Some reflections on folk costumes

It's been Midsummer, the big holiday in Sweden where folk costumes are common. Now with it being the event of the year when people wear their folk costumes, up comes the discussions on how you are supposed to wear them. A word that usually comes up in discussions is "dräpo" which is a portmanteau of the Swedish words for "costume" and "police", and a play on the name of the Swedish secret service "säpo". In cosplay and costuming circles they would be called costumenazis and things like that.

I felt that I wanted to put my thoughts on what it means for me to wear a folk costume, and how I see the usage of them, into writing. Before I start with that I would like to quote Eva Andersson on Eva's historical costuming blog about the Swedish folk costumes.

Folk costumes in Sweden can be divided into three categories: preserved, reconstructed and created costumes. The former are those that were in continuous use until the second half of the 19th century or those who were well documented before that. For these costumes you have all the original garments in museums and there is often a large variation between clothes worn on greater holidays, lesser holidays, on normal days etc.  Many preserved folk costumes are from Dalecarlia, but you can find them in all parts of Sweden except in the far north and of course, close to towns.
    The reconstructed costumes are based on some preserved garments and contemporary descriptions of the clothing worn in a specific area. When a garment is "missing" from the concerned area you use a garment from a neighbouring area or from the time the rest of the costume is from to complete the costume. This is the type I own.
   The created costumes are made where there are no remnants of an older popular costume, but people still want to have something that signifies their local area. The costume is then created based on the idea of how a folk costume should look.

I would add though that the divide between a reconstructed and created costume can be a bit fluid, since a lot of created costumes have also been based on remaining pieces. My folk costume for example is usually called "created", but the the colours and patterns of the main fabric was taken from a piece of clothing that had been worn by a person in the parish.

Most people wear their costume because they want to show their connection to a geographical area. One of the most common questions in a facebook group I'm part of is "Which costume should I wear?". From having seen the discussion on the wearing of folk costumes there are two different factions on why and how you should wear your costume. Some people consider it an homage to the people who have gone before us, and they are usually the ones that are adamant that the costume should be worn according to certain rules and exactly as it has always been. These are usually the same people who thinks that the costumes should be made from fully handwoven fabrics and handsewn. The other group see the costume as more of a living tradition, where the costume can be changed and worn differently according to the preferences of the present day wearer. These people are usually fine with using sewing machines as well. I think it's important to acknowledge that people have these different starting points when it comes to folk costumes, and even if you don't agree with one side you can still respect it.

I have had my folk costume now for almost 20 years, and in that time I have changed my mind around it. Or rather my understanding and view of the costume has evolved, not the least as I've gotten more knowledge on the general history of fashion and dress. I started off seeing it as a relic from the past. I was really proud of it, and I wanted it to be worn like in the 19th century. For that reason I chose to have the skirt almost brush the floor, and I was serious about not wearing the cap to it since I was unmarried. The cap was the symbol for the married woman, while the unmarried woman just had a hair ribbon, in the same colours as the costume.

During the last years I have changed my attitude to the costume, and in fact that has made more comfortable in wearing it. I now consider it more of a history of me and my family, I'm just the latest in a long chain of people with a connection to this area, and all the peole who have gone before me have worn their clothes differently. The more I think about my costume like this, the more I also get happier with the small mistakes and faults in the costume, because I know the story behind them and that gives the costume an even higher emotional value, even if it isn't flawless.

Here is the story of my folk costume.

My costume is the costume of Vika parish in Dalarna, outside of Falun. On my father's side we can trace our family there to the 14th century. That single fact alone makes me very proud of my costume, and coming from Vika parish, and is why I would not be interested in wearing my mother's folk costume from Vingåker in Södermanland. The influential people in Vika were involved with the copper production from the Falun mine, they were master miners. They weren't farmers and they followed the latest fashions. That meant that folk costumes were not worn in the area. In the 1920's, when there was a trend for folk costumes, a costume for Vika was created based on different garments that had been found in storages around the parish. It is debatable if the costume is recreated or constructed.

For me it is important that the work on the costume was done in the 1920s. It is basically what people in the 1920s thought that a folk costume should look like with a nod back to the folk fashion of the 19th century. This gives me a good conscience to adjust the costume to our present day, since that is how it all started anyway.

I got my folk costume, or rather the money for it, as a combination of a confirmation gift and inheritance from my paternal grandparents, my grandmother had died the same year. This gives it a strong family value, not the least because it is my paternal side that is connected to Vika. I had known that I was going to get a folk costume long before that though. The oldest part of my costume is my neckerchief. It is actually a drndl neckerchief, bought in Seefeld, Austria, when I was around 5 years old. I still don't understand how my parents could let a small child choose an important piece like that, but I guess they felt that I should get one when my sisters (who are 10 and 12 years older) got theirs. Actually I picked out a green neckerchief and my oldest sister picked this pink one I'm wearing, but as we've both grew up we realized that we were both jealous of the other's neckerchief and we switched. The neckerchief connects to all the holidays my family spent in the Alps, due to my father's work with international skiing. It reminds me of all those memories in a very concrete way.

After a couple of years it was finally time for me to have my costume made up, and my oldest sister (the one I switched neckerchiefs with) decided to sew it for me, and also my other sister's costume. So my costume is all handsewn by my sister. Now she was a bit stressed when making two costumes in time for midsummer that year, and one mistake is that the wrists on my blouse are too small. I couldn't close them with the buttons, so she had to quickly add some hook and eye for the closure. It's also a bit too short in the sleeves. I know my sister doesn't like that my blouse doesn't fit, but to me it's quite charming knowing about it, and all the work she did to finish my costume.

Me in pink and my sister in the green neckerchief that I chose originally.

As I mentioned earlier my gown was very long to start with. The photo above is taken after I had hemmed up the skirt, but hadn't changed the apron. The more I learnt about folk costumes, and also about historical dress, I started to realize that having a long skirt wasn't necessarily the most accurate, it was also annoying when wearing it. Also as a teenager I didn't really know what it meant to have a well-fitted bodice, and mine was way too big. In 2015 I took the side seams of the bodice apart and remade it. I had gotten used to wearing historical garments, and realized that a tight bodice could be more comfortable than a loose and ill-fitting one. At that time I was weighing a lot less than I do know, but even if I have gained a lot of weight it still fits well. My own alterations are now part of the history of my costume.

This is how much I altered the side seam.

So my folk costume is my history, and as such I choose how to wear it. I of course want to be respectful of how I wear it, but the most important thing is that I feel comfortable and confident in it, and I enjoy wearing it.

I'm not wearing my silk cap when it's a risk of rain, and if I don't have the proper hanging pocket, a SW handbag works fine. Dräpo would not be happy about this look.

My mother, my brother-in-law and me

It's easier to have fun if you are comfortable in your costume. Folk costumes are perfect for all occasions, and I am happy to live in a region where they are worn for more than Midsummer celebrations. Don't be too serious and anxious about the rules, it is better that the costumes get worn even if they aren't totally correct than if people don't dare wearng them for fear of doing it wrong.