The Montenegrin National Famale Garments:

Garment

Shirts were made from expensive material and most often they were decorated with lace. They were usually made of flax, silk, damask, cotton etc. and as traditional ones they were decorated with lace and embroidery.

Citizen skirt was the item which was worn from waist to the feet. That is the clothing item which wore women in everyday use and for making of those skirts they usually used very expensive materials: heavy fabric, “kaliman”, velvet, damask and many others. Mostly they wore black skirts though there could be found some in red, green, blue and white color. Sometimes skirts were made from the same material as the upper part of the clothes so such clothing items were considered to be a set.

Karpeta was the kind of female clothing item which represented both skirt and a sleeveless dress. Depending on what is the purpose of the “karpeta” it was made of silk, wool, kaliman and many other materials, and it could be found in various colors.

Citizen belt was most often made of silk and flax. These belts were most often decorated with nicely made embroidery.

Apron was also a part of the citizen costume and was most often made of flax, “tela”, silk, and muslin. Aprons were worn over the dress or skirt and they were tied around the waist, and they were somewhat shorter than the clothes over which they were worn.

Citizen “kamizola” we can find as very simple but also as very luxuriously made ones. They were decorated with additional sewing, buttons or some silver or golden threads. What is characteristic for kamizola is that it was usually made without sleeves.

Vest is an upper clothing item and it was made of various materials, usually brocade. The vest was made in such a way that it always should be pressed against the body in order for it to accent the female bust.

Caftan is a kind of a long upper dress which is made without the lining. Of materials for its sewing most often hard cloth and damask were used, and considering the fact that it was very rarely used and that there are very few records about it we can say that that clothing item could have only women from the higher social classes.

Dress was usually simply cut with pretty raised waist. Women wore dress during the whole year, and the dresses were made from various materials and in various colors. Very often the dresses were decorated with silver lace, golden embroidery or silver cords which made them very lavish.

Footwear

Socks were made of various materials, depending on the occasion for which they were made. If they were made for everyday use then they were made of wool and cotton, while if they were made for some solemn occasion then they were made of “bombaz”, silk, “spinada” etc. Most often they could be found in white, black, green and violet color.

Shoes (crevlje) are a kind of shoes which was considered to be citizen footwear, though it was not rare that they were found in traditional folk costume.

Slippers (mule) are a kind of an easy footwear in which heal was uncovered, and because of that those slippers were considered to be house footwear. These slippers in which the spirit of orient could be sensed were made of leather, fur, and brocade and these slippers had only women from higher social classes.

The clothes in women and girls is not different, and whether, a female person is a girl or a women could be concluded by what she is wearing on her head, as well as by the way in which she is making her hair. Earlier girls wore “ruba” which they tied below the chin. Sometimes girls wrapped the entire neck and even mouth. Somewhat later in XVIII century in Montenegro women also started wearing hat which was similar to male hat with a difference that in stead of half circle and Prince’s hornbeam it has a circle of several lines of golden embroidery, and in the middle of the circle there is a star. Over the hat they wore a kerchief; kerchief was worn because in the past in Montenegro a girl had to hide her hair which was usually braided in a wreath. When a girl marries she takes off the hat, and starts arranging her hair differently that it was the case while she was a girl. And what is characteristic Montenegrin women during the night wrapped their hair with a short kerchief in order to keep their hair well arranged.