Flickr Favourites: Traditional Costume of Urk, Holland

Today in the Flickr Favourites it's the turn of the traditional costume of Urk in The Netherlands. Urk is a town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Urk was in the past an island in the Zuiderzee. In 1939, a dike from the mainland to Urk ended the town's island status, just as the Afsluitdijk project was changing the salt water Zuiderzee surrounding Urk to the less saline IJsselmeer. Later in the 20th century, sea-bed areas surrounding Urk were reclaimed from the sea and became the Noordoostpolder. Urk is still a fishing village and religious life has also traditionally been very important to Urk's inhabitants. The kraplap (i.e. bodice) is in Urk made of beautiful coloured silk with embroidered flowers on the front (called the "hartje" or "small heart"). The silver head iron that holds the lace cap with yolk coloured trim, is the oldest type in The Netherlands. The striped apron is the same as the one in Volendam.

For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.


1. Urkerdag 2010, 2. Urkerdag 2009, 3. Urkerdag 2010, 4. People of The Netherlands , about half a century ago

And two picture postcards from my own collection.

Traditional costume : kraplap

After making my bodice / kraplap for the traditional costume challenge from the European Street Team on Etsy, I thought it would be interesting to show you some pictures of bodices / kraplappen from traditional costumes in The Netherlands. Originally the kraplap was a part of the underwear, but in many parts of The Netherlands it has developed into an important decorative part of the outerwear; often very visible and showy, but also sometimes hidden under shawls only revealing a small part under the chin.




In Marken it is worn above all other clothing parts and made from antique pieces of the most beautiful chintz (calico cloth printed with flowers and other devices in different colors).



In Urk the kraplap is more voluminous, mostly made from satin and often embroidered with flowers.



The best known kraplap is the one from Volendam, tucked under the typical short sleeve jacket, often with the most beautiful flower embroidery.



In Walcheren, it is also tucked away in the short sleeved jacket but with lots of folds and more visible because of the more open form of the jacket.



The kraplap of Bunschoten-Spakenburg is the most striking one; it's made of a handpainted cotton and fully stiffened, which makes it look like a giant collar; the red checkered vertical stripe in the middle, is the shawl folded into a strip only in such a way that the kraplap is fully visible.



In Staphorst it is often made from a black woollen muslin with flowers or from black satin handpainted with "stipwerk"; a special painting technique only used in the Staphorster costume. The flowers and stipwerk is dark coloured when the wearer is in mourning (blue and purple on black), otherwise the colours are pretty bright (red, green, yellow etc.). The checkered shawl is covering quite a part of this stunning piece. Which is very much the same situation on the Veluwe, where the kraplappen are not so very brightly patterned.




In Arnemuiden and on Zuid-Beveland the kraplappen are very similar, and also very much covered by the shawl. Often the shawl is made of the same fabric as the kraplap.




The most decorated kraplap is the one of Axel; it's ingeniously embroidered with glass beads and sequins leaving almost no space of the fabric to be seen. The scarf, which is folded and stuffed like a pair of wings, is covering the fabric, leaving the embroidered part visible as one big front jewel.


I hope you enjoyed this little tour through some of the traditional costumes in The Netherlands. All the pictures are postcards in my possession.