Lögberg-Heimskringla - 28.07.2000, Page 3

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Sérútgáfa • Föstudagur 28. júlí 2000 • 3
The national dress
an Icelandic cultural heritage
Examples o/skautbuningur.
It is of great importance for every
nation to be knowledgeable about
its national costumes and to protect
them. The Icelandic national women’s
costumes are faldbúningur, peysuföt,
upphlutur, skautbúningur, and kyrtill
(hooded wear, sweater ensemble, vest-
ed dress, veiled dress, and a gown). The
sweater ensemble is the earliest of the
costumes known today. It was first men-
tioned in writing in 1790. The upphlu-
tur (vested dress) is part of the old fald-
búningur (hooded wear) which changed
over time from being underwear to
working clothes.
In the nineteenth century an interest
awakened in living conditions of former
times. This interest was focused, among
other areas, on the national costumes
and their use. For centuries this type of
clothing was in daily use, but under-
went some changes over time. Fashion
had its influence, although fashion
swings were not as frequent then as
they are today.
In ancient times people were
dressed similarly everywhere—Middle
Age clothing—but over time changes
occurred and clothing acquired its var-
ied national character. Clothes become
national costumes when clothing tradi-
tions have remained over a long time. In
manuscripts from the sixteenth century
women are seen wearing faldur
(wrapped headwear), made from light-
coloured cloth. This characteristic of
the Icelandic women’s costumes contin-
ues to this century.
Faldbúningur
At the beginning of the eighteenth
century and earlier, traditional women’s
clothing was usually called fald-
búningar (hooded wear) receiving its
name from the headwear, which charac-
terized it. In the seventeenth century the
straight, wrapped headwear had
changed somewhat. At the turn of the
18th century and later it became very
high. Many people were somewhat
amused by that fashion and poetry was
written about it. In the eighteenth centu-
ry the faldbúningur consisted of a skirt,
an apron, a shirt, a vest, a jacket, a col-
lar, and headwear; also a scarf, head
scarf, and hand string. The women wore
jewellery with their clothing, depending
on their wealth and circumstances. The
jewellery included necklaces, shoulder
laces, sleeve buttons, apron buttons,
hooks and loops, and jewellery belts.
The faldbúningur underwent various
changes until the nineteenth century..
The hooked headwear changed gradual-
ly, the pattern at the hem of the skirt and
the apron changed, and the apron was
joined to the skirt. Use of the fald-
búningur declined in the early part of
the nineteenth century, and was
replaced with the peysuföt (sweater
ensemble), both as everyday wear and
dress-up.
Peysuföt
The sweater ensemble is first men-
tioned around 1790 and thus it is the
oldest of the costumes we know today.
At the beginning it was also called
“cap-clothing,” because women began
wearing caps, similar to those worn by
men. Originally the sweater was knit-
ted, and the costume drew its name
from that, particularly after the vested
costume came into use, where a cap was
also worn. The skirt of the oldest
sweater ensemble was usually made
from homespun wool fabric, with a
woven apron. A silk neck scarf was
used, and the sweater was high at the
neck. The scarf was folded into a trian-
gle, wrapped together, laid around the
neck and tied into a bow. The skotthúfa
(cap) was deep, knit with a short
woolen tassel, often of various colour,
preferably red, blue, or green. A ring
was always used on the cap, called
“tassletube.” The apron had a button or
a pair of hooks. For the sweater ensem-
ble a sweater breast was used, made
from white stififened cotton with lace at
the top and a crocheted or embroidered
pattem running along its length. It is
common to use lace at the sleeve edges.
The sweater is gathered at the lower
edge and the gathers always come over
the skirt. Women also wore a day-jack-
et for everyday use and as working
clothing. It was most often made from
multicoloured, pattemed fabric. At the
time the sewn jacket came on the scene,
the pattem of the sweater underwent
various changes. In the twentieth centu-
ry some changes took place, such as the
pufifed sleeve fashion. The scarf also
underwent changes. The cap also
changed in the nineteenth century. Until
the twentieth century the eaps were
knitted when they were sewn from vel-
vet. Headpins were originally used to
fasten the braids under the cap-edge,
but later as decoration.
Upphlutur
The upphlutur (vested dress) was
part of the old faldbúningur. In the old
Nordic language the skirt was called
lower part. It was held up by a piece of
clothing, called simply the upper piece
(upphlutur). In the late nineteenth cen-
tury the upper part was often either red,
blue, green or black in colour. In the
mid-nineteenth century a vest was worn
with the skirt. A shirt was wom under
the vest, an apron in the same fabric,
and a cap, as had been worn with the
sweater ensemble. Thus a new costume
was introduced, called “upphlutur.” The
vest is laced together with hooks and
eyelets either 10 (5 on each side) or
more, up to 16, and a wire lace. On the
twentieth-century vest 8 hooks and eye-
lets are used. On either side of those is
a decorative ribbon, most commonly
woven wire ribbons, or velvet ribbons,
embroidered with coloured silk, silver
or gold wire. On today’s upphlutur the
ribbons are embroidered with gold or
silver wire or they are hand-crafted.
Ribbons were used on the back of the
vest. Few pictures exist of upphlutur
from former times and the explanation
supposedly is that the clothes changed
over time from being underwear, and
were first used as working clothing. At
that time the clothes were much less
decorated than it is now. At the later
part of the nineteenth century and the
beginning of the twentieth
Please see National DreSS on page 22
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