Fez
The fez (Turkish: fes, plural fezzes or fezes), as well as its equivalent, the tarboosh (Arabic: طربوش / Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [tˤɑɾˈbuːʃ], ALA-LC: ṭarbūsh), is a felt headdress of two types: either in the shape of a truncated cone made of red felt, or a short cylinder made of kilim fabric, both usually with a tassel attached to the top. The tarboosh and the modern fez, which is similar, owe much of their development and popularity to the Ottoman era.
Origin and history
In 1826 Sultan Mahmud II of the Ottoman Empire suppressed the Janissaries and began sweeping reforms of the military. His modernized military adopted Western style uniforms and, as headdresses, the fez with a cloth wrapped around it. In 1829 the Sultan ordered his civil officials to wear the plain fez, and also banned the wearing of turbans. The intention was to coerce the populace at large to update to the fez, and the plan was successful. This was a radically egalitarian measure, which replaced the elaborate sumptuary laws that signaled rank, religion, and occupation, allowing prosperous non-Muslims to express their wealth in competitions with Muslims, foreshadowing the Tanzimat reforms. Although tradesmen and artisans generally rejected the fez, it became a symbol of modernity throughout the Near East, inspiring similar decrees in other nations (such as Iran in 1873).
Fez (That '70s Show)
Fez (born August 4, 1960) is a fictional character and one of the four male leads on the Fox Network's That '70s Show, portrayed by Wilmer Valderrama. He was the foreign exchange student in a group of six local teenagers. Though the character's name is commonly known as Fez, it was fabricated as an acronym for foreign exchange student - F.E.S.
Origins
Fez was born on August 4, 1960. The series' official web site describes the phonetic spelling for Fez's name (as opposed to "Fes") as "poetic license". Fez's friends know his real name but consider it unpronounceable. Red usually calls him "the foreign kid," or by a random foreign name through various backgrounds (e.g. Hadji, Tonto, Anwar, Sabu, Muhammad Ali, Ali Baba, Pelé, Ahmad, Tutankhamun, etc.), which Fez doesn't mind, with one exception: he hates being called Tarzan because Tarzan is a white man. Eric's grandmother calls him "Desi."
A flashback episode shows when Fez first meets the others. They rescue him from a janitor's closet where several bullies had hung him on a coat hook. The bullies had asked him if he wanted to hang out; he tells the gang he "shouldn't have said yes." Moments later he states his real name, which is drowned out by a long, ringing school bell (what Valderrama was actually saying was the first names of the main actors who appear in the show). The only known fact about his name is, as he states in the episode "Killer Queen", the first five K's of his last name are silent. His name has no consonants - only vowels.
Fez (disambiguation)
Fez or FEZ may also refer to:
