Traditional Swiss Costumes on the Catwalk

‘Coifli’ bonnets, bodices with hip rolls, and baggy trousers

The Swiss National Museum holds the largest collection of 19th century traditional Swiss costumes. The present exhibition displays a selection of these in a new context and in an unusual scenography. The exhibition addresses the question in what way these traditional costumes hold interest for modern textile designers and to what extent traditional artisanship and textile techniques serve as a source of reflection and inspiration in their work today.

The wooden mannequins carved in Brienzer style especially for the Swiss national exhibition in 1939 – the famous ‘Landi’ – enter into an exciting dialogue with the fantastic-realistic portraits of a folk costume cycle created by Joseph Reinhart and the observant sketches made by Ludwig Vogel. Photographs, photocrom prints and postcards from the Fin de Siècle provide evidence of the growing popularity of traditional costumes as motifs for the picture card series Costumes Suisses.