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Copyright
Helen Forder
2004
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Costume
... continued
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page 2
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The National Eisteddfod of 1876 at Wrecsam.
The best 'Complimentary Epigram on a Welsh Woman's Hat' Mrs. J. R..
Hughes of Denbigh.
"It will be admired for its neatness. It is its last
epithet that gives its 'crowning' excellence."
Let
other maids their heads enfold
In tresses dark or coils of gold;
Fair Cambrian maids, believe me that
Your crowning beauty is your hat.
From Y Cymmrodor 1887, page 83
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Elizabeth Ann
Williams
(1870 - 1956)
in her Sugar Loaf Hat
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The
Welsh Costume
Dr. Iorwerth C. Peate.
(Translated from the Welsh by HF)
Welsh Folk Dance Society. 1st
Newsletter. 1953
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According to common belief,
the Welsh costume comprises a high hat, petticoat, bedgown, apron and
shawl, the whole of local manufacture. The bedgown was a sort of long coat,
forming a waist, and closing over the bust, and a long tail that folded
behind over the petticoat, with the apron hiding the petticoat front.
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It is necessary to
understand that there was nothing especially Welsh in this dress. The same
was as familiar throughout England. Scott said, about Northumberland women at
the beginning of the 19th century: 'The women had no other dress than a
bedgown and a petticoat.' In 1834 Gwenynen Gwent (afterwards Lady
Llanofer) wrote an essay on 'The Welsh Language and Welsh Form of
Dress', where she favoured a national dress of flannel or homespun
cloth, like natural Welsh products rather than 'uncomfortable'
foreign materials. This caused the petticoat and the bedgown to continue as
'traditional' dress in some areas. The dress is not a national tradition at
all; that is evident too with there being no 'national' costume for men.
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But as the costume has now
gained its place, it does not pay to ignore it and for folk dancing it
would be easy to develop on the old foundations. However, that is a matter
for garment makers rather than a problem for a man like me.
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