THE ROMANIAN FOLK COSTUME

INTRODUCTION

Romania is one of the few countries in Europe, where in the second decade of the 21st century, some people (old or living in remote areas) are still wearing traditional clothes on weekdays, and not only for special occasions such as weddings, festivals or religious holidays..

ORIGINS

The Romanian folk costume has Dacian, Thracian and Getae origins and has not changed so much with the flight of time.

Historical sources point out that from ancient times, the Romanian folk clothes have been embroided and adorned with the solar circle, the column of the sky, the hatch and various types of curved lines.

The Main Ethnographic Regions

1.Maramureș2.Apuseni3.Banat 4.Transylvania5.Oltenia6.Muntenia7.Dobrogea8.Modavia and Bucovina

-the shirt called “ie” is a very important element, especially for the women’s folk costume-this shirt is elegantly adorned whit embroidery, usually representing geometrical and floral patterns-the cromatic is very well balanced, the dominant colours being black, red, yellow, blue, green and even purple-women used to make not to buy their shirts; they used linen for shirts to be worn during holidays and hemp for shirts to be worn while working on the field

ELEMENTS SPECIFIC FOR THE ROMANIAN FOLK COSTUME

ELEMENTS SPECIFIC FOR THE ROMANIAN FOLK COSTUME

-the traditional footwear is represented by the so-called peasant sandals, which were made of cow skin; they were also made of pig skin, but these were used only while working on the field-these sandals were tied to the legs with the help of some strings or cords (nojițe), usually made or horse hair-they were worn with traditional socks called “colțuni”, made of white wool and they were knitted with the help of five needles

MARAMUREȘ

Male Folk Costume

-boots-wide summer trousers-waistcoat-shirt-hat

MARAMUREȘ

Female Folk Costume

-boots or leather sandals (opinci) with bicolour (black and white) foot wraps (obiele) -straight apron (catrință)-waistcoat (bundă)-square scarf (basma)-both men and women wear coloured bracelets made of beads (pumnar)

APUSENI

In the area of the Apuseni Mountains the folk costumes have a more sober look, being dominated by black and white shades.

Male Costume

-leather boots or leather peasant sandals (opinici)-tight winter trousers (cioareci)-wide leather belts (chimir)-sheepskin hat-skin suede overcoat (cojoc)-tricolour rosette on the chest

APUSENI

Female Folk Costume

-long hem shirt

-apron (black at the front and

sometimes red at the back)

- black scarf

-waistcoat (pieptar)

-long woolen tights

-leather peasant sandals

-all clothes are beatifully

embroided

BANAT

-Serbian influences on folk dances, music and clothes

Male Folk Costume-loose, white, linen trousers-black waistcoat-white shirt-black fabric belt (brâu)-straw or fabric hat-leather peasant sandals

BANAT

Female Folk Costume

-underskirt (poale)-black straight aprons embroided with yellow thread (catrințe)-white shirt (ie) richly embroided at the cuffs and collar-waistcoat-head crown made of velvet or a headband

OLTENIA

The folk costume specific for the Oltenia region has numerous Bulgarian and Greek influences.

The predominant colours are: white, black and yellow.

Costumes of both men and women are embroided with geometrical and floral motifs.

Belt specific for the region of Oltenia

OLTENIA

Folk Male Costume

-trousers embroidered with black thread at the back and at the front-embroidered shirt-woolen, embroidered cape worn during special events-round hats with flat bottoms-leather peasant sandals-the costume worn by the Călușari (groups of male dancers) is spectacular due to its ornaments, the two tricolour bands crossed over the dancers’ chests, the special hat and the bells on the shanks

OLTENIA

Female Folk Costume

-silk veil (maramă)-shirt with underskirt-wrapped around skirt-rectangular apron at the front (catrință)-leather peasant sandals-stylized birds, floral and geometric motifs, decorate the clothes of people living in Oltenia-the clothes are made of wool, hemp and cotton

MUNTENIA

-the folk costumes specific for the area of Muntenia are characterised by simplicity -both men and women clothes are less decorated than in other parts of Romania-the predominant colour is white-men wear white shirts and trousers and a tissued fabric belt (brâu țesut), which can be red or yellow-men wear woolen hats and the traditional footwear are the peasant leather sandals

MUNTENIA

Folk Women Costume

-women wear an underskirt (poale) embroidered with red and yellow-the wrapped round skirts (fotă) have different colours and embroidery patterns according to the region (plain or mountain)-these traditional skirts can be: red and black, red and yellow, or black and yellow-the leather peasant sandals are the traditional footwear

Wrapped round skirt-Muntenia

MOLDOVA

The folk costume specific for the region of Moldova is characterised by simplicity.

Male Folk Costume-overcoat (cojoc) with beautifully embroidered models at the cuffs and collar-shirt-belt-white, tight trousers-leather peasant sandals or boots

MOLDOVA

Folk Female Costume

-wrapped round skirt (fotă), which bends below the knee on the left side-white underskirt (poale)-overcoat with rich embroidery-large square scarf (broboadă) with rich ornaments-leather peasant sandals

TRANSYLVANIA-the women folk costume is fairly uniform in this area-it consists of an embroidered shirt (ie), a long skirt, a double apron, a waistcoat and a belt, all differing only in the details of the ornament-the men’s costume consists of a tunic, narrow pants (made of linen or wool) having a medieval look, a waistcoat, a belt and a hat-the embroidery, which is an element that defines the Romanian traditional costume, is not as rich as in other regions of the country

TRANSYLVANIA

FOLK COSTUMES- THE REGION OF BISTRIȚA-NĂSĂUD

TRANSYLVANIA

Folk Costume-The Region of Mures

Folk Costume-The Region of Sibiu

Folk Costume-The TârnavelorRegion

DOBROGEA

-the area of Dobrogea is characterised by the co-existence of people belonging to different nationalities, such as: Romanian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Greek and Tatars-the predominant colours are red,white and blue-the women wear a silk veil (maramă), decorated according to thier financial possibilities-the traditional footwear are the leather peasant sandals (opinici)

NATIONAL MINORITIES AND THEIR COSTUMESThe main national minorities in Romania are:1.The Hungarians who live especially in the counties of Harghita, Covasna and Mureș (central part of Romania) and in the west part of the country near the Hungarian border

2.The Romani people

3.The Germans who live especially in the counties of Timiș (west part of Romania), Sibiu and Brașov (central part of Romania)

4.Serbs, Ukrainians, Greeks, Jews, Turks, Tatars, Armenians and Russians

They represent 10.5% of the Romanian population.

NATIONAL MINORITIES AND THEIR COSTUMES

Secui-Hungarians from the central part

of RomaniaSași-Germans from the central part of

Romania

Șvabi-Germans from the West part of

Romania

NATIONAL MINORITIES AND THEIR COSTUMES

Romani People

INFLUENCE OF FOLK COSTUME ON NOWADAYS FASHION

-the Romanian designers have managed to promote the traditional Romanian costume, especially the blouse worn by women (ie), the cloth wrapped around the lower part of the body (fotă) and the traditional belt

-the traditional Romanian embroidery has also impressed famous designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Kenzo or Tom Ford

THANK YOU!