French National Costume

Posted by admin on Mar 5, 2012 in European | 0 comments

The traditional costume of the people of a country not only gives it an identity but also expresses the rich cultural heritage that underlie. In France there is no one traditional costume, but every single province has its own traditional costume which are all different. The history of clothing in France changed from XVII th century to middle of XXth century. It changed from men wearing waistcoat, jacket, trouser and hat to now wearing jeans. One of the traditional dresses of France is Breton shirt which has a very vast history of it being worn by soldiers to prostitutes.

Women in France wear skirt, apron and head dress. The type of apron and head dress used to define the status as well as the occasion for which it is being worn. The bridal wear had hat which consisted of 7 motifs to remind the bride of the seven virtues she must follow after marriage which are faith, charity, temperance, justice, strength and prudence. Similarly, there were head dresses for mourning which had its edges black and for everyday work. The skirt which is a part of the costume was made of poplin cloth which may be colored or black in color. The taffeta, silk or satin was used to make apron while the clothing used in the making of shawl was brocade which had colored fringes or black lace. The shawl had tulle or white flowered satin for brides. The cloth used for making head dresses varied from muslin cloth to very fine tulle or lace from Brussels or Calais.

The Costume in the 19th century to middle of the 20th century used tell the position and status of the woman who carries it. “Penn sardin” is a simple hat of spun cotton, thoroughly embroidered adorned with cordon whose position allows knowing to which harbor belongs to woman who adorns it. This head dress has features not to be tied to a city or to a region but to signs distinctive of the wives of sailors Cornouaillais since they find it as well in Concarneau, as in the island Tudy, Audierne, Douarnenez, Crozon or Camaret. . It would seem that it is its simplicity which made it spread at these woman’s taught to work in the canneries of fish. The long cotton skirt, as well as the white or black haberdasher, being protected by a white apron, varnished hoofs, orangy or black color, supplemented it proper put on fancy dress.

The workers native to the ambient campaign, that it is Beuzec, Lanriec or Trégunc. The collar tuyauté and the head-dress in the big wings is also a product of a slow evolution which froze around the Second World War. Wings, belittled in the last century, had diminished little by little in the first two decades of this century to take back then largeness, creating so surely one of nicer combs of Brittany. The days of holiday, marriages and forgiveness, concarnoises carried the costume of “Wimple” which owed its name to the head-dress which was part of it, constituted by a cone of lace. This costume in shimmering colours was made up of a long skirt of bound satin, the corselet matched, trimmed with a jabot of lace, and the long shawl of lace or cashmere brought back by East by the sailors.

Features Of French Costume:

• Waistcoat, Trouser and Hat
• Skirt
• Apron,
• Hair Dress
• Made from Poplin Cloth, Tafetta, Silk or Satin.