Nederlandse Kostuumvereniging

Jaarboek Kostuum 1998

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Klederdracht en Kleedgedrag. Het Kostuum Harer Majesteits onderdanen 1898-1998


Table of Contents

  1. Dolly Verhoeven
    Costume and Choice

    From early on the territory of the Netherlands has known many forms of regional dress, which differ greatly from each other. Each dress has its own specific peculiarities. A Zeeland cap, a Frisian oorijzer (the metal frame worn inside the cap), a Brabant cap, they all immediately betray the wearer's origin. Even now, when traditional dress has almost disappeared, many people will still recognize the Volendam cap or the Bunschoten kraplap, which enlarges the shoulders to huge proportions.

    Because certain components of the costume are so readily identified, one might easily get the impression that the shape of every type of traditional dress is fixed and unchanging. And indeed there are precise dress codes within every regional dress: every member of the community knows exactly which skirts, bodices, jackets or caps he or she is supposed to wear. By abiding by these (unwritten) rules one demonstrates one's membership of the group.

    However, this does not mean that there is no choice within regional dress. As Kitty de Leeuw's article demonstrates, every dress has a range of possibilities for variety. Some of these variations are available to the community as a whole, such as the difference between summer and winter clothes, others are more personal, such as the diversity in embroidery and crochet and knitting patterns. By adding personal touches a member of the group affirms his or her own personality. Another opportunity for choice is the introduction of new elements into the dress: components from 'civilian fashion' or other forms of regional dress are regularly adopted. Young adults are usually the ones to muster the courage to distinguish themselves from the rest.

    The interaction between regional dress and fashion does not only consist of the adoption of fashion elements into regional dress. The reverse also happens, as Sytske Wille contends in her contribution. Especially during the 1970s and 1980s rural dress became an important source of inspiration for fashion, although the original function and significance of the traditional garments were abandoned. It is striking that this phenomenon is linked to the disappearance of traditional dress itself; apparently this creates the opportunity to fit elements of traditional dress into a new fashion image.

    The most radical choice many wearers of regional dress are faced with is the switch from traditional dress to civilian clothes. In 1898 the wearing of regional dress was still fairly widespread, but after World War II this changed fast. In his contribution Wielent Harms uses the dress of Staphorst and Rouveen as an example to show what kind of events and considerations play a part in setting aside traditional dress. Apart from practical obstacles, such as the disappearance of the proper materials and the loss of specialist knowledge, social and cultural circumstances play the most important part. The post-war opening-up of rural areas, the blossoming of the welfare state with its services ready and waiting, the mobility that has increased exponentially, these are all circumstances which bring the moment of choice in favour of 'civilian clothes' closer. It is fascinating to see that many women in Staphorst and Rouveen do not make this choice at one particular moment, but shape it into a gradual process. In this manner the painful parting from the dress is easier to accept for each individual as well as for the community as a whole.

    Rigid, group-centred regulations at first sight seem to be more prevalent in regional dress than in fashion. But fashion also imposes its limits. This is made very obvious when certain individuals opt for a different mode of dress. The feminists who in the late nineteenth century set aside the constricting and unpractical women's fashions, in order to wear comfortable 'reform' gowns from then on, must have been very determined women, as Carin Schnitger emphasizes in her text. They were treated with derision and disgust by the rest of society. These ladies searched for an alternative mode of dress out of considerations of health and practicality. That they distanced themselves from the current social conventions by doing so, was the result of their actions, but not their objective as such. These feminists took the adverse social consequences into the bargain.

    It was quite different in the case of the hippies, who in the 1960s intentionally decided to oppose the bourgeois morality of their parents. Sjouk Hoitsma shows in her article that these young adults opted for a lifestyle of their own, based on anti-materialistic and ecological principles. By their choice in music, their behaviour and their dress the hippies emphatically demonstrated their membership of a separate community, although this was not confined to any region but internationally oriented instead. The hippy look that went with it guaranteed an identifiable image, while the do-it-yourself ethos offered plenty of scope to express individual creativity in the clothes.

    The person wearing traditional dress in modern society is usually very different from his/her environment. Since so many people have said goodbye to traditional dress, those who still hold on to it have willy-nilly been manoeuvred into an exceptional position. This does not only apply to Dutch regional dress, but also to people from ethnic minorities. Clothes that are perfectly normal in the country of origin, may be very exceptional in the context of Dutch society. Present-day Moroccan women are an identifiable community in the Netherlands; at least those amongst them who keep wearing traditional Moroccan clothes. In their contribution Sasja Kelbs and Gillian Vogelsang emphasize that the decision to hold on to tradition - the headscarf in particular - or not, has a lot to do with the identity the women concerned wish to project, and their objectives. Do they see themselves in the first place as European women, as Moroccans, as Muslims? Lately some Islamic women have consciously opted for the wearing of the headscarf to define their position towards western non-Islamic society explicitly.

    An explicit message - albeit on a totally different ground - was also given by the punk rockers of the 1970s. Their agressive style of dress is a deliberate translation of their beliefs and lifestyle,  as Gertjan van Schoonhoven's contribution shows. But like all new fashions in dress, punk also has its successors by now. Present-day ‘altos’ use a mix of the dress codes of punk and hippy as no more than features of style, without linking them to any philosophy of life as such. It is striking that they can exchange this style of dress for another without any trouble, seemingly just according to their mood. More than ever it seems to have become possible in this post-modern age to choose an identity, temporarily if necessary, and to wear it literally on your sleeve.

  2. Kitty de Leeuw
    Regulations, change and diversity in regional dress

    During the 19th century regional dress was worn in large parts of the Netherlands. This article deals first with the stability of regional dress. Why was it important and how was it ensured? The second section centres around the evolution of regional dress. Which circumstances influenced it and how did changes take shape? The next subject is the diversity within each single region’s dress. Which variants were recognized and what was their purpose? The fourth section focuses on the margins for individual choice wearers of regional dress were allowed. The final question is whether the different types of regional dress differed in stability and rate of change and diversity, or whether there was a universally valid pattern.

    Wearing regional dress showed one's desire to belong to the community of the village or region where one lived, whilst demonstrating to the outside world that one was a member of that community. One's social position within the community was also exactly expressed in clothes and accessories. In short, regional dress reflected the social identity of the wearer. Because of this regional dress could not change its appearance too quickly or drastically. Stability and respect for tradition were of paramount importance. Regulations concerning the region's dress were inculcated into children as they were growing up. Through strict social control people supervised each other’s modes of dress and in this way maintained the desired stability. Nevertheless regional dress was not static: as long as the dress was ‘alive’, it kept changing. Important contributing factors to this change were changes in personal circumstances, religious developments and the young people of the community, who made the dress their own by incorporating some small alterations.

    Regional dress always knew several variants. For instance there would be a difference between winter and summer wear. Weekday clothes were different from Sunday best and the dress of many regions knew special festive variations as well as mourning dress. Finally, variations of dress denoted the clearly circumscribed position of the wearer within the community: dress would vary with age, marital status (for women), occupation, degree of affluence and religious belief. Furthermore regional dress allowed some leeway in its details to demonstrate the wearer's personal taste and skills.

    Although the dress of different regions shows the same overall pattern, there were differences in the emphasis put on stability and tradition or change. Some communities, such as Marken, were very conservative, others, such as Volendam, were more ‘fashion-conscious’.

  3. Sytske I. E. Wille-Engelsma
    Dutch folklore as a source of inspiration for Dutch fashion

    Fashion has always incorporated exotic fabrics and garments as well as elements of the dress of the common people. In the 1970s and ‘80s peasant dress became an important source of inspiration, both to haute couture and street style. The resulting style is often called 'folklore fashion'.

    The popular women's and needlework magazines were an important medium, sometimes publishing simplified patterns of national and international folklore. Dutch rural dress was not seen as ‘exotic’ until the middle of the twentieth century, but then it became a popular source. This may for example be seen in the work of Constance Nieuwhoff for Ariadne and Henriëtte Beukers for Het complete Handwerken (The complete Needlework). Many different techniques were used, such as crochet, knitting, embroidery, lacemaking, smocking and dyeing.

    The 1974-1976 collections of fashion designer Frank Govers were inspired by Dutch regional dress. Marieke Olsthoorn-Roosen, who designs children's and women's clothes for her own Oilily label, has consistently used (inter)national folklore elements in her collections.

    Traditional regional dress has disappeared, but it keeps reappearing as an inspiration for modern, fashionable clothes.

  4. Wielent Harms
    To rise, shine and decline
    The disappearance of regional dress

    n the past hundred years the number of people wearing regional dress has declined enormously. For this there are several causes. How the process takes place may be traced by looking at women’s dress in Staphorst, which is disappearing fast.

    In the first place fashion plays a part. The very diverse forms of regional dress at one time or another have all been derived from fashionable dress. Because wearers of regional dress opt for durable fabrics, some costumes may last for generations, with influences of a certain fashion period remaining visible for a long time. The dress of Staphorst and Rouveen contains elements  originating in seventeenth-century clothing, such as the kraplap (a piece of fabric covering the chest), the vest, which is worn visibly, and the oorijzer (the metal frame worn inside the cap). Even so a community wearing regional dress is not afraid of changes, as long as they are of a practical nature or seen as an embellishment. Indeed, innovations keep regional dress alive, without changes or additions it would be as good as dead.

    Within the community one of the functions of clothes is to show the wearer's standing. An example is the way the church bible is carried. A silver chain used to be reserved for the women from well-off farmers’ families; lower-class women made do with a cord. However, when working-class girls began to have well-paid jobs, they also bought a silver chain for their bibles. This phenomenon was not to be stopped and a new group norm was created.

    Technical innovation and the use of new materials also brought changes to the dress. The production of sustainable woollen fabrics was mostly discontinued after World War II. Nowadays people no longer have an understanding of how to maintain parts of dress in good shape. This also leads to the extinction of the dress.

    The post-war welfare state has caused a weakening of social pressure. Group identity ­ an engine for the preservation of regional dress - became less important. First most of the men who started to work outside the community set aside their handsome dress. They didn’t want to be different from their colleagues from elsewhere, and in the years following 1960 started to wear ‘civilian’ clothes. Staphorst women on the whole remained faithful to their dress, but even among them the appreciation of traditional clothing habits is decreasing. Many of them no longer wear traditional dress during the summer months, but skirts, blouses and frocks. Each year the number of women going back to traditional dress for the winter months will decrease. As the changeover is a gradual process, the resistance from the community lessens.

    Then the disappearance of regional dress is also a result of a negative approach in the media. There has long been a tendency to equate everything stupid and backward with regional dress and/or language, causing extensive damage to the self-image of country people.

    As 'the last of the Mohicans' the small group of people still wearing traditional dress express a regional identity in their clothes. They deserve a statue, and there are places where they have got one by now.

  5. Carin Schnitger
    Away with the corset, long live the Wilhelmina bodice
    New clothes for new women

    n 1898, the year of the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina's inauguration, the National Exhibition of Women's Labour was held in The Hague. This focused, amongst other subjects, on vocational training for women, social work, feminist issues, better housing hygiene and a healthy way of dressing.

    From the second half of the nineteenth century onwards female fashion, that very uncomfortable, unhealthy status symbol, knew continuous changes at an ever increasing rate. A contest was written out for a 'healthy, practical and beautiful women's costume'. Among the requirements were the following: this modern dress should neither include a tight-laced corset, nor a train; the underwear should be made of light, ‘breathing’ materials and seamstresses should have better working conditions.

    All this led to the foundation in 1899 of the Society for the Improvement of Women's Clothes (the Dutch name was abbreviated to VvVvV), which for fifteen years called attention to the question of dress with great dedication. The wearers of the 'improved' or reform dress were mostly feminists, often from artistic circles of left-wing liberals and social democrats, who dared show themselves in something else than the dress prescribed by current fashions. In spite of this the VvVvV’s main interest lay with stretchy, breathing underwear for mothers (to be), through which they would have a healthy body capable to give birth without any problem - a Darwinistic ideal.

    The young Queen Wilhelmina probably did not look favourably on reform dress: it was too unconventional, too much bound up with progressive political trends. Because of this it remains questionable whether the so-called Wilhelmina bodice (a replacement of the corset, with just a bit of flexible boning) was named after her; maybe rather after an ardent defender of feminism like Wilhelmina Drucker.

  6. Sjouk Hoitsma
    Put some flowers in your hair
    Hippy dress in the Netherlands 1967-1970

    This essay came about by research into the background of a number of hippy garments in the collection of the Historical Museum Rotterdam. Hitweek (1965-1969), the first Dutch weekly magazine specifically targeting the young, turned out to be an excellent source of information on the dress of the Dutch hippies and their reasons for dressing the way they did.

    The Dutch anarchistic youth movement Provo (1965-1967) had already prepared the ground for the hippy culture which came from London and San Francisco, and gained influence in 1967. The hippies of the peace-loving Flower Power movement thought to conquer the violence in the world by universally shared love. With their 'lieve revolutie' (‘sweet revolution’) they wanted to offer an alternative to the materialist bourgeois society.

    Their strong orientation towards magical places and eastern philosophies, towards the natural and the unspoilt, was reflected in the hippy dress. The home-made hippy clothes in the collection of the Historical Museum Rotterdam clearly show the features of the hippy look: altered second-hand clothes incorporating the influence of eastern patterns, designs and techniques in combination with contemporary symbols. The older generation had a strong aversion to this, caused by their association with the crisis and war periods.

    Because of the do-it-yourself principle fashion originated 'in the street', totally independent of the established fashion system. The unique street fashion could only be found in small boutiques, a new phenomenon in the Netherlands from 1965 onwards.

    However, by 1970 the hippy look could be bought as cheap ready-to-wear; ‘styled‘ pictures of hippy dress appeared in the fashion pages of lifestyle magazines. Street fashion had become fashion.

  7. Sasja Kelbs and Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood
    Different?
    Moroccan Dress in the Netherlands

    There are numerous ethnic groups now living in the Netherlands, including those from Indonesia, Surinam, Turkey, Morocco and Southern Europe. Many of these groups have brought their own dress traditions with them. As a result a whole range of different types of dress can be seen in the streets of many of the big Dutch cities, such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague.

    There has been a degree of assimilation of western dress, especially among the young. Nevertheless it is noticeable that many Moroccan women use a distinctive type of dress in public: the long caftan-like garment with a hood called jellaba. Yet how representative of Moroccan dress is this garment? It would appear that it is not, as there are over twenty different regional costumes in Morocco and most Moroccan women in the Netherlands wear a modified form of urban costume.

    Another detail of the dress of Moroccan women which is widely commented upon in the Dutch media, is the headscarf worn by Muslim women and girls. This garment has become a symbol of the Islamic religion and of the role of woman within Islamic society. For some people it is a symbol of belonging, for others it has become one of hatred. At the end of the twentieth century it remains one of the most controversial garments in Northern Europe.

  8. Gertjan van Schoonhoven
    Punk integrated
    Zips, splattered paint and Alsatians

    During the early 1980s punk rockers scared everyone rigid with their spiky dyed hair, safety pins, zips, leather coats scribbled all over and torn T-shirts bearing slogans. To a large part of the public they became the symbol of ‘anarchistic’ social criticism - very different from the nice hippies.

    Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren sold rubber clothes equipped with many zips in their London shop Sex. To promote their style they brought in the Sex Pistols, named so after the shop. This group played rough rock with sarcastic, socially critical lyrics and their appearance also denoted that war was declared between them and the rest of the world. In the Netherlands punk gear developed into protest wear for squatters (who for instance opposed the festivities for Queen Beatrix' inauguration) and for young people who protested against nuclear weapons.

    For years punk remained an underground affair, without commercial encapsulation. This was partly because the punk rocker put together his own outfit, which meant that until this day punk remains a highly individual style of dress. This in contrast to another typical phenomenon of Dutch youth, the gabber, whose whole outfit may be shop­bought.

    Present-day youth may choose from a plethora of styles: if it feels non-conformist, it can make its hair stick up and dye it purple. The difference from the alto (alternative) look, based on the gentle hippy styles, has become vague: thesis (hippy clothes) and antithesis (punk gear) have resulted in the synthesis alto.

    Today the British group The Prodigy goes back extensively to the early days of punk rock. They are still the nightmare of every mother-in-law. So punk will probably never be truly integrated.

  9. Dolly Verhoeven
    Costume and nation

    As the term indicates, regional dress is a pre-eminently regional phenomenon. Traditionally every region of the Netherlands had its own specific dress, with local variations. One can classify these different forms of dress by tribe, as is popular in 1898, or group them by province, as happens in 1949, or search for regional patterns in individual components of the costume. But however the different forms of dress are classified, great differences between the different regions remain visible.

    Nevertheless dress has a national significance from very early on. In 1830, just after the secession of Belgium, there are even proposals (never carried out by the way) to design and wear a true national dress to mark the difference between the northerners and their former, southern compatriots. When at the end of the nineteenth century preparations are being made for Queen Wilhelmina's inauguration and a present is discussed: an exhibition of examples of national traditional dress is deemed most fitting. In spite of all the local and regional diversity, these different forms of dress together are thought to symbolize the unity of the Dutch nation. It is no coincidence that another exhibition at the time of the inauguration shows the works of Rembrandt, the ultimate national heritage.

    Ad de Jong shows in his article that the emergence of regional dress as a national symbol is connected to power shifts both at home and abroad in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. World’s fairs in the fields of industry, trade and agriculture demand a clearly identifiable presentation of the countries taking part. In a fast-industrializing and modernizing world traditional dress is pushed forward as a symbol of reliability and soundness. Or, to put it in modern terms: traditional dress is deployed abroad as a PR instrument. But at home traditional dress also has an obvious role as a national symbol. Where emerging socialism and religious strife cause tension, the monarchy and popular culture are deployed as counterbalance – they set off the ‘unity in diversity’ of the Dutch people.

    The connection between regional dress and nation is also reflected in a seemingly obvious connection between regional dress and royalty. Traditionally Kings and Queens from the house of Orange are received by people in local dress when they visit any part of the country, and they are often presented with local dishes, products of industry or dolls. This tradition is continued up to the present day in some places. Usually royalty is dressed in civilian clothes en receiving this homage. Anna Christien Piebenga describes in her contribution how a few Queens very exceptionally donned Frisian dress formoinderjarigublic appearances, thereby stressing in their turn the bond between the house of Orange and the people. For the young Wilhelmina especially, the first woman on the throne and still a minor at that, it is very important to enlist the support of large sections of the populace. Her mother, who understands this well, travels all over the country with Wilhelmina. When the Queen is presented with a Frisian costume at the age of twelve, she immediately appears in public wearing it. A year later Emma commissions an extensive series of photographs of her daughter, looking sweet in ‘national ’Frisian dress.

    The connections between the Royal Family and regional dress is still colourfully expressed all around the former Zuiderzee during the celebration of the Queen’s birthday. Here many villages have a special dress for ‘Queen’s Day’ – often consisting of the addition of a few orange-coloured components to the costume, and in the case of Marken an entire outfit. Adriana Brunsting explores the origins of this special mode of dress, which is found specifically in Protestant communities where the attachment to the (Protestant) Royal Family has always been carefully cultivated. In Catholic Volendam, though also a Zuiderzee community, Queen’s Day turns out to be far less of a reason for dressing up specially.

    There is an entirely different way in which monarchs play a part in traditional modes of dress. Marian Conrads describes in her article how royalty finds its way into garments and accessories as symbols. In this way individuals can demonstrate their attachment to their country by wearing coins with the head of the monarchs or by using (neck)kerchiefs which in pictures refer to important moments in national history, such as for instance the inauguration of Queen Wilhelmina. A modern translation of this is the ‘orange madness’ which sweeps the country on Queen’s Days and during sporting events. Even though this is playful in tone and far less serious, by donning orange costumes large groups of people do express a contemporary national bond.

    A ’national costume’ of a different order is the uniform of nationally operating (semi) governmental services. The occupations of policemen, guards on trains and soldiers are easily identified because of their clothes. Because they are dressed in the same way throughout the country, they also function as a kind of national symbol. Koos Havelaar in his contribution explores the dress codes of one of the oldest national enterprises: the postal service. The postman comes under the authority of the national government from the end of the eighteenth century onwards, and to underline this he is given a uniform to go with the job, which reflects the authority and reliability of the government and also frightens off potential attackers.

    A national symbol in traditional dress finally is the world-famous ‘Volendam girl’. Gerard Rooijakkers explores the question why she has grown into commercial icon. Just like in the nineteenth century, regional dress is deployed as a PR instrument in current international contacts. The Volendam girl is supposed to radiate quality and freshness and thereby to promote the identifiability of products and stimulate sales. The strategy turns out to be so successful that the Volendam girl, together with tulips, windmills and clogs, has been the caricature image of Dutch nation for decades now, an image which in its turn is parodied happily.

  10. Ad de Jong
    Dress and concord
    The political dimension of traditional dress 1850-1920

    This article sets forth how in the period 1850-1920 traditional dress in the Netherlands was identified with national consciousness, and thus gained a political dimension.

    The first collector of traditional dress at museum level, was the Frisian linguist and man of letters Dr. Joost Hiddes Halbertsma (1789-1869). He was primarily interested in traditional dress as an expression of the character of the Frisian people. The ‘ethnisation’ of traditional dress served a political purpose as an expression of the nationalism of the Frisians: the dress built up the vigour of the people.

    For the Netherlands as a whole the linking of traditional dress and nationality came later. The big world’s fairs were instrumental: at the 1878 exhibition in Paris the Netherlands presented a much admired series of examples of traditional dress. This gallery of life-size mannequins in traditional dress was then given a permanent place in the most national of Dutch museums: the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

    When in the two last decades of the nineteenth century liberal politicians feared that national concord would be lost, they went in search of symbols appealing to all sections of society. The monarchy was one of these symbols, folk culture another. In 1898 the two were united in a large exhibition of traditional dress in Amsterdam, at the occasion of Queen Wilhelmina's inauguration.

    Where traditional dress slowly disappeared from the villages, it made a come-back as a symbol of national solidity and solidarity in museums and during national celebrations. Terms such as ‘community’ were welcomed by the more conservative sections of society, which abhorred any opposition of interests which might disrupt unity.

    After World War I had ended, the publicist and folklore expert Dirk-Jan van der Ven (1891-1973) organised a National Historical Folk Festival in Arnhem which was very well attended. He wanted to draw attention to the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum (Dutch Open Air Museum), founded there in 1912. This festival turned out to be the apotheosis of the role traditional dress played in the repertoire of the unity of the nation.

    Gradually the wholehearted enthusiasm about the beneficial influence of traditional dress on the unity of the people came to an end. The farmer in traditional dress no longer fitted the image of a country modernizing itself, which the more progressive sections of Dutch society wished to project abroad.

    A consequence of these developments was that traditional dress stopped being always seen as a serious part of the national heritage. The picture of a traditionally dressed Zeeland woman on a Dutch banknote was disapproved of, on the grounds that this would reinforce the cliche of the Netherlands as being a ‘wooden shoe country’, which was prevalent abroad. The heyday of traditional dress as a national monument of the concord of the people was well and truly over.

  11. Anna Christien Piebenga
    Our Queens in Frisian finery

    Three Dutch queens and one princess possessed Frisian costumes. Princess Juliana was given one on the occasion of her marriage to Prince Bernhard in 1937. Queen Wilhelmina wore it during her visit to Friesland in 1892 and so did Queen Anna Pavlovna and her daughter Princess Sophia when they visited Friesland in 1841.

    Princess Juliana's costume consisted of a jacket and a skirt of green damask worked with gold, after the fashion of 1850/1860. It was entirely made by hand, which cost 480 hours. The costume, together with its accessories, was no more than a symbol of pomp and splendour, the proper Frisian costume was already a thing of the past.

    In 1841 Frisian dress was still very much alive. When Queen Anna Pavlovna and her seventeen year old daughter appeared at the horse races in Frisian costume, this was greatly appreciated by the population. During the visit Princess Sophia wore a Frisian costume at several occasions and a print survives showing her wearing the oorijzer (the metal frame worn inside the cap) and cap. The top half of an apron is visible and the dress has lowered balloon sleeves of the kind we see in ball dresses of that time, though not in surviving specimens of Frisian costume. So the Princess may have worn a ball dress together with Frisian accessories to create a Frisian look.

    Of Queen Wilhelmina we have many photographs in Frisian dress, and even a painting. During a visit to the province’s capital Leeuwarden in 1892 the twelve year old Queen was presented with a complete Frisian costume. She wore it to the horse races held the next day. By then only the lower classes still wore the oorijzer and cap. The higher classes only dressed up in Frisian costume for special occasions, where it would be a backdrop to their antique jewellery.

    When Queen Wilhelmina visited Friesland again in 1905, she descended from the train in Frisian costume to great acclaim of the crowds. Obviously the now 25 year old Queen did not wear the same costume as the first time.

    We can see that none of the Royals possessed real Frisian dress; they wore fashionable dress with Frisian elements in the case of Princess Sophia, and copies of a past fashion in the case of Princess Juliana and Queen Wilhelmina. Here, too, the dresses served mainly as a backdrop for the splendour of the jewellery.

  12. Adriana Brunsting
    Queen’s Day around the Zuiderzee

    The Protestant communities around the former Zuiderzee (now IJsselmeer) have always been very Orangist. The link between the Royal Family and regional dress is expressed emphatically during the celebration of Queen’s Day in these places. The island of Marken even has its own Queen’s Day dress, but then the colourful Marken dress lends itself extremely well to an orange version.

    It is mainly the children who catch the eye in·their exuberant shades of orange. Adults confine themselves to details. People started to wear orange shades in a modest way around 1930. Bright orange sashes, jackets and trousers started appearing after the 1950s. By then the traditional dress had already become a dress for special occasions.

    In the other forms of traditional dress in the Zuiderzee area the use of the colour orange on Queen’s Day was more incidental. Adults wore their Sunday clothes with an orange pin or bow. The children wore an orange sash until the 1960s, just like the children in civilian dress.

    From the beginning of the twentieth century up to the present day there have been a few women in Urk who will wear an orange kraplap (a piece of fabric covering the chest). Of late years small children too are once more dressed up in Urk dress for special occasions; on Queen’s Day this may include an orange kraplap and an orange cap.

    In Bunschoten/Spakenburg the red kerchief was occasionally replaced by an orange one, and orange trimming was used on the crochet cap during the period between World War II and the 1960s. A flowered kraplap which happened to have some orange in the pattern was reserved for Queen's Day. In nearby Huizen women wore a special orange bow on their aprons until around 1940. The colourful costume of Hindeloopen, which has been a dress only for special occasions since the nineteenth century, never developed an orange version.

    So we can see that the already exuberantly coloured dress of Marken has a very pronounced orange version and in this respect completely follows the orange trend in the Netherlands during Queen’s Day and big national sports events. The more subdued forms of traditional dress keep it simple.

  13. Marian Conrads
    Special Orange memorabilia

    This article reviews several kinds of Dutch royal memorabilia, mostly from the author's own collection. The oldest is a printed neckerchief from 1874, commemorating the silver jubilee of King Willem III. It shows the King, his first wife Queen Sophie, their two sons and the King's brothers.

    Large printed handkerchiefs became fashionable in the eighteenth century, when many people took snuff. An early example of Orange memorabilia is the kerchief of ca. 1790 printed with the portraits of stadholder Prince Willem V and his wife Wilhelmina of Prussia. This kerchief certainly served as propaganda at a time of bitter internal strife.

    During the 19th century it became popular to show off both one's affluence and one's attachment to the monarchy by wearing jewellery made from gold or silver coins. The coin depicting Queen Wilhelmina as a little girl with her hair hanging down her back was particularly popular. Coin jewellery lost its popularity after 1948 when gold coins were no longer minted and the silver content of the remaining coins became much lower.

    During the whole 19th century kerchiefs continued to be printed as cheap royal propaganda. After World War II their popularity soon dwindled. The colour orange, which in fact is the symbol of the Dutch Royal Family, has become associated with important sports events, and thus a national symbol.

  14. Koos Havelaar
    The postal uniform
    From national image to corporate identity

    In the Netherlands privately organised postal services first took shape during the Middle Ages. In 1752 all private and municipal postal services in the region of Holland and West-Friesland were placed under central authority.

    In 1754 a decree regarding the first postal uniform was issued by the ‘Staten’ (Advisory Board) of Holland and West-Friesland. In 1818 this uniform underwent some change, mainly by means of a badge postillions had to wear on their sleeve from then on.

    After 1850 several additional regulations were issued, and the wearing of the postal uniform became common practice. With the institution of a national uniform committee in 1924 the standardisation of official uniforms was realised.

    In the early 1990s a tendency came into being of using company uniforms in order to propagate a company’s image. After the privatisation of Koninklijke PTT Nederland (Dutch Royal Post, Telegraph and Telephone) in 1989, a completely new, modern line of uniforms was designed for the company by fashion designer Clemens Rameckers.

    The first postal uniform sent out important signals of recognizability and reliability; nowadays the company uniforms of PTT Post are part of a corporate identity.

  15. Gerard Rooijakkers
    Traditional dress and advertising
    From Volendam girl to Dutch girl

    Although Holland was only one of the provinces of the former Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden (Republic of the Seven United Netherlands), in the current parlance of most countries this name is the most common designation for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The part has come to stand for the whole. Something similar has happened to the traditional dress of certain places. For instance, the Volendam women's costume with its coquettish white cap is usually seen as 'the' Dutch traditional dress by foreigners.

    The local men's costume with its characteristic wide, black breeches is also seen as archetypically Dutch. It is worn enthusiastically by people of Dutch extraction, whatever part of the Netherlands their ancestors came from originally, during annual Holland festivals in the United States, Canada and Australia.

    From the end of the nineteenth century onwards girls in Volendam costume were brought in more and more often to provide certain commercial products with a positive image. The best-known example must be 'Frau Antje', who in Germany serves as a figurehead of Dutch dairy producers. But as a result of a different positioning of cheese as a product, the employment of (fake) traditional dress by competitors and the ‘cheap’ folkloristic, even erotic connotations of roguish girls in traditional dress, Frau Antje's days seem numbered now.

  16. Dolly Verhoeven
    Costume and folklore

    What we now call regional dress was originally just everyday attire; taken for granted by the wearers, and to outsiders a phenomenon that went with regional variations, just as ordinary or extraordinary as regional differences in language or agricultural methods. During the nineteenth century however the modes of dress in rural areas gradually begin to change. More and more often the clothes that are specific for regional dress are exchanged for fashion, especially when, by the end of the nineteenth century, cheap ready-to wear clothes appear on the market. This process of disappearance of regional dress is observed by members of the social and cultural elite. Although they themselves dress according to civilian fashion, they view this change with concern. The traditional modes of dress fit the romantic image they have of rural life. Attempts are made to record and preserve the still surviving forms of traditional dress as much as possible. The exhibition of 'living traditional dress' mounted in 1898, fits this pattern.

    But attempts to guard a living phenomenon against disappearance, are almost unavoidably at the expense of its vitality. Experts and prominent people enter the field and appropriate the subject as it were. This blocks the natural process of change and adaptation. Stereotypes are created, based on the situation as it is at a particular time: thís is how traditional dress should be. More than before the dress is seen as something to show off, the role of the observer becoming more important than the role of the wearer. And in this way traditional dress changes from everyday wear to folklore.

    Peter Thoben elucidates the new way of regarding traditional dress by looking at developments in art. Changes in nineteenth-century society, caused by industrialisation and modernisation, are the reason fora group of Dutch painters to hark back to an idealized past. In their paintings the harsh rural life is translated into a romantic image, which also features regional dress and interior scenes of farmers' cottages. There is a growing public for such paintings of affluent middle­class buyers, who in rural culture see the reflection of such idealized qualities as simplicity, honesty and industriousness. In the interplay of producers and consumers, the artists' genuine interest in regional dress is eventually replaced more and more by commercial considerations, which do not improve the artistic quality of the paintings. It is however interesting to note that this commercialisation in its turn has its influence on everyday reality, namely when the emerging tourist industry, partly stimulated by the paintings, in certain places leads to the artificial preservation of traditional dress.

    A good example of the combination of artistic interest in regional dress and commercial talent may be seen in Volendam. In her article Truus Braaksma describes how at the end of the nineteenth century a stream of Dutch and foreign painters is warmly welcomed to the Hotel Spaander in Volendam. This arrangement is advantageous to all concerned. The artists find a suitable place to work, full of characteristic scenes, combined with a pleasant place to stay. The hotel owner is able to rejoice in a large influx of special guests and the often painted village becomes well-known and can count on a growing number of tourists. The combination of an appealing traditional dress and commercial talent has strongly promoted the folklorisation process in Volendam.

    Folklorisation of regional dress is reflected by its incorporation in museums. As long as the dress is still worn daily and subject to constant change, no need is felt to put it into a museum. That changes when at the end of the nineteenth century people realise that regional dress is a disappearing cultural heritage; and so it becomes a collectible. Collections are formed which then have to be preserved, studied and presented in a certain way.

    Hanneke van Zuthem's article makes clear that there have been major shifts in the presentation of museum collections over time. At the beginning attention focuses on the costumes themselves in a slightly impersonal display, arranged either by 'tribe' or by province. After World War II the emphasis shifts to a more narrative style of presentation by stage-like scenes with captions. Obviously both the exhibitions makers and the public increasingly feel the need to reconstruct a past that is receding further and further. In the 1970s this approach is abandoned in favour of a more scholarly one: the costumes and their various manifestations are explained and set in a context. The presentations are no longer so much about the costume as such, but about its significance, which is often explained through its separate components. This style of presentation will certainly not be the final solution. Now that regional costumes have come to be part of the inventory of museums, they have become susceptible to countless ways of interpretation and presentation, just as all historical data have.

    But outside the museum doors living tradition has not yet let go of traditional dress. Gieneke Arnolli's contribution shows how during the 1950s and ‘60s attempts are made in Friesland to adapt the old dress to the modern age. A 'new Frisian' costume is born. At the beginning there seems to be a wide support for this costume, there is obviously a need for a reaffirmation of people's own regional identity in the post-war years. But in the end the 'new Frisian' costume is too artificial a construction, connected as it is to the exertions and enthusiasm of just a few persons. lts lack of vitality is proved by the non-appearance of innovations and adaptations. Nowadays the costume is used only by a few Frisian folkdance groups.

    The rebirth of regional identity seems to be more vita! in the fields of language and music. As Louis Peter Grijp shows in his article, there has been a flourishing youth culture in the rural areas of the Netherlands over the past few decades, characterized by a negative attitude towards the cities in the western part of the Netherlands, combined with a glorification of the simpIe but rough life in the country. The use of one's own regional language, especially in the music, sometimes combined with a fantasy 'farmers’' outfit are typical for this movement. The combination of youth, music, language and a common 'enemy' in the shape of city culture, ensures that this new manifestation of regional identity is flourishing.

    And then there are the few people, who, going against the course of time, hold on to their old modes of dress. Pauline Broekema goes into the question who these people are who still wear regional dress nowadays and why they wear it. It turns out that the (elderly) women who remain faithful to their dress, derive a large part of their sense of identity from it. The cause of this usually lies in the past. Their clothes link these women to their own history in a tangible way. In contrast to folkloristic use, they do not wear the dress to show it off: they wear their clothes because they want to, not to please the beholder. Being seen in public as a walking tourist attraction is something which these women see as an inconvenient, be it inevitable side effect of a highly personal choice.

  17. Peter Thoben
    Regional dress in Dutch art in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
    From authentic image to stereotype

    Art is often seen as an important source of visual information for the study of regional dress, but how should it be dealt with? Is it a reliable source?

    At the end of the 18th century interest arose in traditional folk culture: the customs and habits of the various population groups of the Netherlands had become popular through travel journals and stories, and the different forms of regional dress were recorded in illustrated books of costume. Furthermore people fell back on their own glorious past, either the Middle Ages or the seventeenth century, all of which may be summarized by the term cultural nationalism.

    Under the influence of the Barbizon School amongst others, the Dutch painters of the The Hague school focused on the everyday life of farmers, fishermen and labourers as unspoilt population groups. The artists would go to places where nature was untouched and life invariably rooted in tradition. The middle class liked to project upon itself all kinds of qualities which were attributed to the fishermen and farmers living close to nature.

    In the beginning the paintings did include information about dress, partly because of the detailed way the artists rendered their subjects. But later, when a more impressionist way of painting evolved and commercialisation increased, they could no longer be used as a source for the history of dress. Painters made paid models put on the regional dress they had bought, and the aim was to make a picture typically or characteristically Dutch by the use of rather superficial elements. These pictures do not have any concrete significance for the study of regional dress. However they are of importance with regard to the subject of the construction of national or regional identity.

    In most European countries academic naturalism, with its almost photographical precision and its eye for social circumstances, became generally accepted after 1880. The information value of such pictures where regional dress is concerned, is much clearer.

    Although the expressionist painters continued to paint comparable subjects - albeit in a personal interpretation and often symbolically charged - there was no longer any useful information on regional dress present in their paintings.

    The contemporary artist Nel Verhoeven has used the shape of traditional peasant dress, in particular the apron, as a starting point for her project Daughters of daughters of Verrenbest (1992-’93). In this project her paintings in the shape of aprons are presented as if hanging next to each other on a washing-line.

    Because of construction and image selection art can only be used conditionally and with the necessary caution as a source of information for the study of regional dress.

  18. Truus Braaksma
    Artist, come in
    The attraction of Volendam for artists ca. 1875-1930

    In 1875 a successful painting by the Englishman George Clausen caused the discovery of Volendam by painters from all over the world. These painters were looking for romantic scenes and the simplicity of rural life.

    The painters flocked to this village, which to them was so peculiar with its tiny houses, some of which were even built on piles outside the dyke. They painted the people, the harbour and the fishing boats and felt at home with the friendly inhabitants.

    Hotel Spaander, where they could stay and even use a workshop, made Volendam even more attractive to them. They were welcomed with a painting in the window saying ‘Artist kom binne’ (Artist, come in) and could often pay for their lodgings with paintings and drawings, which were the origin of the hotel's extensive collection. Here painters from all over the world met, and time and again they greeted each other as old friends.

    The emergence of another style of painting made the stream of painters slowly ebb away. After ca. 1930 the painters’ colony which, by the way, never developed a specific school of painting, was finished. The traditional dress and the fishing fleet disappeared little by little and the village became the focal point of Dutch tourism, a development the Spaander family again played an important role in. The hundreds of drawings and paintings can still be viewed at Spaander’s.

  19. Hanneke van Zuthem
    Traditional national dress of Her Majesty's subjects
    The history of the collection and its presentation in the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum

    The  exhibition Traditional national dress of Her Majesty’s subjects was just one of many events organized to pay homage to Queen Wilhelmina at the occasion of her inauguration in 1898. A lot of information about this exhibition survives, for instance the photographs of the 240 individual costumed figures, arranged according to tribes; we do not know what exactly the presentation looked like though. After this temporary exhibition the collection was donated to the nation and exhibited in the Dutch Museum (later to be called Rijksmuseum) in Amsterdam in shallow showcases.

    In 1916 the collection was moved to the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum in Arnhem. In 1932 it was housed in a new museum building and the different types of traditional dress were now grouped according to the region they originated from. During the German occupation in World War II a more scholarly approach of regional dress was initiated and the collector Cruys Voorbergh was put in charge of documenting the different types of traditional dress.

    The collection went almost entirely lost during the war years. In April 1948 a committee was set up by Mrs R.W.E. Fischer-Cats for the purpose of bringing together a new collection of traditional regional dress. The actual collecting was done by regional committees, their purpose not being just the collecting of ‘modern’ regional dress, but also earlier examples, as well as mourning and wedding attire. Money was always a problem, the fabrics as such were very valuable at this time of textile shortage, and many people could not afford to donate their clothes.

    But by October 1949 seventy costumes could be presented to Princess Wilhelmina, who in turn offered them on long-term loan to the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum ,where they were displayed. The committee continued collecting regional dress, since they had not equaled the 1898 exhibition yet. They insisted on displaying each new donation, which soon resulted in overcrowded showcases.

    In 1955 the museum opened a new 'traditional dress building' and Jan Duyvetter was put in charge of the traditional dress department. For 23 years he mounted an exhibition every two years, each one with its own theme. His training as a painter and his fondness of the theatre enabled him to arrange his lifelike mannequins in beautifully lit scenes with elaborate backgrounds.

    After Duyvetter's retirement in 1979 new curators, with an academic background, took over. By then the museum had shifted its focus from folklore to daily life in the Netherlands in cities as well as in the country. The first exhibition featuring this new approach was the 1981 jewellery exhibition organized by Dorine Stijkel, curator and art historian. The 1987 exhibition took a specific fabric (chintz) as a theme and was radically different both in approach and presentation. Objects were shown without taking their region of origin into account and not always on mannequins, but either lying flat or draped over neutral supports. Lately there has been a tentative return to the use of mannequins.

    Over the last ten years the present curator, Hanneke van Zuthem, has experimented with different forms of presentation, targeted at specific groups such as children. This has resulted in a very interactive way of exhibiting. The collection of regional dress remains constant, whereas each presentation as well as the public's reaction to it is very much time-bound. Finding the most effective way of showing the many aspects of regional dress will continue to be a challenge.

    The National Committee which in 1972 became the Foundation of Dutch Regional Costumes 'Collection Queen Wilhelmina', is now shifting its main interest from collecting to documenting.

  20. Gieneke Arnolli
    Colourfulness and vigour
    An attempt to revive regional dress

    From 1947 to 1949 a collection of traditional dress was brought together to be given to the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina, replacing the collection of the Openluchtmuseum (Open Air Museum) in Arnhem, which had been lost. This caused a revival of interest in the different forms of regional dress, which had disappeared for the most part, and the desire to possess a proper 'national' costume.

    The traditional Frisian dress, fashionable dress with Frisian elements such as the oorijzer (the metal frame worn inside the cap), had hardly been worn since the end of the nineteenth century and had degenerated into a folkloristic dressing-up costume patched together with elements from different periods.

    In the spring of 1950 the 'Committee New Frisian Costume' was established, one of its members being the dress designer Jo Kars-Stienstra. In September a presentation of ten sample costumes in the style of the New Look followed, from which Frisian women could choose their new Frisian costume. The objective was clear: not a folkloristic costume, but clothes suitable for daily wear, in particular suited to choirs and folkdance groups and the Frisian delegation to international women's congresses. In Friesland the costume was well-received, but a review in the newspaper NRC considered the new Frisian costume not as ‘traditional dress', but as specifically Frisian fashion. The fashion editor predicted that it would be worn for a few years at most.

    In October of the same year a meeting of the European Agricultural Federation took place in Strasbourg, which had ‘guidelines for a rural culture’ for a subject. The problem discussed there was that the modern age, in spite of advantages on a material level, on a cultural level had little to offer to rural areas. The advice to these areas was therefore to research, develop and strengthen the characteristics of local life, amongst others by the reinstitution of the wearing of traditional clothes adapted to modern times.

    Besides the Frisian costume Jo Kars also designed clothes for the provinces of Zeeland and Drenthe, inspired by their traditional dress. Again the new dress was mainly worn by choirs and dance groups, but also by emigrants and bridal couples.

    Growing prosperity shifted the focus of attention to wearing the folkloristic costume as much as possible in a historically correct way. After 1960 the new Frisian costume was no longer adapted to fashion and thus has become a historical costume in itself. Frisians now prefer to show their identity by wearing garments bearing the design of the Frisian flag with its pompeblêden (leaves of the yellow water lily), which are as recognizable as a modern logo.

  21. Louis Peter Grijp
    Rock on clogs
    Dress and regional music

    Music, like clothes, can be used as a marker for the identity one wishes to convey. For those aspiring to a regional identity in this postmodernistic paradigm of options there is regional music, and in particular regional language music. Actually this involves several music styles united by the use of a dialect as the language of the lyrics.

    Dress on the whole plays a modest part in this phenomenon. The use of dialect usually does not give rise to the wearing of traditional dress; on the contrary, the everyday language seems to invite an everyday outfit. There are however several exceptions, which are discussed in this contribution.

    Farmers' rock groups like Normaal from the Achterhoek, a region in the most eastern part of the Netherlands, draw an audience of fans who attend the concerts in modern-day casual wear: T-shirts and jeans, often accentuated by wooden shoes and, sometimes, a slurry pail. The typical farmers' red print-handkerchiefs may also be in evidence, but these actually refer to another genre, that of the regional humorists. Throughout the country these ‘boertjes van buut’n’ (literally: peasants from the country), often dressed in peasant outfit, perform comical monologues, sometimes also sentimental songs, in dialect. Their costume may be either authentic traditional dress or a stereotyped, supraregional blue farmers’ overall with accessories.

     

  22. Pauline Broekema
    The last women to wear traditional dress

    In the thirteen villages in the Netherlands where traditional dress is still worn, the number of women wearing it has dwindled to a few thousand. The big blow came in the 1960s, when, for example in the twin villages of Bunschoten-Spakenburg, girls would more and more often announce they were done with it. In Staphorst of late years young people only wear their traditional attire in winter. The warm skirts are comfortable, but when summer approaches ‘those stiff clothes’ are abandoned for modern dress.

    Many women in traditional dress have considered their choice – either the uncomfortable, time-consuming clothes or a comfortable modern slip-on dress - very carefully. Especially during holidays abroad these women are an object of interest. As soon as the Americans in Disneyland spotted Teuntje Westland in her traditional Huizen dress, they cared no longer about Donald Duck but wanted to have their picture taken together with her.

    It is striking to see how many women in traditional dress have had a troubled life. They derive part of their identity from their clothes. On the island of Marken, Lijsje Springer’s mother and sister died of tuberculosis when she was still a child. To her, her Marken clothes are a tangible memory of her mother who in this way is still near her.

    Many women see the abandoning of their traditional dress as a betrayal of their hardworking parents. That girls got to wear traditional dress at all they owed to the perseverance of their mothers, who had worked at their sewing machines far into the night to make the clothes.

    Most women in traditional dress nowadays live prosperous lives, which is demonstrated by their clothes. They can afford to buy expensive items for their dress: Spakenburg women go to auctions to buy antique fabrics, Zeeland women augment their collection of jewellery.

    Just as in the case of civilian clothes there is the possibility of variation in traditional dress. The Spakenburg businesswoman Els van Diermen is proud of the many combinations she is able to make:“You in your civvies, you have so few clothes. In traditional dress it is different, I must have a hundred and fifty kraplappen.” (Kraplappen are wide shoulder pieces made of starched cotton.)

    A lot of people still wearing traditional dress die now, and items of their traditional dress will be inherited or given away. Only in a few Staphorst families the dress is still passed on directly to the next generation.

    Some women are forced to change to civilian dress during the last years of their lives. In the old people's homes the staff does not understand about traditional dress. The women may have to abandon their regional costume because they are no longer able to handle the many pins needed to hold it together.

     

  23. Gerard Rooijakkers
    Wearers of tradition?
    Traditional dress as a cultural construction

    In modern cultural-historical and ethnological research we are not so much interested in the objects as such, as in the role they have played in the (everyday) behaviour of people. In this context we should not lose sight of the diversity of cultural expressions in their different aspects, such as geographical differences (space), diachronical differences (time, in this case for instance the timeline 1948-1998), as well as socio-cultural distinctions (group cultures, biographical status).

    We do not only pay attention to ‘original’ frameworks of dress customs and the wearers of traditional dress; the way the phenomenon ‘traditional dress' is approached is also a central issue. After all by labeling a particular component of the repertoire of dress as ‘traditional dress’ its social significance changes. It is exactly this dynamic significance (to makers, wearers, collectors, tourists, advertisers, museums and folklore groups equally) which makes these objects so interesting. All things considered the change in interaction with ‘traditional dress’ provides a revealing insight into the cultural categories of a particular society. In other words: what does the way society deals with the phenomenon of ‘traditional dress’ say about the Netherlands and its inhabitants?

    Important in this respect is the process of folklorisation, in which we can distinguish four stages. The first stage concerns a phenomenon threatened with extinction, such as traditional dress which is then ‘saved’ by a group or committee. At this stage the show elements of the phenomenon are strongly emphasized: they become a performance before an audience. This finally is instrumental in changing the meaning and purpose of traditional dress.

    Closely related to this is the process of putting objects into a museum environment, which turns them into relics of the past which are to be cherished. That which was first worn next to the skin, now becomes detached and is given a new meaning within the context of the museum. Besides this, the process also refers to a specific interaction with the past, for instance concerning the discussion about the 'authenticity' of certain forms of traditional dress or the fact that traditional dress is frozen into static and monolithic pictures of a random moment. Advertisers too have always liked to trot out regional dress when they want a reference to their own identity and the traditions of the past.

    Central to these observations is the creative way in which traditional dress through time has been appropriated by different groups within Dutch society (for instance through folklorisation or musealisation) for the purpose of shaping their identity in some, wanted or unwanted, way.