Abstract

The essay presents opinions and programs treating questions of fashion and folk clothing that appeared in authoritative Romanian press products in Hungary in the second half of the nineteenth century. Authors cited regard peasant clothing an important element of national identity on the one hand, on the other they ascribe a subversive effect to the effort of the small and less affluent Romanian middle class to keep pace, even beyond their means, with German and Hungarian families in questions of clothing. Even greater danger seemed to be the fact that peasants in several regions began to buy ready-to-wear clothes or make their clothes of manufactured textile, which quickly made them run into debt. Finally, authors expected women of the elite to set a good example to the peasantry by appearing at national balls and gatherings in folk costumes.