Traditional costume from the Łowicz region
The region of Łowicz is part of Mazowsze, on the west from Warsaw in the valley of river Bzura between Sochaczew, Kutnom Brzeziny, Rawa and Gąbino in the terrain of old Kingdom of Łowicz. People from the kingdom had characteristic colourful outfit which evolved very quickly thanks to the historical and economical conditions from simple colours to orange, tellow and the full rainbow colours.
Men outfit
Shirts for work as same as for holidays were made of thin linen material. Sleeves were wide, squeezed. The end of sleeve was decorated with embroidery. The same embroidery was made also on collar. Embroidery was a work of women in villages. The colour of mens trousers has been changing during the passing time. The last remembered form was the orange one with characteristic stripes. Trousers worn with holidays outfit were always put into the shoes. Lejbik – its some kind of vest made of black material. It was squeezed in the back and in front buttoned with a row of metal buttons. Every edge and hole was decorated with red thread. In summer men used to put lejbik just on the shirt but in colder days they put under it a kind of lejbik with sleeves-spenser. They were black or navy blue. On the spenser men put some cover, the moast popular was a coat made of white material. The whole outfit was completed by a wide, woolen belt which was very long and tied in front. Belts were made in a typical workhouse. During years belts changed from red one to orange one and it was a set with the trousers. The typical headgear of men from Łowicz was a black taff hat decorated with sequins and silver wire. The newest hats worn by young men was a hat decorated with embroideries and coral beads.
Women outfit
Women used to put hair into two braids and hide them under a bandana. They wore 3 kinds of bandanas : woolen, silk and cloth with embroideries. The last one had on one edge floral embroidery. The silk one and the cloth one were tied in back. The form of women shirts didnt differ from men one. In period of 1850-1900 shirts were decorate with “polish sewnings” – with chain technic later women used cross sewnings. The newest shirts were shorter with bigger collar. They were decorated with flat embroidery and Richelieu put on collar and sleeves. The oldest skirts were orange, red, blue, green. In 40s women started to mix red background with white cotton material and that made white and red stripes. When in Łowicz was built a painting workhouse richer women started to mix more colours. The skirt called “wełniak” was made of gathered skirt and corsage. It was 5-6m wide. To make it firmer it was covered with starched material. The corsage was made of silk velvet and fit with sewnings in back. The lower part of skirt was made also from silk velvet. Both – lower part of skirt and the back of corsage were decorated with embroideries. Women used to wear black, tied, high shoes.
