CONTEMPORARY TRADITIONAL CLOTHING IN MARAMURES

The article is concerned with presenting the meanings and the dynamic of contemporary festive traditional garments in the region of Maramure (northern Romania). Based on an empirical approach, it analyses the morphology of local clothing, describing the two types of costumes considered as traditional today: an older type, with all the component pieces homemade, and a newer type, using industrial fabric, bought in the local markets. As clothes bear meanings, and people create and use them in a variety of contexts, the study is exploring, also, the different meanings that garments acquire when used, such as how they contribute to expressing the public self of a person, but also how they are valued and presented as important local heritage.