National costumes are considered an integral part of a nation’s culture and heritage. National costumes in Croatia are consisted of blouses, skirts or dresses, aprons, shoes and kerchiefs for women and shirts, trousers, vests and shoes for men. The identity of the man and the region has been expressed by the national costumes throughout history. Today, the costume is still worn for the holidays like ethnic festivals, religious holidays, weddings etc… If you go to celebrations like St.Blaise day, you will be able to see the
local folk dance groups performing in somewhat simplified traditional costumes.
Today, you will learn about one of the most beautiful costumes in Croatia. The one from picturesque Konavle region. Konavle was of specific importance for the Dubrovnik Republic, not only due to agriculture, stock farming and seafaring, but also because of its strategic value. Specialty of the area and Konavle people is in distinctive traditional costumes and embroidery as well. The best way to experience the traditions of Konavle is to visit Sunday morning folklore performances in Čilipi.
Konavle national costume and embroidery are inseparably related to the local lifestyle and reflect social and cultural particularities of the region. The embroidery is a decorative basic element of the women’s costumes, which was embroided onto breasts and sleeves. Originally it was sttiched with silk moth, carefully and attentively grown in each Konavle house an dyed with natural colors. Due to the harmony of the natural materials, out of which is made , the ornaments of Konavle embroidery, the jewels and the single pieces of women costumes confer to the women of Konavle a very particular elegance troughout their entire life, from girl’s young age to the ripe old age. The costumes also showed the wealth and social status of the women.
Due to its beauty and extreme adaptability the Konavle embroidery is applied to many of today’s objects of utility – table cloths, purses, decorative elements for evening gowns, table mats, pillowslips etc… This way, the tradition of handcraft is kept up, and Konavle regionis world-wide promoted in the best way.
Gold earrings , called ”verzice” are the traditional Konavle jewelry . The earring is a simple annular shape decorated with a real pearl , coral , enamel , tiny metal granules or various combinations of these materials . Intersting fact is that not even Jordan’s Queen Rania couldn’t resist their beauty. They became a classic – true fashion statment.
