WHY TRADITIONAL COSTUME? The Contemporary Development of Traditional Costume and Folk Dress in Podluží.

About ten years ago, at the Living Folklore conference organized together with the South Moravian Community Foundation, I met Associate Professor Petr Janeček from the Faculty of Arts at Charles University. At the time, I was a member of the foundation’s board, working in the field where I portrayed and illustrated elderly women in traditional costume - the original bearers of the costume - who were gradually and irreversibly disappearing from our Podluží villages.

These women, including my great-grandmother Františka, never wore anything but traditional costume. Their graceful presence accompanied us throughout our lives in the village - whether they were going to church, cycling to the vineyards, or sitting on benches in front of their homes. Through them, we witnessed all variations of folk dress for married women across both the natural and liturgical cycles of the year.

The beautiful components of their costumes remain as heirlooms in many families in Podluží. Often, after the passing of these women, families did not know what to do with wardrobes full of such treasures. Within the foundation, we focused on preserving them and finding new uses for them. In particular, the foundation’s director, Zlata Maděřičová, played a key role in saving thousands of original costume pieces, which today have new owners.

At that time, Professor Janeček encouraged me to pursue studies in ethnology and cultural anthropology. Since I had already been engaging with folk culture as an artist and often needed to speak about it publicly, the opportunity to learn to reflect on it in a more structured way -beyond intuition - was very welcome. Managing the studies alongside everything else was challenging, and it took me a bit longer, but I have now successfully completed them.

My research and final thesis, titled Why Traditional Costume? The Contemporary Development of Traditional Costume and Folk Dress in Podluží, focuses on a phenomenon that has been unfolding over approximately the past ten years up to the present day.

In my native region of Podluží - where the continuity of wearing traditional folk dress is an almost unique phenomenon within the Czech Republic - there has been a renewed interest in wearing certain forms of traditional clothing that were once believed to be disappearing. While about 8–10 years ago academic literature referred to the original wearers of folk dress as the last of their kind, in the meantime a broader societal interest has emerged - both in this region and across other parts of Europe - in traditional folk culture, its revitalization, and folklorism, including its presence in mass media and electronic social networks.

In recent years, aesthetics inspired by reinterpreted elements of traditional folk culture have entered society as a trend, observable globally and within the fashion industry. An example can be found in garments from my brand Tradice, which build on traditional tailoring principles and decorative elements such as regional embroidered motifs. Other examples of contemporary products inspired by folk culture include embroidered handbags - stitched and sewn in Podluží -as well as T-shirts or sneakers featuring ornamental designs by various manufacturers, who either embroider or paint them, though these are often simply printed on products originating from distant countries.

In the South Moravian ethnographic subregion of Podluží, alongside the original wearers of folk dress, a growing number of younger women - my peers - are continuing this tradition. They inherit both the knowledge and the garments themselves from the original wearers and choose to wear different variations of traditional dress on an increasing number of occasions throughout the year. Through social events as well as social media, they influence and inspire one another.

Some of these women also create their own garments, costume elements, or accessories, giving traditional dress a new form, function, and meaning. My research focused on nine exceptional women, including, for example, Hanka Pijáková, who shares her life in traditional costume on Instagram under the name Žena v kroji (“Woman in Costume”); Adéla Stancová Sněhotová, known as Lékařka v kroji (“Doctor in Costume”); and Saša Pečková, who creates under the brand Vyšívaný folklór (“Embroidered Folklore”) and is also active on social media.

Some of my narrators have worn traditional costume since childhood, continuing an uninterrupted family tradition, while others have found their own path to it. Each story is remarkably rich and inspiring, which is why I devoted a separate chapter to each of them. It is precisely within the context of understanding these individual life stories - processed through a biographical method - that the research questions can be explored:

Who are the contemporary wearers of traditional costume for married women in the Moravian ethnographic subregion of Podluží, what variations of the costume do they wear throughout the year, and why?

How is the form of traditional costume for married women evolving and transforming within the Moravian ethnographic subregion of Podluží, and what influences are shaping this development and change?

How are garments and accessories incorporating reinterpreted elements of traditional folk culture evolving, and what significance do they hold for their wearers?

The full version of the thesis can be found in the publicly accessible archive of Charles University.

Contemporary wearers are increasingly wearing throughout the year various forms of traditional costume for married women that were, until recently, believed would disappear from our villages. It is a joy to witness.