In Turkey, as elsewhere, international intercourse has gradually led to the disappearance of those salient features which make for the characteristic in dress. In Constantinople the official classes wear the conventional garb of Western Europe, with the one noteworthy exception of the fez, a red cloth cap surmounted by a black silk tassel. French fashions are permitted in the privacy of the harem, but etiquette decrees that the women, before they go out, shall exchange these for a simple toilet of nun-like severity; and the ladies of the Sultan's household, who are never seen in public unless in a carriage or boat, don an all-enveloping mantle of black silk in winter and of some light shade in summer; and over this two white veils are worn. The first covers the face as far as the bridge of the nose, and the second is drawn across the brows, shrouding the head and leaving only the eyes visible. But in truth these yashmaks are so transparent that they serve to enhance rather than conceal the charms, natural and artificial, of the wearer. Through the shimmering white drapery the flower-decked hair is clearly seen, and romantic in the extreme is the effect of a small boat with three rowers, and a veiled figure under a fluttering lace parasol, gliding swiftly over the sun-kissed waters of the Bosphorus. The walking dress in vogue in modern Constantinople is even plainer. It consists of a black silk skirt and a silk cape to the waist, the cape being provided with an additional piece to cover the head, and an essential complement is a short veil of close black net. In summer black is exchanged for light colours, but the style remains the same. The priests, with true ecclesiastical fidelity to tradition, have remained constant to the old-world style of dressing; and to this day they cut picturesque figures in a red fez encircled by a narrow white turban, loose trousers kept in place by a cashmere shawl, dark yellow in colour and of great beauty of design, and a black caftan, a garment almost identical with that of the cassock worn by the clergy of the Church of England. Another survival which is familiar to the casual visitor to Constantinople is the dress of certain labourers, consisting of baggy pantaloons to the knee or a little beyond, red shoes, a long sleeved cotton shirt, and a short, sleeveless jacket of blue or black material, a red fez, and a coloured shawl about the waist. Formerly fur trimmings denoted great opulence and luxury, and the skins most favoured were ermine, sable, marten, white fox, and squirrel, which were changed according to a prescribed formula. The date for one to be discarded and another substituted was fixed by the Sultan, who usually elected to appear in new clothes on a Friday, when attending mosque. The Grand Vizier was officially notified of the intended change, whereupon he immediately sent word to the entire Court, who hastened to follow the sovereign's example.