⭐Dr.Watson📚⚔️ Profile picture
Jun 7, 2021 36 tweets 22 min read Read on X
**ORIGIN and EVOLUTION of the Sardinian traditional dress**

This is not an easy topic at all but we'll try putting some order.

📸 Gruppo folk Seneghe #Sardinia Image
We have sources of traditional dresses starting only since XVIII century, drawings of travelers and later on photographs. We have little to no information about medieval times and some paintings for later centuries.

We don't have any reason to think people in Middle Age dressed-
-differently than in the rest of Europe. In fact many female head coverings still look similar to the medieval ones, here portrayed. ImageImageImageImage
We see here Mariano in his knighthood dress and his daughter (of Catalan mother) Eleonora in a medieval dress with flower buttons, kerchief on the head (precursor of mantilla?). Her brother Ugone wore white leather gambals, in the "Sardinian way". They loved good Catalan fabrics. ImageImage
Similar medieval head pieces, also pinned in the same way - to hats or kerchiefs underneath - are part of Sardinian traditional dresses. Osilo's dress still shows a typical medieval soggolo.

📸 Atzara, Meana Sardo, Ollolai, Osilo ImageImageImageImage
Bands are used in the most conservative dresses, like Nuoro and Orgosolo. The band was meant to cover the chin and sometimes the mouth too. It is the most elegant version of the dress.

Last picture shows old dress of Tempio in background-

📸 Nuoro, Orgosolo, Sennori, Tempio. ImageImageImageImage
-and more recent version in foreground. Medieval soggolo is still there.

We move ahead in centuries and see these beautiful Italian dresses with sleeve openings. It was the time for detachable sleeves and white shirt showing. We see this fashion also in later Baroque Spanish- ImageImageImageImage
-fashion, for both men and women. Spanish fashion was the European fashion of XVII century.

We find sleeve openings in many Sardinian dresses (here for male clothes), including the older versions of the southern ones.

📸 Some Spanish guy, Nuoro dress ImageImage
Clear cuts in the traditional dresses of Oliena and Dorgali. These look especially like the Renaissance ones. Nuoro has great cuts too.

Now, one thing that must be clear is that when looking at traditional dresses, we're not looking at things from the same period. Dresses of- ImageImage
-Barbagia are older because they changed less in time. Dresses from the south or the coasts followed more the European fashions. We also see that older dresses have brighter colours, like these.

📸 Aritzo, Desulo, Orgosolo (gala and half-mourning), Atzara. ImageImageImageImage
The dress of Orgosolo still shows embroidery in the apron that recalls ancient glyphs in Prenuragic menhirs of Laconi. Dresses like Orgosolo and Nuoro still wear the corset *over* the jacket, like the oldest Campidanese paintings. Older corsets show two spikes-

📸 Gavoi, Fonni ImageImage
-in the front that we don't know where they come from. Other dresses have these spikes in the jacket.

📸 Sarule. Image
Campidanese dresses show huge frills around the neck, in almost Baroque taste. In Barbagia they are smaller.

📸 Selargius, Spanish Baroque fashion ImageImage
This picture I don't know where is from but the head piece reminds the peculiar one of Samugheo and also the very early Campidanese corsets. ImageImage
We arrive at a point where suppositions are left behind and fashion historians have something to work with, verifiable and verified.

These are Spanish traditional dresses. It is commonly accepted Sardinian dresses derive from a strong Spanish influence, just like the jewels-- ImageImageImage
-which we see starting from the XVIII century.

First drawings show bright colours. Drawings of XIX century show skirts enlarging with the European fashion of the crinoline. Sardinian women didn't have crinoline, they used several skirts. Still today, Maracalagonis' dress - ImageImageImageImage
-requires two skirts. When the crinoline was substituted with the crinolette, at the turn of the century, Sardinian dresses take that shape, like in Ploaghe ⬇️, with a kind of cushion. ImageImage
These are Spanish traditional dresses of the same century, 1800s. We see here a piece that will have great importance in southern Sardinia: the shawl crossed over the breast. ImageImage
Dresses of the south, especially of the neighborhood of Cagliari, thanks to the wealth of the locals, are the ones who can keep up with European fashion. Dark colours are preferred, corsets are hidden under a closed jacket or an additional piece.

📸 Campidano of Cagliari ImageImageImage
Muslin veils with fringes take the place of kerchiefs.

To get rid of the cumbersome parts during everyday life and to protect from sunburn and malaria (people were mostly farmers), women and men too used to tie the endings over the head. Image
The evolution of the dress of the Sulcis-Iglesiente. First picture: sa massaia antiga is the oldest version, now used only in Sant'Antioco. The newer dress is sa nostrada, in light blue for the beginning of 1800 and royal blue at the end of the century. This mantilla is- ImageImageImage
-basically identical (with inverted colours) of that of women from Roncal in Navarra.

In the background you see instead the everyday dress.

📸 Massaias antigas, Roncal ImageImageImage
The evolution of the dress of Bitti, in Barbagia. First one is 1800s version, the central is without veil (probably half-mourning) with head piece similar to that of Ollolai, the last is with the addition of muslin and silk veils. ImageImageImage
Maracalagonis has a peculiar sleeve that at some time in 1800s became fashionable. Image
But what about men? Travellers of the beginning of 1800s already speak of the leather cojettu as something disappearing. It was the apron of farmers and now only used in the Carnival mask of su Componidori of Oristano. ImageImage
Men have a peculiar piece which are the ragas, short skirt-like breeches, somewhere shorter, somewhere with tighter pleats. Their origin is open discussion because they're not found elsewhere: some say they resemble the skirts of Nuragic statuettes, other think of a separation- Image
-of the male tunic as it happened for women too.

A variation is the long breeches of the men of the Sulcis-Iglesiente, which gave them the name of meurreddus because apparently they looked like ravens 😂 (meurra = raven). Image
Men from the Campidano of Cagliari could afford a richer outfit and we can see here variation of colour, fabric, headbands and s peculiar jacket that is su sereniccu.

Si sereniccu was introduced by a group of Corsican Greeks who emigrated in Cagliari between 700s and 800s and- ImageImage
-started producing this jacket that Sardinians loved. Sereniccu is a distortion of Salonicco.

The high red hat of militiamen in Cagliari reminds also of Greek influences, but we also have Sardinian red hats similar to that, probably of Genoese inspiration? Image
Here we have a man from Sassari, which had a lot of Genoese influence in history, s painting of a saint by a Sardinian artist and a man from Tresnuraghes. To remind Sardinian men wore braids 😂 ImageImageImage
Finally, with the world wars, people from everywhere in Italy started sharing common clothes.

These are transitional dresses which are still considered historical and dating from early 900s ahead. Men started wearing trousers, women large skirts and simple shirts.

📸 Seneghe ImageImageImageImage
These are two famous pictures: a group of Sardinian women going on a strike and a lady with Desulo traditional dress getting gas. ImageImage
Black has always been the colour of mourning and here we see widows who covered most of themselves and then slowly showed more.

📸 Ossi, Aidomaggiore, Ossi half-mourning ImageImageImage
And if at this point you look like the woman in the left, I get it, this turned out rather long 😂 Image
Picture out of chronological order but I found it now 😂 This is the first picture of a Sardinian traditional dress. Portrait of Maria Piras, woman of the area of Cagliari, 1725. The corset is over the jacket. Image
New addition: old dress of Oliena, around 1700. Note the richness of colours, the apron much similar to the others of Barbagia, corset over jacket and the absence of the shawl. Shawls were in fact added only since early 1800s, when they became fashionable in Europe. Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with ⭐Dr.Watson📚⚔️

⭐Dr.Watson📚⚔️ Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @DrWatson_writer

Oct 29, 2022
**Sardinian POETRY**

📜Extemporary thread about the art of poetry in Sardinia, especially the poetic contests 🎶
Oral tradition in Sardinia has always been a strong component of the conservation of memory. Most people were illiterate, but they could still create poetry. This is a particular characteristic of shepherds, which also relates to the traditional singing technique.
A tradition that remained for long in Sardinia is that of poetic contests. People (usually men, but also women could make poetry) would challenge each other in improvised rhymes centering a topic. They could be 2 people, or 4, or more. Poetic contests were typical of village -
Read 7 tweets
Aug 1, 2022
**The festival of SANT'ANTIOCO**

Thread about, you guessed it, the festival of Saint Antiochus, patron of Sardinia.
Antiochus was born in North Africa and was likely a doctor. He was raised in the Christian faith, in a period in which Romans still persecuted Christians. The hagiography says he was pretty vocal about his faith and for this reason the Roman governors tried to kill him, -
-eventually forcing him at sea on a boat. This boat is said to have reached the Sardinian island of Sulci (today, Sant'Antioco), where Antiochus carried on his preaching. He was found by the Romans again, who sentenced him to death, but Antiochus miraculously and peacefully died-
Read 7 tweets
Jul 30, 2022
Drafting begins again... 6 months late in the schedule.

Beginning again, how's it done? 😅 📝🌺🌱🌺 Image
Why can't I write a simple thing, at least once, I wonder?
Read 4 tweets
Jul 26, 2022
**NORA: Nuragic, Punic, Roman site in Sardinia**

🌊 Thread about the archaeological remains of an important centre of Punic and Roman Sardinia. 🌊
Nora is located in the South Sardinia, today in the municipality of Pula, at close distance from Cagliari. It is famous for being the site of the martyrdom of Sant'Efisio and back in the day, it was probably even more important than Karales (Cagliari).
The archaeological site was known already in the 16th century but it was mostly covered by the sand. In the 19th century, a strong sea-storm uncovered part of the mosaics, arising interest and leading to a series of excavations that revealed what was underground.
Read 12 tweets
Jul 25, 2022
✨Today is the launch day of SONG AMONG THE RUINS!✨

My little YA historical gothic book set in Sardinia officially releases today (Amazon link below ⬇️). So, I wanted to say a couple of words.
As you might know by now, the main setting is Cuglieri, a village in the Montiferru. Today is the 1st anniversary of the fire that burned down large part of the forest and destroyed the millennial oleaster. Exactly one year ago, I was preparing to begin-

-drafting when this all happened. I am now working on the Italian translation of the book, for which I have different plans regarding publication, but in one way or another it will be out eventually.
Read 7 tweets
Jul 19, 2022
**🏰CASTLES of Sardinia🏰**

Thread about the still surviving and recognisable castles of the Middle Age.
Sardinia had a different medieval history than the rest of Europe. By the 1000s, we had 4 different kingdoms, likely born from the division of an original single entity. The subdivision meant also a different kind of local administration. Differently than the rest of Europe, -
-castles in Sardinia developed along the confines of the kingdoms (as watchtowers towards the neighbours) and not in the countryside as a creation of a local feudal power. This means castles are relatively few (~120 in the whole Island for ~350 towns/villages).
Read 21 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(