Latvian Folk Dress - Latvijas Institūts

Latvian
Folk
Dress
almost completely disappeared. However in some remote districts with
strong national awareness and traditions, such as Alsunga, Rucava and
Nīca (in Kurzeme), ethnic dress continued to be worn as festive clothing
until the 1940s.
The revival of folk dress as dress for festive occasions occurred during
the first era of the Republic of Latvia in the 1920s and 1930s. There
was great interest in the newly established nation and the history and
culture of its people. Partly this was because earlier, the popularisation
of Latvian values was prohibited, and partly this was because people
had to work on lifting their own level of self-confidence after 700 years
of oppression. From the mid-1920s, ethnographic expeditions began
to travel throughout Latvia as ordered by the Monuments Authority,
gathering all possible remaining evidence about the traditional life of the
people, including folk dress. In this way a large collection of elements of
authentic folk dress was established, which ended up in the collection
of the National Museum of History. One of the most active folk dress
researchers and promoters was Ādolfs Karnups and Elga Kivicka, who in
1938 published an overview of the ethnographic costumes of Latvian
regions, identifying the characteristic features of each. The publication
was created based on folk dress elements from each district which were
A photo from the film Latvian Wedding in Nīca, produced in 1931,
shows local people wearing their original dresses.
held by the museum. Using the place of origin as the main principle
of composition, unfortunately ensembles were created using elements
of dress which had rarely been worn by the same person – that is,
there could be an interval of around 100 years in the dating of various
elements of dress in the ensembles. Nevertheless the influence of this
publication was huge, and it influenced a majority of folk dress makers.
These costumes were made for choir singers, theatre performances and
individual wearers. In the 1930s interest in folk dress was so great that
not only the society ladies in Rīga, but even women in the outermost
corners of Latvia strove to get a self-made or pre-ordered folk costume.
The making of folk dress for the needs of choirs and dancing ensembles
was preserved also during the period of Soviet occupation after the
Second World War, a rarely-permitted expression of patriotism.
When the folklore movement began in the late 1970s, with the aim of
reviving ancient folk songs and traditions, all participants in folkloric
groups acquired folk dress. A majority of Latvian choirs, dance ensembles
and participants in folkloric groups still wear ethnographic folk dress
when performing. However, during the time of occupation some choirs
attempted to make themselves ancient dress. The wearing of ancient
costumes in the folklore movement was begun by the men’s group
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