Jaarboek Kostuum 2013

Table of Contents

1. Catharine de Jong
   The significance of costume in Wybrand de Geest's portraits
   

   The subject of this article is dress and fashion of the first half of the 17th century in the work of Wybrand de Geest, a Frisian portrait painter.

   Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands. In the 17th century it had its own stadholder, whereas there was only one stadholder for all the other provinces. He was a member of the Nassau family and the present royal family is descended from the Frisian stadholders. De Geest painted several rich sitters, persons who belonged to the Frisian landed gentry as well as members of the stadholder's court in Leeuwarden.

   The first question arising was whether there was any disparity in the dress of the different groups of sitters. Especially in the early 17th century there was a marked contrast between the costume of the landed gentry and that of the courtiers.

   One of the purposes of a portrait is to show off the sitter’s wealth and status, which is why gentlemen had themselves depicted in expensive clothes. In these portraits we see gold embroidery, sumptuous fabrics and lace collars. Male courtiers were mainly portrayed in military dress, in their portraits we often see buff coats and armour. Naturally Wybrand de Geest painted women too, but only one of these belonged to the stadholder’s court. We see very little difference between her clothes and those of Frisian gentlewomen.

   Our next question was what may have been the reason for the notable difference in the way the country gentlemen and the members of the court were dressed. To answer this question we have examined the social and political position of the different groups of sitters and it is here that we find our answer. The gentry derived their authority mainly from their wealth. Rich people could buy property, and the more property they owned, the more influence they had in the government of the province. It was therefore in the interest of these sitters to show off as much wealth as possible, to earn the respect of their peers.

   In theory the stadholder had little political influence in this period, but as commander-in-chief of the army he had the highest military rank. The gentry were under his authority. They might have more influence, but they looked up to the stadholder, whose noble rank was higher than their own. At the time the concept of civilité was very important, and high army ranks were still associated with virtues like valour and courage, and therefore much desired. To obtain a high army rank gentlemen had to maintain good relations with the stadholder; as he was commander-in-chief high positions in the army were for him to bestow. In exchange gentlemen allowed the stadholder a little more influence in the political decision process. As the stadholder derived most of his power from his position as commander-in-chief, he had himself depicted in military dress.

   The final conclusion is that different groups of sitters had themselves pictured in the clothes representing the qualities from which they derived the most authority. For the gentry this was their wealth, for the stadholder it was his high military rank.

2. Trudie Rosa de Carvalho
   Queens in regional dress
   

   Leeuwarden, capital of the Dutch province of Friesland, hosted a stadholder’s court for about 150 years and the stadholders descended from Dutch royalty. There was a close bond between the province, its population  and the royal family.

   A Frisian costume was presented to female members of the royal family on the occasion of several visits to the province. Sometimes a princess or queen would appear in Frisian dress of her own accord, as a sign of respect and connection. For instance, the newspapers reported enthusiastically that Queen Anna Paulowna and her daughter Princess Sophie wore Frisian dress on their visit to Friesland in 1841. In 1878 Princess Marie of Prussia was offered a Frisian tribute on the occasion of her marriage to Prince Hendrik ‘the Seafarer’. This tribute consisted of a wide golden oorijzer (the metal frame worn inside the cap), a jewelled ornament for the forehead with matching hairpins, and two lace caps.

   At the beginning of an introductory tour of the northern provinces of Groningen and Friesland, initiated by the Queen-Regent Emma in 1892, Queen Wilhelmina, still a minor then, found a Frisian costume waiting for her which she would actually wear. It was presented as a tribute from the Frisian women and girls. One year later the young queen was photographed in her Frisian costume, and the picture became a true icon, reproduced on all kinds of memorabilia and widely disseminated through the (inter)national press.

   When Wilhelmina paid another visit to Friesland in 1901, to introduce her brand-new husband Prince Hendrik, she had two Frisian costumes made in secret, to be worn as a surprise for the Frisian people. She stated this was a thank-you for the beautiful costume she was given in 1892.

   Her daughter Juliana was also offered a Frisian costume, on the occasion of her marriage to Prince Bernhard in 1937, again as a tribute from the female part of the Frisian population. A year later she received a doll with her own features, in an identical Frisian dress. Princess Juliana never wore the Frisian costume in public though, in contrast to two costumes from Zeeland, a province in the south-western part of the Netherlands. On the occasion of her first visit to Zeeland in 1921, Juliana was presented with a costume from Axel, on behalf of the inhabitants of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. She was photographed in this costume in 1922, but did not wear it in public until her second introductory visit to Zeeland in 1924.

   In 1924 a costume from Zuid-Beveland was presented to her. Unfortunately only press photographs remain as a witness of this costume. During a visit to Zeeland by Queen Wilhelmina on the occasion of her silver jubilee in 1923, Juliana was offered a costume from the Land of Hulst, but this was not handed over until 1929. For a long time this costume was thought not to have survived, but it was rediscovered in the costume storage of Het Loo Palace.

3. Louise Rahardjo
   Batik Belanda
   Women in charge in the Dutch East-Indies

   For decades the Batik Belanda (Dutch Batik) manufactory was a large branch of industry in the Dutch East-Indies (nowadays Indonesia). This type of manufacture arose because more and more European women went to the East and wished to dress comfortably there. In imitation of the native women they wore sarong kabaja, respectively skirt and top. To produce batik with western patterns and colours, Dutch and Indonesian batik workshops were set up which produced this Batik Belanda.

   The majority of the workshops were situated in the Indonesian area where most batik is still made, Pekalongan on the island of Java. There were workshops in Western- and Eastern-Java too, but the most important area was in central Java, particularly on the northern coast. At the start in the 1850's the Dutch and Indonesian workshops copied the designs of the Indo-Chinese ones. Later on the tables were turned and the Indo-Chinese workshops copied the Dutch and Indonesian ones. When late Batik Belanda dating from ca. 1900 is compared to traditional Javanese batiks, the difference in colours and patterns is obvious, whereas the difference was not yet that marked in the mid-19th century. Over the years more western designs were used in Batik Belanda and the Javanese patterns disappeared. The colours soga brown, indigo blue and mengkudu red were replaced by red, light and dark blue, yellow and green. After the introduction of synthetic dyes the range of colours became even wider, for instance with the addition of pink and orange.

   In the late 19th century the Dutch and Indonesian workshops introduced the signed batiks. This practice was also adopted by the Indo-Chinese workshops, and the Javanese copied it from the Indo-Chinese in the mid-20th century. The Batik Belanda-designs, such as flowers, bouquets, butterflies and birds, survive in Indo-Chinese batiks. Traditional Javanese batik and Batik Belanda share a similar use of the traditional batik techniques. The Javanese men and women who worked in Dutch and Indonesian workshops used these techniques. The symbolism behind the designs of the Dutch and Indonesian workshops was copied from the Javanese.

   The majority of the native population did not like Batik Belanda. They saw it as a method of distinguishinging the rich westerners from the poor native population. It would take decades for Batik Belanda to be accepted in Indonesia and to beconsidered as cultural heritage and Indonesian art.

    

4. Jankees Goud
   Their own business
   Women from Zeeland and the influence of moving elsewhere on local dress

   Some old photographic portraits of women in local dress from Zeeland in his private collection made the author wonder about the differences in some of their costumes: some portraits showed elements of different types of local Zeeland dress. Zeeland is a province in the southwestern part of the Netherlands. The province consists of several islands, all of which have their own specific local costume. The question was what made these women decide to wear a certain kind of dress when they moved to another village, and whether a trend could be discerned.

   Several women are discussed in the article. The period they lived in, and especially where they started out and where they moved to, were taken into consideration. Neeltje de Zeeuw switched to a very different type of dress. Maatje Poppe and Jacoba Wisse moved elsewhere, but remained faithful to their original costume. Others, Janna Johanna Boogert and her sister Johanna Jacoba, Jacoba Gideonse, Sijna Weststrate and an unknown woman, combined elements of different kinds of local dress.

   For the Boogert sisters and Jacoba Gideonse the combination they chose may be explained by considering the area Jacoba Gideonse, or the mother of the Boogert sisters hailed from. The combination Sijna Weststrate wore cannot be explained; the same goes for the unknown woman. As nothing is known about her, there is no way of finding out what may have influenced her choice. Jannetje de Jonge, finally, wore the costume of the neighboring , Roman-Catholic, province of West-Brabant. She must have been familiar with that dress, but it is a peculiar choice for a Protestant woman born and bred on the island of Tholen.

   So far no pattern can be discerned why women switched to another type of dress, hung on to their native dress, or combined it with elements of another type. Neither is it possible to identify parts of Zeeland where the phenomenon occurred more often than elsewhere in the province.

   It would seem that women decided completely at random which (elements of) local costume they would be wearing after their move within or without the province of Zeeland. Although there were unwritten rules, local dress was not subject to binding ones, and what people wore was, in the end, a personal decision: their own business...

    

5. Rein Lotterman
   The local dress of Hierden
   The women's costume

   Hierden, in the Dutch province of Gelderland, has always been a farming village. Between 1978 and 1990 the author undertook research into the local costume of Hierden, which was still worn at that time. Up till now little or nothing has been recorded about the dress of this village.

   The so-called old-style dress was worn in Hierden into the 1920s. It was characterised by a cap worn with an oorijzer (the metal frame worn inside the cap), a bodice, a neckerchief and a short jacket. Local variations of this old-style dress used to be worn in all the villages of the Veluwe, a rural area in the centre of the Netherlands.

   In 1926, influenced by the dress of nearby Kampereiland, some girls from Hierden switched to the so-called new-style dress, as did many Veluwe girls at that time. The new style involved wearing a jacket with a peplum and a different type of cap, without the oorijzer. This cap was often bought second-hand from women in areas where regional dress had already been discarded. This new style was copied by more women, and for a long time the two types of dress were worn alongside each other. Sometimes they were even mixed. Elsewhere on the Veluwe the new style was modernised once more by removing the jacket’s peplum. The last bride in old-style dress got married in 1950. Now, in 2013, there are only two women in Hierden who still wear the jacket with a peplum.

   During his research the author discovered that the old-style Hierden dress was quite different from that of neighbouring areas, both in headdress and clothing. This article discusses some aspects of the female costume, as male regional dress tends to die out much sooner. Because there are hardly any pictures of the Hierden costume from the 18th and early 19th centuries, there were just a few inventories to go by. For the later 19th century the wearers of the Hierden dress kindly provided the author with family photographs and other particulars.

   In the description of the different components, the development over time and the discrepancies regarding the surrounding villages are discussed. For example it is striking that the sleeves of the 19th-century short jackets were not cut in one with the bodice as was done elsewhere, but separately. Also they have folded-back cuffs. Another difference is the development of the skirt. In the old-style dress this was pleated at the back. In Hierden this remained the same in the new style, while the other villages of the northern Veluwe shifted to gathers. There are numerous other tiny details which distinguish the garments from Hierden from those of the surrounding villages.