This photo carried the title "Native Gentleman". Notice his hat? It's a Tarboosh. I suppose it's the Lebanese equivalent of a derby, fedora, or bowler hat. A few generations ago a man wouldn't have left the house without it, but it's fallen out of fashion. Nobody wears them anymore, well, unless they're in uniform or in costume.Of course, this dapper fellow wears one.
Who is he? Why, Riad el Solh, the first Prime Minister of Lebanon (wikipedia tells me this was from 1943-1945 and again from 1946-1951). His statue is downtown, oriented such that he faces east,. 
I think the Tarboosh looks really nice. It's too bad it's no longer commonly worn.
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteSo tarboosh is the same as fez?
We see them on big Christian holidays, worn by the kawass, ceremonial guards wearing Ottoman attire.
its true its not very common, but if you go into the small villages, you can actually still find all the old men wearing it as well as the "cherwel" which is the black beggy pants in our traditional costumes. We inherited it from the turkish culture (ottoman) as we were occupied by them for over 400 years and made it look more lebanese hehe
ReplyDelete