Cypriot traditional costumes provide insight into the island's culture and history. Regional costumes display local variations in style, materials and details while maintaining a shared Cypriot identity. The most common items of traditional dress include the pleated male vraka trousers, the female saya dress or foustani robe, and decorative headscarves. Materials like cotton and silk were locally cultivated and crafted into distinctive garments, embellished with embroidery, lace and jewelry reflecting social status and occasion. Overall, Cypriot costumes demonstrate the island's assimilation of foreign influences within its own conservative folk artistic traditions.

1. CYPRIOT
TRADITIONAL COSTUMES

2.  Cypriot costumes are an integral component of the traditional
culture of Cyprus. Each one is distinctive of a group of people
who lived on this east Mediterranean island, and who, despite
their idiosyncracies, maintained a uniform identity, keeping alive
the consciousness of their common origin and history.
 Study of the different types of Cypriot costume reveals the
island’s relations with neighbouring and far-off lands, through
trade or conquest. The costumes bespeak the Cypriot people’s
ability to assimilate foreigh traits and to re-create them in its
own way, consistent with its own tradition.
 Each individual costume is a complex work of art, combining not
only techniques of processing the raw materials, weaving and
embellishment, but also skill and sensitivity in the manner in
which it is cut and sewn. The costume is the true expression of
folk artistic creation.
GENERAL INFORMATION

3.  Compared with the costumes of the wider Greek world, those
of Cyprus are simpler and display a greater degree of
uniformity, on account of the island’s limited size. There
are, nevertheless, local variations, both in the kind of
costume and in its details: in the color of the cloth, the
combination of its partial elements, the cut, decoration and in
its accessories.
 Like Cypriot folk art in general, the costumes are
characterized by a conservatism, though this in no way
detracts from their diversity and charm.
 In a more or less egalitarian society, such as that of Cyprus
until the early decades of the present century, the costumes
worn by men and women gave their wearers a sense of
security, confidence and ease.
GENERAL INFORMATION

4.  The materials used for the costumes were cotton and silk, the
cultivation, processing and weaving of which have a long
tradition on Cyprus. Wool, mixed with cotton yarn, was used
only rarely for the chemises worn in mountainous villages.
THE MATERIALS

5.  The most usual fabric for the outer garments
was alatziá, a durable cotton cloth rather like
ticking, usually with fine vertical or crossed
stripes in deep red, blue, yellow, orange or
green on a white ground. Men’s shirts and
women’s dresses for everyday wear were
generally of blue alatziá with white stripes.
Black was substituted for blue in the cloth used
for the jackets of elderly men, while those of
younger men were of standard red-striped
alatziá zimpounísimi.
 There were also local variations for the festival
costumes, which had a characteristic colour
combination and were named according to their
provenance, such as
marathéftikes, morphitoúdes, lapithkiótikes
inter alia.
THE ALATZIÁ FABRIC

6.  The Cypriot female costume
basically consists of the outer
garment, the chemise and the
distinctive long pantaloons
caught around the ankle.
 Two general categories of
Cypriot female costumes can be
distinguished: urban and rural.
The former display a greater
number of European
influences, like their
counterparts in Greece, while
the latter preserve more of the
authentic local traits and
peculiarities. The most
representative rural costumes
are those of Karpasia and
Paphos, of the
interior, mesaritiki, and the
mountains, oreini.
FEMALE COSTUMES

7. The 'saya', a kind of frock
open at the front and
sides, was common in most
urban and rural regions of
Cyprus until the 19th
century. Local variants were
still worn in the remoter
parts of Karpasia and
Paphos in the early decades
of the present century.
From the 19th century
onwards the saya was
gradually replaced in the
towns by the short fitted
jacket and skirt.
THE SAYÁ

8. COSTUMES OF KARPASIA, "SAYA". LATE 19TH CENTURY.
COLLECTION OF THE CYPRUS FOLK ART MUSEUM.

9. THE DOUPLETTI
Costume of Karpasia, "saya'" with "douple'tti".
Late 19th Century.
Collection of the Cyprus Folk Art Museum.
A peculiar local garment in Karpasia, the north-
east part of Cyprus, is the doupletti, a
white, densely pleated skirt, cast double over the
shoulders like a cape; the standing collar, which is
actually the skirt waistband, is embroidered in
white with coloured beads. This skirt was
originally part of the bridal costume, worn with
the sa'rka.

10. The 'foustani', a one-
piece, waisted and pleated
dress, was the preferred over-
garment in the rural areas of
Cyprus, particularly the plain and
the mountains, well into the
1950s, which decade was a
turning point for modernization in
the countryside. The festival
foustani was worn with an
embroidered apron, the everyday
one with a plain. In Paphos the
saya' was retained alongside the
fousta'ni, since it was considered
easier to wear. Both
garments, saya and foustani, had
a large oval opening in front, the
trachilia' or dickey, to facilitate
breast-feeding.
THE FOUSTÁNI WITH APRON

11. COSTUME OF THE
MESSAORIAS, " FOUSTA'NI".
EARLY 20TH CENTURY.
COLLECTION OF THE CYPRUS
FOLK ART MUSEUM.
THE FOUSTÁNI

12.  In Karpasia and other rural regions
of the plains, the women working in
the fields in the summer lifted up
the hem of their saya' or fousta'ni
and tucked it in at the waist. Some
just wore the chemise and zoma, a
sash improvised from a diagonally
folded dark kerchief, tied round the
waist with the pointed end behind.
 Analogous with the zoma is the
foutas, a rectangular piece of
cloth, folded diagonally and tied in
front. It was worn round the waist
like a broad cummerbund, covering
the chemise below.
 In the towns the women used the
foutas in the bath-house. The
pa'nna, an equivalent garment, was
worn in the mountainous regions of
Cyprus and as part of the festival
costume.
LOCAL VARIATIONS

13. From the second half of the
19th century, in Nicosia (the
capital of the island) and the
other towns, as in the urban
areas of Greece, variations
of the so-called Amalia
costume came into vogue.
This type of dress diffused to
the extensive rural
settlements of Cyprus too. It
comprises a wide silk skirt, a
short fitted jacket with
sleeves, the sarka, which had
a large opening on the
chest, a fez and kerchief.
Characteristic of the Cypriot
version of the pan-Hellenic
Amalia costume is the
sattakrouta fabric from
Nicosia, dyed with plant
substances in shades of
yellow, orange, green and
earth colours.
THE AMALIA COSTUME-THE URBAN
kerchief
sarka
silk skirt
chemise

14.  The best sarkes were produced in
Nicosia, whose seamstresses and
tailors had a high reputation. The
latter sewed and embroidered the
fine costumes, women's
sarkes, men's waistcoats and short
jackets worn all over Cyprus. Local
cloth was used, though black woollen
felt, tsoufa, or velvet was purchased
for "best-wear". The embroidery was
executed in over-sewn metal
wire, ttelia, or silk thread .
 The luxurious pure silk chemise worn
under the sarka is visible on the
chest and the sleeves. Both the large
frontal opening, trachilia or
dickey, and the long maniketta or
cuffs are embellished with delicate
silk crochet lace, pipilla.
THE AMALIA COSTUME-THE URBAN

15.  In contrast to the urban
costume, which frequently became a
criterion of social class, a relative
uniformity is observed in the rural
world. The festival dress was usually
also the bridal costume, the addition
of certain accessories and the
characteristic scarlet kerchief, worn
in some regions throughout the first
year of marriage, being the only
features distinguishing the bride
from the other female guests. Brides
also plaited long strands of
wire, ttelia, in their hair, and these
hung down like a veil concealing the
face. In some regions, such as
Karpasia and the Morphou
area, there was a special bridal
headdress, which only a few women
in the community knew how to
arrange.
BRIDAL COSTUMES

16.  The most popular bridal costume in
Karpasia was a local version of the urban
Amalia costume: It consists of a multi-
pleated cotton skirt dyed dark red with
pine bark, routzietti, worn with a short
jacket, sa'rka. Rare local examples of the
sa'rka have survived from Karpasia.
These are made of white cotton
fabric, lavishly embellished with applique
decoration and coloured beads.
 The entire chest was covered with
jewellery; the mirmidi, the cross with the
doudounia and corals, the necklace, the
kertanes and other pieces. The belt
around the waist is fastened with a silver
buckle. The headdress is particularly
striking: the scarlet kerchief, skepi, is
held on the forehead with a frontlet of
three successive ribbons in red, yellow
and green. Affixed to the headdress is a
silver ornament, the splinga, from which
chains, coins and coloured beads hang
down the sides of the bride's face.
THE KARPASIAN BRIDAL COSTUME

17.  The female headdress which prevailed not only in the rural but also in the
urban world was the kouroukla, a square kerchief of fine cotton in different
colours; crimson, 'kraseti' (bordeaux), dark green for young women and
brown for older ones.
 Young girls were psiloskoufomenes, that is they wore the kerchief tied high
on the head to expose the brow, since, according to a Cypriot rhyming
couplet, those who wore the headdress low, chamiloskoufomenes were
"shamed". The hair was parted in the middle and plaited into two long
braids. Old women, widows and those in mourning wore a black
kerchief, under which they placed a second dark-coloured headsquare, the
kouroukla, which covered the hair, forehead and ears like a snood, and was
known as the skoufoma.
THE HEADDRESS

18.  The floral designs on the borders
are applied with wooden stamps
by special craftsmen known as
mandila'rides. The "best"
kerchiefs are edged with crochet
trim, pipilla, in various
patterns, such as
yasemoudin, foulin, kamaroudin
etc., named after the basic
motif. The kerchief was folded
diagonally, the triangle
behind, and the two loose ends
turned back and tied high up at
the side so that their lace edging
was displayed. A silver kerchief
pin, 'karfitsa tou mandiliou', a
flower of crocheted silk, or real
flower was placed in the bow.
MANDILARIDES

19.  The wealthy bourgeoise ladies wore the singular polychrome silk
kerchiefs known as koilaniotika. These were tie-dyed with plant
colorants in vivid hues, predominantly vermilion, kraseti, gold and
green. The technique was exclusive to the village of Koilani and
these highly-prized kerchiefs were exported, mainly to Kastellorizo.
 In the mountainous villages of the Troodos, the women wore a
woollen kerchief with fringing, krossia, the tsemberi. Embroidered
in one corner of the festival or bridal kerchief was a
bird, generically called peacock, pagoni, or a flower, which could be
seen on the triangle behind.
THE HEADDRESS

20. Town-dwelling women of the
19th century wore boots
and slippers of yellowish
leather while in the 20th
century black court shoes
became fashionable. In the
rural areas, and especially
the mountains, women wore
short hob-nailed
boots, potinia, made by the
same
cobblers, skarparides, as
fashioned the men's boots
or podines.
Cypriot women rarely wore
hose; in keeping with the
strict moral code
observed, the long
pantaloons covered even
the soles of the feet.
THE SHOES

21.  Essential accessories of the costume of the wealthiest urban
women were various items of gold jewellery, indicative of their
social rank and economic status. However, most women wore
silver and gilded ornaments with the festival costume, and those
worn in the villages were often of silvered bronze.
OTHER ACCESSORIES

22.  The commonest articles were pins, splidzies, worn in the
headscarf or on the chest, rows of chains upon the
chest, mirmidia, from which hung tiny Turkish
coins, pparaoudkia, and gems of coral or glass, necklaces -
kertanedes and skalettes - various crosses, such as the
trifourenos with tiny filigree spheres and
coral, earrings, bracelets and finger rings.
JEWELLERY

23.  Some bridal costumes included a
velvet belt ernbroidered with metallic
thread, fastened with a silver
buckle, poukles. The broad sash worn
by women in the towns had silk-
embroidered ends and two
large, shiny metal buckles at the
front.
 Cypriot jewellery was wrought by local
goldsmiths in Nicosia and was
embellished with filigree
trifoureni, pierced, hammered and
cast decoration.
JEWELLERY

24.  There are very few
distinct regional
differences in the male
costume of Cyprus. Its
basic components are
the densely pleated
baggy
trousers, vra'ka, which
held sway in all the
C,reek islands, and the
waistcoat, yilekko, or
jacket, zibouni. Yet this
apparent uniformity is
punctuated by some
local features, manifest
in the size of the vraka
and the colour of the
cloth used for the chest
garment. These
diacritical traits used to
be indicative of the
wearer's origin.
MALE COSTUMES
Rural male costume Urban male costume

25.  The vra'ka was made of coarse
hand-woven dimity, which was
dyed, after sewing, by local
dyers, poyatzides; black for
elderly men, blue for younger
ones. The vraka varied in size and
shape from region to region. That
for "best" wear was very
wide, requiring forty piches
(yards) of dimity, according to the
popular Cypriot distich. The
bustle, sella, which hung
behind, was densely
pleated, prosiasma. This was
normally tucked up into the belt
and only left to hang freely when
the wearer went to church. In
Oreini Nicosia, the vra'ka, known
here as tsiatta'lin, was
appreciably narrower than in
other regions. White cotton
underpants were worn
underneath.
THE VRAKA

26.  The vra'ka is worn with a chemise
or shirt, of dark striped cotton
material everyday and of silk on
Sundays. The silk shirt was a basic
garment of the groom's
costume, being a present from his
bride-to-be, like his kerchief which
was symbolic of their union and
tied around his neck during the
wedding ceremony. The cut of the
shirt, the manner in which it was
sewn and embellished, varied
according to region. That of the
Mesaoria is particularly
elaborate, being made of highly-
prized taisto silk with a shoulder
piece and traversa in front, cut on
the cross and trimmed with tucks
and European lace. The sleeves
are voluminous, with cuffs and
poma'niko, that is a triangular
inset to the under-arm seam to
facilitate freedom of movement.
THE CHEMISE OR SHIRT
In many districts, including the
Mesaoria, men also wore a vest next to the
skin. This was of hand-woven cotton and
embroidered in those places visible beneath
the shirt, such as the neck opening and the
cuffs. In rural areas a knitted vest of home-
spun wool was worn in winter.

27.  Though the vra'ka and shirt were
more or less the same all over
the island, there were more
obvious variations in the jacket
worn with them. This garment is
short, fitted, straight or crossed
over and fastened. The sleeve-
less version is the yilekko, the
sleeved the zibouni or zibouna.
The vertical opening down the
back, which enabled the wearer
to make expansive
movements, was fastened with a
cord or ribbon. The yilekka and
zibounia worn in country
districts were of the same cotton
alatzia' as the female over-
garment. In summer the
waistcoat was worn on its
own, in winter under the zibouni.
THE YILEKKO AND ZIBOUNI
yilekko
zibouni

28.  The edges, back and pocket of the festival waistcoat were
embroidered, in contrast to the everyday version which was quite
plain. The oldest zibouni in Karpasia, the perikos, was embelished
with white loom-embroidery with coloured "stones", petrou'des, very
similar to that on the women's festival saye's (A. Pieridou, op.
cit., p.28). Jackets for Sunday wear in this region had a cross-over
fastening and were thus known as stavrote's. Wile the zibou'nia and
yile'kka worn in the rural areas were made in the villages, the
sklavou'nika worn in the towns were sewn by professional tailors in
Nicosia. They were of ready-made woollen cloth and elaborately
decorated with embroidery of over-sewn twisted cotton thread.
There were even waiscoats of velvet and the famous sattakrou'ta
silk, with which the Nicosian ladies made their skirts.
 The groom's yilekkozi'bouna was usually made of dark velvet with
brightly coloured applique designs of birds and animals on the
back, such as confronting lions, a symbol of virility.
THE DECORATION

29.  A broad
cummerbund, zona'ri, was worn
around the waist. This was of
black dimity with fringing at the
narrow ends for older men and
of brightly coloured
silk, ttalapoulou'zi, in the young
men's festival attire and the
groom's costume. A knitted
purse hung from the sash, or a
bought purse, kkeme'ri, was
tucked inside it.
THE ZONARI

30.  All year round, the men in the rural parts of Cyprus wore heavy, hob-
nailed boots to protect them from snakes which abound on the
island. Flat-soled and made by specialist
cobblers, skarpa'rides, these are the most expensive item in the
male costume. In the town men wore European-style
boots, frangopodi'nes, or shoes, ska'rpes. In some districts the
groom wore leather slippers with a bow, syriane's. The knitted
cotton or woollen socks worn with the boots or shoes were attached
to the bottom, podina'ria, of the baggy trousers with laces.
THE SHOES

31.  The male costume was
formerly completed by a
fez, either worn alone of with
a kerchief tied with the
triangle at the side, the
kouroukli'n. The male
headdress was later
simplified and only the
kerchief remained. The
groom's kerchief, of brightly
coloured wool, was bought.
The edges were trimmed with
crochet lace, pipi'lla, or fine
fringing. The everyday
kerchiefs were just the same
as the kourou'kles worn by
the women, with stamped
designs; young men wore light
ones, old men dark. The
farmers of the plain wore a
straw hat.
THE HEADDRESS

32.  The male costume was
complemented by a simple
parure of silver ornaments; a
watch and chain, chains and
finger rings. Greek officials
wore rings with a seal on the
bezel and ancients stones.
OTHER ACCESSORIES

33. Most of the text used for the creation of this presentation was
taken from the book:
Papademetriou E. (1991),“CYPRUS TRADITIONAL
COSTUMES”, Folk Art Museum of the Society of Cypriot
Studies”, Athens.
The pictures used were taken from the above book, the picture
collection of the Cyprus Handicraft Service and from the
internet.
THANK YOU!
BIBLIOGRAPHY