Chirka

Chirka (the "ch" is pronounced as in Bach)

File:Chirka.jpg

A Gomlek from a painting, made from white linen with gold trim, worn under a short vest called a chirka.

A short tight Ottoman vest, cut like the entari, but more fitted in the body, with the hem about mid-thigh length to above the knee. There are several sleeve possibilities. It is worn over the gomlek and under the entari.

It is clear in paintings and surviving garments that the front is cut straight down, but is pulling apart across the fullness of the bust. In this case, the garment has a small circular neckline right at the base of the neck. Generally the chirka had buttons from the neck down, but is left open across the bust. It also appears to have a small standing collar, the Chirka may have a fully buttoned front or it may have a rounded V-neck. If cut "correctly" it can provide bust support with no modern supplements. I have no guarantee that this was done "in period", but it's possible.

The same garment names are used in Turkish for centuries, yet the garment shapes change radically. This word is used for a couple different garments in the 19th through 21st centuries, quite different from that of the 16th c. Several scholarly sources call it hirka or chirka (Encyclopedia of Islam, 8th ed., for example)

Common materials include linen, silks and wool.