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Hello all, Today i am going to talk about the costume and woven ornament of the Vilnius region. Not all sources even recognise such a region, which had me wondering where it came from. After a bit of research, i found out that this is a historical region, being an administrative province which predated the establishment of the independant state of Lithuania in the 20th cent. Here is a good article on the history of this region. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius_Region Here is a map showing the Vilnius region, which is sometimes divided between Dzukija and Aukštaitija. As i said before, some of my sources do not recognise this as a region, and Jurkoviene and Kulikauskiene in particular do not illustrate any costumes that resemble these at all. Tamošaitis writes that because of their proximity to the capitol, and the clothing of townspeople and aristocracy, "Their costumes therefore were characterized by a more ornate appearance in the cut, colors, and patterns than costumes found elsewhere in Lithuania" and "Those of the Vilnius region were easily distinguisable by the exceptionally beautiful patterns, colours, cut, and style of their clothes." In the south and east of the province especially were large numbers of Poles, Belorussians and others, the various nationalities tended to live each in their own local areas. Here are a few examples of the Vilnius costume as presented by V Palaimas. This costume is a favorite of those who took traditional Lithuanian hand weaving for clothes and other textiles and developed it as a national art form in the 20th cent. Here is a set of clothing woven by Anastasia Tamošaitiene and presented to princess Diana of The United Kingdom on the occasion of her wedding. You can clearly see the exceptional care, planning and artistry that went into the weaving of every single piece of this outfit. For the same reason, this costume is very popular among amateur dance groups and Lithuanian musem exhibits, especially in the Lithuanian Diaspora. Here are some examples. [These are images i found on the web, if anyone would like me to remove any of these images, or to include information about the origin of, or the people in, these images, please contact me and i will be glad to oblige] It would be very difficult not to be impressed by the elaborate pattens, tasteful compositions and striking colors of these outfits. The basic article of dress is the chemise, which has the usual cut for Lithuania, with narrow shoulder bars on top of a single piece, front and back. The bottom half was typically made of coarser material. The festive sleeve is fuller than the daily, and is gathered on top at the seam with the body. The festive chemise has woven ornament on the shoulder pieces, collar, cuff, front opening, and lower sleeve. Sometimes the ormament is made by hemstitching. On festive chemises, the collar and cuffs sometimes have triangular points or ruched woven ribbon sewn on for added interest. Here is a graph of the design on the sleeve in the photo immediately above. The skirt was full, and either woven in a small plaid, as in Dzukija, or with horzontal stripes, sometimes with cats paw or other designs woven in, sometimes over vertical ones, or with horizontal bands of patterned ornament, which are also foud in eastern Aukštaitija. For those of you who weave, i will quote a passage from Tamošaitis [I do not, myself weave, and only vaguely comprehend, lol. This author constantly refers to weaving techniques] "Twill or satin striped skirts woven from wool on linen were unlike the skirts of any other area. The linen warp was striped and threaded on four shafts in a straight draw. The background of the skirt was of a plain weave, while the stripes were woven in twill or satin with homespun wool. The stripes on the visible side of the cloth appeared raised and distinct; as a result, the skirt did not seem checked, but horizontally striped." The aprons were elaborately woven with bands of ornament, wider and denser at the bottom, and narrower and sparser towards the top.The same was true of those skirts which had horizontal patterned bands. The aprons were commonly woven from linen, or at least with a light colored background. Red and blue seem to be the commonest colors used overall. Peruse the various images to get an idea of the diversity of designs used. Note also the textures inserted between the ornamental bands. The sashes are typical for Lithuania, wide, patterned in pick up and other techniques, usually with supplemental weft fringes inserted near the ends. The bodice was made of handwoven cloth to complement the colors of the skirt and apron. The most common cut has a plaston in a solid color inserted behind the bands in the center front. Sometimes the bodice has a plain straight front closure. Usually it has pentagonally shaped lappets around the waist, but sometimes has a frill with pleats spaced about the same distance as the width of the lappets. See the various images. The most common headgear in this region for girls is the karuna, made of a hoop of birchbark, and later, cardboard, with pattened ribbon sewn on the inside and outside, one or more rows of trianges sewn on to the top, of the same material or different, and often edged with tatting or crochet. Pattened woven ribbons were attached to the back. The following three photos show a karuna in various stages of preperation by Vida Rimas. The headcloth, or wimple, nuometas, is worn in this region as it is in Aukštaitija, but it is smaller in this region, resembling the one worn in Latgalia. It is always heavily ornamented on the ends, and commonly has a frontpiece resembling the karuna sewn on, or a wreath resembling the karuna worn over it. Originally this would have been a seperate piece worn underneath. The nuometa with a frontpiece sewn on, front and back. The nuometas attached to a karuna. The difference is that the hair is covered. The nuometas worn with a seperate wreath over it A schematic showing how the wreath was made, again very similar to the karuna. Ornament on the ends of one nuometas. The linen wrap, panuometis was also worn in this region, and also highly ornamented The costume was completed with necklaces of amber or coral or glass. Footwear consisted of knitted socks, with shoes, moccasins, clogs, or shoes woven of birch or linden bark. Moccasins in this region were also highly ornamented.They also wear slippers looped, knitted or crocheted of linen strings, as in Dzukija. Thank you all for reading. I hope you have found this interesting and maybe have an inspiration on how to use some of these designs or concepts. Feel free to contact me with requests for research. I hope to eventually cover all of Europe and the Former Russian Empire/Soviet Union. I also gratefully accept tips on source materials which i may not have. I also accept commissions to research/design, sew, and/or embroider costumes or other items for groups or individuals Roman K. Rkozakand@aol Source Material: AntanaTamošaitis and Anastazija Tamošaitienė, 'Lithuanian National Costume', Toronto, 1979 Vida Kulikauskienė et al, 'Lithuanian National Costume', Vilnius, 1994, Kati Reeder Meek, 'Reflections from a Flaxen Past, For Love of LIthuanian Weaving', Alpena, Michigan, 2000 Teresė Jurkiuvenė, 'Lithuanian National Costume', Vilnius, 2006 Mikalina Glemžaitė, 'Lietuvių Tautiniai Drabužiai', [Lithuanian National Clothing] Vilnius, 1955 Stasė Bernotienė, 'Lietuvių Liaudies Moterų Drabužiai XVIII a XX pr.' [Lithuanian Women's Folk Clothing from the XVIII to the XX cent], Vilnius, 1974, Stasė Bernotienė, 'Lietuvių Valstiecių Išeiginės Prijuostės XIX a. - XX a. pradžia' [Lithuanian Aprons of the 19th and 20th cent], Vilnius, 2007 J. Grigienė et al, 'Lietuvių Liaudies Menas - Drabužiai' [Lithuanian Folk Art - Clothing], Vilnius, 1974 Elena Matulionienė, 'Klaipėdos Krašto Tautiniai Drabužiai' [Folk Clothing of the Klaipeda Region], Klaipeda, 2005 V. Palaimas, artist, set of postcards, 'Lithuanian Folk Costume', 1961 R. Paknys, photographer, set of postcards, 'Lietuvių Tautiniai Drabužiai', 1991 Tatyana Razina et al, 'Folk Art in the Soviet Union', Leningrad, 1990 Irma šidiškienė, 'Buti LIetuve', Vilnius, 2004

Hello all, Today i am going to talk a bit about the costume of Samogitia, or Žemaitija, which is basically the northwest quadrant of Lithuania. For a bit about the history and dialect of this province, see this article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samogitia I mentioned in my first posting about Lithuanian costume that there is somewhat of a dichotomy in the source material. The material concerning this region is relatively uniform. I will start by presenting a map so you can orient yourselves. Let us start by presenting a few images from various sources. Firstly, a print by V. Palaima, representing the 20th cent school. And an image from Glemzaite, equally from the 20th cent school. Here is a watercolor representing the 21st cent. school. Here is an image from Bernotiene The chemise is of the type typical for Lithuania, with narrow shoulder tabs, often plain, but also at times with red woven ornament on the collar, cuffs, lower sleeves, shoulder tabs, and front. Here is a color schematic of one sleeve. The bodice, which is made of a home woven plaid or patterned cloth, has a distinctive cut, with a round neck, center opening, and a pleated frill around the bottom. In some photos, the main body of the bodice is rather short, forming an empire waist, while in others it is longer, the frill forming a peplum at the waist . Compare the various images in the posting. Here is the cut. Notice that 1/4th of the frill/peplum is shown. Here is a back view of the short version of the bodice, from Balcikonis. You will notice that in the aprons and skirts, the overwhelming tendency is towards vertical stripes, mostly dark for the skirts, based on red and other colors. The aprons show some variety, some being simple stripes, some being stripes of cat's paw, clover or other motifs. The aprons are often red stripes on a white background. Here are a few examples. The skirts are sometimes plaid, but mostly vertically striped. they tend to be quite full, and are worn over the chemise, with a linen or wool petticoat or under skirt, or more than one. Sometimes the topskirt is kirtled up in order to show the skirt underneath, which contrasts with the upper skirt. You will notice that in place of the nuometas, the wimple, the married women wear a kerchief, commonly plaid, which is sometimes tied under the chin, but very often wound around the head and tied on the forehead. Often these kerchiefs have short fringes around the edges. This gives a unique outline to the headdress. At times, more than one is worn. The karuna, the unmarried girl's crown in this area is often made of two ribbons twined around each other and then mounted on a base these are called rangai. See the second and third images above. This region is close to the Baltic Sea, so amber is very commonly worn, take a look at the various images. The drobule, the rectangular linen wrap was worn in this region, with pattens woven into the linen and red ornament on the edges, woven in with the weft. But it was more common to wear or carry square or rectangular linen or woolen wraps that are striped or plaid. Footwear include shoes, moccasins, nagines, shoes woven of birchbark, vyzos, or shoes carved from wood, klumpes. Thank you as always for reading, I hope you found this interesting. I will conclude with several more images. For more information, you may consult this excellent article by Jurkoviene. http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/eka/costume/cost_zem.htm Feel free to contact me with requests for research. I hope to eventually cover all of Europe and the Former Russian Empire/Soviet Union. I also gratefully accept tips on source materials which i may not have. I also accept commissions to research/design, sew, and/or embroider costumes or other items for groups or individuals Roman K. Rkozakand@aol Source Material: AntanaTamošaitis and Anastazija Tamošaitienė, 'Lithuanian National Costume', Toronto, 1979 Vida Kulikauskienė et al, 'Lithuanian National Costume', Vilnius, 1994, Kati Reeder Meek, 'Reflections from a Flaxen Past, For Love of LIthuanian Weaving', Alpena, Michigan, 2000 Teresė Jurkiuvenė, 'Lithuanian National Costume', Vilnius, 2006 Mikalina Glemžaitė, 'Lietuvių Tautiniai Drabužiai', [Lithuanian National Clothing] Vilnius, 1955 Stasė Bernotienė, 'Lietuvių Liaudies Moterų Drabužiai XVIII a XX pr.' [Lithuanian Women's Folk Clothing from the XVIII to the XX cent], Vilnius, 1974, Stasė Bernotienė, 'Lietuvių Valstiecių Išeiginės Prijuostės XIX a. - XX a. pradžia' [Lithuanian Aprons of the 19th and 20th cent], Vilnius, 2007 J. Grigienė et al, 'Lietuvių Liaudies Menas - Drabužiai' [Lithuanian Folk Art - Clothing], Vilnius, 1974 Elena Matulionienė, 'Klaipėdos Krašto Tautiniai Drabužiai' [Folk Clothing of the Klaipeda Region], Klaipeda, 2005 V. Palaimas, artist, set of postcards, 'Lithuanian Folk Costume', 1961 R. Paknys, photographer, set of postcards, 'Lietuvių Tautiniai Drabužiai', 1991 Tatyana Razina et al, 'Folk Art in the Soviet Union', Leningrad, 1990 Irma šidiškienė, 'Buti LIetuve', Vilnius, 2004

My photography project "Soon to be gone" analyses the changes in Lithuanian countryside life. I was working on it from 2014 and it's already my 3rd year in. I am travelling through Lithuania on my motorbike and it's already almost 3000km done, that is why these photo series are now covering a pretty large area of it.

Hello alll, Today I am continuing my series on Lithuanian Costume, with a look at the costume of the region of Zanavykija also spelle...