Balkans Folk Costumes


Figure 1.--This cabinet card portrait shows four boys, probably brothers, wearing folk outfits. There is no information on the card. We would guess it was taken in the 1900s decade. The outfits look rather Greek to us, but we are not at all sure. Perhaps reders will hav some idea.

Usually ethnic dress didderes to an extent even n a single country. There are, hiwever, some regional similarities. The primary one we are aware of is the Balkans. There are several countries and ethnic groups located there and ethnic dress is partivularly probounced. Isolation from the rest of Europe beause of several cebturie of Ottoman control is a factor here as is the rugged mounteous terrane. Unfortunately we do not now enough about ethnic styles in the Balkans ro be able to identify them beyond Balkan styles. We have to rely on information associted with the image to identfy the country. The Balkans seems unique in this regards.

Albanian


Bulgarian


Greek

The Greeks are not one of the larger ethnic groups in America, but there are important centers of Greek imigration in northeastern cities. A kilt like costume was worn mainly in the central and southern regions of Greece. The costume derives its name from the pleated white skirt (foustanela) made of many triangular shaped pieces of cloth sewn together diagonally. The foustanela was worn by the Greek fighters of the 1821 revolution and today it serves as the official uniform of the Evzones, Greece’s Presidential Guard, who can be seen guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Athens. The foustanela skirt consists of 400 pleats symbolizing the years during which Greece was under Ottoman rule. The remainder of the costume is composed of a white shirt with very wide flowing sleeves, an embroidered woolen vest, a sash worn around the waist, and shoes (tsarouhia) with large pompons. Macedonian


Serbian











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Created: 10:51 PM 1/12/2018
Last updated: 10:51 PM 1/12/2018