Folk Costumes in South-eastern Moravia Today*

This contribution discusses the current status of folk costumes in south-eastern Moravia. At the theoretical level, it categorizes levels of clothing culture as they pertain to folk costumes and further addresses the political, social and economic conditions and associations that enable, or even support, the parallel existence of these categories of folk costumes. Although folk costumes, in the strictest sense, are only worn these days by a small proportion of elderly women, their festive equivalents grace a great many people, across the generations, at various kinds of celebrations. New folk costume outfits are supplied by a specialist workshop in Uherský Ostroh, the activities of which are also described in the article. The workshop specialises in the manufacture of complete folk costumes, their maintenance, and the restoration of their parts. It was established with financial assistance from the European Union, in accordance with its policy of support for the diversity of European regional culture. Since then, submitting to the economic pressures of the free market, it has been forced to extend the range of its production programme. In the social and historical context of Central Europe, the term “folk costume” denotes clothing worn by rural communities largely engaged in agricultural work. Unlike some of the more familiar clothing worn in the past, folk costumes originate and develop anonymously, and are intimately linked to the geographical environment that supplies the material for their manufacture, of animal or plant origin. The environment also plays its part in the style of the clothing, while new elements and influences (e.g. population movements, changes in more routine historical clothing, military uniforms, etc.) are invariably adopted after some time. In the festival versions of folk costumes a major part is played by aesthetic and socially demonstrative components and by regional affiliations. In contrast, more archaic elements such as non-sewn components (Jeřábková 2007), are evident from the clothes of the poorest social classes, through working clothes and up to ceremonial garments. From simple clothing, the primary function of which was the protection from the elements, folk costume evolved into an intricately structured, multifaceted phenomenon of fascinating complexity, a phenomenon that both explicitly demonstrates and implicitly conceals many of its meanings. The folk costumes in south-eastern Moravia hold a specific position in regard to the other regions of the Czech Republic. Several categories of clothing that relate to folk costumes exist there in parallel, blending into one another: actual folk costumes; their festival versions, chiefly intended for the younger generation and only worn for a few occasions a year; and modified, stylized folk costumes.