Boudoir – The Court Dress of Sweden, the nationella dräkten

Welcome again to Boudoir! This time I would like to tell a little about the court dress of Sweden, the nationella dräkten.

In the previous Boudoir, I stated that generally the court dresses developed during the 19th century, under the auspices of nationalism, national pride and longing to elegance. However, the nationella dräkten is somehow an exception among the court dresses, as it was introduced in 1778, a long before the other national court dresses, the born of nationalism and romanticism. In fact this gown served really practical purposes: King Gustav III of Sweden designed for the nobility and middle-class with the intention of limiting rising consumption and import of luxury within fashion, which was considered a drain on the economy and detrimental to society because of ensuing poverty. It is interesting to say that the court dress of Sweden actually represents the theory of mercantilism and the age of enlightenment. Voltaire himself said the followings about nationella dräkten:

„Nations should be themselves. They should only imitate each other in what is good and never in what is capricious. The ruler of the Swedes, who doesn’t overlook anything, realizes this wholly and fully. And he is going to give his people the greatest of all possessions – manners. Give him my humble greetings and tell him, that I honor him as a benefactor of humanity, and an example for kings. I am dying, and I am taking that feeling to my grave as a comfort to me.”

The design itself – apart from the effects of the late Renaissance and period fashion – adopted elements from the traditional-national wear of Sweden, but in the case of court dresses the colours were strictly limited to black or deep-dark blue and white, resulted a twotone-look. There was a female and a male version of the dress. At first it was not a prescribed dress in the court, it was only „recommended” to wear it, but after the death of Gustav III the female version slowly became the official wear at the court on occasions such as weddings, opening the Parliament, etc.

The male version soon lost touch with fashion, but the female version could change with the time and the taste. Originally it had standing collars and red ribbons, but none of these remained as the part of the court wear. The skirt, the length of the sleeves followed the Paris (or Stockholm, and sometimes even Russian) fashion, while the whole gown kept its most characteristic parts, the vertically striped sleeves and the black or very dark blue and white, twotone-look. In my personal opinion the dress is really elegant and magnificent, mostly because of it’s dark colours, but at the same time the white trim and the railed sleeves prevent it from seeming mournful.

In the 19th and 20th centuries it was worn by – apart from the female members of the royal family – ladies in waiting and noble women. Interestingly, at the coronation ceremony the queen doesn’t wear the traditional kind of court dress, but for example a gold and white coronation gown. I am sad to say, but in the modern times the Swedish court dress is no longer in use – according to the Wikipedia, the dress was used for women being presented at Court until 1952 and is still in use there by Swedish ladies-in-waiting on formal occasions. I wonder what could be the reason for this. I only can hope that the future monarch of Sweden will revitalize the tradition of this beautiful dress.

by Alla

Sources and links: Wikipedia, pictures