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The pleated “foustánia” of Chios (16th. – early 20th cent): (Doctoral thesis)

Μαχά-Μπιζούμη, Αθηνά/ Macha-Bizoumi, Athena

The subject of this dissertation constitutes a study object of the Folklore of Clothing. It examines the dress system of Chíos over the long term (16th - early 20th century), as this system flourished in a single geographical area with an interesting variety of forms and variations that reflect the particular historical, economic and social events caused by circumstances under the strong presence of two worlds: the West and the East. In the Chíote dress system, a dominant position is occupied by the short white pleated “foustánia” of the Mastihohória (the gum mastic-producing villages in the island’s south), whose technical characteristics are reminiscent of 16th and 17th century sartorial models, with notable influences of the Italian Renaissance. Their morphology contributes to a reconstruction of the white pleated “foustánia” of the wider cultural region of the Aegean Archipelago, to which they also belong. Our research used the typological approach to interpret the specific dress phenomenon, so as to bring to the fore the unseen aspects of the material culture of local civilisation. This approach led to a multi-layered analysis of the subject under investigation that concerns not only the context of the technique, the technology, the craftsmanship and the factors involved in shaping it, but also its social and symbolic status in Chíos society as a vehicle of perceptions, ideas and practices. The interpretative tools provided by folkloric and historico-anthropological analysis were used for a holistic approach of the subject. Through this kind of dialectical approach, the recording and decoding of the social life of the pleated “foustánia” was carried out in connection with the sartorial shapes of the Italian Renaissance. Without neglecting their aesthetic dimension, the role played in their configuration by historical circumstances, economic and social behaviours, dressmaking techniques and the dynamics of technical changes was also sought out and studied using the socio-historical method.