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# Colorful Folk Dress

The winds of change touched not only the peasants' homes and villages but also their way of dress, which became more showy. It was apparently in the early 17th century that Transylvania's common folk began to sport, on festive occasions, colorful clothing with woven and embroidered ornaments as well as jewelry in their hair and on their neck and waist. Besides plain white and colors that could be readily produced, such as black, blue, and red, their clothes also came in yellow, green, brown, and artful shades of purple, light blue, and pink. A rather botched painting shows a Székely woman from Csík dressed in five colors: her blouse and broad, light neckerchief are both white; her braided bodice is cherry-red; her skirt and hip-length jacket are brown; her apron is light blue; and her footwear is crimson. The Saxon domestic depicted in another {2-191.} portrait also sports colorful garb: a headdress of red and green ribbons; white apron and blouse; black bodice and skirt; red stockings; and sandals of dark brown leather. The Romanians, more sober in their choice of color, favored black and white, but they also wore more embroidered garments and jewelry than the other peasants. The high collar and the short, puffed sleeves of Romanian women's blouses were usually embroidered in geometric or tendril patterns and in blue, red, or other colors. The tendril patterns were evocative of the decoration on Romanian pottery. Romanian men's and women's sheepskin coats were also embroidered, generally in a floral pattern. Amongst the contemporary portrayals of Transylvanian Romanians, the most surprising one shows a prostitute wearing a checkered apron; it must have been homespun, for such there is no mention of such a textile in 17th century sources, and even flower-patterned fabric was found only on very wealthy or Gipsy women.

Romanian peasant women wore the most jewelry, which included earrings; rings of copper and iron; hair ornaments made of shells, coins, and strung gilt beads; necklaces, some of white or red coral; and beads sewn into their fabric belts. In this respect, the Székelys cut a more modest figure; it appears that they wore no jewelry other than glass-beads and, in the case of young girls, flat gold pieces attached to their headdresses.

Peasant men wore no jewelry, and their clothes were predominantly white, black, brown, or, less commonly, blue. Thus men's attire remained more traditional than women's, which displayed a new richness of color and ornament in the 17th century. The crafting of individual clothing items did not change: they were made from a single piece of homespun fabric. Only bodices, jackets, and coats were cut to measure. If the cut did not change, the more colorful and ornamented clothes worn by women did require new production techniques. The basic skills of weaving and sewing went back a long way, and they sufficed to produce coarse garments. But {2-192.} before the clattering looms in village homes could produce the fine textiles for shawls, blouses, and aprons, every step, from the milling of flax or hemp to the spinning or weaving of thread needed to be modified. And sewing together pieces of linen was child's play compared to the creation of artistically woven and embroidered items.