dress

ΜΓ 676 Long, long-sleeved dress of thick striped cotton alatzia. Three purple stripes alternate with one orange stripe against a white background. At calf height, at the back of the skirt, the alatzia is embellished with additional, symmetrically arranged horizontal stripes into the weft, in maroon, green and orange. The horizontal stripes create a plaid motif with the fabric’s vertical stripes.   The dress consists of a bodice and a wide skirt, joined at the waist with a waistband. The bodice consists of two panels at the front and a trapezoid gore at the centre of the back, which extends to the shoulders (maximum width: 38 cm) and, further down, on the sides, it is flanked by two oblong pieces of fabric, 10 cm wide, obliquely sewn. The two front panels are joined to the central gore at the back with a seam on the shoulders, then extend sideways underarms and are joined to the oblong pieces of the back. All the joints of the different pieces are accentuated with double machine stitching of black thread. Double stitching with black thread is also discernible on an overlap under the breast.   The long sleeves of the dress are made of a single fabric piece with a seam on the external side, extending the seam that joins the gore at the back to the side panels. The sleeves are attached to the body with a curved joint. They taper at the lower end, where they end in a simple hem.   At the centre of the back and at the sleeves, the bodice is lined with thick beige cotton fabric, woven on a loom. The two panels on the breast, the side pieces of the back and the inside of the waistband are lined with a different alatzia than that of the dress, featuring colourful stripes (purple, green, orange) lengthwise on the warp and, in places, on the weft (see the plaid motif created on the left side of the breast and the back).   The circular neckline of the dress is reinforced with a piece of the alatzia lining, hand-sewn with beige thread. It extends to a vertical opening, 36 cm-tall, which continues below the waist, at a height of 8.5 cm. No fastening elements have survived. Black and beige basting threads survive on either side.   At the waist, a waistband, 4 cm-tall, is made of the alatzia of the dress with its stripes in horizontal arrangement.   The long and wide skirt comprises six panels, four of which measure 45 cm in width and the other two 21 cm and 19 cm. In the upper part, the skirt is folded over internally and gathers to form dense pleats, held in place with two horizontal rows of seams using white thread. The skirt ends in a simple hem, 0.5 cm-tall, hand-sewn with black and occasionally beige thread.   The dress reproduces the intricate design of other dresses in the Collection. It is made of several joined pieces. In fact, in this particular case it seems to incorporate pieces from different available alatzia fabrics. The colours of the dress appear faded and its overall condition suggests is has been quite heavily used.   Height:  133 cm (bodice: 43 cm up to the waist, skirt: 90 cm).       Width: 36 cm on the shoulders, 37 cm at the waist, 134 cm at the lower edge of the skirt. Length of sleeves: 44.5 cm. Width of sleeves: 19.5 cm in the upper part, 12 cm in the lower part. Date of entry to the Collection: 1989 Provenance: Palaiometocho, Nicosia – Purchased from Ero Farmaka.