Text and photo Laila Duran ©

The reconstructed bunad from Sogn illustrates how women dressed in the inner and central parts of Sogn in the first part of the 19th century. The original was painted by the artist Johannes Flintoe in 1822 and there are also written testaments on how women would dress in the area.

The married woman´s headdress is called kvitlue, which is usually wrapped with a multicolor kerchief  in the winter. With this bunad, the jacket is worn under the bodice-skirt.

The bib, with appliqué, metallic ribbon and silver lace, is held in place with silver lacing rings and a silver chain.

The blue jacket is made of broadcloth and edged with black velvet ribbon. The blue apron, blåtrykksforklær, is made of dyed and printed cotton. There are also silk aprons that are used on festive occasions.

The collar of the jacket shows the influence from the Empire epoch at the beginning of the 19th century. The large gilded buttons with hanging leaves shows that the jacket will be worn on festive occasions.

This photo shoot was made in cooperation with Norsk Institutt for Bunad og Folkedrakt in Valdres, Norway.

This week I am off to Dalecarlia in Sweden spending three days with folk costume collectors from Leksand. We still have plenty of snow and I look forward to show you the practical and colorful winter costumes from that area.

I would also like to thank all you people who help spreading the link to my blog to friends and family. Last week I was informed that the statistic of visits to the blog has passed ten thousand pages pr month. I am so grateful, thank you!

All text and photos are protected by Copyright.

Text and photo Laila Duran ©

Since I am on the road, taking the winter photos for my second book, I am just going to show some of the photos from last week and hope you will enjoy them. Heavy snow made the landscape in to a wonderland and I decided to take all the photos outdoors. January often has amazing light and I wanted to do a series of photos using the hundreds of shades of white presented to us by our Father Winter of the North.

The bunad is from Fana in Norway. A silk bodies and a pearl embroidered bib sparkles in the snow.

The bunad of Fana has a living tradition. The very old fashioned headdress is worn by the married woman.

The bunad has a short wool jacket with fine silk ribbon edging. The white festive apron is decorated with crochet lace.

THANK YOU to all the patient models who stayed out in the snow and ice for hours patiently waiting for me to get things right. And, thank you, to the ladies helping with all the different costumes and props this week.

All text and photos are protected by Copyright.