Dressing of France

For their day-to-day activities, the French, both in the countryside and the cities, wear modern
Western-style clothing. Perhaps the most typical item of clothing associated with the French is the
black beret. It is still worn by some men, particularly in rural areas. The French are renowned for
fashion design. Coco Chanel, Yves Saint-Laurent, Christian Dior, and Jean-Paul Gautier are all French
fashion design houses whose creations are worn by people around the world

Traditional regional costumes are still worn at festivals and celebrations. In Alsace, women may be
seen in white, lace-trimmed blouses and aprons decorated with colorful flowers. Women's costumes
in Normandy include white, flared bonnets and dresses with wide, elbow-length sleeves.

A traditional symbol of the region, the famous Alsatian headdress was abandoned after 1945. Today,
this can only be admired during certain cultural and tourist events. Varying widely from one part of
Alsace to another, the traditional costumes reflected the social standing and faith of their wearers.

Consequently, Protestant women in the North would wear the colors of their choosing; where as
Catholics from Kochersberg (to the northwest of Strasbourg) wore only ruby red. Some women
would decorate the hems of their skirts with velvet ribbons. Others, particularly in the south, would
wear printed cotton clothing, often made of silk for special occasions with paisley patterned designs.
The aprons, worn everywhere throughout Alsace, were plain white. However, on Sundays it was not
uncommon to see silk or satin aprons decorated with embroidery, and worn over skirts or dresses.
Headdresses were extremely diverse, with an increasing trend towards the use of ribbons from 1840
onwards. Always black for Protestants, the headdresses were often colorful and decorated with
patterns for the Catholics. These features may come as a surprise, as illustrators often portrayed an
inaccurate image of traditional Alsatian costumes. When Alsace once again became part of France,
the "illustrator's costume" was adopted by the whole region, replacing the vast variety of traditional
clothing which once existed.

Bretons (from the Brittany region) wear modern Western-style clothing like that worn by people
elsewhere in France and western Europe. However, their distinctive traditional costumes are still
seen at pardons (festivals) and other special occasions. The men's costumes include broad-brimmed
hats, embroidered waistcoats (vests), and short jackets. Women wear dresses and elaborately
decorated aprons. The most distinctive feature of the women's costume is the elaborate lace
headgear, which is generally called a coiffe (kwaff).

Dressing in Italy

Italians are very well-known for their dressing style. The dress code in Italy is
usually formal and elegant, unlike in North European and North American
countries. Italians are known to dress appropriately, according to the occasion.
Bathing costumes and revealing tops and shirts are considered unfit for shops,
streets, or restaurants, and are usually limited to pools and beaches.
Moreover, jeans is also considered inappropriate for churches or restaurants.

The women wear colorful embroidered skirts and bodices over light-weight
chemises or blouses, with elaborate hats decorated with flowers or fruit.
Men's traditional clothing tends to be simpler, but doesn't lack from attention
to detail, with embroidery and metal buttons and pins. These costumes
evolved from simpler peasant dress in the Middle Ages.
Italian peasants wore practical clothing for their daily activities, with simple
pants and shirts for the men and blouses and skirts for the women, sometimes
with a bodice. Most items were made from simple fabrics, wool being very
common. Color selection was limited to inexpensive gray and black dyes. One
notable traditional Italian fabric is a waterproof type of wool called orbace.
Even the uniforms of Mussolini's infamous Black Shirts were made from
orbace.

The clothes worn by wealthy Italian women looked like peasant garb, but they
used richer fabrics like silk and velvet. The rich also had access to colorful dyes,
so the color palette varied more widely. Upper-class Italian women also tended
to wear more jewelry than peasants.
However, for special festivals even peasant women had beautiful dresses and
bodices. These were dyed in bright colors, hand-crafted with detailed
embroidery and sometimes used better fabrics. The dresses were passed from
mothers to daughters for generations. Because many of the special events the
dresses were worn for were harvest festivals, food and nature themes are
prevalent in the design. Later, the Catholic Church co-opted these celebrations
and turned them into saints' days, so Christian themes appear often as well.