Uzbek Style
Uzbekistan 2012 Fergana Valley
This young woman worked in a shop selling clothing made of handwoven silk and other Uzbek handicrafts. Here she wears a woman’s version of a chapan, a robe like garment worn both for warmth and for discretion. It is similar to a Moroccan djellabla except here the hood is simply an elongated part of the robe. She wears the square cornered hat known, in Russian, as a tubiteka.
She sits on a tapchan, the Central Asian version of a charpoy, except a tapchan has a tea table in the middle. Behind her hangs a suzani, an embroidered cloth often given as a wedding gift and used as decoration in the home. In front of her is an Uzbek pottery urn.
As you can see, there was no shortage of things to spend money on in Uzbekistan. Sometimes Torie and I spent money even when we didn’t want to buy. We were often taken to a master artisan’s home to view his work and his workshop. We visited potters, knifemakers, suzani makers, tubiteka makers, musical instrument makers…etc. etc. etc. Often the family of the artisan would invite us to lunch or have tea with fruits and nuts set in the garden for us to enjoy. Then, Torie and I would take turns buying knives, scarves, anything that would ease our western guilt.
The light was good here under the overhang of the old madrassa portico. And we had some pretty girls from the silk showroom to pose for us in these garments. It was all kind of stilted until we got the idea of having them pretend to have tea on the chapan. Soon we were all laughing with the girls vying with each other for the most striking pose.
To learn more about Uzbek crafts and jewelry as well as to plan your own tour to Uzbekistan, contact Penelope at www.uzbekjourneys.com Penelope blogs in detail about Uzbekistan. Currently her blog features Turkmen Jewelry. You’ll be fascinated to read and watch a video of a couple who have collected Turkmen jewelry for years.