In the early 16th century, poets and satirists commented upon the diversity in Polish clothing and encouraged their audience to shun “unfashionable” German styles and wear native dress instead. But the real emergence of Polish dress dates to the appearance in Parliament in 1562 of King Sigismund Augustus wearing a grey nobleman’s coat. Continue Reading

What is a Giermak you ask? The earliest wide-spread item of true “Polish Dress”… Continue Reading

Possibly in response to recent wars in Europe and related shortages in fabric, Polish dress became fairly uniform around the 1630s and 40s and remained so until the end of the 18th century. The kontusz replaced the delia completely as the over-garment worn with the zupan. And this combination, zupan and kontusz, was de rigeur until around 1760. Continue Reading