Text and photo Laila Duran ©
A new book is now in production. The love and the wide interest in the norwegian embroidered bunads has inspired me to start working on a new extensive volume on the subject. In cooperation with Anne-Kristin Moe, at Norsk Folkemuseum, who did her MA on the origin of the Bunads of Sunnmøre in 2006. Her research will be the theme of the book. The paper is called:” Fra tidhøvlege til stilreine bunader”, analysing the development of the national festive wear, from folk costumes to what we today call “the bunad”. This spectacular coffe-table-book will cover the development over the past century, with hundreds of detailed photos. With the courtesy of Norsk Folkemuseums archives we will also be able to publish photos taken at the time the bunads where first introduced. The text will be in norwegian and english and we hope to release it in 2014. Traveling in Norway, in all the points of compass, we will blog from the sites where we do the photo shoots and let you meet people that are helping us making this book.
One of the first norwegian embroidered bunads was from Hallingdal and designed by Hulda Garborg in 1898. The bunad was made on the basis of the folk costume in the area.
The high waist line was fashionable at the time and the anilin dyed wool yarn with the bright colors became very popular over time.
One of the reasons that some bunads do not have a jacket, as the folk costumes usually do, is that the new bunads are formal and festive wear and are used only for that purpose. A jacket would also cover the fine white embroidery on the shifts.
The young lady is wearing “gammel Valdresbunad”, an early bunad from Valdres. Over time, several bunads have been designed and re-designed, and in some areas there are many different styles to choose from.
This bunad was designed in 1914, using the embroidery from a small 18th century ladies velvet cap as model. In the book we will show many of the actual originals that were used to design the embroidery on several of the most loved bunads. Some of the new embroidery was inspired from old original embroidery (18 and 19th century), but there are also examples of floral embroidery based on the design on carved spoons or rosemaling.
Here is a new Valdresbunad. The embroidery is designed from a different source of inspiration than the old one.
The cap and neck line has fine embroidery that matches in colors.
The lady is wearing a bunad from Gudbrandsdalen and the man is wearing an embroidered Spelemannsbunad from Hallingdal and Valdres.
For our American readers we are happy to inform you that the Scandinavian Folklore books vol. 1 & 2 now are on sale at the book shop at Vesterheim Museum for 65 USD. Here is the link:
http://store.vesterheim.org/index.php?route=product/search&filter_name=laila%20duran
All text and photos are protected by Copyright.
The young lady is wearing the formal Floda costume with silk embroidered half mittens. The mittens was (and is) mostly worn to church on Sundays, but the costume itself is called “3e dagens dräkt”, or “3rd day costume”. It could be worn on the third day after a church festival, like Lent or Easter. The girl is picking flowers to adorn the church altar. This is something that church goers were doing though out the summer and the meadows around the small town of Dala-Floda is plentyful.
She is wearing her hair hanging loose, and no wonder, it is the most luxurious hair. Young girls and unmarried women would wear their hair tied with only a red ribbon even when going to church. The bright purple color of the skirt was very popular and, we know for sure, that it was in the year of 1872 that the anilin colors first came to Dala-Floda. Prior to this, the skirts were called “sandelkjol, (sandal skirt) as sandalwood was used to make a dye with a reddish nuance. When the new dyes came on the market, these skirts where re-dyed. The bright colors became an instant success and today these colors are the signature of the Floda parish costumes.
Traditional Dala-Floda wool embroidery. This is the hem of a skirt.
This is what we are used to see. Needle work that takes your breath away. Also note the fashionable bright blue apron, this also became popular as anilin dyes became available. For those of you that bought the fist Scandinavian Folklore book you might recognize the girl to the left, this is our cover-girl growing to be a young lady, to the right is her younger sister.
This is an old “tröja”, sweater, made by a very, very skilled needle worker.
The Princess found the taod, but when she wanted to kiss him to find out if he was a Prince ……….. he left!
Ending the day with some local music, dinner and wine. Both the models and I had had a long day. If you like to know more about the exhibition please visit http://www.dalafloda-vardshus.se/
These are ribbons used to decorate the hem of the skirts of the Nås women. Off all the ribbons in the collection, no one had the same pattern.
The hems are decorated with both crochet and woven ribbons. The skirts are made of striped home woven wool.
A pair of old crochet mittens with fine wool embroidery. Purple and red are a favorite color combination in Nås.
These mittens are newly made and can be bought at the Nås “hemslöjdsbutik”, Arts & Craft.
A couple from the parish of Nås. The lady is wearing a crochet cap and her neck kerchief has a colorful crochet rim with fringe.
The mens braces are crochet with leather button wholes and brass clasps. It is lined with linen.
A small boy from Nås. The loose bib tied to the “kolt” (child´s dress) has a patch work pattern and is very practical….. especially when eating chocolate.
It was a great day!!!!
The meadow behind the Sivertsson´s house was full of Bluebells. I do not think I have ever seen anything like this before.
Helping out was Anna-Karin Jobs Arnberg from Nordiska Museet in Stockholm. Thanks to her we could visit four parishes in Dalecarlia in less than a week.
The Sivertssons, who opened their home for two days, helping, explaining and showing me their treasures from the past. I am so happy to have met them.