Ethnographic Documentation of Professional Seamstresses of Folk Clothing in Selected Localities of Southeast Moravia

Abstract The article aims to point out the continuity of folk clothing creation and to document the active creators - professional seamstresses who have been sewing parts of folk clothing. The research was carried out in the Moravian Slovakia region, namely in the Strážnice and Veselsko areas. The text follows the previous long-term researches of the last generation of folk clothing wearers who wore folk costumes every day in the area. Wearing folk costumes is a dying phenomenon today. The text documents a generation of professional seamstresses working in Strážnice at the beginning of the 20th century which still existed at a time when folk clothing was worn on a daily basis mainly by women. The personalities of Anděla Tvrdoňová – Baňařová (1907) and her mother Marie Tvrdoňová (1878) were described to the detail. These women lived in Strážnice and worked as professional seamstresses and made clothes for the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. The research of this generation of seamstresses used the family chronicle and memories of the respondents Marie Baňařová, the daughter-in-law of Anděla Tvrdoňová-Baňařová, both very unique sources of information that provide authentic testimonies. The article also publishes photographs from a family album depicting work and sewing and embroidery training. Subsequently, the research is focused on the current generation of professional tailors who continue the work of previous generation. Two seamstresses Ludmila Kočišová from Strážnice and Alena Šikulová from Kněždub were chosen. They are both engaged in making folk clothing professionally, but not commercially, i.e. they don’t have their own business in this field. The research focuses mainly on the transfer of know-how and therefore in-depth interviews with respondents of the current generation were used. The study does not deal with material study of folk clothing and its typology. The today’s generation of seamstresses of folk clothing defines a number of problems that prevent from maintaining the traditional aesthetics of clothing, such as the lack of typical materials (fabrics and lace). The respondents also pointed out the overall transformation of clothing aesthetics and its impact into the wearing of folk clothing. The contribution of the article to the field of ethnology consists in the description of way of intergenerational transfer of knowledge associated with folk clothing and its aesthetics.