A Tailor’s Book: “Bi？ki Nazariyat ve Kavaidi”

With the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era in the Ottoman Empire in 1908, significant changes occurred especially in the field of education and some schools were opened where female students were educated. The institution established under the name of “Turkish Women’s Tailoring School” and providing tailoring education is one of the existing schools. The school was founded in Istanbul in 1913 by Behire Hakk？, who studied tailoring in Paris. This school provided tailoring education to Muslim Turkish women and helped them to acquire a profession. In this study, it is aimed to reveal the book titled “Bi？ki Nazariyat ve Kavaidi” prepared by Behire Hakk？, who was an important tailor of the period, for the students of the school named “Turkish Women’s Tailoring School”. For this purpose, the contents of the book which was published in three volumes in Ottoman Turkish language between 1913 and 1914 were analyzed and interpreted. It is thought that this study is of importance as it provides information about a pioneer tailor of the Ottoman Empire and and the institution she founded. Furthermore it is also of importance in reflecting the content of a detailed publication about tailoring education in this period