Polish national costume: description, history

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Polish national costumes are bright multicolored clothes. It reflects the originality and uniqueness of the cultural life of the people, tells about its historical development and serves as a real symbol of the nation. However, one should not lose sight of the fact that the costumes of the Poles largely adopted the elements of clothing of other peoples. This happened as a result of close cooperation between Poland and Russia, Romania, Austria and Lithuania. Over the years, the culture of these countries has had a strong influence on the culture of the inhabitants of Poland, in connection with which new elements appeared in the national costumes of Poles and Poles. However, this did not spoil the costumes at all, on the contrary, the clothes turned out to be original, unique and very beautiful.

Description of the Polish national costume: history

According to historians, the national clothes of Poland as such began to take shape only in the 19th century. This is due to the poor financial situation of its main carrier - a man from the people. Before the abolition of serfdom, the people lived extremely poorly and wore the simplest things that served people for many years in a row. After the business reformworkers and peasants improved somewhat, there was money to buy fabric to create real national costumes. Then it became possible to wear such clothes much more often, and not just on holidays.

A characteristic feature was that the costumes differed not only according to the status of their owner, but also according to the area for which they were made. So, in different villages located in the neighborhood, clothes could differ in color, ornament, sleeve or skirt length.

Division by class

All Polish national costumes are divided into 2 categories:

• gentry costume (it was worn by we althy people, representatives of the nobility) - such clothes were made from expensive woolen fabric;
• peasant costume (inexpensive clothes made mostly of linen).

Most often, it was the gentry costume that underwent changes. Noble people were in close contact with foreigners and often used elements of their clothes that they liked to change their own. As a result of this mixing, an original costume was obtained that attracted attention.

Colors of national clothes

Despite the fact that each locality had its own version of the Polish national costume, some features can be distinguished as the main ones.

Women's clothing was distinguished by brightness, multicolor, among the colors used, white, yellow, red, blue and green were more common. Flowers were considered the most popular ornament. This is due not only to beautydrawing, but also by the fact that many flowers had a symbolic meaning. Quite often, women's skirts were sewn from multi-colored striped fabric.

Men's clothes were also distinguished by bright, rich colors, but were made of plain fabric.

Children's clothing almost did not differ from adult clothes in character and cut, only the size of things changed.

Women's national clothes

The women's attire was based on several basic elements.

Skirts. Regardless of the type of fabric (linen or fine wool) and colors, Polish skirts were long and reached to the ankles. They were sewn from 5 wedges. 4 of them were gathered at the waist and only the 5th was smooth and even - it was located in front.

Shirts. Women's shirt had a simple rectangular shape and was sewn from homespun bleached linen or cotton fabrics. The sleeves were made with a gusset (a special insert for greater comfort when moving the arm) and a cuff. Quite often there were shirts richly decorated with embroidery on the collar and cuffs.

Apron. This is an obligatory element of clothing worn by Polish women, it was found everywhere. It was sewn from green, yellow, black or white fabric and was always richly decorated. Braid, lace, multi-colored ribbons, embroidery were used for decoration.

Vest. This piece of clothing had a more complex cut than skirts and shirts. A little later (after 1870) another type of vest appeared, called the corset. His most oftenmade of velvet or velor in black, dark green or red.

Men's Polish clothing

Costume for men consisted of:

• shirts;
• pants;
• zhupana (top long clothes);
• deliya (cape, reminiscent of a Turkish caftan);
• belts.

The men's shirt was made of linen or cotton fabric (like the women's), but it was devoid of any embroidery or embellishments.

Zhupan was considered one of the obligatory elements - it was worn by representatives of absolutely all classes. It was a long fitted clothing, which certainly had a stand-up collar and a frequent row of buttons to the waist. Zhupans in each locality were of different colors. It could be black, brown, dark green clothes. The difference in class could be seen due to the quality of fabrics, the richness of decorations and the type of buttons. Buttonholes on the zhupan were made of decorative cord, sleeves and skirts were covered with embroidery.

A man's belt is one of the indicators of a family's well-being, so the Polish gentry paid special attention to it. Belts were sewn from fabric or leather, decorated with embroidery, beautiful metal clasps (sometimes silver elements were used for this purpose).

Jewelry and hats

It is simply impossible to imagine Polish clothes without decorations and headdresses, especially since a man's hat was generally regarded as an indicator of prosperity along with a belt. It is for this reason that every man tried his bestdecorate your headdress more abundantly and richly.

As for women, one could find out the marital status of a beauty by the headdress. Bright scarves covering the head were intended for young unmarried girls. As soon as a Polish woman started a family, she put on a cap (it also changed depending on the territorial sign).

To complement their wonderful outfit, Polish women gladly used bright jewelry. Usually these were large beads (often red ones), massive earrings and bracelets. I must say that men did not skimp on buying jewelry for their wives, because it was the number and size of women's accessories that gave out the level of a man's income.

Thus, the Polish national costume can safely be called a multifaceted concept that reflected the life and culture of a certain area. At the same time, today the Poles themselves consider the costume of the inhabitants of Krakow to be national clothes.