The women’s costume of Attica, as it was shaped in the late 19th century, was worn with variations in the seven villages of the Mesoghia region, Spata, Liopesi, Koropi, Markopulo, Keratea and Kouvaras. With differences in the composition and decoration of individual garments, it was also worn in villages located in the foothills of Mount Parnitha, in the outskirts of Athens, and even in Athens itself. It was worn by the Arvatites population group of the city, particularly during the later years of Ottoman rule. On the other hand, men living and working in the broader geographical area of Attica, whether indigenous or settlers, adopted a common sartorial type, sporting the “panovraki” (wide trousers) and the “pokamisa” (shirt).
Engravings, lithographs, black and white as well as colored photographs, postcards, and other depictions, portray people in their local attire in numerous variants and styles. Today, however, amidst the various sartorial facets of an earlier vibrant reality, the bridal version of the Mesogeia region has prevailed.
Does the Spata region have its own traditional costume?
The attire of Spata holds a distinct position on the sartorial map of the Mesoghia region in Attica, featuring a plethora of variations. Some of them are designed for public, official, or prominent appearances, such as weddings, festive occasions and Sundays. Others are tailored for everyday life, for winter, or for summer. Some are imbued with unexpected connections to moments of sorrow and mourning. Other distinctive features may distinguish married from unmarried women, engaged or newlywed, and girls and boys from adults, as well as the young from the elderly.
All these costumes are handmade, defining the “golden hand,” the worthy housewife, the “good” bride. They bear unique and symbolic decorations meant to captivate or entrap, to mislead the “evil,” and protect the wearer. Reflecting upon them are wealth and poverty, luxury and simplicity, formality and informality, conservatism and modernity, decency, and blameful action, among other elements. They emphatically showcase that clothes “do not just signify but act.” The exhibition “Spata costumes” seeks to highlight this exact expressive power of clothing.
The exhibition traces the course and evolution of costumes—women’s, men’s, and children’s—worn in Spata until around 1935, when the local costume of Spata was definitively abandoned and modern clothing prevailed. Integrated into exhibition sections, the garments engage in a dialogue of comparison and contrast. They coexist and converse with visual representations, historical chronicles, locals’ memories, songs, folk and literary readings. Moreover, they intertwine with the personal stories of the Mesoghian people. Indeed, clothing reveals the environment that gave rise to it, the people who made it, and the magical-religious and other symbols that marked it.
