Fancy Frieze-Coat
extract, Alice Gáborján (Budapest)

The Hungarian Museum of Ethnography mounted an exhibition of its rich fancy frieze-coat collection between June 23 and August 24, 2000. This collection was based on material collected by István Györffy, the professor of ethnography, between 1909 and 1930. As a result of his work, he published a book called A cifraszur (The Fancy Frieze-Coat) in 1930, which is still considered an essential and indispensable reference work on the subject. In it Györffy pointed out that fancy frieze-coats were worn only by peasants and shepherds in areas inhabited by Hungarians and that they were produced exclusively by Hungarian frieze-coat makers, who, it may be of interest to note, were all men. At the peak of the fashion, rich embroidery was added-also by skilled craftsmen-which was always in a floral pattern, with the exception of the so-called forgórózsa ("twisting rose") motif. Accordingly, frieze-coat makers never described their work to Györffy as embroidering; they always referred to it as "flowering". After the 1870's, with this style on the wane, some frieze-coats were being ornamented by machine while others were still being embroidered by hand.

The szecc: an extra band of cloth tapering towards the bottom, attached to the edges of the front opening to form a revers in the basic cut of the frieze-coat (Debrecen). Photo: Hungarian Museum of Ethnography.