The national costumes (Croatian: narodna nošnja) are most often worn with connection to special events and celebrations, mostly at ethnic festivals, religious holidays, weddings, and by dancing groups who dance the traditional Croatian kolo, or circle dance.
Each cultural and geographical region has its own specific variety of costume that vary in style, material, color, shape, and form. Much of these regional costumes were influenced by the Austrian, Hungarian, German, Italian, or Turkish presence, due to whichever power ruled the region.
For the
female dress, attire consists of a plain white dress or blouse (košulja) or
underskirt (skutići), which is usually the basic form of the costume. It is
then added with other clothing and decorations, which may include another
overdress or skirt (kotula), a decorative jacket (djaketa, paletun or koret), apron
(ogrnjač or pregjača), scarf (ubrsac), kerchief or shawl which are usually
decorated with a floral or animal motif. The embroidery is very intricate and
is usually red, white, blue, gold, or black. Her jewellery, ranging from
necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings could consist of gold, silver, beads,
pearls, or even corral from the Adriatic. Hair is interwoven into one or two
braids and decorated with red ribbons for girls or women that are unmarried,
while married women wear woven or silk kerchiefs on their heads. Costumes of
brides consists of a crown or wreath often made of flowers (vijenac) and large
amounts of jewelry.
For the males, the national dress
usually consists on loose, wide slacks (široke gaće) and a shirt, and both are
usually either black or white, or both. The man may wear a decorative or plain
vest (fermen or jačerma), over his shirt, and possibly awaistcoat. The man
almost always wears a cap, varying in shape and design depending on the region.
The most famous cap is perhaps the Lika cap, worn in the Lika region for
centuries by the people. Footwear, like the women's', consists mainly on boots
and sandals. Because of the weather, certain places often have woolen vests,
cloaks, coats, or fur for the colder regions, and silk and light linens for the
warmer climates.
There are four main types of costumes
associated with the regions: the Pannonian style in the north and east, the
continental or Dinaric style, and the coastal style on the coast.
