Bunads, Online and in my House

In putting together a “Nordic News and Notes” column for the Norwegian Textile Letter, I noticed that a new textile-related webinar was up on the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum Youtube site, Making Folk Costumes w/ Barbro Storlien: History of Craftsmanship, Patience & the Love of Traditions. I thought I should watch a portion of it, to report on it. What I found surprising was the obvious avid interest of the webinar audience. The questions and comments flew in, moderator Josh Torkelsen reported, and side-conversations developed on the chat line. I jotted down notes and many quotes during the webinar, and wrote them up for this column, “Nordic News and Notes: Bunads.”

My “Nordic News and Notes” column ended up with a bunad focus because I’ve read other costume-related articles recently. Earlier this year I read and appreciated an article from the BBC about the development of folk costumes that are more reflective of gender-fluid wearers, “The Scandinavian Folk Clothing Right for Now,” by Matilda Welin, January 23, 3023. The costumes were developed with a deep sense of history and place. They used fine materials and craftsmanship, appropriate to legacy garments. Overall these new costumes seem like a positive evolution of folk costume tradition.

There is a new exhibit this year sponsored by the Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo, Skakke Folkedrakt [Queer Folk Dress]. Six artists developed projects based on bunad traditions. I highly recommend watching the short YouTube videos that are posted on the website (Meet the artists). Some projects are more closely related to actual clothing, like Sami artist Márjá Karlsen, who is exploring symbolism in traditional woven bands and working to retrieve her own cultural heritage. Others use bunads as more of an emblem of cultural tradition to be explored in their work, like contemporary dancer Harald Beharie.

I run across many articles on bunads, particularly around Syttende Mai each year, when there are inevitably articles about traditional costumes – are they dying out? Are people wearing them properly? Are cheap knockoff costumes from China ruining the tradition? Some Norwegians love wearing them; others, not so much. I was in Norway in May in 2019, when two comments from friends typified the yin/yang of bunad love. Inger Berit Myhre said she couldn’t wait until Syttende Mai because then she gets to wear her bunad. Another weaving friend, who is totally involved in traditional weaving and historical reproduction, has the opposite feeling. When asked to wear her bunad for a celebration for her commission, she basically said, “No way. I haven’t worn a bunad since confirmation.”

The final article I highlighted in the “Nordic News and Notes: Bunads” column discussed the contemporary development of festive or fantasy bunads, costumes created to reflect an individual and not tied to a specific historical bunad. The bottom line was that these new festive costumes are not going to destroy the traditional bunad tradition. Read more about that article in the column, “Nordic News and Notes: Bunads.”

I have some experience sewing bunads. When my daughter Margaret was small, I made her a bunad.

I embroidered and sewed a Gudbrandsdalen bunad for my mother, tied to her family roots in Ringebu. We purchased the fabric at Husfliden in Norway in 1983 and I spent the following winter embroidering flowers on deep blue wool. (Hill Street Blues was on television, I recall.) My mother wore her bunad on many occasions, at Norwegian festivals and while selling her rosemaling.

Mom decided a few years ago that she was not going to wear it any longer and passed the bunad down to me. This year I decided I should finally tailor it for me, even though I have no idea where and when I will wear it. I enlisted the help of my talented costume designer friend, Carol Colburn. We repositioned the shoulder seams and worked on rearranging the pleats along the sides and back of the waistband. This was enormously fun; as Carol fussed with pins to fit it to my body, I felt so special.

I had an ambitious start on June 8, but now the bunad is folded in a bag, waiting for my next task of releasing a couple more folds from the waistband and basting the refolded pleats. Maybe still in 2023?