Regional Dress: Between Tradition and Modernity

Description

Traditional dress is a common phenomenon across much of Western Europe, often originating in elaborate practices for rural religious events. Yet despite its fundamentally local nature, traditional dress in various European regions developed along a similar trajectory, sometimes being transformed into political symbols and regional promotion for tourism, and always revealing the complexity of rural society in terms of religious divisions, class inequality and tension between the desires to protect tradition and embrace modernity. To better understand how traditional dress evolved in France and Germany from the 19th to 21st centuries, this book takes Alsace as its case study and in doing so illuminates broad experiences of modernity across rural Europe and answers overarching questions about regionalism and nationalism. Specifically, Sara Hume unpacks why Alsatian dress was adopted as a symbol of loyalty to France despite being closer in style to German dress practices. She explores the impact of political and geographical tensions on the appearance and function of traditional clothing, for example in Alsace’s situation at the border between France and Germany and in its transformation from disputed territory into capital of a united Europe. Logically progressing chapters reveal how modernity did not drive out tradition in rural communities but rather led to processes of adaption, preservation and re-evaluation. Through a rich variety of primary sources including costumes, illustrations, political cartoons, legal documents and oral histories, Regional Dress sheds light on the little known and rarely documented experiences of rural Europeans. Its material culture approach to the study of regionalism is essential to students of traditional and folk dress history, European history and design history. Cover Contents List of Plates List of Figures List of Maps Acknowledgments Maps Introduction Overview of Alsatian History 1 Religious Performance Relationship between Religion and Dress Processions and the Performance of Catholicism Performance of Protestantism Other Minority Religious Groups Exclusion of Minority Religions from Public Spaces Dress as Ritual Declining Link between Regional Dress and Religious Observance Conclusion 2 Visual Representation Field Guide to the Folk Photography of Regional Dress Realism and Regional Dress Book Illustrations Art Nouveau and the Alsatian Awakening Spindler as Photographer and Ethnologue Development of l’Alsacienne as a Symbol of Alsace Conclusion 3 Material Goods Basic Components of Rural Alsatian Wardrobes Shift to Coordinating Outfits Quantity and Value of Clothing Evolution of Special Occasion Wear Development of Retail in Alsace Introduction of Department Stores into Alsace Home-Based Industrial Production Education and Apprenticeship for Craftspeople Apprenticeships in the Interwar Period Tailoring and Dressmaking in Literature Conclusion 4 Museum Objects Roots of Folk Museums Founding of the Musée Alsacien The Collection and Its Acquisition Nature of the Early Displays Producing and Reproducing the Image of Regional Culture Kermesse: Masquerade and Commerce Conclusion 5 Living History Non-Religious Festivals Wedding Processions Turn-of-the-Century Festivals Folklorization of Fête-Dieu Folk Dress in Political Rallies Organization of Folk Groups Nazi Influence on Folklore Re-Emergence of Interest in Folklore Conclusion Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index