The history behind clothes

By Maria Gregoriou

The Leventis Municipal Museum in Nicosia is currently exhibiting a large range of women’s garments from the past, under the title Patters of Magnificence: Tradition and Reinvention in Greek Women’s Costume.

The exhibition is in collaboration with the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation (PFF) and celebrates 40 years since the foundation’s beginning as well as being dedicated to the memory of Koula Lemos, an honorary member of the Greek Community of London.

The exhibition has been presented at the Hellenic Centre in London, the Hellenic Cosmos, Athens and now, it has reached its final destination, where it will continue to be exhibited until April 19.

The 40 pieces on display are some of the most unique Greek garments from the eighteenth and twentieth centuries and also some women’s clothes worn by Cypriots. Each garment highlights the social and economic life of the time, while also touching upon the general historic standing of these periods.

Two garments which introduce us to the exhibition are the dress from Kassos and Karpathos, a three metre long dress with a fold which recalls the kolpos (a garment which was typically cut longer than the shoulder-to-floor measurement of the person wearing it) of the Ionic chiton, and the loose pleated dress of Crete.

The exhibition comes to a close with two garments which are examples of court dresses. These types of dresses were introduced by Queen Amalia in 1837 and then later worn by Queen Olga in 1867, which influenced both urban and rural costumes in Greece and Cyprus.

The curator of the exhibition, Ioanna Papantoniou, founder and president of PPF, commented on the exhibition by saying that “in the development of women’s local costume around the eighteenth century one can discern survival of garment forms from a period for which we have very little relevant information.

“These forms constituted the basis of what was to follow in the middle of the nineteenth century when with the Romantic Movement local costume came to assume a fixed appearance in Greece, Western Europe and elsewhere.”

Patterns of Magnificence: Tradition and Reinvention in Greek Women’s Costume
A look at women’s clothing from the 18th to the 20th centaury. Until April 19. The Leventis Municipal Museum, 15-17 Hippocrates Street, Laiki Yitonia, Nicosia. Tuesday-Sunday: 10am-4.30pm.  Tel: 22-661475

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