Polish National Costume

Posted by admin on Jul 9, 2012 in European | 2 comments

When it comes to the wearing of the Polish National Costume you will find that what is worn varies from one region of Poland to another. However all the costumes are very brightly colored and have been decorated using embroidery.

Today these costumes tend only to be worn for special occasions such as weddings. However in some of the more rural parts of the country (Poland) the wearing of the costumes on a daily basis is still done by people of the older generations.

As already mentioned when it comes to the Polish National Costume you will notice that they do vary quite a bit. In some regions the women will wear hats as part of theirs whilst in others they will wear wreathes of flowers on their heads. Furthermore in some parts of Poland the women will wear an apron whilst in other parts they will wear a vest. Also in some parts of the country as well as the costumes being decorated with embroidery they are also decorated with ribbons but this will depend on where the costume originated.

Most of the costumes worn in Poland today as part of their national identity have been strongly influenced by rich Eastern ornamental styles combined with the use of Islamic textures.

You will notice when you see that the different Polish National Costumes are made from different materials. However most of them today tend to be made from flax and wool, as they were when they were first created. However to help show off the wearers wealth the person would decorate theirs with a variety of different ornaments. Of course some people would wear their costume all the time and when they did these had little or no decoration what so ever.

Another thing you will notice about the Polish National Costume no matter what part of Poland you are visiting is that the ones worn by the women are much more decorative than the means. As well as have elaborate embroidery on them the women’s costumes will often be trimmed with rich luxuriant fabrics as well.

What you may not realize but the reason why the costumes do differ is that it helped the people to recognize immediately others from a different region. Also the way in which the dresses were decorated would help to identify that woman’s status with their particular regional group.

As for the headgear that is worn for the women it was a way of identifying whether she was married or not. For example the wearing of a wreath of flowers would immediately show that the woman was still single, whilst the wearing of a hat clearly showed she was married.

Today the making of the Polish National Costume is still something that many people of Poland hold in revere. Certainly in some parts of Poland young women will spend weeks or months making their costume in preparation for when they get married. Although they can use sewing machines there are many who still prefer to do all the work by hand.