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Gallery of European
traditional costumes & cultural uniforms
by James Mayfield (Chairman, European Heritage Library)
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this Article • About
the Author • Bibliography/Sources
This article shows a variety
of cultural dress and traditional costumes from distinct European
cultures. Note that there are too many varieties to possibly
delineate, so this article emphasizes the cultural and ethnic
traits of these peoples overall. Please wait for the
images to load; there are hundreds. Note that many
of these costumes are obsolete and seldom used, and that an
image search online often seems to give conflicting and duplicated
results. I have received a few complaints that some of the
images shown are not fully reflective or are somewhat inaccurate.
I have done my best to correct this. Feel free to email
me if you have any suggestions or improvements.
Shortcut: Croatia • Spain • Portugal • Basque
Country • Germany, Austria,
Netherlands, etc. • Denmark,
Sweden, Norway, Finland • Greece • Italy • Ireland,
Scotland, Wales • Slovenia • Malta • Bosnia • Serbia • Albania • Macedonia • Romania,
Moldova • Czech, Slovak • Poland • Lithuania • Latvia • Belarus • Hungary • Estonia • Ukraine • Russia
Croatia:
The Croatian costume reveals
in some cases a middle point between their ethnic Slavic customs
and the Hungarian & German authority that ruled Croatia
for nearly 1,000 years.
Spain (including Galician Celts):
The famous Spanish costumes
are unique to the Iberian peninsula, expressing the Portuguese'
and Spaniards' distinct heritage and sovereignty. It must
be acknowledged that each sub-national identity in Spain has
its own national costume and visual heritage. Andalusia, the
Catalans, the Basques, and the "Celts" of Galicia
have their own costumes. Galicia in the northwest, whose inhabitants
consider themselves descendents of the Celtoiberians and not
of the mainland Spaniards, have a unique costume shocking
to many because it is almost identical to that of the Ku Klux
Klan.
The Castilian standard
Galician Celtic costumes
of northwest Spain
Portugal:
Portuguese costume reveals
a cultural and ethnic link to their Spanish brothers, with
slight divergences to reflect Portugal's longer and distinct
history. It is, interestingly, similar in many ways to Basque
dress.
Basque Country:
The Basques of northern Spain
attempt to use their bizarrely unique national dress as an
outlet to express their independent history, customs, and
tradition as the only surviving Spanish community free of
Latin historic influence.
Germany, Netherlands,
Austria, Switzerland:
Germany's costumes are slightly
diverse. The major costume for men in Germanic countries (Norway,
Denmark, Austria, Germany, etc.) is a form of the Lederhosen.
For women, the dress varies broadly. In Brandenburg (the state
housing Berlin), traditional dress may bear a slight Slavic
influence because of the presence of Slavs there today and
before the German empire conquered the region from the broken
Polish state under Heinrich the Lion. In Switzerland, where
the Germans are the majority population, the German-Austrian
costume is generally worn. The French and Italian minorities
wear their respective dresses. The Netherlands has famous
distinctions of their own, derived largely from German tradition
because of a shared heritage and history. Belgium's Dutch
(the Flemings), having broken from the Dutch only in the 19th
century, are largely indistinguishable in terms of national
dress.
Denmark,
Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland (includes Saami tribes)
All of Scandinavia wears
a common or similar dress largely influenced by Denmark and
Germany because of centuries of shared rule by the Danes (greatly
influenced by their German relatives to the south). Finland's
dress is related to the Swedish a common heritage springing
from nearly 600 years of Swedish rule.
The Saami tribes of northern
Scandinavia have a very unique dress of their own because
of their isolation from Germanic culture to the south. Their
ethnicity is the same.
Greece:
The Greek costume is highly
unique, with no other country similar to it. Greeks are very
proud of their military tradition, and treat these costume-donning
regulars on the public squares of Athens with great respect.
Italy:
Italy's costumes are diverse,
reflecting Italy's history as a nation seldom unified throughout
its history, though its regions retain the same ethnicity
and culture.
Ireland,
Scotland, Wales:
Irish, Welsh, and Scottish
costumes are unique in their shared attempt to praise their
common Celtic heritage. The Scottish costume has more northern
English influence.
Scottish costumes are famous and unique from Irish ones.
Welsh costumes are unique as a Celtic-rooted uniform with
a unique hat.
Slovenia:
Slovene costumes are unusual
in their own, though very similar to their Slavic cousins
in Croatia to the southeast. There is a presence of German
influence in the male legging, a legacy of Austrian rule for
five centuries.
Malta:
Maltese costumes are incredibly
unique, reflecting the island nation's distinct history as
an independent people. They are largely believed to be related
genetically to the Italians and Mediterannean peoples with
a similar culture, though they speak a language related to
Arabic that they inherited either from the ancient Phoenecians
or from the conquering Muslim Arabs. We see some Italian,
Greek, and Turkish influence in their dress.
Bosnia:
Bosnia's costumes are very
different due to their unusual history in the Balkans. They
are a Slavic people speaking a Slavic language, though some
40% of their population is nominally Islamic due to nearly
500 years of Turkish rule and often forced conversion. Thus,
we see a slight Turkish style in their clothing.
 
Albania:
As Europe's sole Muslim-majority
nation (Albania is 70% Muslim, though highly nominal), Albanian
clothing is expresses blatant Turkish influences as a result
of nearly 500 years of Ottoman rule following the victory
of their jihad against Gjergj Skanderbeg. We see some Greek
and Slavic influences also, preceding the Islamic assault.
Serbia
(includes Montenegro):
Serbia as one of Europe's
proudest Slavic peoples has a distinctly Slavic traditional
dress generally free of foreign influence, reflecting Serbs'
historic resilience to foreign conquest even during hundreds
of years of Turkish Ottoman jihad. The Montenegrins, who are
of the same racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious
heritage of the Serbs but broke away in 2008, have the same
costume overall.
Macedonia:
Macedonia's dress is very
different from any other culture in Europe. As a very young
social identity of Slavs that now retrojectively considers
itself the descendants of the ancient Macedonians (and Alexander
the Great in many Macedonians' minds), Macedonians have created
a dress reflecting their independence from Yugoslavia. Due
to its geography, we see Greek, Albanian, and Turkish elements
alongside their native Slavic heritage. It is among the most
encumbering of European costumes.
Bulgaria:
Bulgarian traditional dress
is unique in its own, but strongly Slavic like its people.
There is a wide diversity in their costumes for men and women,
reflecting a proud and long familial tradition in Europe's
oldest Slavic nation. Cities like Varna take great pride in
their costumes, and many families still personally knit one
for their weddings.
Romania,
Moldova:
Romanian dresses are highly
unique, presenting a variety of influences from the Turkish
Muslim, Slavic, and even Gypsy occupations in Romania throughout
their long history. Moldovan costumes are highly similar (though
also diverse) because of the common history, culture, and
language Moldova and Romania (Wallachia) have shared, with
the two countries only dividing because of Cold War politics.
Czech,
Slovak:
Czech and Slovak traditional
Slavic costumes are similar because of the fact that the two
groups have had a shared history and Slavic culture for almost
all of their long history. The two groups split into two nations
only because of political disputes following the Cold War
in the Velvet Divorce of 1993, leading to enduring anger by
many on both sides who view the two countries as one people.
Because the Czechs have spent most of their long history vaccilating
between German puppet vassal and independent power before
being ruled by the Germans of the Austrian Habsburg Empire
from 1526 until 1918, Czech and Slovak costumes are highly
similar to German/Austrian ones. There are significant regional
variations, including efforts to discern the Czechs as much
as possible from the Germans.
Poland:
Polish costumes are unique,
though distinctly Slavic. Poland as one of the oldest and
proudest Slavic countries delivered influence on many of the
neighboring Slavic cultures. There is also significant regional
variation in the different regions where ethnic Poles live,
such as Ukraine (Galicia), Lithuania, and Silesia.
Lithuania:
Lithuanian costumes are unique
and divergent from all other neighboring costumes in their
historic effort to promote and create a distinct culture seeking
freedom from Soviet and Polish influence. They are unusually
simple.
Latvia:
Latvian costumes are relatively
simple and warm due to their very cold climate. We see many
influences in their national dress, including those reflecting
historic occupant nations (Poland, Russia, Sweden, Germany),
and also unique characteristics in their attempt to build
a unique culture to encourage their independence from Russia.
Belarus:
Belarusian costumes are largely
derived from Russian and other regional influences, reflecting
their strong Slavic heritage. We see great similarities to
Polish costumes due to the fact that the Slavs of the region
(there was no Belarusian identity) were under Polish-Lithuanian
rule for nearly 400 years.
Hungary:
Hungarian dress is unique
because of the long history of Hungary as a major independent
European power. During the eclipse of Hungary's independence
due to the devastating invasion of Hungary by the Ottoman
jihad, and during 400 years of German rule in the Austrian
Empire (1526-1918), Hungarian identity remained strongly independent.
The Hungarians were given political and ethnic status second
only to the Germans in this massive multi-ethnic empire, and
thus the Hungarians spent most of their time as subjects to
the Germans defining themselves as a separate community. Hungarians
remain proud equestrians, harking back to their heritage as
steppe riders who entered the Hungarian plain from the Ural
Mountains over a millennium ago before settling to become
one of the most magnificent powers of Eastern Europe.
Estonia:
Estonian dress is unique
despite their cultural, religious (Lutheran), ethnic, and
linguistic similarities with their Finnish brothers to the
north. Their distinct features in their dress reflect Estonia's
struggle against foreign occupants (Russians, Poles, Lithuanians,
etc.). Naturally, there is great Scandinavian/Germanic influence,
but also evident influence from the Poles, likely proliferated
through Polish-ruled Latvia/Livonia because the Poles never
ruled Estonia.
Ukraine:
Ukrainian costumes are closely
linked to other Slavic ones, particularly Russian, but their
distinct hardships faced in history due to their geography
causes a slight divergence. There is significant variation
in Ukrainian costume across international borders where Ukrainian
minorities live, including Polish Galicia (where they are
called Ruthenians), Romania and Moldova (called the Rusyn),
and in Russia.
Russia:
Russian traditional dress
are unique, but closely linked to other Slavic cultures' national
costumes. They are some of the most varied of all European
costumes.
thanks to Joann Collinns!
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ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
James Mayfield is a historian
and the Chairman of the European Heritage Library. I have
a Cum Laude BA in History with a Minor in Germanic Studies
(language and history), am presently working for my Masters
in History, and plan to immediately progress to my PhD Doctorate.
I have a special academic interest in Europe's diverse ethnic
identities, languages, and cultures, and the political struggles
of native European and immigrant minority identities. See
my staff entry for more information.
BIBLIOGRAPHY/SOURCES
USED:
The images are scattered
all throughout the internet, with many being from government
sites about culture, with others being from blogs, and others
from photographers. Due to the wide circulation of these images,
it is almost impossible to give credit to the original sources
of the works. None is the property of the European Heritage
Library. If you find an image that is yours and you demand
we give your website credit, feel free to notify us immediately.
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