“Composite” and adapted folk costumes

Not all home countries of Latvians living abroad had the appropriate materials for making folk costumes, so various checked and striped fabrics were adapted and used to make skirts that visually approximated the style of Latvian folk costumes. This resulted in locally-made stylised folk costumes made according to the skills, understanding and interpretation of local seamstresses. Some of the so-called “composite” Latvian folk costumes created abroad borrowed items from the traditional clothing and accessories of the new country of residence. Often folk costumes were assembled through international contacts, for example: by buying or ordering jewellery from craftsmen living in other countries or even continents. Nowadays it is not uncommon to buy a folk costume or its parts online.

Many of the countries where Latvians lived in exile had climates very different from Latvia’s, and for which Latvian folk costumes were not suitable. Many Latvians in Brazil and Australia often recall the torture of dancing or singing in folk costumes in a heat of over 30 degrees celsius! Nevertheless, the tradition of wearing the folk costume rarely lost out to the heat, and only a few Latvians abroad preferred stylised national costumes made from lighter fabrics.