dress

ΜΓ 40   Long foustanin, sleeveless, from striped silk-cotton imported fabric with alternating broad and narrow vertical stripes in green, brown, beige-yellow, lilac and orange. In the Registry of the Yeroskipou Museum it is reported that the foustanin was worn with a sarka, whereas its fabric is identified, with a question mark, as “mecidiyes” (for this particular type of fabric, see Hadjittofi and Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou 2024,...) The design of the fabric evokes the traditional loom-woven alatzia, and it may have been chosen for a foustanin with a traditional design precisely because of this resemblance.   The garment consists of a bodice and a skirt, joined around the waist. The upper part of the back (height: 15 cm) and the two front panels are made of a single fabric piece. The lower part of the back consists of a white cotton fabric, of the type that lines the entire upper part of the foustanin. All the joints on the bodice as well as the lining are hand-sewn.   An oval opening on the breast reaches vertically below the waist (total opening height: 16.5 cm, 10 cm of which below the waistline). The vertical opening fastens with two hooks, one at the middle and the other at the top of the opening. An upright collar at the back of the neck is made of an added band of fabric of the same type, with horizontal stripes. Blue cotton trimming band, hand-sewn with yellow thread, outlines the edges of the oval opening and the collar.   The generous skirt gathers at the waist in small pleats. A reinforcing band of lining, which also gathers like the skirt, has been added all around the waist, along the internal joint of the bodice to the skirt. The skirt consists of six panels, 42 cm wide, joined with handmade seams. A reinforcing band (fasa) of the same white cotton fabric as the lining, 4 cm wide, has been added to the inside of the hem. The edges of the skirt, both internally and externally, feature a trimming band finish of three different fabrics: blue, red and one of colourful stripes. Apart from its decorative function, the trimming band protected the hemline from fraying.   Albeit not skillfully sewn, the dress appears elegant. It is combined with a sarka, which explains the use of white fabric in the lower part of the back, intended to be covered. The fabric of the dress has worn in several places.   Height: 128 cm (bodice: 34 cm, skirt: 94 cm). Width: 40 cm on the shoulders, 39.5 cm at the waist, 114 cm around the hemline. Date of entry to the Collection: 10.11.1948 Provenance: Goudi, Pafos – Purchase.