TRADITIONAL COSTUMES

The costume is a traditional representation of Greece’s historic mountain guerrillas, the Klephts (thieves) and armatoles (bandits), which resisted the Turkish occupation and fought hard in the War of Independence and it was declared the national costume for men; it is found in mountainous areas and was worn mainly in the Central and Southern parts of Greece.
The skirt/kilt is called a ‘Foustanella’ in Greek. Actually, foustanella has been worn in Greece since the 12th century. It's an ancient tradition which is kept even in the 21st century. The Foustanella skirt is black or white and consists of 400 pleats symbolizing the years during which Greece was under Ottoman rule. The Greek Fighters of the 1821 revolution wore the Foustanella while fighting the Turks. Today it serves as the official uniform of the Evzones, the Presidential Guard, who keep their vigil at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Athens.

Traditional Costume TSOLIAS

The remainder of the costume is composed of a white shirt called "poukamiso", an embroidered woolen vest called "yeleko" or "meindani” and a sash, called "zonari", worn around the waist.
Greek men often wear headdresses. The most widespread are fesi and koukos.

The shoes are called tsarouchia which were worn for mountain climbing. They are moccasin-like leather shoes with a large woolen pompon at the pointy nose. Such shoes are the official piece of Greek guards (Evzones) dress.

fesi

Tsarouchi

Cretan traditional costume

Cretan traditional costume was of the most elegant and most complicated form of clothing and was divided into everyday and festive clothing. This particular uniform comes from the one that was worn form the resistors Cretans at the liberation wars 1821 – 1898 against the ottomans during the revolution period of 1866-1898.

Up to today the famous Cretan costume is still worn in several villages as men’s everyday wear, as well as being worn as formal wear by men and women on the occasion of traditional celebrations and in the villages they still use it as the costume for the groom and the bride.

Traditional Ionian costumes

The traditional female attire consists of a long and comfortable dress. The upper part of the body is covered with an embroidered vest with long sleeves which has ornaments and jewels hanging from the chest. The outfit also includes an apron with beautiful embroidery covering the dress. The most impressive accessory of a female dress is the cover of the head, which is a coloured scarf wrapped around the head with a white scarf on top of it. On the scarf, one can admire the pinned flowers and ornaments which are very impressive. The outfit is dominated by striking colors and embroidery, typifying these people's cheerful idiosyncrasy, which also corresponds to the cheerful sounds of the traditional music of Corfu.

The traditional male outfit is simpler than the female's, being very similar to the outfits of other Ionian Islands. It consists of a block "vraka" stopping at the knee, with a white shirt and wide sleeves. A waistcoat is worn over the shirt and a band is wrapped around the waist. The lead is covered with a small hat made of straw. The locals no longer wear their traditional outfits, yet the women of Corfu wear their outfits during the festivals and the litanies of St Spiridon.

The traditional costume in Central Greece (Roumeli)

The female costume consists of :
❖a white dress, embroidered on the hem and the sleeves
❖segouni, a sleeveless coat with embroidery
❖a woven apron
❖the handkerchief
❖a headscarf
❖a necklace
The man's costume consists of:
❖ a waistcoat without back sleeves
❖ foustanella which is the skirt/kilt
❖a shirt called "poukamiso"
❖a cloth belt called "zonari"
❖a fesi which is a hat
❖knee bands (gonatoures)
❖leg coverings called "kaltses"
❖shoes called tsarouchia which were worn for mountain climbing

Epirus costumes

Men: Consists of: felt vest, woolen borax, shirt, belt and cup.
Women: Consists of: felt sequins, dress (shirt), apron and handkerchief.
In the villages the women wore “the sigun”, a sleeveless woolen cloak
fabric, open front and vertical. It was adorned with red felt and embroidery with
colorful laces, cordon and carousels.
In Epirus, there are variations of costumes, such as the festive, the everyday, his mourning, marriage, etc., which differ from region to region and from class in order. The sequins and the bridal fronts of Epirus are special.