Dutch Clothing, 1902
From Dutch Life in Town and Country by P. M. Hough, 1902.
From: 1902 C.E. To: 1902 C.E.
Location: The Netherlands
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Dutch Life in Town and Country by P. M. Hough, 1902.
The costume worn by the peasantry is always quaint, and this is especially so in Hindeloopen. The waistband of a peasant woman takes alone an hour and a half to arrange. It consists of a very long, thin, black band, which is wound round and round the waist till it forms one broad sash.
The dress itself includes a black skirt and a check bodice, a white apron, and a dark necktie; from the waistband hangs at the right-hand side a long silver chain, to which are attached a silver pin-cushion, a pair of scissors, and a needle case; then on the left-hand side hangs a reticule with silver clasps; and a long mantle, falling loose from the shoulders to the hem of the skirt, is worn over all out-of-doors. This latter is of some light-coloured material, with a pattern of red flowers and green leaves. On the head three caps are worn, one over the other, and for outdoor wear a large, tall bonnet is donned by way of completing the costume.
All the Frisian costumes are beautiful. Many ladies of that province still wear the national dress, and a very becoming one it is.
In Overyssel the women all over the province dress alike, and in the same way their ancestors did. In the house the dress is an ordinary full petticoat of some cotton stuff, generally blue, and a tight-fitting and perfectly plain bodice with short sleeves, a red handkerchief folded across the chest, and a close-fitting white cap, with a little flounce round the neck.
When they go to market with their milk and eggs they are very smart. They then wear a fine black merino skirt, made very full, and the inevitable petticoats, which make the skirt stand out like a crinoline. On Sundays they wear the same costume as on market-days, and in winter they are to be seen with large India shawls worn in a point down the back in the old-fashioned way.
When they go to communion, as they do four times a year, the shawls are of black silk with long black fringes. The hair is completely hidden by a close-fitting black cap, and some women cut off their hair so as to give the head a perfectly round shape. Over the black cap is worn a white one of real lace, called a knip-miuts, the pattern of which shows to advantage over the black ground. A deep flounce of gauffered real lace goes round the neck, while round the face there is a ruche or frill, also very finely gauffered. A broad white brocaded ribbon is laid twice round the cap, and fastened under the chin.
Long gold earrings are fastened to the cap on either side of the face, and the ears themselves are hidden. The style of gauffering is still the same as is seen in the muslin caps of so many Dutch pictures of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially in those of Frans Hals.
When in mourning, the women wear a plain linen cap without any lace, and the men a black bow in their caps. It is quite a work of art to make up a peasant woman's head-dress, and several cap-makers are kept busy at it all day long.
The clothes the men wear are not so elaborate. They used to be short knickerbockers with silver clasps, but these have entirely gone out of fashion, and they have been replaced by ordinary clothes of cloth or corduroy. Both sexes wear wooden shoes, which the men often make themselves. In the far-famed little island of Marken the men are very clever at this work, and they carve them beautifully.
In some lonely hamlets the unmarried women wear black caps with a thick ruche of ostrich feathers or black fur round the face. The Jewellry consists of garnet necklaces closed round the neck and fastened by golden clasps. The garnets are always very large, and this fashion is general all over the Netherlands. In Stompwyk, a little village between The Hague and Leyden, a peasant family possesses garnets as large as a swallow's egg.
Hough, P. M. Dutch Life in Town and Country. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1902.
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