This morning, one of my Twitter contacts posted the following:
Trying to get my hands on a Norwegian national costume for a hardingfele performance in January; it's not looking good…
It occurred to me that this would be a good opportunity to share part of a December 2006 posting I made on a listserv for people interested in Scandinavian music. So here it is a reworking of that post.
A word…okay, a few words…about borrowing or loaning out traditional costumes.
Having the opportunity to wear a traditional costume from any country can be an incredible way to experience a culture. The way a garment is draped, how it flows, what colors and designs are used — all of these things relate to the culture and its history.
However, when people ask about "borrowing" folk costumes, it might be helpful for them to understand what they are, in reality, asking.
Traditional costumes are usually expensive. VERY expensive. They are often handmade and take a long time (sometimes more than a year) to produce. In many Nordic countries, they are produced by highly specialized and trained individuals who make each garment to order to fit the wearer — and based on very specific choices influenced by family heritage, region of origin, etc.
There is also specific traditional jewelry for the costume which should not really be worn with any other costume (although there are some exceptions to that general rule). The jewelry, too, is often very expensive. There may also be specific underclothing, colored stockings, scarves, headpieces and shoes as well. And these, too, are not cheap. (NOTE: Individuals who own folk costumes should investigate a special home insurance rider to cover the costs of replacement.)
And then you have to consider what it takes to care for, clean and maintain these items.
For many people who own them, these outfits represent a lifetime investment and/or a precious heirloom passed down through family ties — in other words, a highly personal item.
Asking someone if you can "borrow" a traditional folk costume is, in effect, asking for the loan of personal items/clothing worth hundreds, if not thousands or tens of thousands of dollars!! This is quite a substantial request to make of someone — especially if you don't know them well. I would consider it on par with asking a musician if you could "borrow" his/her instrument.
So perhaps you may begin to understand why someone might have concerns about loaning out these types of garments to others.
If you have the heritage and are interested in obtaining a costume, I strongly encourage you to first do the research about which costume would be appropriate for you and then decide if that's an investment you want to make. However, be aware that there are plenty of challenges involved with trying to acquire one.
If you don't have the heritage, you might also want to consider the opinion of people who feel that the only people who should be wearing national/regional costumes are those who have the heritage or have married into the heritage or who have a direct relationship to it (e.g., performers who have learned the culture, music and dance and use the garment in performance in order to be accurate). While this is open to debate, I can certainly understand the range of feelings people have when their heritage is "displayed" by someone with no direct attachment to or — worse — no real understanding of it.
I would like to encourage people who get requests to "borrow" a costume from people who have no relationship to that country to use the opportunity to educate the requestor about the special nature of these garments and explain the situation. As an alternative, you could encourage those folks to borrow/purchase other pieces of clothing (a Norwegian sweater, for example) or jewelery more readily accessible to the general public that represents the culture.
And remember, it's always great to have the opportunity to share or get to know another culture — no matter what you're wearing!
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