Costume style from Vrčin

• Main Author: Radojičić Dragana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Ethnography, SASA, Belgrade 2006-01-01
• Series: Glasnik Etnografskog Instituta SANU
• Subjects: suburb; transformation; costume; dressing
• Online Access: http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-0861/2006/0350-08610654259R.pdf

Suburbs in general are very much affected by the distance from urban centers and its internal changes. Belgrade, for example, has, in the past two centuries, undergone major changes in forms of territorial expansion and population growth. Vrčin so became a suburb of Belgrade and an important crossroad. This paper analyses the changes which transformed Vrčin from rural settlement into suburb, using variables such as industry, migrations and accompanying influences to its daily life, including dress habits of the Vrčin population. A general tendency to transform from rural to urban is present, along with an effort to attain a bio-rhythm of the bigger city. The scope of this paper is limited to only a few sources, which, nevertheless picture this general tendency. The process of abandoning a traditional dress has begun long before 1970’s and has reached its final phase at present. The rural population gradually abandoned the traditional costume, and adopted urban way of dressing, most of the time mixing the two. It is evident that only elderly individuals have kept parts of the traditional dress and jewelry, while so called middle and young generations dress in the latest urban fashion style. This is especially evident in women’s style of dress brought about with a new role they entered during the years after WW II employment outside home and the city’s influences. In conclusion, dress mode in Vrčin was determined by general social, economic and historical events that took place.