What do the kashubian wear?

We do not know exactly what they wore in the past. Their typical motif has not been used for about 100 years. Specific groups had their own style. It was a difference between sea-fishermen, inland-fishermen, farmers, burghers, the rich and the poor. Only a few elements were common. The clothes which are used by the members of folk music bands is not authentic despite similarity to the traditional festive clothes.

It was a tradition that on Saturdays houses were cleaned and yards tidied because they should be ready for the following - festive day. On ferial days farmers fed their animals in solemn clothes.

Bożena Stelmachowska tried to reconstruct the original figs in her book: 'Strój kaszubski'. She was not alone - Wojcech Błaszkowski, Longin Malicki and Izabela Trojanowska were also interested in that theme. Girls wore wide, crimpy skirts of knee-length. Kirtles were usually made of wool and coloured green, maroon or yellow (but not too often). Blouses were white frill sleeves, assembled in cuffes and tied with a ribbon. They were probably not so decorated with colorful embroidery, which became more popular at the begining of our - 21st century. Velvet corsed called liwôczk, which was put on, was usually black or had the same colour as the a skirt. It was decorated with gold or silver threads. Short pinafores were worn too, the same like white tights and short shoes on raised heels, which were buttoned up with black belt. Women wore also kincobs, girls wore wreaths of flowers or a band coloured like the skirt.

Men wore boots with bootleg (skurznie) in to which trousers (buksy) stuck were. They were usually white. A white shirt was binded with a red ribbon attached like a tie. There was a waistcoat (liwk) on it, sometimes with sleeves (węps), and a kind of navy, black or brown coat (sëknia) with a red lining inside. It had lapels, cuffs and little decorations. The head was protected by a black felt hat which was replaced by fur cap (muca) in winter.

Decorations depended on rich and the coloristics of the region. In the north it was more popular to use blue, in the south and middle Kashubian green, brown and yellow were more common.

These photos descent from Perfekt, which sews regional clothes. We want to thank Mrs. Anna and Mr. Jacek Koscielny. www.perfekt.krakow.pl/gallery.php/en/kaszuby