Swedish Costumes of Late Eighteenth Century [1]
On large estates and farms where it took many people to save all the hay, a big feast was held when the work was done. Some such feasts have been immortalized in art and literature. Pehr Hilleströ large painting 'Haymaking Feast at Svartsjö Castle" from 1782 shows a throng of people celebrating, with peasants, servants and the mistress of the castle, Queen Lovisa Ulrika, with her noble escort. This is a snapshot of the diversity of folk fashion depicted in such detail that we can almost feel the roughness of the colorful striped fabrics, and of course was homespun.
Slåtterö på Svartsö slott.
Painting by Pehr Hilleström.
In her diary, Märta Helens Reenstierna tells of a hay-making festival on her farm, Årsta, which is outside of Stockholm, in 1795:
'All our guests were cheerful and glad, we ate, drank, danced a couple of peasant polkas in the hay...The whole afternoon all kinds of onlookers gathered. The cannonades, toasts, and hoorays lasted into the night...Fiddlers, lackeys, maids, and others were treated to wine and genteel food.'
Slåtterö på Svartsö slott. The party continues.
Painting by Pehr Hilleström.
Svartsjölandet in Lake Mälaren is not far from Stockholm. The district is characterized by a manor-house culture in which even the peasants came into contact with novelties and the rapid changes of fashion. Here one can find no traces of distinctive local folk costumes. Instead the dress of the people followed the fashion of the times, but in simplified form. This meant that dress could show great variation. People used home-woven, half-woolen fabrics, to make bodice skirts, waistcoats and jackets, all cut in keeping with the latest fashion. Since clothes were primarily acquired by people while they were young, and had to last a long time, perhaps even a lifetime, there was sometimes a certain lag in fashion.
Part of a waistcoat made of striped half-wool.
Part of a calico apron.
Woman's shoes from the late eighteenth century.
Stripes were the height of fashion in 1780s, and in the fashion dress, the same cloth was often used in the skirt and the jacket. Some peasant women probably tried to keep up with the fashion, but most of them still wore contrasting combinations according to older traditions. The apron was an important garment that all womwn had; at this time it tended to be white or with a narrow stripes and made of thin linen or cotton for those who wanted to be really grand and up-to-date. Married women did not show their hair, which was carefully set up and tucked in a tight-fitting frame cap edged at the front with lace. To give protection against the sun, a kerchief could be knotted on top of the frame cap. Other soft white caps of fine cotton cloth would also be worn.
One woman below is wearing a fashionable jacket (kofta) of camlet, a purchased cloth from one of the city's wool manufacturers or imported from England. Perhaps she is married to a preist or a parish constable. Her apron of thin cotton and her scarf no doubt come from one of many Swedish calico printing works, established during the eighteenth century when printed cotton and calico were most in fashion. This was something that peasant women could dream about, but rarely afford. Clothes were a clear indicator of social status.
The woman's son is wearing a long frock (kolt) that all infats, girls and boys alike, wore from the time when they started to walk. It was usually very simply made, a straight model that could grow with the child. With this frock it was also easy for children to manage the toilet on their own.
The little boy is wearing a long frock. The man's blue coat is typical for the time and the woman's jacket is made of fashionable camlet.
In the picture from 1782, the men's clothes also have a great deal in common with fashions from the mid eighteenth century. They are as varied as the woman's; they all wear waist coats and kneebreeches, but of different material and colors. Some are wearing a short jacket while others have coats. The fashionable coat of the rococo period had a high slit on the back and numerous pleats, large sewn-on pocket flaps, and wide cuffs. Above all,it had many large large buttons, usually shiny to reflect the owners prosperity. The peasant's coat is also characteristic of these status objects. One man has a blue coat which is typical; coats like these were still worn at many places in the country into the nineteenth century. Blue was an expensive color, so a blue coat was finer than one of gray woven from undyed wool. A broad-brimmed black hat was worn, even in summer. No one is bare-headed.
A peasant's son age which is about seven and so has only recently started to wear a boy's costume. He is dressed in kneebreeches of chamois leather, a linen shirt, and a striped waistcoat, just like the adult men. It was an important and longed-for time when a child grew out of the long frock.
A peasant's son in a boys costume.
A noblewoman wearing a half-silk dress, a simplified form of Gustav III's national dress.
Dress detail of the above costume.
A nobleman wearing Gustav III's national dress.
Dress detail of above costume.
Reference:
[1] Power of Fashion - 300 years of Clothing, B. Eldvik, Catalogue for the exhibition (opened at Nordiska Museet, February (2010).
On large estates and farms where it took many people to save all the hay, a big feast was held when the work was done. Some such feasts have been immortalized in art and literature. Pehr Hilleströ large painting 'Haymaking Feast at Svartsjö Castle" from 1782 shows a throng of people celebrating, with peasants, servants and the mistress of the castle, Queen Lovisa Ulrika, with her noble escort. This is a snapshot of the diversity of folk fashion depicted in such detail that we can almost feel the roughness of the colorful striped fabrics, and of course was homespun.
Painting by Pehr Hilleström.
In her diary, Märta Helens Reenstierna tells of a hay-making festival on her farm, Årsta, which is outside of Stockholm, in 1795:
'All our guests were cheerful and glad, we ate, drank, danced a couple of peasant polkas in the hay...The whole afternoon all kinds of onlookers gathered. The cannonades, toasts, and hoorays lasted into the night...Fiddlers, lackeys, maids, and others were treated to wine and genteel food.'
Painting by Pehr Hilleström.
Svartsjölandet in Lake Mälaren is not far from Stockholm. The district is characterized by a manor-house culture in which even the peasants came into contact with novelties and the rapid changes of fashion. Here one can find no traces of distinctive local folk costumes. Instead the dress of the people followed the fashion of the times, but in simplified form. This meant that dress could show great variation. People used home-woven, half-woolen fabrics, to make bodice skirts, waistcoats and jackets, all cut in keeping with the latest fashion. Since clothes were primarily acquired by people while they were young, and had to last a long time, perhaps even a lifetime, there was sometimes a certain lag in fashion.
Stripes were the height of fashion in 1780s, and in the fashion dress, the same cloth was often used in the skirt and the jacket. Some peasant women probably tried to keep up with the fashion, but most of them still wore contrasting combinations according to older traditions. The apron was an important garment that all womwn had; at this time it tended to be white or with a narrow stripes and made of thin linen or cotton for those who wanted to be really grand and up-to-date. Married women did not show their hair, which was carefully set up and tucked in a tight-fitting frame cap edged at the front with lace. To give protection against the sun, a kerchief could be knotted on top of the frame cap. Other soft white caps of fine cotton cloth would also be worn.
One woman below is wearing a fashionable jacket (kofta) of camlet, a purchased cloth from one of the city's wool manufacturers or imported from England. Perhaps she is married to a preist or a parish constable. Her apron of thin cotton and her scarf no doubt come from one of many Swedish calico printing works, established during the eighteenth century when printed cotton and calico were most in fashion. This was something that peasant women could dream about, but rarely afford. Clothes were a clear indicator of social status.
The woman's son is wearing a long frock (kolt) that all infats, girls and boys alike, wore from the time when they started to walk. It was usually very simply made, a straight model that could grow with the child. With this frock it was also easy for children to manage the toilet on their own.
In the picture from 1782, the men's clothes also have a great deal in common with fashions from the mid eighteenth century. They are as varied as the woman's; they all wear waist coats and kneebreeches, but of different material and colors. Some are wearing a short jacket while others have coats. The fashionable coat of the rococo period had a high slit on the back and numerous pleats, large sewn-on pocket flaps, and wide cuffs. Above all,it had many large large buttons, usually shiny to reflect the owners prosperity. The peasant's coat is also characteristic of these status objects. One man has a blue coat which is typical; coats like these were still worn at many places in the country into the nineteenth century. Blue was an expensive color, so a blue coat was finer than one of gray woven from undyed wool. A broad-brimmed black hat was worn, even in summer. No one is bare-headed.
A peasant's son age which is about seven and so has only recently started to wear a boy's costume. He is dressed in kneebreeches of chamois leather, a linen shirt, and a striped waistcoat, just like the adult men. It was an important and longed-for time when a child grew out of the long frock.
Reference:
[1] Power of Fashion - 300 years of Clothing, B. Eldvik, Catalogue for the exhibition (opened at Nordiska Museet, February (2010).
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