National headdress - a Heritage through centuries

Doppi-tyubeteika is one of the symbols of Uzbekistan. This is not just a beautiful hat, it is also a kind of “passport” of its owner. By the shape of the headdress, by its color, it is possible to determine the region of the owner, the age and the status in society. We offer you a little tour of some of the interesting examples of Uzbek doppi.

Bukhara

The patterns embroidered on the lacing with a golden thread indicate a high social status of the owner or sacred events. The headdress is usually round or tetrahedral with floral or geometric patterns, with fringes and elegant brushes, and gold embroidery gives the headdress colorfulness and solemnity.

Samarkand

Samarkand headdress is patterned with rosette in the form of a pointed star, ribbed, large and elongated, similar in shape of a pyramid. 

Boysun

Each color combination of fragments has a special sacred meaning. The white element is the sheep’s horns, the “koch-korak”, the yellow one – “pahtagul”, the flower of cotton, the sides with white and diamond-shaped - “pahta”, cotton itself. A headdress has a rather high rim. At the bottom it adorns a special strip – jiak, that has a magical meaning, it is a guard against evil forces, so it goes over the headband of the rim, as if protecting the head from all sides.

Chust

Chust head-dress is very popular in many regions of Uzbekistan, especially in the Ferghana Valley. It is characterized by a black background and white pattern depicted in the form of four pods of pepper – “kalampir”. The band is embroidered in small arches settled in the row. There are three kinds of duppi – rounded, roundly tetrahedral and the extended up cap. Chust duppis are remarkable for “slope” of the ornament (full almonds with short and sharply bent tendrils) and a significant height of the band.

 Khiva

A distinctive feature of the headdress is its flat bottom and a wide canvas decorated with a brush. Tyubeteikas for men and women have a common shape, although female ones are sewn from expensive fabrics and decorated with small details.

Shakhrisabz

Shahrisabz tyubeteika is the most original multicolor headdress embroidered in the shape of a flowering bush on a solid background of carpet type.