent the one hair Allah needed to lift the faithful with to paradise (a nice thought for those who are, like I am, challenged in the natural hair department).

 

[steur]

Another Fez by Lamrani Freres with a different liner (but a larger size). Tommy Coopers fez was sold at aution for 4750 pounds (close to $ 6000 I believe) by the way.
Legend has it that when performing in Cairo during the Second World War, Cooper mislaid his army-issue helmet and took a fez from a nearby waiter to wear for the show. The hat looked comically small on Cooper’s 6ft 3” frame and became his trademark. The fez has been donated to the Victoria&Albert Museum by the former advertising executive, Hans van Rijs. Cooper gave Hans the fez when they met in 1984 to discuss a Dutch TV commercial that he was to star in for Bassett’s Winegums. The advertisement was never made, as Cooper died suddenly a few days after the meeting.
Of the meeting, Hans van Rijs, said: “I travelled to London to meet Mr Cooper in the first week of April 1984 to discuss his script for a Dutch TV commercial for Bassett's Winegums. I arrived at his house around 10.30 and was offered something to drink. We finalised the script and he gave me his fez to take back home with me, so that the special effects team could begin animating it for the advert. He died a few days after we met, so sadly that advert was never made.”
Simon Sladen, Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Performance at the V&A, said: “It is wonderful news that we now have an authentic fez in addition to the Tommy Cooper Collection at the V&A. Cooper’s fez is an icon of 20th century British comedy. It’s thrilling that we can display it alongside his hand-written gags and unique examples of his comedy props to give visitors a fascinating insight into one the best-loved entertainers of the 20th century.”

 

[steur]

Many of you may already know this, but although the fez is associated very much with Turkey, the Turks themselves are not allowed to wear one. It was legally banned by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1925 to modernize (or westernize) the country after it was introduced by Ottoman Emperor Mehmet II (or Mahmud II) from 1826 through 1829 (ironically) as part of modernizing the army and government. The fez is different from the similar tarboosh which is frequently worn in the middle east, which is a knitted and then felted skulcap, but without the palm straw construction to give it shape.
This fez is one made by a workers collective I believe, as the Arabic script inside can be translated as collecive, system and work. The felt on the outside on this one may even have been knitted first, because there is a pattern visible in the felt. The sweatband I added myself, because it didn't have one.

 

[steur]

What is there left to do if you're lookkng for a decent fez but cannot find one that fits you? Well, you make one, which is exactly what I did. Along the way i made all the mistakes you could possibly make, but it did result in a fez that fits me quite well. I started off measuring my headshape with a cardboard cut-out. I used that as a template for a hat-block I made using layers of wooden planks, making it slightly smaller to take the sweatband into account. I bought a cheap red ladies hat, took off the ribbon, liner and sweatband and cut off most of the brim. Then steamed it and pulled it over the block. Tied it down, ironed it and let it sit for a couple of days, ironing it again and again. After it was dry enough I cut the rest of the brim off. Instead of a straw construction inside I made a cardboard/paper one to give it shape, added the tassel and sew on the sweatband and finally added the liner I had from another hat. Only then I discoverd I put in the sweatband back to front! I left it that way, because no one is going to notice and I don't wear it anyway really. But it was fun to do. Here it is.

 

[AndyR]

I'm sorry that I don't have anything intelligent to add regarding a fez, but why is it, when reading the OP subject title, I can't get the sound of Edward G. Robinson (as a gangster) saying that, out of my head?

 

[AndyR]

I will add, I think you did a great job. The fez reminds me a little bit of the hat the Greek Evzones wear, which seems to be a cross between a beret and fez. I've always said that maybe the Greeks have a bit more in common with the Turks than they might care to admit.

 

[steur]

I will add, I think you did a great job. The fez reminds me a little bit of the hat the Greek Evzones wear, which seems to be a cross between a beret and fez. I've always said that maybe the Greeks have a bit more in common with the Turks than they might care to admit.

Andy, thanks. And I think you are right in your idea that they have more in common than they think. Fezzes or fezlike headgear is widespread throughout the region, from the Balkans to the middle east.

 

[mayserwegener]

Johann Hückel´s Söhne early 1900s

 

[Tiki Tom]

Thanks for reviving this thread, Steur. I have fez envy now. I'll be going to Sarajevo in 2 weeks. I wonder if I'll see any for sale there?
Where does one wear a fez these days, anyway? I mean, besides to a "Doctor Who" event.

 

[hatsRme]

The last posting in this thread dates back to 2013. Not much going on with fezzes then at the lounge. However if one starts to collect hats at one time or another you start to look at fezzes and well, one thing leads to another. I'll post all of the fezzes I have at once and be done with it. I do want to recommend Jeremy Seal's book "A fez from the heart" again first, which is a very entertaining read. Enough introduction. First one is the most recent one I bought. Branded Rex from the souk (market) of Old Medina Casablanca. This one is everything a fez should be: deep maroon felt over a palm straw body. Nicely finished. Fairly low for a fez.

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Well done, sir!! Excellent variety, beautifully displayed!!
You have inspired me to haul out and photograph the small collection (7-8) of Fezzes I'm holding from my parents' time living in Morocco for five years in the mid-to-late 1970s. Probably some of the same makers, as there seems to be many similarities. Well, now I need to come through with the photos...

Give me a day or so...

 

[steur]

Thanks for reviving this thread, Steur. I have fez envy now. I'll be going to Sarajevo in 2 weeks. I wonder if I'll see any for sale there?
Where does one wear a fez these days, anyway? I mean, besides to a "Doctor Who" event.

Indoors, with the curtains closed . It requires the "I don't give a damn" button set to eleven and expect family members to roll their eyes.
Don't know about Serajevo, but you would be hard pressed to find a fez anywhere outside of Morocco or Tunesia, I think.

 

[steur]

Well done, sir!! Excellent variety, beautifully displayed!!
You have inspired me to haul out and photograph the small collection (7-8) of Fezzes I'm holding from my parents' time living in Morocco for five years in the mid-to-late 1970s. Probably some of the same makers, as there seems to be many similarities. Well, now I need to come through with the photos...

Give me a day or so...

Thanks, and I can't wait to see the collection. I think I've seen a picture of three of them together in one of the fez-threads I believe. Because there's so little to them (no brim or ribbon) they do tend to look the same, but I found, from the few I have, there's still quite a bit of variation.

 

[hatsRme]

Thanks for reviving this thread, Steur. I have fez envy now. I'll be going to Sarajevo in 2 weeks. I wonder if I'll see any for sale there?
Where does one wear a fez these days, anyway? I mean, besides to a "Doctor Who" event.

I rode around the perimeter road of the northern Vermont pond/lake I hung out at last summer wearing one of mine. About 6+ miles (10 k). Yes, I was the only one...


...in the state.