The Scandinavian folk clothing right for now
Embla BunaderHow do you respect tradition while also making sure you feel like yourself? Matilda Welin explores how re-invented, non-binary national dress is gaining popularity with a new generation.
What is your most precious piece of clothing? Mine is a traditional folk dress from my home country, Sweden. It was hand-made by my grandmother, who gave it to me a few years before she ed away. The dress – or, should I say, ensemble, as it also encomes hat, shoes, an apron and even a removable pocket – comes from the province where she was born, the neighbouring one to my own. It is striped blue and purple, and has a green bodice with red trimming. A tin brooch holds the scarf in place. Old family photos show Gran and her three older sisters in identical dresses outside a hembygdsgård (cultural centre), and my father and grandmother in his-and-hers costumes against a backdrop of a bright Swedish summer. The musical and folk heritage of my family is ed down in my dress. There's only one problem. I don't wear dresses. How do you respect tradition while also making sure you feel like yourself?
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National costumes have existed in Scandinavia for centuries. Originating from everyday peasant clothing, they were elevated to formalwear during the national romanticism era of the early 1900s, and strict rules for colours, cuts and fabrics were prescribed. Since then, even wearing a dress from a different region than your own can be seen as a breach of tradition. But now, Scandi folk clothing is evolving. More and more people are amending their costumes to fit modern times. Tiril Skaar, from Norway, is one of them.
Skaar, who is non-binary and transmasculine, and uses they and them pronouns, bought their women's bunad – as the Norwegian call their traditional costume – for their teenage Church confirmation ceremony, thinking it could be ed down to future children. But over time, they felt less and less comfortable in such a traditionally female outfit. Increasingly, the beautiful, detailed bunad was left in their wardrobe, unworn. "If you would have asked me then, I would have said I didn't dare [to break the norms]", Skaar tells BBC Culture. "I asked the people I studied with, 'What would you think about a gender-neutral bunad">window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'alternating-thumbnails-a', container: 'taboola-below-article', placement: 'Below Article', target_type: 'mix' });