Litomysl-Policka folk costume

Description of Litomysl-Policka woman´s folk costume

The costume from Litomysl region is unusually nice. Its beauty lies primarily in firm and still lines which, in conjunction with cloth colours, ribbons, fineness and embroidery richness, make a very harmonious and pretty whole.

Lady's shirt

it is from fine linen, it has a straight shape with underarm gussets, the sleeves are smaller, hitched up and ended by about 6 cm wide net lace, there is a gathered ruffles made of net lace that is about 8 cm wide.

The apron

two versions
- fine white linen is inwrought by red flower pattern, the apron itself is sewed into a wider and inwrought belt
- dark blue (indigo) linen with the full white embroidery at the lower edge and richer on the both sides, about 150 cm wide, gathered into a belt in the waist

Kordulka (a bodice)

plain (wine-coloured, yellow, green, brown, blue); the shape is very close to typical Czech bodices but it hasn´t got peplums going beyond the waist and it is straight ended in the waist; on the back piece there are sewed stuffed bustles on which the skirt lies, the bodice is just marked by a coloured ribbon; front pieces are stiffened and they are laced up with a coloured ribbon; there is “a small gate” over the lacing

The skirt

two versions
- mezulanka – a wide, frilled, under knees, one coloured (blue, brown-red, dark green)
- kolovanka – linen, light natural base, red crosswise stripes of different width, thicker down and sparser up

The underskirt

there should be at least three underskirts to make a body wide into a bell-shaped form, it should be wide, folded, the ruffle tightly to the edge of skirt and made of white linen

The scarf

with three tips, over the shoulders, laced under the small gate of a bodice, on the hips sometimes tucked in the skirt

two colours

- fine white linen inwrought by wine-coloured thread as the apron
- very colourful but not striking, wine-coloured

The stockings

worsted, light red or white, sometimes even blue, decorated with fine embroidery of white or creamy or another fine colour on the ankle

Shoes

black, leather, low heeled, a fine coloured thin belt over the instep

The head dress

šata - stripe of very fine cloth about 180 cm long and 25 cm wide, finely inwrought with yellow silk at the ends, ended by precious bobbin laced or sewed lace, under the “šata” the “loubek” used to be seen on the faces (the decoration which we know just from Litomysl region); it was a metal semi circled arc widened on the both sides into belaboured or pressed rosette with a colourful glass, its purpose was to fasten the bonnet to the head; the girls had their hair simply combed to the scruff, interlaced into two plaits and rolled up into a lasting knot of hair decorated with a ribbon, yellow brass or silver-plated pin

Description of Litomysl folk costume for men

The folk costume for men is as colourful and rich as the folk costume for women. Its decoration lies in embroidery. There mainly appears a tiny floral pattern embroidered with blue silk.

Shirt

It is made of firm linen; it has very wide sleeves which are always well starched and ironed, gathered into a belt on the wrist. The belt is decorated with quite rich embroidery from white silk. The shirt is gathered into a wide folded collar similarly embroidered on the neck.

Jerkin

a very short cut to the waist, high stiff collar, decorated little pockets which are cut out; peplums at the back are simply cut to two pieces, richly embroidered

little blooms and grapes are embroidered on small branches wrapped around the high collar, they fill the gaps between thick rows of buttons and pinholes on the front part, they are twisted together into a bunch lying above the back peplums; wavy line with little blooms wraps around the front parts and on the collar; on the right side there is stitched a thick row of little gold buttons, on the left side there are pinholes seamed with silk (but just a few buttons used to be done up); cloth for the jerkin used to be white with cornflower blue embroidery; the edge of the jerkin always used to be braided with the strip of red cloth which protruded even on the upper side; the tight-fitting jacket called “lajblik” also used to appear

Trousers

originally made of leather (of mutton, deer, doe), they were not yellow as other folk costumes used to be but they were light brown, narrow fly front was hinged on two buttons; simply embroidered; under knees they were tied with narrow tethers

Belt

unusual and beautiful leather belt, 12-16 cm wide, the whole belt used to be duple – sewed together at one end and ended by poked strap at the other end; by this way it created a small pouch, in which peasants used to have money, it was unusually embroidered by peacock quills into flower patterns; the belt filled the gap between trousers and a short jerkin; sometimes it was replaced for braces.

Neckerchief

colourful, similar to female neckerchief, which was a part of folk costume for women, but smaller; it was often a half of a neckerchief which was cut into two from a square one (“polousek”), it was tied under the applied shirt collar

Hose

white, made of yarn, sometimes also blue or red; sometimes embroidered; they reached up over the knees

Shoes

earlier low shoes with a big metal buckle used to be worn, later high black leather boots won out

Coat

the most beautiful part of a folk costume for men, a feature of his male and estate maturity; it was made of white, lightly bluish cloth, it almost reached the floor, it had a short bodice and wide coat-tails put next to it, which were fold up into deep folds on the back sides; it was decorated by fine light blue embroidery and ornamental buttons; it was meant just for special ceremonial occasions

Headgear

it was usually current also in other Czech regions; for this locality “stolice” (stool) was characteristic, it had a fur “prámec” on the right side, about 10 cm high, on the left side about 28 cm, a black broad-brimmed hat was another headgear, it was very wide, with the diameter up 55 cm, the edges decorated with black velvet ribbons were lifted up on the sides so that they could rise up above the forehead (a trace of a tricorn hat), on the top there was a silver button