Turkish trousers
“Turkish trousers” are the European name for the culturally adopted Ottoman dimije. Dimije are baggy pants that gather just above the ankle, which aid in dispelling heat with their flowing material and breezy nature. Normally worn by common folk in the areas of Turkey, India, and the Middle East, the European empires had influenced widespread cultural mixing via trade and colonization that brought many new styles back West. Fashion began to shift into being a form of self-expression (more like our modern interpretation of the use of clothing) instead of a marker of class level. Women’s movements took in these new cultural styles in order to address oppression by linking traditional clothing models to ideas of confinement, restriction, and encumbrance. These changes of clothing were like shedding of shackles, they became visual political statements that can be made publicly that could harken to the larger movements passively.