Welsh Boys' Clothes: Folk Outfits



Figure 1.--This English commercialpost card show a Welsh scene in the eaeky-20th centuty, prhaps about 1910. While it is a commercial postcard, we do not think, however, that the boy and lady were costumed. Note the ladt wears a folk outfit while the boy is desed just like an English boy. Note the interestingcottage and spinning wheel. Source: Dennis' Dainty series.

There are of course destinctive Welsh folk costumes, epecially for girls and women. As is the case in most countries, women tend to wear folk costumes more than men. Also the general pattern is for boys to wear simply smaller versions of men's costumes. Generally speaking there are rarely destinctive garments for boys. We suspect that this is the case in Wales, but have not yet collected any information on Welsh folk costume. Welsh folk costume seems to have almost disappeared in the 19th century when efforts were made to preserve it. The most common image of Welsh "national" dress appaears to be a woman in a red cloak and tall black hat. This appears to have been based on 19th century styles. Commonly women wear a striped flannel petticoat under a flannel open-fronted bedgown, with an apron, shawl and kerchief or cap. For some unknown reason, the hats generally worn were the same as hats worn by men at the period. The tall "chimney" hat for women did not appear until the late 1840s and seems to be based on an amalgamation of men's top hats and a form of high hat worn during the Regency period (1790-1820) in rural areas. Information on men's folk costumes is much less available. A HBC reader visiting Wales writes, "I am interested in folk travel and always look out for interesting postcards on my travels. In Wales there were quite a few nice post cards with women's folk costumes, but I couldn't find comparable cards for men and boys." There does not appear to be any destictive image for men that stands out in the public mind like that for women. And we know of no destinctibe boys' folk costume. Hopefully our Welsh readers can provide some insight here.

Origins

What we now know as European folk codtumes are styles that were the styles of the common people. The aristocracy dresed very differently. In fact, the aristicracy throughout Europe from Eussia to Britain commonly followed the same fashion trends, often strongly influenced by Frnce. It was the common peope who adopted destinctive attir. Most lived and died very close to wherre they were born. Thus in the resulting unsular environmnts hese destinctive stules could develop.

Gender

There are Welsh folk costumes, epecially for girls and women. As is the case in most countries, women tend to wear folk costumes more than men. This varied from country to country. In Wales we are not even sure what the male counterpart is. Also the general pattern is for boys to wear simply smaller versions of men's costumes. Generally speaking there are rarely destinctive garments for boys. We suspect that this is the case in Wales, but have not yet collected much information on Welsh folk costume. Information on men's folk costumes is much less available. A HBC reader visiting Wales writes, "I am interested in folk travel and always look out for interesting postcards on my travels. In Wales there were quite a few nice post cards with women's folk costumes, but I couldn't find comparable cards for men and boys." There does not appear to be any destictive image for men that stands out in the public mind like that for women. And we know of no destinctibe boys' folk costume. Hopefully our Welsh readers can provide some insight here.

Prevalence

We do not have much information on folk costume trends. Most European folk styles have 18th-century or even earlier origins. There are indications thart Welsh folk costumes may be more recntbin prigins. It seems to have been to some extent the resu,t of efforts by Welsh cultural ebthuiasts to create a sestinctive Welsh national costume. This may exolain why it is mostly a women's costume. We believe that it was worn to some exten in the late-19th century. We are looking for more information to confirm this. Welsh folk costume seems to have almost disappeared in the late-19th century when efforts were made to preserve it.

Styles

The most common image of Welsh 'national' dress appears to be a woman in a red cloak and tall black hat. This appears to have been based on early-19th century styles. Commonly women wear a striped flannel petticoat under a flannel open-fronted bedgown, with an apron, shawl and kerchief or cap. For some unknown reason, the hats generally worn were the same as hats worn by men at the period. The tall 'chimney' hat for women did not appear until the late 1840s and seems to be based on an amalgamation of men's top hats and a form of high hat worn during the Regency period (1790-1820). This sounds similar to how Bolivian and Peruvian women came towear bowler hars at about the same time.







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Created: 10:46 AM 6/4/2012
Last updated: 1:44 AM 8/11/2017