Female and Male

Young men and women dressed in traditional Greek Cypriot costumes. The male costume comprised of a shirt, a vraka (baggy pleated breeches) of black cotton, zostra (a coloured silk sash), yelekkin (sleeveless waistcoat), a black headscarf, and podines (top-boots). The woman on the left is wearing the traditional 'Amalia' type costume that was linked with the name of Amalia, Queen of Greece (1836-1862), and was established in urban centres in Cyprus by the mid 19th century as a variation of the Greek national costume. It is made up of a dress or skirt above a silk chemise and a felt or velvet jacket, the sarka, with gold ornamentation. The waist was girded by a belt with a filigree clasp or a tied sash with embroidered ends. The head was covered with scarves or, in the urban original, with a fez. The Cypriot fez, which was different from the one used in Greece, had two black silk tassels, a short one which was fixed to the crown and covered the whole cap in a radial pattern, and another one falling to the shoulder on the side. The fez was decorated with garlands of flowers made of tiny pearls and braided with silk. The woman on the right was wearing a costume with  sayia, a long-sleeved coat open down the front, worn over pantaloons decorated with woven embroidery. On her waist she wore a colourful headscarf tight as a sash. 

A young woman carrying a jug on her shoulder. She is wearing the 'Amalia' type costume that was linked with the name of Amalia, Queen of Greece (1836-1862), and was established in urban centres in Cyprus by the mid 19th century as a variation of the Greek national costume. It is made up of a dress or skirt above a silk chemise and a felt or velvet jacket, the sarka, with gold ornamentation. The waist was girded by a belt with a filigree clasp or a tied sash with embroidered ends. The head was covered with scarves or, in the urban original, with a fez. The Cypriot fez, which was different from the one used in Greece, had two black silk tassels, a short one which was fixed to the crown and covered the whole cap in a radial pattern, and another one falling to the shoulder on the side. The fez was decorated with garlands of flowers made of tiny pearls and braided with silk.

A re-enactment of a traditional Greek Cypriot wedding. The bride is wearing a white wedding dress and the groom the costume worn in the urban centres by men until the early  19th century comprised of a shirt, a vraka (baggy pleated breeches) of black cotton, zostra (a coloured silk sash), yelekkin (sleeveless waistcoat), a black headscarf. 

A man and woman were photographed while sieving grains. The woman is wearing a colourful patterned shirt,  a dark coloured skirt, probably black, and a white headscarf. The man is wearing a striped shirt, probably black, baggy knee-breeches (vraka) and a white headscarf. 

A child photographed standing in a field on the way to Kakopetria. She is wearing a knee-length striped dark coloured dress, leather boots and a white headscarf.

A re-enactment of a traditional Greek Cypriot wedding in Famagusta. The bride is wearing a white wedding dress and the groom the costume worn by Greek Cypriots at the urban centres in Cyprus until the second half of the 20th century, comprised of a shirt, a vraka (baggy pleated breeches) of black cotton, zostra (a coloured silk sash), yelekkin (sleeveless waistcoat), a black headscarf, and podines (top-boots).

Mrs Scott-Stevenson found the dress of the country people she saw in Lapithos (a small town in Kyrenia district) very picturesque and suitable, writing, ‘Yellow or crimson shoes, short white socks, loose white trousers fastened at the ankle, a skirt of bright cotton, and a richly embroidered bodice (generally in velvet) cut in a low square on the bosom, which is covered with a transparent piece of worked muslin. Innumerable glass bangles on the arms complete the costume. On their heads they wear a silk handkerchief tightly fastened across the top, and holding back two long plaits of hair. Bunches of jessamine and sweet-scented geranium-leaves are fastened on one side, and on the other a half-wreath of worsted and silk flowers on wire’.

The costume struck her as very quaint and pretty, and becoming to the classic features and splendid black eyes of most of the local women. She adds, ‘A few had lines of khol painted round the rims, and all the babies had a black line on both upper and lower lids. This, it is supposed, keeps the eyes cool and preserves them from attacks of flies’. Of the village women, she makes the following comment: ‘Poor creatures! They had never left their villages except to visit some fair, and the sight of an English lady in European costume was one to be remembered for all time’ (Scott-Stevenson. 1880, 56-57).

Scott-Stevenson’ s fairly detailed description does not leave any doubt that the costume she saw is made up of a dress or skirt above a shirt, a jacket (sarka), and a headscarf. This costume was established in urban centres by the mid-nineteenth century. It was linked with the name of Amalia, Queen of Greece (1836-62) and is known as 'the Amalia type' costume. In the urban original a fez (cap) was worn in place of the headscarf. This cap was different from the one used in mainland Greece; the Cypriot fez had a wide, black tassel which covered the whole cap and was decorated with fiora (flowers), garlands of flowers made of pearls and braided with silk. We see this type of clothing in various pictures, for example in women's portraits of the mid-nineteenth century (Mariou Pieraki in Larnaca, Iouliani Vondiziano in Nicosia). A noteworthy example of costumes of town women and which were on the verge of disappearing from the towns was exhibited in Athens in 1901 as the costume of 'a Cypriot town lady'. As Scott-Stevenson’s account shows, this one-time town dress began to spread in the countryside by the first days of British rule. In the countryside, in a less ornate and luxurious form, it served not only as a festive dress for a young village girl, but also as a bridal dress.

The bridal version of this same style of dress is described by Mrs Scott-Stevenson, who had the opportunity to observe it when she accepted an invitation to attend a wedding in the village of Asomatos in the Kyrenia district. The women of the village welcomed the foreign lady with respect. They sprinkled her with rosewater and kissed her hand. When she asked to see the bride who sat speechless (kamarone) and covered with a long veil at her mother’s house, two women raised the veil and the bride stooped down and kissed her hand. Scott- Stevenson records that the bride . . . was dressed in a green silk petticoat, with a black velvet bodice, cut open in front, showing a worked chemisette and numerous rows of silver gilt chains. Her long rough hair escaped to her waist, with streamers of gold grass (like those in the fireplace of seaside lodging-houses) scattered through it, and over her head was a white muslin handkerchief, marked in coarse gold embroidery at each corner. Her costume was finished off by high yellow leather boots. The arms, which were bare to the elbows, were hideously painted over with daubs of henna, the finger-nails and the palms of the hands being dyed in the same way. Henna is much used in Cyprus. It is bought freshly pounded in the Nicosia bazaar, then mixed to a paste with a little water, and put on the place meant to be coloured. At first the henna has a greenish tinge, but if left on all night, turns to the red-brown shade they admire.

The henna was a kind of cosmetic of natural extraction, particularly popular with Moslem women, and with the women of the Maronite community inhabiting the village of Asomatos. Henna was also used in the past by Greek women, particularly in the towns. The bodice (sarka), the most basic piece of festive and bridal attire, used to be part of the bride dowry, and was worn for the first time on her wedding day, together with a deep red cotton skirt with manypleats, which because of its colour was called roudgettin and was fixed with a belt on the waist. This combination is particularly cited for the Karpas area. The women of Karpasia wore a similar white skirt with pleats as a coat when they went to church. Clearly this was the doublettin, a cotton skirt which was worn as a cape.

Mrs Scott-Stevenson also described the costume with the sayia as it was worn in Akanthou (given as 'Accatou' in the text, Akanthou is a village in the Kyrenia district), where natives in a body came out to inspect the foreigners. She wrote, ‘I saw some remarkably pretty girls, who, fortunately, were in their native dress, unspoilt by vulgar modern finery. Loose coarse canvas trousers made the stockingless feet, which they almost touched, look small by comparison; a loose skirt of cream-coloured Cyprus cloth; and over all a kind of long coat, cut very low on the bosom - in fact, merely secured at the waist with a couple of buttons, and encircled by a gay-coloured sash. As it is rare (I have hardly ever seen one) to see a stout woman of the peasant class, the dress is admirably adapted to their figures, and in very young girls and the more graceful of the women the effect is charming. They set great store on the little necklaces of coral and seed pearl, often extremely pretty, which are bought at the larger fairs, and mostly worn very becomingly’ (Scott-Stevenson, 1880, 262).

Mrs Scott-Stevenson reached the conclusion that, ‘The women have no modesty. In England their dress would be considered indecent. Among the Greeks it is the custom to leave the gown open over the chest, often as far down as the waist’ (Scott-Stevenson, 1880, 130).

Le Tour du Monde, a travel journal, is a French weekly published in January 1860. It was also called Le Tour du monde, journal des voyages et des voyageurs (1895-1914).

It  was created in January 1860 by Édouard Charton, designer of the picturesque store, and under the auspices of the Hachette Bookshop: every six months, the weekly booklets, sold through the network of railway stations, were collected in one volume, which was offered to him in bookstores.

A second series was inaugurated in 1895 under the title Tour du monde, journal des voyages et des voyageurs: much more modern, it reproduces photographic images.

It is a weekly that targets a popular readership and devotes its content to travel and exploration. He described in detail most of the great expeditions that marked the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, the last great period of exploration of the globe by Western travelers. About fifty years that cover a period from the discovery of the sources of the Nile, early 1860s, to the conquest of the South Pole, late 1911.

It combines texts and illustrations, at the beginning of wood engravings, which were gradually replaced by reproductions of photographs at the end of the nineteenth century.

Émile Deschamps, who spent 15 months in Cyprus and visited many places all over the island, had the opportunity to see many Turkish Cypriots of both sexes. He noticed that Turkish women used to cover their face with the tip of their dress… Returning to Larnaca, he saw in the road a small coach drawn by a horse; it was guided by two Turkish women, one of them covered with a ferace.

In Nicosia he saw a group Turkish women walking slowly through the bazaars; a small, absolutely special world. They wore the ferace, holding with their left hand, and trying to cover their face; they looked like a cloud, white, yellow, violet, from which one could see only the tip of their small, convenient slippers…    (Lazarides 2005, 26, 33, 58, 92-93).

During the fair of Kataklysmos, Deschamps watched the crowd and noticed that the attire of Greek and Turks was more or less similar, but the Turks appeared more convenient in their clean dresses. H focused his attention on the Turkish festive costume; the local dandyism was recognized from the fez and the baggy trousers (vraka) tied with garters under the knee. In many cases the fez was very tall, placed obliquely on the head and covered with a white scarf with golden fringes, the corner of which hang down on the face. In the eyes of the Europeans, in comparison with their fashion, the fez appeared as the most ungraceful part of the Turkish attire. On top of the ear, under the fez, they used to attach a flower or rather a small bunch of flowers, to decorate their face. On top of the chemise, with its long full sleeves, they wore a waistcoat, the front part of which was very often made of cloth of a different colour from that of the back, e.g. bright red on the part which covered the chest and light green (similar to the green apples) with floral motives on the back. A broad polychrome sash with flower patterns was wrapped around the waist, and extended down to the middle of the leg. This costume was completed with pink, blue or yellow stockings and flat shoes, typical for the urban population, while the villagers used to wear heavy top boots. Lazarides 2005, 92-93).

Travelogues concerning Cyprus include valuable information about many aspects of life in the island, among other about the appearance of its inhabitants. Clothing is the first item one observes when coming into contact with the people in a foreign country, and is pivotal in creating a first impression of the local population. Travellers refer also to the raw materials and the textiles used for making clothes.

Émile Deschamps was born in Marseilles in 1857. He arrived at Larnaca on November 14, 1892, and, after touring around the island for about fifteen months, he left on March 4, 1894. His impressions are vividly described in the illustrated book Au pays d’ Aphrodite. Chypre. Carnet d’un voyageur (258 pages). His references to the appearance of the people of Cyprus are sporadic and occasional:

Walking along the sea-front in Larnaca, he noticed that the entrance of the Messageries Maritimes Company office was crowded with people wearing either a fez or a hat, thus distinguishing the Europeans from the local men. Walking towards the centre of the town, Deschamps had the opportunity to watch more details of the attire of both sexes. The inhabitants wore the red fez around the base of which they used to wrap a dark blue, red or black headscarf. Their dress consisted of a colourful waistcoat, under which a white chemise was visible, and baggy trousers (vraka), usually blue, with a longer middle part, and shorter side parts reaching to the knees. Their shoes were either leather slippers (skarpes) or heavy boots. He got the impression that the attire of Greeks and Turks presented small differences… Deschamps had created in his mind an ideal, goddess-like picture of the females of the island, and was disappointed to see that most of the women he met in the streets were wearing dark clothes, a simple fitted waistcoat over a skirt. Their head was covered with a scarf, from the edges of which were hanging gold or silver coins. The scarf was tied at the back over loose hair or plaits…

Finally, Deschamps had the opportunity to meet also people of the upper class, merchants wearing European costumes, and ladies or young girls wearing European but old-fashioned dresses…  He paid special attention to the women from Agia Napa and the area around the Paralimni lake. In contrast to the usual type of Cypriot women, those were handsome, strong and full of energy. Their attire consisted of a chemise and a kind of skirt that accentuated their silhouette; this was considered indecent by the archbishop in Nicosia, who tried to modify it, in vain. Even in this respect the women in this area differed from those of other regions… In Nicosia, one could see through the open doors of the houses women and young girls weaving in big looms. In the bazaars of the capital he noticed a craftsman who ironed fezes, then a dyer of textiles in a shop painted from top to bottom in blue colour… In another part of the bazaar, women were selling cotton and silk scarves, all handmade… On the Easter Sunday, Deschamps was impressed by the crowd of people in the courtyard of the metropolitan church in Larnaca. He noticed the most prominent dress item, the red fez and the colourful scarves which covered heads with brown hair.

 Deschamps described in detail the fair of Kataklysmos in Larnaca. His comment on the appearance of the people in general, was that blue, the colour of the clear sky of the East, was the prevalent colour in the costumes of the crowd. Village women were wearing their national costume: their head was covered with one or more kerchiefs, blue or white, with a green decorative band, gold or silver gilt, tied under the chin and covering the head on the back. The jacket was made of velvet or cotton and in many cases it was richly adorned with golden ornaments; its square opening on the chest, exposed the fine chemise, made of thin cloth like tulle. The dress, usually red, black or grey, monochrome or with floral patterns, was a skirt extending from a thick waist, downwards. Their neck was decorated with necklaces of golden coins, and their arms with glass bracelets imported from Syria.      

In Keryneia, Deschamps had the opportunity to observe a street shoe-seller, who walked with his merchandise, different types of shoes, hanging from a long stich, which he held in horizontal position. Other shoes were hanging from his shoulder. He was poorly dressed: white chemise, baggy trousers, waistband and fez.

In the monastery of the Virgin ton Katharon, near the village of Larnaca tis Lapithou, Deschamps had the opportunity to attend a baptism and watch the appearance of the two old priests. Both wore the typical black robes over blue baggy trousers, similar to those of the Turks, and big top boots.

In the monastery of Kykkos he noticed the dress of the young men who were prepared to become monks: wide trousers and a black coat; they had long hair and a black cap on top of their head. In the village of Koma tou Yialou, in Karpasia, Deschamps met women who were wearing the douplettin, a festive cape, white, wide and densely pleated. He noted that it was worn only in the Karpasia region (Λαζαρίδης 2005, 24, 25-26, 53, 57, 60, 77, 91-92, 109, 115, 141, 176).