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Girl’s Outfit

Curated Submission
Place
Slovakia
Date
1938
DIMENSIONS in centimetres
103 x 90
Materials & techniques
Commercial cotton, wool and silk fabric, sequins, glass beads; Smocked, embroidered, couched, hand-sewn, machine-sewn, machine lace
Credit
Gift of Anne Fundarek
ID
Textile Museum of Canada T2008.22.1a-j
This fancy girl’s outfit features a light silk skirt with woollen apron embroidered at the hem, pink silk head and waist ribbons, hand-stitched white cotton blouse embellished with lace collar, sleeves and a neck ribbon, and a brocade vest. It was sent from prewar Slovakia to Canada in 1938, to 14-year-old Anne Fundarek. Anne left Czechoslovakia in 1935 with the wave of Slovakians who departed the country between the First and the Second World War. The outfit was to remind her of her homeland and extended family back in the small town of Špačince near Trnava. A photograph from her family archive shows her wearing this costume with a group of her friends in 1942 in Canada.
 
Today, “Špačinčanka”, a folk group in Špačince established in 1978, performs folk songs dressed in similar costumes with traditional colourful embroidery on aprons, skirts, and ribbons.
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Girl’s outfit, a silk skirt with woolen apron embroidered at the hem, pink silk ribbons, white cotton blouse with lace collar and a brocade vest.
Photo: Textile Museum of Canada T2008.22.1a-j
Rear view of girl’s outfit, a silk skirt with woolen apron embroidered at the hem, pink silk ribbons, white cotton blouse and a brocade vest.
Rear view. Photo: Textile Museum of Canada T2008.22.1a-j
A lace collar created as part of a traditional Slovakian girls outfit, dating back to the 1930s when it was sent to Canada.
Detail view. Photo: Textile Museum of Canada T2008.22.1a-j
Rear view of a lace collar created as part of a traditional Slovakian girls outfit, dating back to the 1930s when it was sent to Canada.
Detail view. Photo: Textile Museum of Canada T2008.22.1a-j
A group of girls stand posing in an embrace, including Anne Fundarek wearing this traditional costume, 1942.
Anne Fundarek wearing this costume with friends in 1942 in Canada. Photo: Image courtesy of Anne Fundarek
Men and women pose for a group photo in Špačince wearing traditional folk costumes on a local stage.
Men and women in Špačince wearing traditional folk costumes. Photo: Image courtesy of the Town of Špačince, Slovakia
Historic aerial view of the town of Špačince, near Trnava in Slovakia, with tightly packed wooden houses in foreground.
The town of Špačince, near Trnava in Slovakia. Photo: Image courtesy of the Town of Špačince, Slovakia
 
           

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