Hello all,

Today I will return to Spain, to Aragon, province of Huesca, the valley of Ansó. Aragon is in the northeast of the country, between Catalonia and Navarre.

Huesca is the northernmost of the three provinces of Aragon, and the Valle de Ansó is in the northwest corner.

This valley has a well preserved folk costume tradition. You can see several of them in the image at the top of this article. This is likely because it is right up in the Pyrenees Mountains.

The base of the women's costume is a full length chemise, camisa, in linen. The collar is gathered and smock pleated for its entire height. This is starched and molded into somewhat of a cup shape. The sleeves are smock gathered into the shoulder insets, and there is a narrow row of embroidery at the seam, mostly in black but with some other colors added. The sleeves are long, with a narrow writstband. The insets seem to be sewn to the sides of the body of the chemise, and together, they form the collar.

Here is a video showing how to starch and shape the collar of the chemise, and otherwise get it ready to be stored and worn. You can see the shape and construction of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpbQiIHBTYs

The hair is divided into two parts and wrapped with a red or black ribbon. padded rolls called churros are joined to the hair, so that the resulting wrapped tubes can circle the head twice from each direction and are pinned into place. This recalls similar hairstyles in Scandinavia and Savoie.

An underskirt, or petticoat is worn over the camisa. It is made of striped or plaid cotton in dark colors, or sometimes a single color. This is called Saya. It has a drawstring closure and is worn around the waist.

There is a long jumper, consisting of a very short bodice with a long attached wool skirt worn over this. It is called Basquiña, and is made in red, black, and green. The normal version has a black bodice and a green wool skirt. The skirt is smock-gathered into the bodice, and shortly below that the cloth is worked into pleats. The bodice is bound around the neck opening in red, and around the armholes in yellow. For the everyday work costume, it is pinned back, allowing the saya to be visible.

A scapular, Escapulario, is always worn with this. The scapular consists of two rectangles of cloth, one of which is highly ornamented with an image of Our Lady, or other religious image. The two are connected with ribbons maybe 20cm long. The ribbons are folded in half, and the middle of the ribbons is tied to the back of the right shoulder strap, the two rectangles hanging forward on the right shoulder.

For the festive version of the costume, a brooch or pendant is attached to a red ribbon tied around the neck, and elaborate earrings are worn.

Oversleeves are almost always worn. For everyday these manguitos are made of striped or plaid cotton or percale, they are gathered at the cuffs, and have a drawstring which ties closed above the elbow. They often match the saya, the underskirt.

For the festive costume, the Mangas Cuerda are made of wool or finer material, of various colors. They are decorated with ribbon or trim, and are connected at the top by a double ribbon which crosses the back and helps hold them on. For the festive costume they are made in black.

While unmarried girls wear the ribbon wrapped churros plain, married women tie a cap of lace or cloth over the headdress, and then pin a kerchief over that in various ways, sometimes more than one.

For particular religious celebrations, a rosette of ribbons may be pinned to the front of the bodice. This typically has crosses, reliquaries and other religious symbols pinned to it.

For little girls, especially for their first communion, the Basquiña is made in red. Note that their hair is not made up.

For church going and religious ceremonies, the Basquiña is made in black, with a white hem, in which case it is called Saiguelo de lana. The Mangas are then made in white or another color, and have ribbons tying the cuffs closed.

When actually in church, mantles are worn over the head, as we have seen in other places.

For ceremonial occasions, a brocade apron is added. For weddings, the bride has a red apron and matching wide ribbons down the back. These are put on over a second Basquiña which has sleeves and is pinned up at the back. The daily mangitas are put on over the chemise, and then the attached sleeves, which are slit and are secured at the wrist with ribbons.

This is the women's costume. Thank you for readingl I hope that you have found this interesting.

Here is a website devoted to this valley. It has much good information on the costume, and I found it to be a valuable resource. It also has extensive galleries of photos.
http://www.valledeanso.com/anso/eltrajetipico/

http://www.valledeanso.com/galeriafotografica/index.html

Every year in this valley they have a festival showcasing the costume. Here is a video.

Día d'o Traje d'Ansó - Festival of Folk costume in Anso.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX64ivvSA0M

Online sources:
A collection of individual costume pieces.
http://www.aragon.es/edycul/patrimo/etno/balcells/textilindumen.htm
A blog entry about Anso costume in Castillian.
http://josefinamendiara.blogspot.com/
A website that shows and i believe sells costumes from Aragon
http://www.indumentariasanjorge.com/admin/controllerAdmin.php?action=presentacion
Roman K

email
rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Oscar de la Renta et al, 'Joaquin Sorolla and the Glory of Spanish Dress', New York, 2011
Jesus Espallargas, 'El Traje Tradicional en Aragon',
Antonio Jesus Gorria Ipas, 'El Valle de Anso y su Traje Tradicional', Zaragoza,
Jose Ortiz Echague, 'Espana, Tipos y Trajes', Madrid, 1953
Isabel de Palencia, 'Regional Costumes of Spain', Madrid, 1926
Manuel Comba, 'Trajes Regionales Espanoles', Madrid, 1977
Cesar Justel, 'Espana, Trajes Regionales', Madrid, 1997
Lilla Fox, 'Folk Costumes of Southern Europe', Boston, 1972

Hello all,

Today I would like to take a look at northwestern Moldavia, the area just south of Bucovina.

Moldavia, is a region with a rich past, being an independant Dukedom for much of its history.

Moldavia basically extends from the Eastern Carpathians to the Dnister River. The north and south borders have varied a lot, but culturally would exclude the Danube delta and the areas north of the current Ukrainian border. In Romanian, Moldavia is called Moldova.

For a couple centuries now, Moldavia has been split in two along the Prut River. The eastern part, Bessarabia, was annexed by the Russian Empire, then passed to the Soviet Union, and is now independant, but the people there are mostly ethnically Romanian, and speak a minimally divergent dialect of that language. Bucovina, while traditionally distinct, because it was part of the Austrian Empire, is culturally part of Moldavia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldavia

At the head of the article is a print by Alexandrina Enachescu Cantemir, showing a woman in the costume of the Roman district. Roman, along with Neamț and the Bistrița valley, form the modern county of Neamț.

The costume over most of Moldova is similar, consisting of a chemise for the woman, Ie or Camasa, a wraparound skirt, fota or cătrinţă, a sash, and a long cloth worn on the head.

For the men, a tunic, traditionally knee length, although today often shorter, narrow white linen pants, a hat, and a belt or sash. Both wore moccasins, shoes, or boots.

The same two cuts are used for the women's chemises as in Bukovyna. These two cuts in Romanian are ie [gathered] and camasa [boycut]. Here is the cut of the ie as given by the blog Semne Cusute. This blog is an invaluable source for those who are interested in Romanian Embroidery.

http://semne-cusute.blogspot.com/

Note that the sleeves have the same three part embroidery as is usual for the larger region. In Romanian, the upper sleeve/shoulder inset embroidery is called altița, the central contrasting band is called încreţul, and the bands on the lower sleeves and body are called râurii. I will close this article with a number of graphed embroidery designs for the ie from Neamț County.

The overskirt is again similar to that used in Bucovina, as you saw in the images above. This is a rectangle with stripes woven into both short ends which is wrapped around the hips and secured at the waist. This images is actually from slightly further north, fromCîmpulung, but the costume is much the same, except the embroidery is more elaborate in this image.

As in Ukraine, the wrap-around skirt was sometimes replaced by a gathered skirt, as in this image. This is not seen much today. It is more common in Bessarabia.

Today the skirts are often worn shorter.

The man's shirt used this cut. There is basically one embroidery pattern used on all positions on the shirt. The hem of the shirt is often widened by triangular gussets under the arms.

Embroidered sheepskin vests, both hip length and somewhat longer, are worn by both men and women.

The rest of this article will consist of embroidery designs for both men's tunics and women's chemises from the County of Neamț.

Men's

Women's

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting and inspiring, and will find ways to use these embroidery designs in your own life.

email:

rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:

Online

http://www.eliznik.org.uk/index.html

http://www.romaniandolls.com/RomanianDolls/dollsindex.html

Elena Nita Ibrian and Nicolae Dunare, 'Broderii Traditionale si Artizanale Moldovanesti', Bucharest, 1984

Alexandrina Enachescu Cantemir, 'Portul Popular Romanesc', Sibiu, 1974

Mircea Malita, 'Roumanie - Du Tresor du Costume Populaire Traditionelle', Bucharest, 1971

Tancred Banateanu et al. 'Arta Populara in Republica Populara Romina', Sibiu, 1955

Aurelia Doaga, 'Ii si Camasi Romanesti', Bucharest

Hello all,

Today I will return to Hungary, to talk about one of the most famous costume and embroidery traditions in that country, that of Mezőkövesd. This town is the largest of the three settlements of the Matyó people of northeastern Hungary. These also include the villages of Tard and Szentistván, each of which has a distinct costume. You can see Mezőkövesd in the southern part of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county.

Mezőkövesd costume and embroidery has become as iconic of Hungary in general as that of Kalocsa, even though it is not typical. This is in part due to the flowering and development of a distinct type of embroidery in the 20th cent. The outline of the costume is long and relatively narrow by Hungarian standards.

There are a few variants of the women's costume. Here is the dress version of the costume for married women as seen today. This is an image of women carrying a giant rosary in a procession. The people of this region form an island of Roman Catholics surrounded by many Calvinists.

Notice the long, relatively narrow skirts, the single panel embroidered aprons, and the short sleeves. There are several solid colored ribbons around the hem, and one wide patterned ribbon which is placed higher up on the skirt. The skirt is narrowly pleated down to and including this ribbon, except for the front panel under the apron. The placement of this ribbon has changed, formerly being placed much lower, but today often being placed quite high, as we see in this image above. Take note of this detail as we proceed through the article.
There are, of course, a chemise and underskirt worn as a foundation. Here are some old photos of a woman putting on a ceremonial version of the costume. Note the flounce on the bottom of the petticoat, an unusual feature in central or eastern Europe.

In this case, the pleats continue almost to the hem. The front is relatively flat, and made of plain material with a facing above the hem.
Then she puts on the apron, with embroidery, ribbon and fringe. Next she puts on linen sleeves, as her chemise seems to be of calico, and the old style shirt, ing, with the high puffy sleeves.

This ing is of plain linen because she is going to wear it under a very large shawl with heavy fringe. The fringe accentuates the high puffed sleeves.

Today the sleeves are usually not as high, but still retain the same basic shape. When worn without the shawl, the shirt is brightly colored, with appliqued ribbon and a peplum.

Most commonly today the shirts and skirts are made of rose patterned challis in various colors, but in the past, they were often made of brocade, as in this example. She is wearing a jacket with long sleeves and very full peplum, and a warm headscarf with this ensemble, which is meant for cooler weather and is from the 1930's. The embroidery on the apron is also of an older style.

Skirts today are sometimes made to hang from the waist.

Here is a print by LEPAGE-MEDVEY of the Mezőkövesd costume. This artist made many prints of the costumes of Central Europe, and this one is typical in that it has errors in many details. One thing to notice is the headscarf. The shape was achieved by the traditional hairstyle, which has largely been abandoned today.

Here we see how to make this traditional hair style. There were wicker extensions to achieve the extreme length seen above.

One common headdress for married women has several large pompoms sewn to a kerchief. This is reminiscent of parts of Germany's Black Forest, but I know of no actual connection.This headdress is still used today, but without the traditional hairstyle, the effect is much rounder.

In the photo with the four ladies above, you see the old style apron, full, with many little pleats and ribbons on the lower edge. This is still used for some ceremonial outfits, such as weddings. This ceremonial outfit also included a crown, similar to that found in other parts of Central Europe. This apron is often covered with several ribbons hanging from the waist. Originally the wedding dress was black, as was very common over much of Western and Central Europe. Here are three examples from the 1910's.

Similar outfits were, and still are, worn for processions on Church Holidays, but in white. Also, starting in the 1930's, under the influence of Town Fashion, and ultimately, Queen Victoria, the wedding outfit also became white. Later still, again under the influence of Town Fashion, a veil was added to the crown.

The embroidery is confined to the single-panel apron which dominates in the 20th cent. Unusually, the men wear essentially the same apron. It is very common for Hungarian men's costumes to include an apron, but they are usually different from the women's.

The basic outfit for the men consists of the shirt, vest, necktie, hat, apron and pants. The pants, known as gatya, are worn over most of Hungary, especially in the summer. They are plain white linen or cotton. The construction is very simple, and they are very full. I have one in my private collection, and its waistband is 5 1/2 yards around. In fact, in this region they are actually fuller than the skirts of the women. They are usually worn slightly longer than boot-top length, and are generally self fringed at the bottom of the pant legs. These are often mistaken for skirts. They are fun to dance in.

This is the Hungarian 'Matyo Man' costume.
There is extensive embroidery on the apron, which is similar to those worn by the women, and on the festive shirts, as you can see here above. The embroidery is on the collar, shoulders, front, and on the very long and full sleeves. Older examples have the embroidery out to the hem, and then colored decorative crotchet edging. Today there is usually a wide patterned ribbon sewn to the edge to supplement the embroidery. It is still very impressive.

This piece is from my personal collection. The embroidery is not as elaborate as some older ones.

The apron consists of one panel, is black, and today usually has fringe on the bottom, a row of patterned ribbon and embroidery in the same style as is on the man's festive shirt. Again, here is one from my personal collection.

Older aprons often have no ribbon. I have read that a child's apron has three roses, a man's has five, and a woman's has seven. This is sometimes true, but a perusal of the aprons pictured in this article will show that there is a great deal of variety in the embroidery, and that this rule does not hold. Older people sometimes have no embroidery at all. Here are a few more examples.

At first glance, this woman seems to be wearing a plain black apron, but in fact, the lower panel has typical Matyo embroidery in black on black.

Older men would often wear simpler or plain black aprons.

The vest is of black wool, has lapels, and is ornamented with a varying amount of buttons and black soutache. Here is a particularly elaborate example.

On formal occasions, a narrow silk embroidered tie was tied around the neck, and a round topped felt hat with ribbons and feathers completed the ensemble.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

A couple of videos of Mezőkövesd dancing,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3168u_1fLF8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8vbpCs4LwE
a wedding procession,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLk6aBYMCN4

A folk festival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz5anbSKAUg

and an exhibition of embroidery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4zrfAnsWBg

Email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Kútvölgyi Mihály, 'The Matyó Roses', Budapest, 2006
Győrffy István, 'Matyó Népviselet', Budapest, 1956
Lengyel Györgyi, 'NépiKézimunkák', Budapest, 1978
Lengyel Györgyi, 'Nagyanyáink öröksége', Budapest, 1986

Hello all,

Today I will be venturing into a country about which I have written little, Germany. There is a rich folk costume tradition in Germany, and yet there seems to be a dearth of detailed descriptive writing on the subject, which somewhat baffles me, as it would seem to be the kind of thing that the German people would thoroughly document.
Schaumburg is a relatively small region on the border of Westphalia and Lower Saxony, in northwest Germany, about 30 miles or so west of Hanover. Its history is quite complicated.
This area traditionally spoke the Lower German language, Nedderdüütsch, being on the edge of the Lower Saxon and Westphalian dialects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schaumburg

There are four variations of the costume of this area, which differ mainly in the woman's festive headdress. These geographic variants are the Frille Costume, the Bückeburg Costume, the Lindhorst Costume, and the Apelern Costume, this last being found today only in one town.

Frille Costume

Bückeburg Costume

Lindhorst Costume

Apelern Costume.
This is not shown on the map above, but the town of Apelern is in the southeast corner of the LIndhorst region.

On more mundane occasions when the headdress is not worn, it becomes difficult to identify which region these costumes are from. Note the topknot on the front of the head, this is the traditional hairstyle for all of these costumes, and helps to hold the festive headdress in place. These costumes are a living tradition, to the point where today there are still some older women who have never worn anything else.

I shall spend the rest of this article talking about the LIndhorst Costume, specifically the festive costume.
Besides Lindhorst itself, this costume is also worn in the communities of
Lauenhagen, Heuerssen, Probstshagen, Wendthagen, Bad-Nenndorf, Beckedorf, Hohnhorst, Rodenberg, and part of Stadthagen.

The foundation of the costume is a linen chemise, Hiemd, which today is often of cotton. Originally the large collar and the lace cuffs were part of it, but today, they are most commonly separate pieces. The sleeves come only to the elbows.

Then comes the unterkleid, the petticoat. This may have an attached bodice, but it can also be just a skirt, Unnerock. This comes in various colors, and generally has black ribbons sewn on near the hem. For everyday, this is the main garment.

If the unterkleid has a bodice, then the Kaputt is worn over it, if not, then it may be worn under it. This is a blouse or camisole with elbow length sleeves. The sleeves have a wide ribbon sewn to the hems. This ribbon matches the one on the hem of the outer skirt The kaputt buttons down the front, and resembles the one worn in Volendam in the Netherlands, but has a high neckline. There is a bodice or vest, the Bostdauk, worn over the kaputt. This has a small plastron buttoned onto the front. This garment has a wide ribbon sewn around the waist which matches the ones on the kaputt and outer skirt.

The starched lace cuffs are attached to the ends of the kaputt sleeves.

The lower arms are covered with Hanschen, which are separate sleeves knitted in various designs, usually with beads knitted into them. They come in various colors.

Then comes the famous red skirt, rock, of a heavy red wool with a wide patterned hem which matches the kaputt and bostdauk.

You can see here how the ribbons match when the costume is put on. The girl on the right is wearing the everyday outfit. You see how the regular skirt for daily wear is the same as the underskirt for more formal wear. Notice also the difference in the shoes.

For more ordinary occasions, as you can see here above, a silk apron, Schörten, with a wide black lace panel sewn over the bottom is worn, as is a knitted shawl, Dauk.
A belt, Bandeliere, is worn over those.

For more festive occasions, both the apron and the shawl are embroidered in silk with large floral motifs, usually in white or red on black. The shawls often have more colors, and may incorporate some beadwork. The shawls are also edged with fringe or small tassels. A perusal of the various aprons shows a variety of compositions.

Here the design on an old apron was copied onto a new one. This is unusual, most aprons are unique in their composition.

The large ruffled lace collar, Hälschen, is starched, ironed, and then put on over the shawl.

This woman above is showing how the collar is ironed. She is in the everyday work costume with the knitted shawl.

Over this is worn a sort of tie, Halsdauk, two trapezoidal pieces with bead embroidery connected by a ribbon.

A choker of large amber beads, Krallen, is worn around the neck. The ones worn in the Lindhorst area have panels of beadwork on either side of the clasp.

The large round brooch, Spange, and the pointed black headdress, Punzmüssen, are both unique to the Lindhorst area. Large earrings, Uhrring, are also worn, they have long shafts so that they may lie on top of the headdress ties. Finger rings are also worn.

The Punzmüssen has beadwork on the crown and on the ends of the ribbons which hang in back. Wide, patterned silk ribbons are used to make this garment. It amounts to a cylinder with chin ties and a very large bow in back.

This is an american woman who bought very nice parts of the costume, but seems to have made her own Punzmüssen. Notice the satin has no pattern, and the ties under the neck are too small. Compare to the girl from LIndhorst above.

She also has her hair falling out the back. This is wrong. The hair should not be visible. To wear the headdress properly, the hair is gathered into a topknot, the Punz. Here are some ladies wearing the traditional hairstyle without the Punzmüssen. The headdress fits nicely over the Punz.

This is a contemporary photograph. These ladies are all dressed in mourning outfits.

In cooler weather, or when appropriate, a jacket may be worn. A shawl may also be worn over the head that leaves the punz uncovered. These are usually knitted.

Silk capes are worn for dressy occasions. Here you can see that the wide ribbons on the headdress form a very large bow.

Bridesmaids, Kranzmaike, and Baptismal attendants, Patinnen, wear a crown, which also fits over the punz. This is usually accompanied by a rosette of colored silk ribbons, Krallenbaend, worn on the back. This may be worn for other ceremonial occasions as well.

Brides, in addition to the the Krallenbaend and the crown with rosemary twigs attached, wear a headband under it with eight wide ribbons that hang down all around, and a sort of bibbed 'apron', Brüstchen, which also has wide ribbons that hang from the waist. The headdress ribbons are arranged so that 4 fall in back, 2 over the shoulders, and 2 in front.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting and informative.
I will close with a few more images of this costume.

A children's dance group from Lindhorst
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WWfoVOCNnM

A group from Lindhorst marching in a parade. Not the best video, but you can see the costume.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkqTS4PiZmo

Email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source material:
Many of the individual pieces pictured i found available on German Ebay. Some may still be. You can find them here.
http://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xlindhorster+tracht&_nkw=lindhorster+tracht&_sacat=0&_from=R40
and here
http://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xschaumburger+tracht&_nkw=schaumburger+tracht&_sacat=0&_from=R40
Friederike Kaesting et al, 'Rote Roeke', Hannover, 2000
Brunhilde Miehe, 'Der Tracht Treu Geblieben bd 4', Bad Hersfeld, 2005
Josef Dunninger, 'Deutsche Volkstrachten', Berlin, 1911
Erich Retzloff-Duesseldorf, 'Deutsche Trachten', Leipzig, 1937
Uwe Karsten, 'Deutsche Trachten', Vienna, 1980
'Deutsche Volkstrachten - Ein Sammlung Deutsche Trachtenbilder', 1938
Erich Retzlaff, 'Deutsche Trachten', Munich, 1958
Debionne and Meissner, 'Die Schoensten Deutschen Trachten', Munich, 1987

Hello all,

Today I will talk about a type of outfit which is not a Folk Costume at all. These come on the market now and again, and people ask me about them. This is what may be called Russian Town costume. These were never worn by peasants and are not part of the Russian folk costume tradition. The cut and construction of these outfits are not Russian or traditional. They are basically Victorian era garb covered with embroidery and utilizing Russian folk lace.

These were made to order in the latter 1800's, and were marketed to women who lived in towns and cities who wanted to have something 'Folky' to wear for singing folk songs or to express their cultural heritage without the embarrassment of wearing Peasant Clothing, which would just never do. They incidentally provided work for many women of the towns and villages who made the pieces.

These garments were constructed in strips, as you can see above. Individual bands were embroidered on blue, red, yellow, or other colored cloth with waste canvas, and then these bands were sewn together to make garments, the various strips usually being joined with a length of peasant lace sewn in between, which also adorned the hems.

The ensembles generally consisted of a blouse, that is, a top with wide sleeves, standing collar and side closure in the front, an apron, and sometimes a skirt. If not, regular Victorian skirts would then be worn with them, as we see here above. The cut of the blouse, kofte, is not completely Victorian, The body is a simple square, and the sleeves are sewn to the body at right angles, often with a gusset under the arms. This is a very simple cut and easily made from the embroidered bands. The strips of lace between the bands made the blouses semi transparent, but of course, the lady would wear chemise, corset and camisole under them.

The lace indeed resembles that used in some Russian and Karelian folk costumes, although it is not used in the same way. The origin of the embroidery, however, is a bit of a mystery.

If you peruse good books on Russian Folk Costume, you will not find embroidery which resembles what is found on these outfits. Indeed, cross stitch is very rare in traditional Russian costume. So then where did these designs come from?
The short answer is that they were the product of the printing of books of embroidery patterns. These began to be distributed in the mid 1800's, and are often referred to generically as 'Brokar' patterns. A certain Henrykh Brokar, who is consistently referred to as being French, opened a factory which made colognes, perfumes and soap in Moscow in 1864. As part of their marketing strategy, they included a sheet of graphed embroidery patterns as a premium. Here is an example.

As the soap especially was widely sold in the Russian Empire, these designs became very popular in some areas. Others also published books of folk designs. But this just puts the question back one step. Where did Brokar's people and the others get the designs in the first place?

If you look at this design above, the central motif is very typical of cross stitch designs found in Ukraine and Romania today, but the border looks like it was designed by a Victorian mindset. Others, like this one, are very simple and were likely made up by people in the factory.

Brokar's competitors soon started copying this strategy, and soon many such designs were to be found floating around. Some obviously made up, some based on actual Slavic weaving or embroidery designs in other techniques, some from other cultures. These became popular in the cities, but did not penetrate much into the Russian villages. In Ukraine and Belorus, however, they did in some places become part of the culture, or perhaps the designs were drawn from their culture, as many of them, including the designs used on the Russian Town Costumes greatly resembled embroideries used by the Ukrainian and Belorussian people who were not part of the Russian Empire.
This issue is not resolved, and needs more study. Some of these designs could easily be from Switzerland or Germany, and yet there is a body of designs which form a recogniseable style, distinct from those of western Europe. which is found in Ukrainian, Belorussian, and some Russian embroideries.

There were catalogues of these costumes printed from which women could select different styles. Also, since the constituent bands were made separately, the customers could choose which colors and which designs they wanted to have included. One innovation of these costumes is that the embroidery was not done on white linen, but on colored factory made cloth, which necessitated a shift in the colors of the embroidery.

When the ensemble included a skirt, the embroidery on the skirt was usually restricted to a band around the hem or in the center, but was sometimes expanded to cover most of the skirt.

This next one is somewhat unusual, it seems to consist of just a fichu and an apron.

Most of the blouses had the same construction, like these next two.

Occasionally, the top would be sewn with a traditional Slavic cut. The inset being embroidered. Here is one example made of colored cloth. The sleeves here are the typical embroidered bands.

You will even find these made of white linen, so approximating somewhat traditional slavic shirts. I suspect that these were homemade, and not mass produced. Here is a fine example of such a hybrid.

Here is an example of a blouse made of linen, but cut and sewn in the Victorian manner. We have the garments and also a photo of the original owner, Raisa Vereshchaginaya.

If only one piece was bought, it would be the apron. This would then be worn with a normal Victorian outfit.

This apron was either never finished, or more likely, part of it was removed to be used on something else.

Here is an example which uses wide and open lace, and also has lace around the neck opening instead of the stand up collar.

The side front and back panels are usually rectangular, but in this example, they were cut narrower at the bottom so as to make the blouse more fitted.

The embroidery is not always limited to cross stitch. In this example, geometric satin stitch and outline stitch are also used.

This example makes great use of double cross stitch, which is taken from a book, and the embroidery's effect is more texture than design.

This is a rear view of the blouse.

While the majority of the embroidery featured geometric designs, floral designs were not unknown. Both of these examples have the apron with zigzag lower edges.

These examples have exceptionally wide lace, and each with a single design.

This one is exceptionally attractive, in my opinion.

And just one more truly exceptional apron.

And although this type of costume was overwhelmingly made for women, there are a few examples of the men's kosovorotna made with similar embroidery.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting, informative, and perhaps inspirational. Many of these designs would be useful for all kinds of projects, and if one could obtain the lace, an outfit like this would be relatively easy to make. Notice that no two were the same.

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source material:
L. B. Skliar, 'Kostium v Russkom Stilie', Moscow, 2013

L. Molotova, 'Russian Folk Clothing', Leningrad, 1984

Gorozhanina & Zaitseva, 'Russkij Narodnyj Svadebnyj Kostium' [Russian Folk Wedding Costume], Moscow, 2003

A. Klimov, ' Osnovy Russkavo Narodnavo Tantsy' [Basics of Russian Folk Dance] Moscow, 1981

Hello all,

Today I will address a type of embroidery which excites strong feelings among Ukrainians. It is typified by the Rushnyk from the Borzniansk district of Chernyhiw oblast shown here, The emblematic 'Ukrainian Rose' in red and black cross stitch.

Many people, including many Ukrainians consider this to be the most typical and widespread type of embroidery in Central, Southern and Eastern Ukraine. You will find many popular publications which show graphs of such designs.
On the other hand you will find few such designs in books written by those who study the history of Ukrainian costume and embroidery seriously. They state emphatically that this is NOT a traditional form of embroidery in Ukraine.

Curiously, both of these statements are true.

A casual survey of photographs will turn up many examples of this type of embroidery. Here is a married woman's festive outfit from the beginning of the 20th cent now found in a Museum in Moscow.

Here is a photograph of two women taken very early in the 20th cent. in Odessa. You can clearly see the cross stitched roses on the chemise of the one and the apron of the other.

Here is a photograph of a pillow embroidered quite recently.

Cross stitch is a very ancient technique, Some of the most ancient peoples of Southeast Asia, the Hmong [Miao] and the Mien [Yao] have brought this type of embroidery to a high art. It is considered emblematic of the people of Syria and Palestine. There have been cross stich pattern books printed in Germany as far back as the 1500's.

On the other hand, it is a newcomer to the Steppes of Ukraine. In the 1800's across Europe there started a habit of publishing designs for women to help teach handicraft. From about 1850, publications such as 'Niva' and 'Rodina' began to spread such graphed designs in Moscow's Empire, which at the time included the central and eastern parts of Ukraine. A bit later, in the 1864, a man by the name of Henrich Brokar who was part French and part Russian started a perfume and soap factory in Muscovy. In the wrappings of each article, in particular the soap, he included a cross stitch design of 'peasant embroidery', which his artists had drawn.

ref 'Traditional Russian Costume'

http://traditionalrussiancostume.com/embroidinfo/xru_en.php?nametxt=7

and 'Rukotvory' a website of Ukrainian handwork

http://rukotvory.com.ua/en/rozmovy/yuri-melnytchuk-even-the-most-poor-girl-used-to-embroider-at-least-30-shirts-and-chemises/

This had the effect of getting town and city people in Russia, Bielorus and Ukraine to start embroidering. The concurrent Romantic movement made these people start to value the peasant art of their nations, which they had heretofore looked down on. In a desire to get in touch with their roots they turned to these graphs which were portrayed as traditional embroidery.

Here is the cover of on such publication. The title translates as 'A collection of Great Russian and Little Russian [sic] patterns for embroidery' published in St Petersburg in 1877.

You may view the rest of this publication and others here.

http://patternmakercharts.blogspot.com/2009/07/1877-collected-velikorusskih.html

It is unclear where these designs came from originally, but they appear to have been drawn from various sources. Many of the designs in this particular publication look like they were inspired by those of western Europe, especially the ones which feature people and animals drawn naturalistically. You will recognize some of these designs on the Russian Town Costumes.

On the other hand, some of the geometric designs would look very familiar to Ukrainian embroiderers or weavers. Many of these designs are popular in contemporary Ukrainian embroidery, as opposed to the regional styles.

I am of two minds about these designs, some, like this rushnyk have nothing about them which is typically Ukrainian. This could just as easily have been stitched in Switzerland.

On the other hand, there is a body of designs which have become recognizable as Ukrainian, witness this illustration from a book printed in Germany entitled 'Cross stitch patterns from old Russia' [sic].

Any Ukrainian would recognize this type of design.

For their part, Russians who study their own embroidery tradition seriously do not claim these designs. Here is an old book of embroidery designs from Russia with a representative page [although I recognize some Khanty and Chuvash designs among them].

Curiously, I have not found any examples of the rose embroidery in the limited few such books which I have looked at. But there must have been some, as one can find widespread hints.

Russian Town Costume apron.

Estonian Folk costume from Torma in South Estonia.

Chemise of unknown nationality from the village of Enotaevsk, Astrakhan region. This piece may well be Ukrainian.

Former Soviet Moldova, a bride from Kamenka district being prepared for her wedding.

Belarus, the village of Berazniaki in the Zhytkavichy region.

Clearly these designs were being promulgated widely within the western Russian Empire.

While these designs remain exceptions among the Estonians, Moldovans and Russians they have been embraced by the Ukrainian and Belorussian people. And they are not limited to roses; many of the designs feature other flowers, and once opened, the Pandora's box of creativity of the people resulted in many versions of this type of design. In the popular pattern books of Ukrainian embroidery, if not in the scholarly works, these designs abound.

In a sort of role-reversal, some of these designs have been adapted for older embroidery techniques, such as Poltava merezhka.

In conclusion, while we should remember that these designs are a recent addition to the canon of Ukrainian embroidery, and we should make every effort to keep and spread knowledge of the older techniques, I feel that we should recognize that these designs are here to stay, and enjoy their beauty as well.

I will provide some more examples of these designs. Here is one to be embroidered in white with a red outline from Sumy oblast.

This chemise is from the Borodniansk region of Kyjiw oblast.

Man's shirt from Poltava region.

Woman's chemise, Poltava region.

Woman's chemises from the Cherkasy region.

These examples above are from online, and may be obtained on ebay, along with mens shirts and womens chemises from other regions, rushnyks, etc.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/taras100305/m.html?item=371088643703&hash=item56669b5677&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

Poppy design from Kharkiw region.

Design from Kherson oblast.

Kalyna design from Cherkasy.

Some daintier, more comtemporary designs from Ivana Zel's'ka for girl's blouses.

Rushnyks. These are also taken from ebay. See the link above.

Man's costume from Sosnychka region, Chernyhiw oblast.

Two women's chemises from Perejaslaw-Khmel'nytsky region, Kyjiw oblast.

A girl's outfit minus the apron, with the embroidery graphed.

Lilies

More roses

For those interested in embroidering these designs, the two reds most commonly used are DMC 666 [bright red] or DMC 321 [cherry red].

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and inspiring. Take some of these designs and use them.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Hello all,
Today I would like to spend a bit of time talking about Austrian Dirndls. The focus of this article will be specifically the tracht, or costume of the province of Lower Austria, Niederösterreich.
This is in the northeast of the country.

The province is divided into four regions which completely surround Vienna, which is considered to be separate. The Forest quarter, the Wine quarter, the Industry quarter, and the Cider quarter.

The modern dirndl has its roots in the traditional daily wear of the German speaking people. In the 1800's there was a movement to replace some of the older and very complicated Folk Costumes with something simpler and more practical, and thus the dirndl was developed.
Now they are very popular, and city women have even developed very elegant and costly versions for formal wear. They are made from solid colored or printed cloth, and may be in cotton, linen, wool or even silk. They may have exquisite detail work, ruched ribbons, points, or other details. Generally they are made in quiet colors.

The outfit consists of a long or short sleeved blouse, apron which is smock gathered into the waistband, a cylindrical skirt, underskirt and bodice. In Austria the bodice is generally made in a different color from the skirt. The hem is generally several inches below the knee, but may be full length in formal versions. The fabric used varies from a simple gingham or calico to beautiful hand printed silk. Although there seems to be a general uniformity to dirndls, there is a great variety in detail. In particular the bodices vary a lot in their ornament and cut.

These two are from Vienna, Doebling on the left, and Sievering on the right. This is the classic hemline of the dirndl.

These show hemlines shortened under the influence of the 1960's and 1970's.

It is sometimes reported that the placement of the apron's knot is significant: on the right if single, on the left if married or 'taken', in the front center if a virgin, and in the back if a widow.

I will be presenting a number of variants from Lower Austria and also Vienna. The couple at the top of the article are wearing one form of Tracht from Vienna. Some variants are particular to certain regions, others are more general.
I will be presenting a variety of cuts for the bodice. They will be superimposed onto this generic pattern.
The following information is taken from 'Oesterreichische Trachtendirndl' by Maria Strnad, printed in 1950.

Here is a 'zackendirndl' from Lower Austria with points on the neck and armholes, and fine lace on the neck and opening of the blouse.

Here is a Holiday dirndl from Lower Austria.
The gathered band across the bust is found in many places in eastern Austria.

Industrieviertel

This dirndl from the Wienerwald has straps that cross in back, a gingham skirt and floral print bodice.

This dirndl is from Aspang.

This dirndl is from the Piesting valley, in the east of the Industrieviertel.

These next two are from the Wechsel area, on the southern border of the Industrieviertel

Puchberg, in elegant colors, with ruched ribbon and a v in the back.

Mostviertel

Wachau is a part of the Danube valley between Melk and Krems. It forms the border between the Waldviertel and the Mostviertel. Here is a dirndl from Wachau. This has a rather complex princess cut and is trimmed with ruched ribbon.

These two are from the area around St. Poelten

Waldviertel

A very elegant example.

This is a winter tracht with a spencer jacket and a silk scarf.

Weinviertel
An example from the Kamp valley in gingham.

Another winter outfit with jacket.

Vienna.

Some examples of dirndls from Vienna and environs.

Here are two dirndls from Vienna, a formal full length one from Sievering, and an everyday one from Grinzing.

These last are examples of formal full length dirnds appropriate for weddings, the opera, ceremonial occasions and other times when one wishes to dress one's best.

Brides, as in so many places, will often wear a crown.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

A website where one can buy Lower Austrian Tracht.
http://www.trachtenkoestler.at/niederoesterreich.php

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Maria Strnad, 'Oesterrichische Trachtendirndl', Vienna, 1950
Rudolf Fochler, 'Trachten in Oesterreich', Munich, 1980
author unknown, 'Trachten in Niederoesterreich'
author unknown, Tracht in Wien und sein umland'

Hello all,
this is my 200th article, and I thought i should do something rather different.
I will do an overview of the folk costumes of Europe. I will follow nation-states, as inappropriate as that may be, but i will also cover nations without states. Some very small and obscure ethnic groups will be omitted for lack of available material. I will also not be covering the north Caucuses, as there is simply too much material there.
Where there is a recognized or unofficial 'National Costume' I will show that. This will necessarily not include much in the way of explanation.

Iceland

Upphultur

Peysufot

Faldbuningar

Faroe Islands

Ireland

Scotland

England

Wales

Brittany

Bigoudin

Kemper [Quimper]

Plougastel

France

Berry

Normandie [Normandy]

Provence

Eskualdi [the Basque Country]

Andorra [also Rousillon and Catalonia]

Spain

Andalucia

La Mancha

Galicia

Portugal

Minho

Madeira

Algarve

Monaco [also Nice]

Italy

Lombardy

Lazio

Calabria

Arbëreshë [Italo Albanians]

Vatican City

There is no women's costume for the Vatican

Sardinia

Florinas

Orgosolo

Quartu Sant'Elena

Malta

Switzerland

Appenzell

Valais/Wallis

Graubunden/Grisons

Lichtenstein

Germany

Miesbach, Bavaria

Gutach, Schwartzwald

Scheesel, Lower Saxony

Luxembourg

Belgium

The Netherlands

Volendam

Beveland

Staphorst

Friesland [Frisia]

West

East

North

Denmark

Fanø

Hedebo

Amager

Norway

There have been several attempts to design a national costume, but none of them have received much acceptance.

Hardanger

Setesdal

Gudbrandsdal

Sweden

National Costume

Värend

Rättvik

Sabme [Lappland]

Jokkmokk

Kautokeino

Skolt

Finland

Häme, western Finland

Kaukola, Finnish Karelia

Tuuteri, on the Finnish Isthmus

Estonia

Järva-Jaani, North Estonia

Muhu Island

Setu, South Estonia

Livonia

Latvia

Latgale

Vidzeme

Nica

Lithuania

Aukštaitija

Žemaitija

Vilnius

Kaszubia [Kashubia]

Poland

Łowicz, Mazowsze

Krakow, Małopolska

Zakopane Góral

Sorbia [Lusatia]

Chosebus [Cottbus], Lower Lusatia

Slepo [Schleife], Upper Lusatia

Catholic costume, Upper Lusatia

Bohemia

Plzeň [Pilsen]

Blata

Nové Paky, Northeast Bohemia

Moravia

Hanak

Valašsko

Vlčnov, Slovacko

Slovakia

Myjava

Detva

Šariš

Hungary

Palóc

Kalocsa

Matyó

Austria

Montafon, Vorarlberg

Tyrol

Upper Austria

Slovenia

Gorenjsko

Dolenjska

Bela Krajina

Croatia

Posavina

Zagrebačko Prigorje

Dubrovnik/Konavle

Bosnia

Moslem town costume

East Hercegovina Orthodox Serbian Costume

Travnik, Catholic Croatian Costume

Serbia

Šumadija

Vojvodina

Gniljane

Crna Gora [Montenegro]

Macedonia

Skopska Blatija

Galichnik

Radovish

Albania

North Albania and Kosovo [Gheg]

Sulovë, Central Albania

Fieri, South Albania [Tosk]

Greece

Amalia Costume, Athens

Kriti [Crete]

Karagouna, Thessaly

Cyprus

Bulgaria

Sofia [Shope]

Rhodope

Severnjashko [North]

Vlach

in Serbia

in Greece

in Albania

Romania

Wallachia

Transylvania

Moldavia

Moldova

Gagauz

Crimean Tatar

Ukraine

Central Ukraine

Hutsul

Volyn'

Carpatho-Rusyn, Lemko

Komancha

Venhryny [Čirč region]

Jakubany

Belarus

Svetlahorski region, Western Polissia

Malarytski region, Eastern Polissia

Russia

Peasants from northern Russia

Kaluga Province

Voronezh Province

Karelia [Russian held part]

Tver' Province Karelians

Veps

Nenets

The Nentsi [formerly known as the Samoyed], live along the arctic coast from the White Sea to well past the Urals, and thus into Asia.

Komi

Permliak

Udmurtia

Northern Udmurt

Southern Udmurt

Mari-El

Ural Mari

Mordovia

Erzya

Moksha, Contemporary Costume

Men

Chuvashia

Anatri Chuvash bride and her father

Anat Enchi bride, groom and married woman

Virial Chuvash Matchmaker

Tatarstan [Kazan']

Bashkortostan [Bashkir]

Kalmuk [Kalmyk]

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman Kozak

Hello all,

I have been rather neglecting Germany, because of a lack of comprehensive information. I will try to remedy that now that I have expanded my German library, and am now in the possesion of somewhat more information. Today I will talk a bit about the costume of Lower Franconia, with special focus on the costume of Ochsenfurter Gau, which is the most colorful and elaborate version of this costume.

This costume is sometimes presented as being 'Bavarian', which is technically true, but rather misleading. The current State of Bavaria in Germany consists of the contiguous parts of the old Kingdom of Bavaria, which includes, besides Bavaria proper, Schwabia, Oberpfaltz, and Franconia. Bavaria is divided into two districts, Upper and Lower, and Franconia into three, Upper, Middle, and Lower.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavaria

The costume which usually comes to mind when we think about 'Bavaria' is that of Upper Bavaria, with Lederhosen. The other areas each have a distinct and separate costume tradition. Lower Franconia, or Unterfranken, is in the northwest corner of the State of Bavaria, far away from the land of Lederhosen, and rather close to the center of Germany.

This area is distinguished as being one of the areas in Germany in which the folk costume is still a living tradition, in that there are still some older women who never wear anything else.

As in any living, or near living tradition, there are many forms of the costume, I will be focusing on the costume of the high feast days, as the most colorful and distinct.

Here is the one image which I have been able to find which shows the constituent parts of the costume. This is a less dressy version, in that the outer pieces are made of solid color fabrics.

From left to right, linen chemise and underskirt with padded bands on the hem [Wattrock]. kerchief and second underskirt, this one worn under the first one, bodice with sleeves [Mutze], and top skirt, shawl and apron, fingerless gloves and bag, stockings and shoes.

Most of the various forms of the costume are basically the same, differing only in the materials used. The two exceptions are the everyday working costume, which consists of cotton top, skirt, and apron, and the dancing costume in which a sleeveless bodice replaces the bodice with sleeves.

Here are photos of the various forms of the costume. Note how they become progressively less ornamented.

1. Wedding costume.

The high headdress is not often seen in Ochsenfurt these days, but is retained in other parts Lower Franconia.

2. High feast day costume. Less ornamentation on the apron, which is made of a brocade with smaller patterns.

3. Sunday costume.

4. Middle Feast day costume.

5. Mourning costume. As in many places, this is worn for a full year after the death of an immediate family member on all dress up occasions.

6. Half Mourning costume. This is worn after the period of full mourning, or upon the death of people who are not immediate family. There are prescribed rules for this.

7. 'Traveling' costume. This is worn when traveling away from your home village. In the local dialect it is called the 'from us' costume.This has a dressy version of the everyday top instead of the Mutze.

8. Everyday work costume. This is all of cotton or linen, and is often blue. It can be in many other colors, however.

The dancing costume is less heavy and hot, and is often worn by younger women. The mutze is replaced by a sleeveless bodice and the sleeves of the chemise are visible..

It may seem odd that the ornamentation on the bodice is covered by the shawl. This is because the shawl is a relatively new part of the costume, being derived from city fashions of the late 1800's. The ornamented bodice is older than that. It often happens that new items introduced into a Folk Costume take precedence over older items. Here is a closeup of the dance bodice from Unterelsbach.

This girl is wearing the Haube plopped on top of a modern hairstyle, with the curls spilling out the front. This clearly shows that the costume is no longer a living tradition in her area. This would never have been tolerated otherwise, the hair should be put up under the Haube.

In Ochsenfurt on dressy occasions, the hair is braided from 9 to 11 strands so that it forms a wide ribbon, the ends of which are then pinned to the top of the head. This is combined with a hairband across the front of the head [Samtband], and a comb and hairpins ornamenting the ends of the zoepfen where they are attached to the crown. This may be why the Haube has mostly been replaced by a kerchief in the Ochsenfurt area.

This last photo above was taken in 1956.

The bodice is cut low in front, and the front and lower sleeves are ornamented. In earlier times with gold or silver embroidery, today mostly with sequins and braid, and large costly metal buttons. Fingerless gloves with beads knitted in are worn on formal occasions.

The peaked tops of the sleeves, the Mutzen, are stiffened with cardboard inserts.
The shawl is worn over the bodice, but the ends are tucked under the front. The shawl is pinned with a brooch, and an elaborate cross is worn over it.

Note that the M on the apron formed by the application of ribbon is typical of the Ochsenfurt area. In other parts of Lower Franconia this is not found. The apron is made of brocade, damask or satin, except for everyday.

Ochsenfurt area. Note that the little girl does not wear the bodice with the Mutze.

Euerfeld.in the Geldersheim costume area.

The skirt is pleated, with two rows of blue ribbon appliqued above the hem. It is in various colors from black through red, depending on the occasion. The everyday work costume alone is gathered rather than pleated. The hem varies from ankle to mid or upper calf, depending on taste and age. the wadded hems of the cotton underskirt help the skirt to stand out.

in the 1930's.

In 1957.

In 1976.

White home knitted stockings in a variety of patterns are worn, along with low leather shoes.
a basket completes the outfit, as in many parts of Germany and France.
A prayer book and rosary are considered to be part of the jewelry which accompanies the costume. Rings, earrings, and other pieces are also worn.

The men's costume consists of a linen shirt, white knee stockings, low black leather shoes, yellow chamois leather knickers, red vest with embroidery and/or braid on the left side with many buttons, a short jacket with many buttons or a long frock coat, depending on the formality of the occasion, and a tricorn hat or a round hat with fur around the edge.

This photo is not from Ochsenfurt, as you can see, but the men's costume is similar over Lower Franconia.

The everyday work outfit of both men and women was simple.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative. I will close with some more images of this costume.

R. Kozak

Brides often wear a crown of glass beads rather than the Haube.

A video showing the variations of the Ochsenfurter Gau costume, in German.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTT8TyfTt7k

Email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Reinhard Worschech, 'Trachten in Bayern 2 Unterfranken', Wuerzburg, Germany, 1982
Debionne/Meissner, 'Die Schoensten Deutschen Trachten, Munich, 1987
Josef Duenninger, 'Deutsche Trachten', Berlin, 1930's?
Erich Retzlaf-Duesseldorf, 'Deutsche Trachten', Leipzig, 1397
Oswald Erich, 'Deutsche Volkstrachten', Leipzig, 1934

Hello all, today I would like to return to Macedonia. Specifically, I will cover the costume and embroidery of the village of Galičnik in western Macedonia. This is one of the best known villages of the ethnic group called the Miyak. These are a pastoral people who have kept their traditions better than most in Macedonia. They are found in several villages on the western edge of Macedonia, and have also migrated to the southeast to found other communities; Ehloetc, Smilevo, Oreshe, Papradishte and Krushevo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gali%C4%8Dnik

The Miyaks speak an archaic dialect of Macedonian, but their origin is unclear. They may be a blend of Slavs with a pastoral Aromanian group. In any case, they have one of the strongest and most distinctive costume traditions in Macedonia. This may be seen every year around July 12 when the town of Galičnik puts on a traditional wedding publicly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gali%C4%8Dnik_Wedding_Festival

Some of the images which i will use here were taken from the British Museum research collection website, an exceedingly useful tool.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online

Macedonian costume, like Balkan costume in general, is characterized by multiple layers. The chemise, koshula, was originally the base garment, but it is very common in Macedonia for there to be another garment worn underneath it, possibly because the sleeves tend to be rather wide. This undergarment is known here as mintan. This is a plain jacket like garment which is ornamented only on the lower sleeves, collar, and center front, which are the only parts which show when fully clothed.

If you look at some of the images above, you can see that the gold cordwork and ornamental buttons are visible as the centermost layer in the woman's costume.

Over this is worn the koshula, the chemise, which is of linen and is of the standard balkan cut. The sleeves and the lower portion show when fully dressed, and sometimes the embroidery of the front opening forms part of the layered effect on the center front.

The lower part of the chemise is embroidered in white on white, and there is an interlacing openwork stitch done between the panels.

The embroidery used on the sleeves is unique for Macedonia, although all of the techniques are widely known. There are strips of overcast hemstitching which run the length of the outer sleeve, and others which run parallel to the sleeve end. These are outlined with several rows of herringbone stitch which all run in the same direction. some panels are filled with slanted or slav stitch, and the upper edge often has ornaments in other types of stitching. There are tassels on the sleeve end. The main color is red, ranging from brick to almost burgundy, with small admixtures of black, white, green, and yellow. The sleeves are often made to be removable, so that different sleeves may be worn with the same chemise.

Over the chemise is worn a vest, elek, which looks very much like the mintan, but has no sleeves, and the ornamented front is made not to close, but to gap enough to show the center of the mintan and sometimes the koshula.

Over this is worn another vest, or perhaps jacket is a better term, the klashenik. This is made of heavy wool, reaches to about the knee and is ornamented with braid around the front opening, and around the hem. It does have sleeves, but they are vestigial, and far too small to use. The arm is put through a hole beneath the sleeves. This style is very old, and is found in many places, from Poland to Udmurtia, from Greece to Turkmenistan.

The front of the klashenik is cut in such a way that when it is put on it leaves a gap in front through which one can see the mintan, the koshula, and the elek. The end effect is a triple row of buttons, braid and cord ornamentation. Sometimes the gold cord is substituted with yellow silk cord.

Over this they often wear two sashes, each with fringe on the sides, a black one, and then a red one over that.

The apron is essential, and they wear various kinds. A less dressy version is a simple panel with wide stripes, often black and red.

A dressier version of the apron is woven with narrow stripes, has fringes on both ends, and is worn doubled over. This one is from Galičnik.

This one is from Mala Reka.

Sometimes this kind of apron has added cord ornamentaion, especially in the Miyak enclaves to the southeast, like these two from Smilevo.

A third type of apron is worn for some ceremonial occasions. This is a simple panel of Turkish woven silk, and is called Stambolska Futa.

Over the apron a silk shawl is worn folded around the waist. This always has fringe, and may have tambour embroidery on it. Over the shawl a belt with a large metal buckle, gulmish pafta, is worn, and a chain with coins hanging from it is worn below that. These provide percussion when walking or dancing.

On the head, for more formal occasions, a cap with a long narrow extension in back may be worn, the glaina sokay. This is ornamented with gold or yellow silk cord. Here are two examples from Krushevo and Smilevo.

Over the sokay, or just on the head, a kerchief, darpni, is worn. This is a square piece of linen with fringes and embroidery on the edge. It may have embroidery in the corners as well. Sometimes cotton gauze is used.

Over this is worn a piece of jewelry called igla, which consists of filigree pieces joined by chains. This is worn on the crown of the head. This may have pieces which hang over the forehead.

Hand knitted woolen stockings called chorapi are worn on the feet. These come over the calf, and the legs should not be visible. There are a great variety of patterns used. Sometimes they have a woven in ornament, and sometimes just a texture, with plain knitted areas covered with embroidery. This pair is from Galičnik.

This pair is from Smilevo.

On the feet, standard Macedonian moccasins, called opanci may be worn.

In the past, a fancier version was sometimes worn, as in this drawing.

Today, you will often see panty hose and modern shoes worn with this outfit. I personally do not care for this, but they seem to feel that it is more stylish, or perhaps just easier.

This concludes my review of this costume. I will add some more images. Here is the costume as drawn by Vera Klichkova, with all the pieces laid out.

Here is a costume from the Demir Hisar municipality, Smilevo, in stages of being put on. This is in the Ron Wixman/Stephen Glaser Collection.

I will close with just a few more images of this costume.

Here is a video of the annual Galichnik wedding held every year, showing the dancing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q758L0O-ZrQ

Here is a longer video put together by the Macedonian News Agency Vesti, which covers the various traditional ceremonies of the wedding. Good closeups. One unfortunate detail is the addition of a western style wedding veil over the traditional costume. Ghastly!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBW6UR0IhAU

email; rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
The British Museum research collection website, an exceedingly useful tool.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online

Kamelia Gruncharova, 'Tradicionno Narodno Obleklo po Porechieto na Reka Struma', Sofia, 2006
Angelina Krsteva, 'Macedonian Folk Embroidery', Skopje, 1975
Anica Petrusheva, 'Narodna Nosnja u Skopskoj Crnoj Gori', Zagreb, 1988
Georgi Zdravev, 'Macedonian Folk Costumes I', Skopje, 1996
Georgi Zdravev, 'Macedonian Folk Costumes - Weavings, Embroideries, Knitting, Adornments and Jewelry', Skopje, 2005
Bobbie Sumberg editor, 'Young Brides, Old Treasures', Seattle, 2012
Nikola Pantelic, 'Traditional Arts and Crafts in Yugoslavia', Belgrade, 1984
Vera Klichkova, 'The National Dresses [sic] of Macedonia', Skopje, 1963
Elizabeth Waland Barber et al, 'Resplendent Dress from Southeast Europe', Los Angeles, 2013

Hello all,

Today I will focus on a type of embroidery motif found in North Germany, specifically in the Vierlande area. This is a group of four parishes, Curslack, Kirchwerder, Neuengamme und Altengamme in the south of the Begedorf borough of the City-State of Hamburg, to the southeast of the city, on the north bank of the Elbe.
The people of this area have maintained many traditions, including a very unique folk costume which features quite interesting embroidery.

They also have an old tradition of cross stitch embroidery, which is exemplified by a few old samplers. These feature mostly medallion type spot patterns, and I will show some of them here today. I will show images of the original samplers, and my graphing of some of them. Mostly in red and black, or plain black. The original color in the one sampler is burgundy and black, like this. The colors used vary according to personal taste, although red of some sort and black are most traditional.

Americans tend to think of samplers as an end in and of themselves, but in fact they are a teaching and memory tool. The various designs were used on household linens, and the sampler was used for reference when actually making things like tablecloths and pillows.
I will present some photos of samplers from this area, along with my own graphing of some of them.

Here are a couple of the samplers: The bicolored graphs are taken from this one.

The medallion second from the left in the top row I had to modify, as it did not really work as executed on the sampler, the black motifs did not fit into the space left by the red motifs. Here is my modification of the design.

Some of the designs could be considered trees of life, growing from flower pots.

If you look at the designs, some motifs repeat many times.

Roses, Tulips and carnations, among others, are visible.

Some are quite round, others are rather squared off.

Here is another sampler, which I believe was executed all in black. I will show the 4 quarters. There is a good deal of overlap in these images. The all black medallions from above are taken from this sampler.

Here are some more of these designs.

Other examples are available online if you search; like these. At least some of the motifs look like they were taken from the older samplers above.

Here is a doll dressed in Vierlande costume presiding over some traditional embroideries of the area.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting, informative, and perhaps inspiring. These designs have many possible contemporary uses. Bring a bit of German tradition into your home.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Christiane Gaedtgens, 'Norddeutsche Stickmuster aus Vierlanden, Rosenheim, 1986

Hello all,

Today I will attempt to give an overview of the Folk Costumes of Germany. As in many parts of Western Europe, the survival of Folk costume in Germany is very spotty. The image above is the costume of Miesbach in Upper Bavaria, which is what usually comes to mind when one thinks of Germany. There are a great variety of other costumes. I will try to show one costume from each of the Regierungs Bezirke, the mid level administrative districts of Germany. This will give a broad survey of the nation. Here is a map of the States, followed by a map of the Regierungs Bezirken.

I will proceed roughly north to south. I will also omit the costumes of ethnic minorities, such as the Frisians and the Sorbs.You will note that dirndls will not be in evidence. Dirndls developed in the 20th century from traditional everyday attire, and while they are a folk costume, they are not regional. Some of them are very beautiful, some practical, and others very tacky and schlocky, or downright slutty. There is a place for them, but I will show here the traditional more dressy attire. Also note that this is far from exhaustive, some regions have many more costumes.

Schleswig-Holstein
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schleswig-Holstein

This State is not subdivided into districts, but historically, the north part is Schleswig, and the south is Holstein, the traditional border being the Eider River. Most of the population speaks German today, but many of the people of Schleswig are of Danish or Frisian origin, and many in the east of Holstein are of Slavic [Wendish] origin.

Schleswig
This photo shows a variety of the costumes of Schleswig.

Holstein

This group is from Probstei, by Shoenberg.

Hamburg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg
The city of Hamburg is geographically within Holstein, but has the status of a State within Germany. There is a very well maintained folk costume in the district of the Vierlande, which lies within its borders.

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

This State is also not divided into districts, but is historically made up of Mecklenburg, which comprises the western two thirds of the State, and Vorpommern, or Cispomerania, which lies in the east.

Mecklenburg

Vorpommern

This is the costume of Moenchgut, on the island of Ruegen.

Brandenburg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg
The population of this state are a mix of Germans, this being the heart of the Germanic Prussian Empire, and Slavs [Wends], who have mixed in this region since the 10th cent.
Most of the Folk costumes which are seen in this region are Sorbian. This costume is from the village of Dennewitz and is known as the Flaeming tracht.

Berlin
Berlin is completely surrounded by the State of Brandenburg. I do not believe that the city has any folk costume tradition.

Obersachsen, Sachsen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxony

This translates as Saxony, or Upper Saxony, and is found in the southeast corner of the present borders of Germany. Many of the folk costumes of this State are Sorbian. Here is an Upper Saxon costume from around Dresden.

Sachsen-Anhalt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxony-Anhalt

This translates as Saxony-Anhalt, and lies between the states of Saxony [Upper Saxony], and Lower Saxony.

This group is from the Harz.

This group is from Salzwedel in the north.

Niedersachsen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Saxony

Lower Saxony, this lies in the northwest corner of Germany. It is today divided into four Bezirke, Lueneburg, Hanover, Braunschweig, and Weser-Ems.

Lüneburg

Here is one extremely well maintained costume of this area, from Scheessel.

Hanover

One of the most famous and spectacular costumes of this area is that of Buekeburg in Schaumburg.

Braunschweig

Weser-Ems
This costume is from the town of Lingen in Emsland.

Bremen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremen

The famous city of Bremen forms its own City-State in two non contiguous districts, Bremen and Bremen-Port.

Thüringen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuringia

Thuringia, This borders all three Saxonys on the south, with Hesse in the west, and Bavaria in the south.It

Hesse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesse

This is the home of the Hessians. It lies in central Germany The three Bezirke divide Hesse into northern, central and southern regions.

North Hesse

This costume is from the Schwalm, which is the location of the famous German Fairy Tale Rotkäppchen, which literally means 'Little Red Cap', which you can see in the photo. For some strange reason, this is usually translated into English as 'Little Red Riding Hood'. In fact, she did not wear a hood, but a little red cap like this.

Central Hesse

This costume is from Marburg.

South Hesse

This couple is from Odenwald.
Nordrhein-Westfalen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Rhine-Westphalia

This state combines the historic region of Westphalia in the north with the northern part of the Rhineland in the south.

Westphalia

This costume is from near Münster

Nordrhein

This is the most populous part of Germany, and there is little that is remembered of Folk Costume.This group is from Elsdorf.

Rheinland-Pfalz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhineland-Palatinate

This is often translated as Rhineland-Palatinate. This northern part of this State consists of the southern part of the Rhineland. The southern part consists of the Pfaltz found along the Rhine which was formerly a non-contiguous part of the Kingdom of Bavaria.. It is found in central Western Germany, along the French border.

Rheinland
This costume is from Winningen on the Mosel.

Pfaltz
This costume is from Hassloch.

Saarland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saarland

This lies in the corner of Germany that borders Lorraine. This group is from the town of Homburg.

Baden-Württemberg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baden-W%C3%BCrttemberg

This lies in the southwest corner of Germany and consists of the historic regions of Baden and Wuerttemberg, or Schwabia.Baden is a relatively narrow region on the west of this area, and Wuerttemberg comprises the eastern two thirds.

Lower Baden

This costume is from the area known as Hanauerland. The similarities to the costume of the neighboring region of Alsace are obvious.

Upper Baden

This group is from the village of Furtwangen in the Black Forest.

North or LowerWürttemberg

This is the Betzingen costume.

South or Upper Württemberg

This costume is from the region of WestAllgäu, near the Bodensee. It has much in common with Austrian and Swiss costumes just over the border, including the famous radhaube [wheel headdress].

Bayern

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavaria

Bavaria, in the south of Germany, the largest State. It consists of Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, The eastern part of Schwabia, and Franconia.

Schwaben

This costume is from Oberstdorf in Bavarian Swabia.

Mittelfranken

This costume is from Schwabach.

Unterfranken

This costume is from Ochsenfurt in Lower Franconia.

Oberfranken

This costume is from Effeltrich in Upper Franconia.

Oberpfaltz

Sometimes translated as The Upper Palatinate, this is in the east of the State of Bavaria between Bavaria proper and Franconia.This costume is from Parsberg.

Niederbayern

This costume is from the Vils valley in Lower Bavaria.

Oberbayern
Upper Bavaria, the region which is best known for the Miesbach costume, which I featured at the head of the article. Here is a lesser-known costume from the Lech-Ammersee area.

This concludes this article. There are, of course, many more costumes within Germany, both German and non-German. There are also many German costumes from outside Germany, as there are or were many German colonies scattered as far east as the Volga.
I hope that you have found this interesting and informative.

Roman K.

rkozakand@aol.com

Source material:
Much of this is from the websites of various local groups in Germany.
Sieglinde Plank, 'Trachten in Mittelfranken', Schwabach, 1983
Toni Demmelmeier et al, 'Trachten in Bayern vol 1 Miesbach', Munich, 1981
Reinhard Worschech, 'Trachten in Bayern vol 2 Unterfranken', Wuerzburg, 1982
Stefan Hirsch et al, 'Trachten in Bayern vol 5 Lech Ammersee', Munich, 1995
Waltraut Werner-Kuenzig, 'Schwaltzwaelder Trachten', Karlsruhe, 1981
Christiane Gaedtgens, 'Norddeutsche Stickmuster aus Vierlanden, Rosenheim, 1986
D. W. Pettigrew, 'Peasant Costume of the Black Forest', London, 1937
Uwe Karsten, 'Deutsche Trachten', Vienna, 1980
Christian Nieske, 'Trachten in Mecklenburg', Husum, 1991
Debionne/Meissner, 'Die Schoensten Deutschen Trachten', Munich, 1987
Maria Reiners, 'Unsere Tracht', Potsdam, 1930's?
Albert Kretschmer, 'Das Grosse Buch der Volkstrachten', Eltville am Rhein, reprinted 1977
Haus Neuerburg, 'Deutsche Volkstrachten -Eine Sammlung Deutscher Trachtenbilder', Koeln am Rhein, 1938
Friederike Kaesting et al, 'Rote Roeke', Hannover, 2000
Brunhilde Miehe, 'Der Tracht Treu Geblieben bd 4', Bad Hersfeld, 2005
Josef Dunninger, 'Deutsche Volkstrachten', Berlin, 1911

Hello all,

I recently received a request for information from the Sokal' region of Ukraine. This is in the north of the L'viw region, but also overlaps north into the Volyn' region and west over the present border into the Hrubieszow region of Poland. I have already written two articles about this region;

http://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2011/04/costume-of-sokal-county-halychyna.html

http://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2011/04/embroidery-of-sokal-region-halychyna.html

but in my earlier posts I felt constrained as to the amount of material which I should put into an article, whereas more recently I have realized that there is really no reason to restrict the amount of material given. The embroidery in this region is typically all black, at least on clothing, although in more recent years there has been a tendency to add color to the designs, as in the example above. Take a look at my other two articles. In this one i shall simply give more examples of the embroidery and the clothing.

The following charts are from 'Embroidery of L'viw Oblast' by L. Krawchuk.

Here are some schematics of womens' shirts from this region.These sketches and the following drawings of embroidery are from 'Flowering Folk Art' by O. Kul'chytska.

This is a man's wedding shirt.

More embroidery designs.

Various photos of women's clothing from this region. These images were taken in a museum in Ukraine.

These images are taken from the publication 'The Preservation of a Heritage' put out by The Ukrainian Museum in New York.

Some pictures from other sources

Here is some material from the Polish side of the current border.

Here are some examples of men's clothing.

On the left is a woman's shirt and on the right is a man's shirt.

The sash on this mannequin is from Podillia or Bukovyna, not Sokal'

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting, informative and perhaps inspiring. This type of embroidery could be used for many things

Source Material:

L. Burachynska, 'Embroidery Designs Sokalschyna', Nashe Zhyttia, New York, 1980
Lesia Danchenko, 'Ukrainian Folk Art', Leningrad, 1982
Tetiana Kara-Vasylieva, 'Ukrajins'ka Vyshywka' [Ukrainian Embroidery], Kyjiw [Kiev], 1993
L. Krawchuk, 'Ukrajinski Narodni Vyshywky L'viws'ka Oblast' [Ukrainian Folk Embroidery of Lviw Oblast], Kyjiw [Kiev] 1961

Kashybynsky and Wolynetz, 'The Preservation of a Heritage - The village of Uhryniw of the Sokal' Region', New York, 1997

K. Matejko, 'Ukrajinskyj Narodnyj Odiah' [Ukrainian Folk Clothing], Kyjiw [Kiev], 1977

Odarchenko & Carynnyk, 'Ukrainian Folk Costume', Toronto, 1992

I. Hurhula, 'Narodne Mystetsvo Zakhidnykh Oblastej Ukraijiny' [Folk Art of the Western Oblasts of Ukraine], Kyjiw [Kiev], 1966

O. Kul'chytska, 'Kvituche Narodne Mystetsvo' [Flowering Folk Art -Folk Art of the Sokal' region], Lviw,1964

S. H. Kolosa, I. V. Hurhula et al, 'Ukrajinske Narodne Mystetsvo, Vbrannia' [Ukrainain Folk Art, Clothing], Kyjiw [Kiev], 1961

O. Kul'chytska, 'Folk Costumes of the Western Regions of the Ukrainian SSR, 1959
Elzbieta Piskorz-Branelowa, 'Polskie Stroje Ludowe - tom 3' [Polish Folk Costumes, vol 3. a description of Folk costumes worn on Polish Territory] Warsaw, 2007
Stanislaw Gadomski, 'Stroj Ludowe w Polsce' [Folk Costume in Poland], Warsaw

Hello all,
I received a request for embroidery designs for the insets of men's shirts from the Boiko region. While you will occasionally find embroidery on the sleeves or shoulders of men's shirts in Ukraine, this is the exception rather than the rule. In the Turka region, it is quite common. The image above shows two examples, the shoulder inset and the upper sleeve having been cut from the original shirt for collecting. This is a deplorable action which was common in the past,
and museums are filled with them, but at least we have a record of the embroidery.
The colors used are typical of Boiko embroidery, but there was a lot of variation. Often the embroidery, as here, was reduced to just a frame, but other examles exist, both simpler and more complex.
See my other two articles on the subject:
http://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2011/05/orest-and-cheryls-wedding-costume-boiko.html

http://folkcostume.blogspot.com/2011/05/examples-of-costume-and-embroidery-of.html

In this article I will simply present graphs of men's shirt embroidery which were published by Krawchuk in the book 'Embroidery of L'viw Oblast'. Do not take the printed colors too literally, the printers had limited choices in ink colors.

Plate 1
Man's wedding shirt, Town of Turka.This is the one I used for Orest's wedding shirt, see the link above. The dark zigzag motifs in this and many of the following charts represent joining stitches between different fields of cloth, usually between the shoulder inset and the sleeve, and in this case, also between the inset and the body of the shirt.

Plate 6
Collar of a man's shirt. Town of Turka

Inset [ustawka] of a man's shirt. Town of Turka

Inset [ustawka] of a man's shirt. Town of Turka.

Collar of a man's shirt. Town of Turka.

Inset [ustawka] of a man's shirt. Town of Turka.

Plate 7.
Collar of a man's shirt. Town of Turka

Collar of a man's shirt. Town of Turka.

Inset [ustawka ]of a shirt. Town of Turka.

Inset [ustawka] of a shirt. Town of Turka

Collar of a man's shirt. Town of Turka.

Inset [ustawka] of a man's shirt. Town of Turka.

Collar of a man's shirt. Town of Turka. [this is the corner of a fold-down collar] The red zigzags in this and the following image are lengthwise darning stitch. zavolikannia, or perhaps brick stitch.

'Shoulder piece' [pryramok] of a man's shirt. Town of Turka.

Embroidery on a man's shirt. Town of Turka.

Shoulder piece [pryramok] of a man's shirt. Town of Turka.

Detail of a cuff. Town of Turka.

Collar of a man's shirt. Town of Turka.

Shoulder piece [pryramok] of a man's shirt. Town of Turka.

Collar of a man's shirt. Town of Turka.

Detail of the embroidery on a man's shirt. Town of Turka.

I do not know if ustawka and pryramok are different things; I suspect they are just different terms for the same piece.

The herringbone stitch in the above graphs is done with a thin thread on homespun linen or hemp, which has thick ground threads. The result looks like this.

Here is another Boiko shirt which is rather different. I do not know exactly which region it is from, but it is more similar to the men's shirts of the Drohobych/Medenyck region, which is often also considered to be Boiko.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this interesting and informative.

Roman K.

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
L. Krawchuk, 'Ukrajinski Narodni Vyshywky L'viws'ka Oblast' [Ukrainian Folk Embroidery of Lviw Oblast], Kyjiw [Kiev] 1961

Hello all,

Today I am going to focus on the Miesbach costume. This costume has become a symbol of Bavaria, of Munich, and in fact, of Germany as a whole. It is actually from south central Upper Bavaria, the area known as the Tölz-Miesbach Upland, between the Inn River in the east, the Ammer River in the west, the Austrian border on the south, and the environs of Munich in the north, covering the Landskreise of Toelz, Miesbach, and the western half of Rosenheim. However, it is also strongly identified with Munich, and is widely worn in all of Bavaria and beyond, and often considered to be more than a regional costume. This is not a living costume region in the historical sense, as are, for example, Ochsenfurt or Schaumburg. The modern Miesbach costume was codified by the local Trachtenvereine in Miesbach starting in 1900 or so, and then other Costume groups in the region joined in to help develop it, up to the 1950's, and indeed the various local groups continue to refine it today.

http://www.trachtenvereinmiesbach.de/

This is not to say that it was invented out of nothing at that time, it rose out of a desire to reclaim the clothing heritage of the area, but also to modernize it for a new era. There was much source material available, and so this must count as one of the most successful rebirths of a regional costume, as people began to value it as part of their heritage, rather than to disparage it as the outmoded clothing of country bumpkins.

This is one of the few folk costumes which one can buy off the rack in department stores.

Here is an image painted by Albert Kretschmer in the latter mid 1800's of the costume as it was worn at that time. We do not know the exact year that it was painted, but it was published somewhere between 1877 and 1890. There is continuity and yet many differences of detail when compared to the modern Tracht.

The photo at the head of the article shows some members of the German American Society here in Omaha who were invited to take part in the Oktoberfest activities in Munich, which few groups outside of Germany have done under official auspices. Here is another photo of that group..

There are several versions of this costume, appropriate for occasions of varying solemnity.
The version pictured above is perhaps a medium level, appropriate for Sunday services or a festival. I will be presenting the various pieces with the help of my friends Orest and Sara. also members of the Omaha German American Club who agreed to pose for a series of photographs. They wear the variant of the Tracht which is used in Wolfratshausen, in the northwestern corner of this costume area.

Festtracht or Deandl

This is the Gwand with Mieder and Weisswasch.
Originally the foundation garment was a linen chemise, of which only the collar and cuffs were visible in this version of the costume. In the course of the development of this costume in the 20th cent. The chemise was cut in two, forming a petticoat and blouse, and then the blouse was reduced to a dickey, called Schmiesl [Chemise-l, little chemise]. The only part of this which shows is the lace around the color and the linen around it.

The ties on the front corners pass through the loops on the back corners, and then are secured around the body, similar to the Dutch klaprap. Here is a closeup when fully dressed.

The bottom half of the chemise is now the petticoat, which today is worn over bloomers. As in many places, more than one petticoat, and even an underskirt may be worn.

The Spenser jacket was extremely common in central Western Europe at this time, but here in this costume it has migrated inside the bodice, and is worn just over the chemise, and later the Schmiesl. In the print by Kretschmer above, you can see that it has the typical leg of mutton sleeves which are smocked on the upper arm. Today this garment is called Janker, and the sleeves have been modified; the upper smocked portion is sewn separately, and set into the armhole with a capped sleeve. The lower portion is quite narrow and there is a seam between the two. This results in the sleeve lying smoothly and closely along the arms when lowered, but also results in a significant lack of mobility.

The Janker is always made of the same material as the top skirt, today usually a solid red, green, or blue, but in the past, as we see from Kretschmer, it was also made of flowered material. Here are front and back views. The modern Janker is quite short, not reaching the waist, which is why I do not have a photo of Sara wearing it without the bodice over it.

Over the Janker is worn the Mieder, the bodice. This is generally made of black satin, is boned and stiffened with quilting and cording in many subtle patterns. It closes at the side front with chains and hooks. On the sides are two rows of silver hooks. A chain is threaded through these open hooks back and forth, the pin on the leading end being tucked in behind the threaded chain. Generally the chain is quite long, and is often looped over several pins inserted into the top front of the bodice. Sometimes it is even looped around the pins which fasten the shoulder shawl and loops right around the shoulders.

Usually flowers and asparagus fern are inserted into the top of the bodice. If you look closely at this image, you can see the opening just to the right of the first rose.

There is an ornamental hook in the center back, over which is hung a loop attached to the skirt. There are also hooks and eyes around the waist which help support the skirt.

The Mieder has lappets which are worn under the skirt. The straps over the shoulders meet in the center back, and are pinned near the front. We see here that Sara has chosen to wear the Schmiesl over the Janker. Click on any of these images to see more detail.

This is a link to an article in which a woman describes the process of sewing her own Mieder.
http://www.wertachtaler.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=67:miedernaehen&catid=4:aktuelles&Itemid=3
The skirt is of wool, has deep folks at the waist, and generally has dark ribbons sewn on above the hem.

The reason that this version of the costume is called 'mit Weisswasch', is that it has a linen apron and shoulder kerchief. These are generally coupled with a hem length somewhere around mid calf. Bands of lace are inserted into both. In this case, crotchet lace was used, but other types of lace, especially bobbin lace, may also be used. The apron is usually tied at the rear, if linen, and at the side if silk, but Kretschmer shows it being tied in front in his time. I do not know if there is any significance to this.

The triangular shoulder kerchief, Halstuch, is folded, the folds pinned, and then secured to the bodice with two pins in front, and one or three in back, the folds being designed to help it fit smoothly and to show off the lace.

White or blue stockings are worn with this costume, and black leather shoes, earlier high button shoes, and today more likely lower ones 'halbschuhe', with straps.

The hair is put up in a bun at the back of the head and fixed in place with filligree silver hair pins. A choker with several chains and a stone in the clasp is worn around the neck. Earrings are worn. A rather low felt hat is worn, with a single row of matching cording, but having a feather or gamsbart pinned to it. A Gamsbart is a tuft of long hairs from the Chamois. Small pins from contests or travels may also be pinned to the hat.

You will note that the hat is much shorter than the one pictured in Kretschmer. Often a short chain is attached to the bottom two hooks on the Mieder, with various charms hanging from it, Old coins, bird's feet, animal horns, etc. In some cases, they are also attached to the lacing chain.

I will quickly introduce some of the other versions of the costume.
Gewand with Mieder and Seidenwasch'
This is very similar to the above costume. It is more for married women but is also worn by unmarried girls for more formal occasions, such as high Church holidays. It is distinguished by a longer hemline, around ankle length, silk apron and shoulder kerchief, and a hat which has gold cording and tassels.

Kirchagwand

This is worn to Church, in some places most Sundays, in others only on the more important Feast Days. It is made of silk in black or some other dark color. The skirt is longer, almost floor length, there is no shoulder shawl or bodice, The upper body being covered by a jacket with a peplum. The hat is also plain but rich. This is generally worn only by married and older women.

Schalk

This is the most formal version of this costume, and many country women wear it for their weddings. It is made of black silk, the collar and back edge of the jacket are ornamented with ruched black silk ribbon and lace. The upper sleeves are smocked, and there is lace on the cuffs. The skirt is floor length. The Schmiesl is worn underneath, along with a much folded fichu which is pinned into place. It fastens down the front with silver filligree buttons.

A less formal version than the Gewand with Mieder and Weisswasch is sometimes known as 'Halbtracht', or 'half' costume. It replaces the Schmiesl and Janker with a short sleeved blouse. This is often worn by younger girls, and many groups prefer to use it for dancing, as it is cooler and provides more freedom of movement.

One can make this even more informal by replacing the formal boned bodice with a soft bodice which buttons in front. This is particularly suited for dancing. You can see this type of bodice in the Kretschmer print being worn by the older woman in the boat.

This has almost become a dirndl, which is the everyday costume..

There are a couple more versions, but I will end the article here. I will cover the men's costume in another posting.

This costume is part of a larger costume complex native to the mountains of southern Upper Bavaria. For context, here are some images of other Upper Bavarian costumes.
http://www.isargau.de/cms/pages/sachausschuesse/trachtenpflege-und-trachtenforschung/gebirgstracht.php

Werdenfelser

Isarwinkler

Inntaler

Berchtesgaden

Here are some images of costumes which are of this complex but not Miesbach. The Miesbach costume never has fringes on the shoulder shawl. I am not certain which of the above they represent.

I believe that all of the following images are of the Miesbach costume.
Please feel free to correct me.

I'm not sure where the man in this image is from.

A bride and groom.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Roman K.
rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miesbacher_Tracht
Many thanks to Orest and Sara and the Omaha German American Club.
Toni Demmelmeier and Torsten Gebhard, 'Trachten in Bayern, heft 1, Miesbach', Munich, 1981
Albert Kretschmer, 'Das Grosse Buch der Volkstrachten',

Hello all,
Valsesia is the valley of the Sesia river. It is found in the north of the Italian Paese of Piedmont, east of Valle Aosta, and forms the northern lobe of the province of Vercelli. Here is a map of the general area.

On this map Valsesia is in red.

The traditional language of this area isPiemontèis, this being the northernmost extent of that language. A couple of the villages in the area speak a Walser [Valais] dialect of Allemanic German.

Here is a map of Valsesia itself.

The costume of this region is well preserved, and there are many variants. The image at the head of the article depicts the costume of Val Mastallone, the valley of one of the main tributaries, found in the notheast of this region. Found in the communites of Sabbia, Cravagliana and Cervatto, it is best preserved in the village of Fobello. The costume of Rimella, a Walser village, is similar but distinct.
All of the variants are based on a chemise, traditionally of linen, sometimes today of cotton. The sleeves are attached at at right angle to the body, as is traditional in most places.

Here you see one version of the chemise. You can see that the square neck opening, a strip down the shoulders which is inserted between the front and back panels, and another one between the sleeve and the body, are made of 'lace', in this case in an off white color. The sleeve ends in a narrow band, with a narrow scalloped piece of the same type of 'lace'. Often there is another piece of fabric attached to the inner part of the lace around the neck, and an actual collar and much of the cuff are also made of this 'lace'. Here is an example where it is a golden yellow color.

Here are some other examples done in white.

This type of openwork is called Puncetto [poon-chet-toe], and is indigenous to Valsesia. The only tools used are needle and thread. It is worked in journeys back and forth to the right and then to the left. Knots are made, and some portions are left open, and thus the pattern is built up. The knots to the right are mirror images of the knots going to the left. Here is a photo of the technique.

All puncetto work is made up of only these two, the right-traveling knot, and the left travelling knot. If there is any interest, i will write more about this technique in a later article.

A bodice with an attached skirt is worn over the chemise. They are black, and there is a panel of red cloth attached to the hem, which varies in width from village to village. Here is E. Calderini's image of the Fobello costume. The hem length varies according to time period and taste.

Here is her drawing of the bodice, showing the ornamentation of the back. The neck and arm openings are bound with red, and there are many-colored silk pompoms attached to the back at the ends of applied ribbon.

The apron is similar over all of the Mastallone valley. The Walser inhabitants of the village of Rimella tie it around the waist, but the rest of the valley's inhabitants tie it under the armpits, as in Calderini's image above. Here is her image of the costume of Rimella.
For more on the Walser, see this article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walser

The wide ribbon has a woven design. Calderini shows it as floral, but today, the ribbon is usually woven in stripes. I am not certain whether this is attached to the apron, or is tied on over the waistband like a sash.

The sides of the apron are smock-gathered, and multicolored embroidery is worked over the folds. This is geometric counted satin stitch.

Set into the middle of the apron is a wide panel of the same sort of puncetto as is used on the chemises, except this is done in the same colors as the embroidery on the apron. This colored puncetto is only native to Val Mastallone, but has since spread.

This panel only reaches to the waist, as you can see here. Another panel is set into the bottom of the apron, with the middle left blank. Since the apron is always worn folded up, the blank part is not visible when worn. A narrow band of floral embroidery flank these central panels of puncetto in matching colors.

The back corners of the apron have multicolored tassels attached to them, as you can see here.

In cold weather, wool leggings, ghette, are worn under the skirt. They are cuffed at the bottom and are ornamented with ribbon and pompoms.

Slippers of wool with a colored bound edge and quilted soles are worn with this costume, while traditionally black, they are now made and sold in many colors.

Either a kerchief or blue and green ribbons are worn on the head.
For more formal occasions such as weddings and baptisms a short red jacket is worn, along with a richly decorated plastron which is tucked into the opening of the bodice, and has the top edge showing above the sash.

And this is the costume of Val Mastallone.

Here are some images which I have been able to assign to a particular village. There was evidently variation in the past.

Fobello

Cervatto

Cravagliana

Sabbia

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.
Just a couple more images of this costume.

Here is a video showing displays in the village museum of Fobello.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_0YzgNoC6Q

For those who are interested in puncetto, there are good sources online in Italian,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XweZDJ7vKc4

German
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcNNhAELstg&list=PLRzJzdncOnWqpiIiCD2uXwAjBDfiKW-gh

and even Slovak
http://sitakrajka.blogspot.com/2012/03/puncetto-valsesiano-1-plne-prazdne.html

but little in English.
http://lacenews.net/2010/09/06/on-the-internet-puncetto-valsesiano/

Roman K
email:
rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Emma Calderini, 'Il Costume Popolare in Italia', Milan, 1934
Carla Rossetti et al, 'A Scuola di Puncetto Valsesiano', Varallo, Italy, 2009
Paola Scarrone et al, 'Manuale del Puncetto Colorato', Varallo, Italy, 2006
http://www.valsesia.it/tradizione/costumi.htm

Hello all,

Today I will be speaking about the region of Greschôney, Gressonèy orGressonei. This consists of the middle and upper regions of the valley of the Lys river, in the northeast of the Valle d'Aosta, just west of Val Sesia, which I wrote about in my last article. There are two municipalities in this region, Greschòney Drifaltigkeit or Gressoney-La-Trinité, and Greschòney Zer Chilchu orGressoney-St.-Jean. As you can see from the first map, this valley is isolated on three sides.

The linguistic and ethnic history of Aosta is rather complicated. It was traditionally a part of the Kingdom of Savoy, and as a reflection of this, the traditional language of most of the people of the valley is Valdôtain, a dialect of Arpitan.This valley has a long history of a great deal of autonomy, and in 1536 adopted modern French as its official language. It has been officially part of Italy since 1870, and the Italian government has made attempts to impose the Italian language on the population, especially under Mussolini. Today Italian and French are both official languages in Aosta, and both are used in Education. In Gressoney and the Lys valley, however, the people are Walser, having migrated from Switzerland in the 10th century, and their traditional language is Greschuneititsch, or just Titsch, a dialect of Allemanic German. They border other Allemanic speaking areas to the north, in Wallis, Switzerland, and to the east, in Val Sesia, Piedmont, Italy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walser

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aosta_Valley

This is likely the best known of the traditional costumes of Aosta, it may certainly be the most colorful. Here is Calderini's print of the costume.

Calderini's description is very concise:
"Bonnet of gold lace supported by steel wire, and secured with a brocade ribbon. Skirt of fine red homewoven wool. Bodice and corset of black wool with gold galloon. Apron of black silk. Knit stockings. Shoes of black leather with laces."

The foundation garment is a linen or cotton chemise, usually with lace around the neck opening. It generally opens down the front, and may have long or short sleeves. There is a great deal of variation in the details.

For festive occasions, a dickey with more impressive lace may be worn over the chemise. These have a cord which passes through a fold on the bottom hem front and back, under the arms and is knotted in front.

In collections there exists one example of a skirt without a bodice, which would have been worn for everyday, or as an underskirt for the festive costume.

The dress skirt is full, gathered in back, ankle length, and today is usually red, although in the past darker colors were also worn for periods of mourning and by older women. In spite of Calderini, the attached bodice is also red. Most commonly today with a V shaped opening that hooks closed in front.

This example has two slashes in the front which would have provided access to loose pockets worn hanging from the waist under the skirt. The neck and front opening is edged with gold galloon, woven or embroidered ribbon, or appliqued cloth in various colors and patterns.

When this type of bodice is worn, a plastron is worn under it. This is usually black wool with embroidery. Sometimes the embroidery is in colored silk as here above, but more commonly it is in metallic gold or silver, in many different designs.

Add caption

An apron is worn with this, today it is usually of black silk with black lace edging and sometimes inserts. Other colors were seen occasionally in the past, especially for everyday. The apron was traditionally worn a little shorter than the skirt, as you can see above in the Calderini print.

There is a regrettable tendency today to skimp on the apron, making it short and not gathered, even making the bottom edge rounded. Take a look at the photos in this article. In my opinion this is a degradation of the costume and should be discouraged.

When appropriate, a short black jacket is worn with this costume. It has narrow black sleeves and is usually open in front, the edge falling to either side of the opening in the bodice. It likewise has galloon or ribbon edging the front and neck opening as well as the cuffs.

This last image shows a plastron which, unusually, is made of a patchwork of patterned velvet.
jackets which close completely down the front, making them warmer, are not unknown.

The bonnet shaped caps (haube, cuffie) are the crowning glory of the Gressoney costume. Originally these were rather modest, being made of silk, with decorations of ribbons and perhaps embroidery. They consist of a round back and a rectangular piece which covered the top of the head. They were always tied under the chin with a fancy ribbon.

After about 1870 these were for the most part, although not completely, replaced by bonnets which had a gold crest rising from the seam of the two parts of the cap, as you can see on the left of the image above. When necessary, these are supported by wire. They bear a remarkable resemblance to the radhaube worn in the vicinity of the Bodensee in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. There is no known connection, but the resemblance is striking. The embroidery on them is now mostly metallic gold and silver. Like the plastrons, there is a remarkable variety in the designs used.

This woman is Anna Peccoz, who makes these headdresses. These in the following image are her work.

This last one was worn by Queen Margherita of Italy. As you can see, decorative ribbon is tied around the bottom of the headdresses.

In the past, there were other versions of this costume, including a black version for those in mourning, and some made in patterned materials of various colors. Formerly the front of the bodice had a high neck with no plastron, and was sometimes worn with a shoulder shawl. But this is the version which is almost always seen today.
Just a couple more images of this costume.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

A German language news program about Gressoney
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBfSrcvU3iU

A procession in Gressoney in honor of St. John the Baptist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dSkh_opzkE

A folk dance group from Gressoney
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we0okflWIlU

Source Material:
Michael Selb, 'Die Goldene Bodensee-Radhaube', Vienna, 2011
Emma Calderini, 'Il Costume Popolare in Italia', Milan, 1934
Stefania Massari et al, 'Abiti - Raccolti di Abiti Vissuti della Tradizione Valdostana', Aosta, 2008

Hello all,
Today I will talk about one of the costumes of Castile, the heart of Spain and center of the Castillian language, which is the language which has spread to Latin America and elsewhere around the world.This language is often called 'Spanish', but Spain has other languages which are equally native and equally Spanish.
The history of Spain is quite complicated. The old Kingdom of Castile has become one of the major components of Spain, east of Leon and west of Aragon. It is shown on this map in red.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castile_%28historical_region%29

Today I will focus on the province of Segovia, which is in the center of Castile, just north of Madrid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segovia

The costume of Segovia is quite colorful and complex. Here is a blog, in Castillian, dedicated to it. There is much good information available here if you browse.
http://indumentariatradicionaldesegovia.blogspot.com/p/eventos-bodas-celebraciones-y-un-sin.html

The foundation of the costume is a chemise, camisa, traditionally of linen, now sometimes out of cotton. Historically it was close to ankle length, more recently it has become shorter, coming to somewhat below the knees. The sleeves are set into the neck opening. The neck opening typically has embroidery, as do the cuffs. The shape and size of the opening vary even in the few images which I have found of it. The embroidery is usually all black and may consist of darning stitch, cross stitch, holbein stitch, and some other techniques. Typically there is a field on the upper front which is smock-gathered, and embroidery is done over the folds. The size of the gathered area varies.

This one is unusual in its color, but is typical in its embroidery

Today, bloomers, pantalon, and linen or cotton petticoats, refajo or enagua, are worn with this costume.
Pantalon.

Refajo

Enagua

Fine knit stockings, calcetas or medias, usually white, are worn with this costume. The knit is done in various patterns.

Garters of silk or other material are used to secure the stockings. These are called ligas.

The traditional shoes, zapatos, are black leather or cloth, low and with a buckle on the toe.

A distinctive bodice is worn with this costume, if sleeveless, it is called justillo, if it has sleeves, it is called jubon. It has wide, trapezoidal lappets, and often has embroidery on the front. Often the neck is cut low enough that the embroidery on the top of the chemise is visible. Here are a couple examples of the justillo.

The jubon is more common than the justillo. The sleeves are cut out in one piece, the front of the arms and the back of the lower arms are often tied together with ribbons instead of being actually sewn together. There is often embroidery on the sleeves. Most commonly the jubon is red or black.

Sometimes there are more, narrower lappets that are cut out instead of sewn on. This type of bodice may be of brocade and edged with trim or ribbon. You can see that sometimes the peplum in front is underneath other clothing, and sometimes it is worn over the top.

Here are a few more images of the jubon.

The top skirt is called manteo. It is always ornamented; sometimes with a print design or applique, but most commonly with wide strips of lace, ribbon, gallon, velvet panels and/or passamenterie, often with beadwork, and these are often combined. The manteo is often red or black for the dressiest outfits, but may be yellow, blue, green or other colors as well. The manteo is rather full, and when covered with many ribbons often heavy.

The apron, delantal, is a panel of cloth, usually black, or black with a design which is ornamented with strips of velvet, galloon, and ribbon in the same manner as the manteo. Dress aprons are often of damask, brocade or patterned velvet. Take another look at the images above.

As in many Spanish costumes a loose pocket is worn, usually on the right side [unless left handed]. These are called faltriquera and are ornamented in various ways, with embroidery or fancy cloth with ribbons etc. These often lie partially under the apron.

As with most Spanish costumes, a Manila shawl may be worn. Fortunately, this is less common in Segovia, as the women prefer to show off the embroidery on the jubon. In any case, these were originally imported from China, and even today the embroidery on them tends to be completely in the Chinese style.

An abundance of jewelry is worn, including rings, earrings, and complex necklaces with large beads and a cross.

The hat, montera, is the most distinctive and diagnostic part of this costume. This looks almost like a rectangular military cap worn sideways on the head. The front and back have large triangular flaps that are attached at the tips. The top has a large pompom, the front and back triangles are embroidered, or at least have random beads or spangles sewn onto them, and the rectangular sides have knobs or buttons on them, often metallic. These are called 'apostles', because there are six on each side. Often a white lace veil is worn under the hat.

For church and some other formal occasions, a mantle, mantilla, is worn over the head, as in many other parts of Spain.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this glimpse of Old Castile to be informative and interesting.

Here is a youth group doing a traditional dance from Segovia. They are wearing simple costumes appropriate for dancing, including albarcas instead of zapatas. These are moccasin type footwear made of leather, or as here, of cloth, being held on with laces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZcibtg0V4c

Short clip of the Jota from Segovia. Nice costumes. One of the girls, in the yellow skirt and straw hat, is wearing a costume from Avila.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LH7-9mDkRo

A better clip of a Jota from Segovia. The skirts are rather too short, but notice that they are all different.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3anA6fyNlw

email rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Indumentaria-Tradicional-Segoviana-Conchi-Bay%C3%B3n/137796472936093
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Indumentaria-Tradicional-de-Segovia/156832354370341
http://indumentariatradicionaldesegovia.blogspot.com/p/eventos-bodas-celebraciones-y-un-sin.html
Angelo Lopez Garcia-Bermejo et al, 'La Indumentaria Tradicional Segoviana', Segovia, 2000
Isabel de Palencia, 'The Regional Costumes of Spain', Madrid, 1926
Oscar de la Renta et al, 'Joaquin Sorolla and the Glory of Spanish Dress', New York, 2011
Jose Ortiz Echague, 'Espana, Tipos y Trajes', Madrid, 1953
Isabel de Palencia, 'Regional Costumes of Spain', Madrid, 1926
Manuel Comba, 'Trajes Regionales Espanoles', Madrid, 1977
Cesar Justel, 'Espana, Trajes Regionales', Madrid, 1997
Lilla Fox, 'Folk Costumes of Southern Europe', Boston, 1972
Jose Manuel Gomez-Tabanera, 'Trajes Populares y Costumbres Tradicionales', Madrid, 1950

Hello all,

Today I will talk about the costume from the French region of Bresse. Bresse forms a coherent region with natural boundaries in the east of France, not very far from Switzerland.
It is found in the southeast of the old Province of Bourgogne, but today has been split between the Departments of Ain, Jura and Saône-et-Loire. This points out the problems of using the modern administrative units, as here, as happens so often, they do not coincide with cultural historical regions. Here is a map of France with the modern departments. Bresse is found at the juncture of the three mentioned above.

Here is a map of the traditional provinces of France.

This is a map of the region of Bresse. Bresse basically lies between the Ain and Saône rivers, including Bourg en Bresse in the south and Louhans in the north. Macon lies in the west of this area, having a similar costume. The lines on this map are roads, not rivers.

Except for the headdress, the costume of Bresse is much like that of other areas of central France.
The base garment is a chemise, with lace at the neckline and full sleeves gathered into a cuff, or with short sleeves.
A petticoat, or more than one is worn, along with bloomers and knit stockings.

Over this is worn a dress, with attached bodice and sleeves. This can be in various colors, wool in the winter and silk in the summer. It may have 3/4 sleeves which widen towards the cuff so as to show the chemise sleeves. The sleeves may also be full length or elbow length. The bodice laces or buttons up the front. There are two or three bands of black velvet ribbon sewn above the hem.

A shoulder shawl, or fichu, is worn. It may be a single color with ribbon near the edge, or it may be cotton or silk print with a border design. The point hangs to the waist in back, it is pinned to the shoulders and is fastened in front. It is of a color which contrasts with the dress. It may have fringe.

Over all of this a large pinafore apron is worn. The skirt of the apron is full, covering the front and sides of the dress, and is a few inches shorter than the hem of the dress. There is a large bib which is pinned in place, 'pin-afore'. The top of the bib may be curved or in a v shape. The top of the bib may have trim, tucks, or sometimes even metallic embroidery. The apron should be of a color which contrasts with both the dress and the shoulder shawl. The bib may be pinned with straight pins, or with small brooches. There may be silver or gold chains attached to these.

Other jewelry may be worn. As in most parts of France, a cross is common. Bresse is famous for enamel work.

Either black leather shoes or sabot [wooden shoes] may be worn.

As in all French costumes, a coif is mandatory. The bressan coif is relatively simple in construction. It consists of one piece with a border. Two to five rows of goffered lace 'tuyautee" are attached to the edge. It is made of tulle or fine cotton or linen. A woman would never leave the house uncoiffed.

The back of the coif is embroidered with various motifs, usually floral. A band of matching cotton or linen, also edged with the goffered lace buttons under the chin to secure the coif for married women. Single girls wear a coif with a red silk ribbon.

Here is a picture of a disassembled coif, and some coif embroidery.

For work, and in case of mourning, the coif is made of simple white muslin.

For the period of half mourning, the coif was slightly more elaborate.

In times of mourning, single girls would replace the red ribbon with black.

For exceptionally important events, the coif was sometimes embroidered with silver or gold.

All in all, the coif was a true work of art, and the ornament a mark of individuality and creativity.

For dress occasions, a very unusual hat is worn over the coif. This is called the brelot.

It consists of a rigid disk of felt topped by a hollow sort of finial on a brass framework. The top of the finial often has a small tuft of lace and artificial flowers. The disk is also covered with black lace, and there are lace panels which hang off the sides and back down past the shoulders. The front has a short lace panel. The brelot is held in place with a black velvet ribbon secured under the chin. The brelot may be ornamented with gold chains and pins.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you have found this to be interesting and informative.

Here are some videos of folk dance groups from Bresse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCpRjbEixaU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2981q5V8HYo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU3kiJgXhTM

email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
http://leshospitaliers.com/Les_hospitaliers/Bienvenue.html
Carole Larche-Millon et al, Coiffes entre Bresse et Bourgogne, Taillanderie, 2006
Lilla Fox, 'Folk Costumes of Western Europe',
Andre Sainsard, 'Costumes Folkloriques Provinces Françaises', Paris, 1972
Royere, Gardilanne, Moffat et al, 'Les Costumes Regionaux de la France', New York, 1929
Charles-Brun, 'Costumes des Provinces Françaises', Paris, 1937
P. Leroux, 'Costumes Regionaux', Paris, 1940
Caroline Brancq, 'Les Costumes regioneaux d'Autrefois', Paris, 2003
Jacques Boulenger, 'Les Costumes de France', Journees du Livre, 1932
Andre Varagnac, ''French Costumes', London-Paris-New York, 1939

Hello all,

I'm sorry that i have not posted for a while; I was forced to move, and so have been busy. Today I would like to talk about the costumes of the region around the Dunajec river and Pieniny mountains on the Polish-Slovak border. The impetus for researching this region came from seeing images of vests such as the one above. This one, unusually, is black; most are blue. These can be found in Ukrainian books, of which the above image is one example, in Polish sources, such as this example;

And also Slovak sources, like this image. By the way, this is a man's vest, and is NOT part of any women's costume.

I found that this vest is part of a somewhat complicated series of costumes in the region between the points where the rivers Bialka and Poprad cross the Polish-Slovak border. This is the edge of the westernmost extension of Lemkovyna, the land inhabited by the Lemkos or Rusyns. The Slovaks and Polish in this area are Gorals, and while they identify as Polish or Slovak, speak dialects which are much closer to each other than to either of the two Literary standards.
In this article I will give an overview of the costumes of this region; I will cover Lemko, Rusyn, Polish and Slovak villages. . Please consult Google Maps as you read this, as I have so far been unable to find a good map of the area which I wish to cover.

Shliakhtova [Szlachtowa] Lemko/Rusyn
Szczawnica Polish.

As far as I have been able to determine, these two groups, while differing in ethnicity and language, shared the same costume. The Polish villages continue to wear the costume on festive occasions today, while the inhabitants of the Lemko villages were deported in 1947 to other parts of Poland. The Lemkos inhabited the communites of Shliakhtova [Szlachtowa], Yavirky [Jaworki], Bila Voda [Biala Woda], and Chorna Voda [Czarna Woda].
The Polish inhabit the villages of Szczawnica, Krościenko, Grywald, Tylka and Haluszowa. These two communities lie on neighboring tributaries of the Dunajec.
Here is the costume as it existed at the end of the 19th cent.

The signature vest became more elaborately embroidered in the early 20th cent.

This Lemko-Rusyn enclave appears to be an island on the Polish side, however it is contiguous with Rusyn territory on the Slovak side, which connects directly with the rest of Lemkovyna.

The costume is shared, in part, with other villages in the area.
Just over the Slovak border from Shliakhtova [Szlachtowa] are the Rusyn villages of Velykyj Lypnyk [Veľký Lipník ], and its satellite, Fil'varok [Folvark], which is now called Stranjany [Stráňany]. These lie on a neighboring tributary of the Dunajec. The women's costume is basically identical; given the normal variation of aprons and skirts, the only notable difference is the lack of embroidery on the women's bodice.

The men's costume, however, is significantly different.

Just to the east, the three Rusyn villages of Kamionka [Kamienka], Litmanova [Litmanová], and Oriabyna [Jarabina] share a similar costume.

The men's costume from these villages is also different.

I have been able to find very little from the Slovak villages just to the west, but here is an image from Haligovce showing what seems to be the same costume.

On the Polish side, the Pieniny region proper lies between the Szczawnica region and the Dunajec river. This consists of the two villages of upper and lower Sromowce. The men's costume is the same as that of Szczawnica and Shliakhtova, but the women currently wear the Podhale costume, which is found over a fairly large area north and west of the Szczawnica region.

This exhibit in the church at Lower Sromowce seems to hint that the women once wore a similar costume as in Szczawnica.

Further west in Poland, the Podhale costume is prevalent north of the Dunajec, and the Kacwin costume south of it.

On the Slovak side, we find the little village of Červený Kláštor, right on the banks of the Dunajec.

Nearby is the Slovak community of Spišská Stará Ves. The men wear a costume identical to that of Szczawnica - Shliakhtova, but the women wear what appears to be a completely different costume.

But compare with this photo from Krościenko in the Szczawnica area from before WWI.

The boatmen on the Dunajec river, from both sides, often wear this costume as a kind of uniform while working.

Generally, at the very least they wear the round Podhale hat and the embroidered vest.

South of this are the two Slovak villages of Matiašovce and Spišské Hanušovce.
The men are wearing reconstructed costumes that resemble those of the Polish Spisz area. These girls from Matiašovce are wearing what appears to be a very generic costume created for their dance group.

Here are a couple of images from Hanušovce.

If we look at the Polish version of the costume, over the border in the area from Kacwin to Trybsz, we see that the women's is very reminiscent of the Szczawnica Shliakhtova costume. The blouse is very similar, and Reinfuss mentions there being a point on the front of the Spisz chepets.

Even in the Jurgow area we see that the women originally wore a similar blouse.

However in the Jurgow region the woven ornament in the blouse has mostly been replaced by embroidery, or is omitted altogether.

Moving south once more across the border, we encounter the Slovak village of Ždiar , and the Rusyn enclave which is found between it and the Polish border, consisting of the villages of
Osturnia [Osturňa], Mala Frankova [Malá Franková], and Velyka Frankova [Veľká Franková]. This costume also resembles that of Szczawnica - Shliakhtova. Some differences are that the ornament on the men's pants is of appliqued cord instead of embroidery, the women's chepets, while retaining the central point is flat on top, and the woven ornament is today usually a separate patch which is sewn on to the sleeve.

Osturnia:

Ždiar:

Thank you for reading,
I hope that you found it interesting to see how the various costume elements are distributed in this region, and how the various ethnic groups share costumes and also distinguish themselves. I will use the next article to give an in-depth analysis of the Shliakhtova -Szczawnica costume and its embroidery.

Roman K.
email: rkozakand@aol.com

Source Material:
Much of this material was taken from various village websites of the area.
http://www.jaworki.skpb.lodz.pl/okol_rusini.html

Stanislav Prochotský et al. 'Ľudový odev na Spiši', Spišská Nová Ves, 1990

Edyta Starek, 'Stroj Spiski', Poznan, 1954

Roman Reinfuss, 'Stroje Gorali Szczawnickich', Lublin, 1949

Stanislaw Gadomski, 'Stroj Ludowy w Polsce', Warsaw

Jadwiga Turska, 'Polish Folk Embroidery', Warsaw, 1997
Viera Nosál'ová, 'Slovenský ľudový odev', 1983
Lesia Danchenko, 'Urainian Folk Art', Leningrad, 1982
Tamara Nikolajevna, 'Ukrajinskyj Kostium', Kyjiw [Kiev], 2005

Día d'o Traje d'Ansó - Festival of Folk costume in Anso.

Obersachsen, Sachsen

This translates as Saxony, or Upper Saxony, and is found in the southeast corner of the present borders of Germany. Many of the folk costumes of this State are Sorbian. Here is an Upper Saxon costume from around Dresden.

Sachsen-Anhalt

This translates as Saxony-Anhalt, and lies between the states of Saxony [Upper Saxony], and Lower Saxony.

This group is from Salzwedel in the north.

Lower Saxony, this lies in the northwest corner of Germany. It is today divided into four Bezirke, Lueneburg, Hanover, Braunschweig, and Weser-Ems.

Lüneburg

Here is one extremely well maintained costume of this area, from Scheessel.

Hanover

One of the most famous and spectacular costumes of this area is that of Buekeburg in Schaumburg.

Bremen

The famous city of Bremen forms its own City-State in two non contiguous districts, Bremen and Bremen-Port.

Thüringen

Thuringia, This borders all three Saxonys on the south, with Hesse in the west, and Bavaria in the south.It

This is the home of the Hessians. It lies in central Germany The three Bezirke divide Hesse into northern, central and southern regions.

North Hesse

Central Hesse

This costume is from Marburg.

South Hesse

This couple is from Odenwald.Nordrhein-Westfalen

This state combines the historic region of Westphalia in the north with the northern part of the Rhineland in the south.

Westphalia

This costume is from near Münster

Nordrhein

This is the most populous part of Germany, and there is little that is remembered of Folk Costume.This group is from Elsdorf.

Rheinland-Pfalz

Baden-Württemberg

This lies in the southwest corner of Germany and consists of the historic regions of Baden and Wuerttemberg, or Schwabia.Baden is a relatively narrow region on the west of this area, and Wuerttemberg comprises the eastern two thirds.

Lower Baden

This costume is from the area known as Hanauerland. The similarities to the costume of the neighboring region of Alsace are obvious.

Upper Baden

This group is from the village of Furtwangen in the Black Forest.

North or LowerWürttemberg

This is the Betzingen costume.

South or Upper Württemberg

This costume is from the region of WestAllgäu, near the Bodensee. It has much in common with Austrian and Swiss costumes just over the border, including the famous radhaube [wheel headdress].

Bayern

Bavaria, in the south of Germany, the largest State. It consists of Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, The eastern part of Schwabia, and Franconia.

Schwaben

This costume is from Oberstdorf in Bavarian Swabia.

Mittelfranken

This costume is from Schwabach.

Unterfranken

This costume is from Ochsenfurt in Lower Franconia.

Oberfranken

This costume is from Effeltrich in Upper Franconia.

Oberpfaltz

Sometimes translated as The Upper Palatinate, this is in the east of the State of Bavaria between Bavaria proper and Franconia.This costume is from Parsberg.

Niederbayern

This costume is from the Vils valley in Lower Bavaria.

Stanislav Prochotský et al. 'Ľudový odev na Spiši', Spišská Nová Ves, 1990

Edyta Starek, 'Stroj Spiski', Poznan, 1954

This couple is from Odenwald.
Nordrhein-Westfalen