Abstract
The book discusses in a clear way people's/folk clothing from the Podještědí (or foothills of Ještěd) area, and enables the reader to follow its development through specific time periods. The oldest substantiated records reach deep into the 18th century when home production of fabric still prevailed, primarily of linen, and the production of woollen and wool-based textile (cloth, mesulán and so on). Thanks to the peripheral location of the Ještěd foothills on the Czech-German language and cultural border this type of clothing still endured into the second quarter of the 19th century, thus at a time, when already in the majority of Czech rural areas town fashion was completely widespread. Appreciably the form of clothing was affected by the industrialization of textile production, which was characteristic primarily along the wide belt of Northern Czech. Thanks to fabric production and widespread textile technology all of a sudden fabric became cheaper, which made prices more affordable also for country residents, and brought with it an unprecedented variety of material. A profound phenomenon took place with the factory production of printed textile and clothing, which thanks to its impressive patterns and clear colours immediately found popularity in people's clothing practically everywhere. By the end of the century the differences between the village and the town had almost completely disappeared in the way of clothing.
Clothing of the Podještědí area started to arouse its distinct appearance alongside a succession of figures from cultural life, firstly the writer Karolina Světlá, who in the majority of her literature depicted characters in typical clothing of this time. Her enthusiasm was carried on by some of her relatives from the area: nieces Anežka Čermáková-Sluková and Karla Škodová including her son Josef Škoda. Exploratory trips reached the Podještědí area from Jan Prousek a Eleonora Prošková from nearby Turnov and the richness, colourfulness and complication of parts were appreciated also by Renata Tyršová and Teréza Nováková.
The revival of interest in people's culture was brought about towards the end of the 19th century at large exhibitions (namely Jubilee and Folklore), in whose preparation many wellknown people participated, in particular Jan Prousek in cooperation with local teacher Josef Adam who created a collection of clothing for these exhibitions from the Podještědí area and Turnov. The leading authority Václav Havel had already become a professional folklore researcher, who in 1914 held an antique exhibition in Český Dub with an abundant representation of clothing, from which several components of the collection were later housed in the Podještědské Museum. In the Podještědí area during the 1940's the legendary Drahomíra Stránská was also engaged, one of the biggest experts of national folk dress, and there are also references about the Podještědí area in the texts about Turnov folk costumes from Blažena Šotková. During the second half of the 20th century the Podještědí area found itself on the fringe of research interest, only J. V. Scheybal engaged himself artistically in the reconstruction of clothing according to parts from the museum collections and older photographs. It wasn't until the 1980's that Tomáš Edel published a few revealing studies on local material folk culture, and among contemporary researchers of the Podještědí area Vladimíra Jakouběová has touched on in her work folk clothing in the Turnov area, with Jiřina Langhammerová also giving reference.
At one time folk dress spoke its own language, which a person could understand well. Primarily it bore witness to social status and the position of this or that person within the village, about certain occasions and dress preference. The making of clothes took a lot of effort and its acquisition a lot of money, so for this reason everyone valued their clothes and protected them from wear and tear as much as possible. Appreciable interventions in the form and changes in the importance of clothing were carried out during the reconstruction of the First Republic in the spirit of general patriotic enthusiasm. People's clothing at this time became folk dress and under the pressure of stylization the phenomenon of the praise as well as the curse of folk style was born, so-called folk costume, whose tradition from that time is maintained and cultivated by the majority of contemporary folk groups.
For understanding the wider context the book has the clothes items described clearly as well as its development and material variety. Due to preserved antique clothing items we can have a unique look into the fashion of the time, which until recently has been an ignored source of information. Thanks to this source it was possible to confirm the wide range of colours of the women's bodice and the commonly used black leather trousers for men, and in addition able to show evidence of the existence of forgotten items such as men's flared coats and peaked caps. The book is designed for the wider public, even though the writing in the background preserves elements of research work because reference work is thoroughly listed. Thanks to the number of photographs and printed extracts from the time, this book becomes alive and gives a vivid insight into the field of folk clothing as well as a practical guide. This book is being published at the 50th anniversary of the founding of the folk group Horačky, and completes nearly ten years of research work of several of its members, for whom keeping alive the Podještědí area folk dress has become an important part of life.