#gorsety

Embroidered bodice (back view), village of Zielonki, Kraków regional costume.

Embroidered bodice (back view), village of Zielonki, Kraków regional costume.

The categorization of the Kraków costume in the Polish ethnography studies encompasses a large region surrounding Kraków (Cracow) - the city that was ‘only’ its main cultural and administrative centre. The region includes a long list of different villages and towns, stretching as far to the West as the surroundings of Chrzanów and Jaworzno (which is geographically located in the Silesian Highlands), as far to the East as Bochnia and beyond, as far to the South as Wadowice and Myślenice, and as far to the North as Szczekociny, where the peasants were wearing a similar ‘type’ of clothing --- but with slightly different details or finishings that used to be important to the inhabitants on a micro-local scale within that region.

In fact, there was never a ‘uniform’ Kraków costume, rather a group of a very similar type of clothing with the people identifying themselves closely with Kraków on a cultural scale. It’s noticeable in particular among the women’s garment who tended to decorate elements of their clothing to show an individual creative approach (often depending also on their income and/or materials available locally). The costumes also differed depending on a time period (contrary to a popular belief, the folk costumes as such were always changing slowly over the time: they were incorporating new types of materials, threads, beads, etc. - reflecting the changes in trade, infrastructure, economy, and so on).

One of the common misconceptions about the Kraków region’s folk costume could be an ‘uniform’, almost a copy-paste bodice (called a ‘gorset’ in the Polish language - translated as a ‘corset’, even though it was only a decorative outer garment that was never worn to shape, hold nor train the corso). A popular Cracovian bodice that is usually worn by folk dance ensembles is a simplified version modeled after only one of the countless common examples - after bodices from the village of Bronowice (nowadays one of the western districts of the city). That village held a cultural importance over 100 years ago, after a poet found there a ‘rural’ wife and thus inspired his friend to write a drama about his wedding (that play later became a defining work of the Polish drama, and the Bronowice clothing became a popular model for the stage costumes). 

All of the examples shown on the pictures above show a great variety of the Kraków bodices - and they are historical examples from only a few of the villages from that region. Each one of those bodices could be reenacted for a historically-accurate Kraków costume (as a costume type).

They are examples from the villages:

Zielonki (located just to the north from Kraków), 

Brzezie (located between the cities of Wieliczka and Bochnia, to the east from Kraków), 

Bolechowice (located to the north-east from Kraków), 

Left: Dąbie, right: Pleszów (both of them located to the east from the centre, nowadays in different districts of Kraków)

Left: Krzesławice, right: Lubocza (both of them located to the north-east from the centre, nowadays in different districts of Kraków).

Left: Byczyna (nowadays a district of the city of Jaworzno), right: Bobrek (located to the north-east from Oświęcim) - both to the west from Kraków.

You can see more examples of the variety of the Kraków costume here under my ‘Kraków’ tag.

Richly decorated bodice (back view), village of Zielonki, Kraków regional costume.

Closeup of embroidery on the back of a bodice from the village of Zielonki, Kraków costume, beginning of 20th century.

Closeup of embroidery on the back of a bodice from the village of Zielonki, Kraków regional costume.

Richly decorated bodice, village of Zielonki, Kraków regional costume.

Bodice from the village of Zielonki, Kraków costume, beginning of 20th century.