ROMANIAN TRADITIONAL

COSTUMES
KINDERGARTEN PRICHINDEL
PUCIOASA-ROMANIA
2012
Director: Prof. Ionescu Aurelia
Teacher: Dinu Florentina-Mihaela

ROMANIAN TRADITIONAL
COSTUMES
The structure of Romanian traditional clothing has remained
unchanged throughout history and can be traced back to the earliest
times. The basic garment for both men and women is a shirt which
is made from hemp, linen or woollen fabric. This was tied round the
waist using a fabric belt, narrow for women and wider for men. The
cut of this basic chemise is similar for men and women. In the past
those worn by women usually reached to the ankles while men's
shirts were shorter and worn over trousers or leggings made from
strips of fabric. Women always wear an apron over the chemise.
This was initially a single piece of cloth wrapped round the lower
part of their bodies and secured by a belt at the waist, as is still seen
in the east and south east of Romania. In Transylvania and the
south west of Romania this became two separate aprons, one worn
at the back and one at the front.

Men's traditional clothing throughout Romania comprises

a white shirt white trousers, hat, belt, waistcoat and
or overcoat. Local differences are indicated by shirt
length, type of embroidery, trouser cut, hat shape, or
waistcoat decoration. In most areas shirts are worn
outside trousers, which is the older style. This is a basic
Balkan man's costume largely uninfluenced by fashions
from west or east.
The outer garments worn by both men and women are
similar, the main differences being in cut and decoration
which depend mainly on the region of provenance.
These garments are usually made of sheepskin, or felted
woollen fabric, and decorated with leather appliqu and
silk embroidery.

MENS COSTUMES
Sheepskin hats/Felt hats/ Straw hats
Straight Shirt/ Straight shirt with
gussets/ Shirt with yoke or shoulders
Tight winter trousers/ Long Creased
Trousers/ Thin summer trousers/ Wide
summer trousers/ Dark woollen
"baggy" trousers

Sheepskin hats
Are worn all over
Romania and in most
of the surrounding
Balkan countries in
winter. Fur hats are
made by furriers and
are most often black,
although white
sheepskin hats are
worn in parts of Banat
and grey in central and
north Moldavia.

Felt hats
Hard felt hats are made by
specialised craftsmen in
workshops and are worn
throughout the year. These
hats are found centred on
the Saxon regions around
Sibiu and Bistria and may
have been introduced into
Transylvania by the
Saxons, whose craftsmen
made them in workshops,
from the 18th century. The
style varies widely in shape
and size of brim according
to area.

Straw hats
Straw hats are worn by
men (and women)
throughout Romania in
the summer. Straw
hats vary in style from
region to region
although regional
differences are now
becoming less
common as the straw
version of the trilby
takes over.

Straw hats

MENS SHIRTS
The traditional mens shirt is one of oldest elements of costume in
Romania and the surrounding countries. The cut and form of
mens shirts has fewer variants and less elaborate decoration then
womens chemises. Traditional shirts were made of rectangular
widths of white fabric woven on 2 heddles, both of vegetable
fibres. Working shirts were made of hemp; shirts for festive wear
were made of flax or cotton or animal fibres such as cocoon silk
and very thin wool yarn. In some parts the fabric used for shirts
was woven with strips of various colours (rust, cherry, light blue,
yellow) known as chenars or with cocoon silk thread stripes.
Shirts are worn over trousers, and usually with a belt. In some
areas the shirt has a flared lower part (poale) forming a skirt
(fust) which could be pleated with narrow pleats.

Straight Shirt
This is the oldest form of
men's shirt. It is made from
one piece of cloth forming the
front and back, with a hole cut
out for the neck and a slit from
the neck to the chest. This
style has straight sleeves
wider at the wrists which are
joined to the main garment at
the shoulder and had no cuffs.
The oldest version had no
collar and was decorated only
around the neck and sleeve
ends. Later versions have
collars and cuffs added, and
have wider gussets which may
be gathered into the collar and
are more elaborately
decorated.

Straight shirt with gussets

This type of shirt was made
with up to 8 triangular
shaped gussets inserted in
the front and back with
pointed ends upwards
forming a "M" shape, which
was accentuated by black
or yellow embroidery. The
"skirt" was fuller due to the
gussets and was often
pleated. This style of shirt
was worn mainly by
shepherds in the zones of
Sibiu, Petroani, Trnave,
Alba, Orstie, Haeg, and
certain villages of north
Gorj, Mehedini and Vlcea

Shirt with yoke or shoulders

Shirts with separate piece(s) of

material joined at the shoulders
to form a yoke, or with inset
pieces of material over the
shoulders became common in
the west of Romania from the
early 20th century. The lower
part of the shirt and top of the
sleeves was usually gathered
where they were joined to the
yoke or shoulder insets and the
sleeves were gathered into cuffs.
This type of shirt usually had a
collar. The tops of the shoulders
and the cuffs were decorated
with embroidery, and there was
also decoration on the collar.

Tight winter trousers

The most common type is
made of a width of material for
each leg and one for the crutch.
These are found in a large area
of the Carpathians Mountains,
Moldavia, North Muntenia and
south Transylvania.

Thin summer trousers

Are trousers worn in summer

and made in white homespun
material (white linen, hemp or
cotton and occasionally in
Moldavia very finely spun wool)

Wide summer trousers

These wide linen trousers were worn in

Maramure, Oa, Bihor, Arad and also
in Slovakia, Carpathian areas of
Ukraine, parts of Hungary, North Serbia
and Slovenia. They were made of cloth
woven in hemp, cotton or cotton with
hemp, using 2 heddles. Each leg was
ormed of 2 (or more) widths of cloth
joined by using decorative white
crocheted stitches called "cheie" (little
keys) up to 1.5" wide. The length of
these trousers was between knee and
ankle length depending on the region.

WOMENS COSTUMES
Straight apron /Wrap round skirt/ Pleated or
gathered apron/ Skirt
Straight cut chemise/ Chemise with shoulder
insets/ Chemise with Yoke/ Gathered round
neck chemise/ Underskirt
Oblong cotton scarf/ Silk veil / Square scarf /
Triangular scarf/ Bonnets/ Straw Hats/ Felt hats
Metal jewellery/ Beads/

Straight apron
The most common costume
type has two rectangular
straight aprons (most
commonly called catrin or
zadie) which are worn at the
front and back with the white
underskirt showing at the sides. These
aprons are made of a rectangular piece
of woollen material, either a single
width or 2 widths joined together
either vertically of horizontal. The
size varies from zone to zone, as
does the style of decoration. They
are tied round the waist using
cords.

Wrap round skirt

The fot is made of woollen
material, or cotton mixed
with wool, woven on 4
heddles. It fully covers the
underskirt (poale) except
for, in some areas, the hem
. The oldest fote were made
of black or greyish brown
fabric using the natural
colours of the wool. The
earliest decoration was a
red border (bete roii) at the
lower edge, and on the front
edge, which strengthen the
fabric.

Pleated or gathered apron

It is made of home
wovenmaterial, thick or thin
cloth (pnz), wool, cotton
or cashmere, and decorated
with embroidery, or more
recently of factory woven
material such as floral
printed calico.

Skirt
Is a wide skirt made of
homespun or factory made
wool worn in certain areas
of Romania since the 19th
century. These can be
distinguished from the
older style wrap around
aprons by the fact the the
material is gathered and
sewn onto a waistband,
rather than being tied
around the waist using a
cord, with the ends of the
fabric not being joined. The
origin of these is most
likely from urban fashion.

Straight cut chemise

It is made using a single width of

homespun fabric called a val,
which is cut into rectangles.
The main width forms the
body, a round hole is cut for
the head and a slit is made at
the front. It has no shoulder
seam. Each sleeve is made of
a width of material and is
joined to the main part at
shoulder level. A small square
of fabric (gusset) called
broasc is inserted under the
arm and side gussets were
later added to give extra width.

Chemise with shoulder insets

Chemise with shoulder

insets (cma cu
umera) is a variant of
the straight shirt. The
basic cut is the same
as straight chemise
but a piece of cloth is
added over the
shoulders.

Chemise with Yoke

In this variant a rectangle of
fabric is used to make a
square yoke onto which
rectangles of fabric are
gathered to form the front and
back of the blouse. The
sleeves are gathered at the
shoulders and wrists, and
either open out into a frill or
were cuffed. The lower part of
the chemise is made of
rectangular pieces with added
gussets. The neck opening is
decorated with a frill in Bihor,
collar (Salaj), or has a square
neck (Maramure).

Gathered round neck chemise

The front, back and sleeves
of this chemise are made of
rectangular pieces of
homespun fabric. Four
pieces are used for the
body of the blouse, one for
the front, one for the back
and two for the side
gussets with a V shape cut
out to insert the sleeves
which are joined in at neck
in raglan fashion. This type
of chemise also has a
gusset inserted under the
arm to ease movement.

Underskirt
In the past long chemises were
worn mainly in the south of the
country, whereas the
underskirt was more often
separated from the blouse in
Transylvania, Banat and
Moldavia, although more
recently the chemise has
become two garments in most
regions. Where the two
garments are separate the
underskirt or lower part of the
female chemise is cut from the
same piece of cloth as the
blouse and gathered, tied with
a cord or with a belt. It is then
either joined to the blouse or
worn separately.

Oblong cotton scarf

The oblong cotton

scarf or silk veil is
the oldest type
of traditional head
covering.

Silk veil

Is usually made of
home woven
cocoon silk
although in some
areas cotton was
used.

Square scarf
A square scarf is a square
of fabric woven in cotton,
silk or wool, and either
plain, decorated with
embroidery, or printed.
They can be of varying size
and thickness. It are usually
folded in half diagonally
and worn by women to
cover their heads, by tying
them at the back, or under
the chin depending on the
zone, nationality, fashion or
age of the woman.

Triangular scarf

Triangular scarves are

worn mostly in the
south, Dobrogea, East
Moldavia and across
the Danube. These
were home woven of
thin white cotton or
muslin or bought ready
made and are often
fringed with lace and
beads.

Straw Hats
Straw hats made in
specialist workshops are
worn by women along the
Carpathians, and in south
and central Transylvania.
They are worn in the fields
in summer, often over a
scarf as protection from the
sun and for festive
occasions when they are
decorated with coloured
ribbons, tassels, beads,
flowers and small mirrors.

Bonnets
In Banat and southwest
Hunedoara small cloth
bonnets are worn mainly by
married women. These are
made of flax or cotton
fabric which is embroidered
with woollen, silk, cotton or
metal thread. There are
many different styles, some
based on late 18th century
bonnets found in other
parts of Europe.

Belts

Belts made of woven fabric

or leather form part of
traditional costume in most
in regions. Men wear either
leather or fabric belts or
both depending on the
region, whereas women
usually wear fabric belts.
Fabric belts are woven by
women at home, whereas
the production of leather
belts has taken place in
workshops since the
introduction of the guilds in
1600's.

Leather belts

These are made from

folded leather and
differ in width and
decoration from zone
to zone. They usually
have a covered pocket
which is used for
keeping money or
tobacco.

Romanian peasant footwear

Peasant sandals Opinci
Are made of a
single rectangle of
cow, ox or pig hide
gathered round the
foot in various
ways.

Foot wraps
Used to be were worn
with peasant sandals .
These were
rectangular pieces of
white woollen cloth
which were wrapped
round the feet and legs
and held in place by
hemp cords.

Boots
Boots were introduced during
Ottoman times, and were worn
first by the upper classes, only
becoming available to the
richer peasants in the 19th
century. Initially the
Hungarians in Transylvania
banned the Romanians from
wearing boots, but boots are
now widely worn by men
especially in west and north
Transylvania and also by
women in some regions of
Transylvania such as ara
Oaului, Sibiu, Fgra .

Romanian peasant footwear

Peasant sandals Opinci
Are made of a
single rectangle of
cow, ox or pig hide
gathered round the
foot in various
ways.

Costumes
Muntenia

Costumes
Banat

Costumes
Oltenia

Costumes
Maramure

Costumes
Moldavia

Costumes
Transylvania

Copyright:

http://www.eliznik.org.uk/RomaniaPortul/

ART FOR LEARNING, ART FOR PEACE,

ART FOR NATURE, ART FOR LIFE

This project is financed with the support of the

European Commission through Lifelong Learning
Programme - Multilateral Comenius Projects 2010. This
presentation reflects only the authors point of view and
the European Commission is not responsible for the
possible utilization of the information it contains.

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